(Content warning: contains dead naming and misgendering)

Jana was walking alongside her new friend and master, curious how life was going to be for her. “So… life at home, I’m just going to go out on a limb and say you’re parents aren’t the nicest people.”

“That’s putting it mildly… It’s like my dad is a soulless robot and my mother is a soul sucking demon.”

“So… Your dad had a soul before he met your mother?”

“What are you…. Oh…” Ella couldn’t help but laugh a little at that “I guess I walked into that one a little bit didn’t I… But yeah. Mom hates my… choice of lifestyle,” She said, putting the phrase in air quotes, “and dad doesn’t have any of his own opinions. He just goes along with whatever she says. So… When I’m in their house, I can’t dress how I want, they won’t call me by my name… And if I correct them, I’m punished. I wish…” she paused for a moment “This isn’t an actual wish, just a comment. But I’m sorry that I don’t have a better place for you to stay…”

Jana smiled gently “Don’t worry about your exact phrasing. I know what you mean… But maybe I could do something to help you with them… with or without my magic.”

Ella looked at her new friend curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Well… everyone tries their best to be civil and well behaved when company is in the house right? Maybe if I come to stay as a foreign exchange student, and you stand your ground on issues when I am there backing you up… maybe they might back down a little.”

Ella was quiet for a moment. “Well… it’s an idea… they never hold back around family, but they might not want to explode around a stranger… but again they might just not care what you think, not the way that they care what the neighbors say about them…”

Jana smiled and shrugged a little “Oh, they might care since I come with this.” She waved her hand and a check materialized in her hand. “My family back in Dublin is willing to pay my host family well every week I stay with them. A little greed might make your mother eat crow for at least a week or two.”

Ella nodded. “Simple, but that actually could work…. so you’re from Ireland?”

The genie shrugged and seesawed her hand “More or less. Not Ireland in the way you are thinking. Dublin used to be an outpost for Norse raiders and I lived among them.”

“You were a Viking!?! That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of!” Ella couldn’t help but fangirl a little.

Jana chuckled, “Well I wasn’t exactly one of raiders myself. I was what you’d call a shield maiden.”

She nodded in understanding “So you were still a warrior, but it was your job to defend the city while the men were out pillaging and the like.”

“Exactly… well almost exactly. There were women raiders too… I had a wife who was a fierce warrior! She…” Jana trailed off. She stopped walking and her face fell “Freya… her name was Freya… I can’t believe it’s been so long since I thought of her…”

Ella put a comforting hand on the genie’s shoulder “Named after the goddess of love right? I’m sure she was beautiful. I have to admit I’m a little surprised that you were allowed a wife back then.”

Jana smirked and chuckled “A lot of people would be surprised how openly and proudly gay some cultures could be back then. My people respected strength, and Freya fought for my hand and won. She had earned the right to marry me and no one would contest it.”

“She sounds like a wonderful woman.” Ella said, hoping she would find a love of her own one day.

Jana nodded, looking up at the sky for a moment, “And gods willing I’ll see her again… Eventually. I’ve made her wait a very long time.”

Ella paused for a moment, both to give her friend a moment to herself and because her home was within sight. “Looks like mom’s car is gone. They must have gone to the store. Looks like I can show you around before they get back and start judging me.” She gestured for Jana to follow her as she unlocked the front door to a large house with a large, well kept, but very sterile front yard. Both the house and the lawn seemed to be going out of it’s way to be as normal and inoffensive as possible.

 “Your mom cares a lot what the neighbors think?” Jana asked as she was led inside. The house too felt very cold devoid of personality. 

“Yep. I doubt you needed magic to pick up on that. Everything and anything someone might see has to be perfect.”

“Really…” she looked around the sparsely decorated walls and a spotless professional grade kitchen “I’d offer to insult her housekeeping but I doubt she cleans all this herself.”

“Yeah, please don’t do that. The cleaning is done by me when I’m in trouble. So, yeah, it’s always me.” She shrugged and led Janna to a small bedroom, “Here is the guest room so you’d be staying in here.” Like the rest of the house it was bland, cold and impersonal. 

“Works for me just fine. Any bed is more comfortable than sleeping in the lamp.” She looked around the room, and browsed a bookcase full of black leather bound volumes. “Gods your parents don’t believe in decoration or bright colors do they? Please tell me your room isn’t this boring.”

Ella smiled with pride “Why do you think I’m always in trouble? Follow me.” She led her genie friend out into the hall and to a door leading to a basement stairway. The space was dark, and a little musky smelling, but when the light was turned on, the space oozed color and personality.

