“I hate being in charge,” I thought with a sigh as I sat in the lotus position on the ground, waiting for Narek and the Queens of the Four Courts and my party-mates to be ready for a planning session. “Maybe I did something horrible to Danu in a past life, it’s the only explanation for why She would want me to suffer like this.”

~Don’t be silly, my child. You have earned this by being the person that you are. You are the one who can unify the courts and the various races and restore the balance,~ my patron Goddess whispered in my mind.

Danu had been quiet since the night before when She had shown Herself to everyone on Varüus’kiel and changed me. Oh well, I had questions for Her anyway. ~Good evening, Great mother. Are my thoughts ever going to be private anymore?~

~Of course, dear child. You thought of me though, and that brought my attention to you. What is on your mind?~

~What did You do to me? What the hell am I now?~ I asked. I had felt different since She had changed me and I was much more powerful now. I had been practicing my magick just a short while ago to try to relax and not only had casting my Scattershot spell caused my spell focus and my Nature’s Crown to become smoking ruins but rather than the usual seven baseball-sized balls of blue flame, there were too many of the basketball-sized projectiles to count before they turned the boulder I had been aiming at to rubble.

~Worry not, you are still Yseil'dhraí, but you are more as well. Yseil'dhraí were created from my blood and magick but I have given you a portion of my divine essence as well, to bind you to Varüus’kiel and give you dominion over it. You are now a Demigoddess of magick, the moon, nature, and doves, and those aspects will strengthen you. The other Gods are not happy with me about that, or showing myself to mortals as I did, though there is little they can do about it except to sanction me or try to kill you,~ She explained far too casually for my comfort.

That whole statement was pretty shocking, though it was the last part that made my eyes go wide. ~Wait, Gods might try to kill me?~

The Goddess gave a dismissive sniff in my mind. ~I’d like to see them try. I am one of the most powerful of all of us and you are connected to my source of power. Gods also gain power from mortals believing in them and part of the problem is that few mortals believe in the old Gods anymore, so most of us are severely weakened, relying on our sources of power and our aspects to empower us. Showing myself as I did gave me a small boost in power, and you as well since your people now believe in you as much as they do me. And since you were born mortal, and are not bound to our laws, you are free to travel the mortal world, pop out a miracle or two, and get yourself quite the following if you wish it. Even as a mere Demigoddess with few followers you could be a match for some of us, as weakened as we are.~

~I can’t control this much power, just trying a simple spell with only the small amount of mana I had stored killed my spell focus and my Nature’s Crown,~ I griped.

~You are beyond needing to rely on such artifacts,~ Danu advised. ~You do not need to increase how much mana you can gather or how easily you can use it. Your mana pool is much greater now and your body can generate its own mana by being near your aspects so you must now learn to sense how much you have stored and limit how much you are using depending on the task. Only rarely will you need to use your full power, my child. Now, I must leave you to go to your meeting while I go to one of my own and see to other matters.~

~Thanks for the talk, Great Mother,~ I thought to Her as I felt Her presence leave my mind. “Just great, we’re at the start of a possible apocalypse, everyone is counting on me to lead them and save the world, and now I have to be super careful while learning to control my magick again. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just monsters we may have to deal with, but until we can make peace Humans are our enemies too. I’d rather not kill any if we have to fight them but if I can’t count on having proper control over my magick…”

My brooding was interrupted as I felt a hand gently squeeze my shoulder and turned to see my Attendant kneeling in front of me. Her face was bathed in the silver and violet light emitted by my hair and eyes and she was looking at me in concern. “Mistress, are you feeling alright? You’re wearing your brooding face.”

“I’m fine, Daenyss,” I told the Nymph with as much false bravado and cheer as I could summon as I reached down to pet Willow as the Wisp slumbered in my lap. “I just have a lot to think about if we’re all going to survive here and make peace with the Humans in the outside world.”

“Please, do not push yourself too hard, Mistress. Your people want to help you as much as we can, you don’t need to do everything on your own,” Daenyss said as she wrapped me up in a hug, earning a sleepy mewl of protest from Willow as the pink and black Wisp was jostled. When my Attendant finally broke the embrace she smiled at me. “Narek and the Queens have returned from taking a census of the Courts and Rei and the others are finished canvassing the non-Fae and talking to the former players. They’re waiting at the lakeshore.”

“Let’s go find out what the damage is then,” I replied with a sigh as I scooped Willow up in my hand and gracefully rose to my feet. Almost immediately, Nishalle and Lissany appeared from where they had been standing guard to accompany us as we left the edge of the forest to where it met the massive meadow cradled in the arms of what I privately called Lake Danu.

