The Strangers of Precedent

“And what is your name?” Hecate asked, “By Raosi tradition?”

She and Bobbi sat on her porch swing. Bobbi seemed more comfortable with their lessons while outside.

“Bobbi,” she introduced herself, “And as I don’t know my parents, I don’t have a surname?”

Hecate shook her head.

“You would be named for whoever found you, or if that is unknown, the name of the person you were left with.”

“I don’t know the name of the person in charge of the orphanage, though maybe I just go with the governor when I was born, since I was a ward of the state.”

It wasn’t a bad idea.

“Do you know who was governor?”

“I can look it up.”

It was a start, and Hecate couldn’t ask much more than a start. At least Bobbi spoke well enough in Raosi to hold a conversation.

Hecate gave a nod.

“Oh, we’re conversational now,” Bobbi realized, still speaking in Raosi, “Thank goodness. How many parts are there to a Raosi greeting?”

“Not many,” Hecate said, “But just speaking in Raosi will not be enough to stop them assuming you’re under my control.”

“Would you control me?” Bobbi asked, her nerves nearly drowning Hecate. Of course she’d be skittish after the Ripper incident.

“Not without your consent, and it would be extenuating conditions for me to even be interested.”

Bobbi’s fear abated as she nodded.

“You seem to know a lot, about things.”

“How specific. Ask your question.”

Bobbi fidgeted with her fingers for a moment before asking, “What do you think I am?”

Hecate shook her head.

“I know what Raosi are because I lived there for what Earth would consider decades, possibly over a century. The next place I went was Earth, where I have been ever since.”

“Not much of a traveler then?” Bobbi asked.

“I started in England, and now live here. I like to stay in one place as long as it’s safe.”

“Is it though?” Bobbi asked, “Safe, here?”

“Safer than among my kind,” Hecate said, “Safer than my home. Though if you’re worried about your safety, we could add lessons in self-defense.”

Bobbi shook her head.

“I’m fine. I broke your window,” Bobbi gestured to the now repaired part of the cabin, “And I can’t lift more than 5 pounds.”

“So you’re fine because plants will protect you?” Hecate asked.

Bobbi pulled a rose out of a pocket.

“Yeah.”

There was always something so satisfying about ruining a fighter’s confidence. Hecate blamed her teacher, as if he wasn’t one of her earliest victims.

She tossed Bobbi just far enough to land near the edge of the property.

“What the fuck?” Bobbi asked, returning to English as she scrambled to her feet.

“Self-defense lessons?” Hecate asked again.

Bobbi’s stare was one of terror. Maybe Hecate shouldn’t have done so much damage.

“Fine, but only because you’re dangerous enough to justify them.”

“Of course,” Hecate said, offering her a hand.

Bobbi stepped onto Sarah’s property, flanked by Drake and Singe. She put a hand on one of the trees as they reached to cabin’s clearing.

“Will you avenge me if I get my ass kicked?” she asked it. The tree didn’t respond as far as she could understand.

“I see you’ve brought your guards,” Sarah said in Raosi as she stepped down.

“Well you freaked me out last time, so I wanted emotional support.”

“Do you know what language they’re speaking in?” Vlad asked.

“I suspect it’s Charmer’s,” Singe answered.

“First, I’ll teach you a few defensive stances,” Charmer said, “Like my teacher taught me, then a few offensive. After that this becomes more intensive.”

“You’re not one of those sink or swim teachers, are you?” Bobbi asked.

Charmer just moved on with the lesson. The stances weren’t hard to imitate, but Bobbi could tell she wouldn’t be able to put enough strength in to make them effective.

“Quick question,” Bobbi asked, “What if the person I’m fighting has like ten times my strength, so basically what if I’m fighting anyone past puberty?”

“You said you were meant to always use the stances? That lesson was so you’d know what I was going to do.”

“What you were going to do?”

“This is where you actually start learning. The lesson is simple. Defend yourself. If you actually manage to stop a hit from me before I defeat you, then I will answer one question.”

“What if I fail?” Bobbi asked.

“Then you answer one.”

Bobbi instinctively tightened herself against the possibility. She was more comfortable with talking about herself now, but she didn’t want to just spill it.

“Begin.”

“What?”

