[ WP ] What we think of as Fantasy is actually a slight bleeding of dimensions . Where as we think of Dragons and Magic as being wondrous , somewhere a Wizard is thinking that our everyday world is just as fantastic .

`` She wrote about this thing called'the Internet'; have you ever heard a word so strange, Eliza?'' he asked, waving his arms around with a frantic sort of excitement. `` It's like an intricate web of information that they access through these things called wires, and it's almost like string. *String*, Eliza! Why, it's marvellous! I ca n't believe someone could ever fabricate-'' 
 
 Kardon paused; Eliza was n't paying attention. She simply stared down at her hands, mindlessly toying with a gleaming emerald that she had found out in the Valley some days earlier. 
 
 `` Eliza?'' 
 
 No answer. 
 
 Kardon loved her; he *adored* her. He loved her more than there were spells in the casting logs, or dragons in the Far Mountains, but he could n't deny that he was beginning to resent the dense fog that seemed to fill her mind whenever he spoke of the stories he so loved to read. 
 
 `` Eliza!'' 
 
 She came to with a startled jolt that he might have found comical had he not been so invested in the conversation. He had n't noticed it before, but she looked tired; her eyes were sunken with the weary greyness that can only be brought on by exhaustion, and her shoulders were slumped, as if even sitting made her weak. 
 
 `` I'm sorry, darling,'' she muttered, barely stifling a yawn. `` I've been so busy with the youngling. I hardly managed to sleep last night. What were you saying?'' 
 
 Kardon glanced at the emerald still resting in her now limp hands. Everyone knew that emeralds were the best semi-precious stones for protection, and he would have to cast a spell with it later. Eliza had become impossibly vigilant since the birth of their daughter, Galdrien, and the Valley was far less safe now that the winter mists were rolling in. *Of course she's tired, * he thought with a pang of guilt, *here I am rattling on about fantastical universes in silly books while she bears the weight of two worlds. * 
 
 Kardon had always been drawn to stories and daydreams, preferring them to the drudge of life as a Warlock. Eliza was n't like that; she was practical, but the two complemented one another: he gave fuel to the sparks of her dreams, and she nudged his head from the clouds when he forgot to remember his duties below. 
 
 Galdrien began to cry, the sound muffled as it carried through the thick stone walls of their home. Eliza moved to stand, but Kardon stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. 
 
 `` I'll get that. You go and get some rest.'' 
 
 She held out the stone. `` Could you-'' 
 
 `` Consider it done.'' 
 
 She stared into his eyes, her own expression soft, then grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. They'd promised their eternal bond to the High Court many moons ago, but her affections still left him reeling. He drew back, stroked her cheek, then quitted the room to attend to their now howling child. He knew exactly what to do: what better to soothe a youngling than stories of impossible worlds where wisdom is passed through ropes? 
 
 He reached their baby's lodgings, then picked up his crying daughter and whispered to her. He told her of the impossible system that his favourite author had imagined; the intricate web of knowledge that was stored both everywhere and nowhere. He told her of the mystical machines that people had to help them climb into this web; how anyone could send letters to people in distant lands in *fractions* of seconds; how entire books were stored in this infinite place, and people could read them despite them being intangible. 
 
 Galdrien's sobbing grew weaker with each of Kardon's wondrous explanations. Eventually, she giggled, then threw out her tiny hands to clutch at his wiry beard. She soon descended into a bubbling laughter that toppled from her mouth, allowing her joy to burst from her in the carefree and shameless way that younglings so often do. 
 
 Kardon smiled. If this was the effect the Internet had on her, he could n't *wait* to tell her about electricity.
