I'm either insane, or the next closest thing to it. I'm going to try to follow in Angharad's footsteps by doing a serial story.

I will likely post a piece for it every two or three days, as I do have other stories on the go at the moment.

**********

Each day, as she walked the half dozen blocks between her home and the small office where she was a junior clerk, Stasia passed by a certain small house. Stasia was a fairly pretty girl, about 5'7" tall, maybe 130 pounds, almost waist length golden blonde hair, and was usually dressed in a skirt suit for the office. She carried a backpack, in which she placed her heels for work, preferring comfy loafers for her walks.

Almost every time she went by this particular house, the kitchen windows made it possible to see inside, and she often noticed what seemed to be a young woman going about the daily tasks of keeping a house clean, doing dishes, mopping the floor, etc. The odd thing about it all was that Stasia didn't fancy girls, yet this one drew her attention like a moth is drawn to the flame of a candle.

As time passed, and she continued to catch glimpses of this person doing their housekeeping, Stasia found herself smiling each time that she saw them. She enjoyed the fleeting views that lasted only a moment or two before she would continue on her way to work or home.

She had first seen the girl in the house in the middle of spring, when everything was blooming and the days were growing warmer. Time passed, as it always does, and spring blended into summer, with its heat, thunderstorms and smog, and each day, Stasia saw her. Something about this girl being seen doing the house cleaning caused Stasia's heart to lift, and sometimes a sigh would escape from her Cupid's bow lips.

Time continued to pass, and summer faded into a blustery autumn; Stasia continued to pass by the house each day, often wearing a jacket for the extra warmth in the nippy autumn weather, with the blustery winds stripping the leaves from the trees along her route.

Once or twice, Stasia would catch the girl coming out of the house, usually to drop some trash in one of the bins off to one side of the house. They never spoke to each other, but Stasia's glances at the girl eventually sparked something and the glances became two way.

Eventually, autumn shifted into the early days of winter, with the crispness in the air that spoke of an occasional frost. Stasia still walked by the house on her way to work or home, albeit wearing longer, thicker skirts, actual tights instead of pantyhose and a heavier jacket.

About two weeks before Christmas, there was a brief snowstorm, only a small amount of snow actually staying on the ground, some of it hiding small bits of ice, and that made the sidewalks slippery, requiring more concentration than Stasia normally gave for walking.

So Stasia wasn't paying attention to the condition of the sidewalk that early morning, but waiting to go by that one house so she could look in and see the person who had somehow, without her ever truly realizing it, stolen her heart. As luck would have it, the girl stepped out of the house, walked over to the trash bins and dropped a bag in, then turned and headed back to the front door, just as Stasia passed by.

Stasia, as was said already, wasn't paying attention to what she should have been, and thus, almost by the front gate of that house, she slipped on a patch of ice hidden by the half-inch of snow on top of it, slid for a few feet, then fell, banging one knee on the cold sidewalk.

The girl quickly came out the gate, offered a hand, which Stasia gratefully clasped and helped her to her feet. Stasia then took a moment to check herself, her skirt seemed fine, she lifted it up enough to check her tights, no tears there, at which point, she sighed in relief.

It was at this moment, with her skirt raised up a bit, that Stasia's world turned upside down, for the girl spoke, only it wasn't a girl.

"Well, girl, you seem to be okay, I'm glad I could help you, I hope you have a good day," as he turned toward the front door; Stasia looked up in shock, looking closer at him, his body looked like that of a girl going through early puberty, except his hips seemed fully formed, yet the voice was clearly that of a male, being a low tenor, and Stasia could only stare at him in utter confusion for a moment.

I apologize for not writing anything new for the last week or so, and especially regarding this story, as I promised to post pieces for this one fairly regularly. I've either been busy of late, or having issues with my sleeping which can be a nuisance, or have been dealing with pain and/or migraines, another nuisance I would happily avoid if it were at all possible. Such is my life, even when I'm fairly happy, it's a PITA. LOL

**********

Stasia looked at him? Her? The voice was clearly male, but his/her appearance was distinctly female, hence Stasia's confusion. Stasia smiled, a weak smile actually, but in her state of shock, it was not a surprise. "I'm headed to work, I'd like to talk with you later, if that is acceptable?"

