It was nearing midnight when Kara came for me. She touched my shoulder as I sat up from one of my prayers. I stumbled as I tried to stand. “The new moon means no drinking, right?” She asked as she helped me keep my balance. As always she glanced at the scar on my chest and as always she didn’t ask about it. “Me feet are asleep. I’m sober,” I assured her. “The sky is empty and so am I.” “That’s a way to remember it.” She handed me my clothes. She waited for me to dress but didn’t watch. “Thanks,” I pulled them on. They didn’t help to warm me. “Why don’t you go Underhill when it’s so cold out? Didn’t you say it was warmer?” I sighed. Would she understand? “Connie’s there.” “I thought you liked Connie. You created her.” “I like her, but she’s not real. She’s a figment of my imagination, a memory of someone I met once, long ago.” “So?” She started towards the stairs. “You spend the night naked with someone you find attractive and see where it leads.” She paused. “You’re telling me you’re avoiding her so you don’t have sex with her?” “Pretty much.” I gestured for her to continue. I was cold. “I never thought I’d see the day.” “If she was real, I’d have no problem, but how healthy would that be to spend that kind of time with someone who’s not real?” I followed her down the stairs. “Besides, how would you feel if I made a phantasm of you to sleep with?” She turned to look at me. “You better not.” “I have no intention of doing that. Connie’s the only real person I’ve made and that was an accident. But you see my point. I’m trying to be respectful of the real woman and I thank you for your help with that.” “Not a problem. I’d rather not go up there and find a body some morning.” I paused at my door. “Do you want to come in for a bit?” “Don’t you have to get back?” “Not until morning. Roy will call if they need me sooner.” She shrugged and followed me in. I was still freezing so I grabbed my bathrobe and put it on over my clothes and slipped into my slippers. “What? No request for help warming up?” Kara asked. I had thought about it but decided against it. “Not on a new moon, or at least I shouldn’t. Do you want anything to drink?” I poured myself some desperately needed water. “Water’s fine. When can you eat again?” “Ideally, dawn. But if I need to cast, I can eat earlier. When I was a soldier for my people, I would eat as soon as worship ended, if I had to go on duty. Last fall, when I had a broken leg it was only from noon to midnight.” “So fasting isn’t required?” “It is, but it’s meant to show loyalty, not harm us. If it’s going to cause us problems, we aren’t to do it. Like when I was on pain meds, I didn’t drink and when I had the cast, I didn’t pray prostrate.” “Or coming down tonight at midnight so you don’t freeze?” Kara added. I nodded. “And I also ate a bit this morning after casting so I didn’t pass out. Elven Gods appreciate the spirit of the law over the letter of it.” “Why do you call them Gods rather than Gods and Goddesses?” “It’s shorter. In the elven language, the term doesn’t distinguish between genders. Only in languages that have two words do we use both and usually only if we’re talking about the women, not if it includes both.” “Do you mind me asking so many questions?” I smiled. “No our cultures are very different. I’ve seen yours but you can’t see mine.” “I can’t imagine how hard it was for you.” I bit my tongue to avoid turning that into an innuendo. I didn’t want her to leave. “At times,” I finally said. “How’s the case going? Making any progress?” I nodded. “I think maybe. I can’t tell you any details.” “When do you think you’ll be back? Any guess?” “Sometime next week at the latest. Either we catch them or they move on.” “How are your old friends?” “It was nice to see them again and let them know I’m not dead. But I’m used to having to move every couple of decades and losing touch with my old life.” “Will you have to do that here too?” “There’s no need. I don’t have to hide anymore I can stay as long as I want.” “That’s good. It’s nice here.” “It is,” I agreed but not for the same reason she meant. “Anything happen while I was gone?” “I heard there’s a Hitchcock marathon at the community center next Saturday.” I grinned, Kara loved Hitchcock. “Which ones?” “Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds.” “Do you want to go?” She shrugged. “I mean you and me together on a date.” She glanced at me in surprise. I’d flirted with her, made passes, and even asked her to sleep with me but I’d never asked her out. “Just the movies, maybe dinner, and me being a gentleman and not trying to sleep with you.” She smiled. “Okay. If you’re not hitting on me, I enjoy being with you.” “I won’t hit on you unless I get drunk, and since I’m not taking any elven alcohol, you’re, safe.” “At least until the full moon. I’ll send Rich up for you then.” The pass I’d made was when she’d come up to get me during a full moon, since then, our neighbor, Rich, has acted as a chaperone. “I am sorry for that.” “And the time you asked me to sleep with you and three other women?” I grinned. “I shouldn’t have done that.” “And the time you asked me to sleep with you and Roy?” “I wasn’t serious. There’s no way I’d sleep with Roy. I knew neither of you would agree. Kara, I flirt with you because it’s my nature. I’m not going to force you to do something I know you don’t want to do.” “I trust you.” “But I won’t say no if you change your mind.” She chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me.” I resisted saying anything that might make her uncomfortable. Kara stood. “It’s late and you have to be back in Hartdale in the morning. I should get going.” I stood too. “Thanks again for your help.” “No problem. I’ll see you soon.” I nodded to avoid asking her to stay. “Not going to happen.” “I didn’t say anything.” “You thought it.” Many times. “But I didn’t say it or act on it. Thoughts happen. It’s how we act.” I walked her to her door to make sure she got in okay. I saw Rich coming down the hall as I went back to my own apartment, “Is everything okay?” I asked. “Who needs Granny Smith apples at midnight?” Rich’s wife was expecting and every month she craved something different. I chuckled. “Be glad it was something common, once knew a woman who would crave braunschweiger made at one deli and dill pickles from a deli in the opposite direction.” We had been dating for a few weeks when she found out she was pregnant. I had wanted to help her raise the child. And she’d been willing until I told her I wasn’t human. Things had fallen apart quickly after that. She hadn’t been mad at me for hiding it and had tried to accept it, but she saw more and more of my differences and couldn’t cope. Rich rolled his eyes. “Stock up and freeze them.” I nodded. I had done just that. “I better get these to her.” I nodded again and went back inside and crawled into bed in my clothes and robe still cold. Next time I may have to go Underhill and face Connie.