When the air stopped, they were both nice and dry. Hiram open the next door and took them inside. There was a comfortable-looking chair in front of the window, a number of cupboards, and an overstuffed bookshelf.

“Morning, boss,” the young man said. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Jason,” Hiram said, dropping his backpack with a loud thud. “He’s passing through with a group of adventurers and wanted to see the aperture. Jason, this is Griff.”

“Travelling with adventurers,” Griff said enviously. “That must be exciting.”

“It has its moments,” Jason said.

They exchanged greetings and Griff made to leave.

“Any idea when Duggan will be back, boss?” he asked. “I’m really looking forwards to sleeping during the night again.”

“His wife is still on the mend,” Hiram said. “Probably another month.”

Griff’s shoulders slumped.

“Make it to the end of the week and I’ll switch with you,” Hiram said.

“Thanks, boss.”

Griff gave a weary smile and left. Jason looked out through the window as Hiram unloaded his backpack, stowing its contents in the cupboards.

“Ready for a closer look?” Hiram asked when he was done.

Jason grinned and Hiram led them back out. Leaving didn’t trigger the drying mechanism again.

“It’s set to go off when the outer door is opened first,” Hiram explained.

Back out in the loud, wet chamber, they walked carefully over wet stone to reach the fence. They both grabbed a hold of the wet bars, which Jason noticed were engraved with magic symbols.

As they were close to the torrent, water sprayed over them both, but Jason didn’t mind. There was a feeling of refreshment that was more than just cool water on a hot morning. He felt like a child running under a lawn sprinkler on a hot day. Farrah had told him there was magic in the water. Was that the cause of his strange reminiscence, or was he just homesick in a strange land?

He craned his neck to try and see the actual source of the water, but it came from somewhere deeper in the mountain where he couldn’t see. As there was no way to talk over the noise, Hiram grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. Hiram pointed in the direction the water was flowing and Jason spotted a tunnel on their side of the fence. The path and tunnel ran alongside the water, through which Jason could see daylight. He nodded at Hiram and they started off in that direction.

The tunnel went all the way to the outside of the mountain, where the water broke free to tumble down through the air. There was a chest-high railing to keep people from falling off. The view was breathtaking. Below them was the pool where the waterfall landed and the channel flowing into the village lake. Beyond that lay the vast expanse of the desert.