Hidden

Another title I'm unhappy with. So finally the big secret is revealed!

“Today? Let me see that!” Liza snatched the letter from Tam and looked at it critically, her eyes skimming briefly over the text but focusing on the date. “Oh God you’re right.” She gasped. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know! Let me think.” Tam rubbed his temples, wincing.

Cleven stood up and paced nervously, hunched over defensively.

“I suppose there’s no way he would believe it if we told him that she relapsed and now she’s sicker?” Fallin asked, sounding doubtful.

“Not a chance.” Cleven groaned. “He’s far too suspicious for that.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Liza repeated worriedly. “He’s going to be here soon! And what if he realizes it’s really me?”

“He won’t.” Tam said firmly, looking up. “Because you’re going to look just like Ellyra.”

“What?” All three voices chorused.

“Sorry, Tam but I don’t think we can justify putting Eliza back into a mask and even then—” Fallin began.

Tam drew a slow breath and let it out threw his teeth. “She won’t have to. We’re going to use other methods.”

“Other methods? Tam, what are you talking about?” Liza squeaked, glaring at him in panic.

“Magic.” Tam whispered, drawing a silver pocket watch out of his pocket.

Fallin looked up quickly and stared intensely at Tam. “You’re a fairy?”

“I… I don’t have wings.” Tam responded lamely. “But I have some concentrated magic. It’s stored in this watch.”

“You wouldn’t be able to use it if you weren’t a fairy.” Fallin muttered.

Tam bowed his head. “You’re right, Fallin. Yes. I’m a fairy.” He winced at Liza’s gasp. “There’s this tradition in the fairy kingdom where a fairy lives among humans for a year and they don’t have their wings. It was done a lot more in the old days. Or… I guess the days before fairies evolved enough to live in the clouds. Usually there would be and exchange; a human would live in the fairy kingdom for a year. It used to be a requirement for all royalty, at least in the fairy kingdom. Anyway, when they get back they’re called—”

“Keepers of the Right.” Fallin finished softly. “I should have guessed. Does that mean that Cypress really is the fairy prince?”

“Yes.” Tam whispered. “But please don’t tell anyone! No one’s supposed to know, especially not the royalty.” He looked to Cleven. “Cleven, I’m so sorry. We didn’t wish this on you and I really don’t know why Queen Alarken—”

“It’s all right, Tam.” Cleven interrupted softly, holding up a fur covered gnarled paw. “It’s not your fault. And we won’t tell anyone about you or Cypress. It’s important that we don’t go to war with your kingdom. It would just make things much worse than they already are.”

Liza stared dumbly at Tam. “I can’t believe you’re a fairy.”

“I covered it that well, huh?” Tam returned, smiling weakly.

“No, I just didn’t notice it.” Liza responded glibly.

“Look, we don’t have much time. The magic is strong, and it’s illusion magic to begin with, so you should be safe while Zayric’s here.”

“The king’s magic?” Fallin cut in, his eyes lighting up. “The king gave you a reserve of magic? That’s strange; I always thought that that wasn’t a common practice in the final test of the Keepers. Actually… I thought the practice was for one to switch at a time. Have the rules changed? Why are you and Cypress here together?”

“It’s not common practice. You’re very right about that.. But usually the Keepers don’t come down during the tension of a near war-related crisis. King Asper didn’t want to take any chances with his son. If something happens to him our whole kingdom is in huge trouble.”

Cleven closed his eyes. “I’m sorry Tam. If I could have done anything about my father’s actions…”

“No, Cleven, you’re the victim here. This shouldn’t even be happening to you. I’m sure that Queen Alarken had her reasons, but I have no idea what they were and she obviously didn’t foresee these kinds of consequences.”

“So what are you going to do to me?” Liza asked curiously. “We should do this now before he gets here.”

“Well first you’re going to need to get into one of those dresses. Ellyra’s a lady. She doesn’t wear britches.” 

Liza made a horrible face. “I don’t even know if I have another dress besides the one that I wore at the ball.”

“Ellyra has several and she’s about your size. I’m sure Marina can make some quick adjustments.” Fallin suggested. “But hurry. We haven’t got much time before Zayric arrives and we don’t even know when he’ll be here. Tam, go up with her. I’m such Cleven and I can stall him until you’re ready, Liza.”

