We continued our halting conversation over the rest of lunch. I learned that the town of Fleuve Clair sat in the bend of a fair-sized river, one used for trade. Bastien was from some sort of guild or merchant organization, I thought. He pointed to a small stone tower of a building, perhaps four floors tall, down the street. I nodded, not really having any idea what it was, or what the sign near the door meant.

The sign itself was a silvery metal, perhaps steel, polished until it shined. A wooden border framed the sign, whose largest feature was a star tilted as if in travel. Wavy lines streamed out behind it. In a corner of the sign, what appeared to be a stone arch was etched.

I began to understand why Bastien was excited - some sort of scholarly organization that watched for people coming through the Gate? Or maybe multiple gates? Or even studied how they worked?

Bastien wanted to know about my side of the Gate, too. Of course he would. I told him what I could, but my vocabulary was limited, especially as this wasn't even standard French. It seemed to be a sort of mixture of French-like words and Irish-like words. I said the name, in English: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He tilted his head for a moment, then said "ah!" and repeated the words with a very strange pronunciation.

So... they did know about us. Interesting.

When we'd finished our light lunch, we got to the awkward part of the conversation. I wasn't sure where it was supposed to go. I still needed a place to sleep, a way to make money so I could take care of myself. I wasn't sure how to ask about it.

A tap on my arm from Bastien shook me from my thoughts and I looked over at him. He was waving at a woman emerging from the building, and she walked quickly toward us. When she got closer, I could see that she had long brown hair and a kind face. Her outfit was simple, one of those off-white, puffy linen shirts, a long blue skirt with spiral patterns around the bottom hem, a silver necklace, and leather boots.

Bastien said a few sentences in their language, something about La Lune, about Vancouver, and that phrase that sounded like "fee rail" again. Did they have some kind of a train system?

The woman suddenly turned her attention to me and shocked me by speaking in heavily accented English.

"You came through the arch?" she asked. It took a lot of effort to understand, still, but it was a heck of a lot better than what we had up to then.

I nodded.

"I am Maela. Can you stay?" she asked.

It was like she'd read my mind.

"I'm Alyx. Alyx Covington. I was hoping I could stay, for a little while," I replied. "I need a way to make money and a place to stay, though."

A look passed between Bastien and Maela.

She waved her hands back and forth. "Not to be worried," she said. "Room at guild."

I was starting to wonder what the price would be, money or no.

Bastien spoke with Maela for a moment, and then she turned back to me.

"Bastien reminds me, we have need for paper copy helpers. You can read and write, yes?"

I nodded. "I don't know your language, though. And the letters are different."

To my surprise, she reached up and patted the top of my head, smiling. "You look smart, Alyx. You will learn fast!"

It still felt too easy, that I was missing something important, or there was a misunderstanding. What did they want from me? Or had I just spent too long on Earth?

However, it was going to their guild or starting over with someone else, so I picked up my backpack and followed them with a grateful smile.

The inside of the guild building was surprisingly modern-looking. The floors were polished wood of a light colour, maybe alder. The outer walls were fairly old-looking brick, but it had clearly been kept well. The interior walls looked to be some sort of beige plaster. Large wooden beams held the ceiling overhead, and besides arched windows, the bottom floor room was dotted with those lights I'd seen outside; on second thought, they did look more electric than anything else. Just inside the door, a wooden countertop divided the entry from a sort of front office space.

A larger plaque hung on the wall, very similar to the one outside, but this one was missing the gate symbol. The gate had its own little plaque off to the side, but it was clearly not the, ahem, star attraction. The bottom of the star-and-lines plaque was filled with text. Largest, on the bottom: Fí-Réalta. And above that, in smaller letters: consoeurie.

Bastien, Maela, and a slight man sitting behind the counter started a lengthy conversation, occasionally pointing at me. The secretary looked at me after the exchange and raised his eyebrows, saying, "Hmmmm!"

"Daire can help find room," Maela said to me. "Also ask him if you want work."

I grinned nervously at Daire as he stood and beckoned me along.

I left my hiking boots in a foyer downstairs. As usual, they stuck out like sore thumbs amongst all the other shoes. Past the entryway, everyone was wearing simple leather indoor slippers. I grabbed some that seemed to fit for myself.

I thought I'd give myself some time to settle in rather than diving right into earning some money. Plenty of time for that tomorrow.

The room they lent to me was simple, more like a UBC dorm room than anything. The door opened into a room of those plaster walls and polished wooden flooring. To the right, a simple twin bed and a wardrobe filled half the room. The wardrobe door opened to a mirror and several pieces of clothing, mostly coats of a couple of thicknesses.

I dropped my pack into the wardrobe, thanking past-me for putting some basic luggage locks inside. It wouldn't do to have someone poking around and finding my phone.

Across from the door, a fairly tall window in a wooden frame looked down onto the fountain square. From the higher vantage point, I could see that Fleuve Clair was larger than it had looked from the ground. No real skyscrapers here, but it was no "medieval hut fantasy town", either. Everything showed a great deal of craftsmanship and care, and even if it was different from Earth, they clearly had a good amount of technical skill, too.

The fountain square below was much quieter; it seemed that most of the vendors had gone home. The square itself was laid out with interesting brick-work, much like some of the smaller plazas I'd seen on the way in, a combination of angular and fluid shapes, straight lines that somehow looked circular, in hints of knot-work.

In the distance, from that height, I could also see those strange taller buildings. I wasn't sure what they were, but they looked drastically more organic and modern than the rest. Almost like someone had sculpted them carefully and then frozen them into place. I'd never seen anything on Earth quite like it.

The sun had started to go down, and the already-visible auroras became brighter and brighter. I'd seen auroras on Earth a time or two, and even in the best conditions, they were usually pretty dim. The nighttime auroras there were crazy bright, and all different gem shades.

When I smelled food, I went downstairs.

Since the guild building was both for business and a dormitory of some kind, they apparently served dinner for everyone staying at the building, no charge. I sat in a corner, not really feeling sociable after the long day. Most of the meal was made of things I recognized, beans, potatoes, that sort of staple. A thin broth soup had a flavour palette I recognized as more Chinese than anything. A kind of meat that looked and mostly tasted like chicken was dished out in small quantities. Finally, little dessert chocolates with a cream filling reminiscent of the cheese I'd had at lunch. Drinks were water, and something that smelled alcoholic and vaguely herbal, but I wanted to keep my wits about me, so I stuck to water. The water in the Gate place was really good, anyway, as I'd discovered in the Clearing.

I dropped off my tray and headed back upstairs. My first meal in another world! And soon, my first night in another world! And tomorrow, my first day of work in another world!