She never promised it would be painless.
Sevana moved further inside, investigating and taking in her surroundings, trying to prod her tired mind into making a list of possible needs for the upcoming weeks. Sadly, she could only anticipate the next twenty-four hours and gave up the attempt. She’d think in the morning.
Stopping in the middle of her new room, she looked back around carefully. The cottage basically seemed to be split up into four rooms. A main room, which she stood in, that held a low couch and a stack of cushions; a kitchenette area with a sink, counter, and a table to eat at; a bathing room tucked off to the side of the kitchen, and a bedroom that had nothing more than a bed and a rug on the floor. Sparse furnishing, certainly, but the place wasn’t big enough to hold much in the way of furniture. Turning to her guide, a young Unda by the name of Khan, she gave him a nod. “This is fine.”
“It is not,” Aran immediately denied, staring about the room with his brows twisted together in consideration. “Bring another bed in here. The main room is fine.” As if anticipating her protest, Aran moved a step in closer, his eyes intense, voice low but penetrating. “We have no idea how the change will affect you. I’m not leaving your side until it’s finished.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to rejoin that she didn’t need a babysitter, that he could find his own guest house to stay in. Those words almost flew out of her mouth in sheer instinct, but something stopped her from saying it. Perhaps the look on Aran’s face, his expression saying that he expected an argument on this. Perhaps the look on Ursilla’s as she watched them, knowing but with a grim line around her eyes.
The easy transition that a child went through from human to Fae was incremental, an almost natural evolution done in daily doses so that as the child grew, they changed with nothing more than normal growing pains. What Sevana would embark on in the next two months would be anything but gradual, and she was only the third in known history to undergo it. The first magician to do so. No one, including Ursilla, knew exactly how her body and magic would react to this.
As much as having someone watch over her grated upon her pride, Sevana had to admit that out of everyone in her inner circle, if she had to choose someone, Aran would be her first choice. He was patient enough to not kill her when she started climbing the walls, and she liked him enough to not attempt murder when her frustration levels hit their peak.
She couldn’t manage to say anything mushy or sentimental. The words tangled in her brain before ever reaching her mouth. What came out instead was, “Just don’t hover.”
Aran lit up in a relieved smile. “Promise I won’t.”
“Chance would be a fine thing,” Sevana groused to no one in particular. “Khan, get another bed and chair in here. Clothes for both of us, too. And if you can lay your hands on land food, that would be best. We’re not fond of raw fish.”
Khan looked actually relieved at these clear instructions—Sevana suspected she was the first human he’d ever actually been this close to—and ducked his head in a quick bow. “I will see to it myself, Artifactor.” He gave her another bow before scampering off.
Come to think of it, was he to be their host while staying here? Sevana had only been here overnight once, but she’d had a hostess who cooked and cleaned and basically served as a housekeeper during her stay. Sevana hadn’t thought of Khan as their host, he seemed a little young for the role, but apparently he was.
With him dispatched, Sevana turned her attention to Ursilla. “Alright. What are we actually doing?”
“It is too late to start things tonight, and we are all fatigued from a harried experience,” Ursilla announced, stopping at the door. “Now that I know where you are staying, I will find my own bed. I will come again in the morning to start your treatments.”
It was the sensible approach and Sevana nodded, grateful she didn’t have to tackle anything else today. “Yes, alright.”
“Good night,” Aran offered her.
With a polite inclination of the head, Ursilla moved off, elegant with every stride.
Tugging off her boots, Sevana flopped onto the bed, bouncing once before settling with her eyes closed and arms outspread. Still, even as fatigue dragged at her, certain questions boiled to the surface. “How did you find me?”
“Milly helped. She went looking for your mirror on board, and was able to give me a clue on where you’d been taken. Between her efforts and Tashjian, we figured out where you were and that you’d been kidnapped. Again.” Aran’s weight settled next to her on the bed, one leg tucked up under the other. He sounded wrecked, the strain and fatigue of the day taking their toll. “We need to locate a mirror and assure her you’re alright. I’ll take care of that in a minute.”
Sevana made a vague gesture with one hand. “I’ll do it.”
“It would require you getting up,” Aran pointed out sardonically.
She immediately reconsidered. “You can do it.”
Snorting, he muttered, “I thought so. How are you, Sevana?”
“Tired, irritated, but not hurt,” she assured him, making the supreme effort to open her eyes and roll her head enough to look up at him. The worry lines around his eyes and mouth aged him a decade, which was saying something, as the Fae had to be very, very old before they wore their years on their skin. “They didn’t actually do anything to me, aside from the kidnapping and illegal potion dosing. I apparently was messing with the magic of the world, creating magical eddies that clashed and upset the balance, hence my kidnapping.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel guilty about the Institute being torn to shreds, you can save your breath,” he retorted, a bite of fire in the words.
Yes, that was clearly a lost cause. “I was mostly trying to reassure you.”
“Ah.” He blinked and his anger faded a notch, leaving him tired and agreeable on the surface once more. “I’m glad, then. I assure you everyone else is fine. I stopped in at Big while waiting for you to come home, and no one showed up there.”
