"Hm?"

"...My selfspace doesn't work right," she says. "It shows me things about the world instead of being full of things I put in it. That's why I have opinions about what your magic looks like even from before you put the spell on me. And I'm wondering if I'd know things about mushrooms if I'd ever paid attention."

"Ah. Would you like some mushrooms?"

"Maybe not right now."

"Yes. What would you prefer to do while not interacting with me in the short-term future? I'll be spending a considerable quantity of time doing theoretical research and experimentation that does not lend itself well to simultaneous human interaction."

"You have a lot of books. Can I read them?"

"...Yes. Although I'll have to ask you to stay out of several sections of the library, especially to start with; I have a great deal of personal and/or dangerous material."

She nods. "Okay."

"But first--I have spare garments, assorted nonperishable foods, and miscellaneous other supplies that you can use since you arrived here with nothing but the clothes on your back."

"Thank you," she says. "That's very nice of you."

"I don't generally consider myself to be exceptionally nice, but it would be both exceedingly heartless and exceedingly wasteful not to help someone who had fallen into one's sphere of influence through no fault of their own with neither material possessions nor the basic cultural knowledge that a local homeless person would possess who presents an interesting magical problem when I have so many resources to do it with."

"I guess."

He eyes doors fifteen, three and seventeen. "For the record, because it could become extremely awkward for you to discover this by accident later, not that I expect you to know what this means, but--I'm a vampire."

"What's that?"

"It means I don't age--I'm over seven hundred years old, at this point--inclined to be nocturnal in the same way that humans are inclined to be diurnal, burn more easily than even the fairest-skinned human in the sun, have heightened senses, cannot consume solids and must consume human blood. That's why I have ready preparations for guests, and why three other rooms are occupied right now. I find humans who require something--a place to stay for a while, a debt paid off, to evade a given person, or something else--and do not object to, in exchange, staying in my home for a prearranged period of time having blood safely and hygienically removed at prearranged intervals. I hasten to clarify, in case clarification is needed, that I do not expect you to act as such a donor as a result of staying here. Your purpose for being here is entirely different."

"...That explains some things about your reflection."

"My what?"

"In my selfspace. How I see magic and things. You look - well, I wasn't sure, all the magic here is so strange, but it makes more sense now."

"Oh. That makes much more sense. A common misconception about vampires is that we don't reflect in mirrors or mirrorlike surfaces," he explains.

"I haven't heard of vampires before, so I wouldn't know."

"No, I wouldn't expect you to. But that was the first thing that came to mind when you mentioned there being something odd about my reflection as a result of being a vampire."

She nods.

"So how did I look? I promise not to be offended."

"What do you mean? Your reflection? It mostly looks just like you, but... with things."

"I'm curious about what sorts of things. If you'd rather not answer, for whatever reason, of course you needn't."