And once again a new card becomes active.

"Kero, any ideas?"

They're taking the Jeep, as usual. It's the fastest thing they've got.

"Not really. We'd need to capture one to know what's going on..."

They arrive. 

Scott scopes out the area, looking for anything suspicious. 

There's a bit of a commotion. 

They're not the only ones here. 

There is also a giant bird.

Stiles can't see it but it is very much a giant bird. It's creating quite a lot of wind.

Key becomes staff. Boy becomes magical girl. 

"Windy, block the winds with your own!" 

Windy does that, expanding and becoming huge and countering the wind as unsuspecting people run for cover from what feels like it might well become a storm or something.

But the giant bird is moving.

He can catch up to it. 

All it takes is jumping high enough. 

"Jump, carry me to the sky to do battle with the Fly."

It does! Booounce!

The Fly—is pretty fast.

He's in the air, and it's not getting away that easily.

"Obey my command! Fire God, come forth!"

Scott tries to ignore the jumping boy.

"Windy, block the card's path. Form a wall!"

Windy is not good at being solid but it can definitely do "strong gust of wind against giant bird," enough to prevent it from meaningfully advancing.

He sends a fireball towards the Fly card.

He lands, and he jumps again, this time hoping to catch it on its descent.

"Kero, who is this guy? Is he a sorcerer?"

Stiles tries to get a closer look, but he's too far away.

"Move, bring the bird closer towards us?"

The card is falling from the hit with the fireball against a wall of wind. The card is pulled towards Scott and Stiles.

"I—I don't—"

Why wouldn't it.

This will be fun to explain to his family. They'd only heard rumors of the cardcaptor, and now there's proof.

Alistair doesn't hesitate long before deciding. They won't be finding out about this.

He and Jump take their leave.

"What. Kero, did you see that? Who was that guy, why did he have a Clow card?"

"I don't know, I was trying to—he didn't seem familiar, I don't know if he was from some clan I knew... He was definitely a sorcerer, though."

"Hey, at least we got the Bird card!"

"Fly, return to your power confined!"

There it goes. It is now a card.

"Kero, do you know any way to find sorcerers? Now that I've met him, could I use meditation to find him again?"

"If he's in the city, yes, you should be able to sense his magic..."

"We should probably get into the Jeep and not hang around all the property damage?"

They get.

Scott meditates.

Can he sense any sorcerers in town?

He can probably sense a retreating one going roughly wherever that one guy went.

Well. He wants to know.

"Fly, take me to this sorcerer."

...his staff gets wings.

Well that's convenient.

It really is. 

He flies towards the sorcerer. 

Stiles waits in the car.

He offers Kero some snacks. 

Kero accepts the snacks!

The Fly's fairly easy to operate, actually, obeying almost his thoughts more than anything.

Also he looks like a witch or something.

Yeah, magical girl and now witch. 

This is becoming a pattern.

He flies.

He doesn't catch up to the stranger. 

He ends up above a large residential neighborhood, with only a couple walking their dog. 

He hides, and flies back. 

"I found where he lives," he tells Stiles and Kero.

"Are you going there? I bet he was the reason those Clow Cards were disappearing!"

"I thought I should come back here, maybe have some kind of plan for if he's not friendly...Kero, how powerful did he seem?"

"He knew how to use sorcery and had access to cards... I'm not sure, it could be he was using someone else's spells or something. Clow was more powerful, though."

"Clow was the most powerful. We still might not be able to handle this guy."

"Kero, do you think I'm ready to face him now?" 

"Maybe. Depends on what cards he has. Cards are much more powerful than regular magic."

"We don't really have anything for a fight. Maybe I can catch him around town, so he's not prepared. Let's go home." 

They go home. 

Scott mediates with the new card. 

The new card is... pretty simple. Even simpler than The Move—it doesn't even have a mischievous streak. It's really just a big bird.

That's cool too. Birds are fine.

"Kero, if I use Windy, Through, or Move, could I get his cards away from him?"

"Not if he's written his names on the cards and befriended them. Then they're his and will come back to him."

"Okay. Our best bet is to confront him when he's not on his turf, maybe kind of public. If he wants to make it a fight, he'll have to wait. Tomorrow I'll go into town and look for him."

A "plan" formed, they go their separate ways. 

And the next day, Stiles takes Scott and Kero to the center of town. 

Nope.

"Okay. Um. Kero, do you want to get something to eat, while we're out. Doesn't have to be completely wasted." 

