I thought we’d keep going after the fight but they both wanted to take a break. Agnar was doing an inventory of his stones and wards and stuff. Brede was just sitting around and taking a drink from his water flask every couple of minutes. I started to do my stances but Brede told me to rest and reflect on the battle. I’m not really sure what that means other than playing it over in my head so this is a good time to check my stats and update my journal.

  Name Marie

  Species Human LVL 0

  Class Master Autological Mage LVL 31

  Stats

  Strength 183

  Dexterity 168

  Intelligence 317

  Wisdom 310

  Vitality 218

  Health 436

  Mana 635

  Skills

  Natural Linguist

  Class Quick Learner

  Greater Mana Manipulation

  Basic Space Magic (Gravity)

  Free Form Advanced Identify

  Mana Sense

  Hexagon Buckler

  Water Magic

  Pyrrhic Circuit

  Mana Walking

  Flame Magic

  Basic Air Magic

  Basic Earth Magic

  Voltaic Railblaster

  Psychokinesis

  Basic Mana Firecracker

  Scales of Ma'at

  Poor Electromagic Aura

  Waterfall

  Blessings

  Permanent Disciple of Hecate

  Touch of the Fae Queen

  Temporary Boon of the Newly Integrated

  Titles World's Weakest

  Child Prodigy

  Over Achiever

  Actually, writing about the fight in my journal does make me think about it differently. Like, why not put Brede on top of the cliff with me? Could I have made the redcap lighter so it jumped way too high in the air? Why wasn’t I the target in the air? I listened to Agnar because he seemed to know what he was talking about but that doesn’t mean he’s right about everything. If they’re going to treat me like an adult I have to act like one. Next time.

  This quiet after the fight is nice. It feels odd not to be rushing to the next fight. I find myself rewriting sentences for clarity. Asking my new friends for help. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with accuracy, but I think it’s important. It started with my “experiments” but the more I read and learn the more I think it’s just important. I read little things that make me laugh, like the difference between sentences with and without the right punctuation. Let’s eat, grandma! Vs. Let’s eat grandma! Brede asks me what’s so damn funny and I get the giggles explaining it.

  It leads me down a rabbit hole. No bunnies, just bad writing. That’s a me joke, I made that. I hadn’t really thought about good writing or bad writing before. At least not directly. I noticed when I would reread my journal that I repeat words like stupid a lot so I’m gonna try and fix that. I know you’re supposed to say going to, but Brede says that’s dialect and it’s ok to use dialect writing first person. I also use a lot of exclamation marks, from what I’m reading I should describe how something is said instead of just leaning on that. There’s a lot of rules to learn that basic homework never covered, but it doesn’t feel like too much. Actually it’s kind of exciting, being able to tell my story or any story. Agnar says every warrior should have a side hobby, I think this might be mine.

  Don’t get me wrong, I still want to learn runework and sewing and metallurgy and all kinds of other cool stuff. I do. But that stuff is all for fighting. I’m done pretending I don’t enjoy fighting. Real fights, not cutting defenseless bunnies in half. I’m a little annoyed I didn’t get to fight that redcap by myself, I think I could have taken him. Agnar says I have a warrior’s spirit. I’m proud of that. Being alone I learned that fighting isn’t always just beating an enemy, sometimes it’s just getting up in the morning. I wonder what I’ll learn next? I feel a little guilty being excited to find out. OK, that’s enough for now, looks like Brede is ready to go.

  My first look at Fae is a huge meadow. The grass is blue and purple, my brain keeps waiting for the trick to wear off. Like a cloud will pass and all the sudden it’ll be green and brown. It never does but I keep catching myself watching for it. It’s beautiful. It makes me wonder if I would find a regular field on Earth beautiful now. Is it because the grass is part my favorite color? Or is it that I’m walking calmly without having to worry about something attacking me from behind.

  There are mountains in front of us and at first I’m confused. I thought this would take weeks and weeks, but couldn’t they just come right back? Apparently those mountains are a lot bigger than I think and we’ll take a little over a week to get there. I’m just glad not to be surrounded by trees for once.

  The sun is blue. I don’t know exactly how to say this but it feels cooler? Like, I’m not cold but the sun feels like a warm campfire in early spring. It’s always just right. After seven months in the woods Fae feels like the air conditioned parts of the zoo. Like the reptile house or something. I get the stories now about mortals coming here and never wanting to leave. I’m not one of them though. This is like a vacation for me but one day I have to go back and kill that snake. I know that won’t be the end. There’s always going to be a next thing and a next thing. Agnar calls that the life of a warrior.

  It turns out Agnar spent his time making something after the redcap fight. It’s a rune that turns thoughts into sound. I was happy to let him choose a book, being able to listen to an audio book while walk is great. It does mean we don’t talk much but we can do that when we stop.