From what the Sprites, Fairies, and Pixies that I had sent out to scout had reported, the lake was approximately thirty kilometers long from end to end and nearly ten kilometers wide at its widest. It was shaped like a nearly perfect crescent moon and between its two points was the large flat ‘meadow’ where we first arrived the night before. There was a small narrow peninsula stretching nearly a kilometer and half toward the center of the lake from the meadow-side. It wasn’t really a meadow though, more of a plains area, since we estimated that it spread out over four hundred square kilometers in total.

There were also a few natural canals cutting through the meadow and, as I had discovered earlier in the day, the lake water wasn’t terribly cold despite the aquatic Fae, Merfolk, and Atlanteans saying it was fairly deep, and having no sunlight to warm it up for at least a few months. I figured that the fact that the whole island was resting atop a caldera was responsible for that. It did keep the island pleasantly warm even though we were in the Arctic Circle. The only real snow that we had was apparently on the peaks of the mountains surrounding our new island nation.

A large group consisting of Narek (representing the Winter Court as its new Warden), the Queens of the other three Courts, an elderly Atlantean man who I was unfamiliar with, and my party-mates from the game were waiting by the shore of the lake. Of course, as soon as we had gotten within conversational distance everyone bowed or curtsied and addressed me as ‘Your Imperial Majesty’. It had been less than twenty-four hours and I was already sick of the title and the bowing and scraping from everyone, even my family and friends when we were in public. And, since at the moment there was little privacy to be had on our new island home, ‘in public’ amounted to just about everywhere.

“Please, rise,” I said, managing to hold back the groan which had briefly threatened to slip loose. Then I wasted no time in getting down to business. “What’s the verdict? I’ve been noticing a lot more people milling about than since we arrived last night.”

Anatha had seemingly been nominated to speak for the Fae, and the Queen of the Spring Court was all business as she delivered her report. “Since we sent out the summons to the Fae of the Courts last night, our numbers have gone from the fifteen hundred people who first arrived to close to fifteen thousand, increasing our numbers tenfold. Nearly two-thirds of the new arrivals are Fae, mostly from the Spring and Summer Courts. Another two thousand are Atlanteans and the rest are a variety of other Races. Those numbers are still steadily increasing as more arrive and we’re hoping that continues since there are over twice that many Fae still unaccounted for, going by our numbers before the Veil was created.”

I sighed as I felt a headache coming on. “We barely had the supplies to last more than a few days with the numbers we started with. We can’t sustain that many people as things stand.”

Narek nodded grimly as he offered, “I have yet to see signs of any living creatures here on the plains but I’m sure that we Fae could survive on what’s in the forests, the lake, and rivers if it came to that. I fear though, that it wouldn’t be long before our numbers pushed those resources with the constant new arrivals. When we would come here for Councils, this is where we appeared. The island is sacred to the Great Mother so we never ventured further. We have no idea what is in those forests and I would rather we didn’t hunt creatures that may be extinct or never seen before in other parts of the world.”

“You’re right Pájar,” I agreed with a sigh, reluctantly granting Narek the title of a father while we tried to figure out what the hell our relationship would be. “We’ll need to send people into cities to gather food, supplies, and anything else that could be useful, I know that some of the Human employees of Pegasus Entertainment, and some of the players, have family who they want to check on as well. We’ll need to do it as soon as possible. We need infrastructure and contacts for trade if we’re going to survive, establish ourselves on the world stage, and bring balance back to the world.”

That’s when I let everyone gathered in on my plans. It was already looking like Varüus’kiel was going to become a refuge, and possibly even a homeland of sorts for non-Humans. It wasn’t just a magical island now; it was soon going to become a nation. If we were going to convince the Humans that we’re not monsters who needed to be hunted down, then we needed to become a nation the world could look to in awe; civilized, advanced, strong, and yet kind to our neighbors. We needed to lead the world by example.

Establishing ourselves as a nation and reaching out to nations who might ally themselves with us were our first tasks other than bringing in more non-Humans in need. I would need to establish things like government departments (and people to run them), currency, a capital city, and all the various little things that identify a nation; like a flag, national anthem, and so on. Most of that was stuff that could be decided on as we grew and found a need for them.

We needed to start building a city soon though. People were going to need homes, a sense of something familiar, and a place to set up businesses. They needed to know that I was trying to look after everyone’s needs, not just those of the Fae.

