Blue wandered idly around her grandmother’s shop. It had been a slow day as far as customers went. Blue’s grandmother, Helen, was the small village’s premier sorceress. After the veils between the world’s had torn open, Helen had done her best to use the newfound magic in the world for some semblance of good. She had learned to enchant items with a bit of magic to make them last longer, be stronger, or occasionally – for the right price, do things on their own. In their small village, she mostly enchanted farming equipment. Tractors that could make the rounds on their own, a backhoe that would never break, or even a baler that would never rust.

Blue had been taken on as her grandmother’s apprentice when she was just shy of 16. School had never been a real talent of hers. Her older brother had excelled and even been offered a chance to further his schooling in the city. Blue and her parents hadn’t heard much from him since the move. She supposed this had raised her parents hopes just enough for them to be disappointed when she decided to join her grandmother instead of attempting to follow in her trailblazing brother’s footsteps.

Blue couldn’t quite explain it. She had a knack for enchantments, she always had. Sometimes the magic was so strong, she could almost hear it singing in her blood as it coursed through her entire body. Compelling her to do something, anything with it. It was almost as if the magic had a mind of its own sometimes. Having no other way to make use for it, she could only channel it outwards and into other things.

“Blue?” Her grandmother called from the back of the shop. Blue sighed softly and wandered back to where her grandmother was hunched over her something in the workshop they had hidden behind a patchwork fabric curtain.

“What is it, grandma?” Blue asked leaning against the wall watching her grandmother work on the Levi’s toaster oven. It was an odd request. In the presence of it, Blue could feel the magic swirling within her. Commanding her. Without much will of her own, Blue walked over swiftly and held out her hand – expelling the magic out of and onto the cold steel of the toaster oven.

“It’s too hot, keeps burning things,” Her grandmother told her as she closed her eyes and let the colors behind her eyelids swirl. She hummed softly to herself as she felt the spell complete and opened her eyes to find her grandmother smiling at her.

“What?” She asked feeling her cheeks flush. She was embarrassed. Blue had only been working at the shop for a few years and already she could accomplish a lot more than her grandmother in a shorter time frame. Where it would take her grandmother days to infuse enough magic into an item to get the desired effect, it had reached a point where it only took blue a minute or few depending on what exactly they were attempting to complete. Her grandmother said she had a natural born gift from Arcadia.

“We’re done for the day now is all.” Her grandmother said with a burst of cackling laughter. Blue smiled softly and reached a hand out to help Helen up from her seat. Blue was worried about her grandmother. The woman was getting into her eighties and she’d stopped moving around as well. She joked often about going to the city to get a new set of hips and having Blue enchant them for her. She was the oldest woman in their tiny village and one of the few left who could accurately remember the world as it was before magic broke through.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off,” her grandmother offered.

“Are you sure, grandma?” Blue asked hesitantly. She had a few things she wanted to get done, and she’d been itching to get out the door since she arrived this morning. She hated to leave her grandmother though.

“You’ve already gone and done my work for the next three days!” Her grandmother said laughing. “Go, see that girl of yours. I’ll call the Levi’s and take them up on their offer of a little extra in exchange for quick service.”

“Thanks Grandma!” Blue said giving the woman a quick kiss on her cheek before grabbing something from under the front desk and darting out the front door, letting her grandmother’s laughter trail behind her.

Blue ran out of the small town square, enchanted rake in hand and headed towards the fields where she knew she’d find her best friend, Ajace. She was so excited to give him his birthday president. A rake seemed a silly thing, but he insisted on doing it all by hand and had broken four this season. This one wouldn’t – she’d made extra sure of it. She could have put in the extra work to make it rake the yard by itself, but she knew her best friend better than that.

Blue had known Ajace since they were babies. In a small town like Hesterveen – everybody knew everybody else. The kids you went of playdates with as toddlers where the kids you sat in the classroom with. You all grew into adults together and took jobs where you were forced to interact with each other for every service required. Blue had lucked out with Ajace though. Their parents had been close before his had passed away and the two had grown up walking back and forth between the town square and his fields.

Ajace was the funniest farmer, Blue had ever met. He had a quick wit and always had a joke ready at a moments notice to lighten Blue’s day. When Darleen Harris had broken Blue’s heart in third grade after kissing her on the walk home but then turned around the call her names on the playground the next day – Blue had run crying to Ajace who made her held her until she stopped crying. The two laid on the grass and stared at the sky until it changed colors and the stars began to twinkle. By the end of the night, Blue had laughed so much she didn’t care about Darleen Harris anymore.

Blue slid to on the edges of Ajace’s land. The land was scorched. The crops he’d been so carefully tending all this year were burnt to a crisp, the very ground they’d tilled and loved together was black. Blue quickly picked up her pace and sprinted all the way to his cabin where she fell to her knees.

There on his father’s rocking chair was a handful of gold coins.

Ajace had been taken.

When the veil between the world’s had torn, the fae had broke onto the earth from their place in Arcadia. Mad, wild creatures who had once been gods until their true nature had died within in. Now that they roamed the earth, occasionally a fae would steal a human who reminded them of who they used to be. Blue was careful not to touch the coins, knowing if she took them then she was agreeing to a contract with the fae who had stolen her best friend and she’d be unable to rescue him.

