July twenty-second was a Saturday, but not just any Saturday. It was Kelly and Keira's twenty-eighth birthday, and our sept had a nice little celebration for the two of them.

Dinner wasn't that different than any other evening lately, Laoise and I used the bbq, but we got some fancier cuts of meat and I made some nice side-dishes to go with the main course. We also had a big fancy cake for dessert, along with ice cream. And there was plenty of wine and hard lemonade on hand of course.

In addition to the eight of us in our sept, we had one more guest with us. Elise came down from her place for the weekend, to help celebrate the twins' birthday and to meet our friends visiting from Otherworld. Of course there was still a huge language barrier, Elise couldn't speak Fae and our three fae guests had yet to learn any English.

On the other hand we were all surprised to find in the twenty days we'd been back on Earth Merryweather and Petunia had actually picked up a little of the language. They'd been watching a lot of TV and managed to learn some words and phrases. Of course, they'd mostly been watching anime so their vocabulary was slightly different. It was still impressive though.

Elise was amazed by the two pixies, but she was polite and respectful of course. I still had no idea what would happen if a regular human encountered Merryweather or Petunia, and Elise didn't quite count since she already knew about fae and supernatural stuff. And she already knew we had pixies staying with us.

All in all it was a good evening. We ate a little too much and drank a little too much. I didn't have any birthday gifts ready for my girlfriends, I hadn't even finished their graduation gifts yet, so I just promised to surprise them both later on.

After the food, Elise sat herself down in between Padraig and Laoise. She kept asking me to translate for her, but once I figured out she was trying to seduce them both I left her on her own. Not that I had anything against her trying to chat up two members of my sept, I just didn't want to be in the middle of it. Plus I worried Padraig or Laoise might feel pressured if their sept leader was involved.

So Elise did what she could, and it was honestly kind of funny watching her try. She'd talk in English, Padraig or Laoise would respond in Fae, and neither side had any clue what the other was going on about, so it was like two completely separate conversations.

As the night wore on and the various drinks disappeared things eventually got quiet. Merryweather and Petunia turned in first, they were wobbling a little more than usual as they flitted away from the fire-pit and back towards the cottage. Then at some point Laoise and Padraig and Elise disappeared too.

I didn't see them go, I was probably talking with my girlfriends or something so I had no idea which one Elise wound up with. I was fairly confident she was with one or the other though, I doubted she'd have given up and gone to bed by herself.

The fire was down to just a few orange flickers and a lot of red coals, and there were just four of us sitting together watching it. As usual Kelly and Keira sat to either side of me. Siobhan sat a little ways off to our right, on the other side of Keira.

The tall fae captain had been nursing a glass of wine for the past hour, and she looked thoughtful as she stared quietly at the dying embers of the fire.

I was still a little worried about her, and I had a feeling when we went back to Otherworld for Lughnasadh she'd probably end up staying there. Out of all our companions, Siobhan was the only one who didn't really seem to have found a place for herself here. Though she might not have been trying.

I had half a bottle of hard lemonade left, and I had another deep sip of it.

Keira topped up her wine glass then offered "Siobhan? There's some wine left if you'd like?"

The blonde nodded and held her glass out, and Keira emptied the last of the bottle into it.

"Thank you m'lady," Siobhan said quietly.

Keira smiled, "You're welcome. And we really don't need to use titles here."

The captain smiled back briefly, but she still didn't seem very happy.

She looked to me and said, "Lady Tegan, there's something I've been curious about since we arrived here."

"What's that?" I asked.

"When we faced King Cathal, you told him the Duma Dé were the source of all magic in Otherworld?"

I nodded, "Yeah. There's a long explanation but the short version is, they act like portals, they draw magic from beyond the veil and spread it out all across the world."

She frowned and asked, "Then how is there magic here? How does the human world get its magic?"

I smiled, "There are Duma Dé here. Probably not very many, there's less magic here than there is back home. But I'm sure there's at least one or two Duma here somewhere."

Siobhan looked surprised. She asked the same question my dad asked, "The Duma Dé were made by the Gods. Why would fae Gods build Duma on the human world?"

Keira spoke up, "Yeah I've been wondering about that too. It doesn't make any sense."

I nodded, "I actually have a theory about that... But it might not be something any of you want to hear."

My girlfriends looked curious, while Siobhan looked thoughtful again.

"I would like to hear your theory, m'lady. You obviously know more about the Duma, and perhaps the Gods, than any other fae."

"Ok Siobhan," I replied. I took a deep breath then started to explain.

"So the main thing is, I don't think the Gods are fae Gods. I think they're just Gods. We have fae names for them, and if they were active here there's probably various human names for them too. The thing with the Duma is they don't just spread magic across the land? They're also portals right? If you know the secret, you can use them to travel through the veil easily, at any time of the day."

Siobhan and my girlfriends were all watching me and listening closely now. The captain looked very interested, while Kelly and Keira just looked like they were entertained by my story.

"So once I knew the Duma are portals, it kind of fit into place with a lot of other things I'd noticed and questioned. Fae and humans look identical. We can even interbreed. The two biggest differences is we have a much longer lifespan, and we're a lot more adept with magic than they are. That is, more fae have magical talent, and fae are better with magic than humans."

