Pellan Rise

It was almost seven in the evening and dad had just arrived home when I got back from being in Pellan, and I practically launched myself at him.

“Whoa there sprite, what’s this about?” he asked with a wheeze as he tried to get the breath back that I had knocked out of him.

“Nothing, I just wanted a hug,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

He carefully put his work bag down on the kitchen counter while I dangled from his neck. Wrapping his big arms around me he held me tight for a small while.

“What’s wrong?” he asked me quietly.

I gave him a non committal sound and pulled myself tighter against him. It was relaxing in his arms and I felt the stress and tension of the past few days ease out of me. Being such a small girl held in the expansive embrace of my father was a wondrous feeling.

“I’m so happy I can do this now dad,” I told him with a sniffle.

“Do what sprite? Hug me? You could do that before too,” he said gently.

“Nah dad. It’s weird if guys do that. Guys are meant to be all strong and unemotional. Besides, it feels different as a girl,” I said.

“Hmmmm…” He hummed thoughtfully.

He set me down standing on the couch and I remembered I had news.

“I have the spell dad!” I said, showing him my faintly glowing hand.

“Yes! Good job Sylanna! Are you ready to get going then?” he said with excitement.

I laughed, “I need to get changed first dad! Oh! And look dad!” I said showing him my much more normal looking ears.

“You look like an elf from the lord of the rings movies now,” He said with a grin, “Instead of an elf from WoW.”

“Yup! Okay I’ll go get changed.”

Fifteen minutes later I was dressed in comfortable clothing and trotting down the path to dad’s car. I’d picked out a darker looking outfit in case I needed to do some sneaking.

While we pulled away, he started explaining the plan, “So the building we want is actually fairly easy to get to. How does the spell work? Do we need to get you in or can we just park nearby and it will do it's thing?”

“Um, he said it would seek everything out. So maybe just close enough? Just in case maybe we should find an open window.”

“Alright. I hope this works kiddo,” he said as he passed me the list of information that needed to be changed.

We rode in silence after that and I spent the time going over everything that needed to be altered. I was really nervous and my leg wouldn't stop bouncing up and down while I memorised things. The trip through the city to the suburb of the central business district where all the government buildings were took a bit of time, as despite the distance being short on the map, the city we lived in was cramped and the roads twisting. When we arrived, dad parked us nearby. People were still out and about, the late workers mixing with the early club goers on the sidewalk.

Dad stepped out of the car, but I stayed inside for a moment while I swapped myself to my Sam appearance. Ugh, it still felt awful. Perhaps even more so than the last time.

“I’m going to go and try to activate it from closer to the building,” I told my dad. He looked apprehensive, and opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it.

Making my way over to the pedestrian crossing, I tried to walk casually, but i felt like every eye on the street was staring at me. Of course, when I looked around, no one was even glancing at me. They had their own lives to think about. Waiting at the crossing was harder than I’d thought it would be too, my anxious mind kicking itself up into overdrive as the seconds ticked by.

When I was finally able to cross, I couldn’t help but break into a little run to get to the other side. I looked up when I reached the sidewalk, and cringed as the central database of the government of New Zealand loomed before me. The public were actually allowed access to a small portion of the building, where they could go in and request information from a clerk if they had the proper authority.

I shuffled through the automatic doors and into the slightly chilly atrium that held plastic plants and strange artwork. The place seemed scarily clean and clinical, as though they expected to perform surgery on the floor.

I trotted up to the reception desk and asked in a meek voice, “He-hello, I need to, I mean I’d like to… Um, I’d like to see my records, if that’s okay?”

“Certainly young man, what’s your name and date of birth?” the bored desk dude asked.

“Sy-Sam… Sam Walker, um, March the seventeenth, two thousand twelve,” I told him, almost using my new name.

“Thank you, but look into the RealMe scanner please,” he asked.

I did so, looking into a black glass slate that was attached to the wall. The edges flashed green and the clerk was satisfied.

“One moment then Sam,” he said, and turned around to grab a tablet from a shelf behind him.

