This is fan fiction for the WhateleyAcademy
series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but
since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out
either Sapphire's Place (http://www.sapphireplace.com/stories/whateley.html)
or the Big Closet (http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/taxonomy/term/117).
Any resemblance of my characters to people, real or
dead, is purely coincidental. If this has really happened to you, I will be
extremely jealous you got picked by destiny to get magical powers instead of
me. Now that that’s out of the way…enjoy! Comments welcome; be as loving or
scathing as you wish.
Arianrhod
by Kitsune
It was a cold night, far colder than it should be, I
thought grumpily as I trudged along. For the middle of summer, this was unheard
of. I stopped and took a quick whiff of the air. Hmmm. About 45 F I estimated.
Despite the chill in the air, I kept moving, even though I was only wearing my
typical summer fare, which is to say shorts and short sleeves. I had to be done
with my late-night walk before my parents got home. The last thing I needed was
to get chewed out for making them worry by staying out too long.
As I moved through the woods, I looked up at the full
moon, though the branches got in the way a bit. What a beautiful moon it was
this month. I was glad that it was out this month. The last three months it had
been raining and cloudy, and I hadn't been able to get my full-moon walks in.
That was one of my favorite things to do, along with watching various anime,
drawing in pen and pencil, writing, listening to Nightwish, and doing things
with my computer.
I don't know why, but I always felt a special attachment
to the moon. Something about it was just beyond earthly beauty, and it
energized me. That was the exact effect it was having on me now, in fact. I
felt I could do anything, with that extra energy running through me. I decided
when I got home I would be able to a very good job of finishing up a drawing I
had been working on, but hadn't yet gotten up the nerve to finish. There was
not much worse, in my opinion, than doing an amazing drawing, but screwing it
up when it was almost done. That had happened to me far too often for me to
take finishing touches lightly.
I was moving past a pond now. I stopped to catch my
reflection...mirrors and mirrored surfaces were always neat too. I stopped to
turn off my headphones for a minute. Away, by Nightwish, is a truly beautiful
soft rock song, but I needed to concentrate.
I saw myself, Kevin Parker,
14 year-old genius. Ok, not a real genius, but I was a few grades ahead of
where I should be for my age. In fact, this upcoming year I would be going into
11th grade. I blame it on the public schools. If they didn't teach such dumb
stuff, I wouldn't be so advanced, and then I wouldn't get picked on by...well,
everyone. I was the archetypal nerd. I didn't have any real friends, and only
really knew two girls - my sister, Shannon, and my girlfriend Alicia.
Alicia was cool because she
didn't like me just for my brain. That had happened too many times also, girls
just buddying up to me so I'd do their homework for them. But, Alicia wasn't
like that. She seemed to genuinely like me. She was 14, same as me, stood
5'5", and had shoulder length black hair, which she usually kept in an
upright ponytail.
Shannon was an interesting character. She took after our
mother, but carried it to extremes. She was really short, like our mother, only
like 5'4", and really thin too. She was pretty sweet, and I had it easy,
as little sisters go. She was only two years younger than I was, but she acted
much older and more mature than her age. Although, she was beginning to hit
puberty, which was causing some ...interesting...changes in her mentality and
emotions. And Mom always sided with her, when SHE started it. Life is SO
unfair. I swear; little sisters are the bane of teenage male existence. I was much
bigger than she was, as I took after our father. I stood almost 6' tall, and
while not heavyset, I was what they called big-boned. I could handle myself in
a fight pretty well, due to my size and tenacity, but then the bullies and so
on found their way around that by picking on me emotionally and mentally, when
they paid any attention to me at all. I didn't have short hair, but it was
certainly not long either. It was kind of interesting, in that it was brown. My
mom has blond hair, and my dad black. How I ended up with brown, I have NO
idea. Shannon has blond hair, too. As usual, I'm the odd man out.
We all have blue eyes, though. All in all I looked like a tall, big-boned Harry
Potter without glasses or a scar on my forehead.
It was a good reflection, I
decided. I'd look a lot better when I had facial hair though. Lord only knows
what color it would come in, but I was looking forward to it. I dunno, maybe
it's a nerd thing, but somehow I thought it would make me look cool. I turned
away, and continued my hike northward. Barber's Run, Pennsylvania,
isn't that big of a place, really. We have a supermarket, a Walmart, and a Home
Depot, and that's about it. Population: 1223. Typical small town America.
My hikes usually carried me
to the south of the town, but this time I was heading north. I figured that in
about a half-hour I would have to turn back south, to make it home before my
parents got back from their visit with friends, and before Shannon's
babysitter left, as well. Yes, my parents were that type. Shannon could
handle herself quite well at home by herself, we all knew, but my parents
rigidly insisted that until she was 13, she had to have a babysitter. How they
decided on 13, don't ask me. Really, why they let me go on my hikes was a
wonder to me and my sister, both. I think that maybe it might have something to
do with the time when I brought home a rattlesnake I had killed with my knife.
And when I say knife, I mean dagger. I had gotten it for my 13th birthday, from
my grandfather, who has since passed away. It looks like something out of
Crocodile Dundee. I mean, the blade on this thing is like 8" long. I think
when I brought home that rattler, which is still in my room, by the way,
stuffed and sitting on a shelf, my parents decided I could take care of myself
enough that they let me go on my hikes.
As I resumed my walk
northward, I reached down for my Mp3 player, to move it to the next song, Nemo,
also by Nightwish. There was a story and a half there, too. I had an online
friend, from Belgium, and we swapped music back and forth, in trades. So I
would request song X, and he would request song Y, and we would swap them.
Well, I scored big-time when I requested "Over the Hills and Far
Away" by Nightwish. I had read some good reviews of it, and I wanted to
see how good it was, really. I was completely blown away. I had trouble for a
long time finding enough good songs of my own to swap with him for more Nightwish.
