Maedwyn

“Hello, Stanley.”

She smiled at me as I approached the fountain in the plaza’s center. I didn’t think I’d see her this early in the morning. “What are you doing here?” I asked, grinning and catching my breath.

“I awaited you.” She stood from the bench, her green cloak falling behind her.

She stood out—not only because of her bright red hair—but also because of her garments. She wore knee-high brown leather boots, blue leggings, a black studded leather vest with a white blouse beneath it, and a jeweled flowery tiara atop her head.

She was Maedwyn—Queen of the Highlands in Taikalind.

If I told anyone of how I stumbled across her realm, they would think I was crazy. If I told anyone that she was from another realm, they would think I was beyond insane. Truth was that I already lost my mind a long time ago.

“I told you I’d be here?” I grabbed the towel from around my neck so that I could wipe at my face.

“Yes. You stated that you would have a little jog around this town square, and that you would show me the scenery. It appears that you have forgotten?” She chuckled quietly.

I stopped some feet away from her, glancing toward the fountain’s water for a moment. Then I let out my own amused sound. “I guess I did. I don’t even remember telling you about the jog.”

“You didn’t.” Another smile as she stepped past me, brushing aside her cloak. “I overheard you speaking on that strange device of yours that you always hold.”

She motioned toward my left pocket where my phone was. That made me chuckle again.

“Oh, and you didn’t exactly tell me that you’d show me the scenery. I just—” Maedwyn stopped midsentence to stare toward one of the shops straight ahead. Her elaborately braided hair gently swayed in the breeze in the same motions as her cloak.

I knew why she had stopped. Ever since she first crossed into my world of Earth, she had fallen in love with its delicacies—particularly the sweets.

Most especially chocolate.

Which was what her eyes stared toward now—a shop called Marcus’s Chocolaterie.

I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my lips as I moved forward to step beside her. “Wanna check it out?”

She gave me a look—her emerald eyes wide with that glee that I could tell she tried to contain. “Oh, can we?”

“Of course. Come on. I’m a little sweaty though, so I might not be too good of company.”

Maedwyn leaned in to give me a small sniff. “You are just fine. Typical man scent. On we go.” She moved ahead of me, leaving me laughing softly behind her.

Now she might have been a queen in her realm. However, since she arrived here four days ago, she had a sort of childlike wonder to her. I had met her while on a scavenger hunt for purple lilacs for my botany course. I had crossed a field and a thick grove, entering a meadow that I thought was on my planet. I had learned quickly that I crossed an invisible border into Taikalind where she ruled. I ran into her as she traveled on an equine-looking animal and questioned my presence there.

She had been soft-spoken, reserved, and stern in Taikalind where I stayed for two days. On Earth, it seemed like she tried to keep to that same demeanor, but so many new things excited her.

I increased my pace to reach over and open the shop’s door for her. She stepped through without a glance in my direction. Being Queen and all—she was probably used to it.

Maedwyn came to a slow stop near the center of the small and empty interior, inhaling the aroma that immediately struck our noses. Her eyes slid shut and she smiled. “We don’t have these sorts of delicacies in Taikalind.”

“I think I remember noticing that when I asked for dessert, and I received some sort of meat pie with honey.” I gave her a look before proceeding toward the display case of desserts. From what I could see, all of them were made from different selections of chocolates. “You may be here a while choosing.”

Maedwyn stood next to me, her eyes roaming over the different chocolate cake slices, the profiteroles, the pies, the napoleons, and the doughnut holes. It was after a few moments when she gently bit her bottom lip. “Which do you think is the best one?”

“You can sample them if you like,” a teenaged boy’s voice stated

I glanced up at the scrawny fellow behind the counter. “Yeah? All of them?”

“Sure. These are just our most-ordered samples.” He cleared his throat, motioning up to the menu diagonally above him. “You can sample any of our base desserts with any of the chocolates. Or you can choose to take from these.”

I turned to Maedwyn who was already looking at me in this rare moment for her where uncertainty took over. Then I faced forward again. “We’ll take samples of everything in the display case.”

A chocolate adventure.

The teenager nodded, staring at Maedwyn then as though finally noticing her. I saw him flush, which he probably did in a mixed reaction to her bizarre (for Earth) outfit and her otherworldly beauty. I wasn’t going to lie and say that I didn’t notice those two factors when I first saw her in the Taikalind meadow.

After I paid and he vanished toward the back of the shop, I sat with Maedwyn by the window near the door. It appeared that this little place didn’t receive many visitors this early in the morning. It was sort of a good thing since other people would probably spend their time staring at us and thinking that the Queen was going to some sort of costume convention.

