"Take a deep breath and release it. Good. One more. Good. Alright, let's begin," the Fae sighed out a string of words that Paloma heard but as quickly as they touched her ears they were gone. The Fae reached out with her mind to gather up the wisps of binding. They proved to be difficult to grasp initially due to their frayed edges. She concentrated harder and finally managed to lock on to the damaged spell. She began to tug, expecting to follow the remnants down to their source in the core of Paloma's being. Instead they pulled up towards her with almost no effort at all. The shreds of magic came faster and faster as she pulled and she never once dipped into Paloma's core.
Suddenly it was over and nothing of the original binding remained within the young woman. The tattered remains in Heriahn's grasp simply... melted away. She caught the briefest glimpse of the ends of the ethereal strands and saw... charring? She looked at Paloma who opened her eyes.
"Are we going to start?" she asked.
Shaken, Heriahn looked over at Camila who frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"The binding came loose with no effort. It was burned from her core!" Heriahn exclaimed.
"Will you be able to apply a new one?" Camila asked.
Heriahn frowned and nodded curtly. This was her profession. Of course she could!
The Fae blinked her eyes at Paloma as she uttered some specific words of magic from her toolkit, attempting to see the source of the scorching, what might be inside the young woman that could have destroyed such a strong spell. She understood now how the spell dissolved. A binding unbound from its host loses its integrity very quickly when no longer powered by its host. What she didn't know was what caused the spell's connection to Paloma to be burned away. Curses, corrupting spells and other incompatible magics were the most likely cause. She glanced at the young woman, worried what she might find inside her. She also had to be cautious to not trigger an aggressive reaction if it was a curse. She had no desire to share the curse.
Taking a deep breath, she rattled off a rapid string of syllables while holding the shape of her strongest shield spell in her mind. It formed perfectly and she felt its smooth protection all around her. Magic could flow outwards but not inwards.
Next, she prepared the anchor spell which would bind the new glamor to Paloma's inner core. She formed this just outside of her shield and inspected it. It was perfect but she prided herself on the craftsmanship of her work.
Finally came the preparation of the glamor itself. She'd made hundreds of these so it was simple to do. Normally the glamor's shape was that of a Human infant with some general features of the host, hair and eye color if applicable. This time she built a generic adult sized glamor and bound it to the anchor spell. She inspected this and was satisfied. The final shape would have to come from the mind of its host. She would need Paloma's assistance at that time but not until then. She looked at her with eyes glowing bright yellow.
"It's time. Open yourself to me and no matter what, accept what I give you. Don't resist. Don't fight it. It must bind fully or the new glamor will just fade as this one did. I will tell you when to step into the glamor and shape it to your will. Make sure you have prepared the image in your mind."
Paloma nodded nervously then closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, centering herself. She allowed herself to relax as she thought of the single flame in the dark.
Heriahn nodded with a smile as she saw the young succubus slip into a receptive state of mind. Uttering the words under her breath she formed the image of her probe and carefully reached through the being before her to the space beyond, inside. She prepared herself to watch for signs of whatever burned the initial glamor spell. She felt an odd resistance and applied more pressure. The probe was being deflected.
She leaned back a little and looked again at Paloma. She remained receptive and relaxed. Nothing had ever deflected one of her probes before. Maybe someone shielded her with something old and rare?
Heriahn was beginning to feel uneasy. She wasn't really a specialist with what she was about to do but she knew a few power words and she'd be damned if she would admit to these Succubi she was incapable of doing her job. Her pride would not allow this. She constructed her probe spell once more and laced it with just a little ancient Fae magic using the old words.
This time the probe met less resistance but there was a strange sympathetic vibration coming back through the spell. Heriahn suddenly felt like she was falling forward until she came to an abrupt stop at Paloma's core. The Fae gasped in shock as wild magic raced back through the link ignoring the presence of her shield.
Paloma's eyes snapped open as she stared at the Fae, seeing her as she really was, ancient, crippled and diseased. The Fae was dying and had been for a long time. The connection between them going through the probe was frighteningly intimate.
More immediate for Paloma, the probe hurt! The Fae magic was grating harshly against the wild magic saturating her body, the two energies being slightly out of phase. The discordance made her teeth and jaw ache and a sharp spike was being driven through her head.
She desperately needed the Fae to finish now.
Her urgency raced back through their link, washing over Heriahn who frantically reworked her spells to adapt them to the wild magic contained within the young woman. They didn't need to speak as their thoughts were instantly being shared. The glamor activated in it's dormant state and Paloma rapidly imprinted her body image onto it.
The pain grew too intense for Paloma to cope with rationally. She struck out blindly at the probe and felt it shatter and dissolve under the raging wave of energy flooding through her mind. She may have screamed.
Heriahn certainly did and flung herself backwards, surging out of the young woman's being. The old Fae passed out, falling into Camila's arms as Paloma slumped back against the cushions panting and holding her head as the pain slowly dissipated.
"What happened? Are you alright? Did it work?" Camila asked in a panic as Heriahn began to come around.
As consciousness returned to the Fae she noticed her own glamor was no longer active. She reached for it but she was in too much pain to draw the magic forward. She would have to wait. She shook off Camila's hands roughly. "Cloak! I need a cloak," she rasped through her raw throat. Camila left to get the woman one of the heavy garments every Hidden Races member kept in their closet, just in case.
The disease Heriahn had battled for so many centuries was close upon her tonight. She could feel its claws in her deep. She'd used too much energy on this girl and she resented it. She glared at Paloma.
"How did you come by this energy child? Who did you feed from?" she barked as Camila re-entered the room.
Paloma looked to her mother whose expression turned cold.
"Who we feed from is none of your business!" she snapped.
"Wild magic! With a strength not found in the realm of Magic we draw from. That's Fae Council business! Expect a summons tomorrow," the crone barked back and pushed herself to her feet leaning heavily on her cane and grabbed the cloak. She dragged it around herself and shuffled out of the apartment.
Camila locked the door behind her, setting the protection rune. She rushed back to her daughter. "The glamor! Did it take?"
Blinking at her mother Paloma pushed herself up to sit on the edge of the couch and steadied herself. She closed her eyes and looked inside for the glamor and there it was, waiting for her command. She called it forward and heard her mother gasp. She opened her eyes and saw her mother looking at her with wide eyes. "What's wrong? Didn't it work? It felt like it worked!"
Camila tugged her daughter to her feet and led her to the front door where the largest mirror was. Paloma stumbled when she saw herself, or the woman she now appeared to be. "Oh my god!" she gasped. "How... how do I explain this?" she cried.
As before her glamor followed her hair and eye color. Her new glamor kept her white hair but deepened the blue of her eyes. Her brows arched high but the slant of her eyes remained almost unchanged. She looked exotic and her curves were barely subdued. She could definitely pass for Human but she would be attracting a lot of attention unless she dressed to lessen the impact of some of her 'attributes'. She had some non-prescription glasses she would now have to wear to downplay her eyes.
The problem was she looked nothing like Paloma Villamor! She caught her mother's concerned eye in the mirror. "How can I go back to work looking like this?!?"
Camila considered the issue. Glamor spells were based closely on their host's true state so they would evolve with them as they aged. Seeing her daughter's new glamor in place she now knew the changes Stanley had brought her were permanent. She saw Paloma coming to the same realization.
So. Paloma would have to become someone new as well.
"Paloma Villamor has moved back to Spain and her cousin Marisa has come to fill in for her until further notice. I will ask Sigrid to obtain the required documentation." Camila said firmly.
The woman in the mirror looked at her in shock and began to cry. Camila understood only too well. In her long life span she'd had to see a number of her own identities pass on. While it was early, this was only Paloma's first time but it wouldn't be her last.
"You are now Marisa Villamor and I will call you niece but remember you are always flesh of my flesh and I love you no less than completely." She pulled the young woman into a hug and rocked her in her arms as the tears flowed.
When the tears ran dry Marisa pulled back and looked at her 'aunt'. "Was... it like this when you changed your identity to Camila Villamor?" she said with a shaky voice.
Camila nodded. "Yes. It's like this every time. I will walk you through the process over the next few days." Her 'niece' sucked in a few stuttering breaths and seemed to be getting control back so she smiled at her. "Once we're both confident you have this new identity locked in we'll introduce you to the company. Everything will be fine. I'm more concerned about how we will keep Stanley away from the Fae Council. I need to speak with Sigrid tonight. Are you going to be alright?"
"Yes, I'm still tired and that bonding really hurt!" Marisa said.
"Get some sleep and I'll check in on you on my way to work." Camila said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.