Liza threw up her hands and slumped grudgingly up the stairs, calling for Marina as she went. Fallin looked after her, and then focused his gaze on Tam.

“It’s a brave thing you’re doing, exposing yourselves in this castle.”

“You don’t have to tell me that! The whole thing was Cy’s idea to begin with, and I promised I’d do it with him. He nearly threw a fit when he found out that I was supposed to come with him. Stupid traditions. But of course, that’s Cy for you. When it comes to being a Keeper he’s all about the traditions.”

“You can’t blame him for that. It’s some fascinating history, isn’t it Cleven?”

Cleven’s eyes gleamed and he nodded his great, furry head. “I always loved learning about it from Professor Fallin. Unfortunately my brother isn’t so open.”

Fallin sighed and tutted gently. “One can’t have everything, unfortunately. I’m afraid diplomacy was never one of Zayric’s strong suits.”

“He’ll learn.” Cleven said firmly. “He always has. Just give him time.”

“I hope you’re right, Cleven.” Tam said softly. “For your sake.”

 

*

 

“It actually suits you very well, Liza.” Marina said helpfully, getting rid of her last pin.

“Humph. It’s tolerable, I suppose.” Liza muttered grudgingly, inspecting herself in the mirror.

“Good.” Tam clapped his hands together and approached Liza carefully. “I promise this won’t hurt, but I can’t promise that it won’t tingle a little or feel kind of weird.”

Liza watched in fascination as Tam carefully pulled out the watch’s pin and tipped the opening into his hand for a second, and then closed it again quickly. She could not see anything entering his skin, but the force of whatever it was made Tam close his eyes and his already curly hair to frizz a bit. Upon opening his eyes, Liza realized that there was a tinge of gold in the blue.

She stepped closer as Tam beckoned her and he lifted a hand to her face, not touching it, but hovering it close enough for her to feel the slightly abnormal amount of warmth radiating from his hand.

Tam’s brow wrinkled in concentration and at once Liza felt something similar to a rush of warm air speeding over her face. Her skin – all of her skin, not just that of her face, tickled a little for a few seconds and she sneezed violently, which caused Tam to leap back, breathing a little harder than normal.

Looking in the mirror for a second time, Liza’s newly changed eyes stared back at her intensely. The illusion was perfect and complete; if she hadn’t known that she wasn’t really Ellyra, she certainly would have believed that she was.

“Is that it?” Liza questioned in confusion, feeling the slightest bit cheated. She’d seen fairies’ magic before; fire and sparks and beautiful colors that were conjured out of the air, but she’d always suspected that these were simple tricks designed to please an audience, particularly a human one, and not “real” magic. Still, it was disappointing that no incredible display had signified the change.

“Yeah, that’s it. Sorry there’s not more showy stuff involved, but magic that involves flashiness is usually reserved for entertainment only.” Tam said, as if in response to her thoughts.

“Oh.” Liza responded, feeling foolish before she realized something and put a hand to her throat in wonder. “Hey, my voice is just like Lyra’s!”

Tam smiled and nodded. “That’s part of the illusion too, Eliza.”

“ Well it’s certainly convincing.” Marina put in admiringly. “I can hardly tell the difference myself.”

“My bet is that you if you put the two of them together you couldn’t. King Asper’s magic is ridiculously powerful, and I only used the smallest amount that I could. Provided something like this happens again, it’s going to be very handy to have. Honestly, though, I really don’t think this was what he had in mind to use it for.”

“Well it’s a pretty good use for it, anyway. Why didn’t you use it to heal Cleven or Ellyra?”

“Not the right type of magic.” Tam informed her, shaking his head. “All fairies can do cool things like making things fly and creating sparks and light and a few other things, but there really is no generic ‘magic’ that allows a fairy to do whatever he wants. Basically you’ve got to stick to your concentration and all your power is a branch of that. The healing concentration is common, but I don’t have it.”

“What’s yours?” Liza asked curiously.

 “Mimickery, actually.” Tam told her somewhat sheepishly. “It’s a lesser branch of illusion. There are different magical classes you see, and the higher up you are the stronger your magic is and the more you can do with it. Generally those in higher magical classes breed together so the magic stays strong, although that’s not always done. Illusioning is useful since you can make any one thing appear to someone like something completely different than what it is. My power’s a lot more specific. When I’ve got my wings, I can take on the appearance of any other fairy and I’ll be able to fool you. It’s lots of fun, really. Great for pranks. Everything changes, too, even my voice and the appearance of my height.”

