Sparrow Truman May 24th,20XX

I was surrounded by hostiles and had nary an ally near me. Neither Finn nor Jake had woken up yet and Ion, who had fought alongside me barely a day ago, chose to be neutral and after giving a testimony on my memory being compromised had disappeared.

Iren anxiously slithered inside his designated spot on my tattoo but didn’t dare come out. I wished I could safely go hide inside someone’s tattoo as well, but since I wasn’t a magical beast, I had to deal with this on my own.

“So you’re the witch that almost killed my grandson.”

Cai’s grandmother was so pretty it almost hurt to look directly at her and that combined with her gentle voice and stately manner of carrying herself left me feeling overwhelmed. I was sure that if we hadn’t met under such strenuous conditions I would have been enamoured. Her voice was so sweet that even as she accused me of attempted murder I almost forgot to respond.

Almost.

I did my best to pull myself together and responded as neutrally as possible. I had to defend myself without sounding like I was making excuses.

“Under the influence of Rubella’s initial spell and my continuous renewal of the spell I was led to believe that Finn- or Cai as you know him wanted to eradicate all witches from existence. Under that impression, I was encouraged to lure him to the witch castle so Rubella could attempt to change his mind. It wasn’t until much later that Rubella revealed her true plans to me, but by then I was already too deeply entrenched in the spells.”

The tagger Cai’s fiancée had printed on my forehead had taken form as a collar and itched at my neck. It took on a printed pattern on my skin instead of a physical manifestation of a collar but it was just as restrictive as one.

“How did you know Cai to begin with?”

Mei suddenly jumped in with a question of her own.

“We met in the human world, this was before I even knew witches existed never mind that I was one. His transporter malfunctioned, or perhaps he misentered the location, but he would often land in my studio- ah, the place where I worked, though I can't remember exactly what I did back in the human world- and would recover from his nausea there.”

“Nausea?”

The memory was faint, but I did remember him reacting poorly to the transports.

“Yes, he didn’t seem to take too kindly to the transports.”

“You- How much did you remember under that spell?”

This was his grandfather; whose visuals were equally deadly. His features were sharp, but his words were even sharper and made you stand at attention when he spoke.

“Ion can probably help verify this, but I barely remembered my name. Right after my memory was sealed, I was given a knowledge packet and ended up assimilating a lot of the precedent witch’s memories. I then had my personality built up by Rubella…”

I trailed off there, reluctant to say her name, but needed to for the sake of my explanation. I didn’t regret her death, but I wasn’t especially happy about it either. For all the awful things she had done to Cai and the other fairies, she had been kind enough to me and the other witches. She’d had a cause that she fought for; it was just a pity that she chose such a stupid cause.

Finn’s grandfather looked back to Ion for confirmation, but he gave an unconvincing nod in response.

“I wasn’t inside her head and I didn’t know her in the human world, so I don’t know, but she did seem very different from when Rubella first brought her. I was also there when she slowly broke the spell on herself and witnessed her personality change again.”

I understood that there was no way he would lie on my behalf and I couldn’t expect him to make the truth sound any better than it was, but I'd still hoped he would.

There were a lot of things I had done under the influence of that spell, and my incomplete memory came back to me in pieces. I was sure it would all come back once I got back to the human world and saw familiar things, but as things were I couldn’t confidently say that the original me wouldn’t have done the thing’s I had done under the spell.

I wanted to believe I had been a good person, but I couldn’t confirm it until I had my full memory back.

“I think we should just banish her to the human world. It's a place she is familiar with, and it's sufficient punishment for her crime.”

Mei suggested the punishment and cautiously looked at Theodulus and Heloise. The two of them thought it over with contrasting but equally terrifying expressions before finally nodding in agreement.

“I suppose killing her would make Cai upset.”

Yeah, it’d make me awful upset as well.

“And crippling her would probably make him not talk to me for a while wouldn’t it?”

“If I may interject your highness, Cai- hmph- His royal highness isn’t one to perform in the silent treatment.”

“Oh, is that so? Heloise was fond of it. I recall there was this one time I told her she couldn’t adopt a human child and bring it over. She didn’t talk to me for almost a decade, I think. Ran away to the human world and all.”

Although she sounded like she was complaining, her features slightly softened, and her voice got even softer than it already was.

It was uncomfortable to listen to them decide my fate so casually, but I realized that I’d gotten off fairly easy in terms of punishment.

It was a harsh punishment in general but a relatively loose one for harming the prince of not just one but two powerful races. I knew I was getting off relatively easy because Finn was attached to me.

I prepared to accept the punishment when the doors suddenly swung open and a pale gold fairy floated in. I hadn’t gotten a good look at him earlier, but he looked a lot different than the last time I had seen him in the human world.

