The Dresden Files/Codex Alera is copyright Jim Butcher. This story is licensed under the Creative Commons as derivative, noncommercial fiction.

We stepped through the portal and onto the lawn of the Carpenter House.

"Are you going to wear a veil?"

Sighing, the elf shook her head. "I cannot. The Queen has me in a geas."

"Want me to try?"

She giggled. "It will be okay, Knight."

I could hear some kind of ruckus coming from the side-yard. It was nearly dark, and from out of the shadows, a hulking beast shambled out, shaking leaves from his shaggy coat.

"Mouse!" I said, kneeling, as the dog huffed and ran toward me. Maggie came behind him, holding a plastic gun.

"Hey! You stole my horse! Unhand, it Horse-Rustler!" Maggie said, pointing the gun at me.

"Not by the hair of your chinny chin chin," I said, pretending to move Mouse around me. The dog was so large and robust, it wasn't easy to get him to move.

She 'shot' me with her plastic pistol, saying "pew pew pew!" Then she ran up with her arms open. I scooped her up.

"Hi, Daddy," Maggie said.

"Hey, weasel-monkey. You and Mouse playing cowgirl?"

"Yeah. Who's the pretty lady?" she pointed at Maal.

"That's a surprise. Want to take us inside?"

"Yep, partner!" she said, getting down and taking my hand. She led us onto the porch and into the house.

"Uncle Michael, my Daddy is back!"

Charity came in from the kitchen. "Is this Susan?" she said, wiping her hands on an apron.

"Um, no. Let's wait for Michael, and I'll make introductions."

"Are you staying for dinner?"

I glanced at Maal. She inclined her head regally, once.

"Sure, we'd love to."

"Great! I'll set out two plates." She went back into the kitchen, and I heard rustling.

"You okay?" I said softly.

She nodded, closing her elfin eyes. "Yes."

Michael walked in a few moments later. "Harry! Good to see you back. Um…is this, Susan?"

"No, I haven't been to see Susan just yet. Charity can you come in here a moment?"

Charity entered the room, wiping off her hands. "Dinner is almost ready. Will Susan be coming too?"

"No."

Charity nodded.

"I'd like to introduce you to Lady Maalshiira, Winter Lady of the Winter Court of the Sidhe. You've known that I am the Winter Knight, under Queen Mab…"

They both nodded.

"Well, there are three Queens of the Winter Court. Mother Winter, The Winter Queen, and the Winter Lady. What we haven't told you was…as a result of things that happened two years ago, your daughter became the Winter Lady. She hid this from you for reasons we don't want to go into right now, but needless to say; she is now the Winter Lady both in form and in essence."

"Wait…then, who is this?"

"May I present, Lady Maalshiira. Your daughter."

Charity gasped and fell into a chair. Michael also looked thunderstruck. "By all that is Holy under Christ. Molly, is that you?"

Maal gave a pained expression and looked at me in panic. "Greetings, Parents."

"Ah, we can't call her by that name anymore, Michael. She's under a geas, and if we use her old name, it causes her pain, and it erases a bit more of her.

"What are you talking about Harry, I can't say my own daughter's name?"

"Hi, Pretty Lady. Want to come play with me?" Maggie said, reaching for her hand.

Maal took it. "Perhaps after supper, little one."

"Is it really you?" Michael said, approaching her.

"Tis me," she shrugged her shoulders.

Michael gathered his daughter in his arms, smiling as Charity put her arms around them both.

After the long greeting session, Charity suddenly exclaimed: "My pasta!" and ran back into the kitchen.

Amanda walked into the house behind us.

"Amanda!" Michael said. "This is your sister."

Maal looked up at her, now taller, sibling. "Greetings, Jawa."

Amanda frowned, hugging the Lady. "What happened to you?"

"Let's go in to the dinner table, and we can talk all about it," Michael said.

I escorted Maal to the table, then held out her chair. She glanced at it, then looked up at me. I realized the chair was too tall for her.

