Chapter 47

The next morning came like so many others in the mansion of the Johto Mews. Hayden woke, brushed off the servants who wanted to take care of her daily needs on her behalf, then found an outfit she liked from among the many that the household provided. 

Only this time, she wasn't going to be spending the day as a mew, either with the house's teachers or meeting with important locals. This time, she had a very different mission in mind, one that not even Holland knew about.

Ilene and Eleanor did, though. Ilene met her in a quiet courtyard just before noon, wearing her usual impassive expression. "Are you ready, Lady Hayden?"

She glanced over her shoulder at Eleanor, who nodded. In her typical form, her sister had grown somewhat bolder around the Steward of Mew House. Not bold enough to argue with her, or anything so direct. She was still a dangerous mythical pokémon. But wearing a humble commoner's dress and the body of a little brown eevee, she barely even had the strength to make eye contact.

Hayden dressed about the same, though her own choice fit quite a bit worse. A dress made for Sylveon Hayden hung loose on Mew Hayden, a few extra knots holding the sundress onto her bare shoulders. 

"Ready to see them again? Yeah!" She shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Been waiting for this for… has it already been a month? Doesn't feel like I was here that long. Feels great!"

Ilene caught her wrist with one cold, firm hand. There was nothing hostile in the gesture, yet also no sign of yielding. With a little psychic power, she tilted Hayden's head upward, just enough for their eyes to meet. "Even if your thoughts were hidden perfectly from me, you could never tell such a lie, lady."

Ilene tugged on her wrists, lifting her. She would've hung there awkwardly, if her instincts didn't kick in. She floated instead, and the pressure on her wrists relaxed.

"You were on the ground."

She nodded weakly. "I… yeah." Her ears pressed flat, and Liz vanished down her dress. Easier when there was so much space in there. Strangely, there was still one form where her newfound illusions didn't work—as herself. It came along with her transformation.

“You already know. I'm sure Julian told you.”

Ilene said nothing for a few seconds, just watching her. But whatever she was searching for, Hayden couldn't know. “The young master has spent a great many years with very few others for company. Many of his views were decided between himself and his daemon. With only the books and myself, he has faced little challenge. This leaves him somewhat unprepared for objections when they come.”

Hayden nodded silently, staring down at the ground. “I didn't mean to upset him so much. He just… he made it sound like only legendary pokémon even mattered. Like people could just be replaced, thrown away…”

Ilene released her grip on Hayden. She kept floating there, though not for any particular joy. Hayden's usual, insatiable desire for freedom and flight were a small part of the background for her now.

"You will find that perspective is more common than rare. Mythical pokémon spend their vast lifetimes with only each other as constants. Others come and go; societies rise and customs change. The real question is not why a member of Mew House might think this way, but whether you will not also, a few centuries from now."

Hayden settled abruptly to the ground, with as much grace as though someone had just dropped her. I'm not gonna change. People won't stop being people, even if mythicals really do live that long.

She didn't send those thoughts, though she couldn't stop Ilene from reading them anyway, if she really wanted to. Instead, she said: "I guess Julian won't be asking after me for a while. I didn't even mention that I would be gone for a few days."

Ilene nodded absently. "He's throwing a bit of a tantrum. Lady Moonstone already spoke with him this morning about your conversation. I'm not entirely certain what she decided—but the young master did stop breaking things, so I assume it must have gone well. Now."

She took one step back, and her own feet lifted off the ground an inch. "I don't believe you've ever been through a teleport like this before. The process is quite disorienting even for our kind. For others… it's not something we repeat too often. Once or twice in a decade at most, you understand. In all my years, I've only ever known the Eldest to ignore this restriction. But his mastery of space goes far beyond what Rael and I will ever achieve. Beyond you too, though perhaps not your betrothed. We will see. We can ignore some of the restrictions by…"

She gestured at Eleanor. Without a word, the ditto slumped to the floor, landing with an awkward thump. She started snoring, tucking Loch in under her arm.

Hayden gasped, clenching one hand into a fist. "You can't just…"

"The damage is not to the body," Ilene said, her tone entirely unchanged. There was no sign she even realized Hayden was upset. "This is about the conscious mind. Mythicals impart many types of resilience—you have seen it. You are stronger, you are tougher. Many would-be assassins have failed purely because they expected their daemons’ attack to kill your human half—not realizing that you and Ahuiliztli share the same endurance.

"The same is true of your mind. Not hers. As she will be making the return trip in a few days, this is an act of mercy." She gestured, and Eleanor floated towards them. She kept her daemon close, hovering there as though held by invisible bonds. "If you knew the technique, I would suggest doing the same to her and any of your family who make the trip. But tampering with the mind of a mortal is not a discipline I recommend practicing with those who are precious to you."

She gestured again, extending both hands towards Hayden. "You asked for lessons, Hayden." She stretched towards Hayden again, more insistent. "I do not require it of you. But I believe you were wise in making the request."

