107. Elucidated

"She did what?!" Kelly asked incredulously.

I sighed "Yeah. She introduced me with my full fae title and rank. Then she said that I was the most powerful mage alive, and that I was the one who transformed her and stripped her of her power."

It was Thursday night and the three of us were sitting at our kitchen table having a light dinner. I spent all of Wednesday out in Cape Breton with Sue, then Kaitlyn brought Claire back home with her after school so the four of us could have dinner together.

I wound up staying a little too late and missed the sunset, so I didn't get back home again till dawn this morning. And I didn't really have time to talk with the twins before they had to get to university, so we had to wait till dinner before I could fill my girlfriends in on Kaitlyn's latest antics.

Keira frowned "So wait, this girlfriend of hers knows you're fae? And she knows who and what granddad was?"

"Apparently," I shrugged. "Kaitlyn said they became friends back in October, and she wanted to be honest so she told Claire who she was."

"And this girl's ok with that?" Keira asked.

I nodded, "I don't know how that all played out last autumn, but yeah. They're basically girlfriends now, though they don't actually say that. That's what the magic at school was all about actually. Claire's parents would kick her out if they found out she was gay, and a girl at school was threatening to out Claire. So Kaitlyn put a geas on the troublemaker, to protect her friend."

Before either could ask I added, "Susan knew all about it. In fact Kaitlyn asked permission first, and Sue approved."

The twins glanced at each other, I didn't even have to use my sight to know they were talking. After all this time I could tell just by the look in their eyes when they were using their link to consult with each other.

I suppose some people might think it was rude they'd do that in front of me, but I didn't mind. I was pretty sure they didn't do it to exclude me, it was more that they could communicate faster and more efficiently that way. Having to put thoughts and emotions into words slowed things down and some concepts could lose their nuance in the translation.

Finally Kelly said, "I suppose as long as this girlfriend of hers isn't going around telling people about all this, it's not too bad. It's still not ideal though."

"I agree," I sighed. "But Claire swore to keep it secret. And I think she was a little awed, if not downright scared of me. It made me wonder what sort of stories Kaitlyn's been telling her."

Keira smirked, "Well, you are kind of awesome. So it makes sense she'd be awed."

I rolled my eyes, then the three of us were quiet for a little longer as we ate.

Eventually Kelly remarked, "I'm still not comfortable knowing that Kaitlyn can use magic again. At least she's trying to be good about it."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement.

That was a big surprise when I found out about it two years ago. Back when I transformed her into a human girl I thought that would eliminate any chance of Kaitlyn ever using magic again. And it certainly stopped her for a good six months.

It wasn't until my first trip out east to visit Susan and Kaitlyn that I learned the truth. And in retrospect, it was something I should have seen coming. It was yet another example of my inexperience, of how naive I was about some of this stuff.

When Kaitlyn explained it to me, I almost felt foolish for never having considered the possibility. Though she did remind me that she'd spent nearly a century and a half living on Earth and she had a lot more knowledge of humans than I did, despite my being raised among them.

There's magic on Earth like there is on Otherworld. There's less of it here, but it still exists. And humans and fae are very similar, enough so that we can interbreed. So knowing humans evolved on a world where magic was present, it would be foolish to assume none of them could interact with it or use it.

In fact, Kaitlyn said apart from the vastly longer lifespan and a few biological distinctions, one of the main differences between fae and humans came down to how common it was to be able to use magic.

I already knew there was a huge range of magical ability among fae, from some fae having almost no magic, to mages like Kaitlyn used to be having a great deal of power. It was the same in humans, but at a much lower scale. Most humans had negligible access to magic and no awareness of it, but a rare few had more. And since magic was pretty much unknown here, those rare humans who did have the touch almost never found out they had it.

As an average human girl Kaitlyn had very little in the way of natural magic ability. But she did have nearly six centuries' worth of knowledge as a highly skilled fae mage, and that meant she was able to overcome her physical limitations. She'd never again have access to magic the way she used to, but she was able to figure out how to trickle-charge crystals with magical energy.

It was a slow process though. Putting that geas on her fellow student drained crystals that had taken Kaitlyn three months to charge.

That's what she was hoping to improve on by collaborating with her friend, she figured Claire would have better or more-efficient techniques for raising power. Kaitlyn thought she and Claire could charge up crystals quicker and with more power, then they'd have access to more magic when they needed it.

"So what was she like?"

Keira's question snapped me out of my little reverie and for a moment I wasn't sure who or what she was talking about.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Kaitlyn's girlfriend," Keira clarified. "What was she like?"

"Oh," I blushed slightly. "Claire seemed nice, once we got past the awe and stuff."

