The silence in the cave was absolute. Even the fire refused to crackle, lest it interrupt the tension. 

“David…?” Ella finally said, her voice becoming colder and harder than Jana had ever heard it. “David... What the actual…!” She almost let out a more colorful four letter word, but stopped herself before she really lost her temper. She tried again. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

The elder sibling gulped nervously, “Learning magic?” It came out as more of a question, as he wasn’t quite sure what sort of answer she wanted.

“Learning magic?” Ella repeated incredulously, taking a few steps forward. “Well, that can’t be right. You’ve been telling me for years now that you were working in a small start-up company. Making our parents proud, living responsibly… Saving up money to help get me out of that rat’s nest we called a house!! Are you seriously telling me you have spent all this time learning to shoot lightning out of your eyes and banging hot she-wolves!?” 

“Ella, please calm down.” Jana spoke slowly and gently gripped her girlfriend’s hand. “Let him talk, and then depending on his answers we can yell at him together.”

Trying to look away from his little sister’s death glare, the young mage turned his attention to the genie. “You must be Jana. Lupa has told me all about you.”

Jana scoffed. “Well, she neglected a few very important things about you.” She joined Ella in glaring at David, happy to take her girlfriend’s side. “Now save the pleasantries, stop trying to change the subject, and answer Ella’s questions before I give you a hands on demonstration of my own style of magic.” 

David gulped. “Ok! I admit it! I was only at the tech job for about a month before quitting and coming here! Karl found me, saw my potential, offered me a new job…” He turned, half expecting the old man to interject, but the old wizard had left the cave along with the twins. Apparently, they had decided to give David some privacy with the visitors. Conversely, Rhea had stuck around and was sitting in a stone armchair with a bowl of popcorn, clearly enjoying the show.

“And you didn’t say anything about this because…?” Ella asked once she had let the silence swell in the cave.

“You know I could never have told Karren or Dad about any of this.” David replied, knowing full-well as the words left his mouth what his sister was going to say next.

“I wasn’t talking about them, David!” Ella’s voice actually cracked with this outburst and she took a moment to gather her thoughts. “Why didn’t I get to know, David? Why didn’t you tell me about… about any of this?” She gestured around her with both hands, breaking out of Jana’s grip. “Did I not get to know that our plan for the future had changed? Or was the new plan to run away yourself, and leave me holding the bags?!”

“Ella stop!” David said, grabbing both her hands in his own. “Please! You know I would have never done that to you.”

She wanted to hit his hands away, but instead she looked up into his face, locking eyes with him, allowing David to see the tears forming at the corners. “Then why…?”

“Because… because I’m a bad wizard.” He said softly.

Both Grants and Jana looked up when they heard a bark of a laugh from Rhea in her chair. Ella had honestly forgotten she was in the room. 

Rhea rolled her eyes at David. “Will you stop it with that damn pity party, Prospero? As much as I love seeing my young mutts struggle, you know I don’t like melodrama of that sort! You’re a good wizard. Just not the one you were hoping to be.” The witch seemed to be trying to sound reassuring, but it was thrown off by the fact that it was said through a mouthful of kettle corn. 

“But it’s true!” David continued. “... I wanted to learn magic… to help you Ella.”

“Me?” Ella was too surprised to sound upset now, but she was still a little frustrated. “You left the boring soul crushing office job you never wanted, and started learning to be Merlin while kissing a fluffy amazon princess, and you’re saying you did it all for me?” Okay, very frustrated, and a bit salty.

“Yes!” David cried out, trying to get a word in edgeways. “Yes! I started for you!” He repeated before finally coming to his point, “I became a wizard because I wanted to learn how to magically speed up your transition!” He began pacing the cave, wringing his hands, a nervous habit he had had since childhood, “But I couldn’t do it! Transformation magic is my worst subject! And I… I didn’t want to say anything about it because I was ashamed… I had spent so much time trying and failing to learn to help you!” 

Ella stared at her brother, trying to process everything he had just said. David continued. “I had just started to figure out some magic I could actually do to help… when you showed up on our front door step out of nowhere…”

“That text that Lupa got on the way to the hot springs!” Jana exclaimed, remembering. Apparently that hadn’t been a booty call. “So she never knew who Ella was to you?”

