Sir Irand Greyson

  I was having a bad day. First the many tomes Geena had helped us find offered little more help than the tomes from Alvina’s collection on the matter of changelings. Most of them simply confirmed what her tomes had already suggested, that any form of transformation into a changeling would require the death of a willing individual.

  And the other avenue of our investigation had ended in failure as any remedy for Raya’s infertility was impossible, at least for her case. The Church’s corruption was an untreatable condition unfortunately as every remedy we sought was only viable for conditions inflicted after birth due to disease or injury.

  So we had focused on the Changeling route and Geena had been a massive help in our study. We still hadn’t told her the true reason for our search but that didn't seem to matter to her. She was content to pick up any of the tomes that might have relevant information and bring them to us.

  We were well into the next morning before she finally sat down across from us and tilted her head questioningly.

  “So why are you investigating Changelings as well Irand? I thought you only sought magical healing and it's applications?” She asked, very clearly not believing that.

  “Well my research led to a dead end so I thought I would assist Alvina in her studies.” I explained and I could tell as the words left my mouth that she wasn’t buying it.

  “Ah yes, that is why you seem to be more interested in her area of study than even she does. Tell me why and I may be able to help you find what you are looking for.” The Harpy said, giving me a glare every bit as stern as Lady Geneva had when I was in trouble as a child.

  I looked over to Alvina and she shrugged.

  ‘It can’t hurt to tell her. It’s not like she is going to fly to Calanai to out your plans.’

  I let out a dramatic sigh as I closed my book and turned my gaze back to Geena.

  “We are seeking the means to cure my friend’s infertility that was caused by the Church or the means to make me into a Changeling so I can act as a surrogate for them.” I said quietly.

  I expected her to laugh or to be surprised, instead she simply nodded.

  “I thought that might be an option. It makes sense. Hmmmm. Have you thought about the child also being a Changeling? Because if one parent was…”

  “I had, I assumed there was a way to weave a glamour over the child to make them appear human until they reached an appropriate age that they could conceal their nature on their own.” I explained and she narrowed her eyes at me.

  “You would be forcing a child to live a lie. You would be denying an entire half of their existence to them. Just to satisfy your own plans.”

  “Yes, I know.” I whispered, it had been a topic of much debate back at the Palace between the three of us.

  “You would be forcing them to simply be someone they’re not. Could you live with that?” Geena asked, no anger in her voice but a stern judgement.

  “If it means that they and the Kingdom I am from have a future of peace, then yes. I would condemn them to that. If they grow up to hate me for it, then at least they get to grow up.” I explained.

  Alvina gripped one of my hands below the table in a comforting gesture and Geena met my gaze with a harsh stare for a moment.

  “It will be difficult. Weaving a glamour such as that without them learning of it will be difficult. And it will need to be reapplied at least once a year. If you are set on this, I would suggest a seal placed into the Child’s skin instead. It could be done with ink and done as soon as they are born, it would simply prevent them from changing forms until the seal is removed. It would be a much better long term solution than a simple glamour.” Geena said as she leapt from her seat and raced up to one of the high upper shelves and returned with a pair of old leather bound tomes.

  She pointed us to sections of each that could be used in exactly the way she described, to seal a changeling’s shapeshifting abilities. There were warnings that doing so at a young age would render the Changeling much less adaptable once the seal was removed but this could be overcome with time and some guidance. It took a little time to open up to Geena but once we did she was offering ideas just as much as we were.

  “So you realize that even if you become a Changeling your body will still be predominantly male, yes? You will have to consciously maintain a female form for the entire pregnancy. Also you realize that you will have to give birth right? You know how painful that is for humanoids?” Geena listed off concerns as conversation drifted less from practical study to more what would happen if and when we managed it.

  “I did not know that I would have to maintain it like that… hmmm…” I hummed as I thought on that.

  “There are ways to see it done but they would require a different transformation than a simple Changeling would normally need.” A new voice said from behind us and Alvina and I were on our feet and spinning to face it before Geena could speak.

  I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from the voice but seeing a young…. Man? No that wasn’t quite right. Their skin was pale white as they approached us, similar to how Oparia had been when we had seen her without her disguise. Their hair was silvery gray but not in the way an elder might have, it was still healthy and full it simply shone with silvery light. They wore a long overcoat that looked as if it was far too warm to wear in the scorching heat of the Desert outside. I did notice that their coat had dozens of pocket openings across it and their stance told me they weren’t trying to be threatening but there was something about them that put me on edge. But aside from their simple presence, the thing that was hardest to take in was their eyes.

  They were completely sky blue but the longer I stared into them the more the world seemed to shift beneath my feet. It was only after a moment of locking eyes with them that I noticed the very faint pulses that ran through their eyes, like ripples on still water except they went deeper and deeper into the sky blue pits. It was like looking into a bright abyss and when we finally broke our stare I had to steady myself on my feet. Alvina lowered her arms from where she had been readying magic and I saw her smile before she spoke.