  The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. My family wasn’t all that religious but I know about the devil and stuff. Plus I had been reading the Bible. After this I think I’m going to try a more peaceful religion next. Agnar gets frumpy at a couple of places and says they added in funny parts to the play, it wasn’t like the one he remembers. I told him he should try to fix it and get someone to put it on the way he remembers it. He just says “that sounds too much like work” and lets the play continue. We take a break at the end, when Faust goes off to hell with the devil. I’m definitely picking the next book.

  It’s starting to get dark and despite my nap I’m exhausted. I ask Agnar to wait till tomorrow for rune practice. After I interrupt his reply with a yawn he agrees. We don’t talk much, I think Brede is still bothered by almost dying. Agnar is either upset about not getting any experience or worried about Brede. I think it might actually be worried. There are three moons in the sky when it gets dark and there’s sparkly stuff everywhere. I thinking it’s lightning bugs (which Brede tells me are called fireflies) but apparently they’re pixies. They tell me if we go into some woodlands we’ll see even more of them, and there also sprite and will ‘o wisps and all kinds of other small things that look pretty at night. They also tell me following any of them is a terrible idea that will get me insulted, injured or interred. Those are Agnar’s words. I don’t get why he couldn’t just say dead, but the sentence does sound cool. I think I’ll keep reading him stuff and letting him help me make it better. Not everything.

  After some discussion we decide I’ll leave my tent zipper open and they’ll sleep outside. I offered to let them sleep on the floor but Brede is worried he’ll make godmother or Hecate mad by intruding. Agnar didn’t laugh when I said she’d scold him for braiding my hair in my sleep. He did help me take it out for the night though. And he promised to do it again in the morning. I try not to think what it would have been like having him around when my family was still alive. Mom and dad would have talked shit with him for sure. Benji would have loved Brede I think. I imagine us telling them about our days at school while they listen. The thoughts break up as I fall asleep.

  *****

  I dream about the Lynx. It knocks me into the pit and this time instead of getting out a bear falls on me. It’s not even fighting me just laying on top of me but I can’t breathe. My skills aren’t working and it just gets heavier and heavier. I’m panicking, trying to swing my arms and legs and dirt is falling on top of me. It’s in my mouth and ears and nose. I swear I hear someone coming though.

  “Help me,” I try to say through all the dirt.

  “Marie!” someone yells.

  “Marie wake up!” I hear Agnar yell from outside the pit.

  “Come on young ‘un fight! Get up!” Brede hollers.

  I open my eyes.

  Kneeling on my chest is the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen. She’s old and wrinkly and covered in warts. Also, she’s completely naked. She has her bony fingers on my shoulders and her mouth is open near mine and I do the only thing I can think of. I head butt her.

  She goes flying back and then bounces off something blue. As I finish waking up I realize we’re inside a blue bubble. Brede and Agnar are outside of it, banging on it an yelling. I can hear them but they sound kind of far away. They look really worried. They shouldn’t be.

  You picked the wrong girl, lady.

  She’s already trying to climb back on top of me, blood pouring out of her nose. Ewwwwww! I kick her off and get out from under my blankets. I don’t have my sword so I’m back to basics. That’s ok, Agnar and Brede haven’t seen my lightning. I can’t use my blaster in here but I can use my first electric attack. I jump forward and grab naked granny by the neck with both hands. Pyrrhic Circuit flips on and now she doesn’t want to be here anymore. The blue shield pops like a soap bubble and I get a System message before I realize there’s not a head on the neck I’m squeezing.

  “Aaaaaah!” I say backing up. Agnar is standing there holding his word. I check and make sure I still have all my fingers. The ones I have left. They’re all there.

  “Come on Marie,” he says, “I have fantastic aim, you weren’t in danger. Also, no way was I missing out on experience again.”

  Right, experience, System message.

  *DING*

  Level 23 Night Hag Defeated

  Partial experience Rewarded

  “I don’t know how I feel about leaving the zipper open. What if I just tell Morrigan you stayed in here because I was scared of the dark?” I say. It’s the first thing I think of.

  “That’s fair,” Brede says. “How’n the nine hells did that thing get past your damn wards Agnars?”

  Agnar mumbles something.

  “What’s that? Don’t tell a damn hag just wandered in and took them apart. Didn’t you tell me a dragon would have trouble with your wards once? What happened, did you mess ‘em up or somethin’?”

  “I didn’t ward for hags,” Agnar said quietly.

  “Well why’n the hell not?” Brede demanded.

