Elias woke Andrew in the morning, ready to drag him out of bed to get food. He didn’t speak aside from a few pleasantries on their way there, only holding his princely demeanor by holding every door open for Andrew and pulling his chair out for him.

“You know I can do all this crap by myself, right? I may not always act like it, but I am an adult,” Andrew said as he got comfortable in his seat. Which proved to be more difficult than he’d like, since the wood only had a thin lining of cushioning on it.

The entire room seemed bare for a royal dining space. Massive windows covered one wall, only decorated with thick, red curtains that were held open by golden ropes tied to posts on each side of them. The morning light bounced off the pale color of the sparsely set wooden table, brightening the room to the point that Andrew had to squint until his eyes adjusted.

Elias laughed, sitting in the chair next to him. “Am I not allowed to treat my guests well?”

Andrew shrugged. “If that’s the way you’re looking at it, then it’s fine, I guess. I’m not offended. I just want to make sure you know that me being lost here doesn’t equate to me being completely useless. It may be stiff and cracks a lot, but my body still works for basic things.”

“I will never underestimate you, Andrew. That is a promise. I just want to make you as comfortable as possible.” The prince cleared his throat and looked at the doors they had come in through. “I hope you don’t mind that my mother will be joining us for breakfast. If there’s anything that she says or does that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know. She has an… old-fashioned way of looking at things sometimes.”

“She has an old-fashioned way of looking at things? Does she think fire is scary? You can’t go much further back than you already have with all of this, my dude.”

The prince gave a dry chuckle, grabbing the napkin in front of him and setting it on his lap. “Again, I don’t always get what you mean, but I assure you, fire doesn’t frighten my mother.” He looked down at the table and quietly added, “Not much does.”

Elias had a mom in on the weird game, too? She might’ve been the one to raise him into all the crazy role-playing stuff. That, or he dragged her into it. Either way, Andrew didn’t think he’d be able to hold back laughter seeing an older woman act like a dragon.

The massive doors swung open, revealing a tall, regal woman. One that looked an awful lot like Elias, which meant she was probably his actual mother. Her hair wasn’t the same color of blonde, though. In fact, it looked bleached because the roots were a deep red, much like her wings and elegant dress. The curled locks hung over her perfectly postured shoulders, bouncing lightly as she walked to her seat at the end of the table.

“Elias, this must be…” Her piercing gaze landed on Andrew. “Andrew, yes? It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Queen Amerilla.” The puffy skirt made her look as though she was gliding to her seat, and when she sat down, it fluffed up against the arms of the chair. Like Elias, she tucked her wings behind her back while she sat, looking every bit as proper as a queen should.

A group of servers dressed in gray, uninteresting suits came out of the kitchen, each carrying a different dish. Serving platters overflowing with fresh bread, fruit, eggs, and meats were spread out, filling the mostly empty room with a warm, rich aroma that brought Andrew back to the days when his mother cooked for the family. Every holiday meant good food, plates that would bring with it a truce to any squabbles the family might have been having.

He shook the memory from his mind and wasted no time grabbing whatever looked good to fill the empty plate that had been placed in front of him. Some rolls went directly into his mouth, and he barely chewed before nodding his head at the queen.

“Ish nishe to meet you,” he said around the mouthful.

The queen’s hint of a smile turned into a sour pout. “Oh, how lovely. He’s…”

“He’s our guest, mother. Please remember that.” Elias grabbed a roll as well, taking a bite out of it. Unlike Andrew, he chewed and swallowed before he spoke again. “And he’s hungry from his trip. We don’t know how long or how far he travelled to get here, so it makes sense that he would be eager to eat.”

Andrew hummed in agreement. His stomach wasn’t about to let him forget he had gone a whole day without food, and he didn’t want to feel or listen to it complain even a second longer, even if that meant not savoring the mouthfuls of food.

“I see.” The queen glanced at Elias before she filled her own plate, favoring the fruits over everything else. “And we have yet to find out anything more about where he’s from?”

“I’m from LA.” Andrew grabbed some of the glistening strawberries. At least their old-fashioned ways didn’t stop them from washing the fruit. “Everyone and their dog knows where that is.” The strawberry drenched his tongue with a sugary sweetness he hadn’t been prepared for. He remembered them being a somewhat bitter treat. Though Andrew didn’t exactly fit a lot of fruit into his diet, so he could have been misremembering. “I haven’t heard of this place. Al- Uh, Alnoud or something like that, right?”

“Aldoun,” Amerilla said stiffly. Her hands stayed resting in her lap, not moving to eat like Andrew and Elias were. “I have never heard of LA either, so it seems we’re in a more confusing spot than we started from.”