Blue walked across the blackened fields with a sense of despair and a growing need. It was her duty to fix this. She didn’t know how, but she needed to save Ajace. She wasn’t sure how exactly she was going to find him or how she was going to fight a fae to get him back, but she sure as hell was going to figure it out.

She made it back to her grandmother’s shop and pulled her into a hug.

“Ajace was taken.” The words seemed to fall out of her mouth one after the other as the two sat down by the workbench. Her grandmother had always been the best listener and sat patiently as Blue explained coming to the field to see it burnt and finding the coins and realizing what had happened and most importantly – the decision she’d made.

Finally when Blue grew quiet, her grandmother spoke.

“King Arthur promised his people that one day, when they needed him most, he would return.” Her grandmother said quietly. Blue settled a little more comfortably into her chair knowing that no matter what she said or how hurried she was – her grandmother was going to tell her the story beginning to end.

“Many people doubted this in the old world. He was considered a fabled character, a myth. Many historians doubt he had ever existed given the fact that he didn’t have a grave.” She stopped and closed her eyes and Blue could feel the magic shift around them in the air. “But when the veil torn and chaos descended on the world, he returned. Breaking through the stone and mortar of the throne with Excalibur in hand to defend Britain against fae and god alike. He created a safe space within our borders where all humans were welcome to exist without the fear of the madness that terrorized the rest of the world.”

“But grandma, what does this have to do with Ajace!” Blue said exacerbated.

“King Arthur lives in London my love. You must go to him and tell him your tale. Tell him of Ajace. He will help you my love. You are a British citizen and as your king he is honour bond to help you.” Suddenly Blue understand. This was her plan! She would beseech King Arthur and he would rescue Ajace. The great warrior had driven the gods and the fae from their land. He would be able to conquer the one that had stolen her best friend.

“Thanks Grandmother!” Blue said. It didn’t take her long to round up a handful of the things she thought she might need on her journey in a knapsack and hit the road.

As she reached the edge of town she heard a voice calling her. She turned to find her girlfriend, Astrid running up to her. Shit, Blue thought to herself. She hadn’t even considered Astrid. When she reached Blue, her face was flushed and she was panting. Astrid belonged to one of the wealthier families in town. When all their classmates had taken up their family trades, Astrid returned to home to sit around and do basically nothing all day.

They’d originally started dating out of meer convenience. It was Astrid who’d pointed out one day while visiting Blue’s grandmother’s shop that there were only so many queer women in their little village and they should get to known each other know before they were too old to get married. Astrid’s parents were honestly thrilled, much to Blue’s surprise. They were happy that their daughter had found someone with such a niche and explotable trade. Blue was happy she was still an apprentice or she’d have enchanted every tiny thing on their property by now.

“What the hell Blue?” Astrid finally asked when she caught her breath.

“Astrid, I..” Blue trailed off, unable to find the words. The truth was she’d resigned herself to the life she was starting to build with Astrid but she’d be lying if she said she loved her.

“What is this bullcrap I hear about you leaving town?” Astrid asked putting her hands on her hips as she tilted her head to the side as she did whenever she was throwing a tantrum, which was often.

“If you heard I’m leaving town, you must have heard why.” Blue said shifting from foot to foot. Being around Astrid always made her vaguely uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure why. She was a lovely enough young woman.

“I heard but… What exactly do you plan on doing, Blue? Your gonna what, fight a faery and die in some half assed nobel quest to save your friend?” Astrid was definitely in a huff. Blue hated when she got like this.

“Look Astrid,” Blue said putting her hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down, “This is just something I have to do. Ajace needs me, and I could never live with myself if I didn’t do this for him. Is that what you want?” Blue said, growing accusatory. “For me to stay in our town and marry you and grow to resent you for you keeping me here.”

Astrid’s eyes teared up as she pulled away. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, but they kept coming. She walked about a foot away from Blue and sobbed quietly. Blue felt herself growing uncomfortable. She hated making anybody cry, and even though she didn’t love Astrid- she was fond of her. You could only spend so much time with a person without them claiming a special piece of your heart.

“Are you coming back at least?” Astrid said turning to face Blue. “Can you promise me that? Can you promise me that you’ll come back to me?” Blue starred at Astrid’s face, her eyes wide and her heart open with longing. She wanted so badly to say yes. As everyone her age had, Astrid and Ajace and Blue and all the others had grown up together. Going to school and playing in the fields and running around the town square together. There was a part of her that wanted the life she had spent so long building here. Moving in with Astrid into the little house on the hill that her parents occupied. Taking over the shop from her grandmother and doing enchantments for the townsfolk. Having and watching the next generation grow up in dear old Hesterveen.

She stepped back and shook her head softly at Astrid. She may come back home, she’d do her damndest to bring Ajace back to his beloved farm, but she couldn’t promise it. She wouldn’t damn Astrid to a lifetime of waiting for her. She probably wouldn’t come back, she’d probably die,

But she had to try – didn’t she? Astrid ran off back into town and Blue turned and stared out at the lonely dirt road. She had a long journey ahead. A long lonely journey. She looked up into the sky that had begun to darken. I promise you Ajace, I will do my best to bring you home. With that she adjusted her knapsack on her shoulder and started the long journey to London.