Charmer moved slowly, which was far more terrifying than just knocking Bobbi to the ground, but Bobbi was going to run regardless.

“Should we—” Singe began. Bobbi could only assume Drake was holding him back from helping her. Bobbi felt they should have counted as a resource, but that felt against the spirit of the game.

She came to a tree and started climbing. This way she had a tool, that she still wasn’t sure how to use.

If Ripper managed to use it while in her head, then the information had to be in there somewhere.

“C’mon,” Bobbi reached out her hand, trying to twist the tree into helping her, but it wouldn’t budge.

Charmer appeared at the bottom, and began climbing, still slow, but consistent.

She willed a branch to pop out and hit Charmer in the face, but it didn’t happen.

“Help?” she asked. It had worked before.

Charmer was getting closer unabated. Bobbi looked for another tree to jump into. They were all too close. Charmer could jump over just as easily.

Bobbi waited for Charmer to get just within grabbing distance and jumped.

Charmer grabbed her immediately, then a branch pulled her hand off of Bobbi. The surrounding trees formed a small canopy for Bobbi to gently land in.

“Did that count as a defeat?” Bobbi asked, “Because I did escape before you could do anything.”

Charmer ripped her her hand away from the branch that grabbed her and dropped into Bobbi’s bough, which broke from her weight, sending them both down.

Bobbi let her wings pop out so she could land gently, while Charmer made a crater without seemingly taking any damage. Vlad and Singe were still out of sight.

“Are you going to attack me again?” Bobbi asked, “Because I think I proved the plants will protect me if it comes to it.”

“That if is the problem Bobbi,” Charmer explained, “Do you think I couldn’t tell you were flailing to have the tree stop me before I got there? Your instinct isn’t good enough to run on.”

“Maybe it only worked with Ripper because I was possessed and therefore in danger,” Bobbi said, “Maybe it won’t work unless I’m in danger.”

“Then why didn’t it stop me when I threw you into a tree last week?”

“Because I didn’t see it coming.”

“Right, child, you,” Charmer lightly poked her in the shoulder, “You are the one that controls this. What happens when you don’t see a sword coming, or a gun?”

“I get it,” Bobbi said, “But I don’t know how to fix it, and it’s not like you do either.”

“Your training seems dangerous, Charmer,” Vlad said as he and Singe joined them in the new clearing.

“Everything about her is dangerous,” Singe corrected, “No wonder Bobbi wanted us around.”

Bobbi felt the tension leave her shoulders as it set in that she had back up.

“It doesn’t seem to be working well,” Charmer admitted as she turned around.

“Bobbi’s smart,” Singe said, “She’ll figure it out.”

“Would you two be willing to help?”

“Sure,” Singe said.

“The opportunity to fight you sounds intriguing,” Vlad answered, “Assuming that’s your request.”

Save your friends, Charmer instructed before rushing at top speed through Drake.

“Gloves are off, I guess,” Singe said, transforming into his more draconic appearance.

Bobbi stood stock-still. What did Charmer mean save her friends. Charmer was just—

Able to take a lethal hit or several. Able to take out several vampires at a time, while just two nearly overwhelmed Vlad.

“Shit!” Bobbi flew so she could keep up with the fast moving fight.

Singe stayed in the air, luckily, while Vlad remained intangible to Charmer’s attacks. He would get tired soon though.

“C’mon,” she muttered, focusing on the root network underneath the two of them.

“Help him!” she yelled, but the roots did nothing. She screamed. She had no clue how the hell she was supposed to do something she’d been suppressing for years.

Charmer managed to grab Vlad and throw him at Singe, making a perfect shot as they both fell into a small stream. Charmer slowed her pace as she walked over to the two of them, pulling a set of daggers out of nowhere.

“No!” Bobbi moved into a defensive stance in sympathy for her friends, looking away.

But she didn’t hear a hit.

Bobbi looked at Charmer, who was held back by a wall of water, maintaining itself as the stream kept flowing. Charmer dropped her daggers and turned toward Bobbi.

“I thought you controlled plants,” Vlad said, poking the water wall.

“Well the water was already there, and I…” the water-wall collapsed, “I don’t fucking know what I was doing, I just couldn’t let you guys get hurt.”

“Would you say that worked better than planned?” Singe asked.

“It worked different than intended,” Charmer said.

