Secret Novel Chapter 32: Another One (Patreon)

Wiggling around in her chair, Madeline groaned in discomfort. She had thought moving her and her work to the chairs by the fire instead of sitting in the hard wooden chair of the desk would have helped her, but it didn’t. With her second dose of the stronger potions happening tomorrow, Madeline thought she would have seen some more changes in herself so far. She did see that there was no longer hair growing on her face and that felt like a gift from the heavens. No longer would she have to shave. No longer would she be cursed by the shadow of a beard she wished she didn’t have. It was a relief she had looked forward to since the day she realized she could use magic to change herself.

Though not much else had changed physically yet, so long as you didn’t count her hips gaining another two inches. Considering the pain and discomfort her hips were still giving her, there were more inches to come. Yes, the pain was welcome. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. She hadn’t been able to sit or lay comfortable for days now and it was starting to wear on her patience. For the first time since gaining this home and a bed made from what felt like dreams, Madeline found herself having restless nights. What was worse was that she could start to feel the same feelings in her broad shoulders. With how broad they were, Madeline was sure she was in for a long time of pain and discomfort from them.

Trying to ignore the discomfort, Madeline did her best to focus on the work at hand. She hadn’t taken many steps into the world of enchanting, but was starting to now. Just like with all of her new magical pursuits, she was probably pushing herself a little too far a little too fast, but that was just how she worked. The mage’s bag sat on the other chair facing her, whilst a smaller pouch-like satchel sat on the table she was working on. Until now Madeline had been using the mage’s pack when she went into the Maze to carry all her things that she might need, but she found it inconvenient. It sat on her back out of reach and took time to pull off and open, which felt like that could lead to issues in situations that she might need something quickly. So Madeline decided she would make her own version of the pack that could hold far more than it had any right to do so. Her vision would be a large pouch, large enough to be considered a satchel, really, that could open wide enough to fit in whatever she wished, but wouldn’t have to be opened that far if she just needed to reach in and grab something small. Luckily for her, Eda already had a satchel that would fit these needs. Madeline did have to break out her tailoring skills to add more fabric to the leather so that it could open quite a bit larger than it previously had.

Reaching over the table to one of the books she had set out, Madeline felt her hips give her a long dull throb of pain. In response she groaned in pain and set her head face down on the table. This was going to be a long five more weeks.

“Is there a reason you’re face down groaning?” Her ears rose to life, picking up Victor’s voice as it chimed in from the doorway. He hadn’t been here for a day or so, which happened every now and then. He did need time to go off and tell all the beyonders about her.

Madeline did feel a little happy for his return, and was even happier that his sudden appearance didn’t scare her anymore. “My hips just hurt, and moving hurts them. So does sitting, standing, laying down, and anything I do, really.”

“Well, I’m afraid to say that I need you to sit up, little witch.”

She groaned again. “Fine, but why would you need me to—” Her words died in her throat as she finally looked up. Of course Victor stood in front of her, in his usual attire of fine silks and large amounts of bands and chains, but Victor wasn’t alone. Next to the blue beyonder, who Madeline had found was no longer slate blue but a darker cyan, stood another beyonder. They stood around the same height, but that was where the similarities ended. Unlike Victor, this beyonder was an ash gray, and had horns that were far larger and slicked back across their head before turning into upright little points. Juxtaposed with Victor's fine silks and jewelry, this one wore what could be considered the most intricately designed leather armor Madeline had ever seen. The shape of it also led to confusion as it made their body both appear to be built like a man, but with the curves you might expect of a woman. The massive pelt of fur they wore over their shoulders also made them look like they could be incredibly large, or incredibly small and built up by the fluff of the fur. Their face also gave no indication of whether this beyonder was masculine or feminine. For a second they could look masculine, but then with a simple turn of the head to look at something their features appeared feminine even when nothing had actually changed.