David shook his head. “I had told her I had a sister named Ella, but she didn’t connect that you were my sister until I told her out right… Before you judge her for any part in this, she wanted to tell you about this immediately. She actually ran to meet you two before you left, but she just missed you. It’s been all the family has been able to talk about since then.”

“Ok…” Ella stared at him, still full of questions, “So if she talked you into addressing this right away, why didn’t you return my calls? Or text me? Or anything?”

Rhea actually laughed out loud. “Oh, it was great! Tell ‘em, Dave!”

David tried his best not to roll his eyes at his teacher’s comment before he started blushing at his own embarrassment. “You know Logan’s cute puppy videos he makes for YouTube? Did you happen to see a new one he did with a camera in his mouth? Well… I let him use my phone for his practice run… and he broke it with his teeth… I’m still trying to get it replaced…” 

Ella covered her mouth, trying her best not to laugh at his explanation. “So, you are saying that you would have talked to me about this before now if the dog hadn’t eaten your homework?”

David was quiet for just a second too long. “I… well I…”

Rhea raised her hand and quieted him immediately. “He’s been waffling like this for the last three days, so let me speak for the idiot. Yes, he was going to talk to you. He has been such a nervous wreck that it would have probably taken an hour of stammering and dancing around the issue before he got to his point, but he would have done it. I can swear for him on that. He’s just a drama queen, not a coward.”

“Gee Rhea, thanks for that glowing endorsement…” David grumbled before returning his attention to his sister. “But it is true. If you had just stayed an hour longer on your last visit, I would have come over and told you everything… I had even prepared an ice breaker. You remember those fairies at the hot spring?”

“Yeah...” Ella nodded. “I still have the bathing suit and dress. But what does that have to do with…”

“They’re friends of mine, Ella. I sent them to try and help you with their own magic in ways I couldn’t.”

“... That was you?” Her voice was soft as she remembered the wonderful and genuine surges of euphoria that her escapades with the pixies had given her.

David nodded. “I thought you would enjoy that. They do good work.”

Ella’s smile fell from her face as she remembered how that day had progressed. “Yeah… Their work was a little too good. I forgot how I looked when I got home and…” She paused with a sudden realization. “If your phone has been broken, that means you haven’t gotten any of my calls or messages doesn’t it. You don’t know what happened since I left.”

“What happened Ella? Please tell me.” David spoke softly, motioning for Ella and Jana to take a seat and get comfortable. 

Before Ella had the chance to start, they heard the scrabbling of paws on the stones. A large she-wolf came running in, holding a small pup by the scruff of his neck. It was Lupa and Logan.

“Hi Hun.” David said with a little smile. “Did Karl send you two over?” 

The larger wolf quickly began to shift into human form, and Rhea waved a hand in a similar gesture to the one Karl used. A moment later, Lupa stood before them wearing, surprisingly enough, a rather fetching summer dress. Apparently Rhea was able to conjure more than just basic robes when she used that spell. Nevertheless, Ella was mostly glad that Lupa was already dressed. One less thing to be awkward about. 

“Sorry I’m late…” Lupa huffed. “I would have been here sooner, but Logan took some convincing. He was worried that Ella would be mad at him, because of all this.” She held up the little wolf pup who was staring at Ella with the saddest puppy eyes she had ever seen. His ears were back, his tail was still and a little whine escaped his throat. 

Ella could feel her heart melting. “Oh Logan!” She scooped the little wolf into her arms and hugged him tight to her chest. “It’s ok, sweetie! I was never mad at you! You couldn’t have possibly known!” 

Jana, Lupa and David all exchanged a smile as Logan’s tail had started wagging the moment Ella wrapped her arms around his furry little body. He never stayed sad very long. 

“I thought I needed to rush over here to stop you two from fighting.” Lupa sounded a bit relieved and sat down, pulling David down to sit on the sofa next to her. “Have you two sorted everything out?”

“Oh I’m still pretty annoyed with David. I just think I’m done screaming for a little while.” Ella scratched Logan’s head, feeling soothed and comforted. She’d need to talk to Jana about getting a pet… or maybe…? No. It was way too early to think about kids... Puppy kids or otherwise. 

