Three Twisted Knots

It might not have been such a good idea. But I couldn’t help myself. How many times have I said that over the years? Yeah; you do the maths. Anyway. After I found myself in my bower garden, eating the heart of a probably-still-alive raven and then running off to Mornoth for what I can only describe as “mind blowing Unseelie sex”, I got to thinking. How much of my transformation was due to the natural way of things, and how much really had been sparked by the wizard’s potion?

So, yeah. You know what I did. I figured I might as well go back and talk to the guy. Find out a little more than I’d learned that day.

To be honest, I was more than a little anxious about going back to that little village. I mean, it seems strange, doesn’t it, to have a village with only one shop (or should I say “shoppe”?), a park, a grand house, a gate house, and an inn without a pub? The pub is outside the village gates. I mean, what kind of village doesn’t have a pub? I began to think that maybe the whole place was invented, somehow, that it all rose from around the shop, and the wizard, whatever his name was, was responsible for the whole thing.

The park was nice, though. I wasted quite a bit of time there, to tell you the truth. Mostly, I paced. I also made up scenarios in my head where the wizard (whatever his name was) was responsible for Every Single Thing That Had Ever Gone Wrong In My Life, Ever, from the moment I was separated from my birth mother right on down to the possibly wrong choice I was making right now to confront—well, discuss details—with this guy. If he was even a guy.

I mean, what if he were actually some kind of demon? Oh, for fuck’s sake, Gwyneth. You are a Winter Queen. An Unseelie Queen. At least for the nonce. Unseelie Queens don’t go around worrying and fretting whether the guy they’re about to talk to is a fucking demon. Suck it up, buttercup.

I left the bright, autumn-y park, and a fog fell over the village. Well, that was certainly a good omen. Through the shop (shoppe) window I could see him, buzzing round behind the counter, as if he had important stuff to do. Probably planning to corrupt some nice kids from Chelsea or something.”

‘Back again?’ He looked none too pleased to see me. ‘Looks like the potion did its job, Your Majesty.’

‘I just wanted to get a little clarification’, I said. ‘That stuff laid me low for hours.’

‘I did warn you’, he replied.

‘You did’, I said. ‘But I have some questions.’

He looked toward the rear wall of the shop. ‘Questions’, he said. ‘Has the potion had lasting ill effects? Are you missing any limbs?’

I covered my mouth to hide my reflexive laughter at that. ‘No, nothing like that’, I said.

‘Well then’, he said, marrying his hands together, ‘What are these questions?’

I thought for a few seconds.

‘I want to know how much of my transformation was due to your potion’, I replied, ‘and how much was due to other factors’.

‘Other factors?’ he asked. ‘What sort of other factors? Did you seek out help from other magicians?’

‘No, no; nothing like that’, I replied. ‘There’s the magic of the land I live in, of course. And the magic of the Unseelie forces that naturally take over when the year begins to fade. I’ve wondered, to be honest’, I continued, ‘if the change wouldn’t have come about without your potion.’

He hmmed. ‘I can’t say, of course’, he said. ‘I suspect the answer is, “eventually”, but let’s go through the ingredients and the formulation method, and we’ll see what we think then.’

He moved over toward a case of shelves stuffed with every kind of reagent I could imagine and motioned me to come with him.

There followed a technical explanation of the potion he’d concocted. Obviously, it was boring. I did my best to appear interested. Why had I asked this question again? And why wasn’t I in Nu Jyorck shopping? Why was I even interested? Was I even interested?

During a particularly dry speech about why he’d used juniper berries instead of gin, which might have been just as effective but would have had more ill-effects, he paused.

I of course paused too. I mirrored his expression.

‘Well, of course’, he continued, ‘by more ill-effects, I mean that you’d have felt a bit drunk when you woke up.’

I laughed. ‘In what way would that be considered an ill-effect?’

He laughed, too. Well, at least I’d said the right thing.

