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"Have a good evening." The guard moved aside in a graceful movement that made it look like he flowed more than walked.

Pierce led her into the dimly lit room through the swaying batwing doors with his right hand holding hers and his left arm around her back. "You may have heard rumours of the Yawning Portal containing an entrance to Undermountain, but what you don't know is that this place has a much greater reason for secrecy: It has an entrance to the planes."

She almost knew it was coming but wasn't sure what to think. Her knowledge of magic was limited to the magical pranks nobles sometimes played at parties and social gatherings. Beyond that, it had an air of utter mystery that she simply could not comprehend, but the planes? Worlds beyond her own where she could freely travel to with only a hop and a skip? That was beyond all of her dreams. She preferred more solid, less fanciful things. It was obvious to her that Pierce was trying to impress her and was succeeding.

Sensing her anxiety, Pierce continued to talk. "The people in this place are unlike any others you will see in Waterdeep, or the rest of the realms for that matter. It is also one of the few places where they can meet freely without violence."

"What about the guard at the door? If they don't have fights in here, why the guard?"

"This room is extradimensional. In reality, it does not actually exist. It is made up of illusion and held together by magic. The moment we stepped through that oak door back there, we were no longer in Waterdeep but in a place created entirely of magic and imagination. The problem with extradimensional magic, is that you can't have an extradimensional object within an extradimensional object. You follow?"

"I know about bags of holding and portable holes if that is what mean. If the two are put together, they'll cause a planar rift like that accident at Hariko Barkeb's party last year."

"Ah, yes! The mage tried to steal a bowl of everfull punch by sticking it in his magical pocket. A rookie mistake for a mage. He got sucked into another plane along with a good chunk of the silverware!"

"So the guard at the door is there to determine whether we're carrying any extradimensional devices?"

"Yep. His sword is enchanted to glow when it senses one other than the one we're standing in," Pierce replied as he helped her into a dark booth and then sat down across from her. He snapped a finger and the raspberry scented candle on the table lit with a purple flame.

Nicole shrugged and finally got a chance to look around the dark room. "How do these people see? Infravision? Like elves?"

"Yes, again. Ninety percent of them probably can see in the dark and the other ten have magic that lets them. The problem with infravision is that its heat sensitive and that doesn't help with reading a menu, thus the candles."

She nodded slowly. "Magical candles that light when you snap your fingers. This place must be terrible expensive."

"No and yes. The candles aren't magical but the cost of having food from almost every known plane is very expensive. The advantage with the planes however is that these people tend to have a lot of gold and other valuables."

"Okay then how did you light the candle?"

"A cantrip spell. A minor spell taught to apprentises. The only magic I know I'm afraid, and thus I don't flaunt it much." The Doctor pulled a menu from a cubbyhole in the wall and opened it between them. "What would you like? Remember that this place also tends to be spicy."

Nicole glanced down the long list of things like curried landshark, cream of osquip soup, poached dragon egg. "Um," she said aloud as she continued down the list. "Isn't there anything from Toril that's kinda, you know, normal?" She glanced up, her eyes catching his and holding them.

Pierce swallowed. "Well, there's lifesyrup, which tastes identical to maplesyrup. Marque Draque makes it with a little help from my father. I think the screech soaked cod comes from Luskan north of Waterdeep but I've never tried it. They