C-Chapter Two

Pasha sat across from Cian, chuckling merrily. She rather enjoyed
his company, much to her surprise. He was amusing. They sat at a table
inside a pizza place, splitting a barbeque pizza. Pasha only liked
barbeque pizza, and extra cheese, with garlic and Italian sausage
pizza. She vetoed out the second, because garlic breath was bad, even
if the pizza was good. Pasha took another bite of pizza. Cian asked
her,

"So where did you come from?" Pasha shrugged,

"How complicated, I've moved around a bit. I was born down in L.A., we
lived there until I was two years old. Then we moved up to Mill Valley.
Lived there with my grandmother until I was about four. Then we moved
to Sonoma Valley. I was there until 11. Now, my dad left us, my mom and
I, when I was three, then when I was 11, he came back, and took me away
to where he lived. Sacien. Then, I left his house, and came to live
back up in Sonoma again, with my mom, when I was 16." Cian came her a
sympathetic look,

"I'm sorry, it must suck to move around so much." Pasha chuckled,

"Well, I am no military brat, so it ain't all that bad." Cian nodded.
Pasha asked,

"What about you?" Cian answered,

"I was born over in San Francisco, and lived there until I was ten,
right across from the Golden Gate park. Then my mom and I moved up to
San Rafael." Pasha took another bite, and made motions with hands, to
mean something, although she didn't know what. She figured that she
could always figure that out later. Cian didn't seem to notice. Pasha's
phone beeped, indicating a message, and she thought that that was odd,
as she hadn't heard it ring. She picked it up, and realized that it was
a text message. It read,

MESSAGE
Your Sprint PCS service has been turned off.
Dial *3 to make a payment and turn service on.

11:02 pm Wed.

Pasha stared dumbfounded at it, annoyance bubbling inside her, like
unwatched pot. NO, she hadn't paid her bill, she was going to wait
until this cycle. It had only been two days since the cycle switched
over, how can it be that late? For a moment she had the sudden desire
to break the wretched phone and not have to worry about it again. Cian
asked her what was wrong. She explained. Cian nodded when she was
done,

"That's happened to me. You probably had something left over from the
last time you paid, and their counting that as being late." It made a
bit of sense. Pasha sighed. She still didn't like it. She stood up, and
Cian stood with her,

"I probably ought to start heading home anyway. Cian walked her out the
door, and Pasha stopped to feel the breeze, and it's cool brush on her
skin. She murmured,

"For a second it feels like home." Cian looked at her, his expression
unreadable. Pasha chuckled and motioned for him to follow, taking his
hand. Cian let her. Pasha sighed, and said,

"You'll be able to come see Sacien soon, and you'll get to see the de
Enies Estates. Their beautiful. Right nearby we have our own market
too. Isn't that cool? I love it there. And the competitions. Especially
when I win." She looked into Cian's eyes, and chuckled, "But I'm
rambling." They walked down the street, and Pasha wondered about how
much trouble she would get in, if she just told him who she was, and
who he was, and why she was there, then decided against, as it would be
a horrible idea, he probably wouldn't believe her, and then refuse to
ever see her again. She sighed and let it go, letting her magic dance
over her skin, like pinpricks of electricity.

It reacted with Cian, and an explosion of electricity engulfed them, a
shining, magic dancing mist. Cian watched, a look of incomprehension on
his face.

"Uh-oh." Pasha said meekly, as she watched. She would have to explain
now. First she had to figure out what the magic was doing, reverse it,
and then hope that no one else saw it. She pulled Cian along, looking
rapidly about her, for clues. But all she seemed to see was this cloud
of magic that followed them. Followed them. There was a start, she
thought. Whatever it was, it was too them. She stopped and looked into
a store window that showed their reflection and started to laugh.

They were invisible.

***
Ualth got nothing when he tried to call her, just a message that said
the line was temporarily disconnected. He slammed the phone down and
trotted around his place nervously, hooves clicking a rapid tempo on
the floor. He wanted to know what to do. How was he supposed to contact
her? He could probably go over there, but a centaur in the human world?
It would cause mayhem. He got an idea.

