ALL NOVEL 32. Holy Days (Amy)
Thanks to traffic and the weather we were a few minutes late getting to the restaurant. Once I found a spot me and Tess emerged from the car and hurried across the lot to get out of the combination of snow and rain that was coming down.
"It's not going to be a fun drive getting home tonight," Tess commented as we shook off the wet snow once were inside the doors.
I grimaced, "It'll be fine. Anyways you don't have to worry about that, I'm driving."
She gave me a look, she probably guessed I was talking about using magic to make sure the drive wasn't that bad. She already knew I could clear snow and ice off the car with a little magical push, it wasn't a stretch to imagine I could also ensure the car didn't skid or lose control despite the weather conditions.
Before she could comment I added, "Hailey and Alex are already here so let's go join them."
My girlfriend relented, and the two of us went past the hostess desk and into the dining room. The place was part of a chain of up-market steak houses, nothing too high-end but they tried to position themselves as slightly more ritzy than your average family restaurant or tavern. The decor and ambience was certainly several steps up from that, and all the staff were smartly dressed.
We found my sister and her partner in a big private booth not far from the entrance. Hailey and Alex both got up to greet Tess and I and we all exchanged hugs. Me and my girlfriend hung our coats on some hooks just outside the booth and finally took our seats.
"Sorry we're late," I apologized to them. "Weather's a bit nasty and that had an impact on the traffic."
Alex smiled, "Too bad you're driving. I guess you won't be indulging again with the rest of us?"
I smiled back at them, "I don't mind. Though I won't complain when the weather's nicer. Hopefully this will be the last time we have to see snow in a while."
My sister leaned forward and lowered her voice slightly as she teased, "Can't you do something about that sis? Make spring come early, get us some warm weather? How's the Goddess business doing these days anyways, keeping you busy?"
I rolled my eyes and joked, "I'd love to sis, but you should see the paperwork! If you really want it to get warmer outside, buy yourself a big SUV and drive it around the city every day. That'd be quicker than waiting for me to fill out an infinite number of divine forms and miracle requisitions."
Hailey and Alex both had a little laugh at my response. They were the only other people on Earth who knew my secret, apart from Tess and I. And none of them, not even my girlfriend, knew all the details.
The truth was I actually couldn't do what Hailey was asking. Making spring come early would either mean changing the Earth's position around the sun, or changing the tilt of its axis, or changing the way the landmasses were distributed so Canada was closer to the equator. And just making it warmer would mean either increasing the Sun's output, or maybe heating up the Earth's core so there was more geothermic energy reaching the surface. Or increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
None of those things would be a good idea, any of them would probably cause catastrophic side-effects that could include ending the world. And more to the point none of those things were possible. Not for me at least. I might have had the power of a goddess, but Amethyst was definitely an unknown D-rank low-grade junior goddess. At most she only ever had a couple hundred people who were aware of her existence, and the majority of those people probably didn't even know her name.
At best I could influence the climate over a few square kilometres. About the size of a small village and its surrounding farms, just enough to keep the worst of winter at bay. And that's assuming I was willing and able to commit all my energy and attention to that task. I couldn't even do that if I wanted to keep attending college and working on my EMT program.
The power I could access seemed impressive, and in a lot of ways it was. Alex quantified it once, and the demonstration they witnessed was actually fairly small and simple. I could bend and break reality a little bit here and there, in small doses. I did tricks like conjure wine out of nothing. I could do some modest teleportation, like I could summon my staff or send my clothes into the laundry hamper. I could probably teleport myself or Tess but I hadn't tried that yet.
In terms of more traditional miracles, I could heal people. Like I could literally cure cancer or regrow a lost limb and stuff like that. But I couldn't do that for everyone, just one person at a time and only if they were in front of me. I could do tricks like I did last summer when both my sister and girlfriend got me to make them taller. And on the dark side of things I could do unpleasant stuff like smite people or shoot lighting and throw fire, but I'd never actually do that.
Theresa insisted on calling me a Goddess with a capital G, but I really didn't feel like that.
For one thing I wasn't Amethyst the Goddess. Maybe in a past life that was me, but now I was just Amy Price. Or Amethyst Price if you wanted to be picky about it, but either way I was still just a twenty-two year old trans girl college student. I really wasn't a goddess, I just had access to her power. At best I'd rate myself as a strong sorceress. Like maybe a few steps up from Merlin, if you believed in those old legends.
"Bringing the conversation back down to Earth, how are things going with you two?" Alex asked. "How's college, how's life?"
Tess responded first, "Things are good, life is good. Me and Amy have been enjoying the spring break but I know school's about to get rough. This is the final stretch for me before graduation and I'll be spending a day or two each week at the clinic where I worked over the summer. It's nice, it's what I want to do, but juggling that and the rest of the course work is going to be a challenge."
Hailey grimaced, "I hear you. This is the last stretch for me too, it's not the same obviously but it's stressful scrambling to take care of all the last-minute stuff, making sure nothing got overlooked or misplaced."
"I guess I'm the lucky one then," I commented. "I haven't found my classes that hard, and about ninety percent of what we're doing is stuff I really like."