Something about it was just absolutely, unearthly beautiful...kind of like my
infatuation with the moon, come to think of it. I mean, on my top 10 favorite
songs of all time, you have to go down like 8 spots, before you hit the first
American artist on my list. That's how good Nightwish is, in my opinion. Although,
there is also some random Jpop in there too, Yuki Kajiura and Maaya Sakamoto
being two of my favorites.
Anyways, as I turned on my
next song, I heard another song. At first I thought I had hit something I
shouldn't have on my Mp3 player, and then I thought maybe my file was corrupt.
By then Nemo started up, and I was hearing Nemo, and the other song. I turned Nemo
off, and tried to figure out where the song was coming from. Whatever it was it
was stunning. It sounded like Nightwish, actually, but the music was so much
softer. The vocals sounded heavenly, just like the vocals form Nightwish. Man,
I had an issue with Nightwish. But I digress. I knew I had to find out where
that music was coming from, it only to pass on to the makers that I thought
they were awesome, and should record a CD. Hey, I'm that way.
I finally decided the music
was coming from my west, and headed towards it. As I grew closer to the source,
I began seeing lights, as well, with a steady orange glow. Maybe somebody was
having a party out here? I didn't know; that's for sure. The singing was
continuing, drawing me closer. The latest song reminded me of an old Celtic bit
I had heard some time ago, a lay about a lost maiden and her lover, torn apart
by a freak storm and the wild ocean it created. Beautiful song, that. I paused,
and tried to decide something. Should I just waltz in unannounced, or should I
call something out and ask who's there? Hmmm. If I just walked in, goodness
only knows what might happen. Some of the backwoods folk around where I live
are pretty rough. On the other hand, if I call something out and announce that
I'm here, I might not get to find out who is making that beautiful music. Hmmm.
Ah what the heck. I threw
caution to the four winds, and strode purposefully up to the light and the
music. What I found there was shocking, to say the least.
As I moved through the brush
and into the light of the bonfire, I began to see shapes sitting around the
fire, dancing and singing, and just in general having an obviously good time. The
problem? Only some of those shapes seemed human. Most were obviously not, and a
few seemed to be a combination. Why the creatures hadn't seen me, I had no
idea. Now, what would most normal, rational human beings do when faced with
this situation? Probably leave as quickly and quietly as they could. Did I? Not
on your life. For a self-professed computer and anime nerd, this was the
opportunity of a lifetime. And I still wanted to tell whoever was singing how
much I enjoyed their music. That thought kind of slipped away though in the
excitement of the moment, though. Who would think of music at a time like this?
Well, I did. I reached down to finally turn off my Mp3 player. Why I hadn't
sooner, I have no idea, and continue to this day to have no idea. But once
more, I digress.
I crept towards the bonfire,
slowly, quietly. I stopped behind the backs of some of the revelers, in the
shadows, and coughed quietly. Immediately the figures turned towards me, and
the music stopped, as did the dancing. Many voices began clamoring at once in a
strange language, the likes of which I had never heard. Then one of the figures
raised his, or her, hand, and immediately everything stood still. S/he walked
up to me, and placed its hand on my forehead. I felt an immense, ancient power,
and then knew no more.
After a while - I know not
how long, exactly - I awoke, to find several of the figures standing over me. I
stood up, with the figures watching me the whole time. I found myself
completely surrounded, by all kinds of creatures out of every legend
imaginable. There were attractive elves, stumpish dwarves, hideous ogres, and
noble, scaled dragons. Those closest to me were a mix of various elvish types.
One had extremely long ears, that I roughly estimated to be about 6-8"
long, sticking out and back from his head. They were graceful, beautifully thin
ears, but they were defiantly non-human. Other had more standard short, pointed
ears, more traditionally elvish. Finally, the one closest to me, a handsome
male who would have put any and all of the "hunks" at my school to
shame, and he with the uber-long ears, spoke.
"H.H...Hell...llll..oo.
Hello?" as the seconds passed, his speech became clearer. He talked with
an accent not unlike that of an Irishman, but even then some of the inflections
were strange.
"Uh...hey." I
muttered out sheepishly. Here I was, face to face and talking to a living,
breathing, elf, and all I could think of was hey. What a complete and utter cheesebrain
I am.
"How is it that we can
talk?" I asked him, or anyone else who was listening. Another nearby
legendary, some kind of a cross between a girl and a deer, but definitely not a
centaur, spoke up.
"You can understand us,
and we you, because of a spell we had placed on you while you were
unconscious."
I just stood there, awed. I
had a spell cast on me. I was LIVING one of my RPG games. This was so cool. And
that deer-girl was pretty hot. I mean, hot enough I would have dated her if she
hadn't had the lower end of a deer stuck to her waist.
The first elf spoke up again.
"I am Rauthor, leader of the High Council of the Tuata. And you are
called...?" He had an air of command about him. I swear I could almost see
it, it was so powerful. It didn't matter how loudly or quietly he spoke,
whenever he said something, people - or whatever else - listened.
I figured I had to say
something. "I am Kevin, Kevin Parker," I stuttered out lamely. God,
way to go again Kevin.
"Welcome, Kevin Kevin
Parker. My fellow mythics and I have come to a decision that you might be
interested in." he stated flatly.
"Uh, just call me Kevin
please. And, a decision? About what?" I asked plaintively. I really did
not like that Kevin Kevin Parker bit. Reminded me of too many C list movies I
had seen.
An elf spoke up, a female.
She was different than Rauthor. She pointed ears, still, but they were short,
no longer than an ordinary human's ears.
"You have seen us, and
talked to us. No other human has done that for over a thousand years."
"So?" I asked.
"By the way, before I forget my reason for coming here, whoever it was that
was singing, you are awesome. You need to get a CD out, seriously." I just
remembered what I had come there for in the first place, and it gave me a
reason for being there. I was really not liking the tone in that female Tuata's
voice.