The recipient of her request smiled back, a full smile, knowing quite well what Stasia was feeling, this or something similar seemed to happen any time he met someone new. "That would be fine, when you come by tonight, ring the doorbell, and we can have a chat."

Stasia giggled for a second or two, then responded, "I'd like to know whom I would be meeting, if you please."

Her soon-to-be friend grinned as he responded, "My preference is to be addressed as Erin, I look forward to seeing you later."

Stasia turned, ready to continue on her way, "Thank you, Erin, I hope you have a good day." She walked off, deep in thought.

Erin smiled as Stasia started walking again, somehow this girl seemed different; he'd met many people over the last year or so, once he began to change, and there were very few who remained in his life, most were unwilling to try to understand what was happening to him. He entered the house, and continued as he had done so many times before, keeping a clean house wasn't difficult, but did require time to do it well.

**********

To say that Stasia was distracted at work that day would be an understatement, she couldn't stop thinking about that morning's meeting. Several times, she was admonished by one or both of the senior clerks in the office, yet the admonishments had no effect on her.

When it was time for lunch, one of the other girls in the office, Kelly by name, had to call her three times before she noticed and joined them, learning only as they went out the door that they were going to the pub just a block or so from the office for their luncheon.

The dozen girls, including one of the two senior clerks in the office, were led into a back room with a table long enough to seat them all. They took a few moments to pick seats, taking off coats, jackets or wraps, then the chatter started as the girls settled down. Stasia, though, was still thinking about that early morning meeting, and Kelly noticed that she wasn't participating in the chatter, which was quite unusual for Stasia.

Kelly poked Stasia gently in the arm and whispered, "Something has you badly distracted today, you've been in la-la land all day."

Stasia nodded, a slight frown appearing on her pretty face. "I met someone today, and I'm totally confused by them. I don't want to say anything else, as that would be truly unfair to that person, and I would prefer to get their permission first before I talk about them with others."

Kelly nodded, she'd known Stasia for most of the two years and a bit that Stasia had worked at the office; Stasia had a sense of honour that was darn close to being chivalric at times, rather unusual in this day and age, but Kelly respected her for it, it was all too easy to find people out there with no sense of honour at all and to see the results of how those people treated everyone around them.

Kelly smiled at her friend, "I can wait, you do what you need to do to sort yourself out, whoever this person is, they mean a lot to you."

Stasia returned the smile, giggling briefly, "Kelly, saying they mean a lot to me may be a very big understatement. I've seen this person in their house many times since the spring, but I had never met them until today, and I want to get to know them better, much better."

As the waitress walked in to inquire about drinks and if anyone wanted to order yet, Stasia and Kelly gave their drinks requests, then turned to the women around the table and entered into the conversation taking place, primarily a discussion of a large job the office had been given.

When the waitress returned again, everyone put in their orders for meals and the work discussion continued right through the meal. Once the meal had ended, each of the women chipped in to cover their part of the meal, the bill was paid in full and they all prepared to leave.

**********

On the way back to the office, Kelly and Stasia fell a bit behind the rest. Kelly quietly asked, "So what are you planning to do about it?"

Stasia looked over at her friend walking beside her, "About what?"

"About this person that you say you met? What are you planning to do?"

Stasia turned her head away, trying to hide the colour rising on her face, "I'll be stopping by their house tonight, we'll chat a bit."

Kelly laughed quietly, smirking as she noticed Stasia's reddening face, "Well, I hope you have a good chat with them. Perhaps that will help you to get your head straight by tomorrow, you know the job we were just discussing over luncheon requires everyone's best efforts."

Stasia shook her head, her cheeks bright red. "Have I been that much of a ditz today? I don't know why, but I can't stop thinking of them."

"That seems rather obvious, Stasia, but you really need to focus on work, not some possible flame in your life."

