episode 19: A Little History

-Ellen-

I sighed, rubbed my face with my hands, bewildered. Everything that David told me made a certain sense, but still, so much of it didn’t. "I don’t see how it could have been my spell," I argued, "I mean, you’re right, Babe was different that night. Nevertheless, a gate to another world? That’s beyond any power I possess."

Takara shifted on the folding chair we’d set out. David had abandoned his pacing as he’d told his story, agitated as he struggled to come to grips with magic’s reality.

We’d retired to Babe’s stall. He was quite proud of the place, expounding upon it when David and Takara had arrived. "Welcome to my lovely abode. As you can see, Shigeto has helped me trick it out rather nicely. And none too soon, considering that this is my first opportunity to entertain." He was quite right. Shigeto had done a marvellous job of it. A refinished board & batten half wall painted pale green to separate it from the rest of the barn, and within it, a recently installed picture window, spilling pale afternoon light across a lectern with a green glass lamp, the type you see in a movie set in the 1930s. Babe had kicked on the stereo system, using a set of pedals, placed against one wall. The sound of a cello rushed through the barn and Babe took his place behind the lectern. Shigeto and I grabbed a couple of folding patio chairs that were leaning against one railing. Shigeto bade them sit, and I did so as he grabbed one of the small milking stools near one of the pens for the cattle, while I settled on a stray milk crate.

I loved this space. Somehow, it had a sense of familiarity, like a scene from a forgotten childhood tale. But instead of the scene unfolding through the periodic rustle of turning pages, I was inundated with animal sounds and smells of a working barn; the cows stamping in stalls, impatient for their evening milking, our one sow and her piglets hopefully inspecting a still empty trough, and a gossiping cluck of chickens which, as I watched, marched purposefully through a small hatch door to a pen outside.

Babe watched David pacing. "I told you we should get some proper chairs for guests," said Babe.

"Well, I will admit it now we have to consider more than two," I said, grateful for even this as a change in topic, "But really Babe, we’ve discussed this before, and this is probably the limit. We can’t risk discovery. Things are bad enough as it is. If people were to discover what you could do, that you could talk, well."

"His talking is the least of our worries, if we can’t get the gate under control," interjected Takara, "a lot of people are going to notice, and that will bring attention to any practitioner, even if Babe’s never specifically tied to the gate. From what David tells me, you already have a reputation as a witch. Can you imagine what would happen if stories about a gate to another world were to come out? It’s not like we’re going to keep what’s going on under control indefinitely. Not with a Sidhe on the other side of that gate. Already, more than one goblin has escaped me."

"And just who are you?" I asked. "What’s your stake in all this?"

Takara shrugged. "I’m not so different from you, or perhaps more accurately, from Babe. Grandmother and I keep wild magic under control."

"And who made you the magic police?"

"We did. I mean, who else? Certainly, you don’t seem willing to accept responsibility for what you’ve already done, so someone's got to keep shit under control. We do it because someone has to, not because we want to."

I glared at her. "And what would you have us do?"

"The gate has to be closed. Its magic is not ours, and is too vast, so it must be you and Babe."

"I told you, we don’t know how."

"Then find a way."

"It’s too dangerous," interjected Shigeto. "It damn near killed Ellen last time."

Takara shrugged. "Then I suggest you work on the problem. The alternatives are worse for everyone, you included. Or do you really think the return of the Fae to humanity will be sprinkles and rainbows?”

I ignored her comment – I had a good idea of the kind of chaos a world filled with the denizens of Faerie would cause. But that wasn’t the point. "You have no right to tell us what to do.” I felt as if I was repeating myself.

"Oh? Then who does? Or do you think that ignoring all of this is an option? Do you want the police involved, want to see the raids of the 70s and 80s coming back? You want to see the religious right launch into hysterics? Cause even if you don’t get fingered directly as being responsible, do you really think that a magical gate in Toronto won’t have consequences across the rest of the province? Heck, the entire country probably. If you don’t, then you’re deluded."

"There has to be something else we can do. Block the gate, for heaven’s sake."

"I tried," said David. He shrugged. "but whatever I put over that section of the gate either gets dislodged, or the gate just forms through it. Honestly, I was just trying to pretend it wasn’t going on, but I suspect that sort of approach won’t really work."

"We could reinforce them with wards," I said.

"Sure, assuming that you can counter the knowledge and power of a Sidhe," said Takara. "But then, if you could do that, you’d have already known how badly you fucked up." Takara’s leg bounced up and down, her agitation apparent.

"Assuming that it was me, that you’re not just looking for any handy scapegoat. There are plenty of practitioners in Toronto. You have no proof that it was us."

"Yes, yes, there are. And they all have a very vested interest in keeping this whole thing under wraps, and they’d be as uninterested in your evasions as I am. If you force our hands, then you will receive a profound education in applied magic.."

That brought me to my own feet, my temper rising. "For fuck’s sake, you sound like a mob boss."

"No, I sound like an enforcer, because that’s what I am. You don’t want to meet the boss."

I gathered my power. "Don’t you dare threaten me."

