I will be starting in school again soon, and due to funds running a little short I will have to be picking up more shifts at work along with that. (Subscriber donations are not even coming close to cutting it.) Due to this, I really cannot say what this will do for update frequency. I am actually the type who responds positively to pressure, so it may even stay the same or become more frequent. Even if that DOES happen though, hiatuses will also become more frequent. I will keep everyone posted as to how this turns out.

 

(That said, if you guys ever DO start donating enough for me to be supported by this, I might have to take some more college classes anyway just to keep the creative juices running.)

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Aerien’s POV

 

The changelings are servants to the royal family. As such, being soul bound to a member of the royal family was the highest honor Sagel could have possibly asked for. Since he was fine with it, I had no immediate grounds to argue over this. But still, the way the queen had slightly re-phrased my words. It carried essentially the same meaning in a neutral context, but in that specific context it was a completely different meaning all together. I knew from experience that words said in the spirit voice were almost impossible to misinterpret. However, I used the spoken word to say what I had. Could it have been a misunderstanding? Possible, but I somehow doubted it.

 

Suffice it to say, I was not very happy when I walked away with Sagel in tow, walking a respectful three paces behind me and off to my right. “How do I summon those mushrooms, umm…” Oh shoot, I was speaking English again.

 

“Please, allow me your highness.” Sagel said, and then stepped forward. But wait, he understood me? More importantly, he just spoke English!!! That wasn’t the spirit speech, I’m certain he just spoke English out loud!

 

I stared up at him in mild astonishment as he walked up to my side and had a focused look on his face for a moment. In the next, the mushrooms sprouted up in a ring around our feet. “Well then,” he said. “I do not know for sure which area they went to, but I have a good guess. By your leave then?”

 

“Uhh… yeah.” I respond, after which he focuses once again. We are surrounded by light for a moment, and then there is just a flash and the scene before me has changed to a long hallway cut clearly from living wood, softly lit from above by bluish-white glowing moss that almost resembles the color of the sky. The floor was lined with a fine carpet down the center, and there were some notched buttresses that were clearly there only for decorative purposes that had various items that appeared to be of very high value in the alcove indentations that would destroy all of their structural support purposes if they actually weren’t just there for decoration.

 

It was all very impressive, but I had been mildly desensitized to such sights from museums and television back on Earth. All it really did was speak to the fact that the nobles of this forest were wealthy just like any human noble. Surprise surprise. I had more immediate concerns.

 

“So, you were speaking English just now, right? I take it this has something to do with the whole soul binding deal.” A rhetorical question, of course that was the only explanation. There were things beyond that I wanted to know however, and starting on a confirmed point like this serves as a good discussion opener.

 

“Yes indeed your highness.” Sagel responds. “A soul-binding familiar contract allows a member of the fey to learn all means of communication the other party in the contract knows. Normally this is a one-way benefit to the servant in the contract, but since you are an elf you should also have learned all the languages that I know as well.”

 

So, I know Elven now? And also any human languages of this world he knows. That’s quite helpful. It makes me feel a little like I got a slap in the face for all the effort I had gone through to learn Elven all this time, but all that effort I had gone through also makes my appreciation of this benefit all that much greater. Being unable to communicate effectively has made life very difficult. I had learned second and third languages on Earth just out of interest and to make travel easier. It was not a necessity. Here, however, knowing how to communicate was vital in my life. This benefit to me alone was immeasurable.

 

“In addition,” Sagel continued, “While I receive some of your spirit energy in order to strengthen myself, you will gain some of my abilities. I do not believe you will be able to achieve an animal form as I do, but somewhat altering your appearance should not be that difficult. If you want to alter your skin color for instance.”

 

I took a quick look down to my arm upon his suggestion. Shape changing abilities, and using them to hide my grey elf heritage by changing my skin color? Well, the very fact he would suggest that speaks to the idea that those like myself are probably discriminated against. So, I could hide that now. However, this would still leave Gaerien with her clearly grey-elf skin tone.

 

I had no kind of pride in my grey elf heritage or anything of the sort. It was fairly obvious that my dark-elf father had raped my mother in order to impregnate her. I would certainly sooner distance myself from THAT. However, if Gaerien still had to live her life in the skin she was born with, it simply felt wrong for me to be the only one to escape from that.

 

“No, I will remain as I am.” I told him. “At any rate, it looks like our escort has come.” I glance down the hall as I say this, just as the adult human size fairy rounds the corner and notices us.

 

[Ah! Princess! You came here on your own!?] She says in elven, as I understand every word, and begins rushing over toward us. Meanwhile, Sagel seems to be looking down at me in a way I believe must very closely resemble how I looked when he had first spoken English before we teleported down here.

 

‘My cultivation allows me to very faintly sense exact sources of spirit energy. The fairies let off a lot, so it is very easy to track them.’ I explained to him through our mental link which also seemed to be another part of this familiar contract, returning the favor for his complete candor in explaining the details of this familiar contract to me.