"Ooh, ice cream?"

Scott gets enough ice cream for three.

Stiles gets one, and Kero gets the other two.

Eeee nom~

(Who knows where in this tiny body all that ice cream is going. Certainly not inside.)

Stiles proves quite capable of putting it all away, too, but he's a teenage boy.

"So are we doing ice cream instead of finding this guy? Because that seems kind of important."

"We can't just attack him at his house, we have to just...run into him. On purpose. We'll try again tomorrow."

And tomorrow, some people have actual work to do.

Like math. Lots of math. Wow, so much fun.

Math.

All good things must come to an end.

Alistair exits math, and walks through the courtyard to his next class.

At which point he is interrupted by this kid, holding a pink staff.

"Hi, we met yesterday? I'm the cardcaptor. Kero, this is him," the boy whispers to his backpack.

His head pops out of the backpack. "It is! ...I don't know who he is."

"What the hell is that? Some kind of new toy? I don't have time for this, kid."

He tries to walk past him.

"Windy, surround us."

Yup, that's a pink staff and a card doing what they do best.

What Windy does best is wind. She does the thing.

"What was your plan, exactly? This is reckless and stupid, and if I thought my faith in Clow was shaken before, this really takes the cake."

"We just want to know what you want with the Clow cards."

"You weren't doing your job, so I thought it should be in better hands. I'm a liberator." 

"Kero, I thought you said there could only be one cardcaptor?"

"That's right. Clow never mentioned a liberator."

"Sword, I call upon your power. Lend me skill in this hour."

It glows and surrounds Alistair's arm, and then he's holding a long, thin rapier with a knuckle protector.

He offers the boy a few pointers.

"Fly, take me out of here!"

Wings on his staff!

He's up in the air immediately, backpack securely fastened. Lucky Kero.

"What was that for?"

"Get out of here before someone sees you. This was a pathetic showing, and I really hope you have better."

He starts to turn, the sword returning to card form, before he stops.

"Kero...as in Cerberus? The Guardian Beast?"

"Yes! Charged with protecting the cards and guiding the cardcaptor!"

"Stellar job, as always. Clow Reed was a master, I'm sure. Good luck, cardcaptor, Kero."

He walks to his next class.

Every reasonable, sane person was in class, not accosting him outside, so hopefully there weren't too many witnesses.

This is his mess to clean up, if so. He'll handle them quietly.

Scott and Kero fly home.

"That went badly."

"Yeah. He doesn't know anything about Clow. Or you."

"What do I do if he keeps taking cards before I can find them?"

"If he doesn't misuse them it's not that bad..."

"No, he seems fine, but he doesn't like me...what if he tries to take my cards? Could he become the cardcaptor?" 

"No, only the key of the seal can decide who's worthy to become the cardcaptor."

"Right."

Eventually, they land. 

The next few days are fairly boring. 

Downright uneventful, really.

He really wants another Clow card to become active, so he's not just wasting his time pretending he understands calculus. 

Well that's a pretty suspicious storm approaching that one specific part of town.

"Jump, let me fly, take me to the storm's eye."

He goes.

He can bounce quite high!

There's not a whole lot of places to bounce from, though, the streets are flooded and lots of people are stranded and it's fairly chaotic down there.

(And a girl, one of the people stranded down there, sees a bouncing figure that looks like a boy and thinks this is really weird.)

Are all the cars underwater? He'll use those to bounce closer.

A surprising number of them are, but not all, no.

Now the girl got a much closer look. Yep, that's a bouncing boy, what the duck.

He draws his Sword.

A storm isn't likely to be very stabbable, but he'll try.

The storm is indeed not very stabbable. It is a girl, in a clown outfit.

Can he stab her? A little?

Not a whole lot, she's slippery.

He finds the nearest building he can to the card.

"God of Thunder, take form and strike the eye of the storm."

An arrow crackling with lightning streaks towards the card. 

Thunder!

...it tickles.

Water and wind won't work if lightning doesn't.

He tries his fire arrow.

A burst of flame at the figure in the center of the storm. 

That works.

The little elf-girl figure is seriously hurt, and drops, falling towards the ground.

(And another girl is very annoyed at all this water and dampness and fairly close to the spot where the elf-girl figure's gonna hit and that's by design she is not letting this obviously magic man escape.)

He jumps to the ground and approaches the little elf-girl. 

"Had enough?" 

