I shut my eyes and tried to centre myself over the sounds of Thea’s stomach emptying into the basin. I couldn’t focus, no matter howhard I tried. The combination of being put on the spot so quickly and the nauseating sounds of Thea’s retching was far too overwhelming for me to centre myself. “I’m so sorry, Thea. I don’t think I’m ready for this,” I pleaded as I opened my eyes.
Thea rolled her eyes at me before she retched into the basin again. “How did you help humans? You didn’t dwell on it. You just did it—” Thea retched again, loudly, into the basin. Wiping her mouth with the small towel, she continued. “You knew what spells you had to use. Stop overthinking things, and just let your instincts guide you.” She tilted her head back in the chair and took a deep breath before another wave of nausea overtook her.
I shook my head, as if that would help dispel all the doubts I had about myself and this process. I leaned forward and placed my hand on Thea’s clammy, pustule-covered forehead and closed my eyes. Cutting out all the noise, I focused my mind on the being beneath my hand. I envisioned Thea holding her stomach, grimacing in pain. I let my body feel the energy around me and guide me. Thea’s aura began to shine. It was faint and bile green in hue. At the centre of her core, where her hands were, I could visualize a small, swirling red mass. I focused my thoughts on the foreign aspect of her aura and the negative energy it was emitting. My stomach was aching, but not in the same manner as Thea’s was. I focused on the foreign mass of energy and recited the healing spell I was most comfortable with.
“You are strong. You are whole. You are healed.” The now familiar buzzing arcanal sensation whipped through my body.
I imagined it as a healing beam of light and directed it at Thea. The swirling red mass shrank under the power of the energy I was expelling as the aura around Thea grew brighter, shifting from the sick-green colour to her usual pale blue. The aching in my stomach subsided slowly. I continued to focus my thoughts and energy on dispelling the sickness until the reddened mass and its negativeenergy had disappeared completely. I opened my eyes, relieved to see Thea sitting upright, colour returning to her face.
Thea smiled brightly at me. “You did it, Aurelia! See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I laughed as I wiped my brow. “Actually, Thea, it was quite difficult. And exhausting.”
Thea picked up the basin she had been using and brought it over to one of the counters at the edge of the chamber. “Well, I never said it was going to be easy once you sorted it out. That’s part of using your arcana—figuring out how to regulate your energy so you don’t exhaust yourself or your abilities. Arcana itself is an endless source of power, but the wielder’s energy is not. The more you use your arcana, the easier that will come to you.”
I sat at the desk and slumped over. My body and mind were exhausted from the short bits of fae healing I had done. It was reassuring to confirm that I had the ability. Its usefulness was another matter entirely. I grabbed a couple of grapes from Thea’s cheese-and-fruit plate and popped them in my mouth. Surprised by how ravenous I was, I grabbed a small cube of cheese and another two grapes and threw them in too.
Thea joined me at the desk, bringing two tall glasses of water. “Good call on the snack break.” She sat down and started grazing on some cheese and crackers, followed by a dried apricot.
I processed Thea’s words about using my arcana more. It made sense that the more I used it, the better I would be at managing my energy. Thinking about my current situation, I wasn’t sure where I would be able to gain that experience besides in the arcana master’s chamber. I doubted that Thea would stay here long-term, and when the arcana master came back, they would not want to spend any time helping me. Where could I practise my arcana without being a nuisance to anyone? Would the local fae let me assist them with remedying their ailments? Probably not. But the humans might. Ithought about my brief stint in the human quarter and the pregnant woman I had met, Zara. Given the state of the human quarter, it wasn’t a far stretch to think that they weren’t given priority status, which meant their health, among other things, was most likely suffering. What if I could continue my training there? I would be working on my arcana skills while also caring for the surrogates and anyone else who needed it.
“Hey, Thea. What do you know about the people who live in the human quarter?”
Thea brushed the cracker crumbs off her skirt and looked at me thoughtfully before responding. “Do you mean in general, or is there something specific you’d like to know?”
I clasped my hands together, hoping to stop the unexpected nervous fidgetiness coming on. “Well, both, I think. I would like to know more about them generally. Specifically, my focus would be on the surrogates. Everett has already shared how they came to be here at the Citrine Court and why the surrogates help. I thought you might have a different perspective on it.”
