She was surprised to see him approaching her desk. He could see her panicking.

He was there before she could find some kind of excuse to run off. He had waited for a moment when she was free of her normal surrounding psychofants.

"Hey, princess," he started. "Mind if we talk for a while?"

"Ahh, yes. Rafael, I believe your name was," she said, turning to him with a nervous, if somewhat brittle smile.

She was cute, Rafe had to admit. Had always been, but even more so now when she wasn't being so supremely confident her every word was gold. Still, he wasn't about to let her off easy.

"Are you being…shy right now?"

"What?! What are you talking about?"

"Your face is burning up," he observed. "Red and blue, huh. A pretty contrast, don't you think?"

"What?"

Rafe shrugged. "I guess that was just a convoluted way of saying you're cute."

She looked away this time. Rafe guffawed a little, only loud enough for her to hear him.

She turned back to him with a glare, but her face was still red. She somehow looked prettier. Like a cat.

"What are you…? You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

"Of course I was. Although my intention was to get you to loosen up a little."

"Well, it didn't work," she declared.

"I'll say," Rafe said with a helpless shrug. "Then I guess my only option is to remind you you are a princess. This is just a walk to discuss logistics or some such."

"Right," she said, snapping back into character.

Her back was straight, her head held high. She walked a little ahead of him, each of her steps purposeful, graceful. Rafe was just recognising this, but there was something about the princess. She wasn't like Filoria, who had a warrior's grace and poise from hours of training.

There was a different grace here. It was something Rafe doubted he'd ever have, even if he practiced hours every day.

"Royalty really is different from us normal people," Rafe commented.

"Hmm?" Helare sent a haughty look his way. "What was that?"

"I…think I like how graceful you are. I wish I could be half as poised most of the time."

And, she was back to blushing. What was up with her? For some reason, Rafe was sure she wasn't just acting some role right now. When they'd met a few weeks back, Helare would smile, glower or even giggle if it got her into someone's head. Now it seemed Rafe had somehow got into her head.

"You do?" she said with the first real smile he'd ever seen from her. It was bright, blinding. It was not doing his mission any favors.

"You didn't know my name," he said to change the subject.

"What?" she said, back to the confusion.

"You did not ask for my name when we first met. So I was surprised you knew it today."

She whipped her head back to the path they were following.

"Well," she started. "That was…rude of me, wasn't it?"

Rafe wanted to agree that it was indeed rude. He didn't get a chance because she was still speaking.

"And also when we first met Hestus. I might have said something that upset you without knowing. I just want to—"

"It's fine, princess." Rafe interrupted her.

His mission today was to get her to back off, not to get her to apologise. If she was about to say she was sorry, Rafe would have had his earlier sentiments proven wrong. Also, getting a princess to want to go that far? Well, he didn't know how he felt about that, but it definitely wasn't a bad feeling.

"If anything, I'm at fault for that day. I didn't know enough about your culture and almost said you were Eleme—" he stopped himself just in time. He noticed Helare hadn't reacted as strongly this time, but her body had stiffened a little, almost imperceptibly. "That word. I guess you didn't know enough about me as well, and said somethings that might have angered me. I don't know if this explains anything, but I was having a terrible time. I'm stuck in this place, away from my home, and this whole confusing system, and now a stranger is trying to…I guess I overreacted a bit. I'm sorry, princess."

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She had stopped walking and turned to him at some point. Her eyes were wide, but he supposed that was just how elemenoid pupils looked most of the time. Then she let her head droop in a very unprincess-like manner.

".... nt princess," she mumbled unintelligibly.

"What was that?"

"I said my name is not princess," she said, tilting her head up towards him.

Her pout this time was not forced, and it hit him like a physical blow. For some reason, he knew on this occasion it wasn't just his young body's hormones messing with him. This girl was going to be dangerous.

"Helare, then," he said, just to move the conversation along.

He had no intention of having to talk with her after today anyway.

"...ael."

What the hell? Was she struggling to say his name for some reason? That did not happen in real life, did it?

Something tagged at his top. He looked down in surprise. Only to see Helare's hand clumping on the cloth of his shirt. He was taken aback.

"Rafael," she said again.

He could feel his heart speeding up, his breathing too. This situation could not be allowed to continue. Luckily, they were both very busy people. With their argument resolved, Helare would probably stop stalking his camp on a daily basis, wouldn't she?

