"So what did you and your mom decide?" I asked quietly as I followed Nia into her room. Or our room, I still hadn't fully processed that I'd be living there from now on too.
She was carrying all those bags full of my new clothes with her, but when we got into the room she hesitated like she wasn't sure where to put them. Mostly because the place looked like a complete disaster area. Every last one of the moving boxes she'd conjured up earlier had vanished, now the floor was covered in all her clothes and things that had spilled out everywhere.
She finally just dropped the bags ontop of the rest of the mess, then let herself partially collapse onto her bed. She sighed as she stared up at the ceiling, "No decisions yet, about what to do with your dad. She has some thoughts and ideas, but mostly it'll come down to how your father reacts when he sees you."
I didn't like the sound of that, but instead of her words I was more focused on her body language. I carefully stepped over and around her clothes as best I could until I was standing next to her. Then in a worried voice I asked, "Is everything ok? How are you doing?"
Nia raised her head to look at me, then gave me a sad smile. "I should be asking you those questions Kiki."
"C'mere," she added as she pulled herself up to a sitting position. "Have a seat cutie, let's talk."
I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy again as I pulled my behind up onto the bed next to her. She slipped an arm around my shoulders and I automatically leaned into the hug.
"I saw you and Sara talking earlier," she commented softly. "What was all that about? She wasn't teasing you again was she?"
My cheeks warmed up a bit but I shook my head, "Nah. It was fine. We were just talking about uh, familiar stuff."
"Oh yeah?" she asked in an amused tone. Then she added, "I'm glad she wasn't teasing you. And for what it's worth, I had no idea she and mom were going to buy that stupid cage. I'm sure they did it as a joke or something."
My blush got a little brighter as I told her, "It's fine. And um, who knows? Maybe it'll be fun once in a while..."
Nia suppressed a little giggle, then gave me a gentle supportive squeeze. Finally she sounded serious again as she asked, "For real though, how are you holding up? I know the last two days have probably been overwhelming for you. Me too, it's hard not to get caught up and carried away with everything. So I need to know that you're still alright."
"I mean with everything," she added. "Are you still ok being called Kiki? Or would you feel more comfortable if I went back to calling you J again? And your form, you said earlier you were feeling weird about being so small and weak. Is that still bothering you? Are we moving too fast with things? Do you need some space?"
I took a deep breath, then frowned, and finally shook my head. "I think I'm ok? And I'm definitely happier being a little mousegirl named Kiki than I ever was as a human guy called J."
"Being small and weak isn't that bad either," I continued softly. My cheeks were still warm as I admitted, "I kind of like the idea of being defenceless against you. Knowing you're my mistress, or my owner, and you can do what you want with me? That's um, yeah. Nice thoughts."
My expression fell and my heart rate picked up as I continued, "It's my dad that scares me. The thought of being small and weak and helpless around him terrifies me. Even more than before, now that I know he knows something about magic and stuff? I don't know how we're going to deal with him. What if he freaks out, what if he tries to separate us? Or tries to make me to turn back to what I was before?"
"That's why my mother wants to deal with him on our own terms," Nia sighed. "She wants to be proactive about the situation."
I gulped as her words sank in, but couldn't bring myself to ask the obvious question. Not right away at least. Instead I just shifted so I was cuddled up against her side again, then closed my eyes and tried to force myself to be calm. It probably took me another minute or two before I was ready.
"What does your mom want to do? To my dad I mean?"
Nia replied softly, "She's hoping for a peaceful resolution, obviously. The first thing will be to just talk to your dad. Tell him you've decided to move out, and he won't have to pay for your education or anything else anymore. Which means what you do with your life is no longer any of his concern or business. You're nineteen, you're an adult, you can make your own choices."
"What if..." I started to ask, but my voice quickly trailed off as I suppressed an anxious shudder.
"That's just step one," my mistress assured me. "Mother's also hoping since your dad knows something about the other side he'll also know how things work over there. Call it 'fae law' or whatever, but when you agreed to become my familiar you basically became mine. The whole pet and owner thing? So any 'supernatural claim' he might have had to you is gone now too."