Stasia turned to Kelly and snapped, "Oh, would you be any different if you found someone that made you feel the way I do now?"

Kelly thought about it for a moment before replying, "I honestly don't know, Stasia. Here's the office, back to work we go."

**********

The rest of the day was a bit better, Stasia was still distracted, but not as much as earlier, and she was able to do her part of the work. When the clock struck five, everyone in the office gathered whatever personal effects each had and left, going in many different directions.

Stasia was thinking as she walked about meeting Erin, so she almost walked by Erin's house before she realized where she was. She spent several minutes nervously standing by the small but elegant front gate, before she opened it, walked to the door and rang the bell.

Here is the next bit of Stumbles, I've known the initial premise for Erin being Erin, but didn't know WHY until I woke up several hours ago.

I added the tag for Magic because it is and will be part of the story, as I will explain in the talk between Erin and Stasia here.

The cautions are due to the violence in parts of this chapter and the suicide of Erin's father before she was born.

**********

Stasia had to stand there and wait for a few minutes before the door opened and Erin spoke, "Welcome to my home. Please enter."

Stasia followed Erin into the house, all the way to the kitchen at the back of the house. The kitchen itself was quite nice, the cupboards and cabinets Erin told her were actual red oak, with a matching table in the middle of the room that could seat eight people. The door to each cupboard had an inlaid design etched into the wood, the outer part being lines running along each side of the surface, with a loop at each corner. Most of the are within the etched lines was covered with etched images of the bluebell, the table was the same but on a larger scale.

When Stasia said that was unusual, Erin replied, "Yes, it is nowadays, but they were built by an ancestor in 1919, they're almost a century old. Well, except for three of the cupboard doors, the originals for those were destroyed in a gunfight in the house in the late '50s."

A quick inquiry led to Erin setting up the coffee machine, then turning it on; both of them took seats at the table.

Erin smiled, saying, "I need to tell you a story, every word of it is true, I will prove it to you once the story is told."

"This story relates to you in some way?" Stasia asked.

"It does. The story starts perhaps a thousand years ago, when a force under the command of Brian Boru met on what would be the field of battle the next morning. He gave his commands, including to one young male to go back to his castle and inform his wife that he was well.

"Now, the young man that he sent could run like a deer across the grasslands, but had little skill at the ways of war, being only twelve summers old; he stuffed a few pieces of bread and a chunk of meat from a recent kill in a pouch and was on his way. Except for stopping to eat or drink, or for very brief naps, he crossed the nearly sixty miles between the battle site and the castle in just under eleven hours, arriving about three hours before dawn. He gave his report to the lady of the castle, rested for two hours, replenished his supplies and raced back to the battle.

"As the tale has been handed down since then, the lad ran all the way back to the battlefield, stopping only long enough to eat and drink, and returned to find the battle surging back and forth across the field. He stumbled over some warrior's dropped short sword, then spotted a small wooden shield on the ground, picked it up, buckled it to his left arm and started working his way around the field to Brian Boru's standard.

"The entire run back there had taken perhaps nine hours all told, the sun was beginning to edge toward the western horizon. For several minutes, as he wandered past the scattered copses on the edge of the battlefield, he was lucky and met no one, but that couldn't hold.

"He had managed to cover about half of the distance to the standard when a large male confronted him. "Where be ye going, boy?"

"The lad was still several feet away from the warrior. A quick look around revealed a broken spear shaft with the spear point still attached just within arm's length. He dropped the sword, grabbed the broken spear and planted the broken bit in the dirt just as the warrior lunged forward.

"The boy shut his eyes for a few seconds, fearing he was about to die, then opened them to find the warrior was dying, bits of blood trickling from his lips. The boy had raised the shaft in the nick of time, the warrior ran into the spear point which ripped right through a lung.

"The boy shuddered briefly, let the broken shaft fall taking the warrior with it, then picked up the sword and continued around the field. He eventually reached Brian's standard without meeting any other enemy warriors, dropped the sword, then raised and waved the standard.