"I was pass on the
compliment," she stated coldly. "And what is a CD?" she then
asked, equally coldly.
"Uh..." I started
to reply, but was cut short by Rauthor.
"It does not matter what
this CD is. Kevin Kevin Parker..."
I wanted to scream JUST KEVIN
at him, but I decided to hold my breath.
"The members of the
Council have decided that to ensure our safety from the rest of
mankind..."
I held my breath. There were
any number of things he could say that could be truly unpleasant for me. I had
a girlfriend, a family, a life. Unless he just wanted to clear my memory or
something, I would be in a world of hurt here. Damn my stupid ideas. I demand
to see whoever thought of this crazy idea, I raged within my brain. Somewhere a
tiny, wise, but cynical part of me said, you did stupid, now shut up and deal
with the consequences.
Oblivious to my inner
turmoil, Rauthor continued. "...you will join with us, and become a
mythic, like us. You may choose what type you wish to become, but make no
mistake, you will become a mythic this very night. And your old life is dead,
for you will find humans are not agreeable to things they do not
understand."
I just stood there, dazed. "But,
what about my family, and my girlfriend, and my life??? And why not just wipe
my memory or something, why go so far???" I whined. There was no other way
to put it - I was fighting for my life here. I didn't come across very well,
I'm afraid, but a teen's gotta do what a teen's gotta do.
"Your family and friends
will be notified via dreams that you are alive and well, but out of their
reach. Your life is gone, however a new life awaits you. As to our reasons, the
populations of all the mythic races have been slowly falling for the past many
centuries. As such, it has become standard practice that people who discover us
are added to our number. This helps keep us from extinction. Now then,
CHOOSE!!!"
With the last word he
uttered, it hit me like a thunderbolt what he was saying. I would never see my
family, or friends, again. I would never get to fulfill my dreams and hopes and
ambitions. For all intents and purposes, I was going to be completely dead to
the world by the end of the night.
I looked around at my
choices. There was no lack of variety, that was for sure. A dragon, perhaps? I
had always like dragons, but I decided that was too stereotypical. I still,
somewhere deep in my psyche, had a hope of escaping all this and returning some
day, so I needed something at least mostly human-looking. I thought about a
merman for a while. He was mostly human, and in many of my favorite stories merpeople
had the ability to shapeshift, which could be very useful indeed.
I decided against that
though...swimming wasn't a big thing for me, in fact I could barely swim at
all, and a life spent mostly under the seas didn't sound too appealing. I cast
a glance up at the moon, and thought about my mythology. I was pretty sure I
wanted something tied to the moon, in some way. If I was going to be pushed
into this, I might as well at least get something I really wanted from it. So
then, I thought harder, a moon-god of some kind. But, I asked myself, what
group of beings was most tied to the moon. I decided to hazard a question at
Rauthor.
"What creatures are most
tied to the moon, Lord Rauthor?" I figured it couldn't hurt to butter the
guy up a little.
"Ahhhh...a question. You
are wise, human. There is no reason this must be unpleasant for you. To answer,
there are several options. Elves are tied to the moon - they enjoy dancing and
singing under her light. Dragons are also tied to the moon, it affects their
creativity. Although I do not believe it to be mentioned in most human stories,
dragons are actually masters at sculpting, poetry, painting, and other works of
art. Finally, my own race, the Tuata, are also tied to the moon. Many of our
people have attributes and powers relating to the moon in some way or
another."
"Thanks, I’ll take that
into consideration...how long do I have to decide?" I asked.
"You may have 10 of your
minutes to decide what form you shall wear for the rest of your life. For
hearken well, you only get one chance. If you choose poorly, you will spend the
rest of your days paying for it," he rumbled out.
My mind raced. 10 freaking
minutes!!!??? To make such an important decision!!!??? I thought as hard as I
could about each of the three choices. I ruled out Elves fairly quickly. From
what I was seeing here, Elves were nothing like the Elves I grew up with - the
tough guys and gals from Tolkien being an example. All they seemed to do was
dance around fires like idiots. So that narrowed it down to Tuata or Dragon. I
knew all about dragons, but I needed to think about Tuata. Unfortunately, I
knew next to nothing about Tuata.
The time was going by, oh
ever so fast. So fast, and yet so slowly. I realized this short time, was all I
had left in my human form. I asked Rauthor for a mirror. He looked surprised,
but handed me one. I looked in, and drank deep of my image. I wanted to
remember every detail, so that at a later time it might come out again as a
drawing. After that was done, I asked Rauthor how much time remained.
"Two of your minutes,
human," he replied.
"Okay, let me think
here," I said hastily. I didn't want to offend him, but then I had an
important decision to make.
As the imaginary clock in my
head ticked off the seconds, I thought, and thought, and thought even more,
until I thought my head would burst from all the thought!
Rauthor prompted me.
"Time is up. What have you decided, human?"
In that instant, I knew what I
wanted. I was amazed it hadn't been clearer to me sooner. I cleared my throat,
for probably the last time, and made my decision known.
"For good or for ill, I
choose Tuata."
Rauthor looked surprised and
pleased at the same time. "It is not often we get a new member to our
little family. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to it," he said
"Okay...so I've chosen,
now what happens?" I asked. "How are you going to do this, magic? And
will it be painful?"
"To answer your last
first, no it will not be painful, in the least. Yes, we were going to use
magic. It is a powerful spell, requiring two of our most powerful mages. They
are on their way now. Basically you will go to sleep, and then in a few minutes
you will awake, completely transformed," Rauthor explained.
"And I will still be me,
right? I mean, all my memories and my thoughts and my mind and all," I
inquired nervously. This was one of my biggest fears of the whole thing...I
still wanted to be me.
"Of course. The change
is simply of body, not of mind or soul." He cleared his throat. "Here
come the two mages." He raised his hand and pointed to the right. I
followed his gaze, and could see two figures approaching rapidly from outside
the glade. I took a quick look at the crowd, and was amazed that there was
nobody but Rauthor and the mages left. Every now and then I thought I saw the
shadowy figures of others. I asked Rauthor about why everyone had left.
