Aka Amy

"Hi Tess, Amy!" April greeted us at the door to her apartment. "Come on in!"

She was on the third floor of an older building not too far from the campus where we both attended college. She had a small two-bedroom unit that wasn't much bigger than the place I'd been in when me and Amy first met.

As the two of us came in my friend lowered her voice slightly and apologized, "Sorry for the change of plans. Ada was feeling a little fragile today, she didn't think she was up for going out to a restaurant. I hope you don't mind? We've already ordered, the food should be here in twenty or thirty minutes."

"We don't mind," Amy replied.

I agreed, "It's fine April."

My friend gave us a relieved smile, then we went past the tiny kitchenette into the main room. There was a sofa and a love-seat, TV on the wall, small table and a couple chairs in the corner. The furniture looked like a blend of second-hand pieces and inexpensive flat-pack stuff.

And standing awkwardly next to the love-seat was April's girlfriend. She was a couple inches taller than me, and from what I could see she was sort of skinny and lanky. Most of her figure was hidden under her large dark-grey hoodie and the ankle-length black skirt she was wearing. It looked like she started growing out her brown hair a few months back, and she'd done a decent job with her make-up.

"Ada, this is my friend Tess and her fiancée Amy," April did the introductions. "Tess, Amy, this is my girlfriend Ada."

I noticed the emphasis she put on the word 'girlfriend', and figured that was more for Ada's benefit than ours. Ada looked like she was early in her transition, and probably still got misgendered a lot despite the hair, the skirt, and the make-up.

Amy and I both greeted her and she mumbled a soft shy hello. The quiet greeting made me think she probably had a lot of voice dysphoria along with everything else, but hopefully we'd take care of all that this evening.

"Make yourselves at home," April said, "And can I get you all something to drink? We've got wine, beer, soda, spring water, or I can mix something a little harder if you like?"

I took a glass of wine but Amy stuck with soda, since she was driving. And for that matter I didn't want to drink too much either, since I was hoping to perform a miracle some time this evening. Meanwhile April mixed herself a rum and cola, a Ada's go-to turned out to be vodka and orange juice. Then the four of us sat down together, me and Amy on the sofa while April and Ada were on the love-seat.

"So," April said with a wide smile, "I'm sure you can guess me and Ada are really excited about this. And I hate to rush or push things but we're really eager for Ada to meet Amethyst..."

Amy replied smoothly, "In good time April. Ada, I know it might be hard to open up to a couple strangers you've only just met, but we'd love to get to know you better?"

"Oh, um..." Ada paused for a gulp or two of her drink, then in a soft shy voice explained "I'm just finishing up year two of a three year engineering program? Um, electronics engineering that is. My focus is wearable tech, specifically for the healthcare industry? Like I want to find ways to use technology to help people."

After another gulp of her drink she added, "That's kind of how April and I met? We were both hanging out on this one discord server, and ended up in this hours-long discussion where we sort of spec'ed out a wearable device to help detect anxiety attacks? Like either from a diagnostic point of view, or even as something people could use as part of their daily lives? Like something that'd warn them of an impending anxiety attack before they were even aware of it themself, so they could try and head it off with whatever methods they usually used. Like meds or grounding exercises, that sort of thing?"

"That sounds pretty cool," I commented with a smile. "Where are you going to school?"

Ada drained the last of her drink before responding, "York-U, out in the east end? I live out that way. For now at least. I'm still living with my folks, but me and April have been talking about moving in together."

"It's a bit of a hike if you're going to be living out this way," I commented.

April shook her head, "We've been looking at getting a place that works for both of us? Something more central probably, with good access to public transit. After graduation next month I'm planning on taking the summer off anyways, but I've already put out some feelers and I have a line on a job at a clinic in the north end of the city."

At that point her phone dinged with a message that the food was here, so April buzzed the delivery guy up then went to the door to meet him. Meanwhile Ada got out some little plates and tiny matching bowls, along with some napkins. I didn't know what April ordered, and was left wondering as I stared at the odd dishes.

Meanwhile Ada mixed herself another vodka and OJ, and topped up Amy's cola and April's drink. She offered to top up my wine glass too, but I declined. It was some kind of Chardonnay, and I really wasn't a fan. I was actually planning to show off some magic when the opportunity came, by refilling my glass myself with something more appealing.