After my explanation, I said, “Ideally I would like to build the city here on the lakeshore where Humans, Fae from various Courts, and all other Races can live together. It’s an ideal spot and the lake would be good for the Merfolk, Atlanteans, and aquatic Fae. I would prefer to use magick and artificed technology where we can and try to keep everything as environmentally low-impact as possible. I’d like each of the Courts to establish their Glades in the forests; Winter to the north, Spring to the East, Summer to the south, and Autumn to the west. We’ll eventually have to establish laws for the city that are fair to everyone but the forests will remain under Fae jurisdiction and protection.”

Amoiraishe nodded. “We shall send out scouts immediately after this meeting to search for suitable locations.” Then my Mahair gestured to the elderly Atlantean as she smiled and said, “I would like to introduce you to Jhuras. He was the High Artificer for the Atlantean Council, back when such things still existed. They too took heavy losses before the Veil was erected. He was the one who designed the F.I.Ts and he has a request.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Jhuras,” I said, extending my hand to shake his own.

“The pleasure is mine, Your Imperial Majesty,” he replied before raising my extended hand to his lips to kiss it.

“Please, tell me of your request,” I offered with a smile as he released my hand.

I had a feeling that I knew what he was going to ask. The Atlanteans had suffered heavy losses and their population had dwindled to only a fraction of their original numbers long before the Veil was created. It wasn’t at the hands of Humans though since they seldom left the protection of Atlantis except to gather food and other materials. Their population had been in decline for centuries as their people grew tired of the immortality offered by changing bodies whenever they wished it, and many of their hunting parties never returned. The Finfolk were a constant danger to them when they left their city, and there are many other dangers in the depths of the sea as well.

“I fear that, after four hundred years without our artificed technology keeping Atlantis protected from the ocean depths, much of the city may be inhospitable and we will have no place to call home. We would like to live here, if possible, and I am certain that we can help you to build the city that you desire,” The Atlantean said, confirming my suspicions. As he finished though his eyes were sparkling much like Grell’s whenever he was working on creating something awesome.

“Your people are our allies and friends, of course, you are more than welcome to stay. I was honestly expecting you to stay with us anyway, and your contributions would be greatly appreciated,” I replied honestly. Then, as I caught the expression on his face I found myself smiling. “I see that you already have some ideas in mind, Jhuras.”

“Yes, my Empress,” the Atlantean confirmed. “The sinking of Atlantis was our own fault. At the time we cared more about creating wondrous new technologies than the long-term effects that they might have on the world around us. When we altered ourselves and our city to survive the inevitable sinking of our island, we also started to create cleaner technologies so we wouldn’t repeat our mistakes. Imagine a city that uses no fossil fuels, creates no pollution, and recycles all forms of waste. A city that has all of the modern comforts without requiring underground wiring, pipes, or sewers and where everything is powered by the natural currents of mana. Atlantis was such a city, and yours could be too.”

I could just feel myself grinning like an idiot as I found myself asking, “What do you need to get started? Make a wish list and I will try to get everything I can when we go to get supplies.”

“I would ask that you let me take an expedition of my people, Merfolk, and aquatic Fae to whatever remains of Atlantis. Even if much of the city is no longer suitable to live in, we could still salvage technology that could speed up our efforts here. Some of the areas of the city, such as the workshops and the crystal spire, were designed to remain secure and airtight, even should the shield holding the water outside fail. We could teleport to one of those locations, I remember them well enough,” Jhuras suggested. “I would suggest that you take an artificer when you do venture into the Human cities, one who knows what technologies might be useful.”

“You have my permission and may leave for your expedition as soon as you have gathered anyone willing to go, Jhuras. Don’t worry, I have just the guy in mind for our venture into the city,” I said with a smile as I looked briefly toward Grell. Then I turned to my party and asked, “So, you’ve finished canvassing all of the workers from Pegasus, our fellow players in the game, and the non-Fae new arrivals?”

Robyn spoke for our party. “Yeah, Your Imperial Majesty. Some, like Tien and Becky, have families that they’re worried about so we’ll want to take them along to the cities that their servers were based in so they can check on them. Only a little over a hundred of the players were returned to their original bodies by Danu, and that’s not bad since we had roughly a thousand players. Most of them want to stay and go through another run in the F.I.Ts though, as do some of the Human employees, but there are a few possible trouble-makers among them. And we might have another issue as well.”

“Trouble-makers? And what kind of issue?” I asked in concern.