Madeline knew she was staring, and that her red eye was going all wide like Victor’s did, but what was she supposed to do? There was a second beyonder in her home. One she didn’t know, nor summoned, nor have a pact with to keep her and her home safe.

“This, Madeline, is my sibling,” Victor stated as if this were a perfectly normal introduction, and not the sudden appearance of another beyonder in her home! Victor turned to his sibling. “Do you have a name she might call you?”

The sibling pondered for a second, before saying in a voice that sounded like the true perfect middle ground between masculine and feminine, “I believe Elliott works well enough.” Ze turned back to her. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” Ze bowed much like Victor had when he introduced himself.

Dazed, confused, and scared at the implications of what Elliott being here could mean, Madeline found herself acting without thinking. She stood up, holding in a small groan of soreness, before politely responding, “Madeline. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Then she turned to Victor, her eyes still glancing at Elliott. “How? Why? No, how first.”

“How what?” Was his only response.

Madeline gave him a look of annoyance. “You know what I mean. How is ze here? I mean no offense,” she quickly said to zim. “But I didn’t summon you here, and I don’t know how you got here.”

“None taken,” ze said politely. “And I can understand the apprehension of one of my kin suddenly appearing.”

“Well, you didn’t suddenly appear, I brought you here,” Victor corrected.

“You brought zim here?! You can do that? I didn’t say in the pact that you could bring others here!”

“To be fair, little witch, you never said I couldn’t. You were very kindly lenient on our terms.” He gave her one of those swoon worthy smiles again and Madeline just pursed her lips back at him.

“I should add what my brother neglected to say is that as a guest here I am also bound to abide by the same rules you laid out for him,” Elliott chimed in.

Madeline had to admit that did get rid of her apprehension of having another beyonder here. Still she didn’t like that Victor just did this without telling her. “You could have warned me that you were bringing someone over, Victor.”

Elliott snorted a laugh. “Victor? Really? That's the name you gave her?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the name.” Victor scowled at his sibling.

The new beyonder continued to laugh, and Madeline started to find it a little infectious even if she didn’t know why it was happening. It was a pure laugh that reminded her of times laughing and joking with her family. “Did you give her that name thinking you would come out on top of the pact?” Victor continued scowling at zim. “And then you bound yourself to only her home and Garden?” Elliott’s laugh grew with every word, and Madeline joined in.

“That’s why you called yourself Victor?”

“Now, listen,” he said, glancing between the two of them, clearly not enjoying being ganged up on like this. “I did not bring you here to laugh at me, and I will take you back.”

“Oh brother,” the smile on Elliott’s face was a truly happy one. “What are siblings for if not to jest and make sure our siblings keep a sense of humility.” Ze placed an arm around zir brother’s shoulder. Though Victor still didn’t look happy, he wore a smile aimed at his sibling that was true. Madeline couldn’t help but feel warm at the sight of a close familial bond.

Now feeling a good bit better about this whole situation, Madeline still had one question. “Not that I mind you being here, but I would still like to know why.”

“Well,” Elliott started just cutting zir brother off before he could start. “We did notice that,” ze chuckled, “Victor, had been away from home quite a bit more than normal. We only recently got out of him that he was here with you and all that went with it. Needless to say we are all quite intrigued by the witch that has infatuated our brother so.”

“And Elliott was the one to point out that I could potentially bring someone else along with me. Evidently, ze was correct and here we are,” Victor said proudly, though whether he was proud of his sibling figuring it out or that he could actually do it, Madeline wasn’t sure.

“Okay,” Madeline said, not really sure how to respond. “Well, that is good to know, I suppose. Though I would prefer some warning next time before you just bring someone I’ve never met before into my home.”

“You would prefer it, but it is not required,” Victor said with a smirk.

“You are her guest as well, brother. It wouldn’t be appropriate of you to disrespect your host like that,” Elliott chided.

“Thank you,” Madeline said. “Oh also, would you like some tea? I’m sorry I didn’t offer you something sooner.” She found she quite liked Elliott already.