“Your methods of currency are so strange here.” Maedwyn briefly gazed out the window before turning to face me. “That little card holds such power.”

In her world, they used gemstones and fruits mainly. It was interesting.

“I guess, in a way, you’re right,” I said while smiling a bit. I leaned back in my chair. “You know, honestly, I thought you would have returned to Taikalind by now.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head. “Why is that?”

“Well, because you’re the Queen. You kind of left on short notice. Just left your two most trusted guards in charge, and—”

“With the Council.”

“Yeah, with the Council. But I’d assume you had a lot to tend to and take care of. I also thought you’d hate this place.” I cleared my throat while casting my eyes toward the center of the table. “Your place is so beautiful and clean and almost pure. Here it’s…. Well, it needs some work.”

She smiled a bit, reaching up to unhook her cloak. “Every place needs some work, Stanley.” She slid the fabric from about her shoulders and gently folded it over the back of the chair beside her. “As do people.” She neatly interlaced her fingers on the table, keeping her forearms on the surface but her elbows pointed toward her lap. “You told your…comrade?...that you jog to get your mind clear. What are you clearing?”

“Yeah, that was a friend of mine.” I ran my hand through my hair, peeking out the window briefly. “I was—”

The teenager returned with a plate. “Here you go. You both can start off with a slice of dark chocolate cherry cake. It was just baked. I’ll be placing the other desserts down as they go.” He set the plate onto the table’s center.

“Thank you,” I said while Maedwyn gave a polite nod to the youngster in response.

When he left, I took one of the spoons and waited for Maedwyn to take a piece first, which she did. She cut into the cake, asking, “So you were saying?”

“Right. Yeah. I’m just behind on some bills…er, payments. Things also aren’t going great at work, my father is sick, I need to hire a plumber, and I might have a job offer, but it’s all the way across the country.”

Maedwyn finished her first bite of the cake, instantly going for the next piece. “What is a…plumber?”

“Oh.” I chuckled, shaking my head. “Just…just a guy who fixes a big part of a home.” I reached to get my first piece of cake.

Maedwyn nodded. “It seems that these issues are taking control of you instead of you controlling them.”

“What do you mean?” I put the spoon in my mouth. Gosh, this was delicious.

“You wish to clear your mind of them instead of jogging and finding a solution for each. Your father and the Fixer Gentleman should be your priorities. Anything monetary, I am certain can be bargained or borrowed. If you enjoy the new offer for work, take it. Sometimes our homes call to us from across the way. We merely need to listen and respond.”

I stared at her—stared longer than I should have as she took her now third bite. I cut a second piece, choosing to leave the rest of it for her.

“Maybe that is how you arrived in my land to begin with,” Maedwyn continued. “You went to search for flowers. Now you can go for what can bloom within you.”

A slow smile crept onto my lips as I thought back to my travels for the lilac. “Well, that’s a way to phrase it.” My smile grew. I raised my spoon toward my mouth as I watched her. “I wonder if it’s your call I heard that day.”

Maedwyn waved me off. “Do not be silly, Stanley. I was not calling anyone.”

I looked at the flowers in her tiara before returning my gaze to her face, watching as she ate the cake. “Hm.”

She dabbed at her lips with a napkin, looking at me then. “What is it?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

That had all been three years ago. Funny enough, that day at the chocolate shop had been her last day on Earth. She needed to return home before she was gone for too long and taken deeper by the new world.

Enamored, she had called it. She had never ventured far outside of her realm before because of royal duties.

As for me, I had taken that job across the country—a plant and flower researcher for a museum. They had discovered a new species, which I named Maados after Maedwyn. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t still think about her now and then. I had even made several attempts to cross the mystical border into the meadow again, but it never worked.

Perhaps we had both fulfilled our temporary calling. She got her venture and I got my job.

I did return to see my dad though. I visited my original home one summer week, and thankfully he was better. He was happier. I was happier.

On my last day, I couldn’t help but visit Marcus’s Chocolaterie again. Stepping through the threshold, I was instantly brought back to a magical moment that almost hadn't seemed to exist in my life. Had it all been real? Or had I imagined her and Taikalind? Perhaps it had been a vision to get my life going.

Still—as I smelled the chocolate in the air—I remembered clearly, despite everything being so different. New workers, many more patrons in the shop—unlike before. Not as empty.

As I wistfully smiled at a slice of chocolate cake in the display case, I heard the door chime behind me. A flowery aroma suddenly struck my nose.

It couldn’t be.

I peeked over my shoulder to see who had entered, and all I knew was that my smile had remained as a voice cut through the air.

“Hello, Stanley.”