"I'm still waiting for an answer," Nia told her mother. "And I'm certain Kiki is too. Why are you so interested in her mother, when her dad's the one who showed up at Gruffudd's Grove?"
Mrs. Brennan replied, "If I recall correctly from our time in the mundane realm, Mrs. Moodie hasn't been part of your friend's life for some time. That's unusual, and it makes me curious."
Nia rolled her eyes, "It might have been unusual a century ago, but single-parent families aren't the least bit strange in the modern world, mom."
"Perhaps," the older fae responded calmly, "But in my experience it's typically the mother that gets stuck looking after the children, after the father walks away or sues for divorce. I'm not saying that's universal, only that it's the more common scenario. Your friend was raised by her father, and unless I misunderstood some of your comments last night, her father isn't exactly thrilled with the situation."
She added bluntly, "If he was then he'd provide a safer and more loving environment for his child. As opposed to a home life that she was desperate to flee."
My friend glared, "Mom! Do you have to be so callous all the time? Maybe try having a little compassion now and then!"
I kept quiet through all that, and anyways I couldn't really argue with the stuff Mrs. Brennan said. I wasn't going to disagree with my best friend either though, she made a good point about the way her mom didn't seem to care much about other peoples' feelings.
Instead I had a sip of my not-hot-chocolate, while my attention was drawn back towards that Siamese cat again. She'd tagged along when Mrs. Brennan suggested the rest of us go back into the house to have our conversation in comfort. We were all in the den, and the older fae even provided us with more mugs of that sweet cocoa beverage we'd enjoyed the night before.
The magical not-fireplace was still going too, which made the room feel very warm and cosy. And considering Nia and I were only wearing our nightshirts I appreciated the warmth, it felt really nice on my bare legs and feet.
The two of us were sitting together on the love-seat this time, while Mrs. Brennan settled onto the sofa. And as soon as she'd made herself comfortable Sara hopped up onto the fae witch's lap. The familiar circled once, then curled up and closed her eyes. Now she was enjoying some nonstop pets and scritches, as the older woman kept one hand busy stroking her feline familiar while she carried on her conversation with us.
Or with Nia, I hadn't actually joined in yet.
And for that matter I wasn't even paying attention to what they were saying anymore. Instead I found myself staring at Sara while I began idly wondering what it might be like to be a mouse. I could perch on Nia's shoulder perhaps, or maybe I could ride around tucked into a blouse pocket next to her chest. I also wondered what it would feel like, getting little pets or being rubbed behind my ears.
At one point Sara's eyes opened and she regarded me silently for a second or two, then her eyes shut once more as Mrs. Brennan continued applying pets and scritches to her familiar's head and ears.
That brief look was enough to push my daydreams in a slightly different direction. Like if I was a mouse, would that put me at risk of being hunted by cats and other wildlife? Would I be in mortal danger if a predator caught me like that? Or would I have some form of protection, magical or otherwise?
Then again, I realized Sara seemed to be able to control her own transformations. So if I was in mouse-form and some cat or other creature threatened me I could probably just shift back to being a mouse-girl. I might not be the biggest person around, but a tiny mouse-girl was still a lot bigger than a standard house cat.
Still, I filed that whole subject away as something I'd need to talk with Nia about at some point. It was definitely a topic I'd need to know more about, if we were to go ahead with the whole familiar thing.
At that point I heard Nia mention my name so I finally focused on her and the ongoing conversation once again.
"I'm sorry Kiki," my friend apologized as she slipped her arm around my shoulders. "I know this is probably a difficult or delicate subject for you, but do you know much about your mother? I don't remember you ever really talking about her. It's always just been you and your dad."
I had another sip of my cocoa then shrugged slightly, "I don't really know anything about mom's family or where she was from or anything like that. She died when I was young."
Nia gave me a gentle squeeze as she sighed, "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," I shrugged again. "I mean, it sucked at the time, but it was a long time ago."
Mrs. Brennan asked, "Would you mind telling us what happened? If you're able to remember?"
