"- your highness?" he calls out, sitting up.

"Not quite!" responds an unfamiliar voice from another room.

"...not quite?" says Kerem, but he gets out of bed and heads in that direction.

"Let's call it an understatement.  Hello!  Journey Carison, pleased to meet you.  I'm not as far as I know any sort of royalty."

"Where am I?"

"Somewhere very far from where you died.  We resurrected you."

"How did you do that - where's his highness, is he all right -"

"Still in the storm.  Very little time has passed there since you died."

"...how do you do that, can you get him - and everyone else on the ship! -"

"Not yet.  Just you, for now."

"I am not really the priority here, the crown prince is going to drown!"

"I'm told that usually goes fine.  And it's still been less than a second since you died; please calm down."

"You're told what?!"

"That it usually goes fine when Cymbeline drowns.  For him, even.  - There are a lot of worlds.  And a lot of them are repeats and variations of each other."

"Why would it go fine for him to drown?"

"Well he comes back!  Resurrection.  And it wouldn't be very helpful to him if we grabbed him now.  ...That's not why we're not doing it, really, but it is also true."

"Why would that not be helpful?"

"I think in the previous cases it's introduced him to someone whom he was glad to meet. Romantically.  Say, would you like to be introduced to someone whom you might be glad to meet romantically?"

"This hardly seems like the time!"

"In a while."

"In a while during which his highness will stop being either of drowning or dead?"

"Well, no.  During which it will still be less than few seconds since you died and by which you will have the power to either enable his rescue or gain the resources to do it yourself."

"He's a great guy.  I really think you'll like him."

"That's as may be but I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

"I was really expecting a bigger reaction to the pronouns!  Let's go outside, shall we?"

"You can resurrect the dead and have very strange priorities! Why shouldn't you also be willing and able to dig up my awkward personal facts?"

"Why shouldn't we indeed."

Outside there's a lovely garden.  And, directly overhead and very large, another planet.  Rings, moons, visible individual trees.

Well that's astronomically confusing.

"Do you read fiction books, Kerem?  Romances?"

"Occasionally if one comes recommended."

"And have you encountered the kind of plot where one person has to choose between multiple potential partners?"

"Yes."

"If you agree to be one such person in real life, we'll give you the resources to save your crown prince."

"You said a great guy."

"I apologize, I should have said 'one such potential partner'."

"Is... there a catch?"

"To cooperating with the premise?  Aside from us generally having strange priorities?  I think not really, but I'm not sure what sort of thing you might be thinking about and don't want to say no preemptively."

"I don't know either, this is very weird!"

"You're handling it well.  I think I would say that if you accept the offer, you're liable to encounter many extremely strange things, some of which you may find unpleasant, but nothing is immediately coming to mind which I would describe as specifically catch-like.  The other guy - his name's Cam - isn't only into women, or any such thing.  I think you have a reasonable shot at winning his love and coming out of this overall happy with the result."

"And I don't have to win, to - have the resources - what does that mean exactly, are we talking magical secrets or just assistance -"

"Well, if you make it to the final four, we'll probably bring him in ourselves.  Again with only a few seconds having passed for him.  If you lose before then things get a bit more complicated, but you will receive either magical secrets or assistance in retrieving him.  We're open to negotiation at the point when it's time for us to repay you."

"The final four? I don't think I've ever read a romance with more than three plausible candidates."

"There's twenty-eight, here."

"Why are you doing any of this at all, let alone that much of it?"

"It's possible to create impressions of things that have happened."  He gestures to a blank space on the wall, which proceeds to display a clip of Kerem sitting up in the bed.  "Once you have that, you can use it for entertainment, and... things have had a lot of time to get more complicated in.  So twenty-eight is more interesting than three, for a non-scripted show."

"...what happens to the people you create the impressions of?" he asks, looking down as though to check himself for reduced opacity or something.

"Nothing, especially.  It's not even magic; you can do it with clever tricks of light and chemicals, or other completely mundane means."

"Like... bleaching things in the sun with something on them to cast a shadow, only... you'd need a hundred tricks like that together?"

"Like that, yes!  Nicely done; I think you'll catch up fine."

"...thank you, I think."