Andrew shrugged, stuffing more bread into his mouth. “I know you’re all playing this weird game, but it’s kind of impressive to boldly claim you don’t know where that is. Like, c’mon man, you aren’t going to just pretend it’s some far-off land that you can magic me over with a car? Or ‘magical carriage’?”

The silence that followed had the servers standing against the walls sweating, the air heated with strained tension. To Andrew, it was all the more reason to believe they were mad at him for calling them out, so he didn’t let it get to him.

“Andrew,” Elias said softly, placing his hand on his knee under the table. “I think it would be best if we focus on food for right now, okay?” He turned to his mother, giving her a sheepish smile. “I will take full responsibility for him. He won’t cause any problems, and I trust that. He’s not from… there. I know it, so there’s no need to worry.”

It had been the second time someone danced around talking about an ominous place, one that they thought he might be from. He debated ‌whether it was worth asking about, ultimately choosing to grab some of the bacon and chew on that instead. He’d be home soon enough, and it wouldn’t matter.

“Fine. If you trust it, Elias, then I trust you.” The queen stood and turned away from the table, lifting her hand up to one of the staff. “I’ll be having my breakfast in my room, please. My appetite… needs a moment.” She looked back at Andrew briefly before turning away again. “It was nice to meet you, Andrew. Don’t do anything to upset my son or I’ll eat you.”

With that, the queen left.

Andrew had to cover his mouth to prevent the food in it from coming out with his laugh. “Did she say she’ll eat me? Oh, wow, I keep bouncing back and forth on how impressive and annoying it is that you guys won’t break the act. I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face saying even half of this stuff.”

Elias tapped his index finger on the table, eyeing Andrew carefully. “Andrew, you don’t think there’s a possibility that you’re so far from home that things are just different here? I mean, your clothes, hair, and half the things you say are new to me, and I’m sure the same could be said for you about me. Do you really think you’re so close to home that none of this is possible?”

“I don’t think I’m that far from home for a couple of reasons.” Enough food had been eaten for Andrew to stop for a moment to talk. “One,” he said as he held up a finger, “you and I can understand each other. For the most part, anyway.” He held up another finger. “Two, a lot of the stuff here does look familiar to me. It’s just all… old. Like something from a movie about ancient royal stuff. And three…” Andrew dropped his fingers in favor of picking up another roll. “There’s no way someone mugged me and then shipped me somewhere so far away. At most, they drove for a while and tossed me in the woods outside of this place. If I were unconscious for so long that they flew me somewhere, then I would’ve needed some intensive medical care.”

Another bout of silence fell over the room. That time, Andrew’s bravery dulled under Elias’ stare.

“If you think there’s enough of a reason to believe what you do, then that’s enough for me, too.” Elias popped a strawberry into his mouth, a glint of his fangs showing off in the morning light coming through the windows behind him. The curtains had been drawn back, allowing the sunlight to fill the room and eliminate the need to light the candles hung on the walls. “But, for the sake of my people, I have to ask you a very serious question, and you must answer honestly, Andrew.” The prince’s voice lowered in tone and volume, and his kind eyes narrowed into a cruel glare.

He nodded, his throat too tight to let any words escape.

“You’re not here under anyone’s command, are you? You truly stumbled into this kingdom by accident, and your only motive is to get home?”

Andrew licked his dry lips, forcing himself to look away from the prince and back at his nearly empty plate. “I’m not here for any weird reason, and I just want to go home and not think about all of this anymore. That’s all there is to me.”

The dark expression on Elias’ face disappeared as quickly as it came, any tension in the room melting away like the butter on the roll still in the prince’s hand. “Thank you, Andrew. That’s all I needed to know. Please keep eating, and when you’re done, we can find you some new clothes.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” Andrew wondered again why people were so concerned about where he was from. Was there a rival nerd camp that pulled pranks on them? Did they think he was a spy sent over to make their lives hell or give out intel? Or were they paranoid about the outside world finding their strange game? Maybe he’d keep his job as a tabloid writer a secret so they didn’t have any excuses to make his life any harder.

At least he had good food until he learned more or got out of there. And Elias wasn’t the worst to be stuck with. Maybe he could use his few interviewing skills and ask the prince more about himself so he’d open up. There had to be something that could break his facade or give Andrew a clue about where they actually were. Surely his entire history didn’t revolve around the game, and he’d have stories about visiting other places. Although after meeting his mother, Andrew wondered if he had stumbled into a cult. One that might not be too keen on letting him leave.