By then April had the food, and started setting out a couple big plastic containers full of sushi on the coffee table between all of us. There was also a half dozen sets of chopsticks, a stack of little packets of soy sauce, a container of wasabi, and another container of pickled ginger.

As my friend took her seat again she flashed me and Amy a worried look, "Oh crud I didn't think to ask if you two were ok with sushi? It's Ada's favourite, and I wanted to do something special for her since it's her big night and all..."

That put a cute blush on Ada's face, but she was obviously happy at how her girlfriend was fussing over her.

"It's fine," Amy said. "I haven't had sushi in a while, so it'll be a welcome change."

I agreed, "It's not my top choice, but it's ok April."

We all got started on the food, with Ada and April explaining what a few of the different choices were. Amy and I kept an open mind and tried almost everything, except the one that was just a blob of fish eggs wrapped in rice. I also avoided the BBQ eel, but Amy tried it and said it was good.

After a few minutes the conversation started back up again as Ada gave my girlfriend a nervous look and finally asked a question she'd probably had on her mind from the moment we arrived.

"So um, is it true you're really a Goddess?"

Amy smiled and had a sip of her cola before replying, "Yes and no. I'm Amy Price, trans girl and college student. But I can 'channel' a goddess named Amethyst."

"Wow," Ada mumbled as she stared for a few seconds. Then she had another gulp of her drink before asking the next big question, "And Amethyst can um, help me out, the way she helped April?"

"Once again the answer is 'yes and no'," Amy replied with another smile. "Yes, Amethyst could do that. No because she no longer needs to."

Before either of our hosts could question Amy added, "It's the full moon tomorrow, and for complicated metaphysical reasons that means Amethyst is a little preoccupied? But she now has another representative here on the mortal realm. Someone who can perform miracles in her name."

I felt my cheeks starting to heat up a little as my girlfriend began the lead-up to my first public unveiling as her cleric. I ended up gulping the last of my Chardonnay, and not just so I could have an empty glass to do my little parlour trick with.

"Is it you?" Ada asked, but she wasn't looking at me. She was still talking to Amy as she continued, "So you don't have to channel her anymore, you can just do miracles yourself?"

Amy smiled, "Actually no, it's not me."

I figured that was my cue, so with my cheeks burning I admitted to our hosts "It's me. Amethyst made me Her cleric... She granted me some magic, so I could help out and perform miracles in Her name."

April gave me a wide smile and exclaimed, "Aha! I knew there'd be some benefits to being engaged to a Goddess!"

"I'm not marrying a Goddess," I reminded her. "I'm engaged to Amy, and she can channel the Goddess."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you're in a relationship with a Goddess and now you can do magic too! So what can you do? Let's see something!"

I was still blushing but at least I was prepared for a demonstration. I picked up my empty wine glass and focused. A moment later it filled with swirling light, which faded to reveal it was once again filled with cool white wine.

"Nice! That's got to come in handy at parties right?" my friend responded with a grin.

I gave my girlfriend a bit of a look as I replied, "It would, if I could do it more than once a day. I suppose it's not really meant to provide unlimited drinks though, it's more of a demonstration to prove that I can actually do magic?"

Amy didn't comment, she just smiled as she ate another piece of sushi. Meanwhile Ada was staring at me and my full wine glass with a wide-eyed look of wonder on her face. And that's when it hit me, I'd just casually demonstrated actual working magic.

To me it was a parlour trick, something I'd seen Amy do countless times in the past ten months. And even though it was still relatively new to me, I was more focused on the limitations than the fact that I'd casually performed a small miracle. I didn't even do the 'water into wine' thing, I just conjured wine from nothing.

After a sip of my wine I asked, "Ada? Are you ok? Sorry if I startled you there."

She was still staring at my wine glass but nodded, "I'm ok. It's just... Wow. Even after seeing how April's changed, it was kind of amazing to see real magic happen. Like um, I guess I was still kind of doubting? Even though I wanted to believe? So um..."

Her voice trailed off and she quickly gulped down the rest of her second drink before focusing on me again. Then she took a deep breath and asked, "So how does it work? Like can you really give me a miracle? Can you speed-run my transition, so it all happens tonight?"

