Shapechanger's Birth

by Laer Carroll

  "Hydro-electricity," said Sir Robert. "An interesting idea. Certainly worthy of study. On two fronts. Can electric generators and motors could be made efficient transformers of the energy of motion into electricity and back again? And can ways be found to efficiently move electricity long distances?"

  "Hydroelectricity. I like the term. But I believe our time is about up." She was pulling her pocket watch out as she spoke, and saw that she lacked ten minutes before her carriage returned to return her to her hotel.

  Sir Robert Kane came around his desk and helped "Dame Edith" to her feet.

  "This has been a most productive meeting, Dame Edith. I look forward to working with you a good long time. I will send you a summary of what we've discussed, and we'll correspond more. And perhaps my wife and I can visit Cork soon and we can talk more face to face."

  "I look forward to it." He continued to help her, hand under one arm and her hand on his, till she waved him off with thanks outside his office.

  But not before she had probed him to ensure she understood his emotional state and to give his immune system a boost. Unfortunately there was no answer to her command to his immune system, meaning that she could not give him better health than he already had. If he had a life-threatening illness or injury she would have to personally fix the problem. Still, her probe showed that he was generally healthy. That would have to do.

  Back at the hotel she and the other two women had lunch and Mary briefed them on the meeting. She especially made sure Edith understood all that had happened since Edith was taking over the Dame Edith role. This afternoon and tonight at the reception she was going to assume the role.

  "Are you sure?" Edith said. "Sir Robert met you this morning. When he meets me tonight he may notice the difference."

  "No, he won't. One reason is that you are not going to talk very much. Instead, you are going to ask questions and let everyone else talk. Believe me, you will impress everyone how brilliant you are."

  "She's right," said Jane. "You're just not fem-ee-nine enough. You don't know how to flatter a man."

  "Hah! As if you were feminine! Your idea of persuasion is to stick a knife up a man's nose! "

  Jane assumed a lost-kitten girlish look. "Who? Little old me?"

  Mary was laughing. Edith was exactly right about Jane. Though of course as an experienced whore — ex-whore now — Jane did indeed know how to flatter a man without him catching on.

  By half-past 2:00 Jane was off on Organization business, dressed well though not flashily and as usual armed with a well-hidden .36 caliber Colt revolver, two-shot Derringer, a long knife, and several throwing knives.

  Mary and Edith were downstairs in the luxurious hotel lobby waiting for Katherine Bailey Kane. Edith was now in Dame Edith mode and Mary in the guise of Miriam the selkie. Edith was wearing black, "Miriam" grey with a veil like Edith's. If anyone asked — which was highly unlikely — Mary McCarthy was off on some errand for the Dame.

  At a few minutes past 2:30 there rushed into the lobby a woman in her late 30's, quite pretty and expensively and somewhat flamboyantly dressed in two-toned silky blue. As she came up to them, face pink with the brisk air outside, they rose from the comfortable couches.

  "You must be Dame Edith! I'm Mrs. Kane. I'm so pleased to meet you. Have you been waiting long? The traffic was a bit much."

  "Not at all. May I present you my companion Miriam Waveswept. I'll explain Miriam's unusual last name later."

  "I'm pleased to meet you, Mistress Waveswept. It's quite a lovely name."

  Turning back to Dame Edith she said, "Our carriage awaits. Shall we be off? There's so much to see. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

  The afternoon was bright and brisk, a cold front having swept in behind yesterday's rain, and the sky was achingly blue. Mary pulled the chill fresh air gratefully into her lungs.

  The glossy black-painted carriage awaiting them was more elegant than Mary guessed the Kanes could afford, perhaps hired, more likely borrowed from more affluent friends. The driver stayed in the high driver's seat at the front with his reins in his hands, but a second man quickly got down from the driver's seat and assisted Dame Edith into the carriage followed by "Miriam" and Mrs. Kane.

  Katherine's seat faced backward and she handed out woolen blankets to cover their laps and legs. Edith had dressed warmly but was no doubt happy to take a blanket since the windows of the carriage had to stay open to let them see the sights. Mary of course simply adjusted her skin to keep out the cold and put the blanket on her legs only to keep up appearances.

