Spoiler Alert. This flash fiction takes place in the first half of Enthralled (Farseen Chronicles Book 2).

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Star looked through her folder of documents needed in the Seen. It looked a lot like a similar folder she had in the Farseen. Beings of so-called higher intelligence always had paperwork.

To keep the human authorities happy, Tempe produced papers to show Star was her adopted daughter. She set up Star’s identity from northern Italy as a cousin whose parents had died. Although she had a forged Diploma di Scuola Superiore from Italy, Star took the general educational development (GED) test in the States so that college would be an option. She wasn’t sure why the GED and college were important, but followed Tempe’s advice, as she did in most things.

She passed with a score in the top one percent, thanks to tutoring. Liz took care of math and science, which didn’t change much between the dimensions, although it was odd that humans didn’t study magic. Magic was, after all, a science. The only difference between chemistry and magic being the apprentice had to have the biological marker to work magic and studying magic was done one-on-one as training had to be tailored to the student’s abilities. Perhaps since most of the Seen lacked that marker the subject wasn’t taught, which she found confusing. It was essential to know how magic worked, to anticipate what someone with a specific power might do. How else could one prepare for physical disputes?

Mary covered reading, writing and social studies. The latter required Star to hit the books as Ryan had said. She had read many of the classical works of the Seen and could write English well enough but social studies had been a lot of memorization. Human culture wasn’t a major topic of study in the Farseen, except by those who traveled here frequently. Star was beginning to think that the fae should study humans more carefully. Their numbers had grown and they were becoming rather successful at many of the non-magical sciences.

Tempe had waited outside the test area and told Star to use mind-speak if she didn’t know an answer. It was a matter of pride that she had not asked for help and had passed the GED with a high score. She had always been an exceptional student.

In addition, Star was certified to translate between Italian and English. Again, she wasn’t sure why that was important. Languages were easy for the fae and no one needed a translator; although she had noticed shape shifters didn’t learn languages as quickly, perhaps humans had the same constraint. To pick up a spoken language, the fae simply needed to be around the language for a day or two. Written words took a bit longer, maybe a week.

She had been surprