The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 45

As they sat there, waiting for the potions to be ready, Ajana noticed that Kieran kept looking at her potion with a strange expression on his face. She was worried that she had made a mistake, that something was terribly wrong. After all, it was her first time to make a potion, and although Kieran supervised, she was still afraid that she had made an error.

"Is everything okay? You seem worried?" Ajana finally asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Kieran said.

He was lost in his thoughts, so it took him a moment to register Ajana's questions. It took him even longer to note the fear that permeated every part of her being.

"Don't worry, everything is okay. I am not worried, I am surprised." Kieran said.

"Surprised by what? Should my potion look like that?" She asked.

As she said that, she looked at her potion, with all the colors in it. The most predominant one was orange but there were also streaks of other colors swirling around it, through it, inextricably connected with it.

Blue, green, brown and red were the most noticeable colors, but there were small traces of other colors as well. They were in such perfect harmony that Ajana found it normal at first. However, when she noticed Kieran's expression, she was no longer sure if it was normal.

Was her essence flawed? Was something wrong with her magic? Or did she make a mistake?

"Well, it doesn't HAVE to have just one color, but it's more common. I mean, I've seen a few two colored ones, but I have never seen anything like this." Kieran said.

"What does that mean? Is it a bad thing? Did I do something wrong?" Ajana asked.

Generally, she had a healthy dose of self-confidence, but the situation was so new to her that she felt more insecure than ever before. It was a whole new experience, and she was still adjusting to the novelty of it all. After all, she still saw herself as just a human. Well, a human with magical powers.

She had spent all her life as just a regular human, and it took a lot of effort on her part to accept that she was a witch. Even now, that she had accepted that, she still thought of herself as human, most of the time, a human playing with magic. Even to her, that sounded like a dangerous thing which contributed to making her feel unsure of herself.

"No, no. It's not a bad thing. Well. it's neither a good thing nor a bad one. It's just...different. In most cases, one's essence has one quality that is dominant and that colors these potions into a certain, predetermined color. However, in your case, there seems to be a balance between the different qualities you possess. They have learned to coexist in harmony.

That can be a very good thing, allowing you to achieve a balance that people rarely have, but it can also be a bad thing. Not having one characteristic that is stronger than others can hinder you in battle since we often rely on that one thing to activate our powers, to give us the necessary strength and magic." Kieran explained.

Although Ajana couldn't fully comprehend what it all meant for her future, she felt a huge amount of relief that it wasn't a bad thing. It felt good to know that she hadn't made a mistake, it was just the way she was.

After staring at the potion bottles for a while longer, Bluebells started getting fidgety. Ajana wasn't sure how long he would be able to stay still, and she feared for the safety of the potion bottles.

"Is it ready?" Ajana asked.

"Yes, it is, but the real question is are you ready?" Kieran asked.

Since it wasn't his first transformation, he had transformed many times before, back home, he wasn't worried. Well, he wasn't worried about himself. He was worried about how Ajana would cope because the first transformation could be quite uncomfortable.

"Yes, I think so. I mean not really, but I don't think I will ever be prepared to turn into an animal, so we may as well start." Ajana said.

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with being an animal!" Bluebells said thoroughly offended.

"Of course there isn't but being a human and then turning into an animal... Imagine how you would feel if you were to suddenly turn into a human." Ajana said.

The neighing Bluebells let out made it clear to Ajana that she was right, that he would feel equally uncomfortable if the roles were reversed. It wasn't about being specist, but about the sudden change from one species to another.

Before she could change her mind, she took the potion bottle Kieran offered and nodding her head in agreement they both drank up their potions at the same time.

Bluebells stared at them, with his eyes wide open and his tail twitching in anticipation. He expected to see immediate results, poof, and they were animals, but that was not what happened.

After a few suspenseful moments, something did happen, something even better than what Bluebells could have imagined. He let out a sound of delight as he beheld in wonder the changes that were happening to the two humans.

Suddenly, Kieran was adorned with a long tail that came out of nowhere and his ears suddenly became even longer, more pointy and hairy. The odd thing was that the rest of him stayed the same.

What Bluebells found even more amusing were the changes Ajana went through. Her face became furrier and shaped like the one of a chimpanzee, but the rest of her stayed distinctly human.

That was the moment Bluebells burst out laughing while rolling around the bed. He didn't stop laughing even when he fell off the bed but kept on rolling on the floor still laughing his heart out.

"What? What is it?" Ajana asked annoyed.

Bluebells tried to speak but was laughing too hard to be able to do so. Finally, he did manage to point one of his hooves towards Ajana's face.

She quickly pulled out a mirror from her bag and screamed out in shock. It took her a moment to realize that the hairy thing staring back at her was herself.

"Kieran!!!!" She yelled in desperation.

"Don't worry. It's a process, remember? It will take some time until we fully transform." Kieran said swishing his tail, barely containing a smile.

The fact that it was normal, didn't make it any less disturbing for Ajana. She always thought that chimpanzees were cute, but what she saw in the mirror was not cute, it was creepy.

"Calm down, you won't stay like that for long," Kieran said.

Ajana put the mirror away promising herself not to pull it out again until she was fully transformed. She felt uncomfortable and scared, wondering if she had made a mistake in agreeing to transform.

The sensation circulating through her body was one of intense discomfort. Her body didn't feel like her body anymore, and she didn't like that. The only certainty she had in that strange world was herself, and even that was about to change.

"I am so glad I stayed to witness this." Bluebells said.

He barely managed to say that before he was seized by another fit of laughter, snorting and neighing.

"At least one of us is having fun," Ajana said self-consciously.