"Some of Brian Boru's men saw the standard being waved, they roared their approval and Brian's forces rallied around him. The boy continued to wave the standard, and over the next hour, the tide turned. With one final surge, the enemy force was beaten, dead or dying on the field.

"Brian's officers walked with him back to the standard, the boy was still waving it back and forth and did not see them at all. Brian grasped the standard in his iron grip, quietly telling the boy to stand down, then spent an hour listening to reports from his officers, including reports from at least three of them about the boy's singlehanded defeat of the warrior on the edge of the battlefield nearly two hours earlier.

"Brian smiled at the exhausted lad, "Ye are a budding warrior, lad, ye'll make a fine one some day with a bit of training. Go and rest now."

"One of the officers led the lad to a thin pallet of woven branches and grass; the boy laid down and was asleep within a minute or two."

Erin stopped talking for a bit as the coffee machine announced the coffee was ready, soon both women had a cup in front of them.

"Well, that lad was the earliest known ancestor of my family, there was no clan name at the time, there was no need for one.

"Seven or eight years passed, the young man met a lass, they wed and she bore many children to him. The line continued in such fashion for perhaps three hundred years, at which point a younger son announced his decision to find a home on the other isle.

"He eventually made his way over to Northumberland and established a place on the River Till several miles from the border with Scotland. He had learned metalworking from his father and grandfather, and began making farm tools and other items.

"His grandson inherited the land eventually and noticed that good armour was a necessity for any warrior. He wandered down south, all the way to London and spent five years learning how to craft various types of metal armours, his favourite being chain or ring mail over leather.

"His craftsmanship brought him to the attention of King Edward III, who made him a minor baron and gave him the land running from what is now known as Embleton Bay north to the River Tweed and west from that bay to the border with Scotland, taking the name Cedric Maille.

"With the king's order in hand, he returned to his home and established Maille Ironworks as a source of quality chain and ring armour.

"One of Cedric Maille's female descendants, Rhona, led a force of twenty men into the highlands in 1461, eventually meeting some Camerons on a ride across their lands. One of the Cameron men, a bastard son of a cadet branch, challenged the girl before anyone could stop him.

"Rhona laughed, long and loud, and accepted the challenge. Only her own men that had followed her here, twenty in number, knew that she had been trained for almost a year by a visiting English knight as he recovered from injuries taken in battles all over France and Spain.

"The two were given space to be able to fight without interference, at which point the head of Clan Cameron stated, "To the first cut only." Both agreed, and the fight commenced, with the two of them crossing the space first in one direction, then another.

"About ten minutes or so had passed with both of them trying to get a clear shot at the other, swords clunked against shields or crossed each other, then Rhona spotted her chance. She feinted left, then as the Cameron man moved to follow, she twisted sideways and cut his arm.

"The head of Clan Cameron yelled for both to stop, Rhona and the male stood there panting, then he noticed the blood trickling down his arm. With a brief nod, he turned back to walk through the members of his clan and head home to tend his wound.

"Rhona called him back, telling him if he stayed, she had materials to tend his wound; he agreed and she quickly dealt with the injury.

"Afterward, Rhona spoke to the assembled Camerons, 'My name is Rhona Maille. Perhaps some of you are familiar with the chain mail and ring mail armours my family makes? Perhaps a few of you might even have a set of our armours sitting in your homes?'

"There were brief but affirmative replies to both questions from some of the Cameron menfolk.

"'I led these men here from the eastern shore at the area known as Embleton Bay several miles below the River Tweed. We've walked and run through roughly a hundred miles of your land just to see how far we could get without being noticed. We've done well, aye?'

"'Without being noticed? That's quite the feat!'

"'All that way with only twenty men to guard her back? She's a strong lass for sure!'

"There were other remarks of a similar nature, including a suggestion that she wed the young man that challenged her. The head of the Cameron clan listened for a while, then agreed. Rhona accepted, so long as her husband would take the Maille name as his own.

