[Mkguild] Dominion of the Hyacinth (9/10)

[C. Matthias]

Part 9 of Dominion of the Hyacinth!

---------

One moment Rhena was humming a little tune to herself as she cleaned 
out the stables for guests at the Evening Crow Inn while listening to 
the patter of rain on wooden shingles and the yard. The next she felt 
a thousand claws scratching all over her body inside and out, as well 
as a flood of memories mingling together that made her head feel as 
if it were going to burst like a melon dropped from a second story 
window. She dropped the rake and collapsed against the wall, 
trembling from ears to tail tip, jaw stretching in agony but tongue 
unable to form any words.

The pain dwindled to a dull ache persisting everywhere after a few 
seconds, but the strange mix of memories and identity continued to 
swirl in her head. She slid down the wall until she could sit and try 
to sort everything out. Strange memories of treetops, bows, slain 
elk, fighting Lutins, all flashed before her, some lingering longer 
than others, but all of them seemed so foreign to her life in Lyme Regis.

And then it became clear to Rhena that she had not always lived in 
Lyme Regis. And it was also clear that she had not always been a 
woman. The person of the masculine skunk who was a master archer, 
tracker, scout, and soldier slipped crack by crack through her 
memories of life in the farming village beneath the eastern cliffs. 
Receding from her were images of milking cows, cleaning up after the 
animals, serving patrons at the Inn, sewing, mending, and cooking. 
They did not disappear entirely, as Rhena did not disappear entirely. 
They merely faded into a shadowy veneer almost indistinguishable from 
one another.

But the life of the archer was a life she realized she knew and 
marveled at how she could have forgotten it. It was her own life, the 
life she was born to. It was the life of Berchem of Glen Avery. Rhena 
glanced down at herself, surprised that she was still the young 
farming girl that she had asked Jessica to make her over a month ago. 
Somehow she understood the spell had in part been broken, but she had 
not yet changed back.

What could that mean? Was she stuck as Rhena? Would she soon return 
to being Berchem?

The only one who could help her was Jessica. The hawk lived in 
Metamor. It was a three hour ride to Metamor, and with the rain 
coming it would likely take four. But she had to make the ride. And 
that meant it was time to say goodbye.

She gritted her fangs and pushed herself to her hind paws, smoothing 
out her skirt and tail. She still had some riding gear. Now to 
convince her employer, the Innkeeper, to lend her a horse for her 
journey home. A journey she hoped would bring her home at least.

----------

Master Renauld and his family were very sorry to hear that she needed 
to leave. Renauld well remembered how Rhena had told them that one 
day she might need to leave and so consented to the end of her 
employment and of the end of her living under their roof. He did 
counsel that she wait until the morning because of the storm settling 
into the valley, but Rhena couldn't risk waiting. Although she could 
not quite say why, Rhena knew that if she waited another day, the 
chance to become Berchem again would be lost. And if that were lost, 
now with all the knowledge of the life she had once had and with her 
taste for it rekindled, she did not know what she might do with her 
life. She felt a deep affection and love for Renauld and his family, 
but she could never come back here. Not now.

In the end Renauld consented and offered her his strongest horse to 
help her along the muddy road. He even gave her a sack of fresh bread 
loaves to strengthen her on her way. Rhena, despite her awareness of 
Berchem and his usual reserved manner, found herself embracing 
Renauld, his wife, and their elder children with thanksgiving and a 
bit of sorrow as she said her final goodbyes. And then before she 
could change her mind, she donned a heavy cloak wide enough to hide 
her tail, mounted and started on the road toward Metamor.

The rain had only begun to soak the ground so the roads were still 
firm beneath the horse's hooves. The sky was a smear of dark gray in 
every direction. The cliff heights were hidden above the rain. The 
soreness in Rhena's body returned in intervals, but never with the 
agony of those first few moments. Despite this her thoughts were 
consumed only with reaching Jessica in time.

The storm rumbled above her.

----------

By the time that Weyden and Jessica arrived in the mess hall, all of 
their friends were dressed, including Maud who'd been given a 
Lakeland uniform to wear until she could reclaim her old clothes at 
Metamor. Christina and Thyla had hurried home to escape the rain, 
leaving only Naomi to keep watch with them. When the two hawks 
entered, it was Kayla who rushed to Jessica's side first.