  “Because why the hell would I think to do that? They only go after the young and weak. I haven’t thought about night hags in decades. I’ve never even needed to make a ward for them so I would have to create one whole cloth. I’m sorry, but I don’t think anyone else would have thought to do it either,” Agnar ranted. Then he looked over at me. “Sorry Marie, I should have planned accordingly when you joined us but it’s hard to think of you as weak.”

  I just grinned. “It’s ok, you guys make a good alarm clock. I bet that old granny didn’t know what hit her. She was like ooh level 12 little girl, this will be easy. Then WHAM headbut from a level 31 mage. No one expects the headbut.” I was rambling. Usually this is where I try and stop myself and be more grownup but I hated seeing Agnar look so sad. “Then zap chop and did you get a level?”

  “I did,” Agnar said. He looked a little better.

  “Hey,” I said. “I’m not mad, but if you really want to make it up to me you can clean all this up.”

  “Of course,” he said loudly. Then he looked around and his smile faded a little. Ha ha got him.

  “What time is it anyway?’ I ask, stretching.

  “Close to mornin’,” Brede says. “Night hags only come when you’re in the deepest part of sleep. What do the humans call it?”

  “REM,” Agnar says. “Marie, we’ll step outside so you can change into your other clothes. Just leave those on the floor and I’ll get them with your sheets and things to wash.”

  “Ok.” I grab my book bag and start pulling out my leather armor.

  “On second thought, hold on a second. He grabs his knapsack and pulls out one of his shirts. Just wear this for now. It’s clean and doesn’t smell like you killed it with lightning.”

  “Hey!” I say. “Rude.”

  He just laughs. “You can keep that if you want, call it payment for letting a night hag in. We’ll start sleeping in here with you if Brede’s ok with it. Easier than trying to come up with a new ward anyway.”

  “Yeah I reckon we can tell Morrigan about this if she gets mad. At the very least she’ll strangle you first.

  “Thanks for that,” Agnar says rolling his eyes all the way around to make me laugh. It works. Much better than him pouting because he let a monster in. “Oh right, I know you made your own but here’s some Fae made soap.” He pulls out a square bar of soap and hands it to me.

  It smells like the day my family had a picnic in the park with Mia and Cindi and their family. Ants got into the pecan pie Cindi’s mom made and she started cussing. She’s really small though, and instead of getting mad she was talking like that in front of us everyone started laughing. She got red in the face and then she laughed too.

  Whoa. Where did all of that come from? I sniffed it again and it just smelled like summer and outdoors. “Is this part of your amends too?” I ask.

  He laughs again. “Sure, putting you in danger is roughly worth a bar of soap and a t-shirt.”

  “Hey!” I say again as they both walk out of the tent, Agnar dragging the body with one hand and holding the head with the other.

  It doesn’t take me long to get cleaned up and changed into the shirt Agnar gave me. I’m totally turning this into pajamas. Backpack on, I gather up everything in a pile then I walk outside with Mana Walking on. “Ok I’m ready for maid service.”

  “Hey!” He says, clearly making fun of me. He walks into the tent too quick for me to think of something to add. Instead I go see what Brede is doing. It looks like he’s about to make breakfast. I pull out some pork chops and show them to him.

  “Pretty heavy for breakfast I reckon, but we did just have a fight. I won’t complain about it.” He sets up some rocks on the campfire they had the night before. He starts a fire before sitting down on another rock he had pulled over. “Don’t think I ain’t noticed the way you been actin’ with Agnar. You did him a kindness cheerin’ him up yesterday and this mornin’. I won’t pretend I wasn’t scared after that redcap business but he ‘bout took it too hard. You can’t tell too much to look at him but he’s lost some people bein’ a warrior all these years. I wouldn’t envy him havin’ to tell my wife he lost me after we wouldn’t let her come with us.”

  What? How does he just drop all that stuff on me and not expect a million questions? Maybe he does know. OK, he asked for it. “You have a wife? Is she pretty? Does she make stuff like you? Would she beat up Agnar? When do I get to meet her?”

  “Whoa there, slow down. Yeah I have a wife, Agnar introduced us. Why else would I put up with all that nonsense?” He said jokingly. “She’s the most beautiful dwarf in Fae and I’ll fight whoever says otherwise. She ain’t much of a smith, though maybe don’t tell her that she’s able to beat me and Agnar both pretty easy. You’ll meet her before we go to Ingenburg, I suspect Agnar won’t fight the Tatzelwurm without her.” He stops and throws the pork chops in the pan. “To be clear, I’m jokin’ Sofia wouldn’t never raise a hand to the ones she loves. I’d question anyone who might.”

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  “So she’d just beat Agnar then?”I say trying to joke back.

  That got him laughing, “Nah, she thinks of him ‘bout like a brother. Those two been fightin’ and carryin’ on for years.”