Elf-girl groans, tries to get up from the water washing around her, fails.

Human girl watches from a somewhat-secluded place. The storm is still going on, and it's fairly dark.

"The Jump and the Sword have already recognized my skill and my strength of character. If Clow left a test, I think I can handle it." 

He strings his bow and trains it on the elf-girl.

"I won't fail." 

"Okay what the fuck," observing girl calls, running as best she can through the water to try to stop him.

"I'll be with you in a second. Storm, return to your power confined."

He taps her with his bow.

It does, obligingly, and floats to his hand. The storm starts abating, though doesn't immediately dissipate—weather patterns don't just stop merely because the magic behind them went away.

The girl continues approaching, and blinks. "—that girl was a card?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

He whistles and shoulders his bow.

"It was a pretty bad storm, are you feeling alright? No injuries?" 

"I totally saw that girl becoming a card, I had literally never seen anything magic other than myself in my life until three weeks ago and now everything's magic you are not blowing me off."

"Most people haven't seen any. Can we go somewhere where most people can't hear us before we discuss the secret conspiracy?" 

"Okay yes I'm in."

"I know a good roof, but we should probably stick to something where I won't have to carry you. Any ideas?" 

"...a library? With one of those booths? Or just a park—people aren't likely to just assume we're talking about real things when we mention magic—and actually I would really love to not be sopping wet..."

"The park. I can pull off re-enactor or cosplayer, right?" 

"Sure. But can I stop home first and get a chance of clothes?"

"You can. I thought you were afraid I'd run away if you lost sight of me."  

"If you disappear I will find you," she says with a casual finality suggesting not a promise or a threat, but merely a prediction of fact. "It is very frustrating to spend almost two decades unable to find any other magic."

"To your house, then. Change your clothes, wear something good for a hike." 

Off they go!

"I don't suppose I can start asking questions on the way there?"

"Ask away."

"Okay so my first question is: what."

"Magic cards. Next?"

"How? Why? Who made them? How many are there, what can they do, why now not before, what other kinds of magic are there?"

"A powerful sorcerer made them for kicks. He died. They were sealed away, so no one could use them to do anything stupid or dangerous. Some kid opened them, and now they're doing stupid and dangerous things. I come from a family of sorcerers, and you've seen some of our magic. It's elemental forces, channeled through my bow, and then through the arrows. What's yours?"

"...shapeshifting, very lame, until I found this card that helps."

"Really. Wasn't this a lucky coincidence."

"Yes. Yes it was. Except I could already do some magic before and I didn't have a family of sorcerers."

"Please, bring your skepticism out into the open, so we can all have a look."

"I'm not skeptical, I'm jealous."

"Don't be. How far is this house, walking?"

"It's—" They arrive at the apartment building, just off the storm. "—here."

Do they go inside her apartment, or is he waiting outside?

"You can come in, if you like."

And if he likes, he will find a small but tidy apartment in a small but tidy building.

"Nice place. All to yourself?"

"No, I live with mom," she says, removing her drenched shoes and socks and making her way to her room, then bathroom. "Try not to get any storm dirt onto anything, but otherwise make yourself comfortable."

He looks around.

It is small but tidy! The door opens to a living room with a couple of sofas, a bookshelf, a rug, a center table, and no TV. There's a door over there that leads into a small kitchen, and the small hall that-a-way where bedrooms-and-bathroom are.

Two people live here?

He waits in the living room, examining the bookshelf.

There is a nice collection of (used) books on mathematics, physics, biology, economics, and a very small bit of SF&F.

He probably shouldn't take any off the shelf.

He reads the spines of a few biology textbooks.

Any kind of theme?

Not enough books for a clear pattern to emerge, though if there was one it'd be 'metamorphosis.'

He waits.

She has changed!

"Let's go, then, I suppose?"

"Is anyone going to overhear us? This is private enough."

"—no, probably not, you're right."

"So where should I start?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe I should start? I'm genderfluid, I was always able to change a very little amount of my appearance and look more feminine or masculine, this was clearly magical, my religious father left me and my mom. We never found any other magic, until three weeks ago a card called 'The Change' appeared and was much more thorough in changing me. Then there was that freak storm and an elf girl and you and I'm very confused."

"Genderfluid? Sorry, not the important part. The Change is one of many cards, the Clow cards. Clow was a uniquely powerful sorcerer who put his magic into cards for...somewhat historically unclear reasons, but probably it helped him use his magic more efficiently. In my case, the effects of the cards are useful because they take less lifeforce than my family magic. They're annoyingly specific at times, but it's cheap to use them."

