by Moshe Harel
It proved to be a success. By the end of that meeting, all the male Elders were able to use the charm and its inverse and change to fairy size and back with no embarrassing or dangerous proportions. The next meeting was agreed on to take place in the Fair Palace in Avalon.
I felt grateful when the term started. It meant no more field trips, no unusual assignments. Just normal student life. Well, that’s what I thought. I should have known better.
Despite the meetings between the Elders of both genders, negotiations seemed to get stuck. Gran asked for Brian’s help almost every week. She tried to spare me, but I still ended up joining Brian at least every other meeting.
Then there was the detection system. Both Brian and I tried to recharge it several times during the weeks before the start of term, yet it didn’t seem to help much. From what Joshua told us, recharging the male detection system proved just as futile. It was evident that the ancient systems needed to be replaced by a new and more efficient system, suitable for the current way fairies were living. Gran didn’t want to talk much about it, but I felt that the Elders were expecting me and Brian to come up with a solution.
And to cap it all, a few weeks after term started, I found out I was pregnant again. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, really. Brian and I had discussed the matter, agreeing to have roughly two-year gaps between our children. I even acted accordingly, refraining from using any contraceptive measures soon after summer ended, and yet it surprised me, mainly because I was preoccupied with other stuff.
Actually, my not-so-surprising pregnancy had a certain calming effect on us. It gave us a new focus and changed our priorities, if only slightly. Gran tried not to impose on us as much as before, and even that slight decrease in our burden was more than welcome.
The fall term passed so quickly that I barely noticed, being so occupied. I was looking forward to spending the winter break at home with my parents, my siblings, and my friends. Traditionally, the Elder Council was also taking a break during this period, allowing its members to enjoy the holidays with family and friends.
Surprisingly (or maybe not), Dorna decided to spend most of the holidays on Earth. “I like visiting Avalon and the chieftain is glad to hear of my studies and the way I live here, but I seem to fit here much better than there. Besides, after reading and hearing so much about the winter holidays, I’m eager to experience them.”
As Bob’s room was now mostly hers, this posed no problem. Bob would only pass there to change clothes before or after school. Dorna’s clothes were now filling most of Bob’s cupboard and closet, with him occupying only a tiny fraction of that space, yet both seemed content. None of them minded being seen naked by the other, which was certainly helpful.
Dorna also learned dislocation and used it to often visit Elrica. As they were having the same classes, they used to study together many times, while Bob needed to study with his classmates. Of course, Elrica was also coming to my parents’ house just as often, becoming a real family member even for my parents.
The winter vacation turned less enjoyable for me, though. Although my magic was probably helping to keep me healthy, the stress of the previous months was getting to me and I caught a cold only a few days after returning home. Mom and Gran, along with Brian, agreed that I needed some bed rest. There was nothing I could say or do to change their minds. They even kept Tracey mostly away from me, so she won’t catch it.
I felt miserable in bed. I felt so bad that even sex seemed impossible in my condition. I mostly read and slept. Gran showed us some spells to reduce fever, and Brian cast them on me every few hours, but they had a similar effect to the cold medicines and just as short an effect.
Then on my third day in bed, Gran came with a large pack of books and documents which she laid carefully on my bedside table. “I finally found some documentation on the detection system. I believe you’ll be interested in studying all the details.”
Gran was right. Some of these ancient tomes seemed to be older than humanity, yet some of the documents were current images of the core structure, taken with a modern digital camera and professionally printed on high-quality photo paper that let me see the details best.
I wasn’t surprised that it was all about several concentric rings of large stones, all covered with runes. Gran had taught us during our first club, and we’d been passing the information since, that some very complex magic could be done with runes. While normal magic meant focusing our will and letting our magical powers act on it, some things were too complex to be easily done this way. Runes were a way to express intentions that were much more complex, that needed thinking and planning in great detail. The symbols themselves were kind of pictographs, believed to be the original way of writing on Avalon, before the separation of the races. I’ve read a bit about the use of runes, but I had never expected to need them, certainly not so soon.
I started by studying the general structure of the detection system. The concentric circles of rune stones were set deep under the Fair Palace and were magically connected to a single stone that was set on the floor of a room adjacent to the library, that fed various recording instruments with the data collected. One such instrument was writing the logbooks, using normal ink, so it could stay readable even if the magic faded. Another monitored all first-time uses of fairy magic, used to identify young fairies. Some of the instruments seemed to have no function at all. They may have been obsolete or their function not currently in use. I was sure to check them over, once our detection crisis was resolved.
The most interesting part, though, was the runes covered stones in the concentric circles in the basement. Gran made sure to have overall images of the arrangement as well as detailed images of each stone, showing all the runes as clearly as possible. I couldn’t identify most of them and the few I could, made no sense when isolated. It was clear to me that I needed to learn the runes and the way to use them in much more detail than I had previously done. Gran had anticipated the need and more than half the pile of books was about runes.