“She asked you to be victims, didn’t she?” Bobbi asked.

“Charmer thought it would push you to use your abilities if you had someone to protect outside of yourself,” Vlad said, “I’m flattered you considered me worth saving.”

“She was going to stab you,” Bobbi said.

Singe shrugged.

“It had to be convincing.”

Bobbi rolled her eyes. She wasn’t normal by any means, but these people were dangerous.

“If you can control water,” Charmer said, “Then you can likely control more.”

“More?” Bobbi asked.

“More than houseplants and streams,” Drake said, “You might be able to manipulate fire.”

“And rocks?” Bobbi asked.

“Maybe I wasn’t the one who made those rocks fall in the cave,” Singe proposed, “Or kept them from falling while we were on our way out.”

Bobbi shook her head. She’d accepted that she wasn’t normal, but this was a little much.

She looked at the river though. She remembered being a fast swimmer. She’d skipped out on the team because she wasn’t sure how to hide her wings going that fast.

She took her shoes and socks off, stepping into the water, barefoot.

She hadn’t thought about all the layers she wore before, but she’d started the habit to hide herself. She forgot how good it felt to have her toes in the water.

“Holy shit,” she muttered.

She threw her arms out, splashing the other three though her hands didn’t touch the water.

“All it took was taking your shoes off?” Vlad asked.

“Maybe,” Bobbi said, “I think it’s closer to vulnerability or something. Like I need to be open if I want to do anything about it.”

“We’ll figure it out next week,” Charmer said.

“What?” Bobbi asked, “But we already figured it out, I can do shit now.”

Charmer shook her head.

“How is a splash of water meant to stop a vampire?” Charmer asked.

“It stopped you, didn’t it?” Bobbi asked.

“It surprised me,” Charmer said, “I didn’t test to see if the wall was penetrable.”

“Carry rose around,” Vlad advised, “Wear easily removable shoes if it will help, but you should still train on this.”

“I don’t really want to be alone with her,” Bobbi gestured at Charmer, “Ever again. I don’t trust her.”

“As you shouldn’t,” Charmer confirmed.

“I’ll go with you,” Vlad promised.

“I can join too,” Singe offered.

They could clearly be persuaded toward Charmer’s side, but Bobbi knew neither of them would try to harm her, unlike the demon.

“Fine,” Bobbi put her hands up, “I’ll train to be Nature Girl or whatever.”

Bobbi was down to a tank-top and shorts. She hadn’t shown this much skin since before she was in junior high.

Beneath her, the ground jutted up, so she was almost at eye-level with Singe and Charmer in her sitting position.

Once she was satisfied with the height, she leaned down so her hand made contact with the cool stone.

The single rose she’d planted earlier expanded into briars, forming a wall around her.

Water, Charmer directed.

Water was harder, since there wasn’t a natural source very close, and the air was never very humid.

She could steal from the pipes, but that meant the pipes would have to be repaired, a mistake she never planned on making again.

She moved deeper, where underground rivers fed the ones above ground. The earth moved just enough to let a small stream jut up, just enough for Bobbi to redirect it at Charmer’s face.

Charmer took a step to the side, and the water followed her.

Fire.

Apparently, it was the next logical step in Bobbi’s element journey. Maybe Charmer chose it for safety reasons. Vampires could take anything Bobbi could dish. Even rose would just make them normal, and a normal human could still snap Bobbi like a twig.

That didn’t make it any easier to summon up fire.

The water soon stopped spraying as Bobbi put the earth back in place. It gave her one less thing to focus on.

She grabbed a rock as it threw itself up, then another in the other hand. She tried to strike them against each other to earn a spark, but all she got was fatigue as she inevitably dropped them.

“Shit!”

“That’s not the element we’re manipulating today, is it?” Vlad asked. Bobbi tightened her fist as the briars attacked him. Singe easily took the hit.

“Let’s not murder each other today, maybe,” he proposed.

“Well it’s not like fire’s going to happen,” Bobbi said, tamping the briars back down to a single rose, though the roots remained. The stone beneath her returned to a normal place.

“It’s far too early in the day for you to give up on this,” Charmer said.

“Sorry I don’t have your thousand years of patience, Charmer,” Bobbi replied with an annoyed smile, “I have classes instead.”

