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I didn't write about my encounter with Leon for a while, I was too annoyed with him. But now it's over...except for Mike.
I dressed myself with care before I set off to Barton, but before I was halfway there, I discovered that my dress had a torn hem and clashed with my stockings, and that wearing sandles and stockings together made me look like a peasant or someone who didn't know how to wear clothes properly. I was in a seriously bad mood by the time I stepped into Barton, and being accosted by a man dressed in expensive-looking red and gold clothing, who tried to sell me some of the overpriced jewelry he was selling irritated me still more. Why couldn't he leave me alone, I thought to myself.
Suddenly the man jumped back, nearly dropping the armlet he had tred to sell me. "Madam...I did not mean offence..." he stammered
"What are you blathering about?" I snapped peevishly.
"Madam, do not burn me..." he mutterred, pointing at the ground at my feet. I looked down and saw myself surrounded by a circle of leaping purple flames, the same shade as my dyed hair. Just as I was about to panic, a glimmering sparkle either landed or popped into existance on my shoulder. My Pixie was back!
Curious to see what would happeen if I stepped over the flames, I stepped briskly away from the man. The circle followed me, always staying the same distance from my feet. That could be a nuisance, I thought... And the flames dissapeared!
Startled, I wished they would come back...and they did! I quickly learned how to switch them on and off, and I started to feel much better. Whatever magic I'd been given, it should be useful in dealing with Leon.
I lingered around town with my flames off untill I saw Leon strutting around. Then I quickly ducked into the Barton Pub, jumped the line, tossed far too much gold on the counter, and ordered a fast hot chocolate and coffee in takeaway containers. I was back out the door in three minutes, and put a childishly confused expresion on my face as I wandered in Leon's direction.
"Have you seen Mike anywhere?" I asked him as I walked up. "I went to get us drinks, but he went off somewhere." I put on the best pouty face I could, and said in a whining voice, "He said he'd wait. He's so rude to me and Cindy..."
Leon laughed. "You know why, little one?" he asked.
Trying not to sound too excited, I said, "No, do you?"
"Do I?" Leon guffawed. "Didn't Cindy tell you?" I shook my head, and he said, "Well, he won't be wanting that coffee, so why not give it to me. I'll tell you somethin, little one."
I gave him the coffee, and we sat down on the canal bank. "Your mom shelters you a bit too much, I think," Leon said after a slurp of coffee.
I put down my hot chocolate, trying not to look as surprised and angry as I felt at his words. "My mom's dead," I said, which was true enough, for both of them.
Lean looked slightly confused, then said with a sigh, "So she didn't tell you that, either. Listen, kid... How do you think you're related to Cindy?"
I did not like the way this conversation seemed to be going. "She's my aunt!" I said rather more quickly then I meant to, drawing a chuckle from Leon.
"You know you were adopted by that family in Aekea, right?"
"Of course!" I said. "And in case you're wondering, my real mother is..."
"Cindy," Leon said, grinning wickedly. I slopped quite a bit of my hot chocolate into the canal. When he said, "And I'm your dad," I dropped the cup in.
Leon sat there, drinking his coffee, untill I had recovered my wits enough to say, "I want an explanation. Now."
So he gave me one, telling me how Cindy had dissapeared without a trace years ago, how he had eventually found her, nearly a year later, working for a newspaper in Aekea, how he'd "convinced" her she had to come back, how, after my arrival, he'd eventually put two and two together about how Cindy could be the aunt of a girl listed on the Aekean adoption records (which he'd used his job as town guard of Barton to get into) as having no known parents... I knew the truth about myself, but I could hear something screaming in my head as the threads started to twine together into a tapestry I didn't want to look at. How many lies were going on here? And who was lying to who?
I jumped to my feet, and, standing right next to Leon, encircled us both in the ring of purple flames. "Get up," I said. "You can tell this to Cindy."
Leon could only splutter, "You're a witch! My daughter's a witch!" I moved, letting the flames brush his armor, and he leaped up and hurried along with me, not leting himself step out of the ring.
Cindy was in her office when we got there, and I turned off the flames before she could see them. Pushing Leon in, I told him to tell Cindy what he'd just told me.
She didn't interupt him, even though the version he gave her was worse then what he told me. Even frightened as he was by my sudden show of magic, Leon couldn't help but leer.
After he finished, Cindy said quietly, "How many years ago was that, Leon?"
Leon seemed to think, then said "1k995, I remember that!"
"That," Cindy said even more quietly, "was barely twelve years ago. How old are you, Dawna?"
"Sixteen," I said, feeling a weight lift off my chest as the tapestry unraveled, "seventeen in August."
Leon spluttered a bit about how I could be faking my age, but he had to admit that I didn't look like I was less than twelve. Cindy gave him a quiet chewing out about minding his own bussiness, but that didn't undo what he said to Mike... I don't know how I can get the truth to him, he storms off whenever he sees either me or Cindy! The tapestry's still complete to him...