"Umm, do you guys have a box or something she can step on?"

"Oh!" Charity ran and got a cookie tin. She handed it to me, and I set it down. Primly, Lady Maal stepped on the tin, then sat carefully in the chair.

"Thank you, Sir Knight." She arranged her skirts as I took the chair to the right of her.

"So, things have changed," Michael said after he had led us in a blessing.

"The Winter Queen as wrought me thusly," Maal said. "I'm under a geas and can not change my method of speech. It causes pain to speak in any other manner."

Charity shook her head, cutting her pasta. I helped Maggie cut hers, then set it in front of her. She dug in.

Molly carefully ate her meal, the picture of nobility and grace, taking tiny bites.

"And what does being the Lady of Winter entail?" Michael said.

Lady Maal ate a few more bites. "We protect the multiverse from extra-dimensional creatures known as the…" she looked to me.

"The Outsiders," I said. "Monsters from beyond the Universe."

"That sounds terrifying!" Charity said.

Maal shrugged her shoulders. "It is an endless battle."

"And they have you fighting this, why?"

"T'is our duty as the Winter Court."

"Mab has been fighting them for eons," I said.

"And now, my daughter, Mal, will be doing the same thing?"

I nodded. "Which is why I'm assigned to protect her."

"Oh, well, that makes me feel better," Charity said in a scathing tone.

I sighed. I could see Charity was working herself into a real fury.

"And there's nothing that can be done to…bring her back?"

"Reverse this?" I said. "No, she's basically immortal now. A Sidhe queen. Even were I to try, it would cause more pain than anything."

"How are…" Maal looked at me.

"The boys?"

She nodded.

"You can't remember the name of your own brothers, Maal?" Charity said.

"It's the geas, Charity. Give her a break."

"Your brothers are fine." Michael paused.

"Daniel is in Afganistan," Amanda said. "Matthew is in the Marines."

"And Harry here," I said, pointing to the other young man at the table. "Is currently a sophomore in high school."

Maal grinned. "I am so proud of thee, Brother."

"I'm going to Cosmetology school this summer," Alicia said. She had grown into a lovely young woman, very reminiscent of Molly. "By the way, are you wearing any makeup? Your lashes and complexion are to die for."

Maal blushed. "Nay, my days of cosmetics are long past."

Hope spoked up. "Are you and Harry going to get married?"

Maal's blush deepened. "The Winter Lady must not taketh a mate," Maal said. "Until I become Queen."

Everyone talked long into the evening, with Charity calming down. Afterward, I read a story to Maggie, with Maal sitting next to me on her tiny bed and paying as rapt attention as my daughter. We both kissed her good night and went back downstairs.

"The time comes to depart," Maal said, in a soft voice.

"When will we see you again?" Charity asked, after giving her daughter a gentle hug. We all appeared to be afraid of breaking the new elf.

"I do not know, Mother. I must attend the Queen now, sadly, and mayhap be punished for my transgression."

Charity frowned. "What transgression?"

"She's been hiding from the Queen because she did this to her."

"Well, you can always just stay home, Molly."

I heard a thunderclap, and Maal gave a small scream. She fell to the ground, moaning, holding her head. " Blesmi mi miplables gres DD somi?"

"Maal?" I said, taking her hand. "Are you okay?"

"DD somi fleem."

"Lady Maal, nod if you can understand my words."

Confused, she stared at me, shaking her head. "Blesmi miDir anch sofleem?"

"I think you broke her."

"What do you mean, I broke her? She was broken when she came here."

"I told you not to use her name. It causes her pain. Obviously, now, she speaks a different language and can't understand us. Geas are weird like that when you try to go against their dictates.

"I'm sorry, Molly." Charity gathered the elven girl into her arms. "I hope to see you soon."

"Tov gresbles anch, Gresanchtov."

"I'll get it sorted. Don't worry."

