In the morning, Ailish woke from a sleep that was less restful than usual. She was already having second thoughts about having Ella teach her magic. Not that she didn’t want her to. To her, it was common knowledge that Ella would pick up on her habits and her weaknesses sooner than later,

She doesn’t know if she can handle that much exposure.

If I seem helpless, Ella won’t want to teach me. Then mastering my powers will be impossible. Oh well, at least I have this book now. It’ll get me somewhere. I am going to have to work day and night to get where I need to be. I will have to work so hard to make up for my lack of knowledge.

Habit led Ailish to work herself to the bone. It came as naturally to her as walking or breathing. Some picked up on it; others didn’t. She knows that Ella will pick up on it soon if not right away. 

I must keep her off my tail as much as possible. When she sees how weak I really am, it won’t be pretty. Mastering my powers is the most important thing right now. I don’t have time for anything else.

Ailish caught a whiff of something that smells vaguely like food coming from the kitchen. She ripped the sheets and blankets off of her and jumped out of bed. In her hurry to get out of her pajamas, Ailish got her arms tangled in her pajama top. She reoriented her arms and pulled it over her head in one swift motion.

She changed into her clothes for the day. She chose something that would be comfortable to move around in. Whether or not Ella decides to teach her magic, Ailish will get on the path towards mastery of her powers.

I never thought elemental magic would be so hard to learn. Oh well, I guess it’s because I have to master all four elements.

Once changed, Ailish rushed down the stairs as swift as a shadow. She managed to slip into her seat without being noticed by her parents.

“Good morning,” Ailish piped, announcing her presence to those that are in the room with her.

“Gosh, Ailish!” Da scolded. “Don’t sneak up on us like that!”

“You sure scared us,” Dada admitted with a ghost of a smile on his face.

Ailish couldn’t help but grin at her success on entering the room undetected. She had worked on this without tiring of it ever since she was little.

It’s the one thing I’m good at. I’ve got to have some pride in it!

Ailish felt a hand on her arm. Ella.

I’m sure you’re good at more than one thing, Ella conceded in Ailish’s mind as she sat down next to Ailish.

“Don’t enter my head without warning,” Ailish chided, her voice barely a whisper.

“Sorry,” Ella intoned, lowering her voice. “Sometimes I accidentally open the connection. I didn’t mean to enter your head.”

Ailish nodded, not coming close to understanding how much she needed the encouragement from Ella. Ailish knows she’s good at things. She doesn’t always believe it.

“Good morning, everyone,” Soren greeted, entering the room.

They sat down across from Ailish and Ella.

“How come the rest of you don’t sit closer to us?” Da prodded. “We don’t bite.”

“Because you’re adults,” Ailish says.

Da pointed out the obvious. “Two of you are adults.”

A playful look crossed Dada’s face. “Afraid you’ll catch the grown-up disease?”

This got a laugh from Ella.

“Technically speaking,” Ella remarked, “we’re still teenagers. We may have reached official adult age but the ‘teen’ in ‘eighteen’ still makes us teenagers.”

Soren nodded in agreement. “I’d say they’re teens. And if I say they’re teens, they are. It takes one teen to know another.”

Everyone began to eat. The meal was silent. No one had anything much to say. Ailish felt Ella’s eyes burning into her from time to time. It was clear that she was still thinking about the conversation they had had in the garden last night.

Da breaks the silence. “For a bit of context, the whole ‘all the food disappears if you don’t come down right away’ thing is a myth.”

“It’s just a way of encouraging people in the household to eat together,” Dada added.

Ailish, Soren and Ella acknowledged this with a nod.

“It’s more pleasant not to eat alone,” Soren commented.

“Agreed,” Ella and Ailish chorused.

The group fell back into silence as they continued eating. When the meal ended, everyone went about their day. Ailish, Soren and Ella went to the living room. They sat side by side on the couch.

Soren gave Ella an imploring look.

So they have talked about this.

“Get it over with,” Soren whispered to Ella.

Ella let out a sigh and turned toward Ailish. “So I came to a decision last night.”