“I’m not surprised. It was me they were after.” She paused as a knock sounded on the outer door. “I think your bed is here.”
“Yes, apparently so.” Aran went up to oversee its placement.
Sevana rolled over, intending to get up and see things as well, but only made it to her side before a new wave of exhaustion hit her. That sedative potion had not, apparently, completely cleared her system. She recognized the signs well enough. Well, it didn’t matter, Aran could handle his own bed.
The thought had barely finished before she was firmly in dreamland.
Khan made sure they had new clothes and breakfast waiting by the time they arose the next morning. Sevana barely had clothes on and a full belly when Ursilla came knocking, proving the woman to be an early riser. Or she was like most elderly people and didn’t sleep much.
“Good morning,” Aran greeted, waving her inside before shutting the door behind her.
“Good morning,” she returned, although her eyes scanned Sevana from head to toe and back again. “You seem more alert this morning. Good. Are you ready to begin?”
Seeing no reason to delay it, Sevana settled for a confirming nod and dropped into one of the chairs. “Tell me what we’ll be doing.”
Ursilla moved to sit on one of the chairs, crammed though it was with Aran’s bed in the way. She got comfortable before answering. “Sit, both of you, this will take a few moments to explain. Sellion, you are likely well aware that your magic will not take to changes kindly.”
Snorting, Sevana gave her a grim nod. “I know that painfully well.”
Inclining her head, Ursilla matched her grim expression. “Then you know this will not be easy; there is no way of knowing exactly how your body will react throughout the metamorphosis. I have a notion that if we try to shut off your magic first, that might aid us in the long run. But I think I’m getting ahead of myself. What we will do is take each fuinnimh and apply Arandur’s blood directly to it.”
Sevana thr
ew up a hand. “My what?”
“Fuinnimh,” Aran translated, settling cross-legged on the floor, reclining his back against her shins. “Think of them like the energy points along the body.”
“Ah, like chakra points,” Sevana said in understanding. “Alright, I think I understand. Go on, Ursilla.”
Ursilla had an odd look upon her face, her eyes darting between Aran and Sevana, as if he had just done something strange, and Ursilla was dying to ask why. She was slow to pick the explanation back up. “In fact, I will not be directly changing you. Arandur will be, under my guidance. I will ride herd upon the change so that his blood does not react in your body like an unruly seahorse. I estimate that if your body can withstand the changes, we might be able to turn you fully Fae within six weeks. Three months at most.”
That six weeks sounded like a better time frame. Sevana drew in a breath, trying to adjust to the idea that in six weeks, she would be full-fledged Fae. Of all the things that she’d expected to happen in her life, never had this been one of them. Even with Aranhil threatening to turn her fully Fae over the past several months, she hadn’t really considered this to be the path her life would take. No one had thought it really feasible, even though they kept discussing it as an option.
The enormity of the decision she’d made started to crash down upon her like ocean waves. Her life would never be the same after this. Living in Big, going about in the human world, that would slowly change. Her life would be ever more caught up in South Woods as her human connections slowly disappeared one by one. The thought left her unmoored in a disturbing way, as if she were in danger of drifting off in a helter-skelter manner. No, she could worry about all of that later. It was the transition that she should focus on now, and that was disturbing enough.
Warm hands gripped hers, hard, and she snapped back into the present to see Aran’s cool green eyes looking up at her in worry. She squeezed back, thankful beyond reckoning that he was so steadfast in his support of her. Sevana hadn’t wanted to admit it, but she really did need a friend during all of this. Even with him at her side, this was frightening enough. Doing it alone would have been frankly terrifying.
“We don’t have to start this today,” he assured her gently. “We don’t have to do a thing until you’re ready.”
Shaking her head, Sevana drew in a shaky breath, trying to settle her nerves. She felt strangely nauseous and pushed that down, too. “We’ve already given this a lot of time. I’m just irrationally panicking, pay me no mind. Ursilla, if we’re doing my magic first, then I assume the first change will be near my heart?”
“Yes.” Ursilla watched her with open concern as well. “Are you sure, child? He’s right, we don’t have to start until you’re ready.”
“I’m just nervous,” Sevana assured them both, trying to mean it. “But sitting on this longer won’t help with that. I’ll feel better once I’m committed and working towards a goal. It’s alright. How does Aran start the change? Tell me I don’t have to drink blood like a vampire.”
Ursilla and Aran both snorted in amusement and shared wry glances. “Nothing like that,” Ursilla assured her. “Arandur will prick his finger and draw a specific symbol on your skin. We’ll carefully manage how much blood he uses—it won’t be more than a few drops—and precisely where he’ll put them. Arandur, you are familiar with the symbols, I trust, as you started her change to begin with.”
“I know the basic three,” he answered with a shrug.
“Ah. In that case, I must teach you the more advanced symbol, as this will take high magick.” Ursilla glided up and over to a nearby side table, rustling about until she found a pot of squid ink, quill, and paper. Coming back to him, she sketched out a very complicated looking knot before handing it over. “Do this ten times.”
Aran accepted the writing materials from her and dutifully leaned over on the floor to carefully practice drawing it out.
