=:= Charlotte =:=

"I'll have the tea ready in another few minutes," Charlotte announced as she poured the boiling water from the kettle into the china tea pot. "I do hope you'll enjoy this blend, I had it mixed specifically with you in mind."

The reply from her living-room was subdued and nearly monotone, "Thanks Charlotte. I'm sure it'll be fine."

She suppressed a sigh as she left the tea steeping while she continued preparing the small sandwiches. She knew her friends worried for her, with her constant pining and mourning for Alexandra. Now she was seeing practically the same thing in Zoe, and it left her feeling both concerned and helpless.

The catgirl had been staying with her the past couple weeks, she seemed to just cycle back and forth between Charlotte's apartment in Melbourne and Sidney's bungalow to the south-west. Occasionally Zoe would travel further afield, there were some friends in Canada she visited infrequently. But for the most part she remained here in Australia.

Charlotte knew Zoe had no home of her own. She and Cindy used to spend their time travelling together, they would stay at inns and hospices, or visiting with friends. Neither had the urge to settle down. From what she had learned of her two saviours, neither had any family. They had only each other, and for some time that was all either of them required.

She suppressed another sigh. She would do what she could to make her friend feel welcome, to try and bring her what cheer she could. Today at least the catgirl had something to do, something to hold her attention and occupy her mind.

It was the eleventh of June, and today the moon was full. Zoe had a laptop before her on the coffee table so she could monitor her email and social media. Over a year had passed since Cindy released her spell to the world, and in some ways, in some countries at least, it had become almost routine.

Other nations weren't so relaxed about it, and the people who lived in those places weren't so fortunate. So Zoe liked to monitor and keep track, even if there wasn't much she could actually do about the situation on her own.

The sorceress herself was absent again. In fact she had been missing nearly two months now. From what Charlotte heard, Cindy's last appearance was at the catgirl's birthday. Since then, not a word.

So Zoe pined for her girlfriend much the same as Charlotte pined for her own lost love. Though in Charlotte's case, she was slowly starting to move on. Some nine months had passed since Cindy and Zoe rescued her from her fate. It was a difficult adjustment at first, but the past few months she felt like she'd made great strides forward in coming to terms with all that she'd endured.

When the tea was ready, Charlotte brought it out on a tray. She carefully placed the cups and saucers on the coffee table, along with the tea pot. Then she returned to the kitchen to fetch the plate of little sandwiches, and set those down as well. Finally she placed some napkins out for the two of them, and at last took her seat next to the sullen catgirl.

Charlotte poured tea for her guest, then herself. Finally she gave Zoe a hopeful smile and said "Please, help yourself. And do let me know if the tea is acceptable. If not, I can make up a more-traditional blend instead."

"Thanks Charlotte," Zoe smiled weakly. She picked up her cup and saucer and sniffed the tea before tasting it. Her eyebrows rose up slightly. "What's in this?"

"It is an herbal blend," Charlotte replied. "There is a small amount of traditional black tea, but also chamomile, orange peel, lemon balm, rose hips, and catnip."

The catgirl kept one eyebrow raised, "You really are hoping to cheer me up, aren't you?"

Charlotte nodded as she had a sip of her tea, "Yes Zoe. Like Sidney and Ciara, I too am worried about you. And I know there is a certain amount of hypocrisy involved, but I'll argue that works both ways. For almost nine months you've all been worried about my depression and my mourning of Alexandra. Now I see the same is happening with you."

Her guest sighed, but she had some of the tea. Then she tried to smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you Charlotte. I appreciate it. It's just... I have no way of even talking to her, no way to reach her. And last time she was here, she refused to discuss whatever was going on? I don't know if she's sick, if she's healthy, if there's some other problem. It's like she's just lost touch with the world or something."

"I know Zoe," she replied softly. "And I know it's frustrating and you're worried. But unless she allows us to help, there's nothing we can do. And I don't believe she would want you wasting away your life waiting for her."

The catgirl sighed again then shrugged, "It's not like I'm going to grow old waiting for her. I don't age, I can't get sick. I don't even know if I have a 'life span', if I'll ever die. So I may as well just wait for her."