“And?” Ailish prompted.

“I’ll teach you what I can,” Ella continued. “But I’m not going to do it alone. I only know so much and my abilities lie only in shapeshifting, minimal protective magic and defensive elemental magic. I can do some offensive magic but it’s not my area of expertise.”

Understanding dawned on Ailish. “So that’s why you have the sword and the longbow.” 

“Exactly,” Ella clarified, “and it’s a rapier, not a sword. Aunt Mabel gifted those upon me when I reached out to her while I was on the run. The longbow’s arrows and the rapier have some enchantments on them but I have no idea what they do. My guess is that they make them more effective. Now that I’m here, I’m preparing for the moment my parents find me. When they do, I will strike and I will not strike alone.”

“You definitely won’t,” Ailish agreed.

“The training will be just as good for me as it will be for you,” Ella babbled on.

“It will be good for all of us,” Soren advised. “We need to be prepared.”

Ailish and Ella nodded.

“Just to confirm,” Ailish queried, “you’re going to train with me, Ella, and Soren will too?”

“Yes,” Ella confirmed.

“Perfect,” Ailish blurted, face growing more animated, “because I know the perfect place to train!”

Ella’s face shone with interest. “That’s wonderful. Where is it?”

Ailish and Soren shared a long look.

“Why don’t you come and find out?” Ailish responded.

Ella arched an eyebrow. “Now?”

Ailish tipped her head in the direction of the front door. “Now.”

Ailish, Ella and Soren left the living room and headed outside.

Ella fell into step with Soren, putting a hand on their shoulder. “Do they have practice swords where we’re going?”

Soren’s face revealed nothing. “Yes.”

Silence ensued and Ailish, Ella and Soren remained en route. Ella’s eyes widened as she recognized her surroundings in the city of her childhood.

“I’d forgotten how wonderful it is here,” Ella breathed. “It’s been too long. Far too long.”

The group continued walking at a comfortable pace until they reached a house that was known to the two Rivershore kids. 

“I don’t recognize this place,” Ella confessed. “I don’t think I’ve been here before.”

Soren gave Ella a knowing smile.“You may not have been here, but you know two of the people who live here.”

Ailish stepped up and knocked on the door.

Two pairs of footsteps raced towards the door.

“It’s gotta be Ailish,” Andrew’s voice rang out from behind the closed door.

Quiet muttering sounds were heard behind the door until it finally swung open. Andrew and Lucca stood in the doorway. This was a regular occurrence for Ailish and Soren. 

Ella, who hadn’t seen Lucca and Andrew in eight years gasped.“Andrew Brushenbush and Lucca Tallowren, it’s been a while.”

Andrew and Lucca turned to look at Ella. Lucca ran a hand through his short, light brown hair; the sun catching his hazel eyes and passing over his lightly tanned skin. Andrew and Lucca gazed at Ella for a few moments until recognition dawned on their faces.

“Rocky!” they both cheered, running out onto the porch and crushing Ella into a big hug.

Ailish and Soren watched this with proud smiles on their faces. After a bit, Andrew and Lucca released Ella from their crushing embrace, stepping back to look at her.

Andrew grinned at Ella.“We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Agreed,” Lucca shot back.

Wasting no more time, Lucca opened the door to his house wider and all five of them traipsed inside. Lucca closed the door behind them. Everyone removed their shoes and walked into the main room of Lucca’s house. They all sat down in a circle on the floor.

Ella beamed at the others. “It’s good to be back,” she turned to look at Lucca and Andrew. “I regret that I only ever got to see you two at Ailish’s house when I was little. My parents would only ever let me go to her house so that they could keep tabs on me like watch dogs.”

Lucca patted Ella’s knee. “No time for regrets. You’re here now.”

Andrew gave Ella a warm smile.

“A lot has happened since those days,” Ella pressed on. “I went on the run from my parents who want control of me and my powers. I moved from place to place to place with my Aunt Mabel, sparring every day. We settled down for a couple years so I could transition and change my name. I didn’t come  back to Everden until a few days ago. I’m glad I did.”