I thought about that for a few seconds, then sighed and shook my head. "I don't know Nia. I can't help worrying he's going to take it all the wrong way. Especially if he's been drinking again. He's definitely going to get angry, he might get violent. I don't want you to get hurt, or anyone else either."
She gave me another gentle squeeze then whispered, "If your father refuses to respect your choices and your identity, if he refuses to respect the laws and customs both here and on the other side of the veil, and if he insists on violence and hatred... Then mother will respond in kind. It's not something she does lightly, and we don't like to talk about it, but she's a powerful witch. She's not afraid to get her hands dirty if she has to."
"Oh," I gulped. Not that I was surprised, but it still felt like a big deal to hear her say it. And it left me with more mixed feelings on the matter.
After a couple seconds I sighed again, "I know my dad's not a good person, but I don't want him to get hurt. I just want him to leave us alone."
Nia leaned closer and placed a kiss on my cheek, "That's because you're a much better person than him, Kiki. I'm sure mother doesn't want to hurt anyone either."
"If things go badly though," she added softly, "Mother will do whatever it takes to make sure you and I are safe. She's not going to let anyone hurt or threaten either of us."
My mistress paused there to watch me for a few seconds, or maybe she was waiting for me to say something. I stayed quiet though, as I thought again about what she was saying and how I couldn't see any way for the situation to end peacefully.
When it was clear I wasn't going to respond she broke the silence between us, "I know this is a difficult subject for you pet, I'm sorry it's making you uncomfortable. You have to understand though, if things go badly that'll be on your dad's shoulders. Mother and I are prepared to defend our family, but we're not looking for a fight. All your dad has to do is let you go. You're an adult, you can and have made your own decisions. He has no right or claim to you anymore. And he never had the right to hurt you."
"He can be angry," she continued in that same soft voice, "That's his right, he's allowed to think and feel whatever he wants. He can be angry, frustrated, disappointed, he can believe you're making the wrong choices. But if he tries to physically stop you, or hurt you, or abuses his authority as a police officer, then that's crossing a line."
I stayed quiet for another couple seconds before finally agreeing, "You're right. And I kind of already knew all that stuff? It's still hard to deal with it though. Like... How do I even explain what happened to me? He's not going to recognize me. He might not even believe me if I try to tell him who I am."
Nia reminded me, "He obviously knows something about magic and the fae, since he got into Gruffudd's Grove on Friday night. Mom and I were thinking the best way to approach the identity angle would be for all of us to drive over to his house in the van, while you turn your phone back on and send him some texts."
"Tell him you're trans," she suggested, "And that you found out about magic and got a magical transition. Tell him your new name and pronouns. Then let him know you're moving out, that you're coming to grab your stuff. If we time it right then we'll already be outside the house by that point. And how he reacts to the messages might give us an idea of what to expect when we show up at the front door."
My eyes widened and I gulped, then nodded slowly. "Ok. I guess I have to come out to him sooner or later."
"Yeah," she gave me a sympathetic look, and another gentle supportive squeeze. "I know it's scary cutie, but you can do it."
It was nice to hear she had that confidence in me, but I wasn't so sure. Although thinking about that reminded me of my conversation with Sara, especially the part about how working with Mrs. Brennan helped her believe in herself and all that. I knew I had a long way to go yet, this was literally just my second day after all. I had to start somewhere though, so I decided to look at becoming Nia's familiar as the first step.
I straightened my back a little and tried to sound more sure of myself as I said, "Yeah. Like you said it's going to be scary, but I can do it. Especially with you there."
That made her smile, and she gave me another kiss before saying "That's the spirit."
"So when are we doing this?" I asked in what I hoped was a brave-sounding voice.
"Mom suggested we wait until after dinner," she replied. "So we've got another hour or two to kill here, then we'll all go out and get something to eat. We'll head over to your dad's place after we've finished eating."
I nodded slowly as it sank in. Having a schedule made it even more real, that we were going to confront my dad this evening. I tried to keep up the brave face though and asked, "What are we going to do in the mean-time?"
"Also I thought we needed to get the mini-van back before six?" I added. "It sounds like that's not going to happen."
Nia smiled, "Don't worry about the van rental, silly girl! It just means we get to keep it a couple more days. As for what we're doing..."
