Chapter 43

Eleanor would probably have many of her own things to say to Gail's suggestion that Hayden would “spend the night” with Julian. But her sister wasn't there, either to voice her cynicism or make Hayden self-conscious. She'd never met the young mew, so had no way of knowing what it was like to spend time with him.

First that meant a quiet corner on the balcony, for Hayden to pose at length in various forms. Despite what Julian claimed about wanting to master the power himself, his true intentions were clear enough: he and Aerie really just wanted a chance to look at other pokémon.

Could she really blame them, given a lifetime stuck with only two varieties? She started with the lady's recommendation, changing with Liz into a noble espeon. That form had less patience for the kid, preferring instead to find some soft place to nap away their feast.

She tried eevee next, slipping into a form so comfortable it was practically a second skin by then. Yet there were differences this time—a pair of huge ears on her head, almost making up for all the height she lost.

His daemon wasted no time in taking advantage of the change either, pouncing on Liz and holding her down with psychic powers she could no longer resist. 

"It fits you," he declared, circling around her once. But he was wrong—the dress didn't fit her like this. It slipped off one of her shoulders, and hung limp against her chest, all the way down to her knees. Some part of her preferred it that way, even if she couldn't remember why. The build of an eevee was familiar, scrawny and wiry and without any unnecessary curves.

"Clothes don't. Next time I should… I wear different things depending on what I want to be. Gotta, since different mes look so different." She caught his arm, but no longer had the strength to force him. "Don't have to hold us down like that, Julian. We ain't running."

He grinned back. "I just like it better when you're the… proper age. I'm supposed to be Eldest, not youngest! I command you to only be younger than me from now on."

Hayden met his eyes, bewildered. "I, uh… Liz and I can't really…" She let go, pawing nervously at the balcony. "We're not ditto. We can't just pick what we want and change. Command me all you want, we don't know how. Unless you want us to stay eevee and pichu all the time. That sounds boring."

"Pichu," he said, insistent. "Do that one next!"

She might've resisted before—but the pressure of Aerie's attention on Liz crushed down on them like a wave. She didn't feel forced exactly, just a profound need to impress him. The room got bigger, her hair went short and black, and suddenly she really needed a new dress.

Except—she did have one! Obviously she wouldn't wear that huge tent, falling off every second. Soft yellow and black, stretchy instead of stiff. She caught the skirt in one hand, fingering the black lightning-bolt pattern stitched there. Her mom made a skirt like this once, for the Pikachu family. She must've made it for Hayden too, while she was at it.

"Like this?"

Julian rested both hands on her shoulders, then held on. "You didn't say you could change the clothes too! How many powers do you have?"

Her cheeks sparked with embarrassment. He let go, and Hayden twitched with pain. 

"Oww! You attacked me!"

"No!" She snatched Liz into her arms, before the cat could pounce them again. "I'm just… not very good at electricity! You try to be better 'an me!"

He took her by the wrist, more cautiously this time. "Maybe someday. Can you be anything in the world?"

Once her answer would've been different. But now she was looking up at him, a mew she wanted to impress. "With practice, yeah. It's easiest if we get to see something together. Then I imagin… imaginate…"

She tapped her head with two fingers, scattering a few more faint sparks. "Pretend. Like before you settle! Pretend you're something, pretend you growed up into what kinda person has that daemon. Brave, tall, pretty, smart… whatever. You can't do it alone, and your daemon can't do it for you. It's a together thing."

He led her out along the balcony, then up the ladder to his treehouse. She almost slipped once, those handholds were so far apart. But Julian caught her with his powers, so it was fine. She couldn't fall once they were safe.

"I wanna try," he finally said, once the door was shut and the curtains all closed. "But I'm not getting any smaller. How do I stay big?"

"Uh…" She ran one nervous hand through her short hair, pacing. "Something bigger. What other pokémon do you like?"

He started ripping cushions off the chairs and sofas, arranging them into a few low walls. She helped, or tried. Her coordination felt so off they fell over more than balancing where she wanted them to. 

"That's a silly question, Haydie. I don't know other pokémon. You showed me more than my whole life. I could try… espeon, maybe? That's what Mom thinks."

"You could," she agreed. Her tail twitched nervously at the thought, imagining an even bigger cat pouncing on them. Mew were one thing, they'd never hurt her. But an espeon might be a different story. "What about… kirlia? They're psychic, they're graceful, they're smart…" And they don't eat mice.

"Show us!" Aerie demanded, almost the same moment as her human. But she was already getting so close, close enough to remind her of someone else. Too bad Cody wasn't here, Julian would probably like her. Hayden did, and she wasn't wrong about such important things.

"It's just like… this!" She stretched her arms high, and her body stretched with them. Her hair turned rich green, and her ears faded into a pair of sharp red fins. The lightning bolt pichu jumper wouldn't fit her anymore, so she changed that into a form fitting white sundress, with long green stockings underneath. Liz got much bigger, so big she leapt out of her pocket and onto the ground.

"Much better," the daemon said, circling the room in a delicate little dance of relief.

Hayden started to dance along, dodging between cushions and pillows without dislodging them now. All that clumsiness turned to grace, though not the equal of a legendary. "Kirlia. We evolve from ralts, and…" She stopped, catching Julian's arm. This felt far more natural than the last time—better to be his size than some pathetic little sister. "Well, I dunno a lot else. But they seem smart. The ones we meet in the wild are always nice."

"Pretty," Julian said. "You can just keep doing that? You don't get tired or anything?"

She rolled her eyes. "Course we get tired! Some things are easier, and some are harder. Dunno why—I think the people I want to be are easy, and the people I don't make it hard."

