=:= Cindy =:=

Dôn looked down at her and stated, "It is time for all of us to have a talk, Cindy."

She glared as she got up off the ground, straightening out her nightie. She'd been in bed with Zoe when the Goddesses summoned her to Llis Dôn without warning, and she wasn't pleased about being interrupted like that. At least they'd thought to have the nightie appear on her. She hadn't actually been wearing one when she'd joined her girlfriend in bed.

On the other hand, the protective amulets that she was wearing were no longer with her. Cindy didn't have to think hard to guess what that meant.

She looked at the three of them. Ceridwen and Arianrhod stood to either side of Dôn, all three of them were staring at her, their expressions were impassive and unreadable.

Cindy sighed, "Is this the part where you three kill me? To ensure Aeronwy is cut off from Earth again?" She didn't bother to hide her irritation.

The Goddesses exchanged a look with each other, then Dôn spoke again. "While you and Aeronwy were confronting the Brotherhood, we sensed that there was another God. And now they are gone. We want to know what happened."

"Yeah, there was another god," Cindy shrugged. "He was in charge of the Brotherhood. He was hiding his nature I guess, and using them to bump off the rest of you lot. He's been taken care of though, he's no longer a threat."

"How?" Dôn's tone was part request, part demand. Cindy had a feeling the three of them were probably confused and curious, and they obviously didn't like not knowing what was going on.

She shrugged again, "I've got him trapped and contained. He can't get out, but if he ever did, he'd be destroyed."

The three of them exchanged another glance, then Ceridwen asked, "Why are we unable to communicate with our sister? Where is she?"

"She's contained too," Cindy stated. "The world is safe from her, so you don't hafta worry about that any more."

Dôn glanced at the other two, then said "We would like her to return to us."

"Then you shouldn't have given her to me in the first place." Cindy frowned at them.

Arianrhod pointed out, "We didn't give her to you. We gave you to her."

Cindy glared, "Yeah, I know. And so far, I haven't told the rest of the coven how you planned to double-cross me. Look, the bad guys are dead, the coven's safe, you don't have anyone trying to kill the three of you. Just accept the win and leave me alone, ok?"

Arianrhod's eyes flared with barely-suppressed anger. "Remember your place, Cindy. You are one of our children. You belong to us, we made you. Our mark is forever on your arm."

"This mark?" Cindy scowled at her, holding out her right hand with the tattoo visible on her wrist. She felt her anger growing as she stated, "Having your name branded on my wrist doesn't make me yours. You didn't make me and I'm not your child."

She looked at Dôn as she continued, "You may have created me, but you abandoned me in an alley with nothing, then sat back and hoped I'd meet a quick and unpleasant death! You hated that Jess forgave me and wanted to help me. I've fought for every scrap of progress and recognition, and you still treat me like I'm disposable! What's worse though, you treated Zoe the same way!"

The Goddesses all looked shocked by her outburst. It wasn't hard to guess that nobody had ever talked to them like that before.

Cindy glared at Arianrhod and stated "You told me you could find me anywhere because of this mark, that my anti-scrying spell couldn't keep me hidden from you. Your mark was on Zoe too! You knew where she was all along, and you left her there, you left her in their clutches for all that time, just so you could use her to manipulate me!"

She scowled at the tattoo on her wrist, then tapped into Aeronwy's magic. She let the energy flow through her body, and it started burning away the Goddess's mark from her wrist. As their mark burned Cindy decided to take things a step further. Her body after all was Dôn's creation. It hurt, but she let Aeronwy's power continue flowing, and after the tattoo was gone the rest of her physical shell started to burn away with it.

As the magic consumed her body, Cindy created a new one for herself. It was similar to the way she'd brought Zoe back into a new body, except Cindy didn't actually die during the process. The experience was painful, as her old body was destroyed while the new one took its place, but it only lasted a few seconds before it was complete.

Outwardly she looked the same as before. The only obvious difference was that the Goddess's tattoo was gone.