Young man, Sam… they were just words, yet why did they stab into my heart like this? Each letter carved pain into my chest. I watched him enter some codes or something into the tablet, then on the computer, then back to the tablet. Finally, he passed the tablet to me.

“We’re closing soon, so please be quick if you can,” he asked me, going back to playing a game on his phone.

I nodded and looked down at the tablet. It had it all. Everything about me was there. It was slightly terrifying. I mentally ran myself through everything I needed to change, and then tried to breathe deeply to calm my hammering heart.

Activating the spell with a thought, I sent it into the tablet with a thought and a vast array of information to change. It lashed out of my arm like it was some glowing parasitic worm, then tunneled into the screen of the tablet. I watched in wonder as the information on the screen began to change, one letter at a time. My heart cried out for joy when the gender section changed to female, and my name changed to Sylanna Walker.

My joy was short lived however, because a notification flashed up on the screen. Unlike the smooth and sleek user interface that the public saw, this one was a generic error message.

This entry has no RealMe data. Please ask the citizen to step up to the nearest RealMe panel so a new snapshot may be taken.

Shit! Okay, uh… clerk dude was still engrossed in his game. Where was the nearest panel? Oh right! I’d literally just used it! I rushed over to the panel, then realised that would probably draw more attention to myself. Luckily, the clerk was still engrossed in his phone. Phew! I dropped my disguise and stepped up in front of the plate.

Gazing into it I saw a flickering light behind the glass as it logged whatever details it needed, then a message flashed up on the plate.

Please place your hand on this plate to continue the RealMe snapshot.

I did as it bid, placing my small hand against the cool glass of the strange device. I felt an odd tingling sensation, and then it was done. The plate flashed a confirmation message at the same time as the Tablet recieved my new data. It was done. It was really done!

Bringing my disguise back over myself, I walked over and handed the tablet back to the clerk, making sure to exit my information before I gave it back. He grunted and mumbled a good night without looking up. I really hoped the security ai in charge of looking at the CCTV footage were as lazy as him. Or maybe they’d just be confused by my antics. I crossed my fingers.

When I got back to dad, I dropped my disguise and threw my arms around him. The emotions that were running through me as I realised I could finally live my life as a government database official girl were overwhelming.

Dad held me in baffled confusion as I cried, “Did it not work?”

“No it did, I’m crying cos I’m happy Dad,” I mumbled.

I heard him rumble in response and say, “Right, well your mum is making dinner, I think it’s time to head home. Congratulations Sylanna.”

He opened the passenger door for me and I hopped in and settled the seatbelt into place. Ever since I’d changed the darn things dug into all sorts of new places. Starting the car and shifting it into gear Dad raised an eyebrow. I nodded and we were off.

I spent the night with my family this time. I didn’t feel like playing Pellan, I think I needed a break. We also got my enrollment into my high school sent off. I was actually excited to go back to school as my new, true self, which was strange. I hoped it would go differently to my last day there as Sam.

I also had to tell my friends. I had no idea how I was going to do that. Every time I thought about it I could feel my heart rate start climbing and my body began sweating. Should I do it casually or prepare something? I needed to talk to Karen, but stupidly we hadn't exchanged contact details. Guess I was logging in to Pellan after all.

I let my parents know and went to my room to log in.

When I got ingame and down to the Inn common room, my friends had already left. I’d just missed them according to the barmaid. I rushed through the streets towards the gate and arrived panting to see that they were not in the gate square either. Damn. I turned to go back and log out when a young elf girl ran up to me.

“Miss? Miss are you the Priestess who saves us normal folk?” she asked hesitantly.

“Uh, I am,” I replied cautiously.

“Faiyilla come here don't bother the young lady!” said a middle aged elf woman.

The woman was favouring a leg and I could see her wince every time she put her weight on it.

“My mom’s legs hurt and she can't work ‘cos of it and we'll be thrown out of our house if we don't get money soon miss!” the girl said in a rush.