  With a slight jerk they were off. The horse clip-clopped west along Saint Stephen's Green street. The big park was to their left and in the brilliant sun quite living up to its verdant name.

  Mrs. Kane chattered merrily, giving them a quick orientation to the city. According to her, and the maps that Mary had memorized, the River Liffey formed a fairly straight line from the west and emptied into Dublin Bay, passing through the downtown city center. Two canals also came from the west, one from the northwest, the other from the southwest. The Royal Canal on the north had been reshaped into a semicircle with the downtown area in the center before it joined the Bay. The Grand Canal formed a similar semicircle to the south. Thus the waterways created a rough target with the downtown area its bulls eye.

  The carriage and Mrs. Kane rattled on as the tour continued. Off to one side she pointed out Trinity College, which occupied one end of a very long green that served as a park. The College was a massive three-story grey building, quite long. Forming a U from its two ends were four-story red-brick buildings.

  A few blocks beyond Trinity College was Dublin Castle where the Lord Lieutenant governed Ireland, a jumble of buildings attached to the high round tower that was the original castle of the English conquerors. A block away was the majestic Christchurch Cathedral with spires pointing skyward. In the bright sun it was quite beautiful amid its extensive green campus.

  Other landmarks included the Four Courts building, topped by a high cylindrical building with columns all around the top and a blue-green copper dome. The National Museum and the National Library also included round portions with flat domes.

  Mary wondered about this fetish for round buildings, or round parts atop them. Holdovers from the centuries when English lived in fortified castles with their round lookout towers?

  After another hour of big boring buildings — the Post Office, the Exchange, the Concert House — Katherine seemed to run down, even though "Dame Edith" had encouraged her with strategic questions. Knowing Edith, Mary was sure that she was genuinely interested.

  "Oh, I know," said Katherine. "Let's go to a coffee house! We're near Temple Bar right now."

  Edith acquiesced and Mrs. Kane called up to the driver, who pulled over. They were back near Trinity College from where they had started.

  They got out with help from the driver's companion. Instructed to stay near the College, the driver settled down to wait. His assistant, however, trailed along behind them as they walked two blocks further and turned into a narrow street.

  "See these cobbles," said Mrs. Kane, her pretty face animated. "They're original, or close to it. This is the oldest part of Dublin, centuries old. It used to be the center of the city."

  They walked up the street, past a cross street just as old. All along the streets were small shops of all sorts, none selling anything expensive, one even selling used clothing. There were small bookstores, pubs, a caf, restaurants. And people, mostly lower-class or even homeless, students, dockworkers taking an early afternoon off, several prostitutes (only one of whom was working), a constable, three soldiers who had gotten a head start on evening drunkenness, some merchants, a few rough men of no discernible profession, some French sailors, and others.

  The crowds were teeming, almost jostling each other as the late afternoon waned toward evening. A pickpocket made a pass at Katherine Kane's purse. Mary's ever-alert inner lookout spotted him the instant he lengthened his stride. She took two ca
sual steps forward and swatted his wrist as he reached toward the purse straps. He gave a quick little scream, instantly shut off, and ran away into the crowd.

  "What was that?!" said Katherine, stopping.

  Edith said casually, "Oh, that was Miriam protecting you from a pickpocket."

  "Really?!" Mrs. Kane looked around at the crowd. She had been a little breathless when she led them into Temple Bar, so she knew there was a little danger here.

  "Oh, I shouldn't have brought you here. I thought Hermann would be enough protection. We'll leave ..."

  "Nonsense!" said Edith in her best Dame Edith imperious manner. "We have sturdy Hermann and Miriam. We're perfectly safe. Come on, where is this coffee house?" She took off in a brisk stride.

  Mrs. Kane hurried to catch up, pointing off to one side. They veered in that direction. Hermann and Mary followed.

  "That was quick work, milady. Caught me completely off guard, he did."

  "He was quite good. You won't be caught off guard a second time, I'm sure."