"Jessica, are you all right?'

Jessica shook her head. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me!"

"Forgiven," Kayla smiled and then wrapped her black-furred arms 
around the hawk's shoulders, hugging her tight. Jessica slipped free 
of Weyden's grasp and returned the hug, sweeping her wings out around 
the skunk's back. "I know what it was like," Kayla assured her. 
"Don't say anything about it."

"Except for all of the other things it made you do," Rickkter 
grumbled as he shifted about next to one of the walls. Everyone else 
had been sitting when the hawks came into the mess except for the 
raccoon and the rat. Both of them stood leaning against the wall and 
occasionally wincing. "That we need to know."

Kayla escorted Jessica into the room. The black-feathered hawk had a 
hard time lifting her gaze. Murikeer and James brought blocks of wood 
for the two hawks to perch on and set them at the middle of the table 
around which most of the rest of them sat. Naomi brought them bowls 
of steaming tea and Jessica gratefully dipped her beak to sip. When 
she lifted her head, Rickkter crossed his arms and leaned forward 
across the end of the table nearest the wall. "So, it's destroyed, 
root, branch, everything?"

"All of it," Weyden confirmed with a nod. "Even the bulbs have been 
burnt up. There's nothing left this time."

"Neither Muri nor I can see any signs of it," Rick agreed with a 
grunt. "And Maud isn't a giraffe anymore which is another good sign. 
Who else was changed? I remember who Kuna is now. But who else? And 
how many were unwilling?"

"Only a few," Jessica admitted after taking another sip. "There was 
some human merchant I turned into a dog a few days ago. I never knew his name."

"What's happened to him?" Charles asked. He held the tip of his tail 
in one paw and rubbed the soft flesh between his fingers.

"I don't know," she said with a heavy sigh. A shudder passed through 
her wings. "If he's lucky he just turned back into a man and has time 
to get out of the Valley before the Curse grabs him for real."

"And if unlucky?" Rickkter pressed.

"Then my spell brought the Curse on him already and he's become a dog man."

"And he was a merchant?" Jessica nodded. Charles grimaced, lowering 
all of his whiskers for a moment before they twitched out to the side 
again. "If that is the case I will ask Julian to speak with him. He 
might be able to find him a job and help him get back on his... paws."

"That's probably the best we can do," Rickkter nodded in agreement. "Who else?"

It took Jessica nearly half an hour for Jessica to describe in detail 
all of those she had transformed and what had become of them as far 
as she knew. Most, like Maud, had come from those who had wanted to 
be transformed and so the worst they would suffer would be bitter 
disappointment at returning to their old forms. But only Kuna and the 
merchant had been changed against their will.

"I'm not sure what Kuna will do," Rickkter mused.

"Do you know him well?" Murikeer blinked his one eye. "I have never 
crossed his path, only heard what has been said about him."

"Not very well. Mostly by reputation. But if he threatens Jessica 
over this he'll be in for a nasty surprise."

"I did him wrong," Jessica said in a choked squawk. Weyden wrapped 
her in his wing. "I owe him something."

"Talk to the Duke about that," Dallar suggested. "You've already 
skipped two weeks worth of patrols and we miss you. I'm sure he'll be 
glad to extend your term of service to Metamor!"

Her eyes brightened a moment as she regarded the ram. She had joined 
the patrols as a field mage so that she could be close to Weyden. Two 
weeks ago her research had taken precedence and she had used the 
hyacinth's powers to convince the others that she didn't need to 
accompany them anymore. It would feel so good to do something so 
simple as duty again with her friends.

"Maybe there is something you can provide the mage guild. The 
hyacinth belonged to Yonson. It was already corrupted by Marzac," 
Murikeer noted by pointing to his claws in succession. "Hyacinths 
grow in abundance in the south, and none of them have caused what we 
saw here or what you saw last year. Perhaps there is a way to use a 
hyacinth to help those who do wish to change what the Curse has done 
to them without the forgetfulness or other evil consequences."

Jessica shook her head. "I don't know how to do that to a hyacinth. 
The one I planted was already prepared to act as an incunabulum."

