Outside the Mirage

#12: The Story of Jenna Morrison

"So what we know for sure is interesting," Nakamura explained, throwing a few files onto Merlyn's desk. "Jenna Morrison was indeed married to a man named Owen Edwards, a non-mage. She put in a request for an official cross-magical marriage license about one year before what seemed to be the intended wedding date, but the paperwork didn't go through in that time."

"A year for a license?" Vanessa asked. She looked between Nakamura and Merlyn. "That's crazy."

"It's not uncommon," Nakamura said. "The Department of the Magical Office can be pretty difficult to manage and little things like that get lost in the mix for long periods of time."

"But that's someone's life being left in the balance," Vanessa said. "All they wanted was to be married."

"They got married," Merlyn replied.

"Not before the license went through," Nakamura said. "They have an official marriage license and wedding pictures, all dated for October 11, 1987. The official cross-magical marriage license was never fully authorized. Her marriage was illegal."

"That's not true," Vanessa said. "They had a marriage license, like a legally binding marriage license, right?"

"Sure and while a non-B.R.O.M. approved marriage license would have been necessary, they really needed both for it to be legal."

"So what did she end up being arrested for?"

Nakamura smiled. "I dug up everything I could on Jenna Morrison, if we're being honest. I know that woman's entire story. And in doing so, I discovered that she was arrested twice."

"Twice?" Quinn asked. "When? Why?"

"The first time was in 1992, because she used a spell in open view of a non-mage without following up or reporting it."

"Why?" Merlyn said. "When did she get her magic?"

"Could've been anytime between '81 and '84. She spent a lot of that time traveling before she met one Owen Edwards. Those two met in February of 1985 and started dating and blah blah blah, we got to the part where they were illegally married and then had a kid together. Couple years later, Quinn, less than two years old, basically jumps into an oven. Burns herself really badly, almost dies. Jenna Morrison uses her magic and some of her burn ointments to save her daughter's life in minutes, Owen Edwards looking on the whole time. That was the first time he found out about magic, right?"

"How did B.R.O.M. find out Jenna used magic?" Merlyn asked. "That feels strange to me. Magical tracking spells are highly illegal, even for government officials."

"They were watching her already," Nakamura explained. "They had discovered about her marriage and had been keeping an eye on her to see exactly what was happening. One Agent Tim Young reported the entire incident of Quinn and the oven, and within six hours a D-Con team showed up to arrest her. They gave Owen Edwards a healthy dose of Belair Draught and Jenna spent a year in the Black Fortress."

"That's messed up," Vanessa said. "Putting a woman in prison for saving her child's life? Spying on her for marrying someone she loved?"

"Follow the rules and these things don't happen," Nakamura said. "Anyway, so she goes to prison, Owen Edwards is a single dad for a while, Jenna comes back, everything seems to be peaches and cream. She tells him she just had to leave, to find herself, blah blah blah. Again, things seem fine. But as any good mage knows, the Belair Draught is superficial."

"Like Platt said?" Vanessa asked. "About how once you find out magic is real it never leaves your soul?"

"Something like that," Merlyn said.