The entire group, including Rhona's band, returned to the nearest Cameron castle; she stayed there for three days before leaving for home.

"Things continued in decent fashion for a bit over two hundred years after her return, their reputation growing with each finished product."

Both women had been focused on Erin's telling the story and now found their cups were empty, cups were refilled and they sat down again.

"Well, now we come to the part that is relevant to me in the here and now.

"In either 1669 or 1670, the records are not very clear about it, two members of the Maille clan fought outside the ironworks. At that time, the ironworks was owned and managed by Aladric Maille, a direct descendant from Cedric's line through the marriage to the Cameron bastard. He heard the commotion outside the ironworks and stepped out in time to see the dark haired male knock the blonde one down.

"He knew the two men, they were cousins of the family, the dark haired one descended from Brian Boru, the other from the Cameron side. The blonde stood up, wiped the blood from his mouth and cheek, then hammered the dark one in the gut, winding him for a moment.

"The fistfight continued for several minutes, both of them snarling, yelling and apparently laying claim to Aladric's eldest daughter. Both were saying things that were not considered appropriate for young lasses, and Aladric could see his daughters in the doorway of the house.

"Just as Aladric was about to say something, he saw Cambra Lafoy stalking out from the woods near her own home. He could tell from here that the woman was rather upset, and watched as she headed toward the two fighters, casting a spell as she came close to them.

"Both young men were rather annoyed to find out that they could no longer hit the other, it seems the witch had set an invisible wall between them. Both checked to either side, that odd wall seemed to stretch at least five yards each way. Then the witch spoke.

"She said to them, 'So this is how you young men court young ladies these days? You dishonour our name by your actions. Neither one of you shall have any of Aladric's girls, or any other girls from this family. I curse you now to be both male and female in one person.'

"Before they could figure out was was happening, the wall vanished and another spell was cast, this one on the two males. The spell washed over the two of them, the faint purplish glimmer slowly descending as it worked its way from their heads down to their feet, then stopped.

She then turned to Aladric and spit out, 'And you did nothing to stop them, even though they might have hurt others. If you had spoken, perhaps it might have ended with just a slap or so on either side, but both of them were intending to kill the other and you did NOTHING!

"She shook her head, her twin braids snapping from side to side, 'For doing nothing, I curse you and your family.' She then spent a few minutes chanting before she spoke to him again. 'Hear this and know it to be true: Your line shall have at one person each and every generation that will bear the sex parts of both male and female. As your family grows, the number of those per generation will rise. Until the one comes who will attain both her male and female puberties far beyond the normal time, your line shall stay cursed in this manner.'

"She finished speaking, turned slowly round to look at one and all, glowering as she turned, then stalked back to her hut in the woods.

Erin stopped telling the story and shook her head, saying, "I didn't learn about the curse until I was thirteen when I found an old family journal. One of the early entries in it was by my father's mother, who had written down the actual curse in an entry in the journal.

"I'd show it to you, but that journal was destroyed in a flash thunderstorm nine years ago, I had been out in the back yard reading it, sitting at the base of the old maple, when the storm came out of nowhere. In seconds it was pouring and lightning and thunder were all around.

"I became very scared, dropped the journal and ran into the house, then down into the basement. The storm continued raging out there for about an hour, midway through it, I heard a very big cracking sound, then a huge thud as the old maple toppled to the ground.

"The lightning strike that broke the tree was not the worst of it, though, a strike following that one hit that journal dead on; by the time they managed to clear the tree from the yard, all that was left of the journal was ashes except for one tiny piece of the cover."

Erin reached into a small pouch on her belt that Stasia hadn't noticed, then dropped a small bit of partially burned leather on the table.

"That is all that remains of that journal you mentioned?" Stasia inquired. A tear in one of Erin's eyes was the only answer she needed.

Erin picked up the fragment, put it back in her pouch, then returned to telling her story.

"It was about that same time that I found out how my father Alan died. I told you before that the witch LaFoy cursed my family, specifically stating that there would be people in each generation carrying both male and female sexual parts, what we refer to as genitals nowadays.