“I understand your frustration—”

“Do you?” Bobbi asked, “Or have you just been reading my mind? I assume you know what I have to do to mess with everything else around here. I actually have to have it available to me. Fire isn’t quite as naturally occurring as a fucking tree.”

“Just because progress isn’t easy—”

“You think this is easy?” Bobbi asked, “I doubt I’m a prodigy of whatever the fuck I am, but maybe I am—Who the fuck knows? It’s not like training has brought me any fucking closer, aside from telling me I can control anything but fire.”

“It’s all or one, Bobbi,” Singe said, “That’s how mages work.”

“I’m not a fucking mage,” Bobbi said, “That’s like the one thing we’re sure of.”

“Well your only other option is to be extinct.”

Everyone turned silent, along with much of the area around them.

“Extinct?” Bobbi asked. Singe had an idea what she was, and never fucking mentioned it?

“Or missing. A lot of people have ideas about it.”

“So you know what I am,” Bobbi said.

“You’re not a feyrie,” Singe said, “The fey are gone. There’s no reason one would be stuck in Arizona, especially a child.”

“I’m an adult,” Bobbi said, “I’m twenty-fucking-two years old, and you’ve known what the fuck I am this whole time? Or at least had a guess that no one else here did. Why never mention it until now?”

All eyes were on Singe. Singe the fucking liar, who could have told what she was months ago, and said nothing.

After a minute, he sighed.

“Magek isn’t the actual name of the world I’m from. It’s just the continent. Its real name is Feyla. When Mages started appearing, the fey offered them a home because they wanted to observe. Most mages have fey ancestry. I definitely do because any draconic abilities require it.”

“So we’re related?” Bobbi asked, softening a little.

“It was King Arthur’s fault.”

“King Arthur?” Vlad asked, “Like Camelot?”

“You probably heard about the Welsh one. I’m talking about Avalon, though there’s some combining of the legends.”

“What did he do?” Bobbi asked, “How is this about feyries?”

“Fey,” Singe corrected, “Feyrie is singular, fey is plural.”

Bobbi nodded. That felt right.

“He went to war with the fey,” Singe explained.

Suddenly Bobbi didn’t like this story.

“Avalon got Phoenix to join them in this endeavor. Ilva was the only kingdom strong enough to fight their combined forces. Mineria didn’t exist yet, Animalia was destroyed, Armath became a tributary to save themselves, and Draconis broke off of Avalon to object, and to keep Dragons safe. They had a symbiotic relationship with the fey that we try our best to replicate.

“But the fey are dead,” Bobbi said, “Because Arthur killed them.”

“They disappeared,” Singe said, “Either they ran, or something else took them. Mages sought them out until Renue enclosed the continent, but they were never found.”

“So they could still be alive,” Bobbi insisted, “I mean I’m proof, aren’t I? What else could I be?”

“You don’t even know what they look like,” Singe said, “I’m part fey, remember?”

“What do they look like?” Bobbi asked. Singe looked away.

“Small,” he admitted after a minute, “Glass-like wings, and like they’re partly nature. They’re the inspiration for nymphs.”

Bobbi had most of herself exposed, and she had to admit she didn’t look like she was part-nature. She was small, she had the wings, but she looked human. She tried to make something grow from her arms, turn blue or green, maybe become stone. Nothing changed though.

“But it felt right,” Bobbi muttered.

“Of course it did,” Singe said, “You want to be something, so you aren’t some fluke anymore, but maybe you should just be Bobbi.”

She felt the tears in her eyes, doing her best to ignore them. Even if she had been a feyrie, what good would it do? They were gone.

Vlad walked over, slowly until Bobbi motioned for him to come closer.

“Bobbi,” he said, gently wiping her tears. “Singe can’t possibly know everything about these things. When I first caught scent of you, I assumed you were a mage because you smelled like something only mages smell like, but purely.”

Bobbi recovered from her sadness for confusion.

“I what?”

“My court calls it mage-scent. It has a negative effect, so we avoid it most of the time. It’s sweet, and you are sickening with it.”

“So?” Bobbi asked. There had to be a point here.

“So if most Mages have fey blood, then maybe the reason you reek of mage-scent is because that’s where it comes from.”

“Did you hear anything I said?” Singe asked.