"I did mean it as a compliment.  You're a couple centuries behind our Bacheloret, and he's - well it's complicated, but at least a couple centuries behind the aggregate of the rest of the multiverse, in spirit at least.  But I'm hopeful you'll adjust well."

"Uh-huh."

"...What's the most luxurious, decadent food or drink you can imagine?"

"Uh, why do you ask?"

"I would like to give you something luxurious and decadent!"

"Oh, it's good I asked because there are very fancy wines but I actually can't tell the difference between them personally. Uh. Hm. ...saffron chicken dumplings."

Journey holds out one hand and snaps the fingers on the other.  A tray shimmeringly manifests itself and is held out for Kerem once it's solid.

"Thank you." He accepts the dumplings. He eats one.

They've got not only saffron but a blend of expensive spices, well marinated.  There's a surprising note of flavor in the dough itself, too.

They're pretty good but the reason Kerem is not the standard ethnicity in Loegria is because all of his grandparents were spice traders so he's not going to, like, faint. He does nod approvingly.

"We also have things on offer that are decadent beyond what you currently have the context to imagine."  He does a strange series of movements with his fingers and then an odd-looking cup with 'McFlurry' printed on the side appears in the same sparkly way.  Journey starts into this one himself, though.

"Okay. Sounds nice."

"Do you want one?"  He tilts it so Kerem can see inside.  "I did mean it that they're on offer; it's only that historically it has sometimes gone poorly to give people unimaginable decadences without explaining what they are, and so it's also policy to demonstrate their edibility first.  This one's ice cream with bits of chocolate inside."  He stirs it and a rainbow of colors swirl through the white base pleasingly.  "I can make other suggestions if that doesn't sound appealing."

"This just doesn't really seem like a particularly important feature of the situation."

"...I can see why it would feel like that.  Let me back up a little: the thing I told you about how you'd be able to rescue Cymbeline is not the same thing I told the other contestants.  Naturally; they have no Cymbelines to rescue.  The thing I am generally saying as incentive is that once they're done, we'll be setting them up in a nice little corner of the multiverse with enough resources to get their feet under them.  Sometimes they express desires to go back home at the end, in which case I tell them that they'll be able to trade what we give them for absolutely ludicrous amounts of valuable objects - gold, diamonds, whatever - which is true.

"You have been resurrected into a powerful, rich multiversal society.  You will end this arrangement with, immediately, the resources to save Cymbeline, and some or all of the rest of the people on the ship depending on how well you do.  If you're a little more patient, get yourself a little more acclimated, make some connections with other suitors with other kinds of magic - you can save your world.  And that's not unrelated to the decadence.  I'm not offering you these things because you're special but because they aren't."

"- depending on how well I do? How does that work exactly?"

"We pay you more the more episodes you make it through.  There are eight in total and about a quarter to a third of the contestants are eliminated in each."

"What do you mean about being patient exactly?"

"You can either take actions to have your home universe made a part of the organization which facilitates trade and free movement between worlds, or do some accruing of wealth that matters on an interdimensional scale and do the saving more single-handedly."

"...I'm not sure which of those was supposed to be the patient option."

"They both are; the impatient option is heading straight back and saving a small number of people."

"How long does the - time thing - last?"

"Until there's only one suitor left.  Then according to policy we've got to keep you around until the season's finished airing, which is to say until the rest of the universes have seen the story told through the impressions recorded of you all.  We aim for that to be close to an episode a week in a majority of universes; in yours it'll be..." he gazes off at nothing in particular, "one every nine and a half days, about.  So, eleven weeks."

"Which is more than enough time for them all to drown."

"Yes, so either you make it to the final four and he's already rescued for that duration, or we will make sure you can afford some resurrections."

"Why do you want me in particular, for this, you seem - spoiled for choice."

"I've been told there's a chart, and in the notes section for your row is written 'I want to be nice to him'?  By our psychic consultant.  I'm not quite sure how it relates; he's very strangely targeted."

"Who is it who wants to be nice to me, the psychic consultant?"

"It was really unclear.  I also heard you have some sort of curse situation, though; it might have been about that."

"...I'm not aware of having a curse. I'm not charmed either, most people aren't..."