Still focusing on her wrist, Cindy tapped into the divine magic once more, and a new tattoo formed on her wrist in place of the old one. At first glance it looked like three simple glyphs, the letters C, A, and T marked in half-inch tall runes.

Of course, she put more into them then that. Each glyph was itself a complex enchantment, replacing her missing amulets. She was now forever protected from magical attack and physical injury, and hidden from scrying and divination.

The Goddesses were all frowning at her, staring at her with a mix of shock and indignation.

Dôn asked, sounding slightly confused, "You've replaced Our mark with the word 'cat'?"

Cindy smiled. "My initials spell C-A-T. It means I've got nine lives, and I always land on my feet."

Her expression and tone became serious again and she stated, "It also means I'm my own person now. I'm done with you, I'm not bound to you or anyone else. My name is Cindy Aeron Talbot, and I do not answer to you!"

"You are-" Arianrhod started to speak, looking angry.

Cindy cut her off, "I beat the badass sister that you three were so afraid of. And then I beat the God that spent the last three hundred years killing off the rest of your kind. Now I'm tired, I wanna go home and rest and spend some quiet time with my girlfriend." She sighed, "I don't want to fight any more, ok? So if you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone."

She didn't wait for a reply. She focused on Zoe, and transported herself out of Dôn's court and back to her bedroom.

When she appeared next to the bed, she found Zoe sitting up and looking worried.

"What happened?" Zoe whispered nervously.

"I had to tell off some Goddesses," Cindy replied, as she pulled the nightie off and dumped it on the floor.

Zoe's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Did they try to...?"

Cindy shook her head, "I didn't give them the chance."

As she slipped back into bed, Zoe held out her hand. "Here's your amulets. I was really worried when you disappeared without them."

"Thanks." Cindy took them but dropped them into the drawer on her bedside table.

"Not gonna wear them?" Zoe asked, surprised. "And what happened with the Goddess?"

Cindy shook her head, "I don't need 'em anymore." She added, "I think the Goddesses were probably planning to bump me off after they asked a bunch of questions. I'm pretty sure we have a kinda truce though. So it should be ok."

Zoe wrapped her arms around her, pulling Cindy into a warm cuddle. She asked softly, "So what happens next?"

Cindy hugged her back, and shrugged. "There's some stuff to do around here. Magic stuff, helping the coven with stuff. Personal stuff. After that though, there's somewhere I need to go, someone I promised to visit. You should come too, I wanna introduce you. He's nice, you might like him." She paused, then added "After that, who knows? Maybe we can go back to travelling again? If you want."

Zoe smiled, "Sounds like a plan. We can start figuring out the details tomorrow. Right now though, I know what I wanna do next, cutie."

Before Cindy could ask or respond, Zoe leaned forward and her lips found Cindy's, and everything was finally right with the world.

=:= Brandi =:=

"Thanks for coming with me, Tanya." Brandi couldn't hide her anxiety as she rang the doorbell. "I have no idea how this is gonna go..."

Her girlfriend gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm sure it'll be ok, cutie. Your mom wouldn't have invited you over for dinner just to ambush you or whatever."

It was Thursday evening, they'd come as soon as they were both done their classes for today. Her parents' townhouse was out in the suburbs, a little over an hour away by public transit.

Brandi's mom opened the door after only a minute or so. She looked a little stressed, but she forced a smile.

"Hello Brandi, Tanya. Come on in."

"Hi mom," Brandi replied quietly as she stepped inside.

Tanya followed, saying "Hello Mrs. Hewett."

Her mom led them both into the living room and motioned for them to have a seat as she asked, "Can I get either of you anything to drink?"

As the two of them sat down together on the sofa, Brandi asked for a bottle of water, and Tanya asked for the same.

After a minute or two, her mom returned handing them both water. She had a glass of wine for herself, and she sat across from them on the love-seat.

Brandi frowned, realizing someone was missing. "Where's dad? Still at work?"

"Your father is staying at his brother's house," mom replied with a sigh.

"What? Why?" Brandi asked nervously. "Is it because of me?"