Ze turned to her with a smile. “That would be most kind of you, and far more than the mages ever gave to me.” Victor growled at the mention of the mages, and Madeline could see the glimmer of anger flash through Elliott’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a happy sort of intrigue.

“Yes, I have heard about that. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“What's done is done,” ze said with a shrug. “Better to move on and focus on better hospitality given by someone of much bigger interest.” The smile ze gave was close to Victor’s swoon worthy one, but it didn’t feel as intentionally provocative.

Madeline smiled, and walked them all into the kitchen. Her hips made their protests of her movement known, and she did her best to ignore them. She was able to do so until she bent over to grab the larger kettle to heat the water in over the fire. “Goddess,” she groaned as one hand held her hip while the other picked up what she needed. She then found that she needed a second before bending back up. “Fucking hips…”

“Must you constantly groan like that? You’ve been doing it ever since you took that potion,” Victor said, surprisingly without annoyance. It was maybe more that the thought flashed through his mind and his mouth just said it unprompted. Madeline was starting to notice him doing that quite a bit.

“Yeah, well it does hurt. Why don’t you try becoming a woman and see how it feels?” Madeline snapped back, maybe a little harder than she should have. The pain really was starting to wear on her.

“Fine,” Victor said, just as Madeline set the kettle in place.

“What?” Madeline gave him a quick glance, and then did a double take as Victor's form changed. It wasn’t as fast of a shapeshift as his normal ones. This appeared to take a little more effort and focus, but within seconds there now stood a female beyonder in Victor’s place. Madeline stared at him with a slack jaw.

“It’s not that bad,” Victor said in a light voice that just sounded wrong coming from him even if it fit the body.

Madeline wasn’t really sure what to say to that, but she was having a lot of big and mix feelings over him doing this.

“Brother,” Elliott said calmly, drawing Victor’s attention. “I love you and I know you did not intend it to be, but this is really insensitive of you.”

“What? She told me to do it.” It was strange to hear Victor be defensive. He didn’t ever have that tone with Madeline and she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“Maybe, but you know she didn’t mean that literally.” Elliott’s voice was still calm but there was a hint of disappointment in it that clearly upset Victor. “She is in physical pain and going to be for…” Ze turned to Madeline.

“Five more weeks,” Madeline said quietly. There was a strange sense of warmth in Madeline’s chest as Elliott stood up for her. They had only known each other for less than ten minutes and yet she already felt a growing connection to zim. The still female presenting Victor turned and looked at Madeline and it was obvious he was feeling bad.

“Shifting with ease in a moment whilst she is suffering to do the same with over the span of months feels like you are diminishing her strife.” A look of realization came over Elliott’s face and then slight embarrassment. “Unless I am projecting my own remembered feelings from long ago.” Elliott said turning back to Madeline.

“No,” the witch said shaking her head. Her eyes wondered over Victor in this form and tried to gather her feelings. “I am very happy for you or anyone who is able to change their from so easily and so fast. I could never imagine telling you to not shift in whatever way you wish whenever you wish it. But doing it to make a point of what I’m experiencing being ‘not so bad’ is dismissive of what I am experiencing. Of the struggle my version of changing my body is.”

Victor’s mismatched eyes looked at Madeline for a few more seconds before looking down in shame. “I am—” He cut himself of, clearly surprised by the sound of his voice. Was it so easy to forget that he was in a completely didn’t form? Then his form changed, far faster than Madeline had ever seen him do so, back into his usual appearance. “I am sorry, little witch,” he said with his normal voice. As he did he bowed deeply as he had the night they met. “I did not intend to offend you, or make light of what you are going through. Our experiences are different, how we experience them differ as well, and I need to have a deeper respect for that. Especially an experience is causing you pain.”

When Victor and Madeline fought there surprisingly weren’t many deep apologies when they resolved. Of course there were apologies, but not like this. They always came around through calming down and acknowledging that their ways of life are different. This felt different and far more meaningful than most of the interactions they had shared over the past few weeks.