"You know how I said there are a lot of worlds and many of them are repeats and variations of each other?"

"I believe you mentioned this when trying to convince me it's fine if his highness dies."

"Yep!  So, sometimes people repeat - sometimes pretty exactly, but sometimes less so.  Same personality, different circumstances.

"It's always true that if an alternate version of you exists in a world with an alternate version of Cymbeline, and you're capable of romantic love, you'll love him, or her, and he or she will be unable to reciprocate due to, specifically, incompatible sexuality.  Every time."

"Why would that be true??"

"There are a great number of very strange things like that which pop up when you start to look at a sufficient number of universes.  We don't know why.  - The psychic probably knows why but he hasn't explained it.  Yours is far from the cruelest strange thing around, although you do have my condolences - apparently living mes are cursed to commit atrocities whenever they try to make any sort of sacrifice for the greater good."

"Living yous -"

"I can assume I'm safely dead.  I do have a fair bit of my own psychic power; it just doesn't really rate in comparison.  Apparently that replaces the curse upon death, according to the stronger psychic who is also one of me.  ...Or, many of me; it's complicated."

"Is this the kind of thing I need to be getting up to speed on and you just prefer to start with saffron chicken dumplings because they're simpler?"

"They really are so much simpler than many of the things you need to get up to speed on, which this is not particularly one of."

"Is there a list?"

"Yes!"  He chucks his McFlurry into a bush, except for how it dissolves into sparkles before hitting it, much more quickly than it formed - in order to clap twice.  A pamphlet appears, covered in strange print with lots of colors and pictures that sometimes move.  Journey offers it.  "There are places to sit down both back inside and out here, if you'd like."  The pamphlet explains things like 'cameras' and 'reality TV' and 'episodes' and 'Rose Ceremonies'.

Kerem finds a bench and plops onto it.

It also explains 'group dates', 'one on ones', 'two on ones'... 'destinations', 'Hometowns', 'Fantasy Suites'..."

"His highness counts as though he's a family member, you've implied?"

"He's clearly very important to you.  It might be different if he weren't drowning."

"He is also important to me when he isn't drowning."

"And yet it might be different."

"I see. ...if my parents are also there, that is going to be all a bit awkward."

"Also there in addition to Cymbeline, or at all?"

"Well, at all."

"We are not entirely committed to bringing parents to every Hometowns.  Do you have any siblings?"

"Four of them."

"All alive?"

"Those are the alive ones. I don't have a precise count on how many died, I don't live near my parents."

"Well, they're your family, too..."

"That's how siblings work, yes."

"Of course, you needn't rely on this resurrection mechanism if you're planning to save your world."

"If I don't, his highness will. Unless you are going to give me nontransferable resources."

"We do according to policy need to make sure that at least half of the lasting magical abilities we put onto sapient beings as payment to you go on you specifically.  As determined by public price, not strict integers."

"Well, anyway, I didn't previously think of the world as especially needing saving but the thing you're describing that way sounds like the way to go to me."

"It seemed like the framing to go with given the circumstances of your death.  You can think of it as saving everyone in your world, if you'd rather."

"I was in a shipwreck, not an apocalypse."

"And yet, when you have the potential to eliminate everything that's bad about shipwrecks..."

"I do understand, it just seems a bit dramatic."

"You might feel differently if you had grown up in a world that was already saved."

"Maybe."

"That's at least true of the people who started using the phrase like that, which I may or may not be one of."

"It sounds very confusing to be you."

"That's not the first descriptor I'd reach for, but I suppose it is one of them."

"So somebody wants to be nice to me, at least if the note from a mysterious party isn't sarcastic, and they are doing it by putting me on this pageant - is that to be nice to me by giving me the prize for playing along, or is it also meant to be nice in the pageantry part?"

"I don't think it was sarcastic, but beyond that I couldn't really say."

"Why do you think that if you don't even know who it is?"

"Everything about the conversation with Nudge - the more-psychic me's named Nudge - led me to believe he was being sincere, though elusive," he shrugs.  "I certainly recognize that there are aspects here which should not be strictly construed as being nice to you."

Kerem flips through the provided reading material idly. "Everybody here before people's families show up will be... fine about the..." He doesn't actually have a vocabulary word.