Andrew shifted so was closer to Ella.“I’m glad you did too.”

So what do you want us to call you other than Rocky?” Lucca inquired. “That nickname sticks. There's no losing it.”

Ella put her hands on her lap.“I already gave Soren the okay to keep using that nickname for me so you guys can use it too. As for my name, you can call me Ella. My pronouns are she and her.”

Andrew put hands by his sides. “Good to know.”

“We’ll work on that,” Lucca affirmed. “You tell us if we mess up.”

“I will,” Ella promised.

All went silent for a bit and Soren is the one to break it.

Soren let out a nervous laugh. “I guess it’s my turn to come out.” 

“You don’t have to,” Ailish assured them.

An intense look of kindness filled Ella’s face. “There’s no rush.” 

“I want to,” Soren returned. “This way I’ll have it out in the open and fewer people will misgender me.

Ailish and Ella nodded. Andrew and Lucca turned towards Soren and waited, listening.

“I’ll make it brief,” Soren began. “I’m nonbinary and my pronouns are they and them.”

A thoughtful look passed over Andrew’s face.“I’ve heard of using they and them as singular pronouns but what does nonbinary mean?”

“It means that I identify outside the gender binary of male and female,” Soren continued. “For some, it means that they’re somewhere in between those two genders, for others, their gender is fluid, but for me, it means I’m neither male nor female.”

Lucca ran a hand through his hair. “We’ll try to remember that. Thanks for telling us.”

The group got up and moved to the basement. When they got down there, they sat down in a circle once more.

Ailish broke the silence. “I have a favour to ask.”

“Ask away,” Lucca replied.

“Ella, Soren and I want to train for the inevitable arrival of Ella’s parents,” Ailish ventured.

Ella grimaced. “They’re incredibly powerful and Aunt Mabel says I shouldn’t fight them alone.” 

Andrew snapped his fingers. “Then don’t.” 

“We’ll join you and make your chances of success higher,” Lucca proclaimed.

“Thanks for that,” Ella smiled. “Will you train with us?”

“Of course,” Lucca confided. “We have a training room in the backyard.”

Soren jumped to their feet. “Then let’s go!” 

“We’re a crew and we always have been,” Andrew uttered as the group rushed up to the front hall.

Everyone grabbed their shoes, put them on and headed to the backyard. Lucca led them into the training room. 

Ella’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as she saw it for the first time. “This is perfect for our purposes.”

***

While Ailish, Lucca and Soren sat on the floor, chatting, Ella pulled Andrew aside to talk to him some more.

“You know,” Ella commented in a low voice, “I was the cat you saw the other day.”

Andrew’s jaw dropped. “Really?”

Ella nodded. “Really.” She put her arms around Andrew, pulling him into a hug. “It’s good to see you again.”

Andrew leaned into Ella’s embrace. “Good to see you too.” He released her from the embrace and looked into her eyes, noticing their uncanny resemblance to those of the black cat he had spotted in the woods the other day. “I can’t believe I didn’t know it was you.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Ella soothed. “Ailish was the only person I told about being a shapeshifter back then. I didn’t trust my parents so I didn’t know who else I could trust.”

Andrew patted Ella’s hand. “I’m glad I know now.” 

Ella stepped back to look at Andrew. “You live here now?”

“Yeah,” Andrew sighed in relief. “I’ll tell you about it another day.”

Ella and Andrew went to rejoin the others. The group continued catching up through a lengthy chin-wag over the small things that didn’t matter. In the meantime, the sky filled with streaks of colour.

Ailish looked outside, noticing the sky’s dark orange and pink hue. She turned to Ella and Soren. “We should head home.” 

They both looked out the window then back at Ailish, nodding their agreement.

Lucca led the three of them out of the training room, through the back door to the front door of his house. 

Andrew followed close behind. “Thanks for coming to see us!” he called.

“Let us know when training starts,” Lucca reminded them.

“We will,” Ella vowed.

Lucca opened the door and Ella, Ailish and Soren stepped outside, heading home under an amber sky.