"The other mythics have
left, because at this point the party is over, and it is now an event for Tuata
only. As I said, it is not often we get a new member to our little
family," he replied.
After a few more minutes, the
two mages finally made their way up to us.
Rauthor spoke up again.
"Kevin, meet the two mages who will add you to our number. The short one
on the left is Ghorder, and the pretty girl on the right is Llewellyn."
The short one - Ghorder I
guess, said in mock-anger, "Who you callin short, beefsteak???"
Rauthor just smiled
benevolently.
Meanwhile, the other,
Llewellyn, was looking me over. "He will make a handsome addition
indeed," she murmured. Ghorder snickered about something.
"Something funny?"
Llewellyn asked archly.
"Nothing, nothing at
all, great lady," Ghorder bowed.
Llewellen just looked at him
suspiciously.
Rauthor was just standing
there laughing his head off. He pulled me off to the side. "Don't worry -
these two have always been this way. I think they do it to hide how much they
care for each other," he confided. Then he winked at me.
I took another look at the
still-bickering pair. They certainly were an interesting duo. Llewellyn was
very attractive. She had medium length blonde hair, falling down to her
shoulders, an attractive face, and beautiful blue eyes. She stood about
5'4" tall.
Ghorder was the exact opposite.
He was very short for a male Tuata, topping out at probably no more than
5'2", compared to Rauthor, who stood close to 6'6", and he was ugly
as sin. He just looked...dirty. I don't know...maybe his body matched his mind.
I was forced to wonder that question as the two of them bantered back and
forth. I would gladly put myself into Llewellyn's hands, but Ghorder's...that I
wasn't so sure about.
Rauthor just stood there with
an amused smile on his face for probably another five minutes, until noticed I
was growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing second.
At that point he stood up and
boomed, "Enough!"
Ghorder and Llewellyn stopped
immediately.
"Thank you. You can
resume your banterings later - get to the job at hand. Kevin is nervous about
this as it is, and the more you banter the more nervous he is getting. Now do
it!"
"Fine, fine." Ghorder
said, while muttering, "spoilsport" under his breath. "Let's get
on with this, sister!" And with that he slapped her on the bottom.
Llewellyn's eyes narrowed
with outrage. "Why you insignificant little..."
Rauthor cut her off. He was
very good at cutting people off, I noticed. "ENOUGH!!! You can bother with
him later!!!" he practically screamed at them.
"Fine. Then I am
ready," she grumbled.
Ghorder smirked and said that
he was ready as well. I didn't trust him. He was up to something. What it is, I
didn't have any idea. But he was definitely up to something.
With Rauthor's nod to begin,
the two began chanting in some language I didn't understand. I figured it must
be a language of magic, since I could understand Tuata thanks to the first
spell.
As the first words of the
spell washed over me, I began to get drowsy. I decided foggily that I had
better lie down, to avoid falling down later. Rauthor saw my weakness, and
helped me lay down. I had dim recollections of more chanting, various symbols
being placed around my body, and so forth, but it was all in gray, and soon
afterwards I knew nothing more.
As I slowly became cognizant,
the first thing I realized was a flowery smell in the air. I sat bolt-upright,
took a look down at myself, and screamed my lungs out.
I was a Tuata! But, more than
that, I was a girl Tuata!!!
As soon as I was done
screaming, I looked around for the mages with bloodlust in my eye. I didn't
think that Llewellyn was responsible for this...this...atrocity, but I swear if
I could have found Ghorder, he would have been dead. Rauthor motioned for me to
sit up. Then he massaged his ears a little.
"You know, you got quite
a pair of lungs on you."
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF
THIS?!?!?!?" I screamed at him. In my moments of rage, I lost all
self-control. Who cares that he was now technically one of my sovereigns, I was
a girl for goodness’ sake!
"Well...I don't know how
to really tell you this so you won't kill him, but Ghorder was
feeling...mischievous. And since he was the one doing the body
template..." he faded off.
"The results are
obvious," I finished for him bitterly. I noticed with irritation my new
voice was very soft and light. However, I was pleased that when I was angry, my
voice had the range required to make sure it was known. "So where is the
little swine?" I asked Rauthor.
"Now, now, I'm sorry
about this, but it may work out for the best eventually. Do you want that hand
mirror again?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure. I might as
well see what the weasel...I...I mean Ghorder did to me."
Rauthor handed me the mirror,
and then waited nervously.
"Stand back," I
told him with narrowed eyes.
"Probably a good
idea," he agreed. "I'll go try to find the weasel...I mean Ghorder
for you," he winked at me.
"Yeah, please do,"
I grinned viciously.
I took a good look in the
mirror. I was no longer wearing my old clothes, and I noticed with chagrin that
my treasured Mp3 player was gone as well. My new clothes were in a silver tone,
and they were strange. I guess you could call them a mix between a dress and a
split skirt. It was all one piece, but the top was like a wrap-top, with
buttons going down one side of my midsection, and the bottom was like a skirt,
but there was a front panel that was separate from the rear two-thirds. I also
had two long close fitting bracelets on my arms, and tall socks of some type
and description on my lower legs. Close fitting shoes of a bizarre material covered
my feet, completing the ensemble. I had never seen anything like it before, but
it was comfortable and seemed to work well with my curves. Speaking of which,
it was to them I turned my attention next. I was dying to know what my face
looked like, but I decided to hold that off until last. I had small breasts,
which I was pleased to see. They were still noticeable, but they were
definitely small, which was good for me, because I had always favored girls
with smaller chests. I had a little bit of hip to me, and a very, very, thin
waist. Next I moved to my face. I didn't need the mirror to tell me other
changes that had happened. I knew I was much, much shorter than I had been
before my change. From standing next to Rauthor I was guessing I barely stood 5'
tall. I also knew from the vacancy between my legs what was going on down
there.
