Chapter 69: 68. Dittoed

"Hey Kelly, what's that you're reading?" I asked as I sat down next to her in the study.

She rolled her eyes, "I'm Keira. And it's a book on combat magic."

"Sorry Keira," I sighed. I looked over at the other redhead seated on the opposite side of the study, "And sorry Kelly."

My spell worked as planned, the twins were now both full fae. Less than a week had passed since I did it, so we couldn't really gauge how their aging had slowed but I knew they'd be aging like me now. In other words, barely at all. As for their magic, both of them had an immediate and noticeable boost to their strength.

It was hard to say if they were able to learn spells faster than before, but they could definitely work magic that had once been beyond them. And they could cast more spells before getting tired. Magic wasn't really something you could easily quantify or measure, but my guess was they were both as strong as Maeve now, perhaps even a bit stronger.

Overall the whole thing had worked out almost perfectly, except for two minor details.

They did indeed look younger now. I'd known that might happen, but I hadn't expected the difference to be quite so noticeable. Both of them now looked just barely older than myself.

When my changeling egg hatched I went from a twenty-two year old guy to looking like a nineteen year old girl. Kelly and Keira changed from being twenty-five year old women to looking right about twenty. In fact they both looked younger now than they had when I first met them.

I knew there'd be some questions, and potentially some problems when we went back to Earth. Folks at university would definitely notice that the twins suddenly looked younger. We all agreed to worry about that later. And we already had some possible solutions in mind. They could both hold a glamour a lot longer now so that was one option. Or we could perhaps enchant some jewelry or something to hold a glamour on them.

Either way it would be an issue at some point, but it wasn't insurmountable.

Apart from their age they both still looked like themselves. Both had shoulder-length fiery red hair, bright emerald-green eyes, fair skin, and a dusting of freckles. They were both still the same height, about five-foot-eight. Both were a little slimmer now. A bit of weight had evaporated along with the years, but it wasn't a lot and neither was complaining about it.

The other unexpected side-effect troubled me a lot more than their age. I could no longer tell them apart. At all. I'd gone from knowing at a glance which was which, to literally relying on guesswork and random chance. The only way to know for sure was if they undressed. Kelly still had her scar, though it had faded significantly when I cast the spell. And it continued to fade even more over the past few days.

At first both of them were a little grumpy with me for constantly mistaking them for each other. But by the end of the first day I think they realized something subtle had changed, resulting in the two of them being much more alike than before.

I knew for sure they'd stopped being annoyed about it the day after, when they started dressing the same. Now it felt like they were almost going out of their way to confuse everyone, looking and acting as identical as possible.

"How about you Kelly?" I asked as I looked over at my girlfriend. "What are you reading?"

"Defensive magic," she replied. She glanced up at me and asked, "What have you been up to?"

That made sense too. It fit that Kelly was more about defence and protection while Keira was interested in fighting back, being more proactive.

I replied, "Maeve had me visit her armourer. Even though we don't know yet when I'll be able to start training, she wanted to get me a sword. She's going to have something custom made just for me. Apparently her own sword was custom made too? I guess it's a tradition. Or maybe it's because I come from a line of tiny women, I don't know. I definitely can't handle one of the full-sized swords."

"Neat!" Keira smiled. "I wonder if me and Kelly could get a couple swords too."

"Why?" Kelly asked. "We don't know how to use them."

Keira shrugged, "We can always learn, sis. Not like we don't have the time anymore. We should get our own bows too, to take home with us. I'm sure Tegan's going to get one. There's more than enough space out back to set up a target, so we can all practice at home."

"Hmm," Kelly frowned, but she actually looked like she was considering that. "Maybe you're right."

Keira finally put her book aside since we were all talking now rather than reading. She looked to me and asked, "Have you talked to Maeve about our official clann status yet?"

I nodded, "Yes. I told her I've welcomed you both into my sept, you're now both part of the clann. She's even added your names to the register or whatever, so it's completely official."

I smiled as I added, "Your fae names are now Kelly Vale of Clann Brádaigh and Keira Vale of Clann Brádaigh. Of course on Earth you're both still Connollys."

Kelly had a thoughtful look on her face as she said "Perhaps we'll change our names on Earth too. Kelly Vale and Keira Vale sound nice."

"So we're all married then after all?" Keira asked with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, "No, we're not married."

She pressed, "But we all have the same last name now. And we didn't become your sisters, so..."

"We're clannmates or something," I stated. "I don't know the right word. It's like we're family, but not."

She grinned wider. "Exactly. We're family because of a ritual, and we've taken your last name. They call that 'marriage' back on Earth."

"Sis don't tease her," Kelly said, finally coming to my rescue. Or not. "She's my girlfriend, so if there's any marrying going on it's her and me. You can be her mistress."

Keira smirked, "But I thought you liked it when she called you her 'mistress'?"

I finally exclaimed, "Gah! You two are impossible!" There was a grin on my face though, so they knew I wasn't really upset.

They both giggled at once which was a teeny bit creepy. It was like synchronized stereo giggling.

Kelly smiled at me, "This time you're the one who's created the monster. Now you have to deal with it, babe."