I grimaced at the memories but nodded, "I was seven. It was autumn, start of a new school year. We only had the one car and dad always took it to work, so mom would walk me to school in the morning. And she'd be there to walk me home again in the afternoon."
"Anyways one day she walked me to school like usual, but dad showed up at recess to get me..." my voice trailed off as I thought back to that awful day. It took me a few seconds, then I sighed. "After she left me at the school mom continued on into town to do some shopping. Someone was speeding, ran a light or something, and um, she didn't make it."
Nia gave me another gentle supportive squeeze, "I'm sorry Kiki. That must have been so hard for you."
I nodded once as I leaned my head against her shoulder and mumbled, "It was pretty bad. But like I said, it was a long time ago."
Then Mrs. Brennan spoke up again, with another blunt question. "I assume there was a funeral. Did you see your mother's remains at any point?"
"Damn it mom!" Nia snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you have any compassion at all?"
The fae witch responded in another matter-of-fact voice, "She just said it was a long time ago, indicating that she'd like to downplay the emotional aspects of those circumstances. I'm merely responding to her desires and treating the subject with calm detachment."
My friend let out an exasperated sigh as she continued to hold me close, but before the pair of them could get into another little argument I went ahead and answered the question.
"There was a funeral but the casket was closed," I mumbled. "The last time I saw my mom was when she dropped me off at school."
Mrs. Brennan nodded once, "Thank you Kiki. Do you happen to recall what day that was?"
I hesitated briefly, as though I was trying to remember. And part of me wanted to lie, to shake my head and say no I couldn't remember those sorts of details. Nia might have even believed it too, but something told me her mother wouldn't. I didn't think she was using magic or reading my mind or anything, it felt more like she was just too observant. Like maybe she was just really good at reading people. Because in truth every detail about that day was burned into my mind, such that I knew I'd never forget a moment of it. Even if I sometimes wished I could.
My voice was quiet again as I replied, "Yeah. It was a Friday. September twentieth, two thousand and thirteen."
"Why's that important?" I added as I glanced over at the fae witch.
She had a thoughtful look on her face as she continued petting and stroking her cat familiar. It took her a few more seconds before she replied, "With so little information to go on whatever facts we can find may be of use."
"And is it?" Nia asked her mother. "Is there anything special about September twentieth?"
Mrs. Brennan gave her daughter a disappointed look, "Have you forgotten so much of your magical studies that you wouldn't recognize a date oft associated with Mabon?"
"Mabon?" I frowned. "What's that?"
Nia rolled her eyes, "The autumnal equinox. And it's not fixed to September twentieth, although it can fall on that day. Solstices and equinoxes move around from year to year, because of leap years and other astronomical shifts. I'd have to check an app on my phone to know what day it was in twenty-thirteen."
Her mother sounded very sure of herself as she stated, "Friday September twentieth, twenty thirteen was not the equinox. The date is still significant though, as it fell neatly between a full moon and Mabon, which came only three days apart that year. If I'm remembering correctly."
"So what does that mean?" I asked nervously. "What's all this mean? Are you saying my mom was a witch? Is that why she died?"
Then I frowned, "Wait are you saying someone killed her, that it wasn't an accident?"
Mrs. Brennan apologized, "I'm sorry my dear, I'm saying nothing of the sort. Only that the timing is interesting."
I sighed, then my frown got a little deeper before I finally shook my head. My voice was still quiet but I made sure I sounded firm as I stated, "I don't want to talk about this any more. I don't care if it's mysterious or curious or whatever else you're thinking. My dad's the one who's looking for me. He's the one who beats me, the one who makes me scared to go home from school sometimes. And now he somehow knows about this place, and he knows I'm here. So I'd rather talk about him."
"Or more specifically," I added with another sigh, "I'd like to talk about how I can escape him, how I can be safe from him. So I don't have to be scared of him any more."
To her credit Mrs. Brennan accepted the change of topic without even batting an eye. On the other hand she still had that calm know-it-all sort of tone as she responded, "You are nineteen years of age are you not? Almost twenty, in fact? That makes you an adult, according to the laws of the mundane world. That means your father no longer has any legal hold, rights, or claim to you. If you don't like living with him, simply leave."