Charlotte was quiet for a few moments as she had another sip of her tea. Finally she said, "Zoe, that you may or may not someday die has no bearing on whether or not you choose to live. It is a choice though, but it's one that only you can make for yourself."

The two were both quiet for a while after that. Zoe slowly sipped her tea and ate one or two of the tiny sandwiches. The amount of catnip in the tea was small enough that it didn't really have an affect on the catgirl. Or perhaps her mood was beyond what could be salvaged with a pinch of catnip blended in with the rest of the beverage.

Eventually Charlotte got to her feet and started tidying up. The uneaten sandwiches were wrapped in plastic and placed in the refrigerator, the tea pot was drained and washed out, the cups and saucers washed and put away.

As she moved to rejoin her guest on the sofa, they both heard a faint beeping noise. Zoe frowned and dug her phone out of a pocket and looked at it. Her eyebrows shot up and her expression changed in an instant.

"It's Cindy! She's coming here!"

Before Charlotte could respond Zoe's expression shifted back to a frown. "She said I'm to make sure you're sitting down?"

"Oh?" she asked as she joined the catgirl on the sofa. "Did she say why?"

Zoe shook her head as she tapped out a reply to her girlfriend, "No. Just wanted to make sure you were sitting down and let her know when you're ready."

Charlotte frowned, "That seems like an odd -"

Her words caught in her throat as the small sorceress suddenly appeared standing in the living-room before the two of them. And she wasn't alone.

Standing next to Cindy was another slightly-built blonde woman. She looked about twenty-five years old and stood no taller than the sorceress. In fact she was very similar in size and shape to Charlotte herself.

Charlotte stared, wide-eyed. She was lost for words, and almost felt like the world itself had stopped moving. She'd certainly stopped breathing, as she found herself staring into a pair of beautiful bright green eyes she hadn't seen in three hundred and twenty years.

The edges of her vision were already starting to go dark as she finally whispered, "Alexandra..."

=:= Zoe =:=

She'd moved to a chair by the dining table, to give Charlotte and Alexandra space. The two were sitting side by side on the sofa. They both looked shocked, excited, happy, and confused.

As she looked between the two, it was clear to Zoe that when Alexander the God changed Charles into Charlotte, he used Alexandra's body as the template. They were both the same height, same body type, same curves and contours. The main difference between them were the colours.

Alexandra had fair skin, long flowing wavy blonde hair, and brilliant green eyes. Charlotte's hair was dark, almost black, and her eyes were blue. Her skin was originally slightly tanned, now it was more-so after living in Australia the better part of a year. And their faces were different of course, they weren't twins or duplicates.

The other main difference was age. Alexandra looked just a tad older than Charlotte, about twenty-five to Charlotte's twenty-two or twenty-three.

In terms of clothing, both wore similar outfits. Charlotte was wearing a long-sleeved ankle-length black dress, Alexandra was in a navy-blue knee-length dress and dark tights. Both women had subtle make-up on, neither were wearing jewelry.

Cindy was still standing in front of the two women, she hadn't bothered to sit down yet.

"Don't thank me," she told them with a wide smile. "Zoe's the one who figured it all out. She told me exactly where to find Alexandra, I just did what she said."

Charlotte looked from the sorceress standing before her to the blonde sitting next to her. She had to wipe some tears from her eyes again, "I'd almost given up hope. I thought it impossible. I thought you were lost forever..."

Alexandra looked a little lost and confused. "It is almost unbelievable. Cindy has been explaining things to me though, trying to help me understand. I've been with her nearly a fortnight, while she worked to educate me on all that has transpired in my absence."

Cindy finally moved away to let the two women talk in private. She pulled out a chair next to Zoe and joined her at the dining table.

"Nice to see you again," Zoe said softly. As happy as she was to see her girlfriend once more, she wasn't prepared to ignore the fact that Cindy abandoned her for another two months.

The sorceress sighed, "I'm sorry Zoe. I don't have any excuses or explanation. I wish I could say something to make it better but..."

Zoe shrugged slightly as she continued watching the reunion play out on the sofa. At least Cindy wasn't trying to pretend nothing happened this time. And she wasn't deflecting or trying to change the subject. On the other hand, she still wasn't offering any answers.