She glanced around her room then gestured, "You and I are going to put away all these clothes. Mine and yours. I'll make room in my dresser for some of your stuff, and we'll fit the rest in our closet."
"Oh ok," I nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."
With that settled the two of us finally got up off the bed and got to work. I started picking up all the clothes that ended up scattered around the floor when the moving boxes vanished, while my mistress began reorganizing the contents of her dresser to free up space for some of my new things. For now I was just piling her clothes up on her bed, but I did my best to keep things organized. I also made sure to flatten everything out so they weren't as wrinkled.
As we worked I asked, "What are your parents up to? And Sara?"
"Dad and Sara are putting together the last of the new furniture," Nia replied. "And mom's getting all the kitchen stuff put away. Which means you and I should be all properly moved in by the time we're ready for bed tonight."
I smiled, "That'll be nice."
"Maybe instead of going out for dinner we should just order in?" I added in a teasing voice. "The usual post-move feast is typically pizza and beer, in the tradition of my people."
My mistress giggled then teased back, "That's a human tradition cutie. I guess it's still appropriate since we're living in the mundane world, but technically speaking they're not your people anymore."
"Oh yeah." That left me with a thoughtful frown as I added, "I wonder what mousekin traditionally eat after big moves and stuff?"
"Cheese maybe?" Nia joked.
I stopped what I was doing and looked up her with wide eyes, "I've been a mousekin for almost two full days now, how is it I haven't even had a single piece of cheese yet?!"
That got her giggling even more, "I doubt mother will be happy with take-out pizza, but maybe we can go to a dine-in pizzeria. Or how about Italian food? How do you feel about cheese pasta smothered in cheese?"
"I have very positive feelings about both of those ideas," I replied with a wide grin.
"Then it's settled," she smiled back at me. "But first we have to finish putting all our clothes away."
I pretended to pout at her, but we both ended up giggling as we finally focused on the clothes again. Although the idea of either cheesy pizza or cheesy pasta as a reward probably helped almost as much as it was a distraction. Still, it wasn't much longer before Nia had two empty drawers ready for me in her dresser. The bottom two, obviously, since they were the most accessible for me. Then she began putting her things away in the closet while I got started pulling my new things out of the shopping bags and tucking them away.
Nia left some room for me in the closet too, there was a shelf in there for my shoes and room for me to hang up the things that weren't supposed to be folded up. Like some jackets and a couple dresses and skirts.
By the time we were done the bedroom was all tidied up again and almost all the clothes were neatly put away. My mistress selected one new outfit for me to wear, then dispelled the clothes she'd conjured up for me earlier. Finally she gathered up the empty bags and tags and trash and stuff, then went to put that in the garbage chute while I got changed.
The outfit wasn't anything fancy or special, especially considering all the magical dress-up we'd done the day before. It was still kind of wild though, and I couldn't help feeling another wave of euphoria as I got dressed in my first 'real' bra and panties. Then there were leggings, footie socks, a tiny pair of sneakers, and a cute pink dress. Overtop of all that was a new autumn jacket. Then I tucked my phone into my new purse, and I was all ready to go.
When I emerged from the bedroom I found the living-room was all done too. Mr. Brennan and Sara had finished putting all the furniture together, and they'd even taken all the cardboard and styrofoam packaging out to the trash so the place was all clean and neat. Same with the kitchen, Mrs. Brennan had all the dishes and cutlery and stuff put away, and a few new small appliances set up on the counter. Including coffee maker, toaster, and microwave.
"Wow this all looks great!" I commented as I looked around.
Sara gestured towards the opposite wall, "We decided to put your cage over there, so you'll be able to see the TV while you're in there."
Sure enough the fancy critter cage was all fully assembled and ready to go, sitting on top of a side-table where it had a clear view of both the entertainment unit and the doors to the balcony. That got me blushing again, but Nia just rolled her eyes.
"If we're all done then why don't we go get dinner?" my mistress asked. "And if nobody minds, I've already picked where Kiki and I want to go."
The prospect of something yummy and cheesy got me smiling again, but the knowledge that we'd be confronting my dad afterwards left me feeling anxious.