by Moshe Harel
Kathy nodded, seeming to agree with what I was saying. “Oh, and I think you should introduce him as Edi, so his name would not attract undue attention. Is that fine with you?” I addressed the last words to her mate. He nodded his agreement.
“Now, can you make yourself look more human, or would you like me to do that for you?”
Edi seemed to come back to himself. He looked around and noticed Kathy’s toilet-table, with the big mirror above it. He went there, checked himself in the mirror, and concentrated. For a moment he looked as if covered by some mist. As that mist vanished, Edi turned back to us. His eyes seemed no longer too big, and his ears were just the size and the shape for a man his size. He was still tall and muscular and very handsome.
“You look like a young and handsome man. How old are you?” I asked.
“I’ll be ninety-four in a few days, just the right age to start looking for a mate,” he said.
“You already have a mate,” I reminded him with a smile. “Your age would be equivalent to about twenty, I believe. We shall have to get some documents for you. You’d probably like to get a driving license, maybe learn some trade or get higher studies. You may already have more knowledge than any other man, but most of it may turn irrelevant when living here. I trust Kathy and her family to help you.”
He looked at Kathy with a lot of love evident in his eyes. “All I want is to make Kathy happy and help her raise our child. We may even think of more children when this one gets a bit older.”
Kathy seemed surprised at his words but smiled as well. It looked like these two would become a very nice family indeed. I thought they would like some privacy, so they could get to know each other under these new circumstances. Brian was probably aware of my thoughts, as he was already making a portal home.
With us being busy with preparation for our first academic year, as well as getting our driving licenses, we couldn’t spend much time on keeping an eye on Edi. We visited Kathy a few times and were impressed by the speed of his assimilation into human society. By the end of the second week, he could easily talk with any of Kathy’s high school classmates, or with Lora’s current friends and not raise any suspicions. When I saw the way some of the young girls were looking at him, I wondered what their reaction could be had I told them he was actually older than their grandparents.
I also found that Kathy was reporting to Edi’s parents almost daily about how he was doing. She was still uncertain about going there in her human form, preferring the usual way of visiting Avalon as a fairy.
It was the last weekend before the start of term at the college. We decided to visit Avalon once again, as we had not visited there since bringing Edi. As usual, we spent some time at the library of the Fairy Palace, finding some more books of interest. We then wanted to just fly around, finding ourselves at the elf village almost by chance. As we changed into our elf size, one of the elves noticed us. “Princess Ella is anxious to meet you again. Would you like me to lead you?”
I wondered why she felt that way. She couldn’t be worried about her brother, I was sure, as Kathy was reporting regularly about him, and she had never before been so anxious about meeting me, although she seemed glad to see me. We followed that elf to the big house—the palace, as I now called it in my mind—and then into the living quarters, where we had never visited before. We found Ella in her room, reading what was evidently a book from Earth, probably brought by Kathy. She lifted her eyes and smiled at us as we came in, but spent a few more seconds reading, before putting a bookmark there and closing the book.
“I’m so glad to see you here! I was contemplating asking Kathy to speak with you. She’s family now, you know. Yet knowing your position, I didn’t want to bother you.”
“My position? I’m just starting college in a few days. What kind of position is that?”
Ella smiled. “You’re still not willing to admit that you’re the most impressive Junior in many generations. I suspect that you’d be made an Elder before even finishing your studies. It didn’t feel right to impose on you, knowing how little time you may still have for yourself.”
“Well, what did you want to talk with me about?” I asked, unwilling to think about the rest.
She turned serious. “I want to go to Earth with you. Unlike Edi, I have no role here. Besides, this no longer seems to be dangerous. I want to see what technology means, what can be done, even without magic, to ease life. Who knows, I may even fall in love with a handsome man . . .”
I wasn’t sure if she was serious about the last sentence or just teasing me. Elven humor was sometimes too subtle for me to comprehend. I still answered seriously. “I’m not sure you should even think of finding love that way. I’m not sure if you’re biologically compatible, and most men have no magic in them. You’d have to keep your magic and your origin secret. Is that the kind of life you’d like?”
She looked stubborn. “I may fall in love with a male fairy, and that should be alright. Besides, elves are not really using much magic in daily life. We make no portals, we travel by foot, even our wars are fought with mostly physical weapons. We use magic mainly for healing and for building. I’ve not done magic more often than once or twice a year, and I can easily give that up if that’s what it takes.”
“Have you asked your parents?” This question sounded weird in my ears. By human standards, she was already an old lady, judging by her age, one who was no longer expected to consult with her parents, assuming they were still alive, yet by elfin standards, she was equivalent to a teen or a young adult. Knowing who her parents were, I was even more reluctant to help her without their explicit permission.
Ella shrugged. “They sent their heir there, so they can’t really oppose the idea of letting me go there as well. I will ask, of course, but I doubt they’d pose any obstacles.”
“Where do you plan to stay and how are you going to pay for whatever you need? Neither I nor Brian are earning any money at this stage, so our ability to help is very limited.”
