Of Destiny and Sisters

Confession

Pat

My brain knew it couldn't be true, but my heart... Oh, god, my heart. I felt my sister clench her hands around mine, and I, in that moment of reminded grief, clung back. He's dead, I reminded myself. Dead.

The smile on the man's bearded face faded, and he stopped. His brow furrowed under a curtain of blond hair, a color that my own matched, and he turned to look behind him as if looking for what was making us react as we did. He didn't seem to fathom that it was him. Puzzled, he turned back to us.

"Are you alright?"

Neither Kat nor I could speak. We couldn't nod our heads. We couldn't do anything but breathe, and even that was a struggle.

When we didn't answer, he took a few steps forward. I heard a small sob escape Kat's lips, and I squeezed her hand again. It brought me out of my shocked state enough to explain, "You look like our father. He died last year."

His eyes widened for a moment before his face melted into one of compassion and understanding. "I am sorry for your loss. It is not easy to lose the one we love."

I nodded, not trusting my voice again so soon. Kat sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said. She squeezed, I love you.

Me, too, I answered.

Forever, we both declared.

"Who are you?" I managed to croak.

"Merlin," he said simply.

Holy shit, we're related to Merlin!

"I take it you are my descendants? Or two of them, at least?"

"Descendents? We—" Kat began as a protest.

He held up a hand. "Are from the future. Yes, I know." He looked pointedly at me. "And I know your secret."

My heart proved it had recovered when it pounded in my chest. "I don't know what you mean."

"You're a woman. I expected this. What I didn't expect was the time travel. I didn't even know it was a possibility when I asked the wardrobe to bring you here."

"You asked a piece of furniture—" my sister sputtered.

He scowled and cut Kat off. "Yes, I asked a piece of magical furniture to do its job. Why is that surprising?"

My protective side flared at his tone. "Magic isn't real, at least not in the future."

"Well, that's not entirely true, Pat," my sister protested. "The mirror brought us here. That's pretty real magic."

I rolled my eyes. "And a fairly isolated incident."

"You're just upset that it finally proves magic exists."

I sighed. She has a point.

"A mirror?" Merlin asked. "How did you fit through something that small?"

"It wasn't a hand-held mirror like you have here. In our time, we've figured out how to make silvered glass into people-sized mirrors."

"Silvered glass?" He stared at the floor, lost in thought.

My breath hitched. How many times had I seen that same far-away look on my father's face? Fuck, this is going to be hard. I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. "Yeah. I don't know the exact process, though."

He held up a hand again. "No, don't tell me. I don't need another project!"

"Right." I lapsed into silence, unsure of what to say. Uncomfortable, I shifted my weight and realized we'd been standing this whole time. "Oh! We're being rude. Would you like to sit?" I indicated the sofa.