“Whelp...” Everyone looked up as Rhea spoke. She could really blend into the shadows when she didn’t want to be seen or heard. “If you lot aren’t going to scream at each other or slap anybody, this won’t be as fun to watch anymore. I’m goin’ to see what’s for dinner tonight at the party.” The crone hobbled up from her chair, bones cracking.

“Rhea, hold on a moment!” Jana tried to catch her attention, but she was already gone, moving fast for someone of her age and size. “Well, there goes the whole reason that we came here today…” 

“Don’t worry. She’s not going anywhere. If you stay around you’ll be sure to see her later tonight.” David smiled, “Besides, now there’s a new reason to be here and we have hours until moonrise. Come on then, Ella! Tell us your story...”

__________________________________________________________________

It took Ella much longer than she thought it would to recount the events of the last couple of days. From finding Jana’s lamp, and leaving her parent’s house, to Jerry announcing his plans to divorce Karen, there was a lot to unpack.

David, Lupa and Logan were a good audience, supportive of Ella and angry with Karen at all the right times. About halfway through the story, Logan jumped down from Ella’s lap and gave David a small bark. The pup then started shifting back to human form as David waved his hand again to conjure up some clothes for the young boy. 

Logan sat on the sofa next to his sister, and smiled at Ella, who proceeded to continue telling her story. She decided to skip over most of Tellona for now and keep to the main point. She could tell them about her mermaid adventure later. Instead, she simply mentioned the conversation she had had with Jana about learning magic after being freed from the lamp.

“So… Here we are.” Ella finished the story. “We wanted to speak to your boss about magic, so we know the limitations and potential of Jana’s power’s when she is free.”

David got up from his seat and did something he should have done a while ago. He hugged his sister. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there… I should have gotten you out of there long before this, magic or no magic.”

Ella allowed herself to smile and hugged her brother back. “Don’t be hard on yourself over that. Besides, if I had left before now, I would have never found Jana.” She took her lover by the hand and squeezed tight.

Jana returned the smile “And I’d probably be sitting gathering dust in a junk shop waiting for the next creep to find me.” She leaned over to kiss Ella on the cheek. “Call it what you will, fate, destiny, the cosmos, gods of any sort. I think us meeting the way we did was meant to happen.”

Lupa gave a little laugh. “Sometimes I think that everything strange that happens around the world is just Rhea screwing with people. It’s how at least two generations of my family found their mates after all.”

“How exactly did… All of this happen anyway?” Ella asked, gesturing around the cave to imply what she meant by “all this”. 

David cleared his throat, blushing a little at being called Lupa’s mate, a very personal term among wolves. “Well, Lupa is right, it was absolutely all Rhea’s fault…” He sat back down on the sofa. Now it was his turn to tell his story.

“I was working the tech support job, miserable but forcing my way through it. I still don’t know how any of those guys got hired for their jobs. It was a tech company and I was the only one who knew how to connect to the damn Wi-Fi!” 

Ella actually smiled a little at this. David had always been the unofficial tech-support in the Grant household, and his frustrated attitude towards the technologically inept had always amused Ella. Hearing him complain about his former colleagues made Ella nostalgic for the times when her brother had gone on his funny little rants about their parents' complete lack of computer literacy.

David continued his story. “Anyway, one day I was leaving work and walking through the park, when Karl found me. He told me that a witch in the forest had sent him to find me. That I had all the makings of a great wizard.”

“What did you do?” Ella asked, curious to hear her brother’s reaction to such a blunt statement. 

David chuckled. “I told him the same thing the last time a bizarre hairy man ran up to me on the street; that I was sorry but I didn’t have any change.”

All the adults laughed but Logan, who was sprawled on the floor, didn’t get it. Lupa leaned over and whispered to her brother. “He thought grandpa was a crazy person asking him for money.” 

“Ohhh.” The boy nodded in understanding. Grandpa could indeed be weird at times. Lots of people probably thought that when they saw him. 

“I almost walked off without another word,” David continued, “Then Karl waved his hand and summoned a portal to Rhea’s cave out of a nearby tree. I figured that meant either he was telling the truth or I was as crazy as he was, so I followed him through where Rhea was waiting for us.” 

Ella blinked in surprise. “Wait… You went just like that?” She paused as she thought what she would have done in David’s position. “Ok, I would’ve gone too. But how come no one noticed you were gone?”