She smiled. “It just so happens that our village has its own gemstones mine. Kathy told me that these are very precious on Earth and the bigger ones may earn us a life-long income—in human terms, of course. She actually took a few of the smaller diamonds to cover the cost of a new house for her and my brother and to pay for their expenses.”
That was news to me. “Can you show me some of these smaller gems?”
Ella opened a cupboard and took from one of the shelves a small cloth bag. She poured some of its contents onto her hand and let me look. She was holding about ten gems—diamonds, sapphires, and rubies, each about the diameter of my nails, all exquisitely polished. I couldn’t really estimate their values, but I suspected that one of these could pay the expenses of a small family for about a year, at least.
“How many did Kathy take?” I asked, starting to get worried.
“Not many. Less than twenty, I believe. She said that too many could pose a problem and would also be dangerous for her to keep, although I didn’t really understand her reasoning.”
“She’s right. Selling too many at once may lower the prices, and then such a treasure is sure to attract attention of the worst kind, putting their whole family in danger,” Brian said.
Ella considered it. “In that case, maybe I should only take a few of the smaller ones. What do you think?”
Brian sighed. “I’ll ask my parents. They seem to know a bit about such stuff and they may even be able to help you sell it.”
“So, will you help me?” Ella asked with anticipation in her voice.
“After your parents agree,” I said firmly.
The queen wasn’t happy with her daughter’s request, but just as expected, she didn’t pose any obstacle. She only asked us to make sure that Ella would be safe. I was reluctant to promise anything specific. “We’re going to start our academic studies in a few days and I don’t know how much free time that would leave us. We can probably meet her for a short visit every few days, but I can’t e
ven promise that. All I can promise is to see her safely to Earth and help her with her initial steps there. I hope that her brother and his mate will be able to help her as well.”
Once the queen agreed, the king agreed as well. He didn’t say anything to me, but he looked me in the eyes as if requesting assurance that I would do all that I could to help Ella.
“Can you teach me how to make such a portal?” Ella asked as we started explaining what we needed to do.
“Don’t you ever use portals?” I wondered.
“None. They are mentioned in some old tomes and we’re aware of the fairies using them, but no elfin portal was created for more generations than one can remember.”
That was a kind of surprise. Although I hadn’t seen any kind of magic displayed in their daily life, the elves were considered magically powerful. Could that notion be incorrect? That was something to think about, but it didn’t stop me from instructing Ella just the way I had instructed the younger fairies, only a few weeks earlier.
Ella proved to be a quick learner. Once I finished my explanations, she could easily make a portal to another part of Avalon. Her parents seemed eager to check it and see for themselves that it was really functional in both directions.
Making a portal to reach our bedroom proved much more difficult, as she didn’t have even the tiniest idea about where it was or how to find it. I had to think of a different method.
“Can you sense your brother?” I asked her.
She concentrated for a moment and then smiled. “He’s just watching his son suckle.”
That was reassuring. I wouldn’t have liked to open a portal on a copulation. It could be embarrassing.
Her mother intervened now. “Shouldn’t you two change back to your human form before you try returning to Earth?”
I wasn’t sure. When transforming in passing, we just returned to our human form when passing through the portal, yet we had always been in our fairy form and size. I wasn’t sure how it would work when we were actually elf (or human) size. Would we maintain that size or would we get bigger as we passed the portal, making us take giant proportions? That was something we could test at another time, I decided. I quickly transformed into my human form. The only change I could feel was that I became a tad shorter. I knew that my eyes, my ears, and my face in general also changed, but not by much. All present had seen us in both forms, so nobody seemed surprised.
“Try to open the portal near him. A wall or a door could be a good place for it,” I instructed Ella.
She concentrated. The wall near her seemed to thin and become an open portal, leading to the room where her brother was currently watching his mate and his son. I passed through first, followed by Ella and Brian. Ella looked back, making sure that nobody else was coming, and quickly closed the portal.
“Hello! We didn’t expect any guests,” Edi said, his surprise evident.
“You didn’t think that your little sister would stop nagging just because you moved here, did you?” Ella teased him, clearly in a good mood.
“It was nice not being teased for a while,” he said, yet he hugged her and kissed her in a way that clearly said he had missed her.
I let them rejoice in their meeting. Once they let go of each other, Ella first took a good look at the baby latched to Kathy’s breast, and then turned back to me. “You didn’t intend to really come here. Can we now go to your place?”
We only exchanged a few words with Edi and Kathy before Brian opened the portal to our room.
Ella looked like a child who had found a new toy. She hugged us both and thanked us several times. I thought it was the right moment to complete the cycle.
“I’d like you to open a portal back to your room on Avalon. I’m sure you can do it. Once you pass through, close it, and open another leading directly here.”
Ella didn’t need to be told twice. I could soon see her room through the portal on my wall. She passed through and closed it behind her. It took her a bit longer than I expected before my wall turned into a portal again. Seeing her parents through it, I understood why it took so long. Ella passed through and waved to her parents before closing the portal. She sat down on our bed, looking quite winded.
