Tanya explained.
Janice was right - the team did scatter after Sir caught me. There were some intense arguments; the ones who didn't want to abandon me immediately were terrified of the magic he was throwing around. Tanya, alone, became the one to hunt down a spellcaster.
It took her months (had it really been months?) of tireless searching to find a spellcaster at all. Chasing every scrap of a hint of someone who could weave magic, with a lot of wild goose chases and frauds.
The ENF Catchers had much more magic than anyone else, sourcing it mainly from th elves, but that didn't mean were no other practicioners. Tanya followed enough rumours to eventually find the real deal, and when they weren't good enough to find me, she followed their mentor and teacher until she found someone who could come get me. She made a lot of deals and pulled a lot of smaller jobs to get to me.
The woman who came for me was Theras Duel, a powerful and very reclusive witch who had been studying magic even before humans met the elves. Tanya had to promise her that she and I would help Theras steal a powerful magical item that she could use for a spell known only as 'wish'.
When she finished telling the story, Tanya sat back and smiled. "And now you're here!"
I was shocked to find I felt fairly indifferent. This was all interesting in a detached sort of way. Actually, there was something deeply wrong here.
"That's great," I said. "I'm so glad you found me."
"It's good to have you back, babe." She was grinning from ear to ear. I smiled weakly in response. "Now, you're going to have to hide out here til the heat dies off. It might take a while. Don't worry, I'll come every day that I can, and there are plenty of books to read." I glanced around the room and saw, indeed, shelves of books.
It all felt oddly opulent.
"Do not leave the house," said Theras. "This whole thing was for nothing if you do that."
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
"Ma'am?" Tanya laughed. "You're being so weird, Erica."
"Yes, I suppose I am," I said. "I'm grateful that you saved me. Thank you. I'm just a little discombobulated." This was what she wanted to hear. It seemed appropriate. She smiled.
She told me more detailed stories about what she'd done to get me back. I listened politely, asking questions as appropriate. Eventually, she had to leave; she had some jobs she had to pull, but she promised to be here tomorrow. Theras left because she didn't care about me.
I was alone.
I simply sat there with my thoughts for a long time. I was so used to it at this point that it seemed the only thing to do. And nobody was around to tell me what to do.
I kind of enjoyed doing nothing.
Eventually I got up and picked up a book. It was the history of the Seltac revolution about a hundred years ago. I read the entire thing in one go. Then I picked up another one; a book of short horror stories. I read that too.
I walked over to the bedroom. I took all my clothes off and looked in the mirror. I felt normal. I looked normal. This is what I was supposed to look like. No, wait. I put my hand behind my back.
Now
I looked how I was supposed to look.
I went to bed and slept like that. It was an incredibly comfortable night's sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I walked out into the lounge, still naked. I put my hands behind my back and looked up. I closed my eyes. I was still and peaceful. Still, the sense of wrongness wouldn't go away.
I walked over to the kitchen and cooked myself some porridge. I poured it into a bowl and ate it. It was delicious.
I thought about it and decided Tanya would want me to wear clothes. She'd probably be very uncomfortable if she came in and I was naked. As uncomfortable as it made me, I went and put my clothes on.
I grabbed another book and read. It was an adaptation of a play I'd seen once. I strongly suspected it wasn't authorised by the original playwright. I read two more books by the time Tanya showed up.