"You mentioned someone released them and they were sealed?"

"They can be dangerous, so Clow had them sealed in his book until the right person found them. I think someone with the right kind of magic did find the book, but Clow didn't know what they would be like. He could only hope that the magic went to someone who could use it well."

"...that sounds like a very bad decision!"

"He could see the future, so I suppose this could still be part of his plan, but if so, I can't say I trust his judgment."

"He could see the future? Like, unavertably?"

"It's all passed into the lore now, but that's what they say."

"Okay that is way more powerful than—Nevermind. So, there are these cards, they got released by a boy, and you're, what, gathering them up?"

"Someone has to. I don't object to people who know how to handle them using them, I'm not their creator or their keeper, just a sorcerer who doesn't mind picking up a neat power boost while saving the world."

"...frooom the cards, I gather? Are they going to destroy the world if not captured? I am very skeptical of this Clow character's decisionmaking process."

"Either his prophecies didn't go this far ahead, were too easy to avert, or had a great big gaping hole around the cards and the danger they pose. I'd probably believe the last one; he made them by permanently sacrificing some of his magic."

"That makes sense, I guess. So how does this work, why are you from a family of sorcerers and not—me? I mean I love my mom but like why does she not have magic and I do."

"Sorcery generally runs in families, actually. Whatever is going on with you is fairly rare. It's about bloodlines."

"Oh. What are bloodlines about? What do they change?"

"Different clans have different specialties. I've tried to be a generalist, seems best for handling the cards." 

"Is it possible for me to learn?"

"You can probably improve on what you have now, but generally, expanding the breadth of things you can do limits the depth. If you want to get better at shapeshifting- but cards can help a lot there, you might want to pick a new focus since you have the Change." 

"Change is pretty great, but I'm not sure what else is possible with this system. Apparently creating magical cards that can do storms is a thing, and fireballs, and a magical bow?"

"There are magical artifacts, like my bow and the cards, and seals, like the ones I use on my arrows. There are things that you can do without objects, but they're much harder." 

"What kinds of things?"

"I should probably just introduce you to my parents."

"If you think they'd be okay that actually sounds marvellous."

"I think they'd love to meet you. Should we go now?"

"Sure!"

"The Jump card can get us there fast, but I'll have to pick you up."

"Won't see me complaining."

Well, then they can head outside.

"Jump, carry us wide and far, moving faster than a car."

Bounce.

Wheeeeeee~

Whee.

They eventually come to a copse of trees outside a neighborhood.

He leads her through the trees to a large suburban home.

"Here we are. My mom should be home right now. We probably won't catch my dad."

She nods.

"How old are you, by the by?"

"Sixteen."

He unlocks the side door, and leads her inside.

"Mom, I brought a guest."

Well isn't that nice to know.

"And you go around hunting cards to prevent the apocalypse?"

"Pretty much, yeah. What are your hobbies?"

"Reading, going out, watching movies, walking around town, doing things with people, more recently figuring out what-all I can do with that card."

"Figuring out the cards can be pretty time-consuming. Magic is a pretty good priority to have."

This must be his mother, descending the stairs.

"Hello, Alistair. Who is this?"

"A new friend."

"Don't worry, dear. She's our guest. Would you like some tea?"

"I'd love some tea, thank you!"

They wait for the tea.

"You didn't say how you two met."

"She's a sorceress. She found a Clow card recently, and she's been using magic for years without help."

"You poor thing. Having to figure all this out without a family who understands. Do your parents know?"

"My father left us 'cause of it, my mother knows. And she's basically the only family I have."

"Mom, what she was really looking for was advice on how to use magic. She's mostly been guessing, and she wants to know more about the cards, and what she can do without them."

"The most important thing a beginning sorcerer can do is discover her strengths and weaknesses. You'll want to discover what your magic is uniquely suited to."

"Okay, sounds promising, how do I do that?"

"Magic that belongs to you is easier to use than magic that isn't. Anything that you've discovered on your own is likely to be a specialty."

"It's cheaper and safer. Takes up less of your lifeforce. That's why I cast with a bow." 

"Hmm, good to know, and—This isn't the first time you mention 'lifeforce,' what exactly do you mean, there?"

"The energy you use to walk, to talk, to do things, that gets used up for magic." 