I held her hand as we walked out the gate. Mab stood a few yards off, waiting expectantly.

"You're responsible for the language loss?" I said.

"The child needs to learn her place in my court and at my side, Knight."

"Haven't you done enough?"

Maal looked up at me, visibly confused by the interaction. I held up a hand; I got this, don't worry."

"What I do with my representatives is mine own business, Knight. Remember thy place."

Anger; hot and roiling and fast slid up my spine. I hated her condescending tone, hated her mightier than thou attitude, and most of all, I missed my friend, the lovely young girl that had been replaced by this exquisitely petite, angular, intricately crafted being beside me. This was the girl who had learned how to cast a veil as I'd never seen before. This was the girl who helped me rescue my daughter from the clutches of the Red Court by creating an illusion so complex and vast they crapped their pants and ran. This was the girl who carried out my own death plan, arranging my murder so I could be free from pain. This was the girl who had stood by my side through it all, been cast as the winter Lady because of my actions, not her own. This was the girl who saved my life when the spirit of intellect had been crushing my own skull with her birth throes. This was the girl, this was the girl.

"This was the girl!" I said, panting in fury, my staff suddenly alight with power, my shield activated, my blasting rod beginning to smoke.

"Harry?" a deep voice came from behind me. Michael's voice, Molly's Father's voice. "Is everything okay?" I could hear the tone of his voice, indicating he was ready to grab Amorachius and wield it once again if his daughter was in danger.

Mab, able to exist in several states at once, both physical and metaphysical, had apparently witnessed my torment as she crossed that last boundary.

I didn't say anything to Michael. I felt, rather than saw the Sword drawn from its sheath as Michael, former Knight of the Cross, stepped up to my side. He didn't deserve this, didn't deserve a throw-down with Mab right now.

"What's going on?" Another voice sounded behind me, Charity's voice this time and this time I heard the metal on metal shwing as she drew Fidilachious. A Sword she hadn't been granted and should not have been wielding, but with her daughter's fate on the line, she finally stood side by side with her husband. Both swords shimmered and glowed with the power of the Light.

As if on cue from seeing her parents wielding both swords, Molly's fingers began tracing intricate patterns, her aura glowing a deep blue, a hum filling the air as the four of us stood facing Mab.

Maybe this was the moment. The moment I could shed myself of the burden of the Mantle, peel Molly away from her grasp, and all of us live as humans should live.

"I don't understand, Sir Knight. What have I done to offend thee?"

"Let. Her. Go." I said.

"Don't be ridiculous. You know I can't do that."

"Mab?" I said, leveling my blasting rod. "You might be able to turn me into a cinder cone, but while you're doing that, Michael, Knight of the Cross, will be striking you down. And maybe you might be able to even deal with him, Molly and Charity will strike you down. Do you really think you can take all of us?"

She shook her head, her eyes fading to black. "You have no idea of my power, Knight."

"Oh?" I said. "I know we've crossed the line into Spring already. We aren't even governed by your Court right now but Summer! Sarissa and Titania, I summon thee."

A wind struck up from the east. It smelled like summer rain, cut grass, open water, and springtime flowers. Twin whirlwinds appeared as Sarissa the Summer Lady, and Titania, the Queen of Summer, appeared. Fix stepped up behind us as well, his southern drawl sounding in the darkness. "I got your back, Harry."

Mab shook her head. "Knight, you're causing a rift. You do see that, don't you?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Kinda what I do."

"I can't return her to humanity, Knight. I can give her the language back, will that do?"

"It's a start."

She snapped her fingers. "There."

"Molly, can you understand me?"

"Aye, Knight." She said. "What has befallen us?"

"We are taking a stand to force her to give you back. Do you stand with us?"

Molly sighed. She walked over to me, taking my hand.