The cinder block walls had a base coat of white paint, but on every inch of wall there were plants and birds painted in vibrant colors. Trees and a bright sun were central to one half of the room that faded to twilight and night around the bed, circling back to the colors of dawn. The same effect was on the ceiling that showed half star studded night and half brightest blue.

 “By the gods…” Having taken in the art of the walls themselves, Jana began to notice the finer details of the room. It wasn’t a very clean space, but it felt nicely lived in after the cold perfection of the rest of the house. A throw rug covered most of the floor and had several stains of paint, there was a shelf of a few much more whimsical novels than the ones upstairs, as well as several cracked, worn, and well loved leather bound sketch books. There was a small desk and an artist’s easel, that seemed very damaged and had probably been garbage picked, with an old laptop sitting on the desk. “You… You did all this yourself?” It takes a lot to surprise a centuries old genie, but this work did genuinely impress her, especially when she discovered a small stack of canvas paintings stowed behind the desk.

“Yep…” Ella smiled and looked around the room “Took me weeks to get this right… I’ll be sad to see it go.”

Jana looked up from examining a very detailed painting of a demon girl wreathed in fire. “Why would you see it go? Planning to move out soon?”

“No such luck I’m afraid… I mentioned that my room got me in trouble? You can see the white paint under all this right?”

Jana paused for a moment, looking around again “No… Your mother doesn’t….”

“Yep.” Ella said simply with a sigh. “Every couple weeks she gets sick of my murals and hires someone to paint over all of it. She says to stop wasting my time with my stupid paints and to grow up… What you are seeing is…” She paused for a moment to try and remember, “I think, attempt 12 or 13 to tell her to go pack sand, but she owns the house so I can’t do much else but start painting again.”

“But… But this is all amazing! What kind of person could destroy something like this?” Jana gestured around the room, seeming genuinely outraged.

Ella was about to answer when they heard a woman’s voice calling a boy’s name repeatedly from upstairs. Ella sighed again and clenched her fists as if preparing for something painful “Would you like to see for yourself?”

The girls made their way upstairs and both parents were unloading grocery bags. Both husband and wife wore suites, but even at a glance it seemed that the woman’s was the nicer of the two. Ella would normally not even acknowledge that her parents were there if she could help it, and even then she’d call them Jerry and Karen, but today she felt it was better to at least start off trying to be civil. “Hi mom, dad. I have someone I want you to meet.”

“Hey sport,” the tall spindly blond man said, trying to sound friendly. He spoke softly and had bags under his eyes, but Jana noticed that his overall nature seemed warmer and more genuine than his wife. His gaze fell on the red head “Who’s your friend?”

Ella would accept ‘sport’ for a name. Sure it was generally male coded but it was better than her dead name. “This is Jana. She’s part of an exchange student program visiting from Ireland. I thought if you approved she might stay with us for a while.”

It was only then that the mother looked over. Her hair was long and black in a braid. Her skin was smooth and perfect but pale and her eyes were a bright green. Not the warm soft green of Ella’s eyes, but bright and sharp like a feline predator. She looked at Jana critically, “Even though you’re out of school they still want you to participate in a stupid program like this?”

Ella shrugged a little, “I volunteered to help. We have the spare room and we’re close to the campus after all.”

“Besides,” Jana cut in “My parents wanted me to stay with another girl while I was over here. Ella seemed like a perfect choice.

Karren glared at her daughter, then dialed the expression down from murderous to annoyed before addressing Jana, “I’m not sure what stupid lies my son has been telling you but-“

“Oh Ella’s brother didn’t tell me anything.” Jana interrupted.

Karen seemed very thrown off to have her flow interrupted, “What?”

“Ella’s brother. You said your son had lied to me. I haven’t met him yet but he sounds like a great guy.”

“Don’t try and be clever with me.” She was getting more annoyed by this odd house guest. “You know exactly what I mean.”

Jana shrugged her shoulders “Well… it feels like you are implying that Ella is a boy, but that can’t be right. She wouldn’t have volunteered your guest room if she was a boy. And I couldn’t stay here if she was a boy… and I’d have to find someone else to give my stipend money to if I can’t stay here…”

Karen seemed ready to interrupt again but paused “How… much money exactly?”

“$1000 a week.” Jana said simply, actually taking out the check to show she was good for her word. 

“Huh… and how long would you be staying if you did stick around?” You could see her greed and her love of tormenting Ella fighting for dominance.

“Two months, so that’s eight weeks, so that’s eight grand just for putting me up in that… adorable little guest room of yours.”

Karen clenched her fist and forced a smile “Why don’t you stay for dinner tonight and we can discuss this further?”