Liza glared ardently at Tam. “So you could pretend to be Ellyra if you wanted to! You just wanted to watch me suffer!” She accused, stomping her foot.

“Not at all!” Tam yelped hurriedly, waving his hands. “No, no Eliza, you misunderstand. I can take on the appearance of any fairy and only when I have my wings. Actually, I’m sure I still have some residual power left over, since I was actually able to pull off being in a dress without so much trouble.”

“So that’s the real reason why you were always the damsel in distress when you and Cypress would play!” Marina realized, laughing in a strange, ethereal manner. “You could actually convincingly pretend to be female!”

“Well, that and I honestly did fit into the clothes better than he did.” Tam answered with a grin. “And the little prat does outrank me terribly. Normally he wouldn’t boss me around, though.”

“What’s Cypress’s concentration? He must be really powerful if he’s the prince.” Liza asked, spinning before the mirror to watch the dress billow out under her.

“We think he is, but no one really knows yet.” Tam responded sullenly. “Concentrations can remain dormant for years, though it’s also possible that he just hasn’t figured out what his is yet. My guess is that it’s something absolutely spectacular, but until we can figure out what it is I suppose we’ll never know.”

“Aren’t there ways to find out, though?” Marina queried. “If his father is an illusionist and his mother has second sight, wouldn’t there be some way to tell?”

“Not necessarily. Really, a lot of fairy magic is very general and undefined. Sometimes concentration is bred from personality traits, or perhaps it’s the other way around. Usually an astute fairy can tell I’m a Mimic just by talking to me. Anyway, when we’re very little, everyone tries to do as many different things as possible, and the thing that we find we can do is our concentration. Once we find out we’re put in a group of fellow students of the same concentration and then we learn tricks of the trade from there. Some are easier to master than others. It’s very frustrating for some, especially if they have a very rare concentration.”

“So Cypress is the prince and he doesn’t even know what his is yet? That must be awful!” Liza sympathized, acting much like Ellyra would if she were well.

“It is, but he handles it. He knows that something will eventually come up. I think maybe that’s why he was so eager to become a Keeper; if he can’t be known for his magic, at least now he’ll be known by his non-magical actions.”

“We hope.” Marina said. “But come, I believe that Zayric is here and he’ll probably be wanting to say hello.”

Liza ignored the skipping of her heart and headed for the stairs with Tam in toe. “You don’t even like Zayric.” She hissed at him. “Why are you coming down too?”

“I want to see for myself if there really is chemistry between you too.” Tam joked smugly, keeping in step with her as they descended from the stairs. “Also, it would be extremely impolite not to greet the crown prince.”

Liza was about to step on Tam’s toe when she caught sight of Zayric, who was regally entering the great hall with Cleven at his side. He was dressed in a loose-fitting burgundy waistcoat and long black pants and his hair was uncharacteristically pulled back from his face, exposing its smooth curves. Liza immediately found herself so busy looking at this new view of Zayric’s face that she tripped over the hem of her dress while she was just stepping off the second to last step and teetered precariously before Tam caught hold of one arm and Zayric got the other.

“Ever the graceful lady, I see.” Zayric commented smoothly, helping Tam set her to rights again.

“Would you expect any less of me?” Liza asked calmly, straightening her dress to help her regain her composure.

“Not a whit.” Zayric replied, smirking faintly. “In fact I was just discussing your exploits with my brother. He finds them nearly as amusing as I do.”

“I still say you’re too hard on her, Zayric.” Cleven added, giving Liza a tender look. “I seem to remember quite a few times when you had awkward experiences in the ballroom.”

“Well yes, but I would imagine I’ve been to many more balls than she has and the more one goes the better the chance of something interesting happening.”

“Was I really that ill-mannered?” Liza asked, with an overdone amount of feigned shock in her voice. “Oh Prince Zayric I implore you to forget my crudeness! You speak the truth, I haven’t been to a ball in ever so long, and you must excuse my—”

“Oh shut up will you? I get the point. And no, I refuse to forgive you for your ill- manneredness. I find it far too amusing.” Zayric told her primly.

