Heinrich had been gearing himself up for his dramatic, emotional release, and snapped his mouth shut when Ladina got up. He stewed for a moment, grumbling to himself about how Roderich could never change, and even if he did, Heinrich certainly hadn’t, and the goings-on of a crumbling empire and the nation of the ruling family were probably difficult for a young woman to grasp.
He crossed his legs and absentmindedly gnawed through the offered cookies. Swept up in a little torrent of postmortem self-pity, he lost track of the time.
Two hundred years was a long time to miss out on. He barely recognized little Lichtenstein–! And the world was so different. During his lifetime, two hundred years meant some change, but not nearly this much. Maybe all those cousins of his had changed! Maybe Roderich, and Gilbert–well, not Gilbert.
Then it hit him–just how much everything changed. Everything changed. The clothing changed, the transportation had changed, the background noise had changed, the smell of everything changed, the sweets changed, the…
The color drained from Heinrich’s face, and when he stood, he didn’t know where his feet were taking him. He took a few steps towards Ladina, and thought he heard voices. This, of course, didn’t help him at all, and he wound up stumbling back to the couch to sit with his head between his knees until the world stopped spinning. It was the most familiar feeling he’d had that day.
The moment passed, and he resolved to stop thinking about it.
Like a schoolboy, he slouched in his seat, waiting for Ladina to come back and tell him to go back to Roderich. Or whatever it was she was going to tell him to do.
Who was she even calling anyway?
It was very difficult to keep the conversation short when she called to verify her German cousin’s health, and she had to firmly end their talk when he started to press, but she managed. Quickly she stowed her cellphone back in her pocket and hurried back into the living room where she’d sat her newly resurrected friend.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry. I had a theory as to why you were back and... well it’s nothing, everything here is as it should be.”
She perched on the edge of the chair nearest to his, and reached out to take his hand.
“Whatever you need, I’m here for you. We can reach out to Roderich and the others if you like. If not, you can stay in my guest bedroom. It’s not going to be the same posh accommodations as you’re used to, but we do have memory foam mattresses now, and those are quite lovely as you’ll find.”
As if to comfort him and herself, she patted the back of his hand as she thought. How do you even begin to explain technology to a centuries-dead man?
“Also... well there’s this now,” she said and picked up the remote to turn on the television. It was set only to a report of various stock exchanges, which was boring to anyone even slightly less concerned with money, but would probably be shocking nonetheless. “It’s as well of a way to learn about the world today as any, I suppose. I can show you the channels for news and entertainment if you like. It’s a little like... we didn’t even have radio back when you died, did we?”
She set the remote down and put a hand to her chest. Sometimes it was easy to forget how fast things had changed, how much technology had become a part of her daily life when before there was nothing of the sort. After Heinrich had died it had been almost an entire century before the radio had come about, and a century after that there was all of this. It was a little mind boggling.
“Are you hungry? I can make you some food. Or we could just have it delivered, whatever you’d like. Or, I can show you how the shower works and you can clean off and take a nap? Sorry, that’s too many options, isn’t it? I admit, I’ve never had to do anything like this before, but I’m here for you, okay?”