  I enjoy the moment. Back in the woods I’d be going over the fight again and again. I’d be mad that I messed up or trying to decide if killing naked granny was wrong. Maybe not the last part. I remembered something I hadn’t thought of in a while. I wished for this. I wished to stop being alone. I wished for monsters to fight. I wished to be stronger. Since Brede was standing there cooking while I was having this realization I thought I’d share. So I told him about how hard killing things was at first, how sometimes I still didn’t like it. I told him all the things I wished for and tried not to ramble too much.

  “Bullshit,” he said.

  “Rude,” I say.

  “Now hold on. I don’t mean you didn’t wish for them things,” He says flipping over the pork chops. “What I mean to say is you didn’t wish ‘em into existence. Everything you told me says you worked hard to get strong. I’ve seen you fight, and you fight dirty. Don’t go takin’ that the wrong way either. I mean you fight to win. Only people who fight like that are people that know what it’s like to be weak. You opened the way for us to come through, and you been nothin’ but pleasant and accommodatin’ even when we been a bit much. You even took it upon yourself to try to cheer us both up just because. Now I don’t doubt your sittin’ on a bunch of hurt right now Marie. We have jesters in the courts too. You’re grinnin’ through the tears and that right there is the thing that makes you special. It ain’t power or killin’ or any of that makes me wanna call you a friend. That makes Agnar upset that hag got in. You’re good person Marie, and you deserve good things.”

  There’s two kinds of crying. I wanted to say two kinds of tears but that’s not quite right. Also there are probably more than two. Forget about the other ones. There’s two kinds. Sad crying and happy crying. I don’t know why he said all of that to me. Was I making a face? Maybe he was trying to cheer me up, but I didn’t even know I was sad. At least not sadder than I have been. I was so confused by the tears. I wasn’t sad. I was happy. I was happy when I threw my arms around him. I was happy when he hugged me back. It was like he flipped a little switch and I didn’t have to try so hard anymore. I didn’t have to pretend to be happy so they would want to be my friend. They wanted to be my friend and that made me happy.

  That’s about the time Agnar comes out of the tent with the laundry, somehow it seems like he’s gotten more blood on himself than there even was in the tent. Brede and I take one look at him and start laughing again. He opens his mouth to say something then just shakes his head and walks off.

  “How’s he going to wash the clothes anyways?” I ask. “There’s not a stream or river or anything.”

  “Alteration magic. He’ll just take all the dirt and blood and stuff out of the clothes and put it somewhere else.”

  “I wonder if he’d teach me that skill? That sounds super useful,” I say staring off to where Agnar went

  “S’not a skill, it’s a spell. Although, you did say you could do some witchcraft. Go on and ask him, I’ll keep breakfast warm. Although afore you go, you wouldn’t have any more mushrooms would you?”

  I looked back at him. “Brede I was stuck eating nothing but meat, berries and a few nuts for months. I got a bunch of mushrooms.” I pull a big pack out of my bag and show him. “Go ahead and fry some.”

  His eyes got wide, “Well, don’t mind if I do.” He grabbed more than I expected and turned to put them in his pan.

  Shaking my head I zipped my bag up and went to see how Agnar cleaned things with magic. From the looks of it the first step is to spread everything out on the ground. He’s scrubbing the corner of my blanket with a rag when I walk up to him. “Brede said you were going to use magic,” I say.

  He looks up and back at me. “Do you know what the first step in sympathetic magic is?”

  I thought for a minute. “Making a connection between two things that are similar?”

  He points a finger at me, “Well, close enough. First you have to figure out how two things are alike. So what I’m doing here is getting the same grime as what’s on the clothes and bedding onto this cloth. If you look at the other stuff I already cleaned a little corner of each. If you go back into your tent you’ll see a clean spot there.”

  He’s right. There’s a little clean corner on the sheets and my clothes. I’m still confused. “So now you have a dirty rag that has blood and stuff from all the other ones?”

  “Yes, and one more important connection,” he says, holding the rag up and showing me the corner of it is clean. “That should be good enough, now for the magic. I told you I’d teach you some rune magic, consider this part of your first lesson.” He pulls a smooth stone out of his pocket. (Agnar says you climb rocks and throw stones). He takes his finger and starts scratching at it. As he does I see his finger going deeper and deeper into the stone, he’s drawing a line. It takes a few minutes but he draws a kind of backwards Z. “This is a cleansing rune, it also has other uses but for today we’re going to use it to clean your laundry.” He puts the stone in the rag.

  “OK this next part is important. Sympathetic magic is more like a skill than it is mana manipulation. I am going to put mana into the rune but I’m also going to cast a spell. From what you’ve told me you always ask for help, you could do that here too, and there are even gods of purification or cleanliness. Don’t do that for your laundry though. So what we do is make a box for the spell to live in. Think of it like your blaster shells. We’re providing the mana for it, but instead of making the box directly we use words to shape it. Understand?”