"Huh. I never got tired with the gendershifting thing, I think? It was pretty minor until I found the card, though."

"Gendershifting? It's worth trying to expand it, take it further than you have, or broadening the scope, trying to affect age or body shape." 

"With my own magic all I could do was, like, making myself look a bit more feminine or masculine, change details and stuff like that. I never used any magical artefacts or"—she glances at Alistair—"rhymed."

"The more elaborate and well-crafted a spell, the more effective it is." 

"You might find an artifact that suits you, or you might be able to use some kind of weaker focus, like makeup or jewlery or...watches? Something to match the gendershifting, so other spells might be cheaper too." 

"How do you craft a spell, or make an artefact, or a focus?"

"Most sorcerers don't know how to make actual artifacts, those are really powerful and usually ancient. Clans usually get them by trading with each other. Focii are much easier; you invest a certain amount of your lifeforce upfront, and later casting is easier. I can coach you through it." 

"That sounds cool. Are all spells—rhyme-y?"

"Rhyming spells are cheaper, but if you're in a pinch, and you can afford to waste the lifeforce, it's probably not worth coming up with something. Having some generic ones prepared helps a little, and generally, calling upon a specialty helps. By the 'power of the sun', or 'under the shade of the trees', or whatever."

"Yeah I'd kinda really enjoy it if you coached me through it, this sounds fun."

"Our family will be happy to help, but there are pressing concerns. If the cardcaptor is out there, and as incompetent as they seem to be, we have to focus on that."

"I know you and dad are working on that, but I bet Kit would help me train a newbie, he loves that kind of thing."

"Alistair, you know I love your uncle, but he can be a bit reckless. The girl needs careful instruction."

"She needs someone willing, who knows what they're doing. We can handle it."

"And I'm pretty systematic with experimenting! I have notes on the Change and all. Also I could help, if the cardcaptor is that bad. Once I have more of a grasp on this."

"Whoever they are probably doesn't mean any harm, that would be more obvious, and I think Clow was a brilliant sorcerer, he wouldn't make that kind of mistake. He's just the kind who would pick someone who needed a learning curve."

"Would he pick someone who would fail at this?"

"If he had all the powers the stories say, what looks like failure to us might be success in the long-term. There's just no way to know that he did have those powers. If the cards destroy the world, I would call that a failure."

"Yes, that's sort of what I meant. Unless maybe he was evil?"

"Everything we've seen makes it seem like he was a good man, but there's also...we think Clow lost control of the cards to a sorcerer who killed him. If that's true, if possession of the cards can be passed down in a way other than what Clow planned, it doesn't matter what he thought; his vision might not be as good as some sources claim."

"Oh. But weren't his cards sealed? What happened to this sorcerer?"

"The sorcerer suborned the cards upon killing Clow, and hoped to have them fall into the wrong hands. If Clow foresaw that, then there may be hope of the cards returning to their proper line of inheritance."

"Suborned? You can do that to them? With what?"

"The cards are willing to work with me, even though I'm not their master. A powerful enough sorcerer could have manipulated the book; no one else could repeat what Clow did, but corrupting the book after it was made, that's different."

"Yiiikes. Okay, yes, this makes me want to learn magic even more."

"If you're sure you're up for teaching her..."

"You think I can't do it?"

"I'll tell your uncle you want his help, then."

"Works for me. You call him, me and-."

He pauses.

"Uh. Sorry, I don't think I got your name."

"Oh. Sadde. I didn't catch yours either I don't think."

"Victoria," she interrupts, offering her hand.

"And my son Alistair."

She shakes Victoria's hand. "Nice to meet you two!"

"Would you like some cookies? I can set some to bake while you two study."

"We should go to my room, so we can practice without you hovering."

"You can go to your uncle's room, he'll be here soon enough."

"Cookies sound like a great idea, if they're not too much trouble," she says, trying to defuse whatever Victoria must've imagined Alistair would be up to in his room with her.

"Of course not, they were my suggestion. Chocolate chip is generally a crowd-pleaser, any objections?

"None whatsoever."

"Then I'll get started. Alistair, you can set up some teaching materials in Kit's room while Sadde helps me with baking."

"I could do that."

He glances at Sadde.

"Sure, sounds like fun," even though it's not quite as much fun as being alone in a room with this cute boy would be, she does not say. It probably wouldn't, anyway, they'd do magic and stuff.