‘So what you’re telling me basically’, I said, ‘is that you’ve got no idea’.

‘Certainly not!’ he replied. ‘I think that given your unique circumstances, the change certainly would have occurred regardless.’ And he smiled. ‘Just not as fast. Or as completely. I think my potion certainly helped; it most definitely was not a placebo.’

‘Well, I never suggested that’, I said. ‘I’ve just been curious about the whole experience, the whole process.’

‘Have you, now’, he said. ‘I rather thought you were bored by my long-winded explanation.’

 

Well, I couldn’t help but laugh at that. And he laughed with me. Maybe he wasn’t an old fool after all.

‘Why did you really come here, Queen Gwyneth?’ he asked.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to see if I felt different, being here in my new skin, so to speak.’

He smiled. ‘Why don’t you take a room at the inn for the night? Get a feel for the space. Maybe you’ll know more about how you feel in the morning. A good night’s sleep will shed some more light on what’s happened to you.’

I was surprised to find that the day had drifted away while we’d been talking. ‘I think I’ll do that’, I said. We said our goodbyes, and I headed next door to the inn.

I woke up early the next morning. Of course, the “inn” didn’t serve breakfast, and knowing already that the wizard (whatever his name was) wasn’t a morning person, I figured I’d just hop back to my own Realm and that would be that.

So I turned to walk down past the magic shop, toward the village gate. Autumn leaves were scattered on the flagstones. The air was chill. I shivered, but not with cold.

It was with anticipation.

The morning brightened as I passed the magic shop on my way out of the village. Of course I glanced up into the window, but there was no wizard. No doubt he was sleeping in, or possibly up in the upstairs library of the shop.

I chuckled to myself. ‘A good night’s sleep will shed more light on what’s happened to you’, he’d said.

‘Fuck light’, I said to myself as I turned the corner with a skip in my gait. ‘There’s work to be done.’

Style Cards:

Autumn Garden and Magic Shop Photos:

Gwyneth:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Destiny
Ears: Mandala, Steking Ears, Season 5
Eyes: Mesange, Lionsong Eyes (Omega appliers)
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Alies, Drow (Omega face appliers, Maitreya body appliers) (Available NOW at the Bloody Horror Fair!)
Hair: Analog Dog, Ella (Available at Hairology!)
Crown: Junbug, Crown of the Tuatha De
Necklace: Swallow, Key of Love
Dress: Silvan Moon Designs, Tears of Liliana, blue (Available at We RP!)
Shoes: Roped Passions, Leaf Lullabye, Silver Hudded

The Wizard:
Avatar: Tricksie Anderton, Avatar 50+
Clothing: Silvan Moon Designs, Earl of Regent Doublet Set, Midnight
Hair: No match, No Hunt

Autumn Garden: Two Moon Gardens, Overgrown Glory—Autumn
Magick Shoppe: Death Row Designs, Magick Shoppe (Now available at the Death Row Designs Main Store!)

Morning After Photographs:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Destiny
Ears: Mandala, Steking Ears, Season 5
Eyes: Mesange, Lionsong Eyes (Omega appliers)
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Alies, Drow (Omega face appliers, Maitreya body appliers) (Available NOW at the Bloody Horror Fair!)
Hair: Vanity Hair, Bye Bae (Available at Hairology!)
Crown: Junbug, Sabrina Circlet
Necklace, Bracelet: Bauhaus Movement, Inkie, Purple
Dress: Maro, Anna (Available at the Seasons Story!)
Shoes: Paper Moon, Kajah Mountain Sandals

Inn: Breno, The Smith House
Magick Shoppe: Death Row Designs, Magick Shoppe (Now available at the Death Row Designs Main Store!)

Autumn Forests: Studio Skye, Enchanted Woods
Gate House: Apple Fall, Gatekeeper’s Lodge
Big House: Apple Fall, Hardwick Manor

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I never take Gwyneth back to the scene of the crime without it!