Breakfast was a stilted affair. Jenny, much more composed and yet aloof, had prepared fried egg on toast. Andrew, bleary-eyed and unrested, looked at those sunny-side up eggs, pepper delicately sprinkled over the the golden yolk and thought of his own egg. The enigmatic egg of golden glowing stuff. He sighed. It would turn up he was sure of that. The problem was if he and his mom could get over this hurdle. If only he had known it would be such a problem. In truth he wanted answers, and the sooner the better.

They had been dancing around with routine instead of bringing up the topic, but clearly mom wasn’t ready to speak out yet and so he waited. Slicing the yolk so it ran between the white albumen and soaked into the toast beneath. His appetite had returned with a vengeance and he tucked into his meal with relish.

It was only after dishes were done that he realized Mom wasn’t dressed for work, and he probably needed to get to school. Before he could leave to get ready, his mom called him to the sofa.

“Please sit down Andrew. We need to talk.”

Ominous words Andrew knew. Words that you never wanted to hear from a partner or friend, and especially not from your own parent. Straightening his shoulders and taking a deep breath he sat. Waiting for the hammer to fall.

“Oh don’t be so glum. we will both take a day off today“ his mother chirped, a gentle smile ticking at the corner of her lips. “and..I just want to apologize.”

Again Andrew was stunned. Adults, it seemed, were in constant flux. He sat with mouth open, waiting for whatever would come next.

“I’m sorry for the way I reacted last night. I was overwrought. I should have been more thoughtful. So please, forgive me. I am much better today. “ Her voice caught when she said the last part and Andrew leaned over and touched his mom’s knee. He could see she was not alright at all.

“What is wrong mom? I just don’t understand.”

“S..sorry…” said Jenny, her eyes brimming again. “Its such a lot to take in. I didn’t think I would have to worry about this until a few years later. By that time I hoped we could move away from here and start over. Hoping you would never …” She trailed off and Andrew sat back watching. His innocent eyes full of confusion.

“Mom..” Andrew began, but she cut him off with a gesture.

“It’s alright, what’s done is done, now where to begin?”

Andrew just shrugged, completely lost and wanting all this to be over. If he had known this egg was such a problem, he would never even have touched the thing.

“Let me see,” said Jenny, her mind now focussed on some distant memory, and then she began to recite the story.

“Your father wanted your life to be normal. At least your childhood at any rate. He didn’t want you knowing about all…” Jenny gestured energetically, trying to encompass everything around her. “ .. all this magic and stuff.” she finished in a rush and looked about, at a loss as to where to continue.

“Your dad, he.. “ again she stalled, but this time she teared up. To say Andrew was conflicted, would be an understatement. He felt very much that he had done something wrong by bringing that egg into his house. But what could he do? It was bonded to him. Before he could continue with his self recriminations, Jenny continued.

“Your dad was a Custodian Knight. There I said it.” She seemed relieved to have finally spoken it out loud. Past all the fear she was obviously feeling plus the emotional turmoil roiling through her, and from there it was as if a dam wall had broken away.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“You see Andrew, your blood is special, and you are the first born son of a first born son of a first born son and so on, way back to when magicians walked the land and technology was almost unknown. During those days, your great, great, great, …oh I don’t know how many greats, but a very long time ago grandfather, made a pact with the Fae. You do know about the Far and Faelore right?” She stopped mid-story to make sure he was following.

Andrew just nodded, absolutely enthralled by his heritage. He had questions, but they could wait for later. He wanted her to get to the point. In fact he just wanted to know why the Egg was bad, because so far, all he heard was making him giddy with excitement. He had to sit on his hands to stop them fidgeting.

Jenny continued, “Of course you do, you have already bonded with the egg. Anyway, to make a long story short, your ancestor made a pact to help the Fae. As you should know, a bargain was struck, whereby your ancestor would benefit and so would the Fae. In addition, he asked that all first born heirs along his line would benefit, with the pact coming to an end, should one of the generational heirs refuse the gift. This is important but I’ll come back to it later“

Jenny reached for her mug of tea and took a quick gulp. “ So, umm where was I? Oh yes.. so.. in return Merlin would get access to deeper magic and gain the secrets to longevity. Basically he didn’t want to die of old age, since he had learned that it took a very long time to master magic and he didn’t want to devote his whole life learning and studying, only to die …” Jenny was well into the subject she had spent the better part of the night recalling, but she paused there, the movements from her son causing her to pull out of her immersion. He was literally vibrating in his seat.

At the mention of Merlin, Andrew’s heart skipped a beat. Was mom saying he was distantly related to Merlin? To THE MERLIN? King Arthur’s magician? He watched mom eagerly anticipating the story, no longer concerned about the egg nor its implications, he just simply had to know more. She smiled then, a gentle smile, a knowing smile, and he almost blurted out with frustration. Almost.

Jenny continued to pause, watching her son. He was literally wiggling at the effort to contain himself, and she had to smile. This was old news to her now, but she too had been just as enthralled when Albert told her of his heritage.

Of course she hadn’t believe a word of it, thinking that he was just trying to charm her for a kiss. Of course, he had gotten that kiss, as well as her heart. Oh, how she missed him. What a mess he had left and now she had to pick up the pieces and it seemed she had already made a mess of that. They should have moved away before Albert passed, but he would not have been happy leaving this home, no matter what he said. Before Andrew could voice his vexation, she continued.

“So naturally, Merlin not only lived a very long time, he also sired a good many heirs. The one that was important however was his first born, whom he took under his wing and nurtured in the arts or magic mastery and the virtues of knighthood. Much of it learned from the Fae. When Merlin eventually passed on from this world, he had outlived several of his firstborn children’s children, because he was the only one gifted with the long life. He eventually came to the terms that long life wasn’t the gift he wanted. He had had to watch those he loved come and go, and suffer the grief of their respective families, but always he took special care of the firstborn, looking out for some signs of talent, some signs of the qualities he hoped for in a successor. Eventually when he found one of his heirs to be particularly competent, he decided to give up his mantle and pass it along. The problem was, that to give up the egg, required giving up his soul.”

Andrew gasped. “Are you saying Merlin’s soul is in the egg?”

“Yes, your ancestors are in there, at least part of them, and also part of their abilities. From what your dad told me, you will need to unlock them by achieving certain goals.”

Andrew realized something then, and it came to him suddenly. The pieces locking into place. “Wait, does that egg have dad inside it?” The thought both horrified and captivated him. Would he be able to speak to dad again?

Before he could get his hopes up, Jenny shook her head. “Andy, I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. I know too little of the topic, but your father left you a journal and I’m sure you will find what you need to know in there. I was unable to read it, it has some kind of magical lock that only you can open, and only partly, with each part revealing itself as you need it. I was never any good at understanding magic.” There was regret in Jenny’s voice, but she continued on, brightening with her next bit of news.

“The journal was supposed to be part of your 18th birthday gift from us, well from him. He knew he wouldn’t be here to give it to your personally. After your father passed, I didn’t want it lying around here for you to discover accidentally so I kept it locked up in the bank safety box. That’s partly why I took the day off today. We are going into town today to retrieve it. “ Jenny leaned back to finish the last of her tea and patted Andrew on the knee.

“Come on, I’ll answer more of your other questions in the car. We should get ready. The appointment is at eleven”