She took both offered hands. Only Ilene didn't hold on the way she expected. Instead, she settled one on Hayden's waist, while the other lifted her right higher. She moved forward through the air, carrying a weightless Hayden along. 

"This is a… waltz? Is that what they're called?"

She had learned a few of these, or at least tried to. While she was still a boy, her tutor had given her very little instruction on this kind of thing. Why bother teaching her the wrong half of the steps?

Ilene nodded gently. Her daemon lifted into the air behind her now, closing both his eyes. Except… there was a third one, a harsh line across his chest. It opened, a single, luminous view that focused on Hayden. 

"Teleportation has two disciplines. Sensory, and Clairvoyance. The first is easy to understand, and is well within the power of many psychic types. Move an object a short distance, or even a person. So long as you remain within the physical view, the process is safe and easy."

Hayden followed along with the steps as best she could, though of course she didn't actually stand on anything. They spun in a slow circle, without ever drifting too far from where her sister floated. "Not sure about easy. I've tried moving things. They don't usually—come out the same way they went in. Glass shatters, things freeze…"

"Not unexpected. Consider that every difficulty you experience—this is much harder. To bypass travel along three dimensions, we must fold through a fourth. That space is not empty, though it is an axis we cannot usually perceive. The same is true of sliding along the temporal dimension, with which I believe you may be somewhat more familiar."

Hayden blushed deep red, but said nothing. She wouldn't betray Cody's trust. But nothing upset Ilene faster than when she tried to lie. So she kept her mouth shut, focused on the motions.

"Once you leave sensory perception, a teleport must account for many factors. Nothing in our universe is stationary, Hayden. This planet orbits a sun, which itself rotates in slow procession around some vaster mass. When we teleport these distances, we must be aware of all this—elevation, temperature, pressure. To be off by even a small fraction could leave your destination within a solid wall, deep underground, or floating in the vastness of space."

With every word, Hayden's body tensed a little more. Liz emerged from her dress again, floating just behind her. She didn't try to imitate the dance, or hold perfectly still like Ilene's daemon. "You think I can… ever do all that?"

"Eventually, yes. Only exposure will bridge the gap. I am going to share this trip with you—you will see my thoughts, the calculations required, and the power involved. This should prepare you to attempt trips like this soon. I would usually wait until you were much older—but your Unity is considerable. Similar to Lady Moonstone, in fact. I believe you're strong enough."

Her first instinct was to refuse, of course. When she asked to be able to teleport on her own, she never could've imagined the scope of the danger, or the difficulty. If she was really going to be alive for all that time, did she have to master all her powers right away?

She didn't refuse, though. With full mastery of distance, she could be—anywhere. She could visit the shaymin in their sacred forest, she could go home for dinner and not miss a morning hike with Julian. It all terrified her now, but would it once she mastered the technique?

"Breathe out, mew. As far as you can." Ilene watched her, expectant. Only when Hayden had obeyed did everything change.

All the light faded—the courtyard, its vibrant trees and flowers, the distant walls of the mansion. Only Ilene remained, and Eleanor's floating body.

There was nothing behind them—no light, no shadow, no space or stars—nothing but total, featureless blackness. Cold pressed in on them, frost creeping over every inch of Hayden's body. She tried to breathe, but there was no air either—not even a way for her to scream. 

Whatever physical discomfort she felt was only a prelude to what happened next. Ilene's thoughts met hers, as rigid and metallic as her daemon—and they brought more. She felt space—the configuration of the courtyard, its position on a rapidly-spinning sphere, the height above the ground, relative acceleration and other concepts she had no names for.

Then there was somewhere else—a port on a coast both vastly far away and practically touching. Its familiar piers extending out over the ocean.

Then came the others. Eyes that watched from the darkness, invisible attention from minds that were as dissimilar to Hayden and Ilene as they were to insects too small to even be considered pokémon. They watched, but beyond that Hayden could not even guess.

There's so much, she thought. It wasn't intended as a message, but of course Liz would still hear it. 

There's nothing. No time, no dimensions, no us. We're not even—

Then there was everything. Light and heat and space all crashed down around them at once. A thin film of ice crystalized on Hayden's dress and exposed skin. She gasped, sucking in huge lungfuls of air she didn't even know she needed. Hayden wobbled and dropped down. The mew would've fallen completely to the ground, if it wasn't for Ilene's grip on her wrists, keeping her upright.

"That… was…" Hayden wiped away the frost from her face, barely able to form words. "We're supposed to do that all the time?"

Something else was different. It took her a moment to realize, rationalizing sensations that shouldn’t be there. Fur, but also pressure against her skirt, lifting in a way it shouldn’t. The fabric caught on something, then released in a wave.

She glanced back, then squeaked in surprise, covering her mouth to suppress a squeal. Not that any of those feelings were new to her—Hayden had felt a tail most of her life, thanks to Liz. But that tail hadn’t ever been hers before.