"So I was right about the ring?" Zoe asked. She kept her voice down, so their conversation wouldn't disturb the other two women.

Cindy nodded, "Yeah. Big gaudy diamond bling on his pinkie finger. It wasn't quite like Richard or Charlotte though. You were right about the soul or essence thing."

Zoe nodded slightly, then asked "So here's a question. How come Charlotte's still Charlotte, but Alexandra isn't still Alexander? Was that your doing?"

"No," Cindy shook her head. "Charlotte is like Alexander-the-God left her. You were there when I freed her. All I did to her was fix what he'd done to her head, so she's not the docile obedient wife anymore."

She continued, "Alexander already made her a woman, made her comfortable as a woman. And she's never once asked or even suggested I change her back to a man. Heck she could do that herself, she knows about my spell same as everybody else. Near as I can tell though she's happy and comfortable like she is."

"And Alexandra?" Zoe asked softly.

Cindy replied, "I think when Alexander-the-God separated her soul or spirit or whatever from the body, it basically came out 'pure', or unadulterated? Like, everything he did to her stayed with the body? When I restored her, she had no memories of anything after her and Charles started the ritual in seventeen-oh-five. She didn't even remember finishing the ritual. So she didn't know anything about being turned into a guy, she didn't know what happened to Charles, or the thirty-two years the two of them were under Alexander's thumb."

Zoe frowned, "Damn. So you really were able to restore Alexandra like Charlotte always hoped, but Alexandra doesn't even know who Charlotte is? They're acting like friends right now though?"

"Yeah," her girlfriend sighed. "I've been helping Alexandra adjust, like bringing her up to speed on modern life and everything? What year it is, how long she's been gone and all that. I also let her read a copy of Charlotte's original journal. Then she read Charlotte's book. So she knows what happened to her husband. And she knows Charlotte spent three decades thinking about her, then wrote that whole book just to keep her memory alive, even dedicated it to her."

"Do you think they'll get back together?" Zoe asked. "I'm sure that would make Charlotte happy, but I guess it depends on whether or not Alexandra is open to that sort of relationship. And I don't imagine she'd have been exposed to a lot of LGBT stuff back in her era."

She raised an eyebrow and added, "Or did you already take care of that?"

Cindy didn't directly answer the question, she just shrugged "I hope so? I hope the two of them are able to pick up where they left off. Maybe even get married again if they want. I think they both deserve a happy ending, after everything they've been through."

Zoe frowned and asked, "What about you and me Cindy? Do we deserve a happy ending? Or are you going to disappear again and leave me alone for more months on end?"

Her girlfriend sighed. "I'm sorry Zoe, I really am..."

"Don't be sorry, just tell me what's going on!" Zoe hissed. "I want to help, I want to understand! But I can't, if you won't let me."

She turned to face Cindy, and her frustration gave way to worry. Her girlfriend looked pale, there were dark circles under her eyes.

Zoe asked nervously "Cindy what's wrong with you?"

"I'm ok," her girlfriend lied. "It looks worse than it is. I'm working on a solution though. I have an idea what's wrong, but it's not something anyone can help with."

"What is it?" Zoe asked nervously. "Can you at least tell me what's happening to you?"

Cindy sighed, "I maybe screwed up with something. Miscalculated, some magic backfired on me. I'm staying on top of it though. It's just taking me longer than I thought to fix it."

She quickly added, "Don't worry though. I will fix it, it'll be ok."

"I want to help Cindy," Zoe stated. "Please, let me help you."

The sorceress shook her head, "It's something I need to do on my own Zoe. I'm sorry. I'll try to visit sooner but I have to go."

Before Zoe could respond the sorceress was gone. She didn't even say goodbye, she just left almost the moment she stopped talking.

Zoe felt her stomach twist. Once again she was worried for Cindy. And once again she was alone.

She glanced at the two women on the sofa and realized she couldn't stay here any longer. She'd just be in the way now.

Her ears drooped and her tail hung down between her legs as she quietly slipped into the guest bedroom to pack up her few belongings.

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