  "No, ma'am." He subsided with a curious glance at Mary and began looking around him more alertly.

  The coffee house, Mary could tell by the smells, actually served coffee, though as usual it sold ten times as much tea despite its name. Unlike most of the shops around, it was large inside and had high ceilings, almost barn like. Small round tables and square and rectangular ones were jumbled in no clear pattern.

  Katherine motioned toward a table inside along the street side near windows but Edith pointed toward a table at the end of the room against a wall. She took a table against the wall and motioned Mrs. Kane to sit beside her. This let Mary sit with her back to the room. Good. Edith thought they might be able to pull off their selkie scam.

  Hermann followed and sat at a table between them and the rest of the room, looking away from them as a good guardian should.

  A waitress bustled over, white apron over a black dress. When Quality entered a business establishment they usually got quick service.

  Katherine Kane ordered coffee and "those little cruller things, with chocolate." Evidently she had been here before. Edith tried the coffee too but Mary ordered tea. Both of them said they'd like the same crullers that their native guide did. Katherine urged Hermann to order too, at her expense.

  "You were so fast, Miriam! Thank goodness you were so alert."

  Edith chuckled. "That's because Miriam is a selkie."

  "What? Really?" She looked at Miriam with interest. Not skepticism, not fear, just — scientific alertness. Good. Then she was unlikely to scream if Mary drew back her veil to reveal a faery's face.

  Their order arrived and they variously mixed and sweetened their drinks. Katherine took a sip and nibbled one of the crunchy crullers, which did indeed have little stripes of sweet chocolate on top. Edith sipped but did not eat .

  "Yes, a real live selkie," Edith said. "Many years ago I saved her life — well, she insists I did, I don't see it that dramatically. I just got her out of a spot of trouble when she was hurt.

  "Anyway," she took a sip of her coffee. "Miriam said that if my life was ever in danger to call her and she would come, save it, and stay a year as my servant.

  "I didn't believe her and in fact forgot about it for years. Then ten months ago I was in a bad fire. I was burned over the entire surface of my body. I was in pain you can barely imagine. My doctor doped me with morphine and I could still barely stand it."

  She took another sip of her coffee, added a bit more cream.

  Katherine had been listening, grimacing sympathetically at appropriate places. Now she gestured at her own head, as if she herself wore a veil.

  "Is that why you wear ...?"

  "For a little while longer. Miriam came to me, you see. She insists I called out to her in my pain, though I don't remember it. She took away the pain in an instant. Oh, I thanked God in Heaven! Imagine a cool breeze on the hottest day of summer, all over your body."

  "Hmm," said Katherine and crunched a cruller. Clearly she was not convinced, but still interested. Mary smiled to herself. Here was a smart, cool woman despite her slightly flighty appearance.

  Mary was pleased. It began to seem more likely that here was a woman with whom she could work.

  Mary took up the story. "Blocking the pain was easy. I can do that with a touch. But healing took longer. I immediately had her body grow skin on her back so that she could lay in bed without damaging herself. It was rough and ugly skin, but it would do until I could do a better job. Then I had the rest of her body grow skin, very thin and baby like. That way all of her body was protected from infections. Since then I've been working to coax all her skin to grown into normal skin.

  "There were other problems that I healed also. She had bad arthritis, especially in her back."

  Mary turned to Edith. "Incidentally, I'm getting tired of telling you to stand straight. Your spine is healed. If you don't fix your habit of walking bent over I'm going to have to be severe with you."

  "Oh, such a nag you are." Edith sat straight. "Are you satisfied? "

  Mary turned back to Katherine. "You still seem doubtful. May I prove it to you? I noticed that you have a scratch ..."

  She pointed at Katherine's hand holding her cup. Mrs. Kane looked blank, then glanced at the small reddened line of skin on the back of her thumb.

  "Would let me touch your hand, and see if I can heal it?"

  Katherine looked at her in calculation, then stuck out her hand. Good; she had courage, too.

