I reached up as I softly tapped the sharp points of the horns that now sat on my temples: I was maybe a little taller, but based on how I feel, I think my posture might be better, but I was somehow even thinner and lither than before, my hair was longer and rested against my chest, but…as it hung there, it seemed to shift and move as if there was a breeze localized to me or maybe my hair alone was underwater, my eyes weren’t almost black now and were instead a blistering, glow-stick like neon blue and my pupils were slits. I looked at my glasses as I put them on before wincing as my vision blurred before I lifted them, and my vision cleared…did that a few times as I realized I no longer needed them. I turned my attention back towards my arms as I turned them a little, my skin was the same tone for the most part, but from my mid-forearms down my hands and from mid-thigh down to my feet, my skin had faded to this icy off-white turquoise tone that faded up my arms in a way that weirdly reminded me of tiger stripes, but also streaky high-air clouds. My nails were black and pointy and my fingers seemed a little longer, as I moved my hands and nervously bit my tongue, I was able to feel that my teeth too had changed and when I opened my mouth in the reflection; all my teeth were sharper looking and like Mom, all of my canine teeth were these long, sharp fangs, my gums had turned that blue-black tone of a snake’s tongue and my own tongue had turned that color and spliced itself. It took me a moment to be able to move the sides independently, but it was just…weird seeing me with those razor sharp, pointy teeth. I turned my head a little to see my ears were now that bat-like point that Mom has and my facial features seemed sharper too, there was more of a shadow on my cheek than usual and as I looked at my reflection straight on, I could see a bit more so about how much thinner and sharper my features got. It was just…strange feeling to think that…this is me. I wiped the mirror a little before softly patting my face to ensure that it was me.

              “It’s not a fun-house mirror, Herc” Mom laughed as she was standing in the hall, a handful of textbooks in her hands, “These might be a few years out of date sense they were the books I used, but they should give you a place to start.” She spoke

              “When…when you were talking, you mentioned something called…the weave…what is that?”

              “Ah, the weave is the very essence of magic itself, think of it as Earth’s neurological system, a gridwork structure is the most frequent artistic representation of it, but it spreads everywhere and anywhere in the world and serves as the in-put and out-put of magic in all ways, shapes and forms. Most cities don’t realize it, but they’re on the intersections of the lines, they’re called leylines, the lines of the world’s magic runs and where they cross is where the flow of magic is at its strongest.” She explained, “it in itself is not sentient to the best of the knowledge of the best wizards in the world, but it can do things that make people believe it is more sentient than we believe; it can give someone magic randomly or take it away from someone dangerous, it…does what it wants, when it wants, however it wants” she explained, pausing a few times as if she was picking out her words, not carefully like she was avoiding saying something, more like she was trying to make it as easy to take in as possible, which I do appreciate her doing.

              “Thank you…for the books, Mom” I sighed as I stepped out, she used her free arm, well two of her free arms to wrap around my shoulders as she pulled me into a tight hug which I returned, her perfume smelt stronger than before too, but was the same as it always was: warm and spicy garam masala, the medicinal cleanliness of iodine and the floral, soft scent of gardenias. Whenever I smell one of those three things, I always think of Mom, she loves those flowers too, so whenever I’ve gotten Mom flowers, they’ve been gardenias.

              “It’s what I’m here for” she said with a whisper as she tightly held me.

              “So…grandma and grandpa are…like this too?” I asked as she let go of me, she nodded

              “And your aunties and uncles, your cousins on that side…everyone on my side of the family is rakshasa.”

              “Dad is…you called him a Seer…is that why grandma and grandpa never approved of him?”

              She laughed at that with a nod, “Him being a Seer was part of it, it was also because he’s white and not someone they picked out for me and how we met at a riot and all; they used to yell at me telling me that they were paying for “that expensive American school” for me to be a doctor and that if I wanted to get married, I should go home and marry the boy they picked out for me and not go against their wishes with “that white boy” she explained using air-quotes as she talked with a mix of exasperation and taking all of that in good-humor.

              “Explains why I’ve seen them so little.”

              “They still don’t approve of him, they approved of him even less when we had you”

              “Because I wasn’t like this when I was born?”

              “Or when you grew up, when you were a child I used to get phone-calls monthly asking me how it felt to have a nonmagical child or something along those lines, trying to convince me to go home and marry the boy they picked out, but…you know me, Herc, I am stubborn.”

              “You always did compare the two of us to goats with how stubborn we are.” I laughed quietly, she smiled as she leaned forward and just thumped her horns against mine making me laugh a little more.

              “Well, luckily all of this happened when you were done with this year of classes” she sighed

              “At least there was that I couldn’t fathom how much shit I’d be in if this happened in the middle of the year.”

              “Oh, I’d personally pull you out for a bit to get everything in order”

              “Weird question, I don’t need my glasses anymore, why are you still wearing yours?” I asked

              “Many years of reading fine print” she said with a shrug, “I really just need them to read, but I read so often and in such volumes that it’s just easier to wear them as anyone else would wear glasses.”

              “And…the hospital you work at.”

              “The hospital I work at has a mirror in Pearlbay, it’s Pearlbay Medical Center. I work there as little as I can for various government reasons here, but my actual job is at Pearlbay Medical Center.”

              “What was your school like?”

              “Come on, I’ll put some tea on and show you some things.” She said with a soft sideways nod towards the stairs.