Episode One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Choices of Fate

Professor Eira jerked back, yanking her paws from my hands, trembling. Her ears frantically twitched back and forth. The trembling didn’t go away as her eyes widened, showing the whites.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

I reached out to her, but she leaned away from me.

The Cat jumped over to her couch and started purring. At the same time, warmth pulsed up from the floor and into the couches. 

 Slowly, the trembling stopped, and she started to pet the Cat. Eventually, she glanced at me.

“Your Fate magic is interwoven with your stone magic. The dragon and angelic magic are separate, since they aren’t naturally yours. They’re from bonds you’ve formed, or steps you’ve undertaken to connect with those powers.” She frowned. “Whatever that gift was, it reacted to your natural magic like it was always a part of you. Like a missing puzzle piece.”

“So, my brother gave me a puzzle piece that someone took from me when I was younger?” I tried to understand what she’d said, but it just didn’t make sense. Even if my brother knew magic, how would he know about my own magic, unless it was something he’d messed with in the past?

“You were born on a world where magic wasn’t the norm, correct?”

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

“More than likely, what happened is that your magic hid because of the lack of magic around you. Children aren’t the best at keeping secrets. Magic can protect itself. That glitter might be from your world, something that let your magic know it’s safe to come out.”

She nodded twice, as though she was agreeing with her own statement.

“That makes the most sense,” she concluded.

“But, I’ve used magic and been around it in the shop. Not to mention the dragon’s gift.” The amount of magic I’d interacted with since starting this job felt enormous. I slept next to a very magical plant, for goodness’ sake, and helped take care of a book dragon.

“Your magic hid really deeply within your soul… I couldn’t even sense the vastness when I checked before, and I am one of the best magical teachers across several worlds.” Her cheeks turned a little pink as she spoke. “I don’t like to brag, but it’s true.”

It fit, but that didn’t mean I liked what it meant. My brother did know I had magic, and had done something to convenience my magic was safe to come out of hiding.

A thought came to mind, one I didn’t dare speak aloud. I couldn’t. It hurt too much. Yet, my brain wouldn’t let it go. Did others in my family know about magic?

“You might be able to learn to direct your Fate magic. You can write down questions before you go to bed, or when you meditate. Basically, ask it to respond. Right now, you only use it when it appears, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t active all the time.” 

I didn’t want to try to use it, but I would. I had to understand.

“I’ll try,” I promised.

“The goal is to figure out your trigger, to get it to work when you want it. To see if you are in a situation where something needs a nudge, even when it isn’t so strong as to jump out at you, like it does now.”

“A nudge to help the tree?”

“A nudge to make the entire universe a better place.”

I thought about the golden glow I’d seen between various people on coffee-shop days. I’d thought it was only a relationship that needed to form. Did it mean something else? Could I learn how to understand what that glow wanted?

“But, what can fall under that? What kinds of nudges does the Tree need?”

Professor Eira smiled, and she practically vibrated with happiness at the question. “So many things! It can be as simple as creating a bright spot in someone’s day. Maybe you start a nudge that causes someone to fall in love, or learn a new fact that creates ripples. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t make life better for that person. Or it might seem small now, and become huge in generations, even centuries, in ways you cannot predict, but the Tree expects.”

She leaned closer to me. “I’ve read stories of those Fate touched who changed everything. They stopped wars, helped discover new branches of magic, and healed people. Fate never touched them directly, but through little nudges, to drive their natural tendencies into the right track.”

That sounded like a ton of responsibility. A weight settled on my shoulders that I didn’t like.

“I like my life how it is…” Working in the shop, trying to learn how to cook, and discovering new things I could do with my magic. Simple, not responsible for the whole universe of everything.

“That’s what I’m saying, dear. If you learn how to activate your magic, you wouldn’t need to do more than you are. Think about it. You nudge someone in the shop, who then goes on to great things.”

“I’d never know.”

“Doesn’t that make it even better?” she asked.

She wasn’t wrong. I enjoyed making everyone’s day a little brighter. That was why the coffee shop days made me so happy. Who didn’t enjoy a good cup of coffee? Who knew what they’d go on to do for the rest of their day? 

A warmth spread throughout me, and that weight lessened. Just because I learned to use it, didn’t mean I had to help everyone. But those who came into the shop, those I could help. 

Especially if it helped free the Cat.

“You aren’t required to solve the universe’s problems,” said the Cat, from where he rested near the Professor.

“I’ll bring some stories about those that Fate has touched next time I come by, though I hadn’t meant to come by this time…” She suddenly jumped up. “I have an appointment that I shouldn’t miss.”

I stood up, shaking my head at the turn today had taken. I snagged my journal off the table from where she had set it.

“I’ll try to figure it out a little more actively before you come back.” 

She nodded, but clearly was distracted as I escorted her back to the front of the shop.

This time, when the door closed, I locked it behind her.

I turned to find the Cat staring at me from the archway to the living room. “She is wrong, you don’t need to practice it if you don’t want to. We can figure out your brother’s gift in a different way.”

###

All of this conversation about the Fates made my hackles raise. Sable didn’t deserve to be responsible for their jobs. Eira’s theory about the Fates getting raised to that position also didn’t match what I knew about them. They didn’t feel like others; not Fey Lords, Dragons or any of the most powerful beings created when new worlds formed.

The bonds that kept me here were beyond that. Beyond the ability of even the strongest, and I had been one of the strongest. 

“I like the idea of helping those who come into the shop,” answered Sable. Her eyebrows drew together, and she didn’t sound completely certain. “That feeling of that book going to those boys, it felt right. I liked that feeling.”

I couldn’t disagree with that. All of those lines gone from the book, all of those days spent helping that tribe gone from my never ending list. Yet… Yet, Sable was more important than that.

“You shouldn’t feel like you must do that though. It isn’t your responsibility.” The words fell from my lips. More truthful than I wanted to be, but there they were. “Your contract is only for a year, then you will have other things to do.”

She nodded slowly before she smiled at me. “That doesn’t mean I can’t focus on figuring it out for the rest of my contract. Plus, who says I won’t visit my family and then sign up again?”

This time, she chuckled as she headed past me into the living room. Inside, my soul felt frozen. Sable couldn’t be allowed to sign another contract. She deserved to be free of this place. I found myself unable to move as the archway closed behind me, leaving me in the front of the shop.

It shouldn’t be possible, but it was clear the shop didn’t agree with me.