Jupiter Rising

Chapter Four- Changeling

Anwen was the first to ask "Mae'n ddrwg gen i, beth wnaethoch chi ei ddweud?"

King Caspian was quick to remind her "In English Anwen"

"I'm sorry, but what did you say Anemone? Is that even possible"

"Changelings in our modern world" Rhys asked. "It is Impossible"

I mulled this over with confusion, of course I had heard of changelings, but the Fae had not participated in such acts for hundreds of years. It was now a banned practice.

"It's against our modern world... not to mention morally abhorrent" Andromeda says, placing her hand over her bump protectively.

Sorcha didn't seem to find it strange they should exist, as her first question was "Howfur wid thay fin' thair wey back?"

It struck me as odd, the way she as the most paranoid of rulers didn't question their existence but only how they should return this way.

Anemone shrugged, her gown slipping down her shoulders a little as if it no longer fit her frail frame "It's happened before"

Demelza sat forward to address her across the table "when" she asked "as far as I was concerned these were tales from the old ways... and not ever confirmed to be true"

Anemone licked her lips and reached for a little cake, as she ate it the crumbs fell down her chin. Merrin beside her grimaced at the way she ate so messily. As Anemone spoke once again, she did so through her food, terrible table manners for a Queen.

"Not tales Demelza... they are quite true. Fae who were unfortunate enough to have a child that was deformed in some way, sick, or not right, well they would breach the veil, take that child to the human world... and swap it for a human infant"

Andromeda gasped. I took her hand and rubbed it to soothe her mind "that can't be true" I asked. "What became of them. Both the human child and the Fae that got left behind?"

She shrugged again "I believe most of them probably died there in the human world. Some of course were healed. The human infants that came here in replacement, nobody would know they were human. The Fae families that did this were of high ranking, and they could not be seen to have a line that included bad blood. The human was concealed the moment they crossed into the veil, becoming the size of the Fae, and taking on that identity for their life term"

"Without magic" I asked curiously.

Anemone nodded as she wiped a crumb from her lips "Yes some, magic ran from mother to baby through the mother's breast, so some were lucky enough to pick up magic when they hit sixteen, through their Fae mother if she were powerful"

Merrin shook her head "'n' ye said thay cam back afore"

Anemone had us all hanging on her every word "I have heard of Fae returning, going back a hundred years" she revealed "Fae parents sometimes bringing them back home, but a changeling, if we believe the old nursery rhymes from the old ways, they could only return if a Fae crossed to the human world, and it were a life for a life, a world for a world"

"So if that's true" I asked "and a changeling has returned, then a Fae has left our world for the humans"

Anemone nodded "it seems so"

The panic was momentarily obvious around the table as we all digested that piece of information.

"Has anyone been reported missing amongst your kingdoms" Andromeda asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

I gritted my teeth at the disturbing thought that crossed my mind next "has anyone participated in this despicable act of recent?!" I asked.