“A few of the people who were returned to their old bodies seem to be awakening,” Grell explained. “It actually makes sense since they should have awakened when the veil completely fell. The only reason they hadn’t was because they were in the F.I.Ts and already being changed magically. We have two more Merfolk, what seems like a newly-awakened Witch, and a possible awakened Beastkin… which brings us to our trouble-makers.”

“I’d like to meet with them, this has got to be weird for them. They just got back to being themselves and now they’ve changed again,” I said as I tried not to frown and probably failed.

Rei nodded as she reached out and took my hand tenderly before saying, “We thought that you might say that. They’re waiting not far from here, though one of them isn’t really in any condition to talk. He’s running a fever and in pain. We would have thought he was sick if Rob hadn’t recognized the signs of a Beastkin going through the Call. Apparently, he was too out of it to defend himself and three other Humans jumped him and took his armor and equipment and ran off.”

Fury boiled up inside me. I barely managed to keep my voice steady as I asked, “Who did it? Which direction did they run off in?”

“From the descriptions that witnesses were able to give, it was those three jerks that I hung around with before Brynna changed me and I found some real friends,” Salem said, looking pretty damn furious herself.

“They went northeast along the lakeshore and into the forest and my Dad took a group of Fae to track them and bring them back here,” Kinara offered. “Rei managed to heal the victim’s injuries but he needs to go into the forest. The Witch already accidentally cast the spell to summon her familiar and let’s just say that what came bounding out of the woods to greet her was a surprise.”

I nodded grimly. “I want to know the second that those idiots are found and brought back here. Rei, I want you to take me to meet these four people. Venika, I want you and the others to start talking to those who are worried about their families and start arranging groups to go into New York, Tokyo, London, and Vancouver to do that and gather supplies. I’ll be in charge of the Vancouver group and I’d like Narek, Anatha, and Qwenyth to suggest people who can lead the other groups. We need to get moving, I want these groups ready to go by the time I get back from escorting our new Beastkin into the forest to do his thing.”

My fiancée held my hand and led me to a spot further down the lakeshore as Daenyss, Lissany, and Nishalle followed at a respectful distance to allow us the illusion of privacy, at least for a few minutes. It was nice to have a bit of time, just the two of us and Rei managed to calm me down somewhat as we walked. As we went I told her what I had learned from Danu and about needing to re-learn to control my powers. I swore her to secrecy though since I didn’t want anyone worrying.

It was an eclectic group awaiting us. My new little sister Tíana was there with two Nyiir'dhraí guards as she watched over a Human male who was laying on the grass and not looking very good. She had been out playing with her guards when they stumbled upon the group. The group was rounded out by a pair of Mermaids relaxing in the water and a tiny Japanese woman with what looked like a massive white wolf.

My jaw dropped in awe as I got a better look at both the Japanese girl and the wolf. The girl was somewhat pretty, thin, looked to be about nineteen or so, and she was as small as Salem at about five feet even. She had long black hair that reached her butt and large expressive eyes and it looked like right then she was trying very hard not to freak out as the massive wolf tried to snuggle against her.

The wolf was standing up on all fours and the top of the girl’s head barely reached the top of its own. It had crimson eyes and powerful-looking jaws with slightly oversized and very sharp-looking teeth. My eyes widened in sudden realization and I cursed, “Holy shit! It’s a fucking Dire Wolf, I thought that they were extinct!” Oops, it was a good thing that Venika wasn’t there to chastise me about my language.

“That’s her familiar?! Kinara has a gift for understatement if that thing bounding out of the woods at the girl only caused mere surprise. Most people would have soiled themselves at the very least. I really hope that she isn’t one of those who wants to go check on family members. There’s no way that she is going to be able to keep a low profile in a city with a Dire Wolf at her side. At least my magical animal companion is purse-sized, and glows less than I do,” I thought to myself with a sigh as we approached and I gently petted Willow.

It was as I was considering that, that the group noticed us approaching. Well, I am a living nightlight now. Again with the bowing, and I bet most of them didn’t even know me. Well, Tíana’s guards started it, though I guessed my odds of keeping a low-profile were pretty small right now too what with the glowing hair and eyes and my new Danann’syr. Once the bowing and titles were out of the way I was introduced to the newly awakened.

The Japanese girl was named Tsukiko Inouye, though she said that we could call her Suki for short. She had been playing a Nyiir'dhraí Magus on Spring Server so at least she already knew how to use magick and could speak Elvish. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to try out my Japanese though. Like many of the people chosen to playtest the game, she didn’t have any family or anyone to whom she was really close. Her massive new familiar she had decided to call Yuki.