“May I help you?” Dorna’s voice brought me out of my studies.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “You see, I need to understand this gigantic set of runes that covers these stones,” I pointed at the overall image, “and I first need to learn the various runes and how they are supposed to interact, before I can even start to understand . . . this!”
“I’ve learned some runes,” Dorna stated. “Maybe I can help you focus on what’s relevant? It may also help my understanding, you know.”
Her eagerness was endearing, yet I wasn’t sure if this was something I should disclose to a pixie. And then I thought better of it. We were currently trying to reunite the pixies with the fairies. What better way to do it than to show complete trust? Besides, it might benefit the pixies as well, especially if they start mingling with humans. “Maybe you can. Have a look at that overall image and see what you can deduce from it and what you need the detailed images to better understand. We may see how you can help me after that.”
Dorna made room on the carpet and stretched the large image over it. She then transformed into her pixie size and flew to the center, landed lightly, and started checking the stones in the image. I let her continue while I returned to my studies.
About an hour later, I noticed Dorna returning to her human form. She looked satisfied and I could see she was bursting with the desire to tell me what she found out. “Alright, what can you tell me?” I prompted her.
Dorna smiled. “It’s really a fascinating work of art and magic. I can’t say that I really understood it, but I think I’ve got the gist of it. I think you would better understand if you transform, as I did.”
I was quite reluctant to do it. While my pregnancy was not too heavy yet, I already felt clumsier than usual, and the cold could affect me worse when smaller. Still, it could be worth it. I got out of bed and transformed, noticing Dorna transform at my side. She then pointed to the middle and we both flew there.
“This roun
d stone in the middle is the anchor stone. It’s probably only the tip of a much larger stone that’s mostly underground. It’s the one collecting power from the magic in the ground to power the inner circle. It looks free of any signs, but it probably has some power runes on its underground part,” Dorna started explaining. I already knew this should be the power anchor, although it seemed too small.
“There are five stones in the inner circle, not all equal, and each has different runes. I think they’re all on the surface, as none of the runes seems like it’s truncated or partly hidden. Still, there may be some runes on the underside of the stones. I don’t understand all the runes, but they seem to be general in nature, with each stone covering another aspect of life and magic.” She evidently knew more than me about runes and she had good observation talent.
“The next circle is more interesting and more specific. It contains eleven stones, two or three for each one in the inner circle, further dividing the areas of interest. There are runes for health and power in there and some that may deal with transformations while others deal with monitoring and recording various aspects of fairy lives. If you’re looking for a problem with the detection system, as I heard you tell, then that’s the main area you should check, I believe. The farther circles refine and subdivide the various areas, but any problem with them will probably not affect the overall system in the way you seem worried about.”
I was really impressed. While I could probably find some of that on my own, Dorna had only spent an hour with the runes and was already contemplating how to deal with the problem.
“I’ve noticed some runes that seem to be faded or smeared. That could affect the system in unpredictable ways,” Dorna added.
“We have detailed images of each stone. Can you check them over and mark whichever runes seem damaged in one way or the other? Even if that won’t solve our problem, by repairing those runes we may get a better understanding of it.”
Dorna smiled. “It would be an honor to help you.”
She didn’t take the original pictures with her. She waved her hand over the stack of them, making a copy of each and took them with her to her room. I had no doubt that she would work diligently on them until she would find all that was expected of her and then also notice some more points of interest to make me aware of.
Ella came for a visit that evening. She frowned seeing me lying in bed with a cold. She moved her hand above my chest, my throat and my nose, frowned a bit more, and then moved her hand again in that same pattern. Once it was over, my nose became clear of any clogging, my throat was no longer sore and the muscles around my lungs no longer ached. “What have you done?” I asked her.
Ella smiled. “Didn’t I tell you that elf magic is used mainly for healing? You’ve been ill and my magic healed you, with the help of your magic, of course.”
“Can you teach me?” I sounded way too eager than I wanted to. Well, healing the common cold is no small feat.
“Of course, though I doubt you need me to. Can’t you guess what I did?”
I tried concentrating my thoughts on what it felt like. Her first pass was just a scan, to learn where the problem areas were, that was evident. Then, after knowing what the problem was . . . It was suddenly clear what she did and how I could do it too. It was so simple that I wondered why I had never thought of it. Of course, healing broken bones or clogged arteries was more impressive, but this piece of magic was much more useful on a daily basis, enabling me to treat all kinds of aches and ailments that didn’t normally need a doctor yet made one miserable.
Ella smiled as my face showed my understanding. She then turned her glance to the piles of papers and books at my bedside. “Studying runes? I didn’t think they still have any practical use.”
