Discovering Fae

By midday, when I stormed the infirmary, Mom was awake and giving me that amused, ‘I-totally-expected-this-to-happen’ look while Dad shook his head and chuckled at the red-faced, blustering healer that was trying, and failing, to stop me.

When I tried to ask about what in the paranormal horse nuggets happened in the courtyard, Mom shushed me and Dad just shook his head, making me clamp my lips together.

“You’re pouting,” Mal murmured into my ear from behind while I was trying to make sense of some of the books Raiz had sent me.

“I’m not pouting,” I looked at him and he rolled his eyes, clearly not buying it. “Fine. I’m pouting. What the heck was that, Mal? And why won’t they tell me anything?”

“Honestly, from what you’ve already learned about your family, do you really think there’s an answer for that?” he asked, sitting across from me and grabbing a few books, checking the titles on their spines before opening one. “And as for them not telling you anything, maybe they’re respecting your wish not to be involved in royal things. I mean, seeing as the whole “queen” business was literally referenced.”

“What are you doing?” I asked when he grabbed my notes on translations.

“Helping,” he smirked at me. “Unless you’ve grown tired of my company already.”

“How could that even be possible?” I chuckled. “We’re literally made to be together.”

“You almost had me worried for a second,” he joked. “I thought for sure I was going to spend the rest of my life following you around like a puppy.”

“You joke, but I completely believe you would,” I laughed.

“In a second, love. Now, what are you looking for, exactly, or are we just doing general translations?”

“I’m looking for any account of one, or both, of the ancestors that grew wings,” I said. “So far, I’ve gone back nine generations in the family tree and have matched some names to the records Raiz sent, but it’s all passing mentions, like a reference for understanding than true records.”

“He said he was going to send you what he thought might be helpful for why you’re suddenly growing wings, the markings, or the origin of the royal line,” he said.

“Most of those what he sent are various theories and speculations, but this one... Where’d I put it?” I said, moving things around and lifting the odd roll of notes until I found the dark green, leather-bound tome. “Here. This one is different, and I know I can read it, but I’m not understanding how the words are fitting together.”

“There’s nothing in this, Fae,” he frowned, flipping the pages. “Well, there is. I can see the tiny runes going around each page, but that’s it.”

“What runes?” I asked, pulling the top of the book down so I could run my finger over the edges of the pages.

“Here,” he said, grabbing the quill and inkpot and a loose piece of my notes. “Before you ask, I’ve never seen runes like this before, either.”

He drew out a serious of lines and the occasional dot or curve but I could feel my face being pulled downward as he wrote until I put my hand over his, stopping him midstroke of his fourth rune.

“When you finish writing them, they vanish,” I explained when he looked as confused as I did. “I just watched you make these... runes, and I don’t remember a thing about them. I can’t see them at all.”

I took the quill and grabbed a second piece of paper, writing out a few of the letters from what I was able to see and while it remained there for me, Mal’s sharp intake of breath told me everything I needed to know after the second one was completed.

“What in the world is going on?” I stared at the book between us.

“This seems familiar,” he shook his head, looking up from the paper he saw as blank. “You saw something on that scroll in Phoenix Hollow that none of us could. Does it look the same?”

I frowned and tried to remember, but I just shook my head and got up, going to the locked cabinet that held everything that had been sent to me, including a copy of the scroll in question. I threw it open, not caring that the table I was using was already a mess and ran my hand down the length of it until I found the section I was looking for. Mal held the book open for me and I looked back and forth for a long time before I finally spoke.

“It looks similar, but... not?” I tilted my head slightly. “I’ve come across a lot of that, actually. In the different dialects of the same language as it evolves. It’s similar enough that it could be the same, but still very different. Maybe an offshoot?”

“Like Italian and Spanish,” he nodded. “Close enough, but not quite. You can almost understand one if you know the other.”

“Yes, kind of like that, only... I think one of these is the origin language in that tree,” I frowned at him. “Not siblings.”

“So... Latin?” he tilted his head, looking at the book than the scroll. “Hey! This is the same!”

He was pointing to a section of text then looking at the edges of the pages in the book.

“That, I can see?” I rolled my eyes but walked around to his side to look at it better. “Wait. I can read this.”

It was almost like the markings on the page knew my eyes were there and immediately jumped into a form I recognized. The random lines and dots and slight curves changed until...

“...While the Light is all things gentle and good, It is also sharp and fierce when piercing the Darkness... Why am I like this?” I huffed and flopped onto Mal’s lap, making him grunt softly before his arm went around my back and his other hand fell to my knee.

“I think you’re perfect, Fae,” he kissed my cheek. “And that’s not biased.”

“I think it is, actually,” I gave him a look, but it fell flat, and I sighed, leaning into him and laying my head on his shoulder.

“So, I wonder why you can read it on the scroll, but not in the book,” Mal asked after a moment.

“Can we hold off on pointing out another way I’m a freak of nature, please?”