I moved to my face. I was
shocked at how Tuata it was. It was not like Rauthor's, or even Llewellyn's. It
was defiantly non-human. I had cheekbones so high now they could have dammed
the Mississippi river. My face came gracefully to a point at my chin. I had
beautifully arcing eyebrows, of a silver color. My eyes were almond-shaped now,
and also silver, with very large pupils, so that I had very little white
showing. My nose was very button shaped and delicate. I noticed with a shock
that my hair also was silver, and now down clear past my buttocks. How I hadn't
noticed it before was a miracle. I guess this body was used to the feel of it
or something. I had a smallish mouth, and my lips were not very full. Still
kissable, and quite excellent by Tuata standards, I could tell, but not even
close to par for a human. My ears were standard-issue Tuata ears. They were
long, and thin, and curved back gracefully about 6" from the sides of my
head. They had two small silver loop earrings in each, near the base where the
ear joined with my head. All in all, I liked my new face. It had a beauty, and
a delicacy, to it, but at the same time, you could tell this girl was not
taking any nonsense.
I reviewed myself once more,
quickly, because I was Rauthor and the two mages walking up the hill towards
me. I decided that, despite the fact that it was noticeably a girl's body, it
was not a bad body. Ghorder hadn't really done that bad of a job, despite my
initial misgivings.
"Heyho, Kevvy boy,"
Ghorder chirped happily at me.
Rauthor moved quickly into a
position to intercept should anything happen.
"Howdy, Gorddy
boy," I chirped right back. I noted with passing interest that my new body
was very good at chirping. I wondered briefly if Tuata were part bird.
Ghorder gave me a faintly
sick look.
Llewellyn just chuckled, and
then moved closer to talk to me. "So, are you, how is it you say, ok? With
your new body, I mean? I must confess, I almost killed Ghorder for you when I
saw what he had done to you, but I stopped just short because I figured you
would want him all to yourself!"
"Yeah, I guess I'm ok. I
mean, it's not like I'm ugly at least. If I was still me, I would date this
body - depending on what was inside, of course. But Ghorder, why a girl? I
mean, I had never done anything to you, why would you put me through
this?"
"I don't know...I just
felt like doing it," he grinned at me. I started towards him angrily. He raised
up his hands in mock fear. "Someday, I will tell you the real reason why.
But today is not that day. Rest assured, I had my reasons," he replied.
"Fine. So what
now?" I asked.
"Now, you need two
things. You need to pick a new name, and you need to decide what you are going
to do with the rest of your long life," Rauthor answered.
"A new name, eh?" I
pondered.
"How about Beautiful
Broad?" Ghorder smirked at me.
Llewellyn hit him over the
head. "There you go, I took care of him for you. Us girls have to stick
together!"
Despite myself and my being
included in the feminine, I laughed. I laughed and laughed and laughed, like I
hadn't laughed for years. Somehow, that just struck me as tremendously funny.
Then I forced myself to stop
laughing. I had a few serious things to consider yet, and this wasn't the time
for laughing. I felt better though after my laugh, somehow the world looked
brighter under the moon.
Suddenly, it hit me. The
moon, of course. I asked Ghorder a question.
"Why is my hair, eyes,
everything about me, silver?"
Ghorder chuckled.
"Because Rauthor mentioned to me how much you seemed to love the moon.
When your powers awake from dormancy, they will be tied to the moon as well,
even more than a normal Tuata’s powers are. Does that answer your question?"
"Perfectly," I
responded.
"How would one say
"silver moon", in your - our - tongue?" I then asked.
Rauthor responded,
"Well, the closest would be Arian, silver, rhod, wheel. So, Arianrhod, is
the closest."
"Then Arianrhod I shall
be," I stated.
"Then allow me to be the
first to officially welcome you, Arianrhod, to the Tuata," Rauthor
announced grandiosely.
"And I the second,"
from Llewellyn.
We all turned and stared at Ghorder,
who was just standing there, buffing his nails against his coat.
"AHEM," Rauthor
"coughed".
"What? Oh yes,
hello," Ghorder said shortly.
"What's his
problem?" I asked, even as Llewellyn was decking him again.
"He is just trying to be
funny," Rauthor stated flatly. "He doesn't realize that he is about
as far away from funny as the Ninth Planet is from Earth."
Llewellyn snickered at that,
while Ghorder, who was rubbing the top of his head, only looked depressed.
I thought of something, an
option I hadn't considered before.
"Lady Llewellyn," I
began.
"Please, no lady, and
just call me Llew. We are family now, in a way," she replied.
"OK then, Llew, can I
talk to you in private for a moment?" I asked nervously.
"Sure...we'll be right
back. Try not to kill each other in the mean time, please?"
"Oh all right,"
Rauthor grumbled while looking rather unhappy. Ghorder just looked hurt.
I giggled a little at that -
which was a little disturbing, but it was a neat sound, almost like a brook or
mountain stream's tinklings.
Llew and I went off to the
side, out of earshot, which was some ways off, considering our rather
impressive gear with that regard.
"Llew, could you put a
spell on me, so that I could fit in better in my old life?" I asked her.
"Absolutely not. I had a
feeling you wanted to ask me about this. I do, however, understand what you
have lost, and so I will make you a deal. We can try to persuade Rauthor
together, you will have my support in letting you go back to your world, if you
wish it...rhetorical, I know.
I must have immediately
looked happier because she promptly inserted a 'but'.
"But, you must agree no
trickery. You must go back unabashed as to what you are. No hiding it, or any
other nonsense. You must either get others to accept you, or else not. I think
you will find, in time, why we believe as we do about the outside world.
However, though you are new to our ways, you are a stubborn one, I can see. As
such, you have to find out for yourself, how we are treated in the human world.
And another thing..."