The woman looked embarrassed as she collared her daughter and apologized. Before she could get away, I reached out and sent two healing touches through her body. She gasped and wobbled a little as whatever was wrong with her leg fixed itself. Testing it carefully, then with more confidence as it was able to take her full weight, I saw a wide smile break out on her face.

“By the gods…” she trailed off looking at me.

“One goddess actually. Feslia,” I corrected her nervously.

“Oh my… Thank you. Thank you kind maiden!” she said loudly.

Wow, rude. How did she know I was a maiden? I might have all kinds of orgyastic sex and stuff. Total sex maniac. Just boys everywhere. Sigh. Still nothing. Boys didn't do anything for me anymore.

My reverie was cut short by an elderly human man asking for me to cure his cataracts. I did so with trepidation, gently placing my hand on his forehead and pulsing healing energy into him. I could see more people taking notice and coming over as I healed him and I felt my heartrate begin to climb.

A young fae man like myself, with terrible scarring on his face came next, asking to have his disfigurement healed. I did it, but I felt my anxiousness growing. Each time I healed someone after that, I told them I was a Priestess of Feslia. Each time the people stayed and cheered for me, the crowd building. I could see many people, my eyes darting around as I took in the converging crowd.

I felt my throat constricting, my breathing coming light and shallow. My anxiety at the crowd gathering around me got more intense and it sapped me of my higher thought. I just felt a terrible need to get away. To run. I gave a whimper. They were all around me, reaching out to touch me. I felt hands on my arms, on my shoulders. I needed to get away. I needed space.

“Priestess are you okay?” asked one man.

“Miss you look pale,” cried a young woman.

I began to sit down, intending to to curl up in defense when a firm hand closed around my upper arm and dragged me free.

“Fucking leave her be! She's no good with crowds can’t you see?” I heard a voice I vaguely recognised, although it was twisted into an enraged tone that I had never heard before, “I said, back the fuck off! You're scaring her! I’ll start swinging with this huge ass sword, I fuckin mean it!”

We were away now, moving into a side street I noticed absently. I looked up at my savior, who was it?

I met bright green eyes, a wholly unnatural green that did not fall under the spectrum of colour humans could develop. It was Karen. Without any real thought, rushed in closer and wrapped my arms around her neck, pulling myself almost roughly against her. When I buried my face into her neck, she gave a startled squeak and tensed up, then slowly relaxed. She tenderly put her arms around me and pressed me closer still against her. She held me like that as I recovered, shivering and silently crying.

When my mind was again in a state where an internal monologue was viable, I noticed how close we were pressed together. This was not a friends hug. This was a lovers embrace. I eased back a bit and looked up at her. Her face was so close. I felt this wild urge to press forward, and… and what? She's straight. I don't even know my own sexuality. I carefully eased myself out of the embrace. I felt a little resistance from her at first, but she let me go and stepped back.

She cleared her throat, “Um. Are you okay?”

I gave her a nod, “I wanted to find you. We’ve changed my name and enrolled into school again. I think it might be best to tell everyone about us now.”

“About us?!” She squeaked, her eyes going wide.

My face went red, “Yeah, like what happened to us and how we changed and stuff.”

“Oh! Yeah! Right okay,” she nodded hastily.

“Um. Do you want to come over after school tomorrow? We can invite everyone to my place and tell them together?” I asked.

She stood there breathing heavily for a moment, clearly fighting her own anxiety, “Okay. Yeah. If you're there I think I’ll be fine.”

I nodded encouragement, “I should grab your details so we can message each other.”

“Yeah!” she said, and we swapped friend invite codes.

“Okay. I’m going to log out and go to bed. I think I need a break for the night. Tell the others I won't be on tonight?” I asked her with a smile.

She nodded, but I hesitated before leaving, looking up at her. She was really pretty. She’d used her real face as a base for this one, but shaved away many imperfections. Even in reality she was good looking though. I liked either one of her faces. One was pretty in the way a model in a picture is, the other pretty in a more human approachable way. On an impulse I hugged her again. It was a short, more friendly hug than the intimate embrace we had shared earlier and I was away and heading back to the inn before she could react.