Mom sighed again and had a sip of her wine. "It's not your fault, Brandi. What happened with you, with our memories... That brought to light some other differences of opinion. Issues and conversations that your father and I had been avoiding."

Brandi sighed, "I'm sorry."

Her mom shook her head and repeated, "It's not your fault. Why don't you and Tanya tell me what all this is about, what's been going on. All this..." She gestured towards the two of them on the sofa, "This all started in September, didn't it?"

"Yeah, sort of..." Brandi took a deep breath then started to explain.

She didn't tell her mother that it actually started with a drunken bet and that the whole thing was kind of an accident. Instead, she explained that she was trans, she'd always been trans, she just never had the words before to explain how she felt.

She described how she felt about her body, how she'd been uncomfortable with it for years without realizing what she was experiencing was dysphoria. She explained how that feeling of wrongness kept her from really living and enjoying life. How it kept her quiet, withdrawn, left her feeling like an outsider all the time.

Brandi also admitted that she never liked football, she only got into it because her dad kept pushing her in that direction. She didn't even realize she had a choice, really. That she didn't have to do it just because it's what her dad wanted.

Finally, she told her mom that Tanya used magic, to give her the chance to experience what it was like being a girl for a weekend.

"By the end of that weekend, by Sunday night after dinner, I was terrified of having to change back. The thought of having that big musclebound jock body almost made me nauseous..." She shuddered. "And I couldn't even bring myself to think about playing football anymore. I never wanted to from the start, but as Brandi I knew nobody would even expect me to try."

She sighed, "And as much as I hated the idea of going back, I was just as scared that you and dad would disown me if I told you both the truth. And I thought I'd have to quit college because I'd lose the scholarship. I thought I'd basically have to give up everything else in my life, just so I could keep being me."

Mom listened to everything in silence. She gradually finished her wine and set the empty glass aside, and kept listening. She seemed to be taking it all in. From the look on her face she was attentive, and at times upset when Brandi confessed how much pain her life had brought, without her even understanding why.

Finally mom asked, "So what happened? I mean, ignoring the impossibility of magic in the first place."

Tanya had also been quiet the whole time, but now she spoke up. "I'm a witch, Mrs. Hewett. Our coven worships a Goddess, and I asked Her for help. She agreed. She could tell what Brandi wanted, what sort of life would suit her best. The Goddess changed things to give Brandi that life."

She paused for a sip of water, then continued "That meant new ID, new health records, new accommodations, some changes to her situation at college and her school records. And it meant changing the memories of everyone who'd known her."

Brandi was watching her mom's expression carefully. She knew her mom didn't believe in magic, and wasn't religious. She didn't believe in God. So she had no idea how her mom would take all of this.

Her mom was frowning, and for another minute or so she continued to frown as she appeared to be thinking all of this through. Finally she asked, "So the school pictures, the name-change records, the medical records from your transition, all those things are fake? Forgeries?"

Brandi hesitated, she wasn't actually sure what the right answer was.

"They're real," Tanya stated. "But they were all created in September, when things were changed. I can't explain it in detail Mrs. Hewett, because I don't understand it myself. I just know that the Goddess changed things. I know it's not 'time travel'. She didn't go back in time and change the past. She changed the present, then changed memories to make it seem that those things happened in the past."

Mom was still frowning but she finally said, "I see." She fixed her eyes on Brandi and asked "So where does that leave you, medically? Are you still taking hormones? Still looking forward to the surgery? I suppose it's none of my business, but I'm your mother and I'd like to know."

Brandi blushed at the question. She knew her mom's specialty was physics, but mom knew enough about biology and chemistry too. She figured her mom was curious as a scientist as much as she was a mother.

She hesitated, then still blushing she answered "Medically I'm a cis woman. I've had two periods since the transformation in September. I could even get pregnant."

Her mom's eyes widened in surprise when she heard that. She looked like she wanted to say something but didn't know what. Instead, she changed the subject. "So what happened last month? Why did we receive that letter that made your father and I suddenly remember what really happened?"