He gave a little shrug, “Oh they noticed when I didn’t come in to work the next day. But you know how it is, there were plenty of other young men looking for work. I sent them an email resignation letter the next morning, and they didn’t even care enough to respond back.”

Ella couldn’t help but smirk a little. “Karen would flip if she ever found out. You quitting that rudely and abrupt would upset her more than practicing the dark arts.” 

“Yeah, but it’s pretty easy to pretend to mom and dad that you're still working at a company when they never understood the work that I did in the first place. As long as I kept casually aware of how my old company was doing and talked about boring computer things whenever I called, there was no reason for Karen to think I was doing anything else.”

Ella thought back to the last time he had been home to visit. “Your shop talk did seem a bit more techno-babbly than usually at dad’s birthday now that you mention it. What happened next?”

“Karl and Rhea explained to me how the village was very happy in isolation, but wanted a few more comforts of modern times, and they needed someone who understood the basic workings of technology. Essentially, they wanted me to do the same job, but… well, in a more magical setting. Also with better coworkers and the mystical benefits program.” 

“Gods know I couldn’t have said no to that.” Ella mumbled. “Was it really as simple as that?”

David shrugged. “Pretty much. The villagers knew I had magical potential, and that I knew how to set up wifi and handle online stuff. I was basically everything they were looking for.”

“Magic potential?” Ella repeated, those two words having caught her interest.

“Yeah, not every human can learn magic.” David explained. “It’s like rolling your tongue, not everyone gets to do it.” 

“Does that mean I have the potential too?” Ella asked, trying not to sound too excited.

David looked his sister over before answering, “I’m not sure honestly… I’m still learning to spot magic in people… There’s definitely an aura about you, but that might be an effect from Jana’s magic, not your own.”

“Oh yeah!” Ella sat up, remembering her own magical abilities. “I forgot to say earlier, I used a wish to get a little of my own magic. It’s pretty great! Look!” Ella snapped her fingers and first turned her hair blond, then she shifted into a clone of Lupa, making the she-wolf and David’s jaws dropped simultaneously. Finally, Ella then briefly shifted into her mermaid form, letting her fishtail shimmer for a moment, before reverting to her regular self. 

It evidently took a lot to surprise werewolves, but Ella was amused to see Lupa’s, David’s, and even Logan’s mouths all hanging open. “Nice right?” She said, trying her best not to feel smug.

“Nice? That’s amazing!” Logan cried out, the first to recover. “So you can be anyone or anything? Can you turn into a wolf?”

This question caught Ella off guard. Of course she had thought about using her shapeshifting abilities to hang out with the werewolves, but there had been some doubts in the back of her mind. Would she be able to become a werewolf like them, or would she be a normal animal? Would it even be appropriate? She didn’t want to offend anyone… “Well yeah, I could. But I wasn’t sure if I should…”

“Do it! Do it!” Logan cried excitedly. 

Ella looked to Lupa for approval. “Go on, give it a try. No one will be offended. Lycanthropy is our power, not our culture, or our being. We make that ourselves.”

Feeling a bit better about it, Ella took a breath and snapped her fingers and dropped down on all fours amidst a puff of smoke, which quickly cleared to reveal a black-furred wolf sitting on the carpet, not as big or flashy as a werewolf, but an impressive bit of magic nevertheless. 

“Cool!” Logan ran forward to get a better look at Ella the wolf, and quickly transformed himself. The wolf pup barked and wagged his tail happily, but Ella heard it as, “Can you understand me?”

“Yeah! I can speak wolf now!” Ella barked back. Her ears perked in surprise and she turned her head around, surprised to see that her own tail was wagging. “Wow that feels weird… Good, but weird.”

Lupa was biting her lip, trying her best not to laugh. “Not bad, Ella. But your accent in canine needs a little work.”

Ella turned herself back to her human form to talk easier, making Logan pout. “Accent?”

“Yeah, something was a little off in your phrasing.” Lupa explained. “Maybe it was more that you speak through your nose.”

Ella would have to work on that. It was hard to not sound nasally when her nose took up so much more of her face in wolf form. Plus, she couldn’t help feeling a little underwhelmed by the way in which she had transformed. All the werewolves Ella had met had shifted gracefully to and from wolf form in a manner that seemed to radiate power and wild energy. Ella, on the other hand, had merely poofed from one form to the other, which seemed rather unremarkable by comparison.