"Baring that, could you still control the Curse like before?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Jessica shuddered, her feathers puffing up and 
resettling themselves.

Muri and Rickkter exchanged meaningful looks. "It's worth exploring, 
but it'll be a long time before we can be sure it would even work." 
Rickkter grimaced and shifted about on his paws. "It may have other 
consequences we don't know about yet. Best leave that aside for 
later. And if Kuna decides to cause problems, I will speak to him. 
Are you sure there's no one else?"

Weyden kept his wing wrapped about his wife's back. She seemed 
smaller than before, a thing collapsed in on itself. She lapped at 
the warm tea for several seconds before lifting her head to briefly 
look at the raccoon before her golden eyes descended to the table. 
"Lindsey, but I'm not sure what will happen to him. The only other 
that seems important is... Rhena! Oh my! I need to check on her!"

She stood up straight and cast her gaze about as if she expected to 
see this Rhena somewhere in the room with them. Her friends all 
looked at each other confused. Kayla asked, "Who is Rhena?"

"That's not her real name," Jessica admitted. "She asked to be turned 
into a young woman so she could better learn how women felt. I 
changed her at the end of March and since then she'd completely 
forgotten she'd ever been anything but what I made her. When I saw 
her two days ago the spell had begun to merge with her skunk curse. 
If I don't do something, she may be stuck as Rhena!"

"Who was she?" Charles asked with a frown. He leaned back and bumped 
his rear against one of the other tables and visibly winced.

"She used to be Berchem."

"Berchem!" James nearly shouted, both of his ears rising swiftly to 
their full height. "So that's where he went! He wanted to be a woman? 
I never would have thought that of him." In a quieter voice the 
donkey added, "Would serve him right getting stuck."

Jessica took another sip of the tea and then stepped off the perch. 
"I have to go find her... or him. If there is anything I can do to 
fix this, I have to do it. Please, let me go."

"That rain outside is going to become a storm very soon," Kayla 
pointed out. She reached a paw out to touch Jessica's wing but never 
quite reached her. "Are you sure want to risk it? So soon?"

The hawk nodded. "If I don't go now I may not reach her... him in 
time. I can't fix everyone else, but I can try to help him!"

Maud stepped to her other side and nodded, her dark hair falling in 
her face, something that had not happened the whole month she had 
been a giraffe. "Go find him and help him, Jessica. Is there anything 
we can give you for your journey? Where are you going?"

"Lyme Regis," Weyden said with a sigh. "Berchem's in Lyme Regis."

Jessica turned to her husband, eyes widening in surprise. "How did you know?"

"That's where we went two days ago and where I rested much of the day 
away." He encircled her in his wings again and nuzzled her cheek with 
his beak. "And I forgive you that, my love."

"Lyme Regis is a long way from here," Naomi pointed out. "Are you 
sure you can make it?"

"I have to for Berchem's sake. And no, Maud, there isn't anything 
more I need. The tea was enough to give me my strength back."

"And mine." All eyes turned toward the other hawk. He cracked his 
beak in a grin. "You didn't think I was going to let you risk this 
storm by yourself, did you?"

Jessica's heart swelled with gratitude and love for her husband; for 
a moment she was able to forget her shame.

----------

After the first hour, Rhena felt her the pains in her body subside 
into a faint stiffness as if she had just risen after sleeping off an 
exerting day. The cloak did its job in keeping the rain off her back 
and out of her face. She kept her tail bundled beneath it as well and 
apart from a few droplets that she flicked from her whiskers now and 
again, the top half of her was mostly dry. Her legs however were 
soaked and cold. The water clung to her fur and made her feel as if 
she were a sponge. As if that wasn't bad enough, the constant 
downpour had finally turned the road to Metamor into a long stretch 
of mud. The slime coated her paws, got between her toes and claws, 
and ruined her riding trousers.

If she were Berchem again, she knew the mud would have been just one 
more nuisance in a day's work. But her body remained stubbornly 
female and kept reacting that way. It both annoyed and intrigued her. 
It made her wonder what would happen when she returned to being 
Berchem. How much of Rhena would remain?

