Fairy Princess

2. Magic Tricks

Idra and Wen met up the next morning at the nearest café to Wen's place. Wen couldn't help feeling slightly awkward at their meeting, as she still didn't know whether she actually believed Idra's story or not. Her instincts just went straight to belief, but there was something holding Wen back.

It seemed Idra was really serious about the two of them getting to know one another, as she launched into speaking at length about her life: her job and her colleagues and family. It all seemed entirely normal to Wen; it was like a normal human life, and she couldn't help but feel confused, feeling as though she'd decided to believe a ridiculous lie that Idra had suddenly given up on.

As Idra loaded her fork with her early-morning-brownie and took a bite, Wen stared intently at her.

"Is something wrong?" Idra returned her fork to her plate and met Wen's gaze.

"I'm just waiting for you to say something about the fey world," Wen ventured, looking down at her entwined fingers. She couldn't help feeling stupid, like this was the time she'd be told she'd been played.

Idra reached out to put her hand over Wen's, and Wen looked up at her again. Idra met her panicked look with a soft, caring one of her own. "I can tell you more about the fey world, Wenona, but it's not too different from here. Besides magic, the fey aren't actually much different than humans. Our worlds are similar, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Oh." Wen didn't know what else to say. Idra had just been talking about her life in another world for the past hour, and there was nothing to take note of? The prank was unravelling if Idra couldn't even work out details for a fantasy world that was different from the human one, but for some reason, Wen was still unsure.

Idra sighed and moved her other hand on top of Wen's. "Don't worry too much about it, we've got plenty of time to talk about all of that. For now, we'll just get to know one another, so you can trust me and what I say."

"I ..." Wen looked down at her hand encased in both of Idra's. She felt comforted, as though she fully trusted this woman already. "I want to know about magic."

Idra pulled her hands back in surprise. "I can tell you anything you want," she said, leaning forward over the table to talk in more of a hushed voice. "You have questions already?"

"Well ..." Wen leant back and thought for a second. "What can you do with magic? Anything you want?"

Idra folded her hands together in front of herself, a businesslike gesture. "You'll have to be a little more specific. We can't really just do anything."

"Right." Wen cast her mind back to the day before. "The wings? But you can change the rest of your appearance whenever you want?"

"A fey's appearance is linked to their DNA, like humans. Magic can't really change someone's genetic structure, so anything more than a cosmetic change will be temporary, more of an illusion spell than an actual change. And while you can't see what's underneath an illusion spell without dispelling it, it leaves an obvious aura, so it would actually be no good if you wanted to be inconspicuous. If you don't like the way you look and walk around with that kind of spell on you every day, it would be unlikely anyone would trust you."

"An aura?"

Idra contemplated how to answer the question for a moment. She put a hand on top of her coffee cup and the off-white colour slowly melted into blue. Wen smiled, appreciating the trick, but she didn't understand what Idra was getting at.

Idra pointed to the cup with her other hand. "I'm letting a continuous flow of my magic into the cup to keep up the image that it's blue. If you look closely, you can see it kind of shimmer, right?"