Yala took a long sip of her tea. The idea to share her experiences with that almost complete stranger made her head itch, exactly where, once, her horns were. She landed the cup delicately, facing the guy.

- When I arrived in your world, more than a thousand years ago, everything was different from nowadays, just as this reality was new to me. Unlike the Kingdom of Dreams, your atmosphere is palpable. I had a body and it was… confusing. At the same time, I felt a turmoil of things through my ears, eyes, nose, mouth. A lot of concentration was needed to situate myself in the now.

- So, you weren’t born like us? - Said the guy.

- Literally, I emerged, here, like I did there, with the difference that, beyond my physical body, I have conscience and control over my ethereal body. But, in the end, my major difficulty was dealing with your time.

- How is it there, in your world?

- Well… where I come from, time runs in all directions. - The boy just stared at her, waiting for an explanation for that. - I can’t explain something that you can’t feel… but… give me your hands, I had an idea.

The boy landed his hands on the table, with his palms facing up. Yala held them delicately, reciting, almost inaudibly, chants in a weird language. Suddenly, the guy was not there anymore, but on the counter, next to the sleepy attendant, in the air, on the table, in the dark and dimly lit street, he was a few instants before and at the same time in possible futures from there. He saw his cat sleeping quietly and waking up, hearing the door opening when he got home, a few hours from there. But he never stopped being at the 24/7 cafeteria. Yala stared at him.

- Did you understand?

- I… think so… really, you couldn’t have explained something like that… it’s like I was at the same time…

- Living in the past, the present and the future? No. It’s more complicated, because I’m not living what happened, I am just living the now, nevertheless, connected to its endless possibilities and developments. Who knows one day, when abandoning your material existence, may you understand? Better keep telling my story. - Yala let the boy’s hands go and settled in her chair. - Just as you don’t understand this perception of time, I needed to come here and understand yours. Dream did that too. 

- Are you saying… Dream itself?

- Yes. Well, when I understood the relativity of your time, the difference between the clock and the movement of the planets or, as you like to say, “the time that the sun takes to rise and set”, things got easier for me. Happily, the King of Dreams sent me to a place not inhabited by your species, to be able to adapt without risks. The magic in me was so powerful that the matter of your world was always unable to hold it. I needed to invest months of observation and training to reach the aspects of this dimension and have total control over my powers.

“For being who I am and coming where I come from, I see the Web of Existence and everything that it connects. This ability helped me to comprehend how the energy flow of your world works: the winds, the seas, the earth. At every new day, the anxiety to present myself to you grew stronger. Caution was needed, and it is here, my darling, that things started to get… risky.”

- What could be more dangerous than adapting to our reality? - Speaking out loud and hearing what was said made the guy find his own answer alone. Yala observed him, peaceful - Us. - he said, to what she agreed, with a nod.