I pouted and slumped back in my chair. "Between you two here and Elise back on Earth, I'm starting to regret using magic to help people."

The twins exchanged a glance and Kelly asked, "Tegan? Who's Elise?"

"Oh crap," I sighed. "My uh, cousin? Maybe just forget I mentioned her."

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Both of them stared at me with suspicious looks on their faces.

Keira stated, "You don't have a cousin."

I slumped a little deeper into the chair and rubbed my forehead as I mumbled, "Not yet, but I will by the end of next month."

They were both still staring at me, but Kelly figured it out first. She blinked, "Seriously? When did you talk with her? Why haven't you said anything till now?"

Keira still hadn't caught on yet, she looked back and forth between me and Kelly in confusion.

"It was the Friday before we were attacked," I sighed. "That's why I was so distracted. She dropped in unexpectedly, to speak with me in private. Told me what she wanted, the name she had in mind. We even did a temporary transformation so she could try it out."

I added, "I wasn't supposed to say anything, so please keep this to yourselves?"

"Who exactly are we talking about?" Keira asked. She sounded frustrated that she hadn't caught on yet.

I sighed again, "My dad. Her new name is Elise."

Both twins' eyes bugged out as Kelly gasped "Wait what?! I thought we were talking about your mom!"

This time I face-palmed and groaned, "I wasn't supposed to say anything."

Fortunately I was saved by my fae-mom, as Maeve strode into the study.

"Ah, I might have known I'd find you three in here." She added, "Sit up straight Tegan, that's a dreadful slouch."

As I pulled myself upright, she continued "An important guest has arrived. Siobhan is bringing him along presently. You three are welcome to stay, but please keep in mind this is official business so I expect all three of you to be quiet and respectful."

"Yes mother," I replied.

Kelly moved from where she was sitting on the far side of the room to join Keira and I. There was an empty seat to my right, but instead of sitting beside me Kelly sat on the other side, next to her sister. Maeve remained standing for the moment as she awaited Siobhan and the guest.

I assumed me and the twins were dressed well enough, since mother hadn't commented on that. I was wearing dark purple hose and a short black dress, both Kelly and Keira were in matching black trews and identical green blouses. Maeve of course was wearing a proper dress, made of what looked like pale lilac-coloured silk.

After a minute or so we heard booted feet approaching, then Siobhan entered the study. Accompanying her was a tall, well-built man.

He was dressed for travel, but his clothes looked somewhat finer than typical travel-wear. He wore knee-high black leather boots, black trousers, and a black leather jacket. There was a patch of royal blue on his left chest, which I figured was some sort of insignia. Like Siobhan, he had both a sword and a dagger hanging from his belt.

The thing that caught me off-guard was the fact that I already knew him.

Siobhan and the guest stopped before Maeve and the captain announced, "Lady Maeve, I present sir Colm Mac Cionaoith, knight of the realm."

Maeve greeted him, "Sir Colm, I am Lady Maeve Brádaigh, head of clann Brádaigh, countess of Cathasaigh."

Colm bowed deeply, "Lady Maeve, thank you for seeing me."

As he straightened up, my fae-mom gestured towards me and the twins, "I believe you've already met my daughter, Lady Tegan Vale. And her associates, miss Kelly Vale and miss Keira Vale, also of Clann Brádaigh."

Colm bowed again at the three of us as he said, "Lady Tegan, a pleasure to meet you again. And miss Kelly and miss Keira, a pleasure to finally meet."

Maeve gestured to the central table, "Please have a seat, Sir Colm. My staff will serve us lunch here, then we can get down to business."

Colm moved to take a seat at the indicated table. Siobhan then bowed slightly towards Maeve and said, "M'lady. Your couriers arrived along with the knight. They bring you these letters."

The tall captain handed over some folded and sealed parchments, which my fae-mom accepted. "Thank you Siobhan. That will be all for now."

"Yes m'lady." Siobhan bowed slightly then left the room.

By now I had about two dozen questions, but I had a feeling my fae-mom wouldn't appreciate any distractions. Honestly it felt like me and the twins had been relegated to the kids table. We'd been allowed to stay and watch the grown-ups conduct their official business, but I figured if our input had been expected or welcome we'd have been invited to sit with them at their table.

Maeve sat down opposite Colm and one by one she opened each of the letters and read through them. Her expression didn't betray any emotion either way, and when she was finished she folded all three up and left them on the table next to her.

While she was still reading the servants arrived, and food and drinks were set out for Maeve and Colm. Then they returned to set out the same for me and the twins. When they left, they closed the door after them so the five of us wouldn't be disturbed.

Once she finished reading, Maeve said, "Let us eat. We can get to business after our meal."

Of course we all waited for her to start, then once she'd begun Colm and the rest of us started eating as well.

I noticed Maeve didn't eat too much, and it left me wondering if the news she'd received wasn't good. Or if she was anxious about dealing with the king's representative.

There was no conversation during the meal, and my mother appeared lost in thought as she mostly just sipped wine and ignored the food.

In the end it was a rather quiet, awkward meal. I'm sure Kelly and Keira were both thinking the same thing as me, wondering what Colm was doing here, and wondering what those letters had to say.

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