I held my breath. I could
handle the first part - I would just say I had become a mutant. That was no
trickery as to the fact I was different, and it still kept the other Tuata
safe. I had decided I would tell my family, and Alicia, the truth though.
However, I had no idea what her second 'but' would be. Unpleasant scenarios
aplenty filled my now much smaller head.
"You must agree to keep
in touch. Various of the Tuata will drop in on you, from time to time, and one
of us will be chosen to keep a close watch over you - kind of a guardian angel
bit. Whether you want it or not, you are one of us now, and we don't want to
lose our latest little sister."
I winced a little when she
said "little sister" but all in all I was rather touched by her
little speech.
"I agree to your terms.
Now then, what say we go gang up on Rauthor!" I winked at her.
"Yeah, why don't we go
do that!" She winked back.
Poor Rauthor never stood a
chance. It only took my and Llew's combined offensive roughly three minutes to
disable his arguments and overwhelm him.
Before we parted ways, for
the time at least, I had one more burning question I had to ask.
"So when do I meet all
the other Tuata?"
Conversation stopped. The
other three Tuata looked nervously amongst themselves.
Finally Rauthor spoke up.
"The truth of the matter is, there are only a handful of Tuata spread over
the world. There are 23 of us in fact, counting you. All of us were present
tonight, to see you. Those were the shadows I caught you watching. Although
they could not be present to greet you in person, they wished to view their
latest new family member. There were many, many more, once upon a time, but we
are all that are left. The others will stop in as they are able, but the three
of us will be your primary contacts from the Tuata race. Now, others from other
mythic races will probably drop in on you as well, but not many. Now then, we
each have a gift, to present you."
"I will go first,"
Rauthor nodded at the other two, who stood back a step.
"I wish to present you
with this sword. It has been handed down through my family for millennia. Its
blade is forged out of pure silver, of the highest quality. The pommel is made
out of carved moonstone...as soon as you were transformed I immediately thought
of it. I want you to have it, I think you may find it will come in
useful." With this he handed me the sword, encased in a beautiful sheath
of embossed leather.
"Wow...I don't know what
to say, Rauthor. This is a magnificent gift, thank you!" I virtually
bubbled. I had always wanted a sword, but had never had the nerve to ask for
one.
"Draw it, and see what
you think of it," Rauthor pushed.
I nodded my head and drew the
sword, albeit very clumsily. It literally dazzled me. It was so beautiful - I
had never seen anything like it. "Its beautiful Rauthor. Does it have a
name?" I asked.
"A name? Many swords
from the era when this was made, had names, however this sword does not."
"May I name it?"
"I would be honored, as,
I am sure, would be the sword."
"Then I christen this
sword, Silverfire." I pronounced.
"A marvelous name,
indeed!" He glanced over his shoulder, and saw both Llew and Ghorder's
eyes boring holes into the back of his skull. "I guess I had better let
the others go now. Farewell, Arianrhod. I will drop in on you someday
soon."
Llew stepped forward next.
"My gift is a little more commonplace, a mere piece of jewelry for a
pretty girl," she smiled.
I blushed, another reaction
that was strangely foreign, yet, not unpleasant.
Llew held out her and, and
opened her clenched fist to reveal a small pendant necklace. It had a silver
crescent moon at the base, and the chain was also made of silver links. It was
perhaps the most beautiful necklace I had ever seen.
"Thank you so much
Llew!" I gushed out. "It's beautiful - I love it!"
I reached up and put it
around my neck right away. It felt very cold against my skin. I asked Llew
about that.
"It is because it is
magical. When you are safe, the silver is cold. When you are in danger, the
silver will heat up. It will never chill your skin, or burn it, but will merely
warn you when you are in danger."
"Once again, a
magnificent gift. Thank you very much, Llew!"
"You are very welcome,
dear. I, too, will see you soon. In fact, I will drop in on you tomorrow, and
see how you and your family are adjusting."
"But, you don't even
know where I live!"
"Don't worry...I'll be
there, at 8:30am sharp."
"Okay...I guess I'll see
you then."
She began walking away,
following Rauthor.
"Thanks again...for
everything."
She waved over her shoulder
in response.
"Well, I guess that
leaves me, then," Ghorder stated.
This oughta be good, I
thought to myself.
"I am afraid that you
have got something of a bad opinion of me. I wish to present you with this, as
my gift." With a grand flourish, he brought out a large box from behind
his back.
"Is it safe to
open?" I asked archly - a trick I had picked up from Llew.
"Of course. Regardless
of what you may think of me, I would never do anything to harm you. I may play
some pranks on you, but I would never hurt...you." He said this with a
tenderness I had not heard from him yet.
"Ghorder...are you
ok?"
"Yes, I am fine."
He looked at the others receding forms guiltily. "Come on, hurry up. I
don't have all night."
"Fine, fine." I
tried opening the box, but it was stuck. I grunted a bit and applied my full
strength. Surprisingly, the box gave way well before I did. Sheesh, I thought,
I must be stronger than I thought. As the box lid went flying somewhere across
the field, I pulled out the contents of the box - a dress.
"A dress?" I asked
him. Admittedly it was a very beautiful dress, but compared to a magic necklace
and an ancient sword it kind of paled in comparison. It was a beautiful, deep
blue, and was more traditional than my current outfit. It had a high bodice,
which would show off a bit of cleavage, but not too much, puffy shoulders, and
a knee-length skirt. The bodice and midsection of the dress was decorated with
white lace, and all in all it was very attractive, and elegant. Several
accessories were included as well, such as matching hair-ribbons, some hose of
some kind, matching shoes of the same style as my current shoes, white silk
gloves, and a matching deep blue choker.
"Yeah. A dress." I
could have imagined it, but it seemed Ghorder was choking up a little.
"Truth be told, it was originally for my daughter. She...died...before she
was able to wear it. She was going to wear it to a party...actually her
engagement party to her fiancée. But she never got the chance to." Ghorder
actually seemed on the verge of breaking down.