His rich gold hair and wings were now a pale gold that flirted with silver, his hair was also longer, and he had a horn now. Right in the middle of his forehead that competed with his large eyes for the most attention-grabbing feature on his face.

He looked somewhat annoyed as he walked in and immediately combated his grandfather’s decision.

“What do you mean she should be banned? Since when was being a victim a crime?”

I flinched and waited for the two stern monsters to scold him for questioning their decision but was thrown for a triple loop when the stiff and bores expressions on their faces melted into ones of doting and affection.

The switch happened so quickly that I almost got whiplash, but it didn’t seem to bother Cai. Heloise even went as far as to float over to him and wrap him in a hug while she explained herself.

“Well, we can’t exactly let her go around with no repercussions. Even banishing her to the human world is a light enough punishment. She gets to keep her magic and she can resume her life in the human world before she knew she was a witch.”

“But she does know she’s a witch. And the magic in the human world is so negligible I doubt she’d be able to cast a proper spell. Isn’t there anything else we can do?”

If I’d felt safe in speaking up, I would have explained to Cai that I was okay with the punishment, but I got the feeling that speaking up now would only make things worse.

Mei didn’t particularly look happy at Cai for speaking up on my behalf, but she also didn’t look surprised.

“Aies! You need to be conscious of where things stand. Right now, this witch isn’t your friend, She is someone that colluded with Rubella to kidnap and harm you! Some lenience can be given, but not to the point of ignoring her actions!”

Although his voice was strong, it was clear that Theodulus wasn’t yelling at Cai, and was taking the time to explain the decision.

“Even if she wasn’t my friend, she was someone that was kidnapped herself and then brainwashed to betray me. And don’t forget her contributions in defeating Rubella. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

Mei finally jumped in.

“What would you suggest then Cai? We can't let her roam free here, but she also can’t stay in the castle to be supervised.”

“Well, If supervision is the issue then don’t you already have a tagger on her? Switch it out with a tracker and it's problem solved. Also, remember that she is a witch of influence. People know her as Rubella’s pupil so she could be useful in suppressing any trouble-makers that might arise while the witches re-organize themselves.”

“Impossible Cai. If we let her out and let her regain power with the witches, then we’ll become a total laughingstock. Not to mention that the lack of punishment may embolden others to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have done.”

I took in a deep breath and cut in.

“If I may speak…. I think that her highness and his royalty are correct. Banishing me to the human world is the best scenario. I don’t have ready access to a transporter as Cai does and aside from a few people I met here, my home is in the human world. Being able to keep my magic is a blessing in itself so I don’t want any more than that.”

Cai, who had come in to fight for my rights looked taken aback when he saw me give them up so readily. I felt bad but at the same time, I wanted to return to the human world and regain my memories and previous life. Things had been easier then; one action didn’t need to have ten intentions and wouldn’t be read in a hundred ways. I also had an older brother, who I’d just recently remembered, and friends that I could become closer with again.

This world was amazing in itself, and fantastical in every angle, but I didn’t think I could live there, even part-time.

Cai looked vaguely dissatisfied by my statement but didn’t argue with me. Instead, he turned back to his grandparents with a new stand.

“Give her ten opportunities to return here. Under close supervision and with my permission.”

“Five.”

“Ten or I’ll stay in the human world until you agree.”

I was already struggling with connecting Cai to Finn but this scene only strengthened the cognitive dissonance I was battling. The Finn I knew could be quite stubborn at times but to see him so openly throw a tantrum and use such a bratty threat was amazing. I appreciated that he was doing it for me, but it was still difficult to accept.

Heloise and Theodulus traded looks and for all, they argued with each other decided at the same time.

“Fine, but Mei has to be there on those occasions.”

I caught the subtext there and realized why they were so insistent on keeping me out of this world, but it seemed to have completely flown over Cai’s head.

“Why wouldn’t she be?”

Hearing that he’d assumed Mei would be there anyway seemed to have confirmed something for his fiancée because she instantly relaxed and even smiled. It was small but I’d noticed it.

“Well, now that is sorted out. Witch, Ruan and Ion, go and fetch the human so we can send him and Cai back to the human world.”

While it was obvious that they wanted alone time with Cai I was left feeling anxious about seeing Jake for the first time in a while.

He had been there in that dungeon with Cai and had sustained injuries while he was captured. Cai had assured me he was okay on the flight here, but I was still somehow anxious to see him.

He popped up frequently in my memories of the human world, and because I’d seen him, he was easier to remember than other vague people in my memory. Although he looked different, with the long hair and lightened eyes, his distinct features and stature were seared into my head.

We hadn’t been ultra-close in the human world, I knew that much, but Cai had mentioned he had come to this world on my behalf. Maybe I was still missing a memory? After all one wouldn’t come to an entirely new world, populated with other races just for a friend…right?