Mutante

Chapter 21

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs

Crossposted on elizabethfrerichs.com and fanfiction.net

*****

An awkward silence fell and, as they rode, her companions frequently glanced at her as though she were a siren-plant about to spurt pollen or start shrieking. Rosie gritted her teeth. Her frustration was perfectly reasonable—there was no need for their caution! Her entire life had been turned upside down and sideways and then shaken a few times for good measure. Everything felt unsteady—as unsteady as all those times when her tail had tripped her up, as though parts of her were at war within.

Why hadn't anyone told her? Why hadn't this been obvious from the start? If Grandma Essie had just told her when she was little . . . . But then again, maybe Grandma had been waiting until she was a bit older and the curse had stolen those years from them.

Rosie sighed, glancing down at her now shimmering red tail as her thoughts turned to today's other revelation. Mutante. Change-maker. It wasn't fair. She hadn't signed up for this. No one had offered her a choice in the matter. And now . . . now, with Farfandal's blessing, she would change everything around her. How would her parents react? They tried so hard to mold her into the perfectly elegant heir to both their prestigious lines. And now, she would be even more of a freak. Just existing would bring problems to the people around her.

Change is necessary, little one. Without change-makers, the world would remain stagnant. Like the ocean tides, change makes room for life.

Farfandal had seemed to believe it was a gift, not a curse . . . .

Argh! Why couldn't she just stop thinking about this?

More to distract herself than anything else, Rosie turned to Thomas's wisdom in the matter. "Thomas, what happens to witches who overexert themselves?"

She couldn't see Thomas's face, but she could hear the concern in his voice. "They die," he said sadly. "They use their life-force on a spell and die."

Rosie nearly lost her grip on Waterdancer's harness. "They die?"

"Every single one of them?" Robert asked in a hushed voice.

"In my experience, yes," Thomas said. "There are legends that occasionally a witch has been able to tap into the power of the ocean. But if such a thing is possible, no one knows how it is done. And all the legends agree that doing so is highly dangerous and nearly always results in severe consequences for the witch."

"What kind of consequences?"

"The legend doesn't specify. Something worse than death, I imagine," he said brusquely.

"Of course," Rosie muttered. "Because magic usually has some sort of dire consequences."

"I'd say magic has proven extremely useful to us over the past few days. If it weren't for the path, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere.," Robert said pointedly. "Is this about your magic?"

She sighed. "I've already caused terrible things to happen. All the frustration and pain that came out of the curse is because of my—my change-making and magic. They don't mix well and now I have a double dose of both."

Thomas cleared his throat. "As Robert has mentioned, you are not responsible for an accident. And perhaps Madame Essie and Lady Rina being cursed was the best of a bad situation?"

Rosie laughed bitterly. "How? If either of them had managed to stay curse-free, they could have cured the other—at least according to Farfandal."

"You can't know that," Robert said firmly. "Besides," He glared in Thomas's direction. "You can't change the past. All you can do is try to learn from it and move forward."