• I stared at the woman, the 'Tavolaner,' as she put it. Questions spiraled around my head. Mess up the future? What was she talking aout? Why would she be waiting for me? What's a tavolaner? I decided to go ahead and put voice to the last question. "What's a Tay-tavolaner?" I stuttered over the unfamiliar word.
    The tavolamer thought for a moment. "A tavolaner is a tavola's partner, tamer, and trainer."
    Another new word. "Tavola?"
    The tavolaner nodded. "Tavola. It's a kind of creature that's part of you, bound to you. It grows, limited only by you. But, I'm not really the person to tell you about all this. The people you meet will tell you about this. After all," she winked at me, "People with amnesia can't help that they lost their memories, and other people are oh so helpful when trying to fill the 'blank'!" The tavolamer smiled kindly at me, then winked again.
    Amnesia? Like, when you lose all or most of your memories? Had the tavolamer been forced to feign amnesia once to gather information? Was she somehow hinting that I must feign amnesia to learn about these 'tavola' and 'tavolamer' things? Why couldn't she just tell me herself? And, an older question, "Why are you waiting for me?"
    The tavolaner grinned. "Well, I'm obviously not waiting for you anymore, because you're here now," she replied cheekily, "But as for why I was waiting for you, well... I've come to take you to Talmanar."
    Great. Another foreign word. Talmanar, this time. Was that a place? I had never heard of it before. And I sure as heck wasn't going to go waltz off there with an unknown stranger who wouldn't even tell me her name. But, it couldn't hurt to ask about this 'Talmanar' place could it? "Where is that?"
    She responded instantly. "Talmanar isn't a place, it's a world." I gasped. Woah. Not what I was expecting. A different world? "That's where tavola's and tavolamers are. That's where we're going."
    "Hang on a second! WE are going in? As in, you and me?" I squeked out, trying to keep my panic from showing in my voice.
    The tavolamer nodded. "Yes, we, you included, are going to Talmanar. Unfortunately, this is the last time you'll see your'e house and family for quite a while."