So Alistair goes upstairs.

Victoria would like some help gathering ingredients, and Sadde can mix the dry ingredients while she handles the wet ones. The process is much quicker with two.

Sadde is quite practiced at making food, and is a quick learner to boot.

Then they will soon have cookies.

But not before a man arrives and kisses his wife.

"Hello. It's always nice when Alistair brings home friends. My name is Chris, though I'd prefer Mr. Argent in front of my son."

"Chris, dear, this is Sadde. She's waiting for Kit and Alistair to teach her magic."

"That's why he sent me home? He probably wants to handle the other clan himself, so I'm not there to talk sense into him. It usually ends faster that way."

"They were threatening us over the bow-"

"They were angling for a better deal, they would never have escalated. Kit's good at that."

"I'll talk to him when he gets home. We've always had a bond."

He sighs.

"Sorry, Sadde. I assumed it would be better to have this out in front of you, since you're so new to our world. Keeping secrets always complicates any mess."

"Um," she says eloquently. "What exactly is, uh, 'this'?"

"A minor conflict with another clan over the price they wanted for their artifacts, and whether we should be required to give up the bow to someone who could wield it better. I think it's less minor now, if I'm right about where my brother is." 

"Oh. Um. Can I ask...?"

"I suspect they'll find some of their property gone by the morning. He sent me away exactly because of this, Victoria, you could have called me instead...he told me that Alistair had blown our secret. True, in a way, but hardly the crisis I was expecting."

"In any case, what's done is done. I'll find a way to apologize to them, mitigate the damage. You could have mentioned that he would do something like this."

"You two have a special bond. I figured you knew him better than that."

He glances at the cookies.

"Sadde, why don't you take those upstairs? Just be careful not to make a mess."

"Okay yeah, I'll do that. And, um, sorry."

"Don't worry, dear, you're hardly intruding. Kit will be there shortly, I'm sure."

And they busy themselves with cleaning the kitchen.

There are plenty of rooms upstairs, but only one has an open door.

So she makes her way there.

"I come bearing gifts!"

He's sitting on the bed with a laptop and a textbook, but he closes the lid when he sees her.

"Thanks. So did my mom drive you hard down there, or was it more a collaboration?" 

"It was pretty collaborative. Also your father showed up because your uncle is apparently dealing with some other clan in, uh, somewhat unsavory ways."

"Kit can be a little intense sometimes. I'll talk to him. It looks like he'll be a while, though. We should just start." 

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

"The most primitive kind of magic is wishing. You imagine what you want to happen, and you want it as hard as you can." 

"Oh, that's how I do the thing, normally."

"It's usually not very powerful, but it's cheap. If it's your specialty, that can only help wth both. Other kinds of magic rely on spells or focii or artifacts." 

"Is that in ascending order of power?"

"Decreasing in drain and increasing in power. Each one requires less lifeforce when you do the magic. Wishes are special; they're cheap but ineffective. Artifacts are cheap after they've been made, and make magic much more effective. Focii are the same. If I make a focus now, then a later spell can use that focus and drain less of my lifeforce."

"Is the total cost in lifeforce the same, when using a focus?"

"It costs a little more, but the spell is more powerful if you use a focus, so it's still more efficient."

"Huh. Neat. And the artifacts make them most powerful of all, then? What are some spells you could teach me, and how were they discovered?"

"Sorry, maybe I'm explaining this wrong. Spells aren't discovered, almost anything will work, what you have to do is find which things are actually cost-effective."

"Oh! Almost anything?—should I just try to rhyme, is that what this was about all along?"

"Rhyming is how you draw attention to something. Wishes can happen without extra work, but spells have to be distinct from other language. Try rhyming."

"Okay, um... Wind, blow and flow, move under my control." Small breeze. "...okay this was really cool."

"It can be, yeah. Nice for a first try. If you have specialties, we should try to measure that, next. Some spells we know what the usual cost is...let me get my notebook, I have a chart." 

He goes, leaving her in the room unattended.  

She does some more magic again, and giggles.

He returns.

"Alright, so our family doesn't have any gender-shifting spells written down, but we can try stuff that might be close and see how much it drains you. There's some for affecting how old you look, there's some for getting taller...nothing really gender related but those might work." 

"Ooh, gimme the goods!"

He hands her a list. The spells he mentioned:

May Illusion hide from judging eyes the marks of age that we despise.

Let me grow tall, yet strong; hale, yet long.

