Chapter 23

The girls were curious.

Ricky had been very busy in his workshop and searching though his books for some important information. Micky was quite sure he had popped back to his treehouse a couple of times too.

It wasn’t that Ricky locked them out, or even really ignored them, but he hadn’t told them what he was doing either. They hadn’t pressed, because whatever it was that he was doing, was important to him.

When they got to his workshop, they could see six plain-looking metal boxes sitting in a row on one of the benches. The boxes were all 40cm long by 30cm wide and 15cm deep.

The girls noticed that each box appeared to be made from a different precious metal. Each box had a symbol from one of the six main disciplines etched into the lid.

The platinum box had an open book on it and the titanium one a flaming torch. The gold box had a leaf, and the silver box had a fluffy cloud. The Steel box had a hill on it, and the last box was made of a metal called Goloid (mix of silver, gold and copper), and had a large eye on it.

Lying beside each box was a leather satchel that was about 30cm wide by 24cm high. They curved around at the bottom corners and had a 10cm strip that joined the back to the front panel.

A long flap folded over the front. It had two metal clasps on the bottom to hold the flap closed. The metal matched that of the magic box. A long, wide and adjustable carrying strap was attached at the sides. Each satchel was coloured to match the primary discipline of the High Wizard.

“So, my dear Micky, who are you?” asked Ricky and he waved theatrically at the boxes. “You may touch each to see if any wish to go to you.”

With a little trepidation, Micky stepped up to the six boxes and looked at them. She stood between the Nature box and the Physics box. In the end, she put a hand on them both and closed her eyes. She then stepped to the right and placed both her hands on the silver box.

“I am Physics,” she stated clearly; the lid clicked and lifted a little so she could open it. She squealed as she felt her old items disappear. Ricky quickly picked out the diadem and placed it on her head.

“Wow! That wasn’t pleasant,” Micky said as she shivered at the pain of separation. She shivered again at the exhilaration of gaining a new entity. It would be some time before she realised the significance of this as this entity wasn’t linked to Ricky’s like her old one had been.

“Sorry, my dear, you can put the rest on now,” Ricky told her as he helped her put in the medallion and then the ring. Micky attached her new wand to her side herself.

Micky clapped happily once her new items were in place. She looked at Ronan. “Come and get your box sweety. It wasn’t that bad, and we now know to get your first item out quickly.”

Ronan glanced at Ricky, and he just smiled at her. She looked at the five boxes and found she was pulled towards the gold box. She didn’t hesitate to put both her hands on the lid. “I am Nature,” she declared. She was relieved when it clicked for her.

Ricky removed the diadem and put it on her head when she gasped at the separation from her old medallion. He and Micky then helped Ronan put on the rest of her items.

Ricky showed the girls the flatscreen with the fold-out stand that he replaced the traditional crystal ball with and the blue book of spells. He hadn’t put a huge number of spells in it, but at least they had the basics.

He had put in a red-covered book he called their Journal. He told them it was a good idea to keep a record of their experiences and any new things they learn, in the second book. Any good spells they liked they should transfer to the blue book.

The two girls happily closed their boxes after they noticed he had also included several large bags of crystals in both of the boxes. They were delighted that they were now High Wizards and more likely to be able to keep up with Ricky’s sexual needs.

Who knew Queens were so demanding?

Ricky told them to collect their boxes and satchels, and they headed back to the lounging room.

Once he joined them, he said, “You realise that you two just picked the boxes for the two provinces that are at the ends of the same road,” Ricky said to them as he settled into his favourite chair again.

They both shrugged. Micky then asked, “Why is that important, Ricky?”

“Well, Micky, you are effectively the High Wizard of River City province and Amethyst Dale. Ronan got Fern City and Opal Dale. They are the provinces you are supposed to monitor and look after. Any major or magical dilemmas are to be directed toward you. Once people know about you, of course.”

“Isn’t Queen Flora in charge of Fern City?” Ronan asked. Ricky agreed that she was. “You do know she is a Shifter, don’t you?”

