Claire had always known that ae was different. Ae had only recently figured out that ae was nonbinary, and even more recently that ae was a wizard. Merlin had confirmed that the powers were aer own and not just Morgana warping aer to her own purposes, even if in a roundabout way of harrumphing about how young wizards were always too eager to get their hands on a staff and wouldn't think about the potentially dangerous consequences of using such a strong siphon with a fragile reservoir. He had implied that Claire was lucky that the Shadow Staff hadn't broken aer and aer magic completely.
It wouldn't have been too bad, in Claire's opinion, if aer magic was broken. Ae was already broken in other ways, and ae had come to terms with it.
Aer soulmate bond was broken.
If you wrote on your skin, the words would show up on your soulmate's skin as well. The words would be the color of your eyes, traced by a thin line of white. That was how soulmates worked for everyone.
Everyone but Claire, anyway. Aer words were cyan traced by black, except the markings weren't even words at all! Ae had never received actual words, just strange symbols. Aer mom had taken aer to a dermalinguist when ae was young, and the symbols didn't match any known language on Earth.
"This happens sometimes," the dermalinguist had said. For some people, the words didn't translate properly across skin. Since Claire didn't have any issues with learning languages, the most likely cause was ruled out. There was a link between one or both soulmates having language-based learning disabilities and the language on their skin not showing up properly. Claire had gone on a research spiral when ae was twelve and first got unfettered internet access. Years prior at the dermalinguist's office, ae had broken down sobbing because ae would never meet aer soulmate. The doctor's insistence that some people with unintelligible soulmarks still found their soulmates had felt half-hearted even then.
Ae was fine with it now. Really. That definitely wasn't a lie ae told aerself, just like how ae would get out of bed in the morning and tell aerself that ae was completely fine and didn't have any significant lingering trauma from aer possession. Ae was broken, and ae was okay with that.
Ae had tried to be the perfect daughter, and when ae figured out that ae could never be a perfect daughter, ae tried to be the perfect child instead. Ae had learned to hide aer marks, if only to avoid the teasing. (Claire was glad ae had learned to do so before ae had met Eli.) Ae was sixteen now, and ae had bigger problems to worry about than aer soulmate bond being broken. For example, Steve had been keeping from them that Aja and Krel were aliens!
Well, Akiridions. Claire wasn't going to go out of aer way to offend them with a classification they clearly hated.
Jim had said that ae could protect the town when he and Toby had left to find the Heartstone in New Jersey. Ae had tried not to take what he had said as patronizing. Jim and Toby had magical weapons, and the trolls had their strength. Claire was a barely trained wizard with nothing but armored claws and a collapsible bō staff. Ae couldn't even levitate things, because levitation magic reminded aer too much of what Morgana had done to aer.
Instead, they were at war, again, and the stupid cindorite attacking them had melted down Claire's bō staff. At least they were safe right now. Claire was going to have words with Jim, to see if he really had just been patronizing aer by trying to give aer a job while ae stayed behind, or if he had known there was another war brewing and hadn't actually told aer. And then ae was going to have to break the news to Toby that there might be an Akiridion trying to date his nana. Claire wasn't sure which conversation ae was looking forward to more.
"Wait, were you trying to trap us?" Krel asked. Claire couldn't blame his reaction. A few hours ago, ae had had to explain to Eli that ae was a wizard and ae didn't appreciate his ideas for hunting down evil wizards. Ae had only agreed to going with him to set up traps because ae wanted to keep an eye on him. He had been helpful in the past, but the point still stood.
"Yeah, only because someone never told me you guys were cool!" Claire continued staring at the screens behind Aja and Krel. The text on them had looked eerily familiar, but since the screens were buffering ae couldn't get a better look at them.
"We must stop Magmatron before he hurts someone," Aja said. "But first, Claire, come with me. You need a weapon, one with more reach than your claws. I don't want you burning your hands. You can borrow Varvatos's serrator."
Krel made a grumpy noise at Varvatos's name, but Claire ignored him to follow his sister through the halls of their spaceship, careful to avoid the places where the walkways had no railing. Ae didn't want to fall down into the bowels of the ship, especially since aer Shadow Staff was even more broken than aer bō staff. It'd be just a fall to aer death, not a way to gain momentum through a shadow portal. Sci-fi movies were right about one thing: in space, no one could force you to be OSHA-compliant.
"What's it like being a princess?" Claire asked.
"A lot of responsibility, and there's always so much pressure to be perfect," Aja replied. Claire hummed in sympathy. Ae knew the responsibility of being a politician's child, and aer mom was merely part of the city council. "I used to try and run away from it all."
Aja held up the serrator. "You can use this button to turn it into a spear." She then gestured to hand it to Claire. As ae took it from her, their hands brushed against each other.
Aja's hand began to glow bright purple where Claire had touched it. Amazement filled Aja's eyes. "We're soulmates. This is lively! Wait, no, you're not glowing. We're unrequited then, aren't we?"
"Humans don't glow where we first touch," Claire said. Ae rubbed at aer skin, scrubbing off just enough of the concealer that the unintelligible symbols – no. The Akiridion words lay. "This is your handwriting, isn't it?"
"Yes! I wrote it on my wrist as a reminder to wash Luug after I snuck out to meet Steve. I'll still have to do that tonight. He hates baths."
Claire grinned, eyes welling with tears. "It really is you. I thought I'd never find you."
Claire kissed Aja, fast and impulsive. They had a town to save. Again. Claire could bask in the fact that ae wasn't broken later.