“She has wings,” Vlad countered, turning to face him. “Wings that she’s very good at hiding. Who’s to say she doesn’t even realize she’s hiding something else?”

“It’s better if she isn’t,” Singe said, “Mages wouldn’t want to hurt her, but they definitely wouldn’t leave her alone.”

This was so fucking stupid.

“Who the fuck cares?” Bobbi asked.

“What?” Vlad asked, turning back around, “I thought you cared?”

“I don’t know,” Bobbi admitted, “It’s fucking weird—I’m fucking weird—and I do want to know what the hell is up, but why do I need to know what I am to figure that out? It’ll make things easier, but we figured out I can control rocks without that knowledge.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Singe said.

“Your opinion isn’t relevant here, you fucking liar. I don’t know what I fucking want because you all have decided it for me. Vlad decided I needed protection, Charmer here decided I needed to learn self-defense, you decided I didn’t need to know what you knew, as if there was no chance I’d find the possibility out from somewhere else. Hell, Frank broke my arm because he decided these babies needed to be kept secret.” she pointed back at her wings.

“He probably thought he was preserving your decision,” Vlad defended.

“And I appreciate it, actually,” Bobbi admitted, “But from the moment I’ve stepped foot in town, this whole little group has been deciding things for me. Even Syren immediately tried to call Charmer the moment I said hi. Not to mention how weird you guys are about the scholarship student. I bet Thoth or someone else was the one who decided to give it to me, thereby choosing my school and where I lived.”

Her statements stung as she realized the truth in them.

She took a step back from Vlad, who took a step that left them closer than before.

“I need to be alone,” Bobbi said. She didn’t trust any of these people. She wasn’t sure why she ever did.

Vlad grabbed her arm before she could go.

“It’s not safe for you to be alone,” he said.

Bobbi grew a rose in her hand, though she wasn’t sure where she pulled it from.

“You told Syren to shove this down their throats, right?”

Vlad didn’t let go.

“There’s more around than just vampires,” he insisted.

“Let go of me,” Bobbi insisted. He let go.

“I need to be alone,” she repeated, “This isn’t a negotiation. This isn’t a matter of safety. If I realize any of you are following me, I will stop you.”

She turned, took a breath, and left the clearing of Charmer’s cabin.

“Bobbi!” Vlad yelled, running after her.

She clenched her fist, jutting up a wall of stone behind her.

“I fucking meant it!” she yelled.

She continued quietly, listening for anyone coming in close, but all she heard were animals, and they didn’t deserve her anger. She took deep breaths.

So you finally know what you are, a familiar voice said in her head, though she couldn’t name it.

“Who are you?” Bobbi asked.

The last feyrie, all alone on an unfamiliar world, not that she knows it isn’t hers.

Bobbi lifted the roots of the trees around her, forming a gnarled fence.

You should have listened to their advice.

The fence tightened.

Never let them know, the voice said, It kept you hidden for a decade.

Bobbi looked around for the voice. She couldn’t see who it was.

“Is there a person around?” Bobbi asked any creatures that might hear her, “One talking to nobody?”

Not quite clever enough, I’m afraid.

A pale body walked through the root fence, relieving Bobbi of some of her fear.

“I told you not to follow me, Vlad.”

The body shook it’s head, and Bobbi realized the hair was thicker and whiter somehow, and the eyes weren’t red.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been alone,” Bobbi created a wall of roses around her, “Why now?”

Because, child, the voice still came from her head, despite the person Bobbi had lost sight of being in hearing range, Now you know.

The other girls thought Bobbi was stupid, as if she hadn’t heard the ranch hands refer to this particular horse as a problem child, telling her she’d get along fine with him.

The joke was on them. She’d have a conversation to figure out what his problem was, and if he was amenable, show off how friendly he was with her and no one else.

“Hey,” she leaned over the railing to his stall, “The other girls told me you were very sweet.”

He snorted, clearly disagreeing. At least he wasn’t a prankster.

“I know, right? I don’t think they like me. Most of them have parents with enough money to ship them here, and I’m here on a weird charity program.”

“Lonely.”

Bobbi nodded.

She was alone, and lonely, not to mention everything she was hiding. She felt the beginning of tears.

“Do you want to help me make them mad?” she asked, rubbing the water off her face.