Unfortunately that wasn't exactly actionable advice, and I could tell from the way Nia tensed up that she was thinking the same things as me. I didn't have anywhere else to go, and dad was paying my college tuition. So 'just leave' might mean ending up homeless, dropping out of school, all that sort of thing.
In the end though I didn't bother trying to make any big detailed arguments. Mrs. Brennan lived in the mundane realm for over a decade, and I knew she was smart enough she'd already know everything I'd have said anyways.
So instead I just sighed, "It's not that easy."
"Nothing of import ever is," my friend's mom replied, and for once she almost sounded compassionate.
The older fae shifted slightly so she was sitting up straight on the sofa, although her movements seemed to irritate the formerly-content cat on her lap. The Siamese jumped clear, then with a few small grumpy noises she turned her back on her mistress and stalked out of the room. Which seemed pretty on-point to me, as far as normal cat behaviour.
Mrs. Brennan didn't seem to take offence at her familiar's departure. Instead she remained focused on me as she asked, "Tell me Kiki, what do you want? Forget for the moment about money and other such practicalities. What do you really truly want right now? For your self, your life, your future?"
"Oh," I hesitated. "Um..."
My eyes widened slightly and my cheeks warmed up as I realized her question was both really big, but also potentially embarrassing. Because right now a lot of what I wanted kind of depended on her daughter's involvement. And that in turn was going to depend on some conversations Nia and I still needed to finish.
I gave my best friend a nervous look before I finally spoke up. It was hard at first, but got easier the more I said.
"Ignoring all the practical stuff, and maybe ignoring what's even possible and what isn't," I began, "What I want right now is to stay like this. I want to keep being Kiki, I want to stay a small cute mouse-girl. And I want to be able to live somewhere that I'm not constantly afraid of being yelled at or hurt if I step out of line or say the wrong thing. Maybe that means becoming Nia's familiar? I still don't know enough about that yet to say for sure it's what I want, but I'm definitely interested and curious."
After a slight pause I added, "I'd also like to keep attending college with Nia, if possible. As myself though, as Kiki. Not the person I was before. That feels like a mask now, like an act I put on to fit in with other people's expectations of me. I want to never have to do that again. I want to be myself, and be accepted as myself."
By the time I finished talking Nia's cheeks had some colour to them as well, but to her credit she didn't try and interrupt when I brought up the familiar stuff. Neither did Mrs. Brennan, although I was positive the older fae looked pleased when I said that stuff.
Unsurprisingly Mrs. Brennan was also the first to respond, although it took a couple seconds before she seemed ready to talk. "You may be happy to know that none of your desires are impossible. Although I concede a few items on your list will be a challenge. Particularly the latter ones, such as continuing your college education under your new identity. Difficult, but still achievable with some judicious applications of magic."
"As for the top items on your list," the fae witch glanced at her daughter before continuing, "Those may be achieved through a variety of means. You've already mentioned the most obvious solution yourself, so I needn't bring it up again. And I know Nia is quite likely sick of hearing my constant refrain on that subject."
My best friend rolled her eyes slightly as she said, "Thank you mother."
"I suppose that means you and I need to continue that conversation we started this morning?" she added as she focused on me again. "Like you said, there's a lot you still need to know before you're able to make any sort of informed decision."
I shook my head, "Only if you're comfortable discussing it. If you don't want to talk about it then we won't."
Nia hesitated briefly as she seemed to think it over. Then she nodded, "It's ok. You already made a lot of good points this morning, and anyways it feels like this is a potential solution to a lot of different problems. So it's stupid for me to let some silly hang-ups get in the way."
"They're not silly," I told her. "And you're not stupid. Your feelings are valid, and I'm glad you shared them with me. If you're really worried about that stuff then maybe we can try and work on those things together? If you want."
She looked like she was about to say something, then caught herself as she glanced towards her mother. Sure enough the older fae noticed, and got the message.
Mrs. Brennan rose to her feet and announced, "I shall return to my workshop. I trust you girls will come and fetch me if you need any further advice."
"Thank you mother," Nia replied as the two of us watched her mom leave.