Leaning over his shoulder, Sevana studied it for a moment. She’d not seen this particular knotwork before, but she’d seen plenty similar. To this day, no one quite knew how the humans discovered the elements and symbols that the Fae used in their complex magicks, just that they had. They were quite taken with the beauty and intricacy of the designs and often copied them into their art, the decorative trim on their houses, and most often their jewelry. It amused Sevana sometimes when she saw it, as now she knew what most of those symbols did, and seeing the dichotomy of those symbols on people cracked her up often. She’d once seen a young mother wandering about with an infertility necklace on, which Sevana found incredibly ironic.
Ursilla stopped Aran on the fifth practice symbol. “I think you have it. That’s perfect.”
“One more,” he requested, still bent over the page. “I want to make sure I’m comfortable with this.”
Sevana, focused on practical matters, looked down at her shirt. She was in her typical white shirt, a warm coat, and pants as Khan had matched her style while shopping for her. The laced-up collar could possibly be pulled aside and down enough for Aran to have the room he needed to draw in, but she’d have to ditch the coat first. Decided, she unbuttoned it and shrugged her way out before hanging it on the back of the chair.
Grunting in satisfaction, Aran sat up on his heels. “Alright, I think I’m ready. Ursilla, how much blood precisely?”
“Three drops, if you can manage it. No more than five.”
Nodding at these directions, he slipped a dagger free from the sheath at his waist and carefully pricked his index finger. As he moved, so did Sevana, pulling her shirt down and parting it in the middle. He looked up, all business-like, took one look at her partially exposed chest, and froze, blood rushing up into his face.
“Aran.” Sevana regarded him with frank amusement. Look at that blush. She’d never seen him beet red before; it was bad enough she nearly offered him a cooling charm. “I’m still perfectly decent. It’s not like I’m flashing my breasts at you. What are you blushing about?”
Clearing his throat, he pointedly did not answer that question. Gulping, he carefully placed his finger right above her heart and gently drew the symbol on in a red smear of blood. Sevana watched him do so in open interest, her senses allowing her to see not only physically how he moved, but magically the impact it had on her. The Fae blood absorbed into her skin almost on contact, where it directly countered the human magic flowing sluggishly in her core, mixing in like oil with water, rising to the top and then slowly filtering down in a way that spoke of suppression.
She watched it avidly, morbidly curious on how her magic would react next. The first twitch along her core felt more like a flinch of protest rather than actual pain. The second had more of an ‘ouch’ sting to it, the Fae blood directly suppressing her magic. Sevana watched in growing alarm as the blood not only tried to suppress her magic core, but started invading it outright, skewering right through it.
White-hot pain shattered through her chest, writhing as if she’d been poked a hundred times with hot red pokers. A scream strangled in the back of her throat as she doubled over, head gone fuzzy and white with nothing but sensation, her rational mind overwhelmed.
“Sevana?!” Aran’s hands were on her shoulders, voice climbing high in panic.
“Don’t get any more blood on her!” Ursilla commanded sharply. “Remove that hand. Move, let me see her.”
Different hands touched her next, cool hands that smelled of the sea, but Sevana couldn’t bring her head up enough to check. Her body shuddered, jerking as if she were seized by an illness, and Sevana certainly felt like she’d been hit by a plague, magical attack, and some torture chamber rack at the same time. Her nerves were alight with sparking, arcing energy that felt like it would either light her on fire or tear her apart at any moment. It took all of her focus just to breathe.
Something happened, some force bent itself upon her, something cold that felt blissful against her overheated body. It didn’t stop the battle waging inside of her magical core, but it did
lessen the impact, and Sevana drew her first full breath, spots dancing in front of her eyes.
“That’s better,” Aran said in frank relief, hovering off somewhere to the side. “Great spirits, I thought she was going to tear herself apart for a moment there.”
“Felt like it, too,” Sevana gasped out against her knees. She thought about sitting up, but the twinges in her chest still sparked like angry will o’ wisps, and staying in this half-fetal position sounded like a better option for the next while. “Ursilla, how is it?”
“This is not quite what I imagined. Because your magical power is lower than most magicians, I didn’t think we’d have much of a battle on our hands.” Ursilla’s hands moved in deliberate patterns along her back, the sweep of her hands calming the tumultuous upheaval happening internally. “I’ll have to keep a close eye on you tonight, I think. You won’t pass the next day easily, but rest easy, child. You’ll survive the change.”
Sevana was delighted to hear it. For a moment there, she hadn’t shared that confidence. “At least the worst part is over, right?”
A noncommittal hum answered her. That sound spoke volumes.
“You could at least lie and make me feel better,” Sevana grumbled irately.
At that, Ursilla cackled lowly. “You’ll live, child.”
That wasn’t in the least bit comforting.
Knowing that the letter would take a while to reach anyone, Sevana did the sensible thing. She had her little host, Khan, fetch a mirror for her, then she propped it up in the main room on the table and called for Milly.
Milly must have been hovering in this general direction of the world, as she heard her much faster than Sevana expected her to. The spirit of the mirror popped up into the oval-shaped frame like a ghost, suddenly and without any warning. “Sevana! Great stonking deities, but you gave me a fright.”
The Fae Artifactor Page 5