That question troubled her for the next hour. The storm continued to 
strengthen. To the south the clouds became a wall of impenetrable 
darkness with flashes of light and angry rumbling. By the end of the 
second hour the rain pelted her cloak so firmly that she felt as if 
she were being pummeled by a murder of crows and nibbled by a 
mischief of rats. And while the horse was strong and managed to get 
through the mud patches, they were moving slower than she hoped; 
Metamor Keep was nowhere in sight.

Still, a part of her heart vacillated between the road ahead of her, 
and the life she had just left behind in Lyme Regis. For a short time 
she regretted leaving Master Renauld and his family. Their son had 
found her quite fetching and she had enjoyed the many stares he'd 
given her. And it was a far simpler life and less dangerous than the 
one Berchem led.

But such vacillation was always short-lived. She had been born 
Berchem and now that she remembered who she was, that was the life 
she knew she had to reclaim if she could. The only reasons he was 
here now was because she had wanted to learn more about how women 
felt. She smiled even despite the misery of her body. This she had 
learned in greater abundance than she'd ever expected.

Even if she didn't want to admit it, she'd found Renauld's son quite 
handsome too. Another month and they'd probably have found themselves 
making a pretty pile in the hay. That thought alone made Rhena draw 
the cloak more tightly around herself and kick the horse's sides.

She had to get to Metamor!

----------

The rain pounded on their wings but the two hawks pushed themselves 
as fast as they could. Their course followed the river to Metamor, 
but it would take them at least three hours to penetrate the storm 
and the winds before they could alight upon the Keep's mighty towers. 
There was little of missing Berchem along the road as the skunk would 
have an even harder time traveling from Lyme Regis where the storm 
would circle and pound as it ran against the narrowing gap in the 
mountains. Further, the hawks had the benefit of an hour with only a 
very light rain in which they were able to cover half the distance to Metamor.

But once the storm began in earnest, Weyden and Jessica were forced 
to take rests in the sheltering crags of the mountains flanking them 
on their right. She used a little power to try and keep them dry so 
they could navigate the skies, but with the hyacinth destroyed she 
felt a terrible weakness suffuse her. Weyden nudged her and sheltered 
her during their rests, and he never offered even a squawk of 
complaint as they battled the rain. In him she found her strength.

The storm continued to darken as they neared Metamor. Their wings 
ached, their chest labored for each breath, and the cold of the wind 
and the rain numbed their bones. When at long last they were able to 
take shelter in the belfry, lashed as they were and with the sky 
rumbling and flashing, they both collapsed behind one of the 
protecting walls and spent several minutes gasping for breath and 
drying their lathered wings and tails.

"The sun will set soon," Weyden said after regaining his breath. "It 
will be impossible to find Berchem after dark."

"I'm so tired," she mewled.

His wings laid atop her and his voice filled her with warmth. "Just a 
little bit further. We should follow the road now."

Jessica nodded and climbed back to her talons. She cast one glance at 
the bells and the place where once their enemies had bound the Censer 
of Yajakali. The spot was empty and slick now with rain. The bells 
were so heavy that even the wind did not disturb them in their 
metallic slumber. Not even a year ago those titanic events took 
place, and yet now there was nothing, not even an ominous presence, 
to give a hint of the terrors once done in that place. Jessica felt 
better thinking it.

The storm did not abate. They found the road heading south and the 
fork turning toward Lyme Regis only by dropping down to nearly the 
level of the trees. Here they were buffeted from side to side and 
nearly dashed into the swaying and cracking branches. Lightning 
blistered the ground a hundreds yards to the south The thunder smote 
them with such intensity that they had to flee to the earth to find 
any relief. There they crawled along on wings and claws until they 
could find the road again and attempt to fly a few feet above its muddy tracks.

Flying so low to the ground was difficult even in the best of 
conditions, requiring minute adjustments to their wings and frequent 
beating of the wings to keep them aloft. Now it was all they could do 
to keep from flying headfirst even into the felled stumps that lined 
the road. Jessica wept but would not let her husband fly faster than 
she. How could he be so much stronger than her now?

The misery in every sinew of her flesh seemed to burn her like a 
brand searing her flesh by the time they finally saw the drenched, 
cloaked figure leading a lame horse. The horse, a solid farm animal, 
was favoring his left foreleg. The cloaked figure whose cloak 
billowed behind her from a large tail, had one paw on the creature's 
neck to guide him through the mud and the rain. It was so dark and so 
terrible that she didn't even see the hawks until they nearly 
collapsed at her feet.