My sister teased, "I remember you always enjoyed doing those first-aid classes. This is probably just one long in-depth first-aid class for you."
I grinned, "Kind of. Obviously there's more to it than that, but over-all it's definitely stuff I'm enjoying."
"How about you Alex?" I added as I focused on the enby again. "How's the physics stuff going?"
They smiled and shrugged, "It's going. Same as you, I have another full year ahead of me yet. I need to make some decisions soon though, about how far I want to pursue it and if I can find work or if I want to stay in education. Right now I'm torn between theoretical and applied physics."
"What's the difference?" I asked. "I mean, in terms of career stuff I guess? Like in terms of what you'd be doing?"
"I'd probably get to blow stuff up more often in applied physics," they joked. "Theoretical would mean less explosions, but more thinking about explosions."
All four of us had a little laugh about that, then Alex added "I know it's not possible, but honestly I'd love to study you Amy. I could probably make a career out of trying to understand the things you do."
I blushed, but before I could respond Tess teased, "Sorry Alex, Amy's taken. Nobody gets to study her but me."
We had a little giggle over that too, then we all finally took a few moments to check out the menus since we could see the waiter hovering around.
A few minutes later we were all enjoying our drinks as we awaited dinner. I just had cola, Tess was drinking wine, and the other two had beer. They used a ride share so neither would have to drive this evening.
"So mom wanted me to ask you about Easter," Hailey said after a gulp of her beer. "Are you interested in coming to a family get-together? It would be on the Sunday, April seventeenth."
I frowned slightly and had another sip of cola as I thought about that.
My relationship with my parents was ok up until last summer. They were disappointed in my life choices, especially the fact that I wasn't interested in continuing my education and wasn't going to become a doctor or a lawyer or anything like that. Then the thing with the magic happened, I became Amy and came out as trans, and my folks just couldn't handle it.
They knew where they stood with me when they thought I was their son. I had a dead-end job, a dead-end life, and they didn't like it but at least it was normal. They understood it. It was something they could look down on and be disappointed in. Something they could tell their friends and neighbours, knowing they'd get some sympathy at having such a loser for a son.
Suddenly becoming their daughter, demonstrating magic to them, and a month or so later turning my life around and going back to school without their help or involvement, that was stuff they couldn't process. Where my sister embraced my changes because she could see how much happier they made me, my parents sort of rejected it because all they could see was how uncomfortable it made them.
That was about eight months ago though, and things were slowly starting to improve again. I didn't see or speak to my folks for mom's birthday in October, and my parents ignored my birthday in November. I didn't visit them in December either, but we did exchange cards. Apparently Hailey gave them my and Tess's new address.
Then in January I spoke to my dad on the phone for his birthday, and from what he said it sounded like him and mom were coming around. I started exchanging emails and texts with my folks, and spoke to them both a couple weeks ago on the phone. Mom still seemed uptight but it felt like she was trying to make an effort. And dad seemed like he was ready to accept me as his daughter.
That was just over the phone though. Actually going to see them in person for Easter... I wasn't sure.
"Let me think about that ok Hailey?" I finally responded. "I think me and Tess will have to talk it over. I assume you'll be there?"
My sister nodded, "Yeah, both me and Alex will be there. I'd love for you and Tess to come, so the two of us have someone fun to hang out with. That's assuming it's not weird for you. I mean, it's basically a holiday for the competition, right?"
The grin on her face told me she was teasing again, in case I couldn't already guess.
I smiled, "It's just another long weekend sis, it always has been. None of our family were ever religious."
"Just for future reference, do you have any holy days Amy?" Alex asked. They kept a straight face and level tone, but I was pretty sure they were teasing.
I kept an equally-level tone as I nodded "Yes, I do. April thirtieth and July thirty-first are my holidays."
Both Hailey and Alex seemed surprised that I actually had a straight answer to the question. And my girlfriend blushed when I mentioned the first date, it was her birthday.
My sister asked, "Why those two dates? What do they mean?"
"April thirtieth is Beltane eve," I replied, "And July thirty-first is Lughnasadh eve. Both are important holidays in certain pagan traditions. And those two dates are also the birthdays of a couple special people."
My sister and her partner both grinned at Theresa. It was obvious to them hers was one of the two birthdays I was referring to, based on the bright red colour in her cheeks. I wasn't sure if Tess knew who the other important person was that I was referring to, but I figured she could probably guess. July thirty-first was Mary Cleary's birthday, and she was special to Amy Sullivan.
Fortunately that conversation was interrupted as the waiter arrived to deliver our food. It all looked and smelled amazing, and I knew Tess was happy that I was actually eating grown-up sized portions these days. Well, most of the time anyways.
My girlfriend got a thick cut of prime rib with mashed potatoes, both Hailey and Alex were having ten-ounce sirloins and fries. And I got a four ounce fillet with some roast vegetables.
"Anyways sis," I said as we all started into our food, "I'll get back to you about Easter. Maybe next week? Before the end of the month anyways."
She nodded, "Ok Amy. No pressure, but like I said, me and Alex would love having you two there to keep us company. Otherwise we'll have to spend the whole visit talking to mom and dad."