"I made you something," he said in a rush. "To commemorate my apology."

He gave her the little box. She opened it.

"They're ear ornaments," he explained when she just looked at the two jewel encrusted metals he'd struggled to shape just right. "I made them myself, so… Anyway they are nothing expensive, certainly not like the ones you're wearing. If you could just…the gems match your eye colour. I…ah. I think I've got to go."

He ran. There was no other explanation for it. That had been more than a little embarrassing. He didn't know how he would have felt if the princess had decided to throw away his admittedly not great work. He did not have dexterity yet, though he made up for it with a very attentive to detail method.

He also had insights that worked to improve the final product, but its beauty was still lacking. He did not want to hear the truth about the futility of his attempts.

The next day, Helare returned to her desk, poised as ever. Only this time her hair was tied in a way that one of her ears was exposed. And something hang there, dangling.

Rafe did not know how to feel about it. He did not want to admit it had made his heart flutter a bit. That would be admitting defeat.

Defeat? He considered that thought. Were they in some kind of war, some kind of game? He couldn't remember anything of the sort. But he was satisfied. Yes, he was strangely content that Helare had not decided to not come back to her desk again. There was still some connection between them. It was satisfying.

"Rafael," the familiar voice came from behind him as he and Hestus examined one of the completed swords.

Rafe had been relegated to only making blades in this venture. He'd even stopped directly supervising the ore refining process after a few days. Beautifying the blades, adding the pommel and such, and then enchanting. That had all been left to the labourers Helare provided.

"Umm, princess," he said, his eyes twitching around nervously.

His plan hadn't worked. There were still so many eyes on him. And for some reason, the princess was not being princess-like. She was pouting, and he soon recognised why.

He leaned and whispered. "Hey, it's not appropriate for me to call you Helare in public. You are a princess, after all."

She blinked at him when he retreated, but Rafe had the impression she had been more surprised by his leaning into her than anything. But she had heard his words too.

"Leave us," she commanded, and they were left alone in seconds.

Even Hestus, though he kept throwing questioning glances Rafe's way before he left.

"So?" Helare started.

"So," Rafe replied, not looking at her.

He could see her struggling for something to say. "Are you perhaps interested in enchanting?" she asked finally.

"Why would I be?" Rafe asked, genuinely curious.

She shrugged. "I mean, knowing rune craft does get you a new upgrade path for your profession, so…"

"It…does?" Rafe asked.

'Ding' World Quest obtained.

Objective: Become the first true friend of the fifth princess of Primus 509.

Rewards: A history of Primus 509. A favour from the local pantheon.

Rafe read through the system notification. Then he read through it again. Again. He had no idea what was happening right then.

"So, your excuse for calling me princess?" Helare asked him, her pout back in place.

"You, uhm, you do lose your princess-like poise when you talk to me, you know?"

"I do?" she asked. Then, "do you not like it?"

But Rafe was distracted. What was with the notification on his screen? Local pantheon? Primus 509? World Quest?

"I guess I feel comfortable around you," Helare said quietly, uncertainly.

Rafe's attention snapped back to her.

"Hey. I never asked, but what is the name of your world?"

Helare blinked at the change in subject, but then her eyes widened.

"Oh, you want to know more about me? Well, when the four tribes lived together in harmony, we called it Primus. Then the system came and it started calling us Primus 509. Hestus says it's because Primus is a common name other worlds in the multiverse have used before. We were debating changing it to PriMa'la before promotion."

Primus 509. Just like in this weird new notification.

"What is your world called?"

"Hmm? Ahhh, it was called Earth."

"Hey, Rafael, you seem distracted by something."

"Rafael is too long. Friends call me Rafe," he said, still focused on the weird notification.

"Rafe? Oh, a short form of Rafael. Wait! Friends call you that. Did you …do you think we are friends?"

"Hmm? What? Ahhh, sure we are friends."

"I…I see. Well, I'll leave you to your work for now."

And then she was gone, and Rafe was confused about what the hell was going on. But also, hadn't he become friends with her in the end.

'Ding' Quest completed.

Commencing information cycle.

Rafe thought he was ready for anything. He had to be, with the recent upheavals in his life and plans. He was not.

Something like this had happened once before though. When he'd first entered the Skyholm legacy trial, he'd been allowed to witness moments from the lives of the gods.

At the time, he had been no more than an outside observer. This time he was a part of it though. A part of the visions.

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