It was the same girl with dark green hair from before. Her eyes, which were light emerald green, squinted at me with both curiosity and amusement. She had her chin perched up on her hand, looking me up and down.

“Oh kind and benevolent King Raguna, how humble he was to have raised three other kings from common folk to rule by his side. A great king, people cry out – give me a break.” She drawled, picking petals off a rose with sharp plucks. “King Jude is his brother, King Stevather is a noble, and King Odette is an esteemed scholar – hardly anything like common folk.”

“Tanva.” Avery fixed her with a dry stare, sighing in exasperation, “Do you have a good reason to be telling us this?”

Tanva flicked her eyes at me dispassionately, “Perhaps. We’ve got a suspicious person right here.”

For a moment, I worried over what I had ever done to her to warrant this treatment. Did she know I was human? Who I was on Earth? What I had done? If a world with magic existed like this, I thought - what could stop her from looking at my soul? Was she going to call me out, ask why a person as rotten as I would be given a second chance to live – especially in a place as beautiful as Sun-Glint?

Avery crossed her arms, “Read the situation here. Can you at least be a bit more courteous toward her?”

“I’m just stating the obvious, Avery. Their origins are well known to the public.” She focused on me again, “Over five hundred years with little to no progress and suddenly you show up. Here’s some food for thought: don’t trust anyone here so easily.”

So, she was smug.

I cocked my head to the side, “Does that include you, then?”

She paused for a moment.

“You’re sharp, at least.” She said, a sharp smirk tugging at her lips.

Avery groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, “This is so messy. Tanva, you’ve barely even introduced yourself to her and you’re already making judgements?”

“Fine, you introduce us.”

“Excuse me?” When Tanva made no response, Avery relented with an exasperated sigh. “Lavy, this is Tanva – disciplinary officer and alchemist for The Apple. Tanva, this is – ”

“Lavy, the first guest Sun-Glint has ever had in five hundred years.” Tanva said, “Yes, I know.”

“Then why even ask me to introduce you two together?”

“I never said both of us.”

“You never said not to do so for both of you.”

“Well I never not said that – ”

As the two bickered, the atmosphere in the room began to change. I could see people were slowly approaching our table, eyes trained on me. Seeing Tanva and Avery so animated with each other around, it probably broke some tension in the room. I could only imagine what it was like to be stuck with the same people for hundreds of years, then finally get some new blood.

The man from before, the one who was first to address me in the room, approached me. He had light brown eyes and stood a bit taller than I,  with his hands folded behind his back – he gave off the image of a rather sheepish person.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hello,” I looked behind him, only to find five bright faces smiling at me, “Um.”

“My name is Ban,” he said, pausing to follow my eyes. “Aaand… these are my friends, other alchemists I’ve worked with for a long time.”

“… I see, nice to meet you – uh – all?”

Immediately, the five behind him erupted in a cacophony of greetings. Followed by an onslaught of questions. Bewildered by it all, I turned my attention back to him. Seemingly surprised by it as well, he could only mouth a ‘sorry’ to me.

“Where are you from?” a girl with blonde hair and sandy complexion asked me.

I panicked, “Earth.”

“Must be a new kingdom!” another one piped up, a man with jet-black hair.

“Oh I heard from some of The Three Tower’s wizards that they’ve noticed the universe has been expanding quite fast recently,” the same blonde girl said. “New kingdoms popping up left and right, countries too! Wonder what our God of Planetarium is trying to make next? Earth must be far away since I’ve never heard of it.”

"Were you an alchemist back on Earth too?”

“No,” I said, already feeling overwhelmed by all those eyes on me – even more so as more people in the room began to approach me. “We don’t have alchemists on Earth – ”

“What a place!” another person said, “Do you have wizards then?”

“Do you have a king? A queen? What kind of – ”

“What did you do in your kingdom?”

“What kind of kingdom is it?”

“Oh what about – ”

And then I began to spiral.