  ‘Elder Cyan, it has been a long time.’ She said cheerfully with a small bow.

  “Ah, Alvina of the Storm Castle, it has been too long my dear. We apologize for the long break between my visits, The Nightkin of the Frozen south do so like to entertain their guests for a long time.” They replied, their voice a cheerful but neutral tone as they gave her a bow as well.

  I gave the two of them a puzzled look and Alvina gripped my hand.

  ‘They are a traveling merchant and they deal in rare and magical goods. They are the one who supplied mother with the enchanted stones to create the Castle.’ Alvina informed me.

  “And if you are a traveling companion of Ereneya, then those that empower her home as well.” The Changeling added.

  “You have aided Ereneya?” I asked.

  “I have aided her, Her Mother and Xaranta over the millennia I have known them.” They replied.

  ‘They are old. They always dodge the question of how old but it is known that they are at least several millennia old. They are also very knowledgeable on many things that have been lost or forgotten.’ Alvina explained, narrowing her telepathy to only speak to me.

  “What happened to you dear? Your eyes, your throat?” They asked, approaching Alvina slowly with their eyes full of concern.

  ‘We were attacked by a Male. All of us were injured, and Vakaya was taken.’ Alvina explained to them, her tone monotonous.

  “And you were rendered partially mute.” They concluded.

  ‘Fully. I can make only a handful of sounds anymore.’ She said, sadly.

  I squeezed Alvina’s hand and she gave me a sad smile as she squeezed it back.

  “And this Male, can you show them to me? I have heard stories in my travels.” Cyan asked, their voice tinged with fear.

  Alvina closed her eyes and I felt a wave of fear wash over the room and Cyan shuddered. They were both still for a moment before Cyan opened their eyes and let out a quiet curse.

  ‘You know of this Male?’ Alvina asked.

  “I have heard stories I’m afraid. I know of another who’s daughter was taken by a Male matching the same description. She was taken over a century ago now. I attempted to find what I could, to find any kind of lead on where the Male dwelled but if he has a dwelling anywhere west of here, it is well hidden.” Cyan explained, their face twisted into an angry snarl.

  ‘I thank you for the attempt at least. I know Vakaya would appreciate her favorite visitor showing concern for her.’ Alvina said, wiping away a few stray tears from her eye.

  “I am sorry that she was taken. I regret that even with my wisdom I could not be here to help her. I may be able to help you though.” They said as they reached into one of their pockets and their entire arm disappeared into its opening.

  I watched as they pulled a fairly large trunk out of their pocket and placed it on the ground. They opened it and I saw row upon row of bottles with liquids of various colors inside. They mumbled to themself for a moment before selecting one of the bottles and returning the trunk into their pocket. They handed the bottle to Alvina with a sad smile.

  “It will most likely not be able to fully restore your sight or voice but it can help mitigate the damage at the very least. A rejuvenation potion made from Hydra’s Blood, A Phoenix Feather and a handful of other ingredients. One drop in each eye once per day. Results may take several months to show but it should help if nothing else.” Cyan explained.

  She gave them a smile and they returned it. She tucked the bottle into her coat and the Changeling turned to me.

  “You seek to be a surrogate parent by becoming a Changeling, is that right?” Cyan asked.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I gave them a look of surprise as they held up their hands to show they meant no harm. I narrowed my eyes at them before I spoke.

  “I had hoped to keep that quiet.” I said softly.

  “I overheard what I overheard. But I do have some suggestions if you would care to hear them.” They replied, their face a mask of indifference.

  I looked to Alvina and she gave a smile and a nod and I gestured for Cyan to continue. They eagerly did so.

  “So if you wish to act as a surrogate you will run into the issue that she mentioned, that being having to consciously maintain the transformation during the entire pregnancy. You would also struggle with the actual conception of such a child. Most Changelings suffer from infertility simply due to their unstable biology. Sealing such a child’s abilities shortly after birth would lead to a noticeable gap in their understanding of their body but that is something that can be learned later in life if needed.”

  I was taking mental notes of their points as they listed them off and my heart sank as they poked more and more holes in the plan I had cooked up.

  “Now most of these issues can be avoided with a different transformation than a typical Changeling would undergo. Were you to become a Collective like we have your body would be far more comfortable remaining in a feminine form without constant vigilance and you would not have issues with infertility.” Cyan explained.

  As they spoke I heard Alvina take a sharp breath and I felt her grip my hand in concern. I did not actually know what a Collective Changeling was so I didn’t see the problem.

  “And what is the difference between a Collective and a normal Changeling?” I asked.