When I got back out of the game it was getting late. Mum had said she would stay home with me and we would go over my enrollment, so I wouldn’t be getting into Pellan until maybe tomorrow night. That was fine with me, at least I didn’t have to go to school as Sam anymore.

The next morning I got up a bit late, I’d slept in and it was fairly late in the morning. When I stepped into the kitchen with bleary eyes, mum was sitting at the dining table with her tablet furiously tapping away.

“Morning sweetie, I’m having a back and forth with your school now. They would like an interview before you’re allowed in, so we may have to go in to school today. We can pick a uniform up at the same time. You okay to head in with me? We’ll be meeting the year eleven dean. Mr…” she searched for is name in her tablet.

“Forsythe, He’s Mr Forsythe,” I supplied.

“Yeah, Mr Forsythe. Do you think you can handle the interview?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yup, I have an advantage!” I said with a grin, “I know him, but he doesn’t know me.”

She returned my smile, “Good, you’ll do well I know it. You’re too sweet not to charm the entire staff.”

I gave her a scowl that was probably a pout.

“Go and get dressed into something nice dear, maybe one of the dresses we bought while I get things sorted.”

“Okay!” I said and scampered back to my room.

Since I still didn’t have any real bras, I wore my grey dress with a sports bra that wouldn’t show around the neckline. I was secretly thinking of this dress as my real world priestess robes or whatever since they were a similar grey colour. Maybe I should get the sunburst stitched into the front. I put my shoes on and grabbed my phone, which I had no idea what to do with. Oh! I needed to send Karen my address. I did so, and I noticed that the group chat had lit up again. I decided to check in at possibly the best and the worst moment.

Jeremy: Man, where was Syl last night? I missed her.

Greg: We know, you wouldn’t shut up about it dude.

Jeremy: Sorry. She’s just cool.

Dana: You have the biggest crush on her. Maybe you should leave up a bit. There’s something off about her. I don’t know.

Jeremy: No! She’s cool, you’re just pissed because she’s cuter than you are.

Dana: WOW. Okay then.

I interjected into the conversation before Jeremy dug an even deeper hole for himself.

Sam: Jeremy, don’t be a dumbass. Dana, you’re gorgeous. I love your wavy hair it’s great. Now I have something I need to show you guys, can you all come to my place after school?

Jeremy: I need to get some homework done, I don’t think I can.

Sam: PLEASE. This is like, really really fucking important okay?

Dana: Aww, thanks Sam, you’re so sweet. Yeah I’ll be there, Jeremy you can make it up to me by going to Sam’s after school.

Jeremy: Fine. I’ll go.

Greg: Yeah sounds good. You feeding us?

Sam: Lol! I guess I am now dude. I got to go.

Jeremy: Wait why aren’t you at school?

Sam: You’ll find out when you come over ;)

I left it at that, much to my friend’s consternation, and went to meet mum back in the living room.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yup.”

During the ride over to school, mum spent the time going over everything I was going to need with my uniform. I would have to wear that square shapeless dress that all the girls wore. Big clompy dress shoes too. Lame, but also awesome, because I would be in the girls uniform now! Where I belonged. Wow that line sounded way too sinister.

When we arrived, it was lunch time and students were bustling around, chattering and settling down in their spot around the school where they ate. I should probably clarify now that my school didn’t have a big room full of tables where everyone ate their food like you see in movies of american schools.

Here they just kind of released us into the wild and we ate anywhere on the school grounds that we wanted. We were almost to the door into the staff office building when I saw Dana leave the tower block where we had painting class. We locked eyes straight away, and then she shifted them and they widened to almost comical proportions when she saw my mum, Sam’s mum, standing protectively near me.

I saw the moment it all clicked in her mind. All the weird things that had happened, all the suspicions she had dismissed. First there was disbelief, then confusion, then disbelief again. I saw her get jostled while she stood blocking the doorway and she stepped to the side to let others through.

I put my finger to my lips with pleading eyes and mouthed, “Later. After School.”