"Well, my father assumed that he was fairly normal, or at least not at risk of being part of the curse, as he had entered his male puberty about two months before his eighteenth birthday. He met my mother about six weeks after that birthday and fell in love with her from the very start.

"Three months later, after getting approval from both sets of parents, he married her. I was conceived about five weeks after the wedding.

"From what I've been told by my mother, she found out she was pregnant about a month after conception. Of course, with a definite positive result, she told my father and then passed it on to the rest of the family. Everyone was happy, then our lives took a darker turn.

"My father had been having cramps in the lower abdomen periodically for several months, slowly increasing in intensity. He didn't realize it, but he was actually intersexed and the cramps were his menses as his female organs developed and became fully functional.

He pretty much just ignored it, never even bothered to get checked out and so it continued to become more intense as the months passed. About a month before his nineteenth birthday, it all came crashing down on him thanks to a tiny fragment of bone that had been chipped off the edge of a rib and lodged on the upper wall of an artery when he had slammed into a doorway somewhere a few days earlier.

"The fragment stayed there for a day or so, then a strong flow of arterial blood picked it up and carried it to his fully developed uterus. Two days later, the cramps started again, and about twelve hours after that, the bone fragment was swept out of the womb.

"It didn't take very long for the fragment to reach the closed layers of skin where the vagina would be on a normal girl. There was a very slight tear between the connected tissues and that sharp fragment of bone slammed into that very spot with the force of a miniature tidal wave.

"The tiny tear opened wide as the sets of vaginal lips were forced open and the blood poured out, it wasn't pretty. He immediately felt the wetness in his underwear and ran to the bathroom, stripping as fast as possible, only to see the whole crotch of his jeans were soaked.

"The actual 'flood' didn't last more than a minute or two, but a quick look in the mirror showed him the truth, it couldn't be denied. He freaked out for a moment, shattering the bathroom mirror with a closed fist, then ran into the small office where he kept a gun locker.

"He pulled out the sawed off double barrel shotgun, loaded both barrels, sat down, shoved the barrels in his mouth and pulled both triggers."

Erin stopped speaking. Both girls noticed their cups were empty and went to refill them, then sat down at the table again.

"Oh my, that must have been a horrible sight for your mother to find," Stasia remarked.

"Yes. There's not much left to tell now. Except for me, every other person in the family that has ended up with both sets of sex characteristics became fully functional before their twentieth birthdays. That wasn't the case for me, with no signs of puberty until about four years ago.

"Well, that's not entirely true, there were signs that something was happening, but they weren't easy to spot. As far as the doctors could tell, my hormones, both testosterone and estrogen, were at insanely low levels until a year or so ago, with estrogen being slightly stronger.

"It eventually became obvious that I had a bit wider hips than was normal for a supposed boy, and a little breast growth, perhaps an A cup, by the time my 22nd birthday passed. A few months after that birthday, my body started kicking into gear, producing estrogen on a level similar to that of many 14 or 15 year old girls. The male side was a bit slower, but did ramp up a few months later, and Johnny is fully functional.

"It was around that time that they did some medical tests and found a complete female reproductive system inside me, the only issue was that it had no egress, so I went in for a small operation where they did a quick snip or two at the point where the vagina normally is; while they were doing the bit of snipping, they found that there were inner and outer labia present, but like my father, they had grown together.

"I wasn't fully functional on both sides of the gender equation until just before my 24th birthday. I spoke to a cousin still living in the UK a few months ago and found out there have been no new cases of children in the family developing as hermaphrodites for six months before that.

The few bits of the curse that I can remember offhand are as follows:

"Be intertwined, both boy and girl
As energies gather and swirl,
Girl and boy in one body bound,
Many to come 'fore one is found;
Each twined soul shall find their form
At age for which it is the norm,
Until the time that brings my heir
With pow'r over ground, sea and air."

Erin remarked, "There's a lot of the rest of it that I don't remember, but I do recall the last two lines:

"When one comes late, both girl and boy,
The curse shall end say I, LaFoy."