Micky and Ricky looked at Ronan in surprise. “Oh yeah, Grandma Flora is a throwback. Her Father was naughty, just like your daddy was, Ricky. Most people don’t know that Genteli dominant Shifters can mate with any race, even pure Fayle.”

“Flora’s parents were lucky in that she was born looking exactly as a Royal Fayle should. That is why you Ricky could have easily impregnated any Fayle you screwed or anyone else for that matter.”

“Since your father was a Shifter of interesting origins and your mother a Fayle, you are like the smorgasbord of genetic material. It’s a wonder you don’t have a quarterly cycle like a Royal Fayle.”

“Oh, my goodness! Is that a Ricky secret that we have just stumbled upon?” Micky asked when she noted Ricky discomfort.

Ricky chuckled ruefully. “Sort of. Because I was born male and don’t change to become female that often these days, it only happens once every five or so years since I turned about a hundred. I can assure you I never plan to give birth again and you girls won’t be forced to have my kids either.”

The two girls looked at each other and then at Ricky.

“Again?” they said together.

Ricky sighed and patted the seat for them to sit with him.

“I was married to Lady Kineta for twenty-six very interesting years. She was a grand-niece of Queen Moxie from Knowledge City. Kineta and her twin brother Kim has decided to go to College in Spirit City. I think it was lust at first sight on my part.”

“I was in Spirit City because this was where I was forced to attend court after my father disappeared. My first year at court had not been very pleasant, as they all considered me the bastard child of a dead and disgraced princess.”

“I was also considered countrified with no dress sense or polite manners. At the functions that I did attend, often having been summoned to do so, I was forced to attend the Queen as if I was one of her lackeys.”

“She would make me stand beside her and hold her drink or plate for her. I was also not allowed to comment on anything or allowed to repeat what I had learnt. Apparently, I was being trained.”

“After that year, she was bored with belittling me, so my darling Granny, as I liked to call her, deemed that I must attend higher learning. I obviously lacked education and had learnt nothing in my time at her side.”

“She hadn’t thought that she had humiliated me enough, as she obviously thought I’d fail miserably. She did let me come home to check on the crossroads in mid-summer, but I had to have six guards come with me. I still wonder if any of them told her what fun we had and why four of them had been females?”

He let the girls giggle as he went on, “So, anyway, I was suddenly shifted from the delightful dungeon room I had been given at the castle to the Spirit Academy dorm rooms. At least there I wasn’t that different, as half of the students were from out of town.”

“At first, Kim Sparks got to be my roommate. He didn’t have a problem rooming with me, but he and his twenty-one-year-old sister had never slept a night apart since the day they were born. Their first week apart was sheer torture for them. It wasn’t a sexual thing, it was more a mental need to be close, as much as anything.”

“To be honest, if you had met the twins back then, you would have thought they were one person walking around using two bodies. They also had another problem.”

“While Kim looked like a male on the top half, down below, he was a she. Kineta had the same problem in reverse. It was like they were supposed to be one Shifter, but the embryo had split into two and then muddled up who got which bits when it did.”

“Now, the first-years’ dorms were strictly one gender or the other. The Academy didn’t care where students lived after the first year. So, I came up with the idea that we confront our Councillor.”

“We argued that we weren’t one gender. Plus, we were magical and Royals. We didn’t like to live with the mundanes. We were told that if we had a problem with the sleeping arrangements, we could simply leave but our courses would be cancelled and not refunded.”

“I asked if we could live off-campus as if we were locals since we had special needs, and since we couldn’t physically comply with their rules. We didn’t wish to upset other students as they may not approve of us using the same facilities as them in the dorms.”

“The Councillor and the Dean ummed and ahed and then told us that the twins could, but I could just stay in one gender. I lied and told them I had to change gender regularly as it was also part of my nature.”

“I had a feeling that Kim and Kineta’s parents had finally relented and knew that trying to keep them apart hadn’t worked. I told the Councillor that since my grandmother, the Queen of Spirit City, didn’t know me very well, she wasn’t able to dictate my personal needs.”