Seven Devils and a Rose

Brenna said, "Lord Felix said something along the lines of we can't let you walk around half blind, and I contacted Lord Caleb online to confirm it was okay for you to wear our lenses. He approved."

Now my head was spinning. I asked, "Wait a minute. Online?"

The word sounded familiar, after all.

Aria said, "We have an online communication system here so we can connect with anyone we know and—"

"Wait." I cut her off. Online communication, eh? And yet I had not seen one cell phone nor laptop around the premises.

I continued, perplexed, "How? How do you connect and chat online?"

Aria said, as she pointed to her temple, "Here." Then she touched her chest where her heart resided, "And here."

Now I was even more lost and expressed so on my face.

Brenna explained. "Every individual has qi, which is unique to them, Alfie. Once you know their qi, then you can roam and connect with them. You can even talk to them."

Her explanation made sense, and I began to understand how this online communication worked in this world. Instead of the network working through power cable and radio wave, they use qi to communicate via their minds and hearts. To me, this sounded like telepathy.

I asked, "It's like a Wi-Fi connection but with qi instead?"

Aria nodded. "That's right. How did you know of our network?"

"Beg your pardon?" I asked.

"WIFI is our qi network," she said.

"I see," I said, nodding my head. So their network was called WIFI, eh? I couldn't help but smile.

"Are your eyes comfortable, Alfie?" Aria asked, changing the subject.

I nodded. "Yes, very."

"That's good, then," she said, smiling. "Now then, before you can go out and about on your merry way, we need to make sure you can operate the lenses."

I nodded in understanding, since the lenses had the zoom function, after all.

Aria said, "Now, to zoom in and out, you just need to do it like when you're focusing between short and long distance."

Of course, her instruction sounded easy, but when I tried, shifting my eyes balls around like a maniac, I got rather dizzy.

Brenna was giggling, while Aria tried her best at hiding her amusement.

I said, "This is harder than I thought."

"The fibers of the magic lenses are attached to your optic nerves and, hence, to your brain, which is where the command is," Aria said in explanation. "So if you think about wanting to zoom your sight in and out between short and long distance, then it should be able to work."

"Ah, I see," I said, nodding my head.

This time, I concentrated on zooming in by glaring at a small box at the back of the tent, imagining it getting bigger. And voila! The image of the box suddenly enlarged before my eyes, and I shrieked as I found myself falling back, along with the chair, onto the ground.

Brenna came rushing, asking, "Alfie, are you all right?"

I laughed. "Yes, I'm fine. I got thrown off balance because I zoomed in too fast and the image just sort of jumped out at me."

Aria said, pleased, "Then you've managed to operate your lenses?"

I nodded. "I can kind of manage it but will need more practice."

Ten minutes later, Brenna and I headed out of the clinic. In my hands, I held a facecloth, along with a toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste. Along the way toward the river to clean myself up, I practiced with my zooming in and out, locking on images of mountains in the distances (which I could bring up a little closer to examine the unique, pointy peaks), trees with bird nests, wildflowers with bright colors, and even small bees sucking on nectar. I must admit that I was getting used to the lenses and the zooming function.

Brenna said, "Looks like you're having fun with your new lenses."

I nodded. "Very much so." I turned to her and cocked my head to one side as I looked at her intensely.

"By the way, I can just call you Brenna, right? I mean the fact that I'm from another kingdom means that I have no idea how I should address people in this kingdom." I gave her a lame excuse. After all, I couldn't possibly tell her that I was not of this world and, therefore, had no clue as to how one addressed another here.

Brenna smiled brightly, her cheeks blushing red. She said, "Yes, just call me Brenna. In fact, it would please me very much if you do so. Miss Kent is just so stifling."

I nodded. "Then Brenna it is. And you're already calling me Alfie, so that's fine." Then I took the opportunity and asked, "So this kingdom… Acaedien, I believe… How does one address the higher-ups? My lords?" That was what I had heard when Aria was addressing Caleb and Felix.

Brenna nodded and said, "Yes, when we're addressing the higher-ups, we use my lord.

I nodded in understanding.

Brenna continued. "So when referring to them, it's his lordship."

Again, I nodded.

"I was just wondering…" Brenna began.

I turned to the girl with raised brows because she sounded rather hesitant. "Hm?"

Brenna blushed profusely and said, "I mean, it's really none of my business or anything, but… You were referring to Lord Felix as just Felix. I mean we, as in Aria, Leona, and I, are fairly close to all seven lords, but… we don't call them by their first name alone."

Oh dear! Was she trying to tell me that I was being impolite and ignorant or something? Had that been why they had looked so astonished when I called Felix by his first name alone?

I felt the need to explain that it wasn't my fault, but that brute's. Thus, I cleared my throat and said, "Felix told me to call him that. I mean, I did call him my lord before, but he insisted that I call him Felix."

Of course, I didn't tell her about our contract, that in exchange for Felix calling me Alfie instead of little elf and him helping me in getting home, I'd call him Felix and give him morning kisses daily.

"I see," Brenna said, frowning. "It's unusual for Lord Felix to do that."