"T-the Morganna le Fay?" Mark sputtered.

"No, a Morganna le Fay. It's a really common name among Irish goddesses," Vincent said sarcastically.

"Vince, you're lucky you’re hot, cause you're a big fucking dweeb," Ashe gibed. "Yes, she's the Morganna le Fay." 

Vincent stuck his tongue out at Ashe, then Ashe pinched the air in Vincent's direction. I felt something stirring in the air from Ashe's direction. 

Vincent's tongue depressed slightly, as if an invisible hand was holding it, and he didn't seem to be able to pull it back in his mouth.

"Staph it!" Vincent dribbled.

"What’s the matter? Femboy got your tongue?" Mark teased.

"Are you going to behave?" Ashe asked Vincent.

Vincent nodded his head slightly, making a funny effect where his head was moving but his tongue stayed still. Ashe released the spell he'd cast and Vincent quickly pulled his tongue back into his mouth.

"You know what you are? A big meanie!" Vincent told Ashe.

"I love you too," Ashe replied. 

"Wait, you two are together?" I tried to gesture between them with my left arm, but the sling made it a bit difficult.

"Yep, do you just notice that now?" Vincent laughed. "We're in a polycule, well, we were in a polycule. Guess we're a couple for now."

"Oh, shit what happened?" Mark gasped.

"Please, can we not do this tonight?" Ashe requested. "I've got to go teach Lucas, and it's quite possible we're going to be up all night. You two should go rest while you can." He gestured at Mark and Vincent. 

"Some sleep sounds pretty good right about now," Mark yawned. "Lucas, you gonna be alright on your own?"

"He's not going to be alone, I'll be with him." Ashe observed, missing the point for the question.

"I'll manage," I replied, then gave Mark a weak smile. 

The thought of being alone with someone I just met, even if Mark trusted him, was kinda frightening, but learning how to cast spells sounded pretty damn cool. Besides, I wanted to ask Ashe some questions without Mark around.

"Alrighty, there's a guest room third door on the left." Mark pointed to one of the hallways connected to the living room. "Umm, we're to share the room."

I fucking bet there's going to only be one bed, I predicted in my thoughts. That would be nice. Wait, what? For fuck's sake, why can't I go five minutes without a invasive thought?

"I don't feel like getting up, so I'm just going to crash here." Vincent announced. "Goodnight, meanie."

"Goodnight, dweeb." Ashe chuckled fondly

"'Night, Lucas,"  Mark told me.

"Goodnight," I responded with a little smile and a wave.

"Shall we?" Ashe motioned down a corridor. "The night isn't getting any younger."

He led me down several hallways. I was fairly certain he wasn't doing it to intentionally distract me, but the way the hem of his short skirt moved as he walked was hypnotizing. I made a valiant effort to not watch how feminine and alluring Ashe's gait was. 

You're staring at a guy's ass, Lucas! Fucking stop it! A little voice scolded me in the back of my mind. It’s just been a long time since years since I’ve had any.  Not that I’ve actually tried to have sex with anyone anyway. Not after the last couple times.

So like the idiot I am, I didn't stop looking, and I instantly regretted it when Ashe looked over his shoulder toward me.

I tried to play it off as me just looking around but he wasn't buying it. He turned around and studied my face without saying a word. He seemed more worried than angry I had been staring at his butt. He took a moment to think before speaking.

"I'm not upset with you, I don't mind if people look-,"

"I wasn't looking!" I blurted out. I lost my balance from the sledgehammer that hit my brain as I told the lie.

"If you don't want to talk about that's fine, but you need to keep those lies in your head. You could cause permanent brain damage if you keep lying like that."

"I wasn't-" I began but he closed the distance between us, slapped his hand over my mouth, and pinned me to the wall in under a second. I assumed it must be some kind of magic as I'd never seen or even heard of anyone moving so fast.

His hands were as soft as I'd imagined they'd be, but much cooler. Like he'd just come inside from a cool winter night. Then he raised a concerned eyebrow at me. The only thought that crossed my mind was; Holy shit, I need a cold shower, like right fucking now.

I made an attempt to pry his hand off me but he was much stronger than he looked. I reluctantly raised my hands in defeat, lest he realize the effect he was having on me. Absolutely no homo. 

"Please, for your own sake just drop the topic before you hurt yourself more." He said as he removed his hand and slowly backed off.

Stupid fucking sidhe rules are going fuck me right up. I decided against trying to maintain my innocence. As much as I hate my brain sometimes I still need it.

"Alright, let's just go."

We continued on for a short while longer and until we entered a small gym. It was a pretty standard affair. There were a few exercise machines and weights strewn around a large mat in the middle of the room. Off to one side was a heavy-duty punching bag hanging from the ceiling and a watercooler.

“I have a question before we start,” I stammered and took a deep breath. I need to know for sure. “W-would my sidhe heritage being awoken affect my thoughts?" 

"Maybe, it depends on what kind of thoughts you're talking about."

"I- uhh, nevermind." I stammered. I didn't know how to respond to that without admitting what I was talking about. It's better left unsaid and ignored, anyway. Ashe squinted at me, and I had a feeling he had guessed why I was asking. 