I shrugged. “Not in day-to-day life, but our fairy detection system is rune-based and it seems to miss too many fairies of both genders. Neither Brian nor Bob were detected by it and I’m not sure I was, to name a few. It needs to be adjusted and repaired or discarded and replaced. Whatever we finally decide to do, I need to know runes for. Have you studied runes?”
Ella nodded. “I spent some time on runes. They’re used to protect our villages and during some rare rituals, like crowning a new king, yet they can be quite useful. I wonder if your runes are the same as ours.”
“They should be. They’re the writing used before the races parted, at least ours are.”
“May I see them?”
I unfolded one of the images at random. It was the picture of one of the middle-sized stones in the third circle. “This is one of them. We have plenty more.”
Ella scanned the image, tracing some of the runes with her fingertips. The way she looked at it, I was sure she understood most of the runes, if not all of them. She suddenly frowned. “This rune doesn’t seem to fit here.” Her finger pointed at a rune that looked slightly newer than the rest, not by much. I couldn’t read it, though, nor the ones near it.
“What do you mean?”
“These,” Ella showed some nearby runes, “are for fertility, sex, and love. Well, maybe in the inverse order. Some others—” She pointed at them. “—deal with changes of size and form. This one, though, urges length and sharpness, although it is similar to one that deals with fitness and health. I don’t think it belongs here.”
I took another look at the image. With so many runes cramped together it was really difficult to see each one on its own. I then took my Runes Dictionary, as I called that tome, and tried to find the two relevant runes. The one for fitness and health was one to be drawn by brush in a continuous movement and the roundness was important in it. I then found the other, It was almost the same, except for two places where the brush should be lifted, leaving two spikes where the other was round. I wondered if this was a mistake or was deliberate. There was no way to know, of course, yet I suspected that correcting that rune could have a profound effect. Could that be the infamous curse? I didn’t know enough to reach such a conclusion, but it kept me thinking.
39 Repairs
Dorna looked very tired the next morning, yet in high spirit. “I think I found a few things,” she said, as I joined her at the breakfast table. “I’ll show you as soon as we’re done here.”
Brian, who’d been busy with other things most of the previous day looked questioningly at us. “I let her check the rune images, as she knows runes better than me.”
Brian followed us to Bob’s room that was now Dorna’s. It looked tidier than I could remember it. The stack of images was neatly stowed on a shelf and three images were piled on the desk. Dorna conjured two chairs for us and then unfolded one image to show us.
“This stone has the power distribution runes for the monitoring systems. It is very old, as can be seen, and some runes are fading or eroded. This clearly affects the power supplied to the rest of the system. It wouldn’t have been too bad unless someone tried to redraw one of the runes. This one—” She pointed at the image. “—is supposed to channel the power in exact doses into the next part, but then this—” She pointed a bit farther. “—bleeds most of that power out, leaving very little for use. It’s evidently a new rune, probably drawn to correct the old one fading beyond usefulness, but it was not done correctly.” She now opened a book, one she had probably brought from Avalon, as it wasn’t one from my stack. “These two runes are almost identical. The one drawn on that stone is for bleeding out most of the power when too much power can be damaging and only very little is needed. The other one has a similar function, only it channels most of the power forward, bleeding out only the excess. The difference between the runes is the angle of this line to the base.” She pointed at the line on the enlarged drawing in the book.
“So, if we erase it and redraw it correctly, we may have enough power to let it function as intended,” Brian commented.
“Probably, but there are more problems.” Dorna didn’t sound encouraging.
She folded the page and unfolded another. “This is the stone that filters
magical events according to their origins. The preceding stones identify all magic, regardless of who performed it. I think it was either replaced or rewritten at some point, as it only lets female fairies of specific ancestry to be recorded. This excludes all pixies, the male fairies, and many female fairies, although I can’t say how many. It’s not well written either, so that it may occasionally let a male through. I guess this was done some time after the male curse started affecting the fairies.”
“Do you know if we can modify it or do we need to replace it?” Brian asked, clearly concerned.
Dorna hesitated. “I’m not sure. Although I’ve learned some runes before and learned some more last night, I’m still not an expert. I can barely read some of these. I don’t know how to write most of it. Sorry.”
Brian smiled at her. “No need to be sorry. You’ve done a fantastic job here and I dare say it might make you a Junior soon. Now, is there another problem?”
Dorna smiled nervously. “Yes. This one doesn’t seem to deal with detection, though, but I had to make sure.” She unfolded the image that I had shown Ella the previous evening. “Long time ago, somebody changed one rune on this stone. I don’t think it was done on purpose; it was probably just some mistake. You see, this rune should have been rounded to bless with fitness and health. As you can see, the brush was lifted twice, leaving these two tiny spikes that change its meaning to make something long and sharp. The rest of the runes here deal with changing form and size. I think the erroneous rune may be that elusive curse on the fairy males.”
“Are you sure about it?” Brian got excited at the news.
