Most of the writing on the sign in the noodle shop window was in Thai, as expected in the sort of plastic table establishment frequented by ordinary people. The lone English line, “Thai Tutoring, All Levels, 1000 B (35 US)/hour after 8 PM. All days but Tuesday,” told Albert he was in the right place.

A bespectacled Thai man in his early twenties opened the door and gave him a wai, the traditional greeting of two hands pressed together in front of the face, with a dipping of the head. Albert gave one back, though he was nervous about how deep it should be, knowing that the lower one bowed, the more respect was indicated. He stepped inside, wishing the place was air conditioned and itching from mosquitoes. “Are you Mr. Narai?”

The Thai man, with a dark cameo skin and neatly parted black hair, broke into a pure white smile. His slender, delicate frame and sparrow hands made Albert feel like a lumbering giant. “Please,” he said, in perfect English with a hint of a British accent, “call me Khun Jai. Are you Khun Albert?”

Albert had just arrived in Thailand a few days ago and hadn’t had any lessons beforehand, but he grasped that “Khun” was an honorific. “Yes. At the university they said you were the best for learning Thai quickly.”

“Please, come in and sit. We must not laugh or shout too loudly, though, because the family that owns this place and rents it out to me lives upstairs. It is past their youngest child’s bedtime.” Khun Jai sat at the nearest table, spreading out various contracts. “This is the one-year course with basic sign reading, this the six-month, fluent spoken only, and this the four-month, survival and technical in a field of your choice. If you would like to be fully literate, I advise at least a year and a half.”

Albert sat down, pulling a package out of his satchel. “The guidebook said I should give you a present.”

“You are too kind.” Khun Jai gave him another wai and then opened the box. It contained chocolate chip cookies. “Why, thank you. Kapkhun krup. You should say, “Yindee, krup.”

“Yindee, krup,” Albert echoed. “They’re not homemade.”

“That is fine.” He set them aside and steepled his fingers. “How fast would you like to learn?”

“Well, I have a grant from the University of Michigan to contact Thai Magics, see what sorts there are, and how many there might be. In many countries Magics are reluctant to reveal themselves, fearing prejudice and superstition.”

Khun Jai raised his eyebrows. “You mean, vampires, werewolves, Elves, and such? I have been following their integration with human society. It’s much more interesting than politics, though the two often intertwine.”

Albert felt himself getting excited, as he always did when he talked about Magics. “Since the Fantasy Coup a little over a decade ago, various agencies have been trying to convince sentient nonhumans to come out of hiding. There is a lot we can learn from each other.”

“I know that in Bangkok as in elsewhere, Elf powers have been used to relieve overcrowding by making spaces bigger on the inside than on the outside. And the vampires may hold a link to a cure for AIDS, or at least better treatments.” As Khun Jai spoke, Albert noticed that, besides the long black pants and white buttoned-up shirt common to young Thai students and professionals, he wore a little gold trident on a chain around his neck.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Albert commented, pointing at the trident. “Most people here have little Buddha figurines.”

“Ah, but I am not Buddhist.” He gave an enigmatic quirk of the lips, which Albert was about to query when he saw the man with the gun just outside.

“AHHHHHH!” Albert shouted, jumping under the table.

“Remember the family upstairs,” Khun Jai said, standing up.

A man with a scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose came in through the door, saying various things which Albert assumed meant to give him all their money.

Khun Jai shook his head. “How tiresome. Na beuah jing jing.”

The robber seemed nonplussed about such a reaction, and barked a few commands.

Shaking his head again, Khun Jai pulled the tiny trident off its chain. It immediately grew to six feet long, but that was not Albert’s main concern. Khun Jai’s modern outfit turned into a traditional Thai costume, red and blue pants with gold thread. He had no shirt, and the skin thus revealed was bright green. Two other arms emerged from his sides.

The robber stammered, “Phra...Phra Narai…”

Khun Jai touched the gun with the tip of his trident, which glowed red-hot, causing the robber to scream and drop it. He fell to his knees and bowed in supplication.

“Khun Albert, bring me a telephone or cell phone or something, please,” Khun Jai requested, mild and quiet as the stereotypical professor.

Albert was still too dumbfounded to move.

Sighing, Khun Jai knocked out the robber with one of his four fists. He made the call himself, the hung up. “The police are on there way. We might as well get some work done while we wait. Oh, please come out from under the table. You said you wanted to meet Magics.” The trident shrank, he hung it around his neck, and he looked like an ordinary human being again.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Albert admitted, emerging with great trepidation.

“Even before the Fantasy Coup, fantasy writers and tabloids only speculated about Western myths being real. It really does put out we Asian supernaturals, I can tell you.” Khun Jai took out a pen. “I think you should invest in the year-long course. Do you want to be able to read?”

“Yes.” How could such an incredible being have such mundane concerns?

“A year and a half, then.” Khun Jai saw his facial expression, so he placed his chin on his hands. “Look, even a descendent of Phra Narai, a character in the Thai epic The Ramakien, needs to earn a living. But if people see me as something other than normal, I won’t have any privacy. People would come out of curiosity about me rather than curiosity about my language. I love teaching, and notoriety would take it away. If you don’t tell anyone, I’ll help you meet the Magics community of Bangkok and the North. The South I can’t really help you, but I know some beings who can.”

Albert shook his hand with trembling fingers. “Deal.”