Thea nodded and took a drink of water. “Before the war with the Obsidian Court, humans were treated much more poorly than they are now. They were enslaved and indentured servants to the fae. During this conflict, the Obsidian Court placed a blood curse on all the courts that opposed them. It was initially unknown what the curse meant, but it was later discovered that it affected our ability to procreate. When the Citrine Court eventually won, they freed the humans and offered them a place to live within their court. This was how the human quarter came to be. The humans, as you can imagine, were so thankful to King Julian for his help in liberating them. But they had yet to find a meaningful way to communicate that. When knowledge of the blood curse’s effects became known to the humans, a few brave women stepped forward and offered their bodies to carry fae pregnancies.” Thea stood up, grabbed the fruit-and-cheese plate, and brought it over to the basin area. “Whatspecifically do you want to know about the surrogates?” she asked as she cleared off the remnants of our light lunch.
I thought about what in particular I wanted to know but kept coming up short. “I want to know everything. How does it work? Are they well taken care of? What about the missing women and girls?”
Thea came back to her seat and took another sip of water. She looked at the floor like she was trying to figure out how to explain this in a manner that I would understand. Her hesitation to answer made me feel uneasy. “I’m sure you’re already aware that the process itself happens with the aid of an arcana master. I’ve done so many of them over the years. It’s a deeply intimate experience. While this curse affects all courts, the approach each court takes to work around it varies. When the first surrogates offered their help to the members of the Citrine Court, they were provided suites in fae residences while they were pregnant. Some were even offered their own homes. This was so they could receive proper care, nutrition, and medical attention when needed.”
“Is that still the case now?” I asked, already aware of what the answer was likely to be.
“Unlike in the Moonstone Court, where I come from, the relationship between the Citrine Court fae and human women became increasingly transactional. The Citrine Court fae were so consumed by their desire for children that the demand for human surrogates significantly outweighed the number of human women offering to carry. This led some fae to use arcana on child-bearing women, slowing down the aging process and allowing them to carry fae children for far longer than they should.”
“Does this arcana affect them in any way? I met a pregnant woman not long ago, and I don’t know for certain what her situation was, but something seemed… off.” I hesitated with the last word. How could I accurately describe what I had seen?
“What do you mean by ‘off’?” Thea asked.
“Nothing she said made any sense. I was trying to talk to her about the missing posters that were plastered all over the human quarter, and she was rambling on about how the goddesses had tricked them.”
“It is known that long-term exposure to fae arcana can have a psychosis effect of sorts on humans. As sad as it may be to hear, quite often the women who have been exposed to it for far too long tend to wander off. Some are found again, but most are not. I presume that would be the reason for most of the missing-women posters.” Thea looked down at her hands sadly. The usually lighthearted fae now seemed tormented by the information she had shared.
“Is it safe to assume that the fae who use these women are also not offering them much in terms of compensation? You said that they once received homes and their needs were taken care of. I presume this is no longer the case.” I crossed my arms as I laid out the accusation.
“I can’t say for certain that is the way for everyone, but in hushed circles, it has been shared that some fae families have taken advantage of the arcana-induced psychosis in the women. Most of those women don’t even know they are pregnant, never mind that they entered into a generously selfless agreement hundreds of years ago and their families are no longer receiving the benefits they were promised.”
I thought about what Zara had said, and it made a bit more sense now. The goddesses weren’t the traditional goddesses. They were the fae. And if what Thea was saying was true, then they had indeed tricked them.
“Is there anything we can do to alleviate the effects of the psychosis? It’s not right that they should have to endure that and have their rights violated so horrifically.” It angered me so much to know that what had once started as a noble act of selflessness had turned into something so sinister.
“If you’d like, I could take you to the human quarter tomorrow,” Thea offered. “You can meet with their healer and discuss their first-hand experience with it. There may even be an opportunity for you to assist them.”
My spirit lit up at the offer. I could finally go back to the human quarter and meet with the healer. If all went well, I would have somewhere to go and offer my help after all the testing had been completed. “I would love that, Thea. It would mean a great deal to me if I could help some of those women. I can’t bring any of their missing loved ones home, but I can try to alleviate some of their suffering.”
Thea stood up from her chair and came over to hug me. “Thank you for being exactly who I expected you to be,” she whispered.
