Christmas always made me think of Charlie…
It was that time of year again; that time of year the last week before Christmas when everyone else around me was busy thinking of what last minute gifts to buy for whom. What sales to hit for the best bargains what parties to go to. Me, I mostly thought of Charlie…

THE FOLLOWING DAY

“Come,” she said playfully, “I have no romantic illusions about my own brother — I know perfectly well she loves you a hundred times better than you deserve. If it were any other woman, I would try to discourage her by telling her embarrassing stories about you, but Launuru already knows them all, so I'll just have to accept your good fortune.”

The idea for this story came from a short, inspirational email that was shared with me a few years ago. I thought the message behind it was quite lovely and wanted to somehow turn it into a story to share with everyone. It took almost two years for a story to develop where I could use it in a way to honor the beauty it was written in. If I knew of the original author, I would like to include them...but as with much that is passed around in cyberspace, they are unknown. All I can do is say, thank you for the inspiration...I only hope my story does justice to your beautiful, and uplifting message.

A young man who uses a 'Linking Spell' on his roommate, trying to change him into his vision of the perfect female. However the spell backfires and he unknowingly casts it upon himself. Now he is uncontrollably transformed into April, the young female that his unsuspecting victim would lovingly desire.

Note: The Linking Spell is a trigger spell that is in an ancient book of which when invoked, creates an unbreakable bond of love between one person and another...a sort of love spell. If it were used on a person of the same sex, one of them must become the opposite to fulfill the magic within the spell. This person would possess all the embodiments of the spell caster's desires. The closer one is to the other, the faster the spell works.

Inspired by the Hollies song, this story is about a young man who shares his umbrella with a beautiful girl during a rainstorm; his growing affection toward her is compromised when he discovers she has a secret!

“What's your custom here in Niluri?” Kazmina asked. “Is a woman normally allowed to ask a man to marry her? It's hard to judge from Tsavila or you what women are normally expected to act like here; even in Setuaznu, enchantresses are allowed more privileges than mundane women, and as for you...”

“Oh, I wish I knew if you meant that, or if the geas is making you say it...”

Hadn't Tsavila said that he should be kind to her, for she'd suffered enough already? If she was compelled to act this part against her will, further probing could do no good; he had already learned enough to be sure she was no Vetuatsenu. Various moments of their conversations the day before came back to him: she had repeatedly changed the subject when someone brought up recent events in Netuatsenu, or asked more than a few questions about her family.

Dear readers: This one just felt right. I'd been kicking around the idea of a man so determined and so in love with his girlfriend that he'd pretend to be a girl to get close to her and find out what she likes and wants. This is Maurice. He knows its ethically questionable, but he loves Shannon so much that he wants to get everything right so perfectly that Shannon is never disappointed or wishing for anything more.
This takes place in the same continuity as the UA, but as you will see later on, but be at least twenty years later. My guess is the 2060s. This also takes place at the very end of the story. It seemed the best place to start.

“Don't go away. Don't let him make you go away.”

“How? Is Kazmina strong enough to defend me against him?”

“No. But I am.”

“Love is a thing holy to Kalotse, and...” Just then she heard a wailing, which got momentarily louder; one of the servants came in holding a fussy, just-woken Miretsi. “A thing with unexpected consequences,” she concluded.

Launuru said little in the carriage on the way back to the wizard's house. She was thinking about her reaction when Kazmina had suggested that she change back into the man she'd been when she hired the room. It had been as appalling to her just now as the idea of becoming a woman had been when Kazmina suggested it two days ago. If that were so, how could she ask Tsavila to marry her, promising to become a man again soon?

“What do you mean, young lady, bringing my daughter's would-be lover under my roof under false pretenses?”