“Stop with that “freak” shit, Fae,” he grumbled, making my whole body vibrate with the sound. “You aren’t a freak. You’re amazing and wonderful and stronger than any of us know. You have some pretty cool things happening to you right now and most of them might not make sense right now, but they will and when they do, I can already see the world trembling in awe at just the mention of your name.”

“Trying to play to an ego that doesn’t exist isn’t exactly a working strategy, King,” I rolled my eyes and sat up to look at the scroll again.

“I told you, I don’t do flattery,” he snorted. “Cheap words that mean nothing? You deserve so much more than that.”

“But you have done it before,” I lifted an eyebrow at him.

“Not... really, actually,” he said, his face growing red slowly. “Aside from you, I’ve only dated two others. One I was forced towards. The arranged marriage?”

“I can’t believe that’s actually thing still,” I scoffed.

“The Sidhe resists change,” he shrugged.

“And the other?”

“I think she was humoring me more than anything,” he laughed. “I was six. She was thirty. I had a crush.”

“Okay, that’s adorable and also tragic,” I laughed.

“She was also married,” he grimaced. “Two three men.”

“Oh. Wait, that’s illegal,” I tilted my head.

“I wasn’t born on Earth, Fae. I spent the first ten years of my life here in the Sidhe, where polygamy is very much legal,” he shrugged. “Many cultures here are like that. Vampires, for one. They’re the most notorious and least subtle.”

“You know... I think one of my ancestors was like that,” I shuddered. “That section of history suddenly makes more sense and I do believe I need bleach for my brain.”

“Ah, you found the accounts of Gildred during one of Queen Tiyu’s orgies,” I heard Mom say and I gagged dramatically.

“Why would you keep something like that?” Mal asked.

“Because most of the state meetings ended up turning into an orgy during her rule,” Mom shrugged and sat down. “She may have inherited the royal blood, but she still had the form and image of an Aphrodite.”

“The goddess?” I gaped.

“You’ll learn most of the ancient gods and goddesses are really fae,” Mom nodded and sat down in the chair I had been in before sitting on Mal’s lap. “Aphrodite is a race, Hephaestus was a lava golem, Zeus was a blustering fool.”

“Wow,” I reeled at the venom in Mom’s voice.

“Weather mage. An elf, in reality,” Mal explained.

“Now, Odin was the closest thing to a real god in the more recent history of your world,” Mom held up a finger. “He was a Storm Rider so powerful, he could summon them from clear skies. Thor was, too, though his path led him to a different fate than his father.”

“That’s not really... recent,” I said, sounding small.

“The Egyptians had it right, for the most part,” she tapped her fingers on the table idly. “Bast was a hellcat, though. She was in love with Anubis, but that’s a different matter. Anyhow, I wanted to see how you were doing with all of this?”

“It’s confusing,” I frowned. “I can see things written down that no one else can, and apparently, I can’t see things everyone else does. Oh, and apparently, I can read languages I’ve never seen before, which is just... Great.”

“Well, I can’t say about the disappearing words, but I do remember my father being able to read languages that he had never seen before,” she tapped her chin. “It was widely documented, too, since one of those languages was Candorian, which, until the emissary arrived, everyone thought they went extinct generations before. It was a difficult language to begin with and they aren’t a very scholarly race, so there wasn’t much reason to know the language once the people were all gone.”

“So, this is genetic?” I asked, tilting my head.

“There have been moments where I thought I might have understood something that I shouldn’t have, but it slipped by before it made sense, but yes. I do believe it’s genetic,” she nodded with a smile.

“Thank Fate for that,” I sighed.

“As for seeing them... Enchantments are tricky things. When written, they can go completely undetected until activated,” she looked at the scroll that was still unrolled on the heap of other books. “This is an interesting history of our family origin. I don’t think I’ve ever heard one like this before.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, not even we know the true origin of our bloodline, and there’s a lot of this I can’t read, but what I can is... actually tracking pretty well, truthfully,” she ran her fingers over the words as she read. “I spent decades pouring over our family history, hoping to find any other survivor. There are none. Just me. And now, you. But I know things about our family that never made it into history books. A lot of what this scroll says pretty accurate.”

She stopped and tapped a section while she frowned.

“This one is odd. Again, it tracks with what I know, but this says it’s already happened when I can honestly say it hasn’t,” she said and I turned my head slightly to read what she was pointing out.

“The part about one of us growing wings?” I asked and she nodded. “Raiz say it has. Twice, before me.”

“I don’t...I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but he’s wrong,” she shook her head. “I traced every recorded lineage we had. That’s nearly a thousand generations. Our generations, which is at least three of nearly every other race and species in the Sidhe.”

“Could your records be incomplete?” Mal asked. “Or some of them missing?”

“The only ones that weren’t there were my father’s, but there was a fire in the palace. It destroyed the last years of his father’s life as well as my birth,” Mom lifted an eyebrow. “The librarian keeps very detailed records of what’s here.”

“I noticed that,” I said. “I mean, there was cursory information, but the early years are just... gone.”