The first one doesn't do anything. The second one does make her taller, by a fair margin more than the typical user would be.

"I think we're on the right track, barely any of us get anywhere with that kind of thing."

She beams. Then stops. "So, how many of these affinities can someone have? 'Cause magic is cool and all but if literally the only thing I'm good at is changing my body I will want my money back."

"I don't know if there's a limit, and you can do basically any spell when you're not running low. I probably should have warned you before we started playing around with it; you might need to recharge before trying anything else."

"Oh. How do I recharge?"

"Eating and sleeping, basically. If shapeshifting magic is your specialty, you'll be able to use a lot more of those-"

"-completely irresponsible! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt," they hear, as Mr. Argent's voice rises. 

He reaches for his belt and pulls out a card, from some sort of holster. 

"Libra, do not let the matter lie, if they tell another lie."

The card glows and disappears, being replaced by a set of floating scales.

...okay what.

She blinks at him.

He ignores her. 

"Come on, Chris, you know they needed a warning, they were trying to turn this deal into a complete joke! The Argents are no joke. If I hadn't stepped in, they would have completely cheated us." 

The scales move, moon and sun rising and falling in turn.

"Libra can tell when someone is lying. Helpful with this family." 

"Kit, we understand why you acted. Our problem is how."

"Relax, Vic, they won't go after you guys. I talked to them afterward, no hard feelings. I've always been a diplomat, deep down." 

The scales don't move when Victoria speaks, but they do when Kit does.

"And what do these things mean?" she asks, gesturing at the scales.

"When the scales move, the person talking is lying." 

"Kit, we just want to understand why you did this." 

"Maybe some other time. I know, I know, you're not getting any younger, but seriously, Al is waiting for me." 

Chris lies, Kit speaks the truth.

"I feel like I'm... missing quite a lot of context here."

"I might try to help later. It looks like we're about to have a visitor, though." 

Alistair sits on the bed, calling the card back. 

They hear the sound of footsteps, and a knock.  

"Hey Romeo, do I get to meet this new friend of yours?" 

"Later, I promise."

He clears his throat.

"Come in!"

"Unfortunately Romeo has not expressed any interest in his Juliet yet, she might have to do his job for him," she remarks when Kit walks in.

"The latest Argent scion is practically glacial when it comes to the things that matter in life. He's good with a bow, though."

"Sadde, this is Kit. He is usually this annoying, which is family for you."

"I'm sure if he can manually string a bow he is deft enough where it counts," she tells Kit, with a raised eyebrow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I've never tested that; we're not that close. Anyway, I'm not here to embarrass anyone. Who wants to learn magic?" 

"Me! Me! I do!"

"We shouldn't push her too hard, she might use up too much of her lifeforce and be in bed for days."

"...does that happen?"

"You get a little tired, nothing a few drinks can't help with."

He walks over and rummages through his closet. 

"It can be hard to tell you're at that point until spells start going wrong and the worse symptoms kick in. Better to wait until tomorrow." 

"What, come on, I only did two spells, it can't be that bad!"

"That's the spirit! I knew I liked you."

He hands her a...tazer?

"Try this out. It's not an artifact, but you could use something to defend yourself with. I assume you've got pepper spray, but we both know that's never enough." 

"We can train with that after you're worn out. First, let's go for the classics. Fire to light up the room?" 

She accepts the tazer and puts it in her backpack.

"What should I do? Just make up a rhyme?"

"Something that rhymes, something that mentions the sun and light and fire, if you can swing all three." 

"And, uh, what should I burn?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked." 

"We have a grill, on the deck. That's probably better for everyone." 

"Lead the way."

"Boo, you're such a killjoy. Honestly, how did you get the worst of both parents?"

He ruffles Alistair's hair and leads them downstairs. 

Mr. Argent observes this angrily. Silently. 

And then they're on the deck, overlooking the backyard. 

As promised, there is a grill. There's also plenty of wood, of course. She might want to be careful. 

"Okay, rhyme... hmm... Sun, light up, obey my will, set on fire this grill!"

There's a glint of light in the grill, which grows in warmth as she speaks. In moments, it looks like the metal is giving off its own sunlight- and as the light grows, the grill ignites.

The light fades, and the flame steadies. 

"I guess we should adjust our dinner plans." 

"Is our little pyromaniac hungry?" 

"I should call my mom about it but it should be okay," she says, staring at the flames, giddy with excitement.