Page 86 of Myths and Shifts

“There’s a spell for learning a new language?” Boyd asked the question at least half the room was confused about.

Toman glanced around, looking confused too. “Yes. We did not know how much your magic would have changed and if it would still work. I was glad to see that while the…”

Looking over at his mate again, Toman paused for a few seconds. “The taste of the magic has altered slightly, it still works the same.”

Well, that was interesting.

“English has many words that overlap.” Shaking his head, Toman seemed slightly frustrated with that. “The spell cannot always pick the right word.”

Oh.

That made sense too.

“It’s because English is a mix of a lot of different languages.” Kenzie shrugged. “We like taking all the fun stuff from everyone else and we grabbed words too. Food is more fun but someone a long time ago liked the words better.”

Since he wasn’t exactly wrong, heads started slowly bobbing as they processed what he’d meant.

Toman just smiled. “That is something we did not expect. Our world is not made up of large isolated bodies of land, so there is not the expansive of culture as you have here.”

Cocking his head, Toman paused. “Variety of cultures?”

“It makes life fun.” Kenzie smiled wider as he nodded. “But we like learning about new places and I’m really hoping you have new desserts we can learn to make.”

I liked someone who had their priorities straight.

“And they have new stories.” Wren bounced in his chair. “They don’t seem to have romance novels but they’ve got new fairy tales.”

Most of the room didn’t seem to know if smiling at their excitement was appropriate, but they seemed to find it cute.

“That makes up for no new romance novels.” Kenzie couldn’t resist being helpful. “We’ll send some of those through with you. We’re good sharers.”

Boyd and the deputy cocked their heads and I could see them trying to decide how they felt about that suggestion, but unsurprisingly the topic shifted again before anyone could figure out a good response.

“So we’re going to send a group through to what…to get information and do like a cultural exchange?” Florida Man frowned. “We had a high school kid from France come live with us for the school year. It was awkward.”

“For fuck’s sake. Who gave him strange kids to take care of?”

Daddy’s frustrated words filled my head through the bond and I had to try not to react. He wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the time to burst out into laughter.

Surprisingly, it was one of the Canadians who managed to respond appropriately. “We will expect it to be difficult and will send those who can adapt well and who will not mind being the object of study.”

Every foreigner in the room turned to the Americans.

Great.

Send the attention-whores through the portal.

Wren smiled brightly. “You’re in luck. I don’t mind lots of attention or answering stupid questions.”

Was that a dig at some of our visitors?

Frowns popped up right and left, so I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure that out right off the bat.

“I’m going to call for a vote to get this on record.” Daddy’d had enough of a break that he didn’t sound like he wanted to brain them any longer. “Please raise your hand if you agree to send a delegation through the portal to get information and establish communication.”

No one moved for about five seconds and I found myself holding my breath.

Hands.

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