CHAPTER 34

“Nick, come here” Maggie called, gesturing to the boy to come towards Anna and Kate.

The sandy haired boy who looked about Raveena’s age walked over to Maggie.

“This is my son Nicholas. He is going to be presented at the gathering. Nick, this is Anna and Kate”.

Nick greeted them both while Maggie glanced over to Raveena who had moved closer to them.

“This is Raveena, my daughter. She is to be presented at the gathering as well. Veena, this is Maggie. She’s an old friend of ours” Anna said as she introduced Raveena.

Raveena smiled and gave small nods to Maggie and Nick as she was introduced. Maggie’s eyes had gone slightly wide when Anna said that Raveena was her daughter.

“You never told me you had a daughter, and such a beautiful one at that” Maggie said in an accusatory tone as she took in the sight of Raveena. Raveena blushed at Maggie’s compliment and took a deep breath to compose herself.

“Come on Maggie, You can’t expect everyone to crow about the birth of a child like you do. When Maggie here had a son, she made sure the entire magical community was alerted to the fact within a week” Kate said with a mischievous grin.

“I was really happy and I wanted everyone to share in my happiness. There’s nothing wrong with that” said Maggie defensively.

“Yes, but you really didn’t have to jump on top of the auction table at the market and scream ‘I HAVE A SON’ at the top of your voice” said Kate with a sly grin.

“It was the first time I’d had a drink since my pregnancy and I was pretty emotional,” Maggie said while throwing a nasty scowl at Kate.

The banter between the three mages went on while they all sat down for dinner. Raveena didn’t really feel comfortable enough to speak much and it seemed that Nick felt the same way, answering only the questions directed at him. Maggie was still peeved that Anna would keep her daughter a secret from the rest of the world. Anna came up with the excuse that Raveena’s health had been really poor until recently and thus wanted to avoid visitors. Maggie seemed somewhat satisfied with this excuse.

The odd thing was how much Nick was staring at her. She could see that he had his eyes trained on her between mouthfuls of soup. Raveena didn’t give any indication that she noticed this until she finally decided to meet his glance. As soon as she looked at him, he looked away, his cheeks growing red. Raveena suddenly felt conscious of how her gown revealed the top of her breasts. During the last few months, she had completely become used to wearing women’s clothes. Now though, her self consciousness seemed to be coming back with a vengeance

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Raveena pushed these thoughts out of her mind. She concluded that she was probably reading a little too much into Nick’s reaction. Maybe he too, like her, hadn't come across many mages his age. Raveena decided to give Nick the benefit of the doubt as she started to get ready for bed that night.

“Nick seemed to have taken a keen interest in you”. Raveena turned around to see a smiling Kate standing behind her.

“Wh..What do you mean?”

“Come on, don’t tell me you didn’t notice. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you all the way through dinner”.

“ I...I did notice, but I was hoping I was wrong about it” Raveena said with her cheeks flushed. Kate smiled as she walked over to her, placing her hands on Raveena’s shoulders.

“Like I said Veena, You’re a girl now, a very pretty one at that. Nick may be the first guy to show an interest in you, but you can bet he won’t be the last. You need to learn how to deal with that. In a way, I think it was lucky we ran into Nick and Maggie”.

“Lucky how?”

“Think of this as practice. Because whatever interest Nick shows in you might be just a fraction of the attention you’ll receive at the gathering. You need to be able to feel comfortable in your own skin, Veena. But don’t worry, You don’t have to brave it alone. We’re here for you, whatever you need”.

Kate’s eyes were kind as she said this. It didn’t contain any traces of the usual sly expression. Raveena fell into Kate’s arms, drawing her closer for a hug. Kate ran her hands through Veena’s sleek hair reaching all the way to her waist. This feeling of having someone who you could count on, it wasn’t something she thought she’d ever have when she left the village with Anna. ‘She had been extremely lucky’ that was the thought running through Raveena’s mind as she rested her head against Kate’s shoulders.

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Raveena woke up next morning feeling refreshed and happy, until she remembered that they had company, which made her feel a little apprehensive. She tried to go back to sleep for a little while longer, but there was too much going on in her head to be able to actually fall back asleep again. Raveena settled for tossing and turning in her bed for a good while until Anna woke her up.

As soon as they exited the tent, they found Maggie engaged in a flurry of activity in front of her tent.

“Good morning Maggie”, Anna called out.

“Morning Anna, Morning Veena”.

Raveena nodded in acknowledgement, not yet feeling familiar enough with Maggie to banter with her.

It was a little while later that Nick came out of his tent. He seemed to look a bit startled as he made eye contact with Veena and looked away a bit embarrassed, which in turn caused Veena to flush slightly. It was mid morning when Kate, quite ‘helpfully’ suggested Nick and Veena go out together into the forest to gather food. Veena was feeling embarrassed enough to be making frequent eye contact with him that she felt she’d rather go poke the most dangerous beast in the forest than walk around with Nick. From the look on his face, Nick wasn’t feeling all that comfortable either.

Veena had felt a little more confident before going to sleep last night after the conversation with Kate, but that seemed to have evaporated overnight. Kate was not going to let her weasel out of this. It seemed like Veena was in for a trial of fire as she stepped into the forest with the first boy she met after her transformation.

After throwing an embarrassed look at Nick and a withering Glare at Kate, Raveena set off towards the forest with Nick to the tune of her heart pounding in her ears.