Ella turned to David to see if he had any comments, but her brother simply sat in silence, with a contemplating expression.

“Incredible…” David said, speaking for the first time in a while.

“You ok, dear?” Lupa asked, a bit concerned by his sudden aloof tone. 

“I’m fine,” he said, voice cracking a little. “Just fine. Just… A little stunned that Ella figured out her own magical solution to her dysphoria before I had the chance…”

Lupa put an arm around his shoulder and kissed his cheek. “Hey it’s ok, Prospero. Her finding a shortcut doesn’t lessen the value of anything else that you worked on.”

“She’s right, David.” Ella moved closer to him. “I’m still annoyed with you for lying to me, but I can’t blame you for doing what you did, especially with why you were doing it…” 

Ella reached out and did what she should have done when she first saw her favorite family member was here with her in her strange magical world. She hugged him and kissed his cheek. “I’m glad we found our own ways to be happy.”

David finally relaxed and hugged his sister back. “Look at us? The well behaved, all American Grant kids have done well for ourselves, haven’t we?”

“Yep. One a wizard dating a werewolf, one a trans shapeshifter dating a magical immortal viking girl! Both of us are making mom and dad real proud!” She laughed aloud, knowing that Karen would probably shatter glass with the scream of outrage if she found out about all of this.

“Viking? I thought Sofia said you were a pirate.” David asked Jana.

“Nah, I was just dressed like one. Well... if you get technical… Never mind. Another long story.” 

Lupa got up from her seat, “Well then, now it seems the worst of the drama is past, would you girls like to join us for the full moon festival? We have a big cookout before the moon rises in case anyone doesn’t feel like eating raw meat later on.”

Ella couldn’t help but give a little shudder at the idea of ripping off chunks of raw flesh from a carcass with her own teeth. “Does everyone join the hunt?”

“Nah,” David said, offering a hand to both Ella and Jana to help them up. “Before I turned, Lupa and I would just stay home and I would read to her while she was in wolf form, scratching her ears.” 

“How did you two end up together if you don’t mind me asking?” Jana asked as they made their way back out of the cave into the much dimmer sun light. Had that much time really passed already? 

Lupa hugged her boyfriend from behind, “Oh it’s not any big secret. I heard from Grandpa there was a new guy in town and I wanted to meet him.”

“How long till David started using the bad jokes and pick up lines?” Ella asked, hoping for new stories to embarrass her big brother. 

David did blush a little, but Lupa looked confused, “Him? Use pick up lines? Oh no, he was a perfect gentleman… Of sorts. Isn’t that right, Prospero?” Even Logan was laughing to himself, as David was getting pinker and pinker. “No Ella, I was the one flirting with him, and your brother was too thick to take any of my hints!”

Oh gods, this was even better! Ella pulled David towards her so that Lupa hopefully couldn’t hear her. “David! You had this absolute knockout making the first move and you didn’t notice?” 

“I was new to the culture! I thought everyone was that friendly around here!” David tried to walk a little faster to get away from the conversation. 

“Were any other wolves offering to take you on a candle light picnic under the waxing moon?” Lupa asked his back, a smirk already on her lips.

The young wizard stopped, allowing the girls and Logan to catch up. “Ok. even I’ll admit in hindsight, I was a bit dense not to see that as more than a “welcome to the neighborhood” style of activity.”

“It’s ok babe. You got there eventually.” Lupa kissed the top of his head and took his hand in hers.

“What finally got through to him?” Jana again asked, invested in the story now.

“It was Logan in the end that pointed it out to me.”

“I what?” The young boy asked in surprise.

“Don’t you remember?” David asked. “You were watching Karl and Rhea teach me some elemental spells by the lake. You asked me if I was excited for my date. I was so surprised that I accidentally evaporated half the water. Once I recovered, I was going to tell you it wasn’t a date… Until I noticed Karl laughing his butt off and Rhea swearing, annoyed the fun was over… And it clicked in my mind.” 

Lupa smiled and sighed contentedly. “He ran right over to my house, hours before I expected him and screamed, “Are we dating?”. I let the poor dear in and kissed him for an answer. We got a heavy rain storm that night so we stayed in, cuddling and watching the X-Men movies.”

