Chapter Text
The first time that Finn saw the strange man was in Cal’s office. The bandage on Finn’s leg made it stiff to move, but she had important information that she needed to get to the Cal. As she moved through the secret tunnels of the castle, she silently thanked the mobility of the body she had chosen. She quickly neared the office of the spymaster and heard words coming from inside, so she slowed her steps.
“Are you absolutely sure it is her you are looking for?” Cal’s voice rang clear through the wall.
“Yes, I am sure. I need her help; otherwise my plan won’t work.” The voice was familiar, but Finn was sure she hadn’t heard it before.
“But sir, you can’t be serious; she is one of my best spies. I can’t just give her up at the drop of the hat. I don’t give a damn if you are related to the queen.”
“In all fairness, I understand that you don’t want to give her up, but she is returning from her mission any day now, and I will only need her for a week.”
“Fine, if you must. I will notify you once she returns.” Cal’s voice was filled with annoyance.
As Finn listened, she heard footsteps walking towards the main door of the room, so she began to open the tunnel’s door and step into the office. As she opened the door, she realized the stranger had never left and had instead turned around to look at her. He was tall with black hair; he looked like he belonged next to the statue in the castle courtyard of a long-dead king, whose name she never bothered to learn, but he couldn’t have been older than 30.
“Well, hello there, you must be Finn.” She froze in her boots. How did he recognize her? She was in the body of a teenage boy, and she had no identifiers. Then, he turned on his heel and walked out the door.
The second time she met him was at the Voy School of Magic. After her parents’ death she was basically raised at Voy. She learned how to manipulate earth, honed her transformation skills, and learned desk magic in spite of her hatred of it. Despite the fact that she graduated over 10 years ago, she still visited the school often. She would use her powers to put on shows for the students every semester or so and helped the teachers often. This time, she wasn’t doing anything important; she was just visiting some teachers, wandering around the halls, and taking in the smell of the old stones when she saw him in the lobby staring at the mural that the art teachers could never let fade. Whether by their own volition or the queen’s, she wasn’t sure, every five years or so they refreshed the paint, so it looked as new as when the school opened. It had the words “Magia Para Todos” painted over the top of a young man and woman sharing the grip of a midnight black sword in their hands. Below, it was written, “In honor of the Thief Queen, who held the people in her heart until her last breath, and the King, who holds her in his forever”. They were sweet words, but after seeing them every day of her childhood, she had stopped wondering why only one of them got forever. She had heard the fairytale hundreds of times. Two souls tied together: one forced to live forever without the ones he loves, and the other left to die with no hope of her love meeting her in the afterlife.
The man was engrossed in the painting; his eyes seemed completely focused on the young woman. His face was almost wistful, but some people didn’t even believe that the two of them existed, so that was ridiculous. The silence surrounded them as Finn continued to stare at him. The man traced the outline of the woman and whispered, “I miss you Finn, even more now that you are truly in reach.”
At that, Finn’s mouth moved faster than her mind: “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
The man turned in shock and saw her face, her real face. His eyes widened as he spoke, “Mierda.” He turned toward the wall and pulled a doorknob out of pocket. He threw it at the ground as he whispered the word Voy and disappeared.
Naturally, by the third time, Finn was already over the edge of her weirdness threshold. She was in the middle of infiltrating one of the noble households in an attempt to help Cal gain information, though of course, she didn’t know what for; she never did. This infiltration had her in the form of a noble lady at a ball. She hated these types of missions, but this time no one would be courting her since she had taken the form of an old lady. She drifted between groups of gossiping noble; gleaning as much information as she could before moving onto the next group. The man wasn’t talking to anyone; he sat alone watching people, and for the first time, he didn’t recognize her. His eyes drifted over her and moved onto the next person.
Finn looked at him dumbfounded for a few moments longer before she turned back to her mission. She would have to deal with him later. As the food was set, the groups began to split up to sit down to eat. The host stood up. “Hello all, thank you for coming to the party for my dear friend of what seems to be forever,” he gestured his glass to the strange man, who copied his motion, “his birthday was a few weeks ago, and before he is pulled away by duties, I thought tonight would be the perfect day to celebrate. So, cheers to all of the years you’ve had and all the rest to come!” Everyone took a sip of their drinks and then began to converse once again as they ate.
Then, the music began, and couples started to dance. Very happy to be left alone, Finn stood around the edge of the party and picked up wisps of conversation, however none of it was really important until she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hello, ma’am, I couldn’t help but notice you were without a husband or an escort, and though you may not be looking for a suitor, I am sure you might be willing to dance for fun?” It was the man. He held out his hand and waited, but he didn’t seem to have any expectation to be accepted. He seemed to be doing it truly out of politeness, but Finn needed to learn who he was.
“Why, thank you, young man. It has been quite a while since I was last asked to dance, but I am sure I will manage to remember how.”
The man smiled as she took his hand and took her to the dance floor. The world seemed to slow around them as they began to dance, and Finn got a sense of deja vu. She looked at him and asked, “Why were you sitting alone? I may be past the age to court men, but there are a few women here your age.”
He laughed, and Finn knew she had heard that laugh before. “Sadly, the only love I will ever have passed. I have no interest in courting others. What of your husband?”
Finn was about to explain that he was ill at the time, as was her rehearsed cover story, until her brain stopped for a moment, and all she could think of was a young man, who didn’t have a ring on his finger, but she remembered a time full of love with him, but she shook it off as a hallucination. “He is ill at the moment but asked me to attend the party to keep up appearances.” In reality both the man and wife were sick, she had just taken her form.
At that, his smile drooped a small bit, and he spoke, “May I ask your name?”
Thankfully, Finn didn’t hallucinate more at this question, “I am Lady Svana. Though, of course, I don’t look like much of a lady any longer.”
The man smiled again and seemed to recognize the name, “You will always be a lady, though of course, your life must be very boring for you to have survived this long.”
Finn couldn’t hold back her laughter as she, once again, got a wave of deja vu. “Thank you for the compliment, young man, but I am afraid that my life is actually quite interesting. What can I call you?”
At that moment, the song came to an end, and as he bowed, signifying the end of the dance. “My name is-”
He never got the chance to say his name before, with a frightening wave of clarity, her memories aligned themselves, and she remembered the name of a man she had never met. She interrupted him, “Alfie.”