“Thank you,” Madeline finally responded, not really sure what to make of the warmth flooding her chest. That warmth was also spreading to her face a little bit. Finally Victor stood back up and glanced at his sibling to find zim giving him a look of approval.

“Is there something that can be done for the pain?”

Madeline felt embarrassed that she actually hadn’t thought about that. She had just been fully prepared to suffer through all this. “Possibly,” she said, hoping the blush on her face wasn’t getting worse. “Even if there isn’t I’ll be fine.”

“Beauty is pain,” Elliott said with a gentle smile.

“Worth it.” As long as the pain from all this didn’t get as bad as having her eye melt out of her skull then she was going to take it with stride. Even if complained about it.

There was a brief pause in conversation before Victor asked, “So you're willing to go through pain to look beautiful?” There was eagerness in his voice.

“Yes. Obv—and he’s gone.” Madeline sighed. “Why does he always do that without saying anything first,” she groaned.

“He has always been like that.” Elliott’s smile got a little bigger. “Once something is on his mind, he is very quick to act, even if that means disappearing and telling no one about what’s happening. Or leaving their sibling in your home with no easy way to return to my home until he returns…”

“You really can’t go back without him?” Madeline was a little surprised, but not at the same time.

“Not without a lot of time consuming effort. Knowing Victor the second I would manage to find a way home would be the second he returns.” Elliott sighed. “Hopefully he does remember to return in a timely manner. Sorry to intrude if otherwise.” Ze did look apologetic.

“It's okay. I do have a spare room, if it comes to that. Though I suppose it is technically his room whilst he is here, since that’s what the home made it for.”

“Your home made you a spare room for Victor? Interesting.”

“Yeah, it gave me a shock when I suddenly found my home had a new door.” She heard the water boiling. Initially after getting magic she had used enderbloom to heat the water, but after gaining her new nose she found it left a scent to the water that ended up muddling the taste of the tea. “Do you have a preference for what—” Madeline spun around to get the kettle, and planted herself face first in Victor’s chest. “—Ah! Sor—” Before she could finish backing away and saying sorry, he grabbed her left ear. “Hey!” His grip was hard enough that her flick didn’t shake his grasp. Then she felt a very sharp pain stab through the lateral edge of her ear. She yelped and almost screamed at the sudden pain, before yanking herself away from Victor.

“What the fuck?!” Her wide eyes stared at the beyonder as fear grew in her. He had hurt her. He had hurt her! She reached up and felt her sore ear finding something stuck in it. “You hurt me!” Any lingering warmth left from Victor’s apology died away as panic soon rose up. “You broke the pact!”

“No,” Victor said with his hands out as if trying to calm her.

“Yes you did!” How was hurting her not breaking the pact?

“No, the pact says I can’t bring any harm to you that you do not wish or ask for.” There was a matter of fact tone to his voice, but not as much as he normally gave her. “You said you were willing to go through pain to be beautiful, so I didn’t break the pact.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“Go look in the mirror,” he said, gesturing to her bathroom.

She shouldn’t trust him. She shouldn’t listen to him. He had hurt her and broke their pact. Still there was a tiny but persistent voice telling her to listen to him. Somehow she brought herself to listen and found herself rushing to the bathroom, still unsure.

“Please learn to speak before you act, Brother,” Madeline heard Elliott say.

Throwing the door open, the flowers on the ceiling lit up at her mental command. Still not trusting the situation, she raced in front of the mirror to see what damage he had done to her. In her ear now sat a small gold ring, and from the ring dangled what Madeline could only assume was an emerald. An emerald that was the perfect match for her bright green eye. It was beautiful, and admittedly looked beautiful in her ear. She had lost her small little piercings when her ears changed, and she would have never imagined that she would have the privilege of wearing jewelry as fine as this. Reaching up, she touched it gently, and winced at the sting still coming from it. The pain could easily be solved with a little herb and magic.