"I can," I replied in a somewhat solemn tone. I had another sip of my wine, and I couldn't help enjoy the crisp cool Riesling I'd conjured up. Then I cautioned her, "Before we do that though, you need to be aware of some things first."

Ada frowned, "Like what?"

"First and foremost, the miracle Amethyst can provide you won't affect anyone else. Only you," I explained. "That means your parents, other friends, profs at school, and so on? The magic isn't going to touch any of them. It's up to you to handle that."

April leaned in so she bumped shoulders with her girlfriend, "Remember I went through that with you cutie? Some awkward explanations and stuff, to get you to believe me about getting my miracle? I had to do that with my family too. Not so much the folks at college or at my co-op job, but there were still some questions and funny looks."

"Right," Ada nodded slowly. "So um, I guess that's a thing I need to worry about? Like um..."

Her shoulders slumped and she stared down at the floor, "So you can't really give me a full instant transition, it'd be too drastic. If I got what I wanted I'd look completely different, nobody would know me."

I glanced at my girlfriend for guidance, since I wasn't really sure how to answer that one.

"Amethyst's magic will do as much or as little as you want," Amy explained. "In addition to your body, the magic can also update your clothes, your ID, student records, everything. The only thing it won't do is mess with other people's minds or their memories. Believe me, I know that puts you in a tough spot? I went through that myself last summer and it's rough. But personally, I think it's worth it."

Ada frowned, "What do you mean you went through it?"

"I'm a trans girl too," Amy replied. "One night last July I accidentally changed from a five-foot-eleven 'guy' with brown hair and eyes to a five-foot-two girl with purple eyes and silver hair. I was an egg at the time so it was a bit of a shock, but Tess helped me hatch and things pretty much worked out ok in the end."

"Wow," Ada said as she stared at my girlfriend.

I took over again, "So like we were saying, the magic can do a lot for you? But Amethyst won't mess with people's heads, so you will need to do some explaining."

"I'll help you wherever I can," April added.

Ada nodded, "Ok. So um, how do we do it? Do I have to tell you...?"

"No," I shook my head. "You and I need to do it together, but it shouldn't be difficult."

Even though this was all new to me I already knew how to do it, thanks to the knowledge I received along with the magic. And thanks to talking it over with Amy earlier in the day, when she helped me prepare for doing my first miracle.

I explained, "We need to hold hands, you need to join me in prayer to Amethyst. You need to want this, sincerely and with all your heart. And you need to believe in Amethyst, that She will grant your wish and give you the body you desire."

Ada gulped then asked nervously, "Can we do it now?"

"Maybe we should finish dinner first?" I asked, looking to April to see what she thought.

My friend shrugged, "It's not like the food's going to get cold. We can keep nibbling on it all evening long."

"Ok then," I responded, before asking Ada "Are you ready?"

She nodded, so me and April switched seats. I sat down on the love-seat next to Ada while April and Amy both watched from the sofa. Ada held out her hands, and I could tell how nervous she was by the tension I felt in her.

"So I just what? Close my eyes and pray?" she asked.

"Whatever works best for you Ada," I replied. "Eyes closed or open doesn't matter. What matters is your belief in Her, your desire for this to work, and I suppose your faith in the Goddess."

She nodded, "Ok. Here we go..."

I watched as she closed her eyes and a look of concentration settled on her expression. Her lips were moving slightly as she started praying to Amethyst, and part of me suddenly felt very awkward and anxious as well. I couldn't help thinking about how this whole 'cleric' thing was based on Amy's video games, and a dozen silly thoughts suddenly crossed my mind. Like how many experience points did I get for conjuring wine, how many did I get for magically lighting candles, and how many would I get for performing this miracle for my friend's girlfriend?

At the same time I was also keenly aware of how serious this was. I was about to change the life of another human being, in a way that no-one else but Gods like Amy could do. And if anything went wrong, if I somehow screwed things up, it would be on my shoulders.

I glanced over at Amy for support, and sure enough she gave me a little nodd and confident smile. I could almost hear her telling me she knew it'd be fine. She was here, Amethyst was watching and wouldn't let me fail. Or if I did manage to mess up, the Goddess would fix it and bail me out.

After one more deep breath I focused on Ada, then triggered the biggest most powerful spell my girlfriend gave me. I performed a miracle and granted Ada's wish.