It twitched at her thought, curling up around her leg. It just kept going. This was what Liz had to deal with every day? It had to be at least as long as she was, tipped with a thick bulb of fluff on the end.

“I… don’t think I was supposed to do this…”

“Oh.” Ilene touched it with one hand, pulling the tail away from her leg. Her grip was firm and cold, yet didn’t hurt. “It was bound to happen eventually. Congratulations, I suppose.”

“Congrats on… becoming more cat,” Hayden muttered to herself. Was she supposed to be happy? Upset? Sad? She didn’t know.

“I should not be surprised teleportation was what provoked the elevation. Your kind are considered among the best. As I said, Lord Moonstone folds space so effortlessly that there are no side effects, even for weak minds. Other mew have done likewise, in their time. But I wouldn't aspire to those lofty heights."

She released Hayden’s tail. “I will make arrangements with the tailors. This was… earlier than we anticipated. But given your high general competence, it’s also not unexpected.”

Ilene looked around, expression twisting into an uncomfortable frown. "Pity this mission was too urgent to wait. This is no place for a lady."

Hayden barely noticed until that moment. Of course they had to land somewhere. Ilene had chosen a warehouse, one of those far out onto the pier. They made for quick transfers of cargo from the visiting boats. Most of those were fishing boats, unfortunately. 

It was easily the worst thing she'd ever smelled, the rot of a thousand different creatures all at once. Many larger catches hung on hooks near the back, rubbed down with salt. Those weren’t so bad, but the tanks of salt water near the front—some of those stank. 

Mysterious stains covered every inch of ground, and plenty of rusty knives and other cutting implements packed in everywhere there was open space.

Most of what people said wasn't suitable "for a lady" sounded silly to Hayden. But about something like this, she could agree. She wrinkled her nose, and tried to float back up—but the strain on her mind was still too intense. 

Good thing she had Liz there to pick them both up, circling around her shoulder before landing there. "My parents should be expecting us. I'll get us there quick."

Ilene nodded. She gestured at Eleanor, and the eevee's eyes opened. She looked around, and confusion turned instantly to fear. "Where the… What happened, Hayden?"

"Slept through the hard part," she answered, exhaustion evident in her voice. "We're almost there. Just have to walk into town."

Ilene dropped her, depositing Eleanor on her own feet. She wobbled, but caught herself. Unsurprisingly, she kept Loch securely in her arms.

"I will return for you and any you wish to bring at sunrise in two days. You need not be here—only your arrival requires stealth. Your departure may be as dramatic as we require. Keep your presence in Sunyshore a secret until that time. I am no Eldest—I cannot monitor your emotions from a continent away. Be wise."

A harsh crack echoed through the warehouse, along with a rush of air towards the empty place she left behind. Then the two of them were alone.

I'm home! Not as directly as the last time—there were no guards on this trip, not even her brother. But that was the entire point—get in, get her family out, and be gone before anyone noticed. 

To do that, she would have to get there without being seen, of course. Already there were shouts from outside, someone banging on the metal wall. Damn.

Hayden only had a few seconds to think. For once, older and bigger wasn't what she needed. An adult breaking into someone's warehouse was a thief—the constables would be involved, and even the mayor might find out. 

Hayden landed too, catching Liz out of the air and settling her onto her shoulder. Her dress got much shorter, along with a simple top that actually fit. Small was part of the point. That also meant an opening for her tail, which transformed when she did. Unfortunately, eevees weren’t exactly small in the tail department. If people were looking, they might see. Nothing she could do about it. "This way!" 

She darted back through the warehouse, gesturing for Eleanor to follow.

For a few seconds her sister remained frozen there, as the banging on the wall got closer and shouted profanities got louder. For all her personal power and influence, this wasn't her world—it was Hayden's. 

"Come on!" she hissed, as loud as she dared. "We don't wanna get caught!"

Eleanor finally snapped into motion, darting after Hayden. She dove behind a shelf with her, squeezing past dirt and grime of all kinds until they reached her destination—a gap in the rusty metal sheet that made the wall. 

Hayden inhaled sharply, stretched her hands out over her head, and wiggled through. Eleanor did a little better, though maybe that came from her inherent ditto flexibility. “Are you worried about having…” she gestured at the tail. “Extra bits? Does it hurt?”

Hayden swung it. Or Liz did, and she watched. “Don’t think so. Feels pretty weird I guess. Not used to having two.”

They emerged in an alley behind the warehouse, right about the time that a door banged open. Stomping feet advanced through the building, probably the dockmaster. Hayden didn't intend to stick around and find out who it might be, though. She gestured at a stack of crates, forming an easy-to-climb staircase onto a warehouse roof. She took Eleanor's wrist, tugging her up. "Come on!"

They ran giggling across the docks.