 

 

Any further conversation between us was cut short as our fairy escort had reached us and Sagel immediately stepped forward and gave a bow to the great fairy.

 

[Greetings my lady. I am Sagel, as you well know from my appearance before her majesty the queen earlier. My role as the caretaker to her highness the princess and the other children associated with her has been approved, and I have been made to bind my soul to her highness in order to assure I do not abuse any powers I may acquire as a result of remaining in the capital for a long period of time.]

 

[Ah, I see…] The fairy responded to Sagel’s long self-introduction, apprising this fairy of all that she had missed. She gave Sagel nothing more than a nod after all of that, and then immediately turned her attention back to me as though all he had said hardly even mattered to her. [Well, your highness. I have taken your knight and your humans to what is to be your room. It is a room that is usually meant for important guests, but now it will remain your room for as long as it pleases you. Please, follow me and I will show you the way.]

 

She bows with her upper body and then turns to walk down the hall at a slow pace, reasonable for my short child legs to keep up with. I give a glance back to Sagel after what felt like some rather rude dismissive behavior toward him, but he seemed to not be bothered by it. Well, I suppose that fits. It violates all the social rules of the American middle class, but there were several instances where that would be the expected interaction on Earth as well. He was seen as my servant, and thus unimportant.

 

While this didn’t feel right, it was not all that important. It was an issue I would only be wasting my energy in trying to tackle, so I decided it was easier to just go along with it and follow her.

 

[My associate is out collecting food for your humans,] she says. The way she keeps saying ‘your humans’ when she refers to the boys is another thing that’s starting to bother me here. [It came to our attention while we were bringing them that your humans had resisted the fairie’s treats they were given while they were brought to you. We can place a more powerful version of this enchantment on their food when it is brought to them if you like your highness.]

 

[What is the fairie’s treat?] I asked her quite pointedly, remembering to speak in the same Elven she was using.

 

[It is an enchantment placed upon food and given to all the humans kept within the forest, it is rather convenient as it makes them unable to run away and leave the fey woods. At least, not without a member of the fey going with them. I have heard that you are rather attached to those humans, I thought it might…]

 

[You will NEVER even enter the same room as those boys with food that has been enchanted with that curse!] I cut her off. I had heard more than enough about this enchantment to make me sick just listening to it, and I did not want her to say a single word more.

 

[Wh.. what!? But, your highness!] She stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to face me like I had just grown an extra head.

 

[Those boys are my friends, I will not have them damaged in such a way by your enchantments.] Really, I wanted to lay into her a lot more than this, but given the circumstances I had to hold back and just express my displeasure with the concept and allow her room to back out of this. It was clearly the culture that was at fault for this. It was no excuse, but I would only be shouting into the wind to chew her out and it would accomplish nothing in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Y… yes! Of course, your highness.] She said in a flustered tone, but her body language seemed to say she was humoring me. I was being treated with high regard, but I was also being treated like a child. That was frustrating in it’s own right, but allowing my displeasure at that to be known would only increase this view of me. I guess all I could do is behave in an adult-like manner. Well, except for the fact that this was an untenable position since it would mean never allowing my younger half to be in control. Great. Seemed I was doomed to being viewed as a child by these people regardless of how I behaved.

 

She had a difficult smile on her face, speaking to the opinion she likely held that she was just dealing with a troublesome child. After this bit of trouble was done with, she just shook her head and continued on her way expecting me to keep following. Well, given the circumstances, I suppose I really have no choice but to swallow my pride and just follow along. I can certainly see this new life being lovely if it continues on like this, all sarcasm intended.

 

Sagel and I continued to follow this fairy down the hall. Eventually, we came to a dead end. All that seemed to be here was a tapestry on one wall. It was actually quite an impressive tapestry. It depicted a lush forest being overflown by blue dragons. Beneath the image of the forest, there were several humanoid shaped creatures. I recognized some as elves, and there were various others that seemed to look like satyrs and other such magical creatures. The most impressive part though was the vivid color of everything. The trees were so green that I would almost think I was looking at an actual forest over a TV screen. The humanoid forms were not done in such amazing detail as that, but they still looked amazing.

 

[This way your highness.] The fairy called me when I was distracted with the tapestry. She placed her hand on a wall, and it immediately opened up.

 

(Eh? It opened!)

 

(Aerien?)

 

I felt my heart flutter when I heard the voices of the boys. I didn’t get the chance to reunite with them before thanks to my new mother demanding I stay to get a servant’s soul bound to mine, but now there was nobody to stop me.

 

[Thank you.] I just barely managed to remember to address the fairy who guided us in a flat tone, after which I walked into the room that felt entirely way too big. I didn’t care at this moment though. My eyes immediately narrowed in on the three things I really cared about, Levin, Rolwen, and Gaerien all clustered about on the couch. Levin and Rolwen each slid off a cushion and onto the floor, and I rushed over and crouched to give them both a big hug, and I immediately felt the cloudiness from being stuck inside my own mind for so many days and the tension from dealing with the queen evaporate in an instant as I squished them to my chest.