Kelly frowned, "Babe? What are you saying?"

I braced myself and stated, "I'm saying fae are human, or descended from humans. I'm saying we originally came from Earth. It would have been a long time ago, like maybe eight to ten thousand years? I don't know why, but for whatever reason the Gods visited Earth. They built the Duma and introduced magic to the world. They found the humans who had the strongest connection with magic. Then they took those humans who were best with magic through the Duma portals, and brought us to Otherworld."

I pointed out, "It's even in the name of our world right? Otherworld, is literally another world. Not home, it's somewhere Other."

Before anyone could comment I continued, "So the Gods transported our ancestors to Otherworld. Then they gave us longer lifespans and enhanced our existing gift for magic. They taught us spells, they taught us language, reading and writing. They probably even set up the feudal system we still use today. Then they left us to our own devices."

All three of them were quiet, and they all looked thoughtful.

Keira spoke up after a few moments, "That's not far off from the legend of Atlantis. At least part of it, like where the Gods rounded up the smartest people and took them somewhere to build an advanced society? Same thing except magic instead of smarts. And fae society is certainly advanced compared to where humanity was eight millennia ago."

"Ok but if this were true," Kelly asked with a frown, "Why wouldn't there be some record of it? I mean, eight thousand years is a long time, but if they taught us to read and write why wouldn't we have records of this?"

I shrugged, "Eight millennia's actually not that long ago, only sixteen generations? But we fae are blind to history. I don't know if the Gods did that on purpose or not, but think about it? There are no fae history books. We have an oral history, sort of, but we never hear anything beyond a couple generations. Like today everyone's heard of the legend of Taralynn, but nobody talks about what happened further back than that? And in another couple hundred years nobody will even remember her."

Keira smiled, "That's because after last month everybody's talking about you, cutie."

I blushed, "Think about it though? If an average generation is five centuries, then four generations is two thousand years. That's as far back as people talk about. If humans were like that, they wouldn't know who invented the steam engine or the airplane. They wouldn't know about the industrial revolution. They'd just assume electricity and cars always existed."

"Ok that's weird and creepy," Kelly commented.

"What about pixies?" Keira asked. "Are they human too?"

I nodded, "Probably. Again I have no idea why the Gods did all this? But think about it like this. Fae have very long lifespans, a feudal society, most of us have some talent with magic, and some of us are really good with magic. We're well organized, and a lot of us are engaged in military occupations. We're used to a hierarchy and class system. Pixies meanwhile are small, sneaky, just as magical in their own way, and they're also militant in their own way. They can fly and turn invisible."

Kelly sighed, "We're warriors, pixies are spies. You're saying the Gods took our ancestors from Earth and bred us to be magic warriors, and bred pixies to be magic spies. The next big question is why? Why would the Gods need a race of magic soldiers and a race of magic spies?"

"It's just a theory," I replied quietly. "I have no proof. And as for why, I really don't know?"

Keira shrugged, "For war. Why else would you want soldiers? Maybe they were preparing for a war, then it didn't happen so they didn't need us anymore?"

"Or maybe it just hasn't come yet," Kelly said softly. "After all, we're talking about soldiers with a thousand year lifespan, and I'm assuming the Gods live much longer. They probably plan farther ahead than we can even imagine."

"Maybe," I sighed. "Like I said, it's all just a theory so please don't get too upset."

Keira asked, "How'd our language end up similar to some Earth languages? They came much later than when you're saying we left Earth. And the whole feudal society and castles and things, how'd that happen on Earth so similar to what we have on Otherworld?"

"Ideas travel with people, right?" I replied. "Humans and fae are both curious, though I think we've had some of it bred out of us. But some fae found their way back to Earth. Those fae explorers probably shared their language and knowledge with the humans they met. And of course there's all the myths and folklore about the fae."

Siobhan had been silent since I started to talk about this stuff, but she finally spoke up now. "So there would be Duma Dé here on Earth? They'd be unknown? Lost, or missing?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Or they might be 'known' but misunderstood. Like there's lots of sacred hills, but none that you and I would recognize specifically as a Duma Dé. Perhaps they have a different appearance here."

"Would they be far from your estate here?" she asked. "Or I suppose you don't know."

Kelly suggested "If I was looking for them, I'd start searching in Ireland, and perhaps parts of Scotland. If that's where fae language came to Earth, then that's where fae first came to Earth."

I added, "Those lands are a very long way from here Siobhan. There are ways to get there, but it's not a journey that would be possible by horse, or even by car."

The captain just nodded slowly. She had another thoughtful look on her face, as she drained the last of her wine.

She finally said, "I think I shall turn in for the night. Thank you Lady Tegan for sharing your theory."

As she got up she added, "Good night m'ladies. And happy birthday Lady Keira, Lady Kelly."

We all bid her a goodnight as she headed for the cottage. Then I looked at my girlfriends, "Let's head to bed too? We can finish celebrating your birthdays in private."

They both smiled as the three of us got up and headed into the house together.

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