  “A Collective is composed of three or more individuals inhabiting a single body together. We are the original Collective, as we were the ones who invented the ritual to become one. We can maintain our form as we wish and…” They paused as their form shifted and standing before me was an identical copy of me, dressed in their garb. “We are still capable of copying the forms of others. So for this you would simply require a sacrificial member and two others who were willing to form a collective with you.”

  Ah, there was the crutch of the problem.

  “But I do not wish to have another die to carry out these plans.”

  “Then you will not be able to achieve what you wish. The death of another steeped in magic is a requirement for a reason, child. It serves as the catalyst to allow your form to change. In our case we had a friend among the Elves offer their life for us on a battlefield. She is a part of us still but she has long since passed into the void. We carry on as she would have wished us too and we honored her last wish as our payment for her sacrifice.”

  “And I would have to share my body with others to allow for this to happen. And they would have to ascent to this plan for it to go through.” I said, the thought of losing my autonomy made me nervous.

  “True, but if you can find like minded individuals then you can guarantee your plans come to fruition.” Cyan offered, still appearing in my face.

  “Where am I supposed to find others who would go along with this plan? They would know nothing of my home, and if I recruited from the populace of my homeland who would care, then it ruins the secrecy of it in the first place.” I threw up my arms as a new set of challenges set themselves on my path.

  “I would do it.” A voice cooed from behind me.

  I turned to see Geena standing quietly with her wings folded around herself.

  “We barely know each other. You have not seen my home, why would you care to try and aid me in this?” I asked.

  “Because I am old. For a Harpy that is. And I have for so long wished to be able to live among humans!” She said excitedly, her talons practically barely touched the floor as she ran over to me.

  “Is that all? You wish to live among Humans? Could you not do so as you are now?” I asked.

  “Not without being stared at as an oddity. Not without people constantly assuming I am a forgetful airhead of a person. Not without being singled out and alone. There is a reason I live here Irand. And it is not simply for the books.”

  “Why not live amongst your own people?” I asked.

  “I suggest you try living amongst a colony of idiots and see how long you can tolerate it. I attempted to teach my children the things I had learned and all of them died before they reached five years of age. All of my mates have died within a year of joining with me despite my best efforts to keep them alive. The only success I had was a pair of my Great grandchildren. They proved receptive to my teachings and even then they still managed to nearly get themselves killed on a regular basis. I eventually gave up and fled here to escape watching my descendants die. I want to live among people who have any sense of self preservation and who can hold a conversation that isn’t about food or sex. I want to be able to have a child that I know will not simply die in the same decade they were born. Even if it means giving up some of my own autonomy, I would do this. There are simply a few things I would like guaranteed if I were to join you in this endeavor.” Geena said, her voice sounding every bit like a playwright rather than the excitable creature that had greeted us only a few days ago.

  “And what would those be?” I asked.

  “I want to try and bring a portion of my old Flock to Calanai. Not immediatley mind you, I want to be sure that they would be safe from the Church there. But after some studying of some old maps I found that it is very mountainous in that region. My kin love rocky outcroppings and mountains and if I could help a few of them… I may have fled but I wish to try and help them. I want there to be hope for my kind beyond short lived creatures of instinct.” She said, flaring out her wings before tucking them back in.

  “You studied Calanai?”

  “I had time while you two were researching. Plus I picked up a few things from your one sided conversation.” She said with a wink.

  “You seem a much different person than the one we met originally.” I said, suspicion plain in my voice.

  “I have found it is useful to play into people’s expectations of Harpies. Otherwise I tend to get blasted with magic or shot with arrows.”

  I was silent as I contemplated what she had said but my thoughts were interrupted as Alvina blasted a question into our minds.

  “You are a GREAT Grandmother?! How old are you?!” She asked.

  “I am currently thirty-four. My Great Granddaughter was born when I was eighteen and my Great Grandson was born when I was nineteen. I am most likely…. A Great, Great, Great, Great Grandmother by now at least. Most Harpies have their first clutch of eggs by the third year. Most do not even make it to that point. I was lucky to have five of my children reach the age of five. The other fourteen were not so lucky.” Geena said with a somewhat sad smile.

  Alvina pestered her a bit more as I thought and thought. Eventually I looked to Cyan and they seemed amused by Geena and Alvina’s discussion.

  “Would it work? With her being a non-human?” I asked.

  “Oh definitely. If anything it would make it easier for you to assume different forms. With her biology being so different from yours it would offer the two of you variety in your form.”

  I turned back to look at the two of them, Alvina was leaning back against a bookshelf with Geena standing over her. The Harpy had a smirk on as she whispered something to Alvina and I saw the Dragoness blush. I cleared my throat and the two of them turned to look at me.

  “If… If I choose to take this route… I would happily accept your terms Geena.” I said, my mouth dry as I spoke the words.

  Her face shifted from the amused expression she had been wearing as she strode towards me and she held out one of her talons like a hand. I shook it and she nodded.