Weyden swelled to his full size, spreading his wings to cover his 
wife and to block the way forward. His beak screamed the words over 
the torrent, "Are you Berchem?"

The cloaked figure nodded, and he could see a black and white furred 
snout beneath the cowl. The skunk was clearly female; Jessica's spell 
had remained as she'd feared it would. "I'm trying to find Jessica!" 
the skunk screamed back.

"I am here," Jessica cried as she tried to grow in size. Weyden had 
to nudge her with his talons to help her stand. Once he righter her 
she was able to grow back to her human size. "Oh, Berchem, I'm so sorry!"

The skunk shook her head. "It's done. I... I don't think I'm going to 
change back am I?"

Jessica slumped against her husband and squawked, "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"That way," Weyden suggested, pointing toward the wood a short 
distance from the road. "We can get out of the rain."

Weyden helped his wife hop the twenty or so paces to the first 
sheltering boughs of oak and alder. Berchem led her horse who grunted 
with every other step. The ground was uneven and slick from the rain. 
The storm pushed through the woods even after they took another 
twenty steps within, but the roar was subdued and the rain didn't 
fall as heavily on their shoulders. Jessica gasped and through sheer 
need summoned a pair of witchlights and a bit of warmth. Weyden and 
Berchem arranged a few felled branched to provide them some extra 
shelter from the rain. Berchem then wrapped the horse's left foreleg 
in a fresh blanket and tossed the sopping wet blanket she'd already used aside.

Jessica collapsed in a heap and trembled. Weyden drapped a wing over 
her and for the first time since they had begun to fly she was dry. 
Berchem flapper her cloak a few times before sitting down beneath 
their shelter and letting the cowl fall back to reveal her face. 
There was a sullen disappointment there, but the beginning flicker of 
resignation.

"Are you all right?" Berchem asked. "You look dreadful."

"We just flew from Lake Barnhardt," Weyden replied. "What happened to 
your horse?"

"He stepped on a loose stone in the mud and slipped a half hour ago. 
The nearest shelter is Euper and so I decided to bring him there." 
She undid the cloak and let it fall behind her. She wore green riding 
clothes with loose cut trousers and warm tunic. Weyden knew that this 
skunk had to be a man, but her bosom and manner suggested otherwise. 
"I have some bread Master Renauld gave me for the trip. Would you 
care for some?"

"Please," Weyden nodded.

Berchem threw the cloak over her shoulders and stepped back out into 
the rain to claim her satchel from the horse's flank. He nudged her 
with his snout which she patted before returning to the hawks. 
Jessica watched her while breathing as deeply as her aching muscles 
would let her. After depositing the sopping cloak on the ground 
behind her and just within the makeshift shelter that was already 
dripping in places, Berchem opened the satchel and began breaking the 
small loaves of sweet smelling bread. She passed a chunk to both of 
them while keeping a small portion for herself. "It isn't much, but 
it is all I have."

"Thank you," Jessica cawed, aching as she lifted the bread to her 
beak. She swallowed it in one gulp and felt some of her strength 
return. Even when she'd chased her friends after the Breckarin army 
had captured them she'd not felt this exhausted, and that chase had 
lasted two days! Why couldn't she bestir herself to do what she had 
braved the elements to do?

Berchem knelt on her knees and pulled her tail around to keep it out 
of the rain as she ate her morsel of bread. Her green eyes were cast 
to the ground before the hawks but she said nothing more until she 
had finished swallowing. A peal of thunder rippled the sky, but 
already they could tell that the worst of the storm was passing to 
the north. The rain continued its onslaught, but it was more the 
shaking of a man's fist than the beating they had endured on the way.

"You came to change me back," Berchem said softly, her voice tender.

Jessica shifted up so that she was standing. Weyden put his wing to 
her back to steady her. "I did. I will try." In a quieter voice she 
added, "If you want me to."