“Dad? Yeah, he kept putting it off because he hated talking about his youth before meeting Mom,” she rolled her eyes. “He always started his life the day he met her.”

“Sappy romantic,” I giggled.

“I can see the merit in that, actually,” Mal grinned at me.

“Likewise,” Dad said coming into our little group from the shelves. “Mary.”

“Don’t start with me,” she pointed at him. “I told you, I’m fine. I feel like I’m nineteen again, actually, so don’t rain on my parade.”

“I like rain, thanks,” he crossed his arms.

“Yes, but who likes soggy socks, Quinn?” she replied. “You’re a sock soggier!”

“I like that!” I gasped and Mal groaned.

“We can see where you get that from,” he muttered.

“You’re being stubborn,” he crossed his arms.

“Absolutely,” she nodded and turned to me. “Now, what part can’t you read?”

“These runes,” I held up the page Mal had written on.

“Those are glyphs, not runes,” Mom said, taking the paper. “Specially designed letters that mean very little on their own but are designed to hold magic. Low-level stuff, like the cleric’s demon wards and banishment charms.”

“So, is there a language that uses these, because I can read this,” I pointed to the scroll.

“Most races that are deeply steeped in magic use glyphs,” Mom shrugged. “Most use sigils, though. They’re a little stronger and are unique to the one that makes them. The intent of a glyph, or series of glyphs, can be determined by simply, reading them. Sigils, you have to feel.”

“Magic. So, I’m not losing my mind? This is an actual thing that’s been done intentionally?” I ask.

“It would seem so,” she nodded.

“What’s this?” Dad asked, holding up the paper I had written on.

“Blank paper?” Mom looked at me and I made a face.

“It’s the part of the book that I can see,” I said, pointing to the book in question.

“May I?” he asked, holding out his hand and I gave it to him, and he hummed as he turned the pages back and forth a few times. Then, he turned the book around and pointed to the center of the page. “You can see these?”

“Can you?” I asked and he nodded. “What about the things, the glyphs on the edges of the page?”

“Yes, I can see them, but it takes me a second to focus,” he said. “You aren’t losing your mind, Fae. There’s a reason Mal and your mother can’t read them. Those are shadow runes. There are only so many that can see them. Dark fairies, some demons, the ones that thrive in darkness. To me, the glyphs are bright. Almost like polished gold in the sun, just about blinding. Again, only because of the darkness.”

He tapped his temple.

“What he means is that dark fairies eyes adjust to the shifts in light and darkness unlike any other species,” Mom nodded. “Because of that, they can see a different spectrum of light that isn’t quite light in the sense of illumination.”

“It’s almost like thermal vision only it’s magic, not heat,” Dad explained. “Shadow runes are like writing with the night as your ink. Unless you can see the darkness, you won’t see the words. I have to adjust my sight a great deal to see them, like everyone else, or read it in a dark or dim room room. You, however, don’t seem to need to do so.”

“It’s like reading anything else here, but I’m beginning to question what I do and don’t see now,” I huffed.

“And you didn’t before?” Mal chuckled. “Earth media is so biased and corrupt, can you really believe what you’re told?”

“Is it so different here?” Mom chortled.

“Better than there,” Mal shrugged.

“So, I’m still a weirdo, just not as high level a weirdo as before?” I tilted my head.

“You’re not a weirdo,” Dad rolled his eyes.

I gave him a flat look and he shrugged.

“So, how do I read the unseeable?”

“By finding someone who can see it,” Mom shrugged.

“If I told you what the scroll said, could you use that to translate the edges of the book?” I asked and she frowned as she looked back and forth between the two.

“Possibly,” she said, making a face. “I think your best bet is to go back to Phoenix Hollow.”

“It does look like they’re more prepared to handle my little burnouts than here,” I made a face. “What about the rest of it, though?”

“The lightning?” Mom smirked. “You’ll find that Raiz is pretty capable when it comes to the fire element, which seems like the one that’s acting up the most right now. It makes sense. It is the wildest of the four.”

“Lovely,” I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll go pack,” Dad said, and Mal patted my knee, helping me up then letting me have his chair.

“I think I’ll do the same,” he said and kissed me before he left, his wings held out once more, making Mom laugh.

“He’s showing off hard,” she shook her head. “Here. I’ll help you pack this stuff up.”

“Why do I have such a hard time with my magic?” I sighed, flexing my hand before I rolled up the scroll and started closing and stacking books.

“You know, back on Earth, how people would look at a person and say “they have a lot of spirit”? It’s kind of like that,” she smiled.

“Please don’t tell me there’s a measurement system for this stuff,” I groaned.

“There is but it’s usually meant for comparisons within the race and since we’re the only ones... Moot point,” she shrugged, picking up a stack of books to leave for the librarian while I took the ones from Raiz back to the cabinet.

“Oh!” I said, blinking at her. “Did I tell you about the theories some of these scholars had about our bloodline?”