He rapped against the wall, and waited a moment until another little
faery appeared. It was a female with bright pink hair, and she looked
annoyed. She demanded in her high voice,

"What is it? I was cleaning!" And indeed, she was carrying a dust rag
in her hand. Ualth said,

"Dirgitta, this is very important, I need you to go into the human
world, and find Pasha. Tell her that whatever happens, don't come back.
It is an emergency, a matter of life and death." Dirgitta seemed to
perk up at that,

"Ok," she said, "Just a moment, and I'll be on my way." Ualth looked
grateful, and left the room, going to the door. He opened it and looked
outside, at the line of trees that surrounded them, and the moon
already riding high in the sky. There was the sound of hooves in the
distance, Ualth could barely hear it, but they sounded insistent. He
stamped a hoof, and lifted his nose to pick up the scent. Livery, the
musky smell that was all too familiar. He would be ordered to tell her
to come back. At least he had the excuse that her phone wasn't working.
However long that would last.

He waited, the night growing cooler, as the runner approached,
obviously nervous. Centaurs could be very intimidating creatures. The
runner stopped before him, a pale slip of a lad, whose eyes were wide.
Ualth was a well known centaur, and an irritable one. Who snuffed at
the lad, who seemed ready to run.

"Yes?" He asked brusquely. The lad handed him a bit of cream paper,
sealed with red wax, the royal insignia stamped into it. He opened it
up, and read through it quickly. It pretty much said that the King
wished for his nephew to come immediately. Ualth snuffed again, this
time with laughter. He handed the paper back and snapped,

"Child, go tell his Majesty, that I cannot get through to her, her
phone is disconnected." The lad nodded and rode off at a rather quick
pace. Ualth went back inside.

***
Pasha held her breath, she had told him everything, and he was now just
staring at her, as if she were a three headed monster from Mars. She
knew this would happen, just knew it. She waved a hand,

"Go ahead, try to get someone's attention. It won't work, I promise."
Ualth did, he walked up to a stranger,

"Excuse me?" The stranger walked right by, only glancing around
briefly, confused. Pasha began to feel smug. Cian went up to another
person, and tried to ask them, but when he reached out to touch them,
the tiny woman jumped, looked around her and quickened her step. Cian
looked at Pasha,

"Ok, you think this means that there is some fae land out there? And I
am the heir? I think you're crazy, and this is just odd." He started to
walk away. Pasha reached out to him, and he shoved her away, roughly,
anger showing on his face,

"Get away from me." His voice was cold, hard. Pasha heard, but Pasha
wouldn't obey, Pasha never obeyed. She smiled, and waited for him to
turn and walk away again, then she reached out and touched the threads
of magic, not physically, but something deeper, and the magic responded
happily. It sang through her, waiting for instructions. Pasha murmured
her instructions, and illustrated them inside her mind, the magic
hopped to it.

Cian began to levitate. A very simple little trick with a lot of
satisfaction. Like the startled look that Cian gave her. Pasha chuckled
and started walked forward, grabbing a thread of magic, and pulled Cian
along as if he were a balloon.

Cian began to turn purple and shout but she pretended not to hear, and
ignored the confused passersby, who looked around then assumed it was
on the next block over. Pasha looked up at Cian and called out,

"We need to go home now, Cian, don't worry, I will protect you!" Cian
fairly sputtered, and hardly responded. Pasha called up, "Will you
behave yourself now?" Cian went quiet a moment, then said,

"If I am a prince, what right do you have to treat me like this?" Pasha
just laughed again,

"You are not a prince here. It doesn't matter anyway, your life is in
my hands. I will do my best to protect it, even if it means angering
you." There was another silence, then Cian called down,

"You think this is protecting it?" Pasha called up,

"I could always let you fall!" Cian seemed to consider this, then
said,

"I'll behave." Pasha reached out for the magic again, and gave them new
commands. Cian started to float down to the ground, and he didn't look
happy at all. Pasha said,

"Lets hurry and get some stuff, then we can be on our way." Cian didn't
answer.

***
Lord Hardira looked down at the page with extreme irritation, and
snapped,

"What do you mean that he cannot communicate with her?" The page winced
and cowered as Hardira stalked around, and then stopped and said,

"I want you to send a page into the realm, and find her." The page
nodded meekly, and backed out, confused now. It was not his job to be
doing this.

Meanwhile, Hardira settled into his favorite chair, and settled back.
The King had been skeptical of his sudden change of heart, but Hardira
had just played charming, and let it slide away. He chuckled.
Delighted.