"But we want to be most kinds of people," Liz added. She circled around Hayden once more, then hopped up onto the sofa to look down on them both. And more importantly, get away from where she might accidentally bump into Julian.

Of course his daemon had no such concerns. Aerie landed on her knee, then nuzzled up against Liz's almost-human hand.

Julian took hers at the same moment, pulling her closer to him. "We're so ready to be different things from now on. That's the whole point of settling this way, so you never get stuck! Tell me how it feels to be kirlia!"

She did. And when he was satisfied, she showed him pachirisu, and sylveon and buneary and riolu.

It was this last that finally stuck with him enough that Julian transformed for the first time.

Compared to her and Liz, the effort was about as awkward and clumsy as anyone could be. The change came slow, stopping and starting again several times with daemon and human alike frozen awkwardly between two shapes. 

Finally, Julian dropped to one knee, knocking over a section of his growing fort in the fall. He rested against the couch, with his now-larger daemon occasionally brushing up against his arm for moral support.

"I did it!" he yelled, triumphant. "Just like the Eldest should! I have all the same powers as the mew under me. There's… nothing I can't do."

There was no mistaking the transformation for anything her sister might try. Julian was bigger now, enough that his shirt and trousers fit awkwardly. The soft, slightly pudgy look of a kid who never had to do anything physically difficult was gone too, replaced with the strength of a fighting type.

She changed again, far faster than her admirer. He deserved to have the victory, and that meant being the only pokémon of his kind in the room. That way it would feel less like he'd just copied her. Besides, if he had a new form, he might not understand its powers well, just like she didn't when she first changed.

She went back to a kirlia—for the resistance to his powers, without getting older like espeon would do. Being the same was more fun! That excitement manifested in Liz, who caught the riolu by his paws and danced around the room, giggling with nervous energy every step.

"So this is what it's like being you?" He struggled forward, until she caught his wrist and helped him into a standing position. Taller than she was, like the Eldest ought to be. "Switch around whenever you want? Get bored, be something else?"

"Yeah," she said, leaning up against his chest. She wasn't sure how she did it—but when she touched his jacket, she made it bigger, loosened up his clothes to the baggy dojo-style training gear a fighting type ought to wear.

Julian looked down, then grinned. "The clothes thing is a great trick—almost as cool as changing daemons! How are you doing it?"

"Illusions," said another voice, gentle as it was unyielding. They turned as one, and she let go of him. Their daemons parted too, excitement turning to embarrassment.

Ilene stood in empty air outside the treehouse window, looming taller than either of them. "Lady Hayden is using simple illusions to transform what she is actually wearing. They're ineffective against dark types, or those with trained mental defenses. Otherwise, no legendary would have need of a tailor." 

She gestured, and the window opened on its own, so her voice was no longer suppressed. She passed something in through the window… a stack of soft clothing. Hayden caught it, and separated it into two piles. Nightclothes—one for her, the other for Julian.

"The young master should change into these, and prepare for bed."

"I don't wanna change back," he snapped, interrupting whatever else she was saying. "I just got it! Aerie and I are gonna try being riolu!"

"You have a choice," Ilene declared, voice somehow firm and obedient at the same time. "You may keep that form for the evening, or spend the night with Lady Hayden. You may not have both."

He clenched one hand into a fist. His daemon actually punched the air, though she was careful enough not to hit anything. "Not fair! Don’t make me pick!"

"You must," Ilene said. "I'm sure Lady Hayden will be happy to see you again tomorrow."

Hayden nodded. "We can do a sleepover again later, it's fine. I'll be staying here until… spring, right?"

"And many times thereafter," Ilene agreed. "She is your betrothed, young master."

"Then…" He bowed to her, shallow and awkward. "Come back tomorrow, okay? We'll teach you to make bubbles."

"I'd like that."

Before she could say anything else, air whipped past her, and she was in her bedroom, surrounded by hundreds of little dolls.

Ilene stood beside her, resting one cold hand on her shoulder. "Forgive my insistence, Hayden. But it's my responsibility to protect propriety as well as your safety."

Hayden changed back into herself, shrugging out of the dress in almost the same motion. There was no reason to be embarrassed around Ilene, not after all her role in mew rituals. "You think he's old enough to…"

Her bed rumbled, then stirred. Eleanor appeared from the blankets there, face groggy. "Hayden? How late were you up?"

Ilene ignored her. "You've experienced for yourself how disorienting a transformation can be. The young master is far less adept than you. It would be better for all involved if your encounters remain friendly when you can't be closely chaperoned." 

She took the nightgown from Hayden's fingers, then lifted it over her head for her. “I do not know if you're old enough to comprehend the significance either, but you should be informed. Mythical pregnancies are immensely taxing on mother and child—many do not complete successfully. If you wait as little time as most commoners, the experience will be fatal. No one in Mew House wants to see that happen.”

Hayden melted onto the floor, collapsing into a ball of embarrassment as dense as the wild plants that grew in the sacred north. "That wasn't gonna happen! I was just teaching him!"

"I know," Ilene said. She lifted Hayden into the air, practically without resistance. She set her down in bed a second later, next to where Eleanor rested. "Consider it a friendly warning to be wise, kitten. All of Mew House would be loath to lose you so soon, myself included." She let go, then settled the covers over her. "See you in the morning, mistress."

"Can you teach me to teleport in the morning?" Hayden asked, peeking up from the blankets. "And… other stuff? I like Julian… but I think I need to learn how to fight, too. He can’t teach me."

Ilene gestured, and her tight braid relaxed, falling to a smooth curtain of pink hair behind her. "You will need to choose your goals carefully, kitten. Powerful though you are, you aren’t celebi. You only have the same hours as the rest of us for each day. Decide well how you will use them."

She vanished.