Finley Cai Aies Hall March 29th, 20XX

I awoke in my room in the other world where Esmeralda stood with her back facing me and a bad mood hanging around her like a cloud.

My hands hovered in between my stomach and head; unsure whether to soothe the roaring nausea or the splitting headache. Cambridge finally ran forwards and settled me into a chair before either won out in making me pass out a second time.

In a pitch that really didn't help with my headache Esmeralda trilled as she turned to face me,

“ What are you doing in that ridiculous human guise? What if someone saw you?!”

“ What if someone saw me walk around the human world with a giant pair of sparkling wings on my back?”

I quickly countered, feeling fearless since I could feel Cambridge glaring Esmarelda down from behind me.

On another note, it was probably for the best that Cambridge had not ended up being my caretaker like she would have been if I had stayed here. She pretty much let me do what I wanted and on top of that would even back me up on it, no matter how ridiculous it was.

Under the pressure Esmarelda lowered her volume and pitch to something bearable and kept the condescendment to the minimum.

“ Change back as quickly as possible, it's impossible to take you seriously like this. Your highness”

In her dress that greatly resembled the illegitimate child of a cupcake and a green cloud of cotton candy, I was sure more hypocritical words had never been spoken but I kept such thoughts to myself and put my hand up to my locket, quickly activating the spell.

“Reserare”

She watched with a mix of curiosity and disapproval as the metallic gold hair grew on top of the black and my eyes switched color.

I began to hack off the black ends but Cambridge quickly stopped me and began to do it with swift and vicious motions that told me clearly that her expertise with her dagger was not from cutting hair.

“So you’ve already learned a transformation spell.”

While it wasn't a question Esmarelda still paused for an answer; an answer I chose not to give.

“I have”

Her expression slightly soured at my reply but she moved on relatively quickly. finally deciding to actually teach me what I needed to know rather than just make snide remarks and be rude to me.

“ Since you've insisted on remaining with the humans you'll have to start your lessons immediately. In favor of keeping your arrival a secret until you are presentable to the public we can’t hire any royal tutors quite yet so my class is the only class you will take.”

I nodded and focused as she began explaining the politics of the new world.

“ This world is run by a monarchy, with your family as the First and only ruling dynasty of this land. Sovereignty is passed down from mother to daughter and a son is usually created to carry on the royal line or as in your case a backup in case of tragedy. It is quite a complicated process and has not been done for the last few centuries. Fairy males are quite uncommon so the only males are generally in the royal family.”

“ If creating a male is only allowed within the royal family then how do the other families continue?”

She sighed heavily as if the answer was obvious,

“ In the past before the Fae-Goblin wars. Goblin-Fairy pairs were created and each side would claim the child depending on the gender of the child, after that most couples would never see each other again. As you should have recognized by now the Fairy power is passed down through the female line and the Goblin are passed down through the males. And I never said it was only the royal family that did this; aside from you there are twenty or so male fairies in existence. but they don't have a drop of goblin blood.”

I raised my eyebrows at the what I supposed was an insult but chose not to follow up since I was actually quite interested in the lesson.

“ So a Fairy and a Goblin would be paired together and if the child was a female then the Fairy powers would overshadow the Goblin ones? “

“ In an oversimplified summary. Yes. this was before the wars”

“ Then what about now? How were the other males created”

“ Nowadays, any fairies that want a child go to the human world and procreate there. While the Fairies created in such a way are quite weaker than their elder brethren it can be supplemented by the donation of the mother’s magical power into them as infants. As well. for the child to qualify as a fairy child it needs to be at least 50% for females and 85% for males, taking into account the naturally weaker magic that males have access too. Since having a fairy isn't always guaranteed so often fairies have to try more than once.”

I got a bad feeling from that explanation and cautiously asked my next question, even though i already knew I probably wouldn't like the answer.

“ Then what happened to the children who weren't faires? If the percentage is too low?”

“ Well isn't it obvious? They’re left with their human parents to deal with…. But I remember a case in which she had identical twins each with an equal split of 40% each, In that case she just stripped the younger of their magical power and brought the elder over with 75% magic, seeing as she was sentimental and was convinced to let the other live.”

The matter of fact manner Esmarelda described such a horrible tradition with was almost sickening but she wasn't even done. Continuing on in a light tone that more seemed like she was walking down memory lane rather than giving a lesson she said,

“ Ah, I remember a friend of mine was cursed with fraternal twins, the poor soul, Btu they got the oddest split. The male was born with 85% magic and the little girl was only born with 30% . Ah, I remember she called me over in a panic to help her transfer the magic over since the difference was so large. It took us almost two days! but we finally finished with a nice split of 25% and 90%.. I wanted to take more but once again her time in the human world had made her so weak that she insisted on letting the child live.”

She finished with a disappointed frown on her face and made it clear what she would have done in that situation.

“Any more questions?”

I shook my head, while still lost in thought. To think of all of those kids with still up to 10% fairy blood living in the human world was worrying but i didn't get to dwell too much on it as Esmarelda quickly launched into the rest of the lecture.

“Now, in terms of your title you shall refer to yourself as Prince Cai of the first Reich and the last remaining member of the royal line. understood? To keep going as Finley would just be ridiculous wouldn't it?”

A loud bell suddenly rang forth, loudly and obnoxiously and Esmarelda snapped out of her ‘teaching mode’ and went back to her usual spiteful self.

“ According to your requests we will end here and pick it up tomorrow. Remember at 5:00 sharp.”

With that Esmeralda walked out of the room and Cambridge took over instructions in her much more pleasant voice.The fact that she looked so young still threw me off a bit, btu from her actions to her speech it was clear that she may even have been elder than my mother.

“ These are a few basic necessities that you, as a fairy should have.”

She listed each thing as she removed it from the bag. The first being a sickeningly familiar pouch.

"Pixie dust; it only works as a memory wipe if it is done within or under a minute, remember that. Any longer and you’ll only be able to pass it off as a dream. It is also a useful as way to induce unconsciousness and encourage sleep."

Next she handed me something else that looked like a beeper straight from an oldies movie,

“Transporter; think where you want to be then click the blue button. It also works as a sort of doorway, in that if you connect two of these devices then you’ll be able to be instantly transported to where ever the other is without any additional thought of where you want to go. This one is linked to mine, so just activate it whenever it's time for your lesson.”

As I attached the transporter to the belt of the clothes that had been provided for me Cambridge suddenly looked out the window and a faint expression of panic flashed across her usually composed face. She quickly shoved the back of trinkets into my arms and whispered,

“ Safe travels your highness. Think strongly of your home or where you want to be that’s not here.”

And with that activated the transporter.

It was the first time I had ever transported while being conscious and I had to say I wasn't a fan; the feeling was comparable to being stuck in a car that fell off a mountainous cliff 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 It was only when I was done that I realized something rather important….. I was in the wrong bathroom; meaning of course that it was not the one in my house. The familiar tacky pink and blue tiles glared up 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 livingroom to get my bag and leave the house

I was able to leave the hallway with ease but the plan was foiled by the sight of my bag in the hands of a confused looking girl. A girl that happened to be the sister of one of my closest and probably only friends,

Sparrow Truman.