"If it's about wanting to serve the Spring Count, preserving nature, or things like that, then possibly." He elaborated. "But it can't change who you are though, or what you like," Ashe emphasized the last word.

To say I was not happy to hear that answer would be an understatement. I made a noncommittal grunt. He can't lie, but he can still be wrong, I reminded myself. 

“Forget it, let’s work on the magic stuff. What’s first?” 

"You've shown that you can the two main types of magic that we can use, those being illusion, when you went transparent, and nature magic when you made some kind of storm, which Mark was talking about earlier. Which is very impressive by the way, channeling wind not only indoors, but underground, that's quite a difficult working."

"Umm, thanks." 

"Have you done any other magic?"

"Something that William thinks could've been some kind of troll attacked us this morning. I incapacitated it for a few minutes with a electric punch to the back of the neck."

"Yeah, I heard about that,” He said with a frown. Good thinking with the electricity though, it'll fuck with muscles, even on a troll."

"I didn't exactly try to cast a spell, I was just lucky." 

"But you did. Don't be so quick to dismiss your instincts as Lady Luck being on your side."

"Is Lady Luck a real person?" I wondered.

"Not sure, it probably refers to one goddess or another," Ashe shrugged. 

"That figures," I muttered.

"You can ask Daniel at some point if you're really that interested. He's been researching the nature of the divine for centuries."

"Might be interesting, but it'll have to wait for now."

"Shall we get on with it then?"

"Yeah, let's do this," I excitedly replied. "Can we start with nature magic? I wanna shoot lightning from my fingertips." 

I held my hands out, palms down with fingers spread, then cackled, “Unlimited Powah.”

"Why is it always the dorky ones," Ashe muttered under his breath so low I could barely hear it.  "Fair warning; I'm not very talented in storm magic. I'm a child of Winter, so ice is my go to offensive magic. But the theory behind it is the same."

"Less theory, more zapping," I demanded.

“Alright, fine have it your way. But we shouldn’t start with that, as you're liable to hurt one or both of us. How about we start with trying to repeat this lightning punch of yours?"

"Sounds good to me."

"What emotions were you feeling when you did it?"

"What does emotion matter?"

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you, cause that's definitely getting into theory," Ashe pondered mockingly.

 "Okay, okay fine, theory away," He gave me a smug look and explained.

"Magic, especially fae magic, is deeply tied to emotions. The magic mages use is called thaumaturgy and is more about careful runecrafting and math than emotional energy, but it’s still a crucial part of the equations they use. But for us it’s almost entirely emotion based, strong emotions are the fuel of our magic. 

“That makes sense, all the times I’ve done magic I’ve been emotional.”

“With your lightning punch, what emotions were going through your head at that moment?”

“The troll had Mark’s leg and was about to kill him. Panic about being out of bullets, fear of him dying, and resolve that I was willing to die to try and save him,” I recalled.

For some reason, Ashe found that funny, and he stifled a giggle.

“Focus on those emotions and the outcome of what you want to do with that energy. Then hit the punching bag.”

I nodded, walked over to the punching bag, and closed my eyes to center myself. I did my best to remember the exact feeling of the moment. When I felt I was in the right mindspace I opened my eyes and slammed the fist of my good arm into the bag. 

I think I might have put too much force into it, because it really fucking hurt. I sucked in a breath and shook my hand to work out the pain.

“That’s to be expected the first few times. You’ll get the hang of it eventually. Try again,” Ashe encouraged.

A couple dozen more failures later and I decided I needed a break. My right arm now throbbed dully to perfectly complement the sharp stabbing pain in my left.

“I don’t think this is working. I need to sit down a minute.” 

"That’s fine, you've certainly earned one,” Ashe agreed.

I went over to the watercooler and chugged a few dinky paper cups of water, then sat on a bench press.

“I’ve got a few questions while I rest.”

“Shoot.”

"Why do you dress like that?"

"Because I want to," He answered simply. "Is that not a good enough reason for you?"

"But you're a guy! Guys aren't supposed to dress like that."

"Says who?"

"Says…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say.

How could I even respond to that? Says dad? He’s never been particularly kind to me and he's lied to me about magic and my heritage my whole life, so why should I believe him on this? 

Says society? Since when have I cared what society says how to be? I’d spent several years writing and performing songs to say just that.

"Is there a reason besides you just want to dress like that?" I asked instead of continuing my previous thought.

"I'm a transfem enby." He explained.

"Transfem? Enby? Are those transgender things?" I had heard a little of transgender terms before, but had never paid to much attention to them. 

"They are, I could explain in more detail but gender is pretty damn complicated and we're kinda in a hurry. Can we talk about it another time?"

“Can you give me a short version?" 

"I suppose, transfeminine means someone who was assigned male at birth, AMAB for short, who wants to present femininely to at least some extent. Enby is short for a non-binary person, as in someone who doesn’t conform to the so-called gender binary."

"Ok, you lost me again. What do you mean by gender binary?"