 

It felt really odd, hugging them like this. I was the bigger one now. It had always been the boys, or rather, Levin in particular holding me in their arms. Now I was big enough to wrap my arms around both of these little toddler boys and pull their cute little heads into my chest. And then, before I even realizing what I was doing, I found myself burying my face in Levin’s neck. I pulled back as soon as I realized what I was doing. That’s seriously not good, I had gotten way too used to relaxing in his arms when I was an infant… which was literally a week ago! Un freaking believable.

 

The boys each had huge smiles on their faces when they were looking up at me. (You’re really Aerien!?) Levin said in his cute little voice.

 

“Yeah.” I said. “I have the same mind anyway.” After saying this, I stood up and looked down at myself. My dress seemed to be fashioned in a manner that was very similar to the one I had worn as an infant. It was really just a white piece of linen with holes cut into it for the head and arms, and then hemmed in around the edges so it wasn’t just like I was wearing a sheet over me and to make it even at the bottom. However, on my bigger body it actually looked somewhat more on the plain side instead of the low quality but excusable vibe the baby version gave off.

 

My arms and legs were what was really catching my attention. I had gone from a pudgy little baby to a long and lanky little 5 year old. I was still a lot smaller than the adults, but I was so much larger than Levin and Rolwen that they could only come up to about my navel. In other words, I was about as much bigger than them as adults were bigger than me. So, to me, THEY might as well have been the 5 year olds.

 

I had never looked in a mirror since I was born, so I had no idea at all what my face looked like. Up until now, I could make a reasonable guess as to how I looked simply by looking at Gaerien. She was my twin after all, so it stands to reason I ought to look exactly like her. I had no idea what my face looked like as a child now though. However, I now most certainly had hair. It had not attracted my attention much since I remembered what it was like to have hair in my previous life. But now, I was a little curious as to what color it was at least.

 

Fortunately, I did not get 5 years worth of hair growth. That would be down to my ankles and I would be tripping over it. It actually didn’t even go past my neck, but it was just long enough for me to grab a lock and pull it to where I could see it.

 

I froze and just stared at my hair when I pulled it down. Was I seeing this right? It looked… grey. Well, I know I am a “grey elf,” but I had thought that only applied to my skin.

 

(Umm…) Levin and Rolwen looked at each other nervously. (Uhhh… yeah! Your hair went grey!) Rolwen said rather insensitively, getting an elbow in the ribs from Levin in response.

 

“That is quite normal for grey elves.” Sagel said as he came up behind us. He crouched down next to my shoulder and looked at them, meanwhile their eyes were like saucers after hearing him speak English.

 

(What!? How is the alien guy speaking English!?) Rolwen blurts out and points a finger at Sagel.

 

“Alien?” Sagel responds, his large eyes blink and he looks over toward me.

 

‘It has a special meaning on Earth where we are from. He means an alien from another planet, not another country. He is commenting on the strangeness of your large eyes.’ I informed him of the cultural significance of Rolwen’s comment as best I could. I decided it would be a little too complicated to explain art about aliens and the fact we had never actually encountered confirmed aliens, so what I told him would have to suffice for now.

 

“Ah, I see. You are bothered by my eyes.” He says, looking back over to Rolwen as he smoothly picks up and uses the information I had given him.

 

(Are you also from Earth!?) Levin asks.

 

“Ah! Uhhh… no, actually…” This time Sagel seems at a total loss for how to handle this one.

 

“He made a strange soul contract with me. I will tell you more about it later, but it let him learn English and all the languages I know immediately.” I explain.

 

(Really!? Cool!!! Was it like, a familiar contract or something like that?) Rolwen asks, getting very excited.

 

“Yes, you are quite astute Rolwen.” Sagel responds, causing Rolwen to completely freeze in surprise.

 

(Really!? Cool!) He is bouncing up and down in excitement. (So, what does a familiar do!?) It seems like Rolwen is making fast friends with Sagel. It looks like this is right back to how things used to be. Well, with the obvious exceptions. I stand up and look over Gaerien who is perched at the edge of the couch having watched our entire exchange silently, and then over to my birth mother who is standing meekly in the corner and appears to be studying the places where the furniture touches the floor. Well then, who should I address first?

 

[Ahem!] The fairy who lead us here clears her throat noisily behind us in a manner that makes it clear she’s trying to get our attention. Well, my attention anyway beings I seem to be the only one in the room she even acknowledges as a person. Looks like the answer is neither of them.

 

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"I'm sure, the fairy gonna be the tutor of Aerien and Gaerien ? maybe"

 

                                         -Remingus

 

"the fairy shall be that noble lady by the books tutor that nags on everything for ages, until opening up in a few years, but until then "a pain in the a$$"."

 

                                         -Roy

 

"I already don't like her. And also I cannot wait to see Aerien's reaction to how much bigger she is than her big sister. (if any)"

 

                                        -meowingLexi