"About some of the people being gay?"  The word slots into his language comprehension once he hears it.

"...that's the one, yes."

"Mm..."  Journey once again peers at something Kerem can't see.  "There are a handful who might have some amount of a negative opinion about it.  But the gender ratio's pretty close so you're not likely to be singled out."

"Okay.

"Who is this guy I'm trying to 'date'." This word is also new, and from his reading material.

"His name is Cam!  He already pretty much saved his world, and without the help of a realitary coalition.  Although not without the help of multiversal travel at all."

"What are your standards for 'pretty much saved', here."

"So, there's no resurrection, but the infant mortality rate's eensie, there's no material scarcity, and no one has to work unless they want to."

"Wow."

"There are universes connected to his home one which have extremely powerful beings, some of which can make matter out of nothing.  And he publicized this information and enabled trade between the worlds."

"How did he find this out?"

"He found a book about it.  He wasn't the first person to discover the beings - daeva, they're called - but he was the first to competently and provably reveal them to the public, instead of trying and failing, or not trying and just keeping the wealth to himself."

"Wow."

"Like I said, I think you'll like him."

"I mean, he sounds admirable, that's not everything..."

"Oh, I mean, he's also hot and stuff.  Speaking of, if there's anything you'd like to change about your appearance..."

"...I could think of some things."

"You'll have a chance to hang out with our team of artists for that sort of thing.  And for your wardrobe, too."

"Okay."

"They won't implement anything you don't approve and are reasonably skilled at working with people to find something they're happy with.  If you ever feel pressured about, specifically, changes to your appearance, let someone know and we'll do something about it."

"Specifically that, huh?"

"I mean, you're also welcome to try with other things.  But you will run into cases where, for example, we're obviously trying to pressure you by various means into doing the show itself, and aren't going to stop in response to that being pointed out."

"Just trying to be honest."

"Better than the alternative."

"I do try!  To be better than the alternative."

"For which I thank you."

"You're welcome.  Do you want a technology briefer up through when Cam's from?  Most worlds don't have the same kind of magic as you - some of them don't have any - so it's not precisely a vision of the future, but many things are approximately kind of the same."

"Yes, please."

Fingersnap; second pamphlet.  This one has short paragraphs and pictures on things from video to vaccines and cars to computers.  Journey manifests a second McFlurry while Kerem reads.

Kerem is pretty at home in a state of reading about stuff. He will do it quietly.

Once the McFlurry's eaten Journey chucks it toward another bush.  Sometimes he makes weird hand motions like the one before; once Kerem's read enough maybe he can recognize them as kind of matching the moving picture that demonstrates typing.

Yeah seems related. "...am I keeping you from anything?"

"No, I'm immortal and we have near-arbitrary control over the flow of time, here."

"Oh. Is it nice, being immortal?"

"I don't ever want to die."

"I guess that makes sense. I didn't really like it."

"Everyone this season was rescued from the point of death."

"...why?"

"It's the theme!  So, his last name's Swan, and - on the planet he and many of the contestants are from, there's this idea of a 'swan song', which is one last effort, one last performance before someone or something dies or otherwise ends.  This premise - is not quite that.  Please don't bring it up during the show in a way we're going to have to work to edit around.  But the season is being styled 'The Bacheloret: Swansong', and most people in our audience only think about that on the level of maybe something to do with death and something to do with a beautiful performance, if they catch the reference at all.  And if they do know better than that, then they know better than to expect actual functioning allusion from us.  But!  He died too, got assassinated for saving his world, and don't you think it's romantic to have everyone all be rescued from similar situations?  I'm expecting it to create an interesting dynamic of camaraderie contrasting competition."

"I guess you're the expert but I can't really imagine starting a chatty conversation about how we all died."

"You're in kind of an interesting place where your death was slow enough to be quite unpleasant, but also quick enough that you didn't really... have time to reorient into your new identity as someone who was about to die.  I think both of the other options lead to more talkativity."

"I don't know that I'd find it a very appealing conversation topic in the other cases either but I admit I have not tried them."

"There's also just an inherent variety in what topics people like to discuss.  Maybe a cultural element, too."

"Stands to reason."

Reading. There are sure a lot of things.