"Gender isn't a binary, it's a spectrum. Male and female are just two points in the spectrum, not the only options,” He continued. “For me personally, I was assigned male at birth and I am mostly, but not completely male, but being masculine feels wrong to me. So I dress feminine because it's more true to who I am."

If he's going to choose to be trans and dress like that, then why would he still want to be a guy? Doesn't make any fucking sense. Why not be just a woman?

“Are you using illusions or something to look like that?” 

“Nope, this is all me!"

"Wow, that's pretty impressive," I admitted.

"Hehe, thanks," He giggled.

"Are illusions like that even possible?" I asked hesitantly. Ashe smirked at me like he knew something I didn't. 

"Sure, but I'm not partially great at sustaining spells and it takes too much energy for me to sustain illusions to them constantly.  On rare occasions I use illusions as a makeup replacement, but only for a few hours at a time. I used to use a more complete illusion when I was in my teens to look like a girl, but having breasts wasn't for me.”

I briefly imagined Ashe having boobs, but drove it from my mind before I went down that train of thought. I hastily thought of a question to change the topic.

“So Glaistig can make storms happen? How does that work?”

Ashe started smiling at me again. He keeps looking at me like that. Really starting to weird me out. 

"I suspect she could conjure one out of thin air if she thought it truly necessary, but advanced users of nature magic are able to use the preexisting weather to jumpstart their spells. For example, using a thunderstorm to create a tornado, it's much more energy efficient than trying to start a tornado from scratch."

"So, kinda like the Butterfly Effect?" 

"The what, now?" Ashe asked in confusion. 

"You know, a butterfly flaps its wings and causes a chain reaction that eventually causes a hurricane?"

"I'm not sure I understood the meaning of that," Ashe said with a puzzled expression. Ha, finally something I know he doesn’t!

"A small change in the initial conditions can make a huge difference in results," I explained. "So the idea is that if a butterfly flaps its wings it moves the air ever so slightly changing the outcome. It's a thought experiment in Chaos Theory."

"I think I get the basic idea of what you mean, in that theory would that make you a caterpillar? 

“Umm, not in the theory, that’s completely unrelated to the analogy. I suppose within the butterfly metaphor I’d be a caterpillar.”

“Ah, human sciences seem more complex every time I hear about them. I wasn't raised around humans so I'm not that familiar with all that stuff."

"Where were you raised if not around humans? We’re kinda hard to avoid."

"In the Otherworld of course." After a beat he added, "You don't know what Otherworld is, do you?"

"Nope."

"It's the home plane of the fae, among other things."

"Right…" I rubbed my aching head. "Let's just stick to magic right now."

"Fine by me, you ready to get back to it?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

I had a few moments to think about what in my thought process was awry. In regards to casting the spell, I didn’t have time to figure out the rest of my growing anxieties. This time I focused more specifically on why I was so afraid of Mark dying and how empty my life would be without my best friend.

I closed my eyes and blocked out what was happening in the present. I walked myself through the seconds leading up to punching the troll. The second I got to the point in my memory where I was about to hit the troll I felt the warm energy within me and I hit the punching bag as hard as I could.

Like before the warmth traveled from my chest and down my right arm, reaching the tip of my fist as it connected with the bag. That wonderful feeling I had last experienced when I had hit the troll returned. It was amazing how nice it felt to be using magic again.

“Ah, fuck yeah!” I exclaimed.

“Well done, Lucas!” Ashe congratulated.

The wave of exhaustion hit me like it had previously and let myself slump against the punching bag.

“Fucking hell, that really takes a lot out of me,” I panted.

“As to be expected from a beginner. As you use your magic more, your stamina will increase. Think of it as working out a muscle you’ve never used.”

"I don't think I'll be able to pull that off again tonight."

"That’s fine, we should probably rest up some anyway. Marshall is supposed to have some kind of plan ready by morning."

"Glad to hear someone has a clue what to do about all this."

"No kidding," He concurred. "But anyways, goodnight, and be wary of the shadows."

"Glaistig said the same thing to me yesterday morning." 

"Oh, it's an old fae saying, basically means stay alert to danger."

"I see, well you too and goodnight."

I left the gym and headed to the guest room Mark had shown me earlier. When I passed through the living room, Vincent was snoring away on the couch.

I went ahead through the door of our room as silently as I could. Mark was fast asleep on the bed, the only bed. My heart skipped a beat in… fear? Anxiety? Excitement?! Try as I might, I couldn't put my finger on the feeling. I was too tired to try and process or control my emotions. 

Fucking knew it!

I carefully crawled into bed with Mark, so as not to wake him up. I lay there for a minute watching him breathe in and out. Whatever he was dreaming about he was enjoying as he was smiling. I smiled back at him and wondered what his dream was about.

In my exhausted state I couldn't help myself and I brushed a stray lock of his curly black hair off his face, briefly touching his cheek. He made a feminine sigh of contentment. 

As I drifted off to sleep a thought crossed my mind that I would've quickly squashed if I was more awake.

God, Mark has been looking so cute lately. It's like all his features are softening up. Lucky fucker could probably pull off Ashe's look if he keeps up whatever he's been doing.