She nodded jerkily and ran her hands through her hair while she stared at me. Then my mum and I were inside the building, and it was time to be as sweet and adorable as I could muster.

When we went into Dean Forsythe’s office he was tapping away on a laptop. He looked up and smiled his boisterous grin at us.

“Welcome! Thank you for coming on such short notice Mrs Walker, Ms Walker! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” he almost bellowed, gesturing for us to take a seat.

I sat down and smoothed my dress out. Mr Forsythe was good at bellowing I remembered. I’d had him as a math teacher in year nine, and thirteen year old sam had been terrified of the loud gesticulating man at the front of the class. I don’t think I’d ever fully recover from his attempts to befriend me in typical back slapping manly fashion.

“Hello, thank you so much for agreeing to speak with us on short notice, Sylanna is very eager to start schooling again,” Mum said to him.

“Yes, I was wondering why she hadn’t been enrolled at the start of the term like the other students!” he said. Again, he lacked volume control. Just assume everything he says is being said at a volume the rugby team he coaches can hear from fifty meters away.

“Well, we had her in a boarding school overseas you see, but she was having problems with being so far from home, so we pulled her out and decided it would be best to school her where she has her family to care for her,” Mum explained the story we’d devised.

“Is that so, what was the problem Sylanna?” he asked turning to me.

“I, um, I didn’t really like being on my own out there. It was scary, and I missed my parents and my home,” I said, widening my already large eyes at him. Boom, doe eyes hit him like a truck.

“Oh. Well, I see. I’m glad you are in a more comfortable and supportive environment now! Tell me Sylanna, what subjects do you enjoy? What do you excel at?” he asked, almost sounding gentle as he spoke. That was new.

“I’m pretty good at math, not like, top of the class but I can do it. I love painting, but I’m terrible. English is okay. Sometimes I do well in it and sometimes I do badly. I’m good at science though! I want to take Physics and Chem this year,” I said with a smile.

“I see, that’s good to hear about your math ability. It is a staple of the modern world and everyone should have adequate skill in the subject. As for painting, I am sure you are much better than you think, I’ve noticed most artists are very humble and critical about their own work. I think you’ll fit in well here,” he told me, trying to put on a sage like tone and entirely missing the mark.

The rest of the interview was us speaking about all sorts of school related subjects, if I had any medical problems, when I could begin, stuff like that. I tried my best to be a good, sweet little girl as we told him about who I was on paper, my anxiety and “deformities”. Deformities being my still pointed ears.

The interview ended when we finished finalising with the school AI what classes I would take and my schedule. Mr Forsythe gave an impassioned speech about the merits of the AI system and how incredible it was I could begin so soon. I almost failed to stop myself rolling my eyes. Old people.

Our next port of call after that was the uniform shop. We walked up the tight staircase to the cramped little store and were immediately accosted by a short plump woman in her fifties who bustled around taking measurements while she spoke with mum.

I was instantly overwhelmed by her energy, the close quarters we were in and the excitement of getting my girls uniform. I did my best to stay together, but it was a lot of trouble. I tried on a bunch of different sizes, and I ended up being put in the smallest size they had.

The uniform itself was a white blouse underneath a square shapeless navy blue dress that was clinched around the waist by a built in belt of the same fabric as the dress. The shoes were typical womens black dress shoes with a buckle over the top. I was also given a navy blue blazer with silver edging, and a jersey with similar colours.

Us girls also had the option of wearing a skirt instead of the dress, which required us to wear a tie. The skirt was a silver, navy blue and dark green tartan that went down just past the knees. The socks we were given came in two types, normal dress socks in black, and longer knee high socks in a grey that was meant to be silver.

We got enough to last me the year, but not more than that, since the uniform changed when you entered year 12, becoming more mature and less girlish. It was also all super expensive, and I saw Mum wince when she paid for it, despite us being rather comfortable with money issues. I guess the school liked to make a bit of money here.

Either way, we ended the sojourn into uniformland as fast as possible and piled back into the car with all the bags.

“That was exhausting,” I said.

“Yes it was. Let's go home,” sighed mum in agreement.