"As much as I have transformed, Knight, I do see the heart of the issue before the Queen. Human bodies were not meant to fight the Outsiders, only bodies crafted of Sidhe might stand a chance against the ancient Enemy. They grow in number each day and creating a conflict with the Queen, now more than ever, could create an instability in the defense we would never recover from. My heart grows by bounds knowing thee stands with me against what has been wrought; and yes I was greatly saddened by the transformation; however, in the months that I've been like this my soul has also shifted, and I no longer think, act or feel as I once did and thee can now bear witness. My fear had always been thee find me an abhorrent creature since I know thine longstanding resistance to beings of Winter, rightly so since you've been so mistreated. Now that I know thee finds me comely in appearance and spirit, I can rest assured my duties as an elf-queen, Winter Lady, and as your friend will not be forgotten or cast aside."

She took my hand, looking up into my eyes.

"It is time I accept my new station by the Winter Queen and stop acting the insufferable child and aid in the defense of all that stands dear in the greatest fight reality has ever known."

I nodded, tears biting my eyes.

"You won't punish her." I glared at Mab.

Titania stepped forward. "My sister understands the depth of your resolve, Knight. Stay thy arms, comforted to know thy will has been acknowledged by her perhaps by the simple fact Mab has allowed you to continue to draw breath."

In my mind, words appeared. Knight, thou knowest of the creature you call Toot-toot, the sprite? The words carried the 'voice' of Molly somehow, and I knew she was communicating with me.

Yes, how are you doing this?

Fairy Queen.

I silently chuckled. Yes, I remember Toot.

In the balance of power, you are as but he standing against a creature as immense as yourself when confronting Mab. The sole other being of power rests in the body of Titania. To cast these two against each other could destroy not only this world but many. I adore thee for thy attempted rescue, but she would swat thee and my former parents as a fly is swatted by a paper of news.

Ah.

Thank you, Knight, for attempting to rescue me. I accept my position now at her side, and thee can rest comfortably that I will no longer be punished at the hands of the Queen. I adore thee more than thee cans't know, and your love has given me such strength.

I do love you, Maalshiira.

As I love thee, Knight.

She squeezed my hand then, blinking cerulean tears, then turned to Mab, nodding.

You're positive about this?

A few moments went by.

I am.

Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.

I do.

I have a few other tricks up my sleeve I wasn't revealing, even to you. I think I may be more powerful than even you might know.

She turned her head then, that perfect face with the slitted eyes and angular cheeks split with smile, and then a wink of alabaster lashes.

Thank thee, Knight.

You're welcome, Lady.

Mab exhaled. "You understand the situation now, Knight?"

"Yes, Queen."

"Then, we shall depart. Thank thee for returning the Winter Lady. I shall consider the fact I haven't turned you into a smoking ruin as thy boon. Does thee understand me?"

"Yes."

"Knights of the Cross, thy may stay thy blades. This conflict is ended. I promise to hold thy daughter safe and teach her everything she needs to know. Restest thou knowing she is assisting in the greatest of conflicts known to Creation.

"That's supposed to make us feel better?" Charity said.

Titania put a hand on her shoulder. "She is in good hands."

Charity looked into Titania's eyes and relaxed. "Okay."

"We leave," Mab said, looking at me. "Fare thee well, Knight."

"You too, Queen."

Michael sheathed Amorachius, and Charity lowered Fidilachius.

Silent thunder echoed as Mab and Maal left.

Titania smiled. "Thou should come to visit soon, Knight."

"Thank you for attending, Queen of Summer."

"Thou has assisted the Summer Lady and I in the past. T'was the least we could do."

I exhaled, nodding. "That was close."

Sarissa gave me a kiss on the cheek, then she, Titania, and Fix vanished in a cyclone of summer.

"You are going to tell us what happened, Harry?" Michael said.

"Yeah, let's go back inside."

Charity and Michael held hands as they walked back into their house.

I stood awhile, staring at the last place I'd seen her.

I do love thee, Maal.

As I love thee, Knight. Came the reply.