I drank the last of my cola then elaborated, "She's tall, almost as tall as you two. She's slim, attractive in her own way. She's sort of emo goth? She was all decked out in varying shades of black. Black stockings, black dress, black shoes, long black hair, black make-up. She looked like a Victorian widow or something. And she seemed like a nice girl? From what I could tell anyways she seemed clever, friendly, and she definitely likes Kaitlyn. Anyone who didn't know they were a couple would probably figure it out after a few minutes watching how the pair of them act together."

The twins were quiet again for a few moments, then Kelly said "I suppose it's good for her. Kaitlyn I mean. It's basically what we hoped for, right? She's settling in as a normal human girl. More or less."

Keira pointed out, "You don't sound entirely convinced, sis."

"No," Kelly admitted. "Because she's not a normal human girl, and I suppose she'll never really be one. And now I'm a little worried that it's safe for this Claire to be so close to her?"

I sighed, "I said something similar yesterday and Sue gave me an earful about it."

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked.

I shrugged, "I made a similar comment, that regardless what she looked like Kaitlyn's still six centuries old. And I said that I was glad she was behaving and playing nice now, but she still had several centuries of evil behind her. Sue practically read me the riot act."

After a deep breath I explained, "She told me I couldn't have it both ways. I couldn't say Kaitlyn was a teen who needed adult supervision and had to go to school then turn around and say she was six hundred years old and shouldn't be allowed to be too close with other teens her age. And she said I couldn't claim we were hoping Kaitlyn would be reformed and be a normal contributing member of human society then turn around and use her past crimes as an excuse to limit her contact with that society."

After a moment I added with a sigh, "And finally Susan reminded me that I turned Kaitlyn over to her so Sue could raise her and look after her. And she said if I didn't like how she was handling it then I could uh, bugger off back to Ontario and keep my nose out of their business."

The two redheads glanced at each other.

"Wow," Keira said. "I knew Susan liked granddad but..."

Kelly asked, "Babe? How do you feel about that?"

"In the end I had to agree with her," I replied with a grimace. "She was right, I was doing the double-standard thing with Kaitlyn, treating her like a kid when I wanted to limit her in some way, then treating her like an adult when I wanted to limit her in other ways. Same with the stuff about her past."

"As for the ultimatum?" I shrugged, "I agreed to leave it up to Susan. She's closer to Kaitlyn now than to me. Sue sees Kaitlyn as family while I'm just a long-distance friend. I'm not upset about it, I'm glad they have each other. And I want to keep that friendship with Susan, which means I have to accept that how she raises Kaitlyn is none of my business."

Kelly gave me a compassionate smile and said "I'm glad you aren't upset, but I'm still a little worried. And I think we should still keep an eye on things out there. Especially now that we know Sue is uh..."

Her voice trailed off as she seemed unsure how to finish that sentence.

Keira did it for her, "Now that we know Sue isn't exactly a saint? I mean, if she approved of putting a geas on a high-school student, I imagine there's other things she'd agree to as well. And we all know what I did to Kaitlyn's mind is subject to interpretation. If she's sort of imprinting off Sue's morals, that's probably going to give her a little more leeway in terms of what it means for her to be good and stay out of trouble."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. "Still, there's only so much she can do. She literally doesn't have the power to do any of the really dangerous spells. Casting the geas drained crystals it took her three months to charge."

Kelly asked, "You said she's collaborating with Claire though, trying to get more power?"

"She originally thought Claire was a witch," I explained. "Apparently witches are real? They're humans who are naturally gifted in magic and have the knowledge and training to make the most of it. It's not like TV witches where they're a separate species or whatever. I guess it's rare, but Kaitlyn's been around long enough to know they're real."

"So is Claire a real witch?" Keira asked.

"No," I shook my head. "I mean, she's a witch in the new-age Wiccan sense? But she doesn't have any special gift or talent for magic. So Claire isn't going to be any great help to Kaitlyn in terms of magic. The two are friends though, and Kaitlyn is living up to her side of the bargain and sharing some of her knowledge with Claire."

I added, "I don't think either Kaitlyn or Claire are going to be much of a threat to public safety or anything like that. And I'm still keeping an eye on things out there, just in case. Honestly, I get the impression Kaitlyn wouldn't try do anything really nasty unless someone actually hurt Sue or Claire. Like she's still committed to being a 'good' person. She's just defining 'good' by what Sue says is ok."

The twins glanced at each other and Kelly said, "Ok babe. If you're convinced it's safe, and you're comfortable leaving Susan in charge of Kaitlyn, that's good enough for me."

"I don't trust Kaitlyn," Keira said. "But if you think that Sue can handle her regardless, then that works for me. I mean, I sure don't want her back here with us."

She added after a moment, "Visits are fine, like I didn't mind her and Sue here over the winter holidays. I just don't want her moving in with us."

I nodded, "I understand. And I agree. I think having her two thousand kilometres away and living with Susan is the best outcome. For everyone."

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