Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

~~

Star

~~

  "OK Star, what do you say we get to work on learning some of the magic that you can do. I know that you have used your hand of power without even trying to, and that can happen when emotions are running high. When you are angry, scared, extremely sad, and even when you are really happy, your magic can slip, and the outcome can be unpredictable."

  My dad was starting to explain the part of being a Fae that had actually scared me the most. I knew I had magic, but I didn't know how to use it. That was scary. To have power, but no control over it. It made me feel dangerous and like I was a potential threat to my loved ones.

  "Can I ask you something?" I raised my hand just a little to stop his little speech.

  "Yes, go right ahead." He grinned and nodded for me to continue.

  "What is a hand of power? I have heard you say it a couple of times now, but I don't know what it is."

  "I am sorry. I forgot that you know nothing of magic." He clapped his hand to his forehead and laughed. "I am such an idiot at times. Then again, I have often been told by my sisters and my female cousins that that is a trait of men. We're all stupid apparently!" He laughed it off and sighed playfully. 

My dad wasn't upset at all, he was having fun right now; even when making fun of himself, he was having a good time.

  "Alright, to explain in the simplest way possible to start, a hand of power is like your main magic. Most Fae can have up to two of them, obviously because we have two hands. Whether we're in our human form or our nature form, we usually only have two hands. There are some less than human-looking individuals among us, but they are not that common. And those individuals aren't that easy on the eyes so they tend to stick to their human form instead of their nature form."

  He hadn't described anything specifically but my imagination was running rampant. For some reason I was seeing things that were very scary inside my head. The thoughts made me shudder involuntarily. Then my dad continued his explanation, thankfully moving past the Fae that were supposedly not pleasant to look at.

  "Now, most Fae can be broken into groups based on what they are. A lot of our magic is limited based on what type of Fae we are. Being a pixie, my magic is mostly focused on nature. That is what I am best at. However, we have a close blood tie to the Queen of the Fae, who is a neutral being. She is what we would call a Sidhe. All of the Fae are part of the last of Faerie. That is obviously a little redundant to need to say, but there it is. Now don't get this confused with the fantasy tales woven by old storytellers; those are fairy tales with a y and no e's. I am referring to an entire plane of existence known as Faerie, two e's and no y."

  "I am so confused right now." I laughed pretending to be dizzy from all the information.

  "I see you take after me more than I thought." He grinned. "But hush and let me give you a history lesson. We have a little more to go through before I can teach you how to use magic."

  I laughed so hard that my shoulders were shaking. He had noticed that I was only pretending not to follow him at all.

  "OK, as I was saying, all of the Fae are people of Faerie. We vary in type and variety. The Queen is a Sidhe; I said she was neutral magic, but that's not really it. Her brothers were neutral and that was proven. Aunt Glory is more like an all-magic. She is literally the physical embodiment of every magic that the Fae has to offer. She is the most powerful being I have ever met or that I have even known of."

  "Is she really that strong?" I felt my jaw drop, and my eyes pop open as I thought about my Aunt Gloriana; she definitely didn't seem that powerful to me.

  "Yes, she is. It would be wise for her enemies to never challenge her directly." I saw the grim light in his eyes as he thought about whatever that might mean. I wondered if she even had enemies.

  "Now," he cleared his throat and moved on, "there are what we call lesser Fae, which cannot get a hand of power. They are related to us, can even be the same type of fae, but they do not have a human form. They never strengthened and evolved into something more. They are still nothing more than that of the old legends. The other Fae, those in the messer, middle, upper, high, and grand rankings can usually change easily between one form or another. However, those lesser Fae are not fully excluded from the rest of us. It is the Queen's greatest desire to raise the ranks of all the lesser fae over time. It may sound archaic and controlling, but she would like to breed the bloodlines together to help them all ascend."

  I thought about that for a moment, thinking deeply about it, and what it would mean.

  "Is she going to force them into it?" I asked my dad, still staring into the distance while thinking.

  "Absolutely not. If the lesser Fae do not want to ascend, then they will not be forced to do so, and likewise, she will not force someone to mate with them if they do not want to. She would just like to see the power shared between her people."

  "Hmm." I thought about it for another second. "Then I see no problem. If she isn't calling them abominations and telling them that they need to be fixed, and if she isn't forcing them to mate with someone against their will, then I don't see a problem with it." I smiled at him.

  "Good." He was happy to see that I hadn't gotten angry at our aunt's choices. "Now, the higher ranked a Fae is, the more magic they have. The reason I said that most Fae can have up to two hands of power is that everyone from middle rank and up can have that ability; though all Fae can use magic of some sort."

  "OK, so that means that I am at least a middle Fae. And I am assuming that Aunt Gloriana is a Grand Fae?"

  "She is considered that, yes, but she is much more powerful than that ranking. Aunt Glory is as close to a living Goddess as you can get. In truth, we Fae are descended from the Gods, and there were three that were especially strong and close to the original Goddess that created us."

  He was giving me so much to think about right now. This was turning into more than just a magic lesson. I hoped he would give me a full course on our history when we go back to California.

  "I am getting off topic." He shook his head, ending the extra lessons. Oh, and I liked them too. "Now, the magic we can do is usually, but not always, limited to the type of Fae we are. There are universal magics that we can all do; there are some magics that you can do with a lot of practice and effort, but they will take their toll on you; and then there are magics that you can never do if your type doesn't match it."

  I nodded my head showing that I understood what he was saying. I had slowly been learning things from my cousins that had nothing to do with school. Reed had taught me a card game that was magic based, and some characters were strong based on the type of their magic.

  "So being that I am a pixie, I probably will have a hard time doing things like fire magic." My dad nodded, happy that I understood what he had been saying.

  "Yes, exactly that. I am so glad you get it. You might be able to start a campfire or something, but you can't shoot a fireball."

  "Oh well, damn!" I joked, and we both laughed.

  "You can do other things though, and I will teach you."

  I was getting excited. Despite the confusing things he had said I was really excited to get all of this started. I wanted to know more about myself, about my people and my heritage. I wanted to know it all. I liked learning and knowing things. It's the not knowing that makes life scary. And I had spent way too much of my life not knowing anything. I would never let that happen to me ever again.