[ WP ] A man is sitting on a park bench at night . There 's half a foot of snow on the ground and more snow falling . Only his footprints are in the snow . As he stares across the park he hears approaching footsteps in the snow but he does n't turn around . Someone taps him on his shoulder .

I feel the tap on my shoulder, and know who it is before looking up. I can hear the snow melting with each footstep. 
 
 `` Your highness...'' he says, in a mock serious tone. 
 
 `` You ca n't call me that, Doctor,'' I said to him. He was grinning back at me. 
 
 `` Do n't call me *that*,'' he responded back. Our old argument. He sat down on the bench next to me. There were trees around the area, but their leaves were covered in snow, and ice. Dead world. 
 
 `` I like the bench,'' Evaad said to me. `` If it stood up to the death of the entire world, you know? Must be special...'' 
 
 I did n't reply. 
 
 `` C'mon, Auryn. You ca n't keep coming back here. There really is n't anything else to do. We've tried, for years now. The planet is dead and gone. And when you come back here, you bring the snow with you. It ca n't be good for... whatever grows here. Does anything grow?'' 
 
 `` Uh... I do n't know. I wandered around for a few weeks, but only found some old trees. They might still be alive...'' 
 
 Doctor Evaad pulled off the pack he was wearing, and started to rummage through. `` Auryn, I made these gauntlets for you. You remember? They work. I mean, feel my hands right now. You ca n't feel much heat coming off them, can you?'' 
 
 I touched Evaad's hands, and they were a normal temperature. Typically, they felt like getting close to lava. I took the gauntlets he handed me, and slipped my arms into them. After only a minute, the snow had stopped coming down on the old, dead world. 
 
 `` Still a bit heavy, Evaad.'' I ribbed him. 
 
 He laughed, in reply. He started to rummage around his pack, again, and pulled out a small, red stone. He flicked his wrist, and the stone became the top of a cane. He used the cane to pull himself up. The snow around the bench started to steam as soon as he put both boots near the snow. I got up, too. I breathed in heavily, but somehow, felt less sad. Less helpless. 
 
 `` What should we use, My Liege?'' 
 
 I rolled my eyes and looked around. There was a small stone building, which had mostly toppled over. A single wall still stood. It was tall enough. I pointed toward it, and Evaad smiled in return. 
 
 Evaad walked over to the wall, and pulled the stone off his cane. He muttered some words which I could never *quite* hear, and the stone started to glow. He pressed the stone into the wall, and there was a small pop. He turned the stone, and pulled. The *wall itself* opened, as if it had been a door all along. The `` inside'' of the wall was our little airship. There was a fire burning in the corner, and a small feast had been prepared for us. Several adventurers, people we'd known for years, were waiting. They smiled at me, and I smiled back. 
 
 I motioned for Evaad to go first, as was our custom. And in reply, he motioned for me to go next. So I did. Evaad started to close the door. Unseen, as he shut the wall, his red jewel fell to the ground, and disappeared. It reappeared on top of his cane a moment later. 
 
 I sat at the front of the table, and looked around the dinner table. On the far left, a tall man, with a beard, and a very large Halberd slung across his back smiled in return. On the right, were two adventuring siblings, whom I hadn ’ t seen in some time. Right on my left, a beautiful woman I fancied smiled broadly at me, her golden hair falling in front of her eyes. Evaad sat at the opposite end. There was but a moment of waiting. And, then, we began to feast.
