Mints and Evergreens

After the heartbreak and labor of giving the Choice to the wretched changelings of the Court of the Kingdom of Silences, I felt positively giddy about the prospect of offering the same to Jolgeir's daughters. Sure the work would be exhausting and painful, but Eliza, Maddy, and Paige weren't damaged. They were healthy and well-adjusted. At least, as well-adjusted as any changeling can be when growing up in a whole, loving family.

Tybalt and I moved into the tiny guest cottage in Joe and Libby's back yard, pleading the need to be near my three impending Choice-makers, but also truly happy to leave behind the Court with its protocols and frenetic activity. Libby's herb garden filled the rest of the yard, featuring of course the classic parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, along with several varieties of mint, oregano, tarragon. Even, I had to laugh, pennyroyal.

We found ourselves temporarily unencumbered by my squire and my erstwhile Fetch, both having returned to San Francisco, the former for a well-deserved holiday and the latter for an anxiously-awaited reunion with her girlfriend. The unaccustomed privacy and quiet was blissful, especially given the genuine love and regard for each other Joe and Maddy displayed.

It was clearly not an act. Though neither repined in the other's absence, the delight in Libby's face when Joe returned from the comic book store, and in his when she returned from running errands was a joy to watch.

We had met their daughters earlier, but started getting to know them as I rested up for the tasks ahead of me. All three were in their twenties; Eliza, the oldest, thoughtfully spoken; Maddy, the middle daughter, clearly the Princess her father had named her; and Paige the youngest, with all the makings of a champion.

Only Paige still lived with their parents; the others had apartments and jobs in the area. I thought it interesting and telling that none of them was married, or even had a boyfriend (or girlfriend). They knew that as changelings, any relationship would be even more problematic than relationships generally are anyway. Smart young women.

A couple evenings before I planned to begin, Jolgeir gathered them, along with Libby, Tybalt, and me, in the small living room.

His usually good-humored face serious, he said, "Toby is offering you a true choice, a hope chest choice. Before she does, you must come to an agreement among you as to which will be my heir. If you cannot agree, I will make my choice, and will not permit Sir Daye to turn any who do not support her." The scent of paper and juniper rose about him.

I glanced at Tybalt, but kept my mouth shut. I was not about to tell Joe that the choice was not up to him, and I would offer it to his daughters regardless of what he did or did not want.

Fortunately for the family peace and mine, the three looked at each other, clearly communicating without words in the way of sisters.

Maddy gathered Eliza and Paige in her arms; they bowed their heads together, mingled odors of mints and evergreens drifting about them. Maddy nodded at Eliza.

"I relinquish all claim to the heirship of the Court of Whispering Cats in favor of my sister Madeline," Eliza stated clearly. "Thank God! I have no desire to take your place at any time." She turned back to Maddy. "I will support you in all you do, and help you to the best of my ability."

"I, also, acknowledge Maddy as the heir, and if anyone disputes her right, they can fight me!" said Paige. "Oh, and I'll support you, too!"

Jolgeir's face smoothed in relief. "Oh, thank Oberon!" he said. "I didn't think there would be strife, but I wanted to make sure." He smiled proudly on his daughters. "I could not ask for better girls!"

Libby looked happy, but bittersweet. In her mid-fifties, she would be leaving her husband and shortly-to-be immortal daughters behind all too soon, even in mortal terms.

...

We had determined to give the young women the Choice chronologically, starting with Eliza. She and I lay side-by-side in the guest bedroom on an old acrylic blanket (in case the blood got out of hand—I was prepared, for a change).

Our magics rose around us, my ever-bloodier copper and grass, and her paper and peppermint, changeling-weak for the last time.

"Eliza," I said formally, "which do you choose, human or fae?"

"Fae," she said. "I made that choice long ago. I choose fae." She smiled. "I will be able to read all the books and learn all the things."

I felt no need to warn her again about the pain. She knew. I pierced our hands and sipped our blood in the ritual I have become accustomed to, and reached into her heritage.

…

It was two nights later, as I repeated the process for Maddy, with her spearmint and juniper, when my suspicion started.

By the time I pulled the human out of Page in a couple days, strengthening her catmint (which made me giggle) and cypress, I was almost certain.

After I recovered from the third Change, I knew I had to talk with our hosts.

Tybalt was in the back yard with the girls, wrapped in a don't-look-here as he tutored them in their newly amped-up magic. I had told him my suspicions, and he offered to keep them occupied while I headed to the living room where Joe and Libby sat side-by-side on the couch.

I perched on the edge of the chair opposite them and took a deep breath. "Libby, Joe, I have … you need to ..." I stumbled over the words. I took two quick steps across the room and sank to my knees before Libby, taking her hands in mine.

"There is another Choice to offer here tonight," I said. I raised my eyes, pricking with tears, to meet hers. Her human eyes met my changeling eyes in puzzlement.

"Libby, you are a merlin. It will be longer and more painful and difficult, but you can make the same choice your daughters made."

She went absolutely still, except for her hands gripping mine painfully hard. She stared at me with maybe not so human eyes, then turned to her husband, dropping my hands and reaching for him.

Jolgeir seized her hands, unlooked-for joy filling his face. "Libby, my dear, will you, can you, join me?"

"Oh, yes, darling, yes!" Tears streamed down her face. "For as long as we both shall live!"

They turned back to me, both weeping. "Can you truly do this?" she asked. "I won't have to leave my dear Joe alone?"

"Yes. Yes, I can," I said. "I can and I will, gladly."

…

It did take longer. We lay facing each other on the guest bed, and shared our blood. Libby's heritage, when I reached into it, was so much human, so little fae. I started pulling the human away. Her faint garden mint scent flooded into the void, sharpening unbearably, until it separated quite suddenly into ordinary mint mixed with horehound.

By the time she reached the point of true changeling, I had to stop. I was exhausted, and Libby was delirious with pain and dangerously weak.

I released the magic, and let us return to consciousness. Grudgingly. Knowing we would have to come back and do it again.

She still looked like Libby, and Joe still gazed at her in delight, but now her face had fae-tinged angles and her ears slight points. The human signs of aging had begun to melt away.

It took more than a couple days for both of us to recover. Libby started getting used to actual magic. "I just thought I had a sort of knack with herbs," she said of her life as an unsuspecting merlin. "It certainly wasn't anything like what Joe, or even the girls, could do."

As usual, I was back to normal far more quickly than my subject. She cornered me after a few days, and said, "Let's finish it. Finish it before I lose my nerve, before the fear of the pain stops me."

Again, I took her hands. "The worst is behind us. The pain will be great, but not nearly as bad. You are an ordinary changeling now, and I've tilted dozens of those all the way fae."

We finished it that night.

Tybalt and I spent a few more days with Libby and Joe, sightseeing and playing tourist. My heart swelled, watching them together like newlyweds.

As we were preparing to return home, they asked us not to say anything of Libby's Choice-making. We agreed that for the present, the whole fae world still had to get used to the idea of regular changelings losing their humanity.

And so, for now, we'll tell no-one there's a Merlin's Choice, too.

End

End Notes

Some of the things I have invented for this story, which may be completely AU:

- The idea that merlins can be offered the Choice.

- Jolgeir's magic signature, though "paper" is based on a sentence in A Red-Rose Chain.

- Libby's status as a merlin, and her magic signature.

- Jolgeir and Libby's daughters' names and magic signatures.