David smiled at the memory, “It was a great night… In hindsight, I think that storm was probably my fault…” He commented, thinking about his accidental evaporation spell. 

As Ella laughed at the absurdity of her brother’s love life, she felt her phone buzz with a new news alert. “Oh Jana! An update! Our friend Seth is in more trouble!”

“Seth?” David asked before making the connection. “Oh, the rich butt head Kesos? Yeah he’s been all over the news. Seems someone took a whole load of his money!”

Logan piped up then, sounding so excited that you could almost feel his tail wagging even in human form. “Yeah! And you’ll never guess! The wolf sanctuary got one of the big mystery donations!”

Jana and Ella exchange a devious smile. They’d tell them the big secret soon, but not just yet. “That’s amazing Logan! I hope all the other people that got the money are as deserving as you guys.” 

Ella checked her phone again. “Looks like Seth is already lashing out and demanding his money back. Showing his true colors… Stocks plummeting... God, even his wife has left the mansion!” Ella tried to contain her laughter as she put the cell away. It was only then that she realized how odd it was for her phone to work this well not only deep in the woods, but in another country all together. “Good service around here. That you, David?”

He nodded, a bit proud of his work. “Yep. Mostly technology with a little magical touch. Free Wi-Fi and phone service. I know ways to steal from companies myself.” He winked at Ella and smiled a little wider. Maybe she wasn’t keeping the secret as well as she had thought, but David still knew her well enough to not bring up the matter just yet.

By this point, the group had made their way back to the central square of the village. It was surprising just how far away Rhea chose to live from her neighbors. Like their last visit to the village, the little town was alive with activity. However, before it was the general bustle of life, now it was the joint energy of all the residents getting ready for the festivities to come.

Several bonfires had already been lit in preparation for the coming darkness, and large tables were spread through the square, already partially laden with food of all sorts. A large male stood at a barbecue, cooking burgers and sausages over the flames, dressed in a pink “Sniff the Cook” apron… and nothing else.

“Tell me honestly.” Ella tried to covertly ask her brother, “Do you ever get used to the… Naturalist lifestyle?” 

“Oh it startles you a bit at first certainly, but you get used to it.” David casually waved at the chef as they walked past. After a while your brain just stops thinking about it sexually. Until you get used to it, try to focus on something else.”

Ella nodded and tried to focus on particular details of the festivities. She noted a small stage where a band was preparing instruments for a performance with dinner, and a large activity table set aside for the youngest kids. Logan waved to a few of them when they called, but chose to stay with his big sister and the guests.

Jana squeezed her hand to get her attention and pointed to something she hadn’t seen; two lines of torches lining the way of a dirt path leading out of the village. “The real party is out that way. The actual rituals and ceremonies. This is all just pregame.”

She was about to say something else when the genie paused. Her attention had been drawn to the largest table in the square, where Rhea, Sofia, Karl and the twins seemed to be playing cards, using food to place bets.

“What do you think, angel?” Ella asked, noticing where Jana was looking, “Should we crash the game?”

Jana nodded, feeling a mix of emotions as they moved closer; Amusement and joy at her dear Sofia’s happiness, but also a subtle tension inside, knowing that her moment had come. Rhea would have the answers they needed to plan their future. It was a true high risk gamble… “Yeah,” she said finally, “Let’s see if they will cut us in.”

“Read it and weep grandma!” They heard Farkas say as they neared the table. The boy felt smug as he put down a full house and reached for the pot, a large pile of assorted cookies, cupcakes, sandwiches and sausages.

“Hold on bro!” Vilkas put down his cards too. Another full house.

“What the hell! How do you have the same thing? Did you cheat?”

“I didn’t cheat! You must have!”

“Boys!” Sofia cut them off, gently but firm, and they listened right away. “Why don’t you both take your winnings and go find a new game to see who gets what? I think Rhea and I have company.”

The pair looked up, distracted from their argument briefly as they were happy to see David and Ella getting along. “Fine.” Vilkas said, quickly grabbing as much of the pile as he could with both hands before yelling “Dibs!” and running off. Farkas was quick to grab the rest of the pile and give chase, calling out how it wasn’t fair Vilkas had taken all the best things.