Suddenly, a sneaking
suspicion began to grow in my mind.
"Ghorder," I began
sweetly, then added some steel to my voice, "you wouldn't have happened to
have modeled me off of your daughter, would you?"
Ghorder looked around
guiltily again, with tears in his eyes. "She was so sweet, and so
beautiful, and cut down in her prime...it just wasn't fair." As he
concluded his sentence, he finally broke down and started weeping openly.
"It was wrong of you to
do this to me, just so you could see your daughter again." I didn't want
to be too hard on him, but I didn't appreciate the fact that he was going to
make me go through an awful lot of mental anguish, just so he could see his
daughter again.
"I know...can you
possibly forgive me?" he asked through his tears.
"I can, and I do. But,
take notice...I am not your daughter. I am me, not her. I will accept your gift,
and thank you for it, but know this: your daughter is dead. I may look exactly
like her, but I am not her."
"I know that," he
said wretchedly. "I am just glad that her visage, at least, lives again.
She had the potential to go far, and accomplish many great things. I hope that
she - as you - has a second chance at all that now. I doubt I will drop in on
you often. It is too hard for me."
"I understand. Thank you,
and thank you more for being up-front with me. That was your real gift, not a
silly dress."
"And thank you, for
being understanding," he bowed formally. With that, he turned, and
followed the others out of the clearing.
And then I was alone.
The vale seemed so quiet now.
There was no hint that there had ever been a party here, let alone a mere
half-hour ago, as I estimated the time to be. Shit. I had to get home, really
fast. This little detour put me way behind schedule. I took another look at my
gifts. My necklace was already hanging around my neck...so that wasn't a
problem to carry. I looked closely at the sword and its sheath, and found out
you were supposed to strap it on. That took a little figuring out, but I got it
on reasonably well. Then all that was left was the dress. I would just have to
carry that. No way was I comfortable enough with my newfound femininity to wear
it home.
Indeed, said newfound
femininity weighed heavily on my mind as I picked my way through the woods.
What exactly was I now? A Tuata...I knew that. But I was, in essence, a male
soul in a female body. Could I ever really match up my soul with my new body?
I knew one thing...being
lesbian or gay was not an option. It had never interested me - and indeed
although I had online friends who were, I tended to ignore that aspect of them.
It was just, creepy, I guess, to me. And not right, against the natural order
of things. However, that left me with a dilemma. I would have somehow to bring
myself to love a man.
Well, I decided, I would
stick that on a back shelf in my mind - at least until I was more comfortable
just being a girl in the first place, which would probably take a while. I
determined that somehow I must try to be a girl, instead of a guy in a girl's
body. I didn’t like the prospect of what that entailed though.
I nimbly avoided a tree that
popped up out of nowhere...or so it seemed to me, being almost completely lost
in thought. I was very nimble, I noticed in passing. Then I was back to my
thoughts.
I made up a brief mental list
of concessions of girly things I would do, and a mental list of things I would
not do - yet, anyway. I was pleased that the two lists were about even. Maybe
this would be easier than I thought.
I came up to the top of the
hill just behind our house. I was just in time to see two strange-looking
fellows get out of a car, holding something against their chests, under their
jackets, and march up to our front door. I was amazed at how good my eyesight
was. The moon was behind some clouds - there was no way I should have been able
to see that far, and that clearly. Cooooooooool.
However, that thought quickly
faded. I heard our front door get knocked down - and trust me, with ears of a
size that mine now were, I could hear it very clearly - and my sister and her
babysitter scream.
My mind went blank. I charged
down the hill, ran around the house, dropping the box holding my dress, and
drawing my sword. I was still very, very clumsy drawing my sword. I definitely
wanted that sucker out before I was inside.
I raced through the front
door - noting that it had indeed been kicked in - and started looking for
trouble. I noticed that as soon as I passed through the front door, my necklace
heated right up, warning me of impending danger.
My heart was racing...my
pulse was so fast I swear I thought the robbers could hear it. I peered around
the corner into my sister's room. There I saw one of the two men holding my
sister and the babysitter at gunpoint. The other man was nowhere to be seen. I
crept in quietly, and placed Silverfire's edge up against the back of the man's
neck.
"Turn around and slowly drop
the gun," I told him. My voice sounded like fresh-forged steel. I had no
doubt that if he didn't do as I told him, I would kill him without so much as a
second thought. Apparently he heard that tone in my voice, too, for he did
exactly as I told him.
"Now, where is the other
one of you scumbags?"
I heard something click
behind my head. I just should have known. I had seen too many cheap action
flicks to not know what was going to happen.
"You there, get down
there with the other two. We don't want no trouble, just all your valuables...hehehe."
"Yeah, yeah, and maybe a
little somethin' from each of yas, eh boss?"
"Yeah, I count that as
one of their valuables. I got dibs on the mutant though."
"Fine, I didn't want her
anyways. You're always into that kinky stuff."
"Just shut up and pick
up her sword already."
The man I had pinned down and
I switched places. He tried to pick up Silverfire, probably to hold against my
head the way I had held it against his...but the sword did something to him. He
snatched his hand back, really quickly, and told his partner that the sword had
burned him.
"Nonsense," his
partner told him shortly.
"Fine, then, you try
picking it up!"
From the yowl of pain behind
us I figured he had done just that. Good old Rauthor, I thought, you forgot to
mention the sword was magical too. Made me wonder if the dress had any magical
properties. Now that was an amusing thought.
Suddenly, a cloaked form
filled the room. He seemed to be everywhere...or was that his billowing cloak
that was everywhere?
The babysitter proved to be
frail of heart. She immediately ran out of the house and down the street,
somewhere, leaving my sister and I to the fates.
Then the cloaked figure
stopped moving. As his cloak settled down, I saw that he had rendered both of
the men unconscious. I stood up to thank him, and then caught a glimpse of a
familiar face.