“It was fun, but it is quite tiring as well.” She then smiled with some mischief. “Everything that’s really fun is usually tiring as well. Sex, for example.”
We all laughed. We couldn’t let Ella stay with us, though. We were still living in my old room in my parents’ house, and they had no spare bedroom for her. Brian seemed to think the same. “I think my parents will be glad to let you stay with them until you find a better arrangement. I’ll call them now,” he suggested.
While he called his parents, I introduced Ella to all that I could: the light switches, the television set, the telephone and the mobile phone, my computer and all other stuff that is a normal part of a teenager’s room yet is absent on Avalon. Ella learned quickly, and by the time Brian finished his call, after explaining a bit more about what we had done, she was already surfing the Internet, reading everything at amazing speed.
“My parents are willing to let you use my old room, or you could use my sister’s room if they manage to call her before you arrive. She’s practically moved to live with her mate, but she sometimes comes home for visits.”
It was still early enough for Ella to learn some more about normal daily life. I opened my wardrobe and let her check it first, before explaining the role different types of clothing played in human society and how she was expected to dress for different occasions. I then let her choose what to wear before leaving my room, as her elfin wraps were not something she could use on Earth.
She was just about my size, and most of my regular clothes fit her nicely. She would need a bra, I found out, as her breasts were a bit larger. Still, wearing jeans, a shirt, and an overcoat, for the slightly chilly weather, nobody would think she was anything but a beautiful young woman, once she made her ears and her eyes look normal.
26 Start of Term
We moved to the dorms only a few days later. There were a few apartments reserved for married couples, and we were the youngest couple among them. It took us a few weeks before we could say we had finally settled down there, made a few friends, and felt at home. It was still much quicker than for most of our classmates, maybe because we had each other for support.
We also found time to stay in contact with our friends, mainly during weekends. Kathy and Edi had also moved to a couple’s apartment near her college. They had managed to be recognized as a married couple, and I didn’t ask about the details. Edi was accepted into a preparation course for foreign students. Nobody knew just how foreign he really was.
Ella was just happy to live like a young woman who had not yet decided about her future. Brian’s parents managed to sell a few of her gems and helped her open a bank account where the money was deposited. She then rented a flat nearby and became a constant visitor at the public libraries.
My pregnancy was soon becoming too evident to hide. My parents had some mixed feelings about it. “We would have liked you to wait a few years before becoming a mother,” they said.
I knew that Mom, at least, was thinking of all the difficulties her mother encountered when raising her, yet both accepted it and started thinking of the benefits of becoming grandparents while still not old.
My siblings didn’t hesitate, though. Both were eager to become an uncle or an aunt. I also checked them for magic. I wasn’t sure if I should tell them or not. “Wait until they’re older,” Brian told me, and I agreed to keep the results secret until then.
Brian’s parents were thrilled at the idea. Margaret was finally ready to tell us that she was not just getting fat, but was actually expecting—something I had known for a while already. I was thrilled to find that Alice was also expecting. She had married her boyfriend shortly after our marriage but in a strictly private ceremony. Joshua was not quite as thrilled, though, thinking of three wailing babies every time the f
amily came together.
Gran was the most enthusiastic about it, but also the most apprehensive. “I’m really glad for you, and I’m sure your children will be magical, based on your research. I hope that becoming parents would not interfere with your studies, though. As time passes, it becomes clearer to me that the Fairy Nation needs you to take a leading role for its future.”
I still didn’t want to think of that, but I was adamant to not let my pregnancy or my daughter make a difference in my studies. Just like at high school, I was striving for the highest grades, and usually getting them.
Ella was also glad to witness my pregnancy and was looking forward to my girl’s birth. She had already offered to babysit whenever we needed, just as Lora was doing for her sister.
We were so busy, that we were almost surprised when the holidays came, giving us a few days of rest, allowing us to spend some more time with family and friends.
As we finally had some free time, we met my old friends during this vacation. Debbie was glad to show me her engagement ring. “Ethan proposed a few weeks after your wedding, but we decided not to rush it.” She then looked pointedly at my bulging belly. “I can see you just couldn’t wait.”
I smiled happily. “With Brian being such a good boyfriend and then a husband, it was just natural.”
My other friends didn’t yet have such rings to boast about, but they seemed all happy about their significant others.
I met some of my newer friends as well. Ella was enjoying her life, devouring books at the libraries during the days, and going to the movies or a club at night. She had already made some friends and was constantly enlarging her social circles. Although she hadn’t yet had any significant relationship, she was enjoying quite an active sex life, using her magic to protect her against unwanted pregnancies and worse possible results.
I was surprised to see Kathy when we all met at a cafe. The young woman who came in, pushing a pram, was looking very confident and had a kind of presence that I had never seen in her before. “I’ve been learning a bit about my husband’s family,” she said as an explanation, “and I’m learning how to act properly as his wife. Ella has taught him how to go between his old home and here, and we now visit his parents every other week.”