Brandi sighed, "Some people turned up who wanted to destroy us. They wanted to destroy the coven and our Goddess. They started by trying to alienate us from our families. Those of us who'd had life-changing events like mine, that is."

Her mom frowned, "You just said 'us' and 'our Goddess'. Are you a witch now too, Brandi?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I just joined at the end of October."

Mom was still frowning, and asked "When you say others have had life-changing events like yourself, do you mean there's other trans women in the coven?"

Brandi blushed again and replied, "It's not my place to say."

Her mom then looked at Tanya and asked, "Were you affected by all of this?"

Tanya nodded, "Yes Mrs. Hewett. My parents were affected. I'm going to visit them this weekend, to see if we can patch things up."

Mom frowned, looking thoughtful again.

Brandi finally asked, "What are you thinking, mom? Do you believe us?"

"Brandi you know I'm a scientist," mom replied. "I don't believe in magic. I don't believe in things that I can't explain."

Brandi responded, "Just because something can't be explained right now, doesn't mean there isn't an explanation."

Her mom smiled, "I'm glad to see you remember what I taught you." She hesitated, then stood up. "Let's move to the kitchen, and I'll start getting dinner ready. I'd like to hear more about this magic, maybe the two of you could give me a demonstration."

Brandi smiled back as she and Tanya got to their feet. She was still worried about what was going on with her dad, but it felt like things were going to be ok with her mom.

=:= Ashley =:=

She settled on the sofa and looked across at her parents. It was Friday evening, and nearly two weeks had passed since she was last here. In that time, she'd exchanged some emails with them, she'd spoken to them on the phone a few times, and she knew Maria had done the same.

Now she was back, and she was almost ready to move back home. She'd packed up all her things from the Watson household, and her stuff was currently waiting in Maria's car in the driveway. It was all going to come down to how things went right now.

Last time she was here, she'd been so anxious she could barely talk, could barely look her parents in the eyes. This time, she was still nervous but she was also a lot more confident.

She was drawing some strength from the fact that the coven was no longer under threat. And the fact that Zoe was back home and she was safe also took a huge weight off Ashley's shoulders. Neither Zoe or Cindy blamed her either, they'd both told her that when she saw them on Monday morning.

She still didn't know all the details of what happened in England, but she knew Cindy had gone and single-handedly kicked the Brotherhood's ass. And she couldn't forget Cindy throwing a juice bottle at that military-looking guy in the cafeteria. That guy was scary just to look at, but she had no fear at all.

Ashley thought to herself, if that tiny witch could do all that stuff, then the least she could do was stand up to her parents.

Of course, it didn't hurt that she had both Maria and Sadie here with her to back her up. The three of them were sitting on the sofa, Maria on the right, Sadie in the middle, and Ashley on the left. She and Sadie were holding hands, the feeling of her girlfriend's hand in hers was also giving her strength.

Two weeks ago she let Maria and her folks drive the conversation. Tonight, Ashley was in charge. Or at least, that's how she hoped it would go.

She looked at her parents and said, "So like we've been discussing, I'm ready to come home. My stuff's out in the car, I can move back in right now if that's ok. I miss you both, I love you two, and I really want to come home..."

She paused to take a deep breath, knowing this was the moment. "But like we've been talking about for the last two weeks, I need to be comfortable. I need to feel safe, and I need to feel accepted for who I am. That means no deadnaming me, no misgendering me. If it happens by mistake then just apologize, move on, and do better next time. If you don't put in the effort to improve though, or you're doing it intentionally, then I'm not going to feel comfortable or accepted. I won't be able to stay."

Her parents remained quiet for now, letting her say what was on her mind.

She continued, "I'll be eighteen in about six months. If I'd stuck to your timetable then you'd be calling me Ashley and using the right pronouns in six months anyways. All this means is we're getting a head start on that." She added "It also means we can skip the expense of hormones, surgery, and all the other stuff that magic gave me. So from that point of view this is a blessing for all of us, not just me."