Erin giggled and smiled at Stasia, "And now to show you the proof of my tale. Watch closely."

Erin focused intently for a moment, then a very bright flame appeared on her palm, seemingly dancing, blue-white and about two inches high.

Stasia was stunned, she gaped at the bright flame dancing on Erin's palm. "There's real magic in the world?!" she gasped.

"Indeed," Erin replied, "This is the least of what I can do, but most other spells might cause great harm if I used them, so I won't." She focused again for just a second or two and the flame that had been dancing on her palm winked out. "I am Cambra LaFoy's heir to the magic."

Seeing Erin oh so casually bring forth that little flame, then snuff it out, showed that there did seem to be magic still in the world.

She and Erin sat in the kitchen at the gorgeous oak table, chatting over cups of tea just like many often do in the early evenings.

"I've been wondering, Erin," Stasia inquired, "Just how long have you been able to do magic?"

"Just before Midsummer Eve last year," Erin replied, "I had gone on a bus trip to Stonehenge, and the day after the visit, I could feel the magic. I didn't realize what it was at first, I just knew that I could feel some things that I couldn't before that, and that feeling grew day by day.

"I stayed near Stonehenge for perhaps a week, then on the actual night of Midsummer, I went up the hill, into the henge itself.

"At first, everything seemed normal, then a fine mist rose over the henge. Soon after that, I saw one of the Fae, what a blessing!"

"Not just magic, but magical creatures, too? You've been quite the lucky one!" Stasia whined.

"The magic has been growing in me steadily since then. At first, I could do nothing with it, it was about a month later that I was able to make a simple flame like I showed you a few minutes ago. Since then, I've learned quite a bit, sometimes through meeting one of the Fae."

"Damn," Stasia muttered, "So your skills with magic are slowly increasing. What else can you do, Erin?"

"Well, if I felt I needed it, I could call an animal to help me, perhaps a timber wolf or a horse to ride. I've actually called a bear twice."

"That must be hard, I'm pretty sure there aren't many bears here," Stasia remarked, "I wonder where a bear would have come from."

"I'm not sure myself, Stasia, but I did call a bear. Later that night, I looked at pictures of bears online, the one I saw was a Kodiak bear."

"A Kodiak? Are you absolutely sure, Erin? They generally don't go far from their native area."

"Quite sure, Stasia, he was huge, I stood beside him when he was on all four paws and his shoulder was at the level of my chin."

Stasia looked at Erin for a moment, Erin was perhaps 5'8" tall, which meant that bear was almost five feet tall. She gasped.

Erin nodded, "Yeah, he was that big. Yet he made no move to hurt me in any way, he seemed content to have me rub under his chin. At one point, he wandered off to a nearby brook, stuck his paw in there and pulled out a five pound trout where trout haven't been for many years."

Stasia sat there, shaking her head. A bear of that size wandering around this close to a huge city? Even in the suburbs, that was odd.

Erin sat across from Stasia, sipping her tea, smiling as she realized that Stasia was having a hard time believing her. She thought about it for a few minutes as she finished her tea, then asked Stasia to put on her coat and boots, they would be going out for a while.

Stasia nodded, quickly getting ready, and remembered to grab her purse, Erin already seemed to have hers in hand.

The two girls headed out the front door, then around the house to the small garage. Erin opened it, revealing a small grey and silver sedan.

The two girls sat down in the comfortable leather seats inside the car, Erin grinning as she looked over to Stasia. "If you're wondering about the seats, I like to be comfortable, and I found this pair of leather bucket seats on sale at a flea market in West London two years ago."

Stasia moaned, worming her way deeper into the comfort of the seat as she snapped the seat belt into place.

Erin giggled, started the car, waiting a few minutes as it warmed up, then backed toward the street, looking all around.

It didn't take them too long to get to the place Erin seemed to be going, she parked the car in a small lot next to the North Mymms Park.

The girls got out of the car, Erin using the remote to lock it, then headed into the park, to an area beside the river.