Berchem looked at her paws, turned them over twice, and then felt her 
face, chest, and knees. She sighed. "I can't go back to Master 
Renauld knowing what I know anymore. I can't go back to Glen Avery 
like this. I'll have to start my life over a second time if you 
can't. I... I don't want to do that but if I have to, then... then I 
will. Are you sure you can, Jessica? You look awful. I don't... I 
don't want you to get hurt. I'm so sorry."

Jessica stepped forward and extended her wing to embrace the skunk. 
She shifted forward on her knees and the two of them hugged. "I did 
this to you. I am sorry! I don't know if I can remove the spell but I 
will try. Are you ready?"

Berchem leaned back and fixed her golden eyes with her own. "Are you ready?"

She didn't know why, but she turned her head so that she could look 
at her husband. Weyden stood with his wings outstretched catching the 
rivulets of the downpour that pierced his thatch. He nodded his head 
and opened his beak in a comforting smile. "You can do this."

Jessica, buoyed by his confidence, turned back to Berchem and 
gestured for her to remain where she was. "You do make a lovely young 
woman. If this doesn't work I'll help you find a new place. For now, 
just stay like that and I will try my best."

The skunk stayed on her knees while Jessica willed the veins of magic 
to appear. To her relief, one of the major currents of magic that 
flowed through the nexus of Metamor followed the road, so there was a 
good deal of power for her to amplify what remained of her strength. 
Tightly wound into Berchem was the spell that Jessica had cast a 
month-and-a-half ago. It looked very similar to what she had seen two 
days before except for one notable difference; where once there had 
been a cord leading back to the hyacinth to provide power for the 
spell now there was nothing to keep the spell active except its 
connection to the Curse and to Berchem.

That connection was one that had grown in the time Berchem had lived 
as Rhena. Unlike any of her other victims, Berchem had been 
transformed long enough for that connection to gain sufficient 
strength to survive without the hyacinth. She had hoped to find a 
spell that was wavering and weak and that would break like glass when 
Jessica applied any force. The spell appeared to have suffered 
strain, but whatever damage the destruction of the hyacinth had 
wrought, it seemed to have healed itself.

Jessica touched the spell with her will in a few places to test its 
resiliency but could not find any purchase. The spell had wound tight 
against the Curse, so tight in fact that it was hard to say where one 
began and the other stopped. The skunk Curse, and that which made her 
a young woman were almost united.

She felt an urge to despair, a strangled defeat that left her empty. 
Turning back to her husband, she opened her beak in a silent cry. He 
hopped the two steps so that he could be at her side. His chest 
pressed against her back, and she could feel him breathing through 
her feathers. He nuzzled her neck with his beak.

Jessica returned her gaze to the skunk. Just then another flash of 
lightning illumined the forest and with it them. Brilliant veins of 
ice blue scattered across the spells like a million fireflies 
released from a bottle. All except for one little patch near the 
skunk's chest. Jessica saw the blank spot only for a moment before 
the flash subsided and the growl of thunder took its place. Drawing 
down one of the witchlights, she forced it to press against the skunk 
so that its petite magical substance touched Jessica's spell. 
Although not nearly as effective as the lightning, she could see the 
faint outlines of a place in her spell that had been damaged by the 
hyacinth's death.

Jessica bent her will on that spot, digging into the wounded contours 
of her own magic to find some thread with which to unravel the 
skunk's transformation. She found it easy to gouge at first because 
there was nothing left of the spell to resist her. But after her 
first few attacks she reached where the spell had managed to heal 
itself, and it resisted her with as much tenacity as the Curse itself 
had resisted the mages of Metamor for nearly the last decade.

Weyden's breath was slow and measured, comforting her and encouraging 
her. Berchem knelt without complaint, her paws on her knees, face 
hopeful but willing to accept whatever came next. Jessica knew the 
skunk would forgive her with ease if she were forced to remain Rhena 
to the end of her days. Nobody would blame her that she had tried. 
How much had she exerted herself in order to come even this far? 
Surely there was a time she just had to admit there was nothing more 
she could give.

She leaned back against her husband for a moment. He stepped forward 
to hold her, one of his talons brushing against her feet. He loved 
her. Weyden loved her enough to die for her. Used all of her 
strength? She hadn't even begun to exert herself!

