Thomelisa Taken, Pt IX

“Tarrow?  But that was… that was thirty years ago…”  My mind raced back across the decades, pulling up faces I’d long since chosen to forget.  A lad and a lass, both well older than myself.  Names remained just out of reach, however.

“There were three of us,” I said slowly.

“Well obviously I’m not you,” she snorted.  “Nor am I likely to be Gremmin, since he died before Tarrow.”

“I had forgotten that,” I murmured, visions of a gap-toothed smile floating in my brain.  Poor Gremmin- the lad hadn’t been careful enough, always valuing speed over precision, and while that might have served him well with small cantrips and tricks, it had gotten him killed when he tried more advanced spells.  I had tried, time and again, to warn him, but he was nearly twenty, and didn’t think a twelve-year-old could teach him anything.  And then I remembered the name attached to that other, slightly younger face, the one with eyes green as moss, tilted up at the corners.

“Ofrse?” I searched her eyes.  They were not the same.  But how could they be, as a toad?

“Yes,” she said softly.  “I told you- if I’d known it was you… but how could I?  Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“That’s as I wish it to be,” I said.  “I was retired- and you know they won’t let you retire if you’re still alive.”

“Why do you think I’m in this guise?” she asked, dryly.  “Not because it is convenient, I assure you.”

“But that magic you started to cast-”

“Magic works differently in animal form,” she said.  “Which the Elves didn’t bother to explain ahead of time.  Foolish me, I thought to ask if I’d retain my magic, and was reassured when they told me yes.  I never thought I’d have to spend years relearning how to use it in the form they chose for me.”

I shook my head, more to stop myself from becoming engrossed in the possibilities than anything else.

“What happened to your son, then?  Why is he cursed?  And what does that have to do with my daughter?”

“He is cursed because he is stupid, and that is all I’ll say on that topic,” she said dryly.  “But the only way for him to break the curse was for him to marry.  Specifically the curse was to break upon his first kiss from his new bride.”