  Mary placed two cool fingers on Mrs. Kane's warm hand near the scratch and probed her body. Generally healthy, some arthritis. Mary boosted the woman's immune system and told it to begin healing the arthritis. Turning her attention to the scratch, she took control of Katherine's body long enough to accelerate the healing.

  She took her hand away. "Now watch the scratch." The three women did just that and, over about a minute, the scratch disappeared and the redness went away.

  Katherine looked at Mary, eyes widened. "I felt the pain disappear! Just like that. And now this ..."

  She looked back at her hand as if not believing her memory.

  Mary said, "I also took the liberty of curing your arthritis."

  "How did you know ...?" Anger showed through her surprise. "And what right do you have to do that?"

  "I apologize. It's almost reflex for me to heal. Anyway, what I did was to tell your body to heal itself. That will take weeks. Speeding up healing the way I just did is normally not a good idea. I can tell your body to ignore my command if you want."

  Katherine was silent for a minute or two, thinking. "No. If what you say is true ... It will take weeks? Why?"

  "Rapid healing has to be done by my direct control. If I make a mistake I can do more harm than good. Not that that happens very often, and I can usually correct it. But it depends on my understanding of the illness." She didn't say that she always understood because she always had the enormous body wisdom of her patient to help. That would only confuse the issue.

  "Your body, on the other hand, has the wisdom to know exactly what to do, and heals at a slow but dependable pace that does not tax the rest of your body. I can do something like this —" She pointed at Katherine's hand. "— because it takes so very little bodily resources to do it."

  Again there were exceptions better kept silent about lest she give confusing detail. Body wisdom often was not quite precise enough to heal without leaving scars. And cancer occurred when the body wisdom got confused.

  Katherine finished a cruller, and her coffee, looking thoughtful and examining what she could see of Mary's and Edith's faces under their translucent veils.

  Edith's face had fake burn scars seeming mostly eradicated, planted there before they got off the ship yesterday. Without attention, the "scars" would go away in a couple of weeks. And Mary's face had been altered to look like a convincing selkie.

  Mary glanced around to see that Hermann still had his back to them, and that no one but Mrs. Kane coul
d see her face. She lifted her veil.

  Perhaps the first thing Katherine saw was Mary's skin: a perfectly smooth white with pearlescent highlights. Her cheeks appeared very wide, her blue eyes were large and noticeably tilted, her nose very small, and her mouth wide and almost lipless. Her ears had noticeable tips, like those of a cat.

  Katherine gasped and sat back in her seat, eyes wide.

  "I'm not a demon. If it will convince you of that I'll enter a church with you, kiss a cross, say a prayer. I'm a natural creature, one of God's in fact, just like you. But I live at the bottom of the ocean, and I'm adapted to that. Look."

  She held up her hand. She had been coaxing her fingernails since they entered the coffee house to grow longer, thicker, and into a sharp tip. And between her fingers, as she opened her hand wide, could be seen thin membranes.

  Katherine had calmed at Mary's speech. She leaned forward to examine Mary's hands, then reached out tentatively. "May I..."

  Mary nodded and Mrs. Kane took her hand in hers, looked at the webs and claws. "It's cold. And ..." She clicked her fingernails on the back of Mary's hand. "Hard."

  Edith said, "That's because of the cold air. Miriam's body has automatically thickened her skin and pulled the blood back away from the surface. It does that when she swims in cold water too."

  Katherine nodded, obviously applying her scientific abilities and finding Edith's comments plausible. As she should. They were the truth.

  Mary said, "The hardness also comes from the fact that selkies are more hunters than humans, though we do cultivate some crops. Our skin is like leather body armor when we need it to be."

  Edith said, "Miriam is also much quicker and stronger than a human. She could have picked up that pickpocket and torn him limb from limb."

  Katherine grimaced. Edith teased her a bit. "She could also have sliced him into pieces."

  Katherine quickly looked at Edith, who was smiling with gentle malice visible through the veil. She burst out laughing. "You're teasing me!"

  Edith and Mary laughed too. Edith said, "But being absolutely truthful. I swear," she added when Katherine looked skeptical.