  “I think so,” I say. “So there’s a spell for cleaning your clothes and you can just memorize it and use it? Like it makes the spell work and you just give it power?”

  “Yes and no,” he says. “There’s not one spell, there’s really an infinite number of spells. You can use spells other people came up with if it fits your purpose, but you can also just make them up as you go. If you’ve looked up spells before you might notice that they rhyme or contain repetition. Both of these ways accomplish the same thing, limiting the spell and structuring the magic. I said I would clean these for you, I’ve done the prep work, would you consider my word kept if I let you pull the trigger and cast the spell?”

  “Oh yes,” I say. “Can I? Teaching me to do it just means I helped a little, so you still did what you said you would.”

  “Alright,” he says, handing me the stone in the rag. “I want you to come up with two sentences that rhyme, that tell the spell what to do. Don’t try casting it yet, just tell me what you come up with.”

  “Ok.” A poem? I made some of those in school. This is harder than just writing about my day or what I’m feeling or what I think. Also, just two sentences? Well what do I want it to do? Clean up all my stuff. Well really I want it to make all the blood and dirt disappear. Grime, that’s what Agnar called it. I think I have something. “Stone and rag save us some time, please get rid of all this grime.”

  “Not bad at all. It’s short though. Which is fine, but I would suggest you repeat it three times while pushing mana into the stone and thinking of all the things you want cleaned.”

  I nod. I close my eyes for a second. Blankets, sheets, clothes tent. Got it. I open my eyes and see Agnar is still covered in blood. I can’t clean him, I promised not to use magic on him, but I can get his clothes. I could ask but it feels wrong to do it for something dumb. He can clean himself. I picture everything including his clothes. It’s pretty easy since everything but the tent is right in front of me.

  “Stone and rag save us some time, please get rid of all this grime.”

  “Stone and rag save us some time, please get rid of all this grime.”

  “Stone and rag save us some time, please get rid of all this grime.”

  The rag starts to glow, followed by everything else. Agnar makes a cute kind of ‘yip’ noise when his clothes light up. Everything gets bright enough that I close my eyes and cover them with my hand. When I can open them again everything is clean, including Agnar. Oh no. Oops.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to use the spell on you,” I almost shout. “I was just trying to get your clothes cause they had so much blood and stuff on them.”

  “You just learned an important lesson then,” he says seriously. “Always ask before using magic on other people’s things and proximity can cause magical bleed. You need to be really careful here Marie, I could have taken offense. If I chose to, I could say you broke your word and decide what you owed me for it. You never want to break your word with the Fae, not even by accident. I’m not mad at you for breaking your word because I know you didn’t break the definition. That wasn’t cast on me, but on my clothes. You did break the spirit of it though, you know you should have asked permission right?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I’m sorry I just wanted to surprise you. It didn’t seem right that you would still be all dirty when all my stuff was clean.”

  “I appreciate that, but it doesn’t change the fact you did something you knew was wrong.”

  “I’m really sorry Agnar, I promise I won’t do it again.” Dammit, what did I do? Is he going to hate me now? Is he going to tell Brede and then they won’t trust me anymore? That was stupid Marie, stop acting like a little kid, you’re smarter than that.

  “See that you don’t,” he says. He lets out a sigh. “I won’t keep harping on you but please don’t make me be the responsible one here, that’s Brede’s job. For a first time spell you did amazing though. My clothes and I are spotless, and so is all of your laundry. Come on, let's go make your bed and you can get dressed for the day.”

  “OK,” I say, still not sure how bad I messed up.

  We walk over to the tent and Brede turns to say, “Breakfast is ready as soon y’all are. Agnar that might be the cleanest I seen you. You should take magic baths more often.”

  Here it comes. Agnar is going to tell Brede and he’s really gonna let me have it. They might even take me back through the portal. No, stop Marie. If nothing else they want me to beat that cat dragon thing right? They won’t make me go back. They won’t.

  “All Marie, if you can believe it. I think she’s going to be a natural with spells, she got all of her things, my clothes and me in one spell.” He waits for Brede to nod and turn back to his frying pan. Then he winks at me.

  “You didn’t tell him,” I say when we get in the tent.

  “Eh, it was an accident and I already told you off. I think you realize how serious it was.”

  “I do,” I say, “I promise I do, I won’t do it again.” Oh no. I’m almost in tears. Stop it, stop it, stop it.

  Agnar looks at me. “Marie, breathe. I’m not mad at you. If I’d known you were going to take it this hard I would have been nicer about it. I’m not saying it wasn’t serious, I told you it was, but what has you so tense?”