Ashley knew there was a good chance her folks hadn't planned on helping, and maybe they'd planned on holding her back even after she was eighteen. She was giving them the opportunity to pretend that wasn't true, and to act like they were as pleased for her as she was.

Finally she said, "There's one more thing I need to tell you, because we're being honest and open and everything. Maria told you that she and her friends helped me with magic. Since September, I'm one of those 'friends' too. We're witches, and I'm learning magic. I'm going to continue learning magic, even after I've moved back home. This doesn't affect you, but I'm telling you because I don't want to keep that secret from you. And because there'll be times I have to go and be with the coven."

Her voice wavered a little as she got to the end. She was still nervous, but Sadie gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Mom and dad were both frowning now. They glanced at each other, and dad asked in an accusing tone "What does that mean? You're not a bunch of devil-worshipers are you?"

"Of course not," Ashley shook her head. "The devil is a Christian creation, if it exists at all. We worship an ancient Goddess. She's Welsh." Ashley grinned at the last part. She still thought it was such a strange detail, and the fact that they could all read and speak an ancient Welsh dialect seemed just as peculiar to her.

Her folks exchanged another glance. Mom commented, "You're a lot more confident than you were last time we saw you. Has something changed?"

Ashley nodded, "A lot of things have changed, mom. Some stuff that's been threatening the coven was taken care of, which is a big relief for all of us. But the main thing is, I finally realized who I am."

She smiled as she stated, "I'm Ashley. I'm a witch. I can wield magic! And my body was literally a gift from the Goddess. Maria and her friends helped, but it was our Goddess who actually did it. And nobody can take any of that stuff away from me!" She turned and smiled towards Sadie and Maria and said, "I have a beautiful amazing girlfriend, and the rest of her family are all kind, loving, caring people. Same with the rest of the coven. They're all kind, generous, wonderful people."

She looked back at her folks, her expression serious again. "I love you two, but if you can't or won't be the parents I deserve, it won't be the end of the world for me. And maybe you'll try, or maybe you'll pretend, then in six months when I'm eighteen you'll kick me out. I hope not. But either way it won't hurt me anymore. Thanks to my friends, there'll always be somewhere I'm welcome. Whether it's with the Watsons, or with other people in the coven, or I wind up off on my own someplace, I'll be fine."

She paused, then said "I miss you both and I want to come home. But I don't need to."

Her parents both looked a little taken aback by this, and to her right Sadie was grinning proudly. Maria was keeping her emotions a little more in check, but Ashley had a feeling she was proud too.

Dad finally said, "All right...Ashley. It's pretty remarkable seeing how much you've changed. I mean, just in the past two weeks. The other change... That was something else entirely."

He hesitated, looking like he was choosing his words, then he said "All of this is still going to be an adjustment for your mother and I. And I'm not sure yet how we feel about this witchcraft business. But we'll try to be open-minded."

Mom was looking thoughtful now too, as she nodded. She finally said, "It almost feels to me like you've grown up, Ashley. I'm sorry that we scared you off and weren't there with you when it happened. But I feel like you left us as a child, and you're coming back as a... young woman. Like your father said, it's a big adjustment. But I'm proud of you."

Her dad nodded slightly, looking like he agreed with that. Finally he said, "Why don't you go and get your things?"

Ashley smiled, "Thanks mom, thanks dad."

She got up, and Sadie accompanied her as they both headed for the door. Maria stayed behind, Ashley had a feeling she wanted to talk with her folks still. Maybe she wanted to speak with them while she and Sadie were out of the room.

They went out to the car, but before Ashley could grab her stuff Sadie pulled her into a hug. "That was amazing Ash!"

"Thanks Sadie," Ashley smiled, enjoying the embrace. She confessed, "I was still scared, but I knew I had to show them I was serious. That they wouldn't be able to pressure me or push me around."

Her girlfriend grinned, "I think you did a good job."

Ashley kept smiling as she pulled out the bag full of her clothes, and Sadie grabbed the smaller bag of make-up and toiletries. Then they headed back into the house, and up to her bedroom to start putting everything away.

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