The two mermaids were Felicity Knight and Kayla Kuvalis. They were both pretty with musical voices and very nice figures, though from the hips downward they now sported brightly colored fish-like tails. Both also admitted to some additional physical changes when they had awakened, saying that they were a lot prettier now.

Felicity was from London and had been playing a Warrior on Summer Server. She was a pretty blue-eyed blonde with pink streaks in her long hair, and the scales and fins of her tail were in shades of pink and rose. Before entering the game she had been barely able to make ends meet as a street artist and busker.

Kayla, on the other hand, was from Brooklyn and was only sixteen. She had been in the foster care system and things had been tense with her foster parents. They claimed that they signed the papers to allow her to playtest the game just to be rid of her for a couple of weeks. She had never really fit in with any of the social groups at school and spent a lot of time gaming just to escape from the real world. She claimed to have been plain and a bit mousey before but now she was a vivacious redhead with a tail in shades of mint and seafoam green. She jokingly said that she should consider changing her name to Ariel.

That brought us to the last of the four and as I looked him over Tíana looked up at me looking worried as she said, “He sick, Taya.”

I reached down to hug my sister from the Winter Court. “Don’t worry, I’ll help him, Tíana.”

I looked him over and saw a short and overweight man in his early twenties. His breathing was asthmatic and even as fevered and disoriented as he was, when he did manage to focus on something his eyes squinted heavily, making me think that he usually wore strong glasses. That squint was there as he looked at me in confusion and asked, “T-Taelya? I thought... that I dreamed that.”

My brows rose in surprise. He was from Autumn Server but I wasn’t sure who exactly he was since he was no longer in the form that he wore in the game. Who would choose to go back to a body like this, and why? I nodded though and gently took his hand in mine. “Yes, it’s me. I’m not sure who you were in the game though, I don’t recognize you.”

“H-Hawkin,” he croaked out.

I didn’t really have time to say anything to voice how stupefied I was at that revelation as Lissany knelt beside me to examine his hands and the violet-hued rash that was forming there. “He’s in bad shape, he should have gone into the forest to follow the Call by now. I’d say he started feeling it sometime last night after changing back, most Beastkin wouldn’t hold it off so long. He needs to find his animal and take its form soon. Hawkin, do you feel something pulling you toward the nearest forest?”

Hawkin gave a strained nod and managed to reply. “Taelya said… nobody is allowed in the forests… except the Fae.”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting this,” I said with a sigh. “You should have come to me Hawkin. I’ll escort you into the forest and watch over you while you follow the Call. Liss, can you carry him?”

My Guardian responded by shedding her armor and switching to her hybrid Jaguar form to give herself a strength boost before picking him up in her arms. Then she told him, “You’re going to need to tell us which way to go, only you can feel your Call.”

“We’ll take him into the forest and he’ll feel better soon,” I assured Tíana. “Don’t worry, we’ll have Lissany and Nishalle to protect us and Daenyss to keep us company.”

“I come, Taya?” The near-three-year-old Queen of the Winter Court asked hopefully.

“Not this time, little sister,” I replied with a shake of my head before glancing at Tsukiko and Yuki. “We don’t know what’s out there yet, except for Dire Wolves. There could be other dangerous creatures as well and I would worry about you. When we return we’ll come to find you and Hawkin can tell you himself that he’s okay.”

My youngest sister was obviously not happy about being left behind, but one look at Yuki seemed to convince her that it was for the best. She was pouting, but she dejectedly agreed, “Yes, Taya.”

With Lissany leading the way, carrying Hawkin, and following his directions we walked toward the area at the edge of the forest that I had used for privacy not long ago. I didn’t feel any apprehension as we stepped into the trees and moved southeastward, but I was pretty sure that nothing in this forest would attack me, just as they wouldn’t attack Danu. I also had Lissany and Nishalle with me and they were both pretty damn frightening in their own rights sometimes.

The forest was lit only by the light provided by Willow and my glowing hair and eyes as we walked along and Hawkin seemed to feel better the closer that we got to whatever animal was calling out to him. After a while, Lissany was able to put him down as he felt strong enough to walk on his own, and the fever seemed to be lessening the closer we got to whatever animal was calling to him. As we walked he told us why he had wanted to change back to his old self when Danu had worked her magick.

Ken Hawkins had been a fairly nice person, though a bit of a recluse, before joining the game. He had been a boy scout when he was younger and had taken the lessons that he had learned during that time to heart. Still, he had always felt inferior and weak and loathed his body and its health issues. He was short, fat, had asthma, and couldn’t see without coke bottle glasses. So, like many of us, he was drawn to gaming, and a chance to escape his painful reality.