Suddenly there was a shimmer, and Takara shifted. Suddenly her mouth was full of teeth, and there were multiple tails swishing behind her. "You have no idea what I’d dare."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," came Babe’s voice.

David spoke at the same time. "Jesus, Takara, take it down a notch."

I saw them exchange looks, Babe and David, and again that… look. The roll of eyes. Takara saw it too, and her ire shifted.

"Do you want a solution or not?" She demanded of David. Her tails still flickered, but had faded, her teeth less prominent.

"Yes, absolutely, but I’d also rather not get caught in the middle of a magical battle where I would, I rather suspect, end up the loser regardless of which of you was the victor." Despite the shared moment of exasperation with Babe, he sounded shaky.

David and Takara glared at each other, and despite the power radiating off her, he didn’t back down. I swear I saw her mouth quirk in a hint of a smile just before she said, "Fine," and settled back in her seat in a huff.

I was still enraged, as much by her capriciousness as anything else. I felt Shigeto’s hand on my shoulder, then he took my hand in his. I felt his, if not a calm, a surety, a grounding that I relied upon. I sat; took a breath.

David quietly asked, "What can you tell us about what happened?" He looked at Babe, "Or should I be asking you?"

"Finally," came Babe’s reply, "the little people look to the great sage that is embodied by the mythical being that stands gloriously before them."

David smiled, "Then, oh great one, could you please deal with the shit show that is my backyard? I’ll bring you sacrificial oats and shit."

"Mmmmm, oats," said Babe. "What about those little toasted oat cakes? Would you offer me those?"

"Enough to make you sick."

"I find your offer pleasing to my tastebuds."

"So that means you can fix things?"

"Once I get the oat cakes, I’m sure that I could figure something out."

"Hmph, you don’t have a frikken clue, do you?" David’s voice was filled with mock outrage.

Babe heaved a sigh, gazed heavenwards, “Alas, these mere mortals doubt me."

"Imagine that. Obviously a failure of the school system."

"Sure, what you said," responded Babe.

David’s voice shifted, lost its bantering tone, "But still, if it was you…"

Babe’s sigh held no melodrama this time. "Alas, I can’t tell you much. That entire night, heck, longer than that, was a muddle to me. It was the night of Ellen’s spell, the one that made me what I am now." He struck a dramatic pose, and David chuckled. Babe let out a huff, relaxing, then continued, “I still dream of it, try to put it together in my head, but," he shifted his neck and shoulders in something like a shrug, “nothing coherent."

"So, what happened, then?" asked David.

Shigeto and I exchanged glances, and I sighed. "It was because of a friend of your brother’s, really. Do you know Simmons?" I watched David intently, waiting for him to betray his prejudices.

"Only by reputation — he helped out my brother when he and his wife took over her family farm. He’d… We’d lost ours, and I know he was very uncertain. Simmons helped a lot, though I understand he’s a bit of a character."

"He’s a prick and a racist," I said.

David sighed, "Yeah, well, it is Russell."

"And that makes it okay?" I asked, my voice rising.

"No, it just makes it another reason to have left," responded David. "I can’t imagine anyone coming back here. Even if it was for your family farm. Rumour has it that you had a good career in the city. Why in the hell did you come back here?" This last was asked with an astonishment and contempt for the place I well-remembered.

"I get that, but you have to admit that life in T.O. isn’t exactly like it is in the movies, is it? All interesting dinners and hip new bands — you have to work your ass off just to get to some place where you’re not living in some basement shithole, and it seems like there’s no real middle ground. Either you’ve got an insanely expensive house or condo, or you’re renting a crappy place that someone else owns. And you know, it wasn’t like I was hurting, it worked out well for me, but I always felt I was running to keep myself in a place that I didn’t really want to be." Looking over at David I saw a raised eyebrow. I sighed. "I know, I know, but let's just say that some jobs seem to want to consume your heart. That was mine, and I didn’t know how to get out, unless I got completely out."

"And then she met me," said Shigeto.

"Great," said Babe. "We have to hear all about biped romance. How enthralling."

At this, David laughed, and when both of us gave him a hard stare, he just said, "Oh, c’mon, it’s funny."

"At last, someone appreciates me," interjected Babe.

"Apparently," came Shigeto’s dry response. "I had been experiencing some of the more brutal aspects of corporate malfeasance, and Ellen had taken my case. During the trial, we discovered some common threads of disillusionment, especially regarding the hypocrisy of it all, and when I got my settlement, well, we tried something very different."

"And you came here?"

"Not all my history here is bad. I did love this farm till the worst aspects of small-town life took their toll. And my family farm came up for sale just as we did a road trip here so I could show Shigeto where I came from. It all seemed, I don’t know, um."

"Preordained," said Shigeto.

I shrugged, "Yeah."

"And it’s better here than in the city?"

"It’s more honest, even if it’s upsetting."

"I’m not sure if that’s an improvement."

I shrugged, "Certainly not always. I mean, Simmons was honest to the point of trying to take a knife to Babe."

"What?!" Said David.

Image derived from photo by Heye Jensen on Unsplash