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We could not reveal it, a woman’s voice said.

I narrowed my gaze on the staff. “Why not?”

Mulan carries a child who doesn’t like us.

The excuse was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but snort in disbelief. “Are ya kidding me?”

No, she said.

“She considers ya cowards for refusing to talk to her. That’s what landed ya in the closet.”

Will you walk us into natural light? It has been hours since we felt the sun against the staff. We crave the light.

I walked to the back porch and stepped outside. I could literally hear a woman sighing in my head, and it was the staff. Thinking how weird this conversation was, I sat down in a lawn chair and leaned the sighing staff against my knee.

It was time to do my bestie thing. “A powerful magickal can’t trust very many beings. Mulan’s entire family disowned her a short while ago, andaftershe did all she bloody could to make them happy. And don’t even get me started about what she did to save her brother-in-law. Her life is filled with people who choose not to support her. I endured that kind of life for seven years, and every day was miserable.

I banged the staff against my knee, making the turtle shells swing and clack. “When the bowman shot me, the beings in my stone called me to them to save my life. They assured me I would heal and helped my soul return to the mortal realm where it belonged.”

I banged the staff against my knee a few more times. “The beings in the stone and I don’t agree on everything. We have our yelling moments, and yet I know they’re watching out for me. Mulan doesn’t have that with ya. And I know why because the beings in my stone told me. The three of ya can’t agree on anything. Ya like yer bickering so much that ya’re hurting Mulan rather than helping her.”

We are not the cause of her pain.

“No, but ya could be helping her body adapt to the baby and spare her the sickness. If ya’re not part of the solution, then ya’re part of the problem. Haven’t ya ever heard that old saying?”

I heard the woman—their mage representative—sighing in my head again.

“Now...” I began. “I don’t know if ya were ever a mother, but there’s no more vulnerable state for a woman. Everything in her body devotes itself to growing the baby, and the physical changes are not always pleasant.”

The Wu Shaman is angry with us. Her child is angry with us. What would you have us do?

“Ask her what she needs. The baby may be upset because ya’re being unkind to its mother. She’s spent the day throwing up when ya could have helped her. Her body is exhausted. I wove a stomach-calming spell, but it won’t last long. If ya were my magickal tool, I’d break ya into pieces, release the three of ya back into the void, and make myself a new one. Ya’re damn lucky all the Wu Shaman did to ya was stash ya in a dark closet.”

My chest buzzed in three short bursts. My mages were laughing at what I was doing. I smacked my chest and then banged the staff harder against my knee. The turtle shells swung wildly. If anyone had been watching me slap my chest while shaking the staff, they would have thought I’d gone insane.

“I’m not yer owner, and ya weren’t drawn into this chunk of wood to help me. So I have no opinion about ya that matters. Mulan is the only one who should matter to ya.”

Take us back to her. We will make amends.

“I think that would be best for everyone.” I stood up and went back into the house. “When ya’re back on good terms again, ya should tell her how ya froze the fairy. She deserves to know.”

This time, the sighing was so loud I thought my eardrums would shatter from the air release.

“What now?” I demanded.

We did not stop the fairy. The baby helped its mother do it. We could only have restrained the fairy creature. What happened was beyond our magick. We reshape the elements.

I stopped walking. “So, whose magick froze the fairy?”

The baby she carries has more powerful blood than either of its parents. The Wu Shaman was a stolen child. Her parents lost their first baby, so they stole Mulan from the place where she was born. We do not know how they knew about her magickal heritage. They fed her tea to make her forget her questions about her power. Even before us, she was never typical.

This was a day of high strangeness everywhere I went. Then full realization hit. “Wait... so her parentsaren’ther biological parents? And that sister of hers isn’t her actual sister?”

No.

“Do ya know who her actual parents are?”

No.