When he got invited to the game it seemed like a dream come true to him. He could live for over three months, and possibly longer, as the large, strong, and healthy warrior that he had always wanted to be, protecting others and saving the day. He had gotten so caught up in being confident and strong for once that it had gone to his head. The change had been gradual, but he found himself becoming so immersed in being this new person that he didn’t realize what a jerk he was becoming.

Many people had seen Hawkin as a conceited, selfish, arrogant, condescending, and self-centered glory-hound, including me. Then I had briefly turned him into a girl and made him realize just what an asshole he was when we had left the game and discovered our new reality. After my apology to him, he had been doing some thinking on what kind of person that he wanted to be going forward.

He didn’t like himself as ‘Hawkin’. He liked the body but he disliked himself, and just how easy it had been for him to become the type of person who had used to bully him in real life. Since he had planned on returning to the F.I.T anyway, he had realized that he would much rather be his old self while he figured out who he really wanted to be.

He was still deciding whether he wanted to remain Human or choose another Race when he entered the F.I.T again and had been doing some serious thinking about it when the Call hit him not long after Danu’s appearance. Now it seemed that that choice was being taken out of his hands. The one thing that he had known for sure though wasn’t going to change now that it appeared that he was a Beastkin, he wanted to become a Guardian, like Lissany.

I thought that he was starting on the right path toward the person he wanted to be when he admitted to himself that he would rather be a person he liked in a body that he hated rather than the other way around. I made sure to tell him that too as we walked through the forest following his Call. I guessed that we had been walking for about an hour before I saw it lapping up water at a stream not far ahead.

“A Unicorn!” Daenyss whispered in awe and wonder as we stopped and knelt in the bushes roughly forty feet away to get a better look without scaring it off. It was pure white with deep blue eyes and a long golden spiraled horn. It was one of the most beautiful things that I had ever seen.

We had encountered a couple of other creatures on our trek, but neither the large saber-toothed cat nor the black and violet cabbit-like creature seemed to be what was calling out to Hawkin. I fully expected this to be another miss, but it was pretty amazing to see a real Unicorn this close and in the flesh. I was about to suggest moving on though when I noticed that Hawkin was stumbling toward the formerly mythical creature in a daze.

Nishalle made a move to grab him but Lissany quickly gripped the shoulder of my Tokh'dhraí sister and hissed, “No. That’s the creature that Called to him. We’ll need to stay here and watch, he needs to be alone for this. It won’t let him approach if we’re with him and he needs to touch it to make the connection. Once his body has accepted the new genetic material through touching, his body will change to an exact duplicate of that Unicorn. He’ll sleep for a bit and when he wakes up he should be able to return to a Human-like form as well as I can. He could change a bit though.”

“Change how?” I asked in concern as Hawkin stumbled forward and placed his hands on the Unicorn’s pure white hide.

Lissany shrugged as she responded, “Well when I went through this in the game my original Human form wasn’t as tall or muscular. My general appearance changed a bit too. Our new appearances seem to be heavily influenced by the genetics and general evolutionary characteristics of the creature that Calls us. I’m guessing that he’ll be taller, slimmer, and more graceful after his change is complete though.”

“Umm… Liss. You said that genetics count for a lot, right? And that he would become an exact duplicate of that Unicorn?” I asked as Hawkin fell to the ground and began to change. “I think that we might have a problem here.”

“Mistress, I don’t see what you’re talking about, He looks fine and he’s already changing,” Daenyss pointed out before gasping in realization. “Oh! Yes, Mistress, that could be a problem.”

“What could be a problem?” Nishalle half-growled in annoyance.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Sis, Liss, Unicorns have a distinct characteristic between the genders. Males have long goatee-like beards, and when that one turned its head just now, it didn’t. If that’s not enough for you, now that Hawkin is out like a light and it’s walking away, take a good long look with your night vision at her behind.”

A moment later there were two sharp intakes of breath and Nishalle muttered, “Well, shit. That could be bad, for Hawkin. Maybe while he’s still out cold and fully transformed we should take a quick peek.”

“Yeah, because if he is a she now, he’s gonna need someone to talk him down when he figures it out,”
my Guardian agreed. “He could use some friends right now. After all, friendship is magic.”

I just nodded and groaned at Lissany’s little joke as I stood up and started walking toward Hawkin. “Let’s go see what the damage is.”