“At least you have that going for you, Lady Ellyra.” Cleven put in encouragingly. “If my brother doesn’t find someone at least mildly amusing then there’s very little chance that he’ll pay the slightest bit of attention to anything they say.”

“That isn’t true!” Zayric protested. “There’s mother and father!”

“You find father amusing and you love our mother too much not to listen to her on some level.” Cleven pointed out astutely.

“I find your bickering quite amusing.” Liza observed happily. “Please continue with it for as long as possible.”

“Well now you’ve ruined our flow.” Zayric pouted. “I’m going to have to poke fun at you again to fill the void.”

“Thankfully my skin is thick enough that I can handle your poking fun at me, my prince. Otherwise I’d be like all the other useless ladies who fall apart when you insult them or pretend not to hear what you say.” A sharp pang of guilt struck at Liza’s heart as soon as the words were out of her mouth; both she and Ellyra had been strung by the barbs of Prince Zayric’s tongue and she knew that both of them had come dangerously close to falling apart because of them.

“I still think you can’t possibly be the same person as the meek little mourning dove I met only a few weeks ago!” Zayric declared. “I swear there must be some kind of trick. People don’t develop witty cleverness overnight.”

“Or do they?” Liza asked tantalizingly. “Perhaps I’m the exception rather than the rule, Prince Zayric. Did you ever think of that? And by the way, thank you for the compliment. I’m incredibly flattered that you just called me witty and clever in the same sentence.”

“My, my Zayric. Clearly you like the girl. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you pay a compliment to a lady.” Tam remarked glibly, leaning luxuriously against the winding banister of the staircase.

“I never said that I liked her.” Zayric responded coldly.

Tam winced slightly, suddenly the victim of two icy glares, one from Zayric and one from Liza, and an unhappy look from Cleven. Having no way to take back the comment, however, he pushed forward. “Come, come. Your banter is close to the level of that in which you engage with your brother, and so far he’s the only one I’ve seen that you can tolerate. Summarily that must mean that you must at least be able to stand Lady Ellyra. And believe, I mean no insult in this regard. I rather like Lady Ellyra myself.”

“As do I.” Zayric answered stiffly, causing Liza’s chin to dip a little to hide her blush. “And now I believe she and I will take a walk in the garden. Ghost!”

Marina, who had been lingering in the middle of the stairway, quietly watching and listening, jumped in surprise and floated quickly down to respond to Zayric. “Yes your highness?”

“I require my cloak.” He told her brusquely. “Please retrieve it for me.”

Though the expression was softer on Marina’s face than it was on Tam’s or Liza’s, the scowl was stretched between Marina’s transparent cheeks. “Right away your highness.” She whisked off down the hall.

“That was foolish of you.” Liza commented, unable to resist the urge to take another stab at Zayric.

“Oh? Why so?” He asked, raising a long, thin eyebrow at her.

“Because I’m going to the wardrobe to get my coat.” Liza announced, pushing past him in a most unladylike fashion. “And now all that hot air of yours has gone to waste ordering that poor ghost around.”

Zayric followed her swiftly and, although his quick tongue rarely failed to provide him with a witty retort, he found himself utterly incapable of finding a suitable reply.

 

 

 

Author's Note

I'm not particularly happy with this chapter - it just seems to serve as a kind of connector. I guess it's kind of a huge deal that Tam is like "um yeah I'm a fairy" though.

Reviews

[Hannah!]

I love the Zayric/Eliza interactions so much that I want to clap my hands every time I realize they'll be in the same room. Isn't that silly of me?

I think this chapter got off to a bit of a rough start. I don't know how you could have done it better, but Tam's confession seemed...well, it seemed a bit awkward. I suppose it would, but it almost came across like you didn't quite know how to reveal it in the right way, so let's just get out in the open. As always, Cleven's level headedness amazed me. For someone who's supposed to be part beast, he's got almost no temper when he's himself. I feel like I want to give him a great big hug--beast or no, he comes across as quite the teddy bear.

The reactions of the others (except, maybe, for Fallin's) when Tam told them the truth seemed a bit...subdued, to. I guess I would have expected more surprise from Eliza and Cleven. Naturally, the professor already suspected, so his coming to terms with the idea so quickly wasn't all that odd.

I think the ending made up for the rather rocky beginning, though. I love the way this chapter ended. The thought of a speechless Zayric makes me laugh. They work so WELL together.