  “So how does a Collective work?” Geena asked, looking towards Cyan.

  “How do you mean?” The Changeling asked.

  “I mean… would we be thinking as one person or would we be a group of people debating in our own head?” She asked.

  I nodded, also curious about how that worked. Cyan took a moment to try and find their words before their gaze fell on Alvina.

  “Alvina dear, could you pull them into our mind? We remember you are a gifted Telepath.” They asked, taking a seat.

  Alvina looked to us and both Geena and I nodded. I felt her pull at my mind and I let her guide me as we were all pulled into Cyan’s mind.

  I opened my eyes to find we were standing in an old open air temple. It was overlooking a cliff and outside the temple were a group of Wagons where a group of people were sitting around a fire. There were eight people and seven wagons behind them, each decorated as flamboyantly as the person sitting in front of them.

  One was a young man with a flute dressed in dark blue garb while beside him a woman in purple had a flame hovering over her hand. Next to them was a portly man cooking some manner of fish over the fire. Beside him was a young man in dark green playing a lute in tune with the flute.

  On the final log sat a group of three who were currently slumped against one another in slumber. A man in red who had a half carved wooden figurine in his hand. Beside him was a woman dressed in orange garb who looked as if she could fight Ereneya with her bare fists. Tucked under her arm was a lithe woman in black leather who looked like a thief out of an old story. They all looked to be traveling gypsies of some kind.

  Finally standing between us and them was Cyan, as they had appeared outside.

  “Welcome to us! We are Cyan. Or more accurately, they are Cyan and I am all of them combined.” They said, gesturing to the people in front of the wagons.

  I looked back to Geena and she shrugged as we approached.

  Cyan introduced us to each of them but their names were lost on me. They were archaic sounds, names I could not begin to pronounce in a language foreign to me. None of them seemed bothered by my inability to pronounce their names though when I attempted to they simply gave a laugh and a nod. I used roughly what their names sounded like as placeholders.

  The man in green, Naltan, was the first to truly speak to us as he paused his Lute playing.

  “We were a traveling caravan of friends and we grew quite close with one another over the years. Eventually Zaraya figured out a way to keep us together for a long time and when Nelene, who was our Elven friend, offered her life to complete the ritual… well we took it. And thus Cyan was born.” He gestured to the woman in Purple.

  “And it worked quite well. Now not all of the Collectives we have created over the years choose a set up like this. We have seen some inner minds depicted as castles, or towers, Evergreen chose theirs to be a sprawling tree. It is up to the members of the collective to depict their inner world. Some are very similar to one another while others vary wildly between members of the collective. So say Irand could depict his section of the inner mind as a castle and Geena could depict hers as a Library. Members can wander between spaces freely and it is very much as if we are living in our own world, we just also know what is happening with Cyan on the outside.” The woman in purple, Zaraya, explained.

  “So you are still individuals within the mindscape?” I asked.

  “We are. We have unified our bodies but our minds remain separate. It takes time for the collective mind to manifest and those first few years can be a bit of a challenge but once you understand how things work, it becomes easier.”

  “So… as far as relationships go, can you simply ignore what is going on outside or are you all aware all the time?” Geena asked.

  “We can try to ignore things but generally if you want privacy from the others, you are going to pull them into your section of the Mindscape.” The woman in Black, Osiva, said.

  That could be awkward. I hadn’t thought of that. If we had different tastes… hmmm that was a good point.

  “So if say… Alvina and I wanted privacy she could enter our mind and simply reside in my section of the mind for privacy?” I asked.

  “Correct.” Zaraya said.

  Geena mumbled something and I saw her turn red when I looked over at her. She waved a wing at me and hid her face with the other. This earned a round of laughs from the members of Cyan.

  “In truth, we stopped caring about privacy a long time ago. We all had feelings for each other and we have come to terms with our attraction to others over the years. It's a long process to get to know each other like that but eventually you know everything about the others. Its fun.” The man in Blue, Hasan, said.

  We spent a few hours asking them minute questions about how it worked but eventually Geena and I had nothing left to ask and Alvina looked exhausted. We exited Cyan’s mind and she promptly collapsed in her chair. Cyan bid us a good night and said we could speak further in the morning. I picked up Alvina and dreaded the climb to our room when Geena spoke up.

  “I have my room here in the Library, if you wished to stay there I would not be opposed.” She said, her face flushing as she spoke it.

  “Oh?” I asked, feeling my face heat up as well slightly.

  ‘She was flirting with me earlier. She is rather experienced.’ Alvina offered, weakly.

  I looked up at Geena who was shyly casting glances at the both of us. Well if we were going to be stuck together forever, might as well start now. I followed Geena as she led the way to her room. None of us had any energy to do anything but strip down to our small clothes and crawl into bed. Tucked in between Geena’s feathers was the most comfortable rest I had gotten in years as Alvina draped her arms around me.