She almost hated the fact that Victor was right. Almost.

Still feeling pissed, but also a strange stupidly happy about how the jewelry did make her feel more beautiful than she had, she walked back out into the kitchen. Victor and Elliott gave her expecting looks whilst she pursed her lips and refused to look either of them in the eye. With a sigh she admitted, “I like it… A lot…” The smile on Victor’s face was bright enough to light up her home, and Elliott’s was a close second.

“Good. I have more.”

“What?” Before she knew what was happening, Victor grabbed her and sat her on the bench in front of the pair of them. “You have more?” She could see Victor had laid out a large amount of piercings and jewelry on the table. Considering the kind of jewelry Victor wore it was easy to realize that all of this was going to be something fit for nobility, maybe even royalty.

Madeline sat there feeling a little stunned as the siblings discussed what would look best and where in her ears. Surprisingly it reminded her a little of when Flora had brought one of her friends over to help figure out what clothes would look good on her after she began sharing that she was of switched hearts. That warm happy feeling inside her grew again now with the pair of siblings. They were there to help her look beautiful. They wanted her to look and feel beautiful. Madeline did her best not to cry, feeling a sort of familial love she hadn’t in a long time. Neither Victor nor Elliott noticed as they were heatedly debating about jewelry.

After quite some time the pair had finished with her ears. In her left ear now sat five piercings running up the lateral edge of her ear. They were all gold in metal and each sported emeralds in some way. All matching her eye. Her right ear received three piercings. The bottom was a twin of the bottom ring with the emerald in her left, but with a ruby instead. A ruby to match the color of her right red eye. The other two earrings on her right also sported rubies. They let her go take a look whilst they moved onto discussing other jewelry she could wear. Madeline truly loved her new piercings and how they made her look and feel. Though there was one thing that did annoy her slightly.

“Could you put two more in my right so that it’s even?” She asked as she went to the herbs to heal her slightly sore ears.

“No,” both the beyonders said in unison so firmly that it gave Madeline pause.

“Why not?”

“Your right ear represents your relationship status,” Elliott proffered.

“Yes. Three or less means nothing,” Victor started, still looking through the mound of jewelry he had. “Four means you are engaged in courting a specific person. Five means that you are mated.”

Madeline thought that was a little interesting. Humans used rings to indicate marriage, so using jewelry to indicate such things wasn’t strange. Earrings were just a little different. She did wonder about the merits of her, a human, abiding by beyonder norms, but they were the ones doing it. Victor would also be the one to see it the most, so it wouldn’t hurt to leave it as it was. She also noticed that both of them only sported three piercings in their right ears. “So five means you're married, got it.”

“No,” Elliot corrected, also looking at the jewelry. “Mated. There is a large difference between marriage and being mated. Marriage is just an agreement of a bond. To be mated, you truly, magically, and emotionally bind yourselves to one another. I think this would look good.” Ze pointed at a piece that was buried somewhere in the pile.

“Okay, mated it a lot different.” Madeline took note, and wondered if that was in her books. If not, she might get a chance to add something that she found out. Now she actually went back to getting what she needed to heal her ears. While doing so she did catch Elliot look up at her rear and purse zir lips.

“You need a tail.”

“Not you too…”

“That’s what I told her, it would com—” Victor started.

“—plete the look, yes I agree,” Elliott finished.

“I am not doing a tail!” Madeline turned to them, reaching up and healing her ears. “Do you know how much work that would be to alter my clothes? Not to mention figuring out how to make clothes work with a tail.” The pair of siblings looked at her with looks that clearly said ‘really?’. Madeline then realized she had said this to two people that have tails and were currently wearing clothes. “Goddess, I forgot you both have tails…”

Victor chimed in, “And you should have one, too.”

[I wrote at least three different versions of the conversation around Victor doing that shift. The first one was a lot more jovial and quippy, but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of it being a more serious conversation. What did you guys think of it?]