  “You’re not going to make me go back now are you?” It just slips out.

  He looks surprised. “Of course not. Marie I’m not upset you played a trick on me, that was funny. I got upset that you put yourself in danger by not thinking. I don’t like the idea of my friends getting hurt, it’s about the only thing that can make me be so serious.”

  “So I’m not in trouble?”

  “I keep forgetting how young you are. One minute you’re head butting a night hag and strangling her with lightning and the next you’re asking if you’re in trouble. No, you aren’t in trouble. In fact you’d have to do something pretty serious for us to really even be mad at you and I doubt you’d do anything that qualifies.” He sets my stuff down the bed. “Get changed and come have breakfast, you can make your bed later. Take a few minutes, calm down and believe me when I say you’re not getting rid of us that easily.”

  With that he walked out.

  So he wasn’t upset before? Did I just make him upset? Ugh this sucks. Get dressed. I walk over to zip up the tent while I do and I can hear Brede talking. I shouldn’t listen in. It’s wrong. I can’t stop myself. I don’t have to strain much to hear them.

  “You just walked on out?”

  “She was on the edge of crying and everything I said seemed to make it worse.”

  “You’re a bit an idiot aren’t you?” Brede says

  “Hey!”

  “Well it seems like she’s rubbin’ off on you. That can only be a good thing.”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Agnar asks.

  “Give her a hug you git,” Brede says. “I’ll tell you what I told her. She’s sittin’ on a lot of pain. She’s actin’ like she’s ok and maybe on the surface she might be, but she’s gonna need her own people at some point. I don’t reckon either of us can really understand what she’s been through and if we’re gonna be her friends we gotta watch out for her mental well bein’ as much as the physical.”

  “Wait, so you want to send her to the humans?”

  “I ain’t sendin’ her nowhere. Especially not unless we know they’re safe. And I ain’t talkin’ about abandonin’ her or nothin’ either. I’ll go with her myself if I need to but she need councilin’ by someone who knows what alright is supposed to be for humans. Don’t have to be now or tomorrow or a year from now but sometime. And if she gets what she needs and decides she don’t want nothin’ to do with ‘em she can stay with me and mine as long as she wants.”

  “When the hell did you get so wise and sentimental?”

  “The day you introduced me to Sofia. Speakin’ of, I think Marie wants to hear the story of how the two of you started workin’ together.”

  “She wants to hear it, or you put it in her head because the story amuses you?”

  “Two things can be true.”

  I finished zipping up the tent and got dressed. You know what really sucks though? I couldn’t stop wondering if all of that was meant to be heard. Like it was all a show so I’d still keep being useful. I was mad at myself for even thinking it. Then another thought popped up. What if it was all a show to make me feel better? That would be kind of sweet. I’m starting to think being a mage was a mistake. I should have been a fighter and went around swinging my sword with the intelligence of an 8 year old. A pretty smart 8 year old, but still a kid. I know I’m lying to myself though, I would have been dead in a week.

  Breakfast is quiet and it feels like my fault. Agnar makes a joke about wishing granny would have just sent a post card and I laugh like I’m supposed to. I’m not trying to pout but that’s what I’m doing. Feeling guilty about pouting is making me pout more. Why do I have to feel stuff all the time? It’s not the first time I’ve had that thought. Then there’s the fact that they know I’m pouting. Which probably makes them think of me even more as a kid. I try to think of something to say.

  “Ok that’s enough feeling sorry for yourself Marie,” Agnar says.

  “Agnar!” Brede says.

  “You made a mistake and I corrected it and it’s over now. I know you won’t do it again because you’re a good kid. We’re not going to leave you or send you back and I told you that. Do Fae lie?”

  “Did you mean for me to hear you and Brede when I was changing?” I ask.

  “No,” Brede says.

  “Yes,” Agnar says.

  “Wait, what?” Brede asks.

  “And we meant what we said, so I ask you again, do Fae lie?” Agnar asks.

  “Morrigan and you and Brede keep telling me you trick people and I have to be careful and I can put myself in danger on accident and-”

  “Three times and quit I ask you, do the Fae lie?” Agnar says loudly.

  “No,” I say.

  “No we do not. So listen up. We’re your friends, we care about you even though we’ve just met. Do you have any idea what most of my dealings with humans were like? They were constantly trying to get stuff out of us, kidnap us, make us spin straw into gold. I swore an oath to punch that Rumplstiltskin right in the face if I ever meet him. And I will too. You could have asked us for a whole lot of things letting us in like that and instead what you wanted was to be friends. And you’ve treated us like friends so quit pouting and listen when we say we care.”