Jessica renewed her her attack on the spell she'd crafted, digging 
her wing claws into its substance, tearing open that hole no matter 
how it tried to heal itself. The veins of magic flowing nearby gave 
magical strength, but it was a mere trickle compared to her husband's 
simple intake of breath. Her eyed glinted in the glow of the 
witchlights, while all around them the rain pounded the earth. A 
distant tolling of thunder rolled across the valley like the sound of 
war drums. All of it sounded with her against this Marzac-inspired dweomer.

Every mote, every nerve in her flesh seared with pain. She wanted to 
scream and find some place to hide, some far off vista to which she 
could fly and find refuge. But the spell remained before her, locked 
around Berchem with an almost palpable verve. Jessica leaned back for 
a moment into her husband's chest, and then she pushed forward into 
the pain and accepted it as her penance. She would! She would make 
this one thing right!

Jessica twisted her wingtips, crafting little spells to loosen the 
weave. Some bounced ineffectually off the extra curses, others 
appeared to work for a moment before the weaving tightened again. Her 
legs began to buckle and cramp, her bottle felt as brittle as clay, 
and her heart beat so fast in her chest that she was sure she was 
breaking ribs. But she did not stop.

Berchem, who had knelt so quietly even with the whipping wind making 
the trees rattle and threatening to bring their makeshift thatch down 
onto their heads, gasped in agony and had to bend forward with all 
four paws on the ground to keep from falling over. Jessica ripped 
back with her wing claws, and the spell finally tore free with it. 
The Curse atop the skunk for a moment also came with her spell. 
Weyden gasped as the fur along Berchem's face and arms receded to 
reveal pink flesh beneath. And then with a clap of thunder her spell 
split from the Curse and disintegrated into the flow of magic.

The Curse snapped back into place and Berchem's fur returned as her 
body swelled and split the tunic and riding trousers she wore. The 
seams down the sides of each ripped apart as the young woman grew in 
stature into a familiar middle-aged man.

Jessica collapsed back against her husband, all of her limbs 
trembling with agony and vertigo. Weyden eased her against the tree, 
cradling her with one of his wings. His golden eyes, so sharp and 
predatory, were now soft and gentle as he nuzzled her neck with his 
beak. "You've done it, my love."

Berchem gasped for breath, looking over his arms and strong chest 
with wonder and obvious relief. He lifted the torn remnants of the 
green tunic and sighed, shaking his head. "So passes Rhena. She was 
better than me."

Weyden cast him a queer glance,. "I thought you wanted to change back."

"I did and I am glad of it. But Rhena... she showed me me more than I 
ever expected." The skunk crawled to Jessica's side and lowered his 
snout to the ground. "Jessica, I am in your debt. I offer you 
anything you wish of me."

Both of her witchlights danced over their heads, but neither provided 
much light anymore. She lacked the strength to maintain them; if they 
weren't so close to one of the rivers of magic they would have 
already disappeared. Jessica felt a drop of rain land on one of her 
wings and she flinched. "Could you... fix the thatch?"

Berchem lifted his face, gazed at the makeshift shelter, and laughed, 
his smile warm and bright. "Of course; give me a moment and I'll have 
it done." Gone was the disdain and disquiet. She could see in that 
face the joy she had witnessed in Rhena. Somehow, despite everything 
the hyacinth had made her do, she had actually done some good.

Weyden gently stroked her face with his beak even as his other wing 
spread over her to keep her sheltered. But already the rain was 
slackening, and the thunder and lightning receding to the north. The 
crashes were but distant peals now, and the hammer blows of rain were 
but a constant thrumming as of a loom. The storm was passing.

Jessica breathed deeply of the scent of wet leaves and earth, and of 
the heady aroma of her husband pressed so close, and even of the 
pungent fragrance of the skunk. The pain subsided in her as she felt 
herself giving in to the exhaustion. As the sleep embraced her, she 
could not help but feel a deep serenity. Her tongue moved one last 
time before the surcease of slumber came; "I love you."

"And I love you," was the last she heard before dreams of comfort 
whisked her away. She dreamed of their home, those comfortable rooms 
in Twin Hearths, and their makeshift nest with soft pillows and linen 
blankets. And there between her and Weyden's feet a bright oblong egg.

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May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,

Charles Matthias