Erin sat down on the grass after brushing aside a thin layer of snow, motioning for Stasia to do the same.

Stasia did, then settled down to watch. A minute or two later, she thought she could hear Erin humming something or perhaps chanting?

Another ten minutes passed, then as if it came from out of nowhere, a huge bear appeared, walking right up to Erin.

Erin didn't seem to be afraid of the bear at all, Stasia however was not far from being petrified. To say it was huge was being nice!

Erin noticed Stasia's fear, turned and spoke quietly, "Stasia, you have nothing to fear from him. Meet Rolas, one of my protectors."

Stasia shook her head, her mind boggling even more over that announcement. Protector? This girl, who could do magic, needed protection? She was still trembling when a rather large paw laid itself gently on her lap, the bear sitting patiently just in front of her.

Stasia looked up at the bear, he was looking back at her. Hmmm, he actually seemed to be offering his chin for a scratch? Oh, my!

Stasia giggled, the giggle being somewhat fear-based. With a trembling hand, she reached up and tentatively scratched under his chin. The bear whuffed lightly, his eyes closing as he leaned forward just a wee bit more as Stasia continued to scratch that oh so sweet spot.

Stasia finally understood she wouldn't be harmed, this bear considered her to be someone who belonged with Erin, thus under his protection.

After a few more minutes of scratching and several quiet whuffs of contentment, the bear padded off toward the river. Erin and Stasia sat there for about ten minutes before the bear returned, dropping a fair sized trout in front of Erin. Rolas wandered off three more times toward the river, returning each time with another fish just as big as the first or not far from it as the two girls sat and enjoyed the early winter evening.

When the fourth fish had been dropped in front of her, Erin said something Stasia could not understand. The bear padded off, then vanished.

Erin carefully picked up the four fish, then the two girls walked back toward the car. At the car, Erin found a bag and placed the fish in it. The two girls climbed into the comfortable seats and buckled up as Erin started the car. A few minutes later, they were driving back to Erin's home.

It was just after 9:30 PM when they exited the car in the small garage, then Erin closed the garage and locked it before entering the house.

Once inside the house, Erin put three of the fish into a freezer bag, then into the freezer, dropping the last one on a cutting board. She quickly took her coat and boots, leaving the boots on a mat by the front door and hanging the coat in the hall closet, then had Stasia do the same.

The two headed back into the kitchen, where Erin out on a fresh pot of tea, then dropped a bit of butter in the frying pan. She turned a burner of the old stove on and waited as the butter melted, taking a moment to cut the head from the fish, she didn't have a taste for that part. Nope.

The head was tossed into a bag under the sink, then Erin cut the fish into two large fillets and placed it in the frying pan.

There was a fair bit of mashed potatoes left over from the day before, that could be warmed in the oven. Erin remembered that there was a bag of frozen peas in the freezer, she pulled that out, poured some into a small bowl, then set a pot with some water on the stove to boil.

She laughed as she realized that she needed to turn on the oven to let it preheat. She didn't often cook for others, not since her mother had been in a fender bender a bit over a year ago in South London, just over one of the bridges from the Tower. Her mother's legs had been shattered in that crash; she'd had at least seven operations since then, plus had all kinds of pins and screws inserted to keep the legs straight.

To this day, the doctors weren't sure if her mother would ever be able to walk unassisted again. At the moment, she had to use two canes. Erin supposed that things could have been much worse, the small residence where she stayed now required steep monthly payments.

Erin sighed, flipped the trout over, then poured the peas into the pot. The oven was ready, she turned it down and set the potatoes in to warm.

Those payments were expensive, but manageable, especially with the bi-weekly payments from the Maille Ironworks family trust funds.

The food was soon ready, Erin placing each bit of food on a board on the table before setting two plates and some silverware by each plate. She then turned back to the old stove, turning off the burner, then the oven, before she faced the table as Stasia returned from the bathroom.

The two sat down to a nice dinner, chatting about what had happened that day. Erin was content, and Stasia was learning about the world.