Once they were gone, Sofia smiled as she threw down her own cards; 3 aces. “I actually did cheat, and they both still had better hands than me.” She looked over at Rhea. “Did you give them those cards, you withered old fossil?” 

Rhea laughed, taking no offense from the name calling, “What can I say? I have a soft spot in my heart for twins. Those boys arguing will always be funny to me.” She looked up at the four newcomers, “Well now, you pups made your peace already? That was much faster than I thought.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, boss.” David sat down in the seat Farkas had left, “Feel like another hand? I can get us some fresh cards.”

“Nah,” Rhea waved him off, throwing her hand on the table. Ella had time to notice she had a royal flush, then watched the cards turn into two jokers, an instruction card and two holographic Charizards, before the hand and the rest of the deck disappeared in a puff of smoke. 

“I’ve had my fill of cards for the night. But maybe we could find some time to play another night.” Rhea looked appraisingly at Jana, “Cards with all magic users is better than playing poker with the most aggressive sharks. It’s always fun to see who can cheat the most creatively without getting caught.” 

Ella had to concede that did sound like a better way to play. She motioned for Jana to take the seat directly across from Rhea and sat as close to her girlfriend as the bench would allow, holding her hand. “Good to see you again, Sofia!” She smiled, feeling that she was the easier of the two women to talk to.

“Good to see you too, sweetie. You’re looking wonderful. Much happier than the last time you were here.” Sofia's smile grew wider as she sniffed the air. “And glad to see you two got together since you were last here too! I’m glad, you’re an adorable couple!”

Ella was surprised that Sofia was able to guess about their relationship before they had said anything, but her attention was brought away from it by Jana’s face slowly turning, first pink, then red. “Oh gods…”

“Angel? What’s wrong?” Ella asked.

“Our scent…” Jana said, truly embarrassed. “Of course they’d know that we’re dating. You wolves can smell better than anything!”

Ella still didn’t understand, “What does smell have to do with anything?”

David cleared his throat, not wanting to be the one to say it. “We could tell you two were a couple right away because you both smell like each other.”

“Oh… Oh. OH!” Ella began turning just as pink as her girlfriend now that she understood, and not just for the sake of her own dignity, but also for the larger realizations of what this meant. No romantic privacy in this town! With just a sniff of the air, a werewolf could know who was dating who, who was single, all kinds of things!

Lupa laughed, snapping Ella out of it. “David reacted almost the same way when he first made that connection. Don’t worry too much about it Ella, in a town that knows that much about each other, your options are either lock yourself in isolation, or open yourself up to everyone. We choose to live as open books to each other. No judgement.”

That idea did help calm Ella down a little. “Good to know.”

Jana tried her best to change the subject away from their love lives. They had already given David and Lupa the full details, they could catch Sofia up on those matters later. “Anyways, lady Rhea, may we have a few words with you? There are a few things we came here to ask your opinion.”

The old crone looked the pair over. “Looking to learn magic my way are you? Thinking of retiring from the genie game?” She conjured a glass tumbler full of meade from the air and took a long sip. “Alright then… I’ll train both of you.”

This response took both Jana and Ella by surprise. “I… Really? Just like that?” Jana asked, wondering if Rhea really understood the situation if she was ready to take them on as students immediately. 

“Just like that.” The witch agreed. She turned her attention to Ella. “Your family has some very impressive magical potential, and you already have a good understanding of the nature of transformative spells thanks to your own powers.” 

“As for you Jana,” She switched her gaze back to the genie, looking her over like an antique dealer examining a family heirloom for its value. “You are… unique… Beneath the power of the lamp I see… something. Like a raw mass of limitless potential… I’d be a very bad witch if I didn’t help you understand it and control it.”

“I… Thank you lady Rhea… I…” Jana stammered, unable to properly vocalise her thoughts. “Well that was easier than I thought…” 

“Yeah, me too!” David chimed in, sounding slightly annoyed. “You told me I had to defeat Karl in single combat if I wanted to learn from you!”

Rhea laughed at the memory, “You never had to fight him though, did you?”

“No, but you didn’t tell me that until days later!” David huffed.

The witch chuckled at her own joke. “Don’t worry, Prospero! Once the training starts, you have my promise. I’ll start teasing these girls twice as hard.”