Astra

"No," I say, "not 'The Astra', just 'Astra'."

"Oh, okay. Astra, then. Call me Astra! Now give me another candy!"

"Alright, alright. Here you go," I say and take out another piece and hand it to her.

"Kris," Cisca says with a sigh as I watch Astra eat like a monkey, "I am tired now. Give me some time to process all this, and I will get back to you, alright?"

"Sure," I say.

Cisca reaches out to the camera and turns it off. The video feed disappears.

I turn over to Lohikaarmi, who is still kneeling on the ground with her mouth half-opened. This is the first time I have seen her face not being completely blank. Well, what just happened should crack even the most stoic of us.

"Lohikaarmi, you can stand up now," I say to her.

"Yes, Master," she says and gets back onto her feet.

The light of dusk casts through the window and glimmers off Lohikaarmi's armor.

"Hey, stranger from another world, what's your name?" Astra asks.

I look back to the Goddess. "Kris Kaplan, you can call me Kris."

"Kris, what are you trying to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, why did you come to this world?"

I stare into Astra's eyes. Despite her colloquial speech, there is deep wisdom behind those blue that shouldn't appear in the eyes of a little girl, or anyone, for that matter.

"The humans in the world I came from are facing imminent destruction, so I am here to seek a new shelter."

"Is there no God in your world?" Astra asks.

How am I supposed to answer this? To an apparent child, no less.

I shake my head slowly. "No, even if there was, we probably killed Him five hundred years ago."

"Bummer," Astra says, "So what? You are just going to bring everyone from your world over to mine?"

"If that's possible, and I guess okay with you, yes."

Astra shrugs. "I don't see why not," she says, "So what are you doing here alone?"

"There are some factors stopping that from happening. Basically, to fix them, I have to bring the civilization here to the same level as the one on Earth."

"And that's your current goal?"

"Yes."

She nods and says, "Interesting, interesting." Astra points her finger at my face and declares, "I shall aid you and your people in your journey to salvation!"

I chuckle at the oddity of the situation. "Thank you, Astra," I tell her.

"You are welcome. Now, give me another candy."

"Slow down, I don't have an endless supply."

I toss her another piece, and she catches it in her mouth.

"Well, you'd better find one, soon," Astra says while chewing loudly.

I turn around to look outside of the window. The sky is darkening. The sun sets the horizon aflame as it sinks under the rolling golden hills in the distance. On the town square right in front of the tavern, a crowd of elves gathers, bringing logs and throwing them into a pile in the very center of the square.

Booths are being erected around, and they are all covered in red. A few elves are on ladders, hanging banners and lanterns above the town roads between houses.

A thin mist hovers over the evening village as the residents roam around preparing for the Inferno Dragon Festival, adding another layer of mystical fantasy to what's already a surreal scene.

"It looks like the event is starting," I say to Lohikaarmi, "let's go check it out."

"Yes, Master," she says with a nod.

"Let me come with you, too!" Astra shouts while jumping down from the bed, almost falling over as she lands on the floor.

Damn, she is loud.

"Sure," I say and walk to the door. My "crew members" follow me out of the room.

I hear noises coming from the first floor. People are probably starting to gather at the tavern at this time of day.

On the way down the stairs, I realize that it's probably not the best idea to walk around with the armor that I took, seeing Tiasha's reaction from earlier. I'd rather not be confused with tyrannical soldiers who kidnap village girls.

The ground floor is illuminated by the waving orange flames from the lamps on the walls.

A single group of male elves is sitting around a table in the otherwise empty tavern, holding mugs of beverages in their hands and talking among each other. They are all evidently intoxicated and don't notice us joining the floor.

Tiasha is standing behind the counter, cleaning some cutlery with a piece of cloth while whistling absentmindedly.

"Hey," I say as I walk up to the counter in front of Tiasha. She looks up and smiles.

"Hello, do you guys need anything?" Tiasha asks.

"Yeah, do you happen to have three sets of clothing lying around?"

"Three?"

Tiasha tiptoes and looks over the counter. Astra, who was too short to have been seen before, gives her a wave.

"Ah, you woke up, muffin. How was your sleep?" Tiasha asks.

"Great!" Astra says with a big thumbs up.

Tiasha's eyes curve like the moon.

"She's so adorable! Are you two siblings?" She asks.

"Y-Yeah, that's right."

"That's nice. I should have some extra clothes in the back. Give me a second to check, I will be right back," Tiasha says and walks into the kitchen door behind her.

"Alright, thanks," I say as she is leaving.

While we are waiting for Tiasha's return, I overhear the conversation from the group behind us.

"Man," one of the elf says and burps loudly, "…remember the soldiers from the Theocracy who passed by yesterday?"

"Yeah? Who can forget those jerks? Waltzing in like they own the fucking place," another voice answers.

"Well," the first voice continues, "I heard they were going after the Inferno Dragon!"

"No!"

The group simultaneously bursts into laughter.

"Those arrogant bastards!" The second voice says, "I can't believe they are this stupid!"

"I know, right? At least none of them are ever going to come back and annoy us again."

"Hey, hey," a new voice comes in, whispering, "keep it down, you numbnuts, can't you see that there are two of them right there?"

Their excitement immediately dies down, but they carry on their conversation with whispers, even though their drunkenness has stripped their abilities to gauge their own volume.

"How did they survive?" One asks.

"You don't think…"

"No, there is no damn way they killed the dragon. It's only been one day."

"They got a little girl with them, too."

"She's a human. Did they take her from a village around here? But she is so small."

"Those despicable monsters…."

Even though I know that we are technically not the people their slanders are targeting, I still hate the feeling of having people talk bad about me. I turn my head slightly over my shoulder and shoot them a subtle side glance. That is enough to shut them up.

Tiasha comes out from the kitchen door with a pile of brown clothes in her arms.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, guys. Here you go," she says and sets the clothes on the counter.

"Thanks."

I take out the pouch of jingling coins and open it up.