"Rauthor!" I cried
with joy.
My sister stirred then. Crap,
I had forgotten about her. She also stood up. She looked first at me, and then
at Rauthor, and then promptly fainted. That worked for me, because I had to
prepare a list of things to tell her and my parents both, and I wanted to talk
to Rauthor.
"Rauthor, not that I'm
not glad to see you and all, but why are you here?" I asked the first
question on my mind.
"Let's just say I was
trailing you home, to make sure that you got home fine. As it turns out, I am
glad I did. You know, you really need help drawing Silverfire. I almost puked
when I saw how horrible your draw was."
"That's why I drew Silverfire
outside, before I needed it."
"Regardless, after
seeing that little display, I have decided I am going to stick around for a few
weeks at least, and train you both in the use of Silverfire and in the use of
your powers. For, although they are currently dormant, you will develop magical
powers, with time. And I would rather you not destroy half the town while
experimenting with them."
"Amen to that," I
laughed. I looked down at my little sister's prone form. "We should really
move her to a couch or something." I gave Rauthor a little-girl look that
my sister had used numerous times on me. I never thought there would come a
time when I would use it myself, but it worked admirably, I must admit.
Rauthor grumbled a little,
something about the duplicity of some females, and hoisted my sister easily
with one arm. Needless to say, I was impressed. My sister wasn’t that heavy,
only around 105 lbs or so, but that Rauthor could pick that much weight up with
one arm was truly impressive. He then picked up the bandits and tossed them
lightly out into the yard. I was worried that they would come back in as soon
as they were conscious, but Rauthor said he didn't think so. This house was too
much for them, and they knew it.
"Where did you want her,
again?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, out in the
living room on the couch is fine."
I heard a sound from outside,
and looked out the window. Great, my parents were home early. This promised to
be fun.
I dashed out to the living
room and virtually pulled Rauthor back to my room.
"You, stay here!"
Rauthor looked a little hurt
at that.
"You mean I don't get to
meet your parents?"
"Not at all...you will
be my last surprise. When I call for you, come out to the living room and
introduce yourself.
"Fine. What am I
supposed to do in the meantime?"
"Well...there is a
collection of centerfolds underneath my mattress that I don't need any more...help
yourself."
Before he could say more I
shut the door and went out to the living room.
As I had suspected they
would, my parents noticed that the door had been kicked in almost before they
had pulled into the driveway. Maybe even before they had pulled on to the
street. Parents are truly amazing sometimes.
As I braced myself for
impact, I thought over what I was going to say. I didn't even know where to
start. So much had happened, I didn't know what I should say first. I decided
to just follow the flow of things, and see where it took me. And pray. Praying
always helps. Lord, did I pray. This might have been the most important family
discussion of all time, and I was nervous as hell.
My sister was just coming to,
just as my parents walked through the front door...or what was left of it, at
any rate. First they saw the door, then they saw my sister. They didn't even
notice me, standing back in the corner, which was exactly what I wanted. I
wanted my sister to tell them her side of the story first, and then I could
come out once they knew I wasn't here to harm them.
As my sister spilled her
guts, not to mention what seemed like at least a half-gallon of tears, I
realized there was a major flaw in my plan. My sister had never even seen me
holding Silverfire against the bandit's throat! For all she knew, Rauthor and I
were two of the bad guys.
My mom asked if I had
returned yet, and my sister nodded her heard no, while crying the whole time.
She then said she wondered if maybe the "bad men" as she called them,
had gotten me first, outside.
Well, at that point I decided
that my fate was already in the hands of a higher being, so I through caution
to the winds and stepped out into the open. I definitely did not want my
parents getting any more worked up about my proposed lack of safety than they
already were.
"Nonsense. I'm right
here."
Lord, you should have seen
the looks on their faces. First, a mutant steps out of a corner of their house.
Then, it’s a female mutant, claiming to be their son! It's a wonder things went
as smoothly as they did. Mom started screeching incoherently, my sister fainted
again, and my dad just looked confused. Finally he got mom calmed down, got my
sister awake again, and while I was standing there swearing fervently on every
saint I could think of that I was their son and I was not a mutant and I was
not a bloodthirsty killer, he motioned for me to take a seat.
"Can you offer us some
legitimate evidence that you are, in fact, our son?" he asked. I was so
proud of him I almost burst. He maintained his cool so nicely, and even
remembered out little secret.
I had told Dad, quite
seriously, some years ago, that with all the mutants and whatnot running
around, if anyone ever showed up claiming to me, but didn't look like me, that
he was to ask that person that question. I had a ready-made answer for him, it
was kind of a password. I had come up with the idea after watching a show on
mutant transformations, which had really creeped the hell out of me.
"Of course I’m your son,
you dumb jackass," I told him. I am really good with passwords. No way anyone
trying to be me would talk to my dad like that.
That was enough to satisfy my
dad, but mom was a harder sell. My sister just sat there, with her eyes glazed
over. She didn't know what to think, I could tell. Add to this little shock the
fact that she had been held at gunpoint by men discussing how they were going
to rape her, and you can see where see was having a rough time of things.
Dad calmed mom down again,
and said, "We should at least her the girl's story, dear. I know my boy,
and that is exactly how he would have said the password. My gut tells me it is
him, now let's be calm, rational adults about this, and talk it over as
such."
My mother simmered down. She
didn't calm down; the only way I can describe it is that she simmered.
So I told my story. I told
them everything. I noticed a shimmering spellveil hung over the kicked-in door.
I silently thanked Rauthor for that. There was no way my story was getting out
to anybody outside of the house, tonight at least.
I told them how I was not a
mutant, in fact, but a mythic Tuata.
I told them how I was a girl,
and looked like this, because Ghorder wanted to give his daughter's form a
second chance on this Earth.
I told them about my gifts,
which my sister actually helped here. She said she had heard the robbers
talking about how my sword had burned them.