The Other Coast

Pots bubbled on the stove. Three of them shone with Otherlight, while the fourth contained pasta. Yessamin shifted a frying pan and splashed it with oil. Garlic sizzled and anchovies fried. She tossed in tomatoes and let the mixture settle into a sauce as she stirred one of the Otherlight containers, sending sparkles into the air.

This was going to be perfect. Also terrible. Yessamin made sure the table was set just so, the floating candles were lit, the ethereal fae string music was playing from an undisclosed location in the Otherlands, and the smells were just right. When the Otherlight finished, she spilled it across the floor, giving the apartment a thick sheen of moving color and brightness. Then she plated the pasta only a few moments before Brigette pushed through the door.

“I’ve got good—” Brigette stopped. She stared at the room. Her bushy red hair bounced as she shook her head in wonder, her hands spread out to run her fingers through a stray line of Otherlight.

Yessamin went to her. “Careful, it’s a little hard to walk around in here right now.”

“This is incredible.” Brigette’s head swiveled, following streaks of impossible color. “It’s like we’re in another dimension.”

Yessamin’s heart broke. The wonder on her girlfriend’s face was too much. She shouldn’t have done it this way. It only reminded her of how much she loved her for being non-magical and how much she desperately wished they could stay together.

“Just some tricks.” Yessamin kissed Brigette’s cheek and instantly felt regret. How many of those did she have left? She helped Brigette sit down and served dinner.

“What’s all this for?” Brigette barely looked at her plate. She was too busy enjoying the spectacle.

“I got some good news.” Yessamin hesitated, a glass of wine suspended in the air before her. “But wait. Didn’t you say something about news too?”

Brigette leaned forward. Her mouth squirked into that adorable, excited grin she got sometimes, and Yessamin melted back into her seat. How was she going to do this? Break the girl’s heart? Break her own heart too? But the Other Coast was far away, and only the magical could go there. It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work. And it was the kind of opportunity Yessamin couldn’t turn down. Not without insulting half the fae court.

Which was exactly why she had applied for the job.

“I wanted to show you something.” Brigette’s smile faltered. “It’ll look lame compared to all this, but—” She sat up straight, concentrating hard as she spread her fingers out.

Yessamin stared. Her wine glass dipped and nearly crashed to the table. Otherlight crackled between Brigette’s fingers. It wove a thread-like pattern and solidified into a small rabbit. The creation hopped around as Brigette’s tongue poked out of her mouth, clenched between her teeth. Sweat dripped down her forehead. The rabbit held for a few more seconds before it dissipated into nothing, and Brigette collapsed back in her chair.

Magic. Actual magic. Toddler magic, but still, real magic. Yessamin stared in total shock. They’d been together for two years, and Brigette hadn’t shown a spark of aptitude in all that time. She’d know—Yessamin was constantly testing her. But that was actual Otherlight, a real spell, even if it was weak and not particularly well done.

“How?” she asked, breathless.

“I’ve been taking lessons.” Brigette seemed embarrassed as she tugged at her hair. “I mean, I should’ve told you, and I’m sorry I didn’t, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“But I thought—”

“I know, total squib, right?” She brightened as she sat up. “Turns out, mental block.” She jabbed her fingers at her head. “That thing with my mom? Really fucked me up. I’ve been seeing this wizard—”

“Who was it?”

“Bartamir the Mystic. He helped me deal with the trauma, and once the block was gone, we started doing lightwork, and I guess I’m a weaver.”

Yessamin’s stomach twisted. She stared at her beautiful, bright girlfriend and wanted to cry. “That’s… amazing. I’m so happy for you.”

Brigette faltered again. “What’s wrong?”

Everything. Absolutely everything.

“I have news too. I just…” Her wine glass teetered and crashed against the wall as she lost control of the spellwork. “Oh, shit.” They both leapt up to start cleaning, but Yessamin infused a little power to rebuild the glass from the shards. When was the last time she lost control like that? Not since she was a kid.

Brigette mopped up the wine. She was calm now. Her girlfriend was a lot of things, and perceptive was one of them. It made sense now that Yessamin knew she was a weaver. Those with direct access to Otherlight were usually the most in tune with their surroundings.

“Seriously, what's going on?” Brigette asked once the wine was cleaned. Smears of broken spell showed their mundane apartment beneath the illusion. “You’re acting weird.”

“I got a residency.” Yessamin let it spill out. She didn’t know how to do this anymore. Not that she did before, but Brigette’s new magic changed things. “It’s from the fae court to study biofueled Otherlight uses out on the Other Coast.”

“That’s amazing!” Brigette reached out for Yessamin’s hand, but Yessamin pulled back. “Why’s that not amazing?” she said, deflating back.

Ugly sickness crowded her guts. “The Other Coast doesn’t allow non-magicals. I thought that meant—”

She thought that meant they’d have to break up. That’s what she’d planned for the past week.

Brigette slumped back in her chair. She chewed her pinky nail. Yessamin hated that habit. “You thought that meant I couldn’t go with you. This whole thing—” She gestured at the apartment. “This was how you were breaking up with me.”

“Not breaking up,” Yessamin said in a hurry. “The residency—”

“But I am magical.” Brigette wasn’t smiling anymore. She wasn’t bright, wasn’t happy. Her face was flat and staring. “And that doesn’t change anything, does it?”

Yessamin pulled into herself. She knew, like Brigette knew, that it didn’t.

The residency was an excuse. It had always been an excuse. She could have found work somewhere else. There were dozens of projects she could have applied to and most likely gotten accepted in at least half of them. None of those would have taken her across the world to one of the most exclusively magical places on the planet.

Instead of telling her girlfriend that things weren’t working out, she decided it was easier to run away to study shiny slime.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice small. For all her power, all her skills, she still couldn’t do the right thing. She was still a coward, no matter how hard she tried to be better.

Brigette pushed back from the table. “I just wish you could’ve told me sooner, but that’s you, isn’t it? Lots and lots of layers.”

“That’s not fair.” But it was fair. Very fair and very right. Only hearing it hurt.

“The layers were fun at first. Peel one back and get a glimpse of something new. But now I get it. The layers are walls, and you’re going to hide behind them forever.”

“Brigette—”

“It’s fine. Honestly, it’s okay. Go to the Other Coast or whatever and enjoy yourself. I’ll move in with my brother until I find a new place.”

“No, wait. I was going to say. You can have the apartment—”

“I don’t want it.” Brigette left the table. Her dinner was untouched.

Yessamin sat alone in a swirling light-filled impossibility. Its beauty was ruined where they’d cleaned the wine from the floor.

Another short one! I’ve been pretty inconsistent with sending these out, but I have a small backlog written now and they should start coming on a better schedule.

If you read this far, conjure up that like button so I don’t feel so alone all the time. Have a good week and I’ll see you in a couple weeks!