CHAPTER 27
Kate and Anna were sitting in the kitchen when Will suddenly walked in. He was carrying some old clothes in his hands and dropped them on the kitchen counter.
“I need a new name” Will announced.
“Come again?” said Kate.
“I’ve decided that I want to become a mage. In order for me to do that, I need to accept that I’ve changed. I need a new name. A new name that feels right in this body because the simple truth is that I’m no longer Will and no matter how much I want it I can’t have him back”.
Anna and Kate looked at each other. Will seemed determined. And he really was. He wanted to move forward, he wanted to be a mage more than anything. If he had to lose Will for that then so be it. Just as long as he didn’t have to lose anyone else.
“Then how about Wilhelmina?”Kate asked.
“No, it’s a little too close to my old name”.
Anna nodded, then looked at Kate before smiling and said “How about Elsa?”
“No, don’t you dare..” Kate snarled while Anna rolled with laughter.
“Who’s Elsa?” Will asked puzzled.
“Elsa is Kate’s mom” Anna said while shaking with laughter.
“And a more spiteful woman never walked this earth. I swear I won’t speak to you again if you pick that name Will” Kate looked serious while Anna was still laughing. Will wondered what happened there.
“Alright I’m not picking Elsa”. Kate relaxed as she said this and stuck her tongue out at Anna.
“I need something meaningful that connects with who I am now” Will said thoughtfully.
“How about Raveena?” Anna asked.
Raveena.. Will thought about that name while Caitlin walked across the counter.
“Wow. You name your cat Caitlin, your stallion Stiles and now I get Raveena?”
Kate laughed at Anna as Will made fun of her naming sense.
“You don’t like it?” Anna asked with pouty lips.
“Actually I love it. It’s simple and meaningful. Raveena,born from a raven being stuffed down Will’s throat. I think we have a winner”.
“Also, everytime we introduce you to anyone, it can be like an inside joke between the three of us” Kate said in a conspiratorial tone.
Raveena. That would be his new name. It felt right that Anna should be the one to name him.
Kate got them all mead and they drank to Raveena.
“What are these clothes for?”
“These are the clothes that I was wearing when I first came here. I thought I’d formally lay Will to rest”.
Will had been unsure about how Anna and Kate would react to this, whether they would find this ridiculous or something. But both of them stood up and came to stand beside Will.
Will thought he should say something, but was unsure how to start.
He was a little startled when Kate started speaking “We are gathered here today to say goodbye to Will, a nice boy who was tricked into servitude by a vile sorceress...Ouch..”
Kate winced as Anna gave her a punch in her arm followed by a filthy look, but Kate simply laughed as she moved out of Anna’s striking distance.
“Will was born 17 years ago. He lived a short life and not a very happy one at that. But he was lucky to have a lot of good people to help him make his life bearable, even be happy at times. It wasn’t a grand life but it was a good one surrounded by good people”.
Anna placed a hand on his shoulders as he finished speaking while Kate gave him an encouraging nod. Will picked up his old clothes and placed them in the smouldering fire below the hotplate. He watched as the last traces that a boy named Will was ever in the house burned away in the fire. They raised their glasses once more to Will before they said goodnight.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
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Will awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. He had to keep reminding himself that he was Raveena now because he felt that some of the closure he had felt last night had been undone by sleep. Will walked over to the wardrobe and paused for a moment. He decided that today he would try on a bolder look with a gown that showed a more generous neckline than the ones he’d been wearing ever since he transformed. The girl in the mirror could elicit desire from any man he knew. The dress accentuated her melon sized breasts, showing some cleavage on top. Will had to remind himself again that this was Raveena and Raveena was him.
Will walked into the kitchen to the smell of freshly baked white bread and soup.
“Good morning miss Raveena” Kate said as she placed bread and soup in front of him.
“Good morning Kate” he said with a smile.
Anna joined them a little while later and after breakfast, they left the kitchen to go to Anna’s study.
Will helped Anna and Kate arrange the table with aquaphilic paper so that Will could try producing water again. Kate moved her staff to a corner.
“Why do mages carry a staff?” Will still hadn’t seen Anna or Kate use their staff to perform any magic.
