Finley Cai Aies Hall March 29th, 20XX

“Ah, where were we. The royal family? Yes, well, the royal family is incredibly important to the society, so the preservation of the line is the utmost priority of every fairy.”

She took a moment to shake off her surprise from my earlier comment and gathered herself before continuing the lesson.

“Magic is a hereditary trait and is best inherited from mother to daughter. We fairies are a matriarchal society for this reason. While it’s not impossible to have a powerful male fairy, it’s incredibly unlikely. This reason is also why it's rare to see Male fairies outside of high-ranking families.”

She finally paused her long speech and traded eye contact with me to make sure I was keeping up before continuing.

“Before the Fae-goblin wars, fairies and goblins would usually pair together and create a single child. There would occasionally be other mixtures like a half-witch fairy, or half-human fairies, but the strongest pairings usually resulted from that of a fairy and a goblin. The two races are similar enough to reproduce together, but it's near impossible for a child to exhibit both traits.”

The image on the screen switched from the animated magic particle to show two figures. On the left was a plain-looking woman with a pair of copper wings. She wore a long robe that looked like the downgraded version of what Cambridge currently wore.

On the right was a man in what looked like a leather combat suit and a silver horn that protruded from the middle of his forehead.

“Magic is hereditary and passes down most effectively from the female line, however, the goblins have a bloodline that is passed down most effectively through the male line. This is usually how we decide authority over the child. If it’s a female and a fairy, then it goes to the mother, and Vice versa.”

I wanted to ask what was so different about my parents and why they had raised me together, and if they had chosen to raise me together. but whatever the answer was, I knew I wouldn’t want to hear it from Esmeralda.

“You said that was in the past? What about now?”

“There are a lot more male fairies at this point than there ever has been, but this is because of the creation of the technology to transport us to the other world. While the fairies created like this are magically much weaker than their counterparts, it has helped in managing the population of our aristocracy.”

"So fairies transport over to other worlds to have kids? How many other worlds are there?”

“That's a bit too advanced for you right now. In fact… I think we can stop here for the day and go into what your curriculum will look like.”

The two figures phased off the platform, and it settled back to a blank, white background.

“Since your largest priority is to find a partner that can ascend to the throne. I’ll be teaching you all the social skills you need to accomplish this goal. You can learn all the other things at a slower pace.”

As she went down the list of things I would need to know as a royal, all the enthusiasm I’d had for learning nosedived into an intense reluctance.

How did we go from discussing the history of a new world and the delicate genetic balance of the classes to me needing to learn how to play the harp?

I’d already been here for a few hours so I didn’t want to pick a fight, but I’d have to give how cooperative I would be some serious thought.

She quickly rounded off the list of things for me to learn before bringing out a sling bag and placing it gently on the desk. She sent a look to Cambridge and made it clear that she wouldn’t have been so polite if the shorter fairy had been absent.

"This-”

She pulled out a box that resembled an antique and held it out to me. It was made of dark bronze-coloured wood and had two buttons on its top and a keypad under a screen.

“This is a transporter. We used an old spell your mother had to pull you over here today, but she only left one of those spells with us. From now on you’ll need to use this to come here.”

Cambridge stepped forward for the first time in hours and quickly went over how to use it.

“We’ve already put in the coordinates to the castle so all you have to do is press 1, then channel your magic through it. If you ever needed to go elsewhere, though, then you would need the exact coordinates to get there. You can also use this device to find the coordinates of where you are. If you ever want to save a certain coordinate, then press 8, to save it and bring it to the engineers in the castle, they’ll fix it up for you.”

She then took the large bag from Esmeralda and pulled out a much smaller but very familiar bag.

I instinctively flinched backwards as she pried it open and forcibly remembered the first time I’d seen the sparkly substance.

She pretended not to notice my reaction, but still edged the small pouch away from me. A guilty expression flashed across her face as she realized she was the primary source of that trauma, but not a single word of apology crossed her lips.

Well, it’s not like an apology would have changed what had happened, but it might have made me feel a little better.

“This is magic dust. Since you’ve decided to stay in the human world, I thought to prepare some for you. It can make people lose consciousness and it can also make them feel like whatever they saw was a dream. So if you’re ever seen by a human in the other world and dont want them to know about you, then use this within a minute. The longer you take, the less effective it is.”

With the explanations done, she plugged a few numbers into the device and handed it over to me.

“This is the address of your building. I tried my best to remember your exact location as last time, but I may be a bit off. Take care to remember the exact coordinates when you reach your lodgings so you can bring it back to the engineers later on.”

I took the small wooden device out of her hands and tried to do as they’d said to activate it.

I thought I’d struggle a lot more with the whole ‘gathering magic’ thing but as soon as I held it in my hands the golden flecks, that had only brightened and brightened the longer I’d stayed in the room, repeated their actions of the day before and created a tornado of activity and funnelled into the device.

My stomach churned as the magic started, and I barely had the time to grab the bag of pixie dust and shove it into the larger bag before my body disintegrated.

It was the first time I had ever transported while being conscious, but I couldn’t say I was a fan of the experience. It was comparable to being stuck in a car that fell off a mountainous cliff while driving at full speed, only without the actual car.

The second I landed on solid ground I threw off the bag, ran into the bathroom and proceeded to hurl my guts out. I felt terrible, and the dizziness made my eyesight blurry.

I spent about five minutes in that position before my head cleared and I realized something rather important. I was in a familiar bathroom, but it wasn’t the one in my house.

The familiar tacky pink and blue tiles glared down at me from my peripheral vision.

I poked my head out of the bathroom in a remarkably undignified manner to make sure the hallway was clear and sprinted into the living room to get my bag and leave the house

Leaving the hallway was easy enough, but I met a significant obstacle in the living room. The fancy cross-shoulder bag hung off the fingers of a defensive-looking woman.

A woman that I was very familiar with, and a woman who happened to be the sister of someone I knew very well.

Sparrow Truman.