  Apparently humor is a way some people shield themselves from being hurt. I hadn’t figured that out really, even with all the stuff Brede said to me. I was a little upset at being fussed at. I was mad at myself for pouting and at Agnar for pointing it out. So when Brede called Agnar a big idiot I said the first thing I thought of. “Is it too late to trade you in for a pony? I don’t think they talk as much shit.”

  Brede choked on his breakfast.

  Agnar just smiled at me and said, “There she is.”

  *****

  Everything felt better after that. We discussed what book we would listen to next and I let Brede ‘talk me into’ Hitch Hiker’s Guide. Apparently he had seen the movie and wanted to know what the book was like. We cleaned up the campsite, which was mostly just putting my stuff in the bookbag for me and started walking. We listened all morning and even during lunch. It was a while after that when the book finished and I was about to put the next one on that I noticed something odd.

  Brede kept stopping every once in a while and stomping the ground. Agnar didn’t say anything so it was up to me to find out why.

  “Why do you keep doing that?”

  “Geo location. I can see through the ground.”

  I waited for him to keep explaining but apparently I had to ask all the questions. “What are you looking for?”

  “A shortcut.”

  “You’re doing that on purpose!” I say

  He grins at me. “Might be that I am. Fae is probably pretty strange for humans. It ain’t all straight lines and trampled paths. We can’t actually walk straight this way to the mountains even though it looks like it. We’d just be walkin’ forever. I’m lookin’ for what you humans call a fairy circle. It’s just a circle made out of mushrooms. There’s one around here somewhere.”

  “Isn’t that a bad word?”

  “Huh? Well don’t go calling folk fairies but not really. There was a time you might get your hide skinned for using it but with the Brothers Grimm and Disney we’re all pretty relaxed on it. You have a fairy godmother don’t you?”

  “She got kind of mad when I said I thought she was some kind of fairy.”

  “Bout the same as us callin’ you some kind of monkey.” Brede says.

  “If you mean evolution wouldn’t that be apes?” I ask

  “Exactly,” Agnar says. “You can get away calling sprites and pixies fairies, though it is impolite. But to call a Queen of Fae a fairy? You're lucky she didn’t wash your mouth out with soap. In fact it’s better to refer to the actual race instead of just calling us all Fae. It is accurate though. I’m as Fae as that night hag or that redcap or even a sprite.”

  “So I could have called her Tuatha De Danaan?”

  Agnar laughed, “Probably better you didn’t with that pronunciation. It’s not ‘too oth ah de de nan’, it’s ‘toohot day dan an’.”

  “Why don’t they spell it like that?”

  “You’re asking us? Talk to some humans.”

  That makes me quiet for a minute. I’m thinking about what Brede said when I wasn’t supposed to be listening.

  “Brede-”

  “Yeah young ‘un, I do think you need to talk to some humans. They’ll come around once we start buildin’ over there. Guaranteed.”

  “Do you think I’m broke?”

  “I think if you were broken you wouldn’t be askin’ that question. I think you’re hurtin’ and I think it’s only natural. I can’t imagine how you feel and truth be told I don’t want to. Besides, we're all messed up a little, just look at Agnar.”

  “Thanks,” Agnar says.

  “Hey wait a minute. You guys say thanks to each other all the time. I thought you weren’t supposed to do that.”

  “I was wonderin’ when you’d catch on to that.”

  “How come it’s ok when you do it?”

  “Because we’re family,” Agnar says. “Family doesn’t owe debts.”

  I look at both of them. I don’t want to say what I’m thinking, somehow I know it’s wrong. How can I say this without it sounding messed up? “How are you related?”

  “I told you she wouldn't fall for it,” Brede says, stomping the ground. “Good timin’ too, I think we have just enough time for you to tell her how you met my wife.”

  “Fine,” Agnar groans. “So I told you how my sister stopped letting me do her hair, but I didn’t tell you why. The thing about being as long lived as us, and we can live forever if nothing happens, you can go a very long time without seeing the people you love. For me, being adventurous and heroic and handsome-.”

  “Let's stick to verifiable truths here,” Brede interrupted.

  “Who’s telling this story? Anyway I didn’t see Beri for about three centuries. That doesn’t mean we didn’t talk, we wrote letters constantly. So I knew she had a friend who died in childbirth. That was a sad time for her and I wrote often to make sure she was well. Worse though, the father set out on some kind of suicide mission against a witch he blamed for her death. As far as Beri knew there was no reason to suspect the witch had anything to do with it and she tried to stop him but eventually said she’d take care of the little one while he sought his revenge.

  Long story short he didn’t make it. So there’s my sister with the child of her best friend and no partner. What does she do? She goes straight to Mab and asks her to bless an adoption. I never said anything but I didn’t know why she didn’t go to Titania since she’s somehow connected with our parents, but I assumed there was a reason.”

  “You see he’s always been a bit slow,” Brede says.

  “Hush you. So a couple of centuries pass and I miss her and my parents and my not so baby brother terribly and I plan a trip home. I basically have to bribe Brede because we’re doing fairly well in Ardcarriag. It takes us two years to get everything squared away and decide to make it a surprise. We get into town and Brede breaks off to go meet some contacts in the merchant guild he’d been writing too. I stop at my favorite pub which I haven’t set foot in since I set off to become an adventurer.

  Luck was with me I thought, because I see my sister sitting at a table all by herself facing enough away from me that she doesn’t notice me. That’s when I get an idea. The chairs have highbacks and intricate designs on them and there sits my sister with her hair down.”

  “Does he go hug her and say hello? Course not, Agnar’s got to play a trick on the poor unsuspectin’ dear.”

  “Quiet down. So I sneak up behind her quiet as can be and start carefully braiding her hair into the seat when-”

  “Sacked at the 2 yard line!” Brede yells, clearly trying to hold back laughter.

  “Do you want to tell it? Anyway I get tackled by a ball of fury about your height but with enough muscle to wrestle a bear. And she’s yelling at me. ‘Don’t touch my mother you creepy bastard!’ My sister tried to get up to see what’s happening, but I’d already kind of caught her so she’s struggling to get up and untangle her hair and she finally gets a look at me and starts yelling, ‘stop, stop, it’s just your idiot uncle. That girl beat me black and blue. Needless to say I recruited her to go adventuring pretty quickly after that. She’s a terror in a fight, I think you’ll like her quite a bit.

  “Worst part is he was so embarrassed he managed not to introduce me to her for near on two years. I think she was tempted to give him another pummlin’.”

  “Honestly I didn’t think you two would get on so well. What with her being the refined daughter of sophisticated nobility and you being a penny pinchin’ hick.”

  “I’m gonna tell her you said that.”

  “Please don’t,” Agnar said quickly. Walking faster past Brede he pointed, “I believe I see our mushroom circle now.”

  He was right. There was a circle of green glowing mushrooms. Which made me ask a question I just though of. “Hey Brede, if you love mushrooms so much why don’t you have your own.”

  “Cause non magic mushrooms are hard to find this side of Fae. They’re always changin’ your size and stuff if you eat ‘em. Take these for instance, if you mess with them they’ll release spores that might put you to sleep for a hundred years. Not no regular sleep either, one you can’t be woken up from. Part of the reason Fae like comin’ to your side is the food, ain’t you got all kinds of folk tales and such about how we like to be fed?”

  Now that he mentioned it, a lot of the stuff I read about fairies mentioned giving them things like honey and herbs and stuff. “What made you stop coming over?”

  “The industrial revolution,” Agnar says. “Iron everywhere, in the water, in the air. It was terrible. I mean we had started leaving well before that but that was the proverbial iron nail in the coffin.”

  “Why is iron so bad anyway?”

  “Let’s sit a minute before we cross over,” Agnar says, setting down his bag. “You can explain and I can find my machete in this mess of a rucksack.”

  “Have you read anything about mithril?” Agnar asks.

  “A little? It’s like a super magic metal that’s better than all other metals or something.”

  “Hah. That sounds like somethin’ a human would think.” Agnar says.

  “It’s basically iron but full of mana. We call iron dead metal because not only can mana not exist in it, it actively destroys any mana around it. Mithril can become iron if all the mana gets taken out of it, which is a lot harder than it sounds. On this side of Fae it’s nearly impossible and if you’re caught doing it any of the royalty will have you executed. The reason for that is we need mana to live. Fae are part magic, part flesh. According to the royalty though, the System stops iron from cancelling out mana. It doesn’t make it into mithril or anything but it’s no longer deadly to us.”

  “You guys talk like you see Queens and Kings all the time.”

  “We kind of do but that’s a whole other can of worms. We see aspects of our deities not the whole thing, and before you ask Morrigan can only show up at certain places and times in Fae.”

  “Alright, I’m ready,” Brede says. He actually found the machete really fast and was just letting us talk. I think he just likes making Agnar explain things so he doesn’t have to. With that we followed Brede into the mushroom circle, carefully not stepping on any of the mushrooms. My vision turns into a blur and something yanks me through the ground by my belly button. As my vision comes back I’m surrounded by colors. Flowers bigger than me, blue and purple vines, trees dripping sparkles. If my old place was a forest this was a jungle. I was still inside of a fairy circle, but the mushrooms were orange. I managed to step over them before I threw up.

  “Oops,” Brede says, “Probably shoulda warned you about that.”