It was Anna who answered “Do you remember when I said some advanced magic requires more than just your physical and mental energy and that you’d need to draw energy from surroundings?”
“Yes”
“Well, the staff is made of special materials that allow the storage of this energy. Kind of like carrying around water in a leather skin pouch or a gourd”.
“Why do you need to carry it around? Can't you just absorb it from your surroundings when you’re performing the magic?”
“The availability of this energy is not the same everywhere. It varies from place to place and it’s virtually non existent outside of where mages usually live”.
Will thought about this, but there were still many things that weren’t clear. He turned to face Anna “So, when you were in our village, you couldn’t get this energy?”.
“Yes”.
“Why is the energy available here not in my village?”
“Ahh.. the answer to that question is one of the reasons why mages and humans don’t live together and we don’t allow any humans entry beyond the outer forest” Kate said with a smile.
“And the reason is?”
“Because the source of this energy is magical creatures”.
“Like lavian stags?”
“Yes. In the past, humans and mages used to live together, but humans had a habit of hunting magical creatures just because they were shiny and pretty. Their numbers dwindled to the point that mages had to step in and create a sanctuary for them. This was one of the major reasons for conflict between humans and mages”.
Will remembered how Lord Damien, Geoffrey and the others were only too eager to hunt a lavian stag, just so that they could present it to the king. Will hadn’t thought much about it then, but now their actions seemed thoughtless and arrogant.
Will headed over to stand near the table and placed his hands over the aquaphilic paper. This was the moment of truth. He gathered his physical energy first, then directing his mind to the image of water coming out of his fingers and then tried to push it out. The paper had stayed resolutely white and bone dry.
Will tried again and again, spending some time telling himself that he was now Raveena. An hour later, he was sitting down in a chair in Anna’s study with tears streaming down his face. He felt like all the progress he made yesterday had been for naught.
Anna was right beside him, her comforting hand resting on his shoulders. He still couldn’t understand what he was doing wrong. Anna wore a sad expression as she said “I wish I could help you, but this is something I can’t help with. You need to be able to feel your own mental image before you can do magic and it might take some time”.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do, I’ve been trying to think of myself as a girl, but I still can’t do it”.
“Maybe you’re thinking too much. Maybe you need to feel it instead of forcing yourself to think about it”.
Will’s head snapped up at this. He was going to have one more try. Will stepped over to the table and placed his hands over the paper again. After gathering the physical energy, he tried to gather his mental energy. This time instead of forcing himself to think that he was a girl, he tried to remember a time when he’d felt that he really was a girl. Slowly a memory that he had been suppressing till now bubbled it’s way to the surface.
That time in the bathtub when she’d thought of Geoffrey and her body had convulsed with sheer pleasure leaving a lingering feeling in her heart. That time, she’d truly felt like a girl for the first time. She tried to imagine herself with water pouring from her fingertips and pushed it outwards.
Raveena opened her eyes to see red stains on the aquaphilic paper. She’d finally done it. She had finally managed to feel like a girl. The next second all the air in her lungs were knocked out by Anna and Kate hugging her from both sides.
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Raveena had managed to produce more water with subsequent tries. She still had some troubles with her magic since her mental image was far from perfect, but she was well on her way. That night they had celebrated Raveena finally becoming a full fledged mage by opening a bottle of delwarian honey mead that Anna had been saving for special occasions. Raveena had never tasted anything so divine in her life and drank so much that she had to be carried away to her bed by Anna.
The next morning, after breakfast, Kate said that she was leaving but would visit soon.
“Don’t worry Veena, I won’t let Anna have you all to herself” Kate said with a wink.
“Veena?”
“That’s the short and sweet version of your name and that’s what I’m going to be calling you”.
Raveena didn’t mind the shortened version of her name and even if she did, Kate would still keep calling her that. Kate kissed them both goodbye before she left.
Raveena and Anna went up to Anna’s study. From now on, Raveena would have full access to this room. This was where Anna, her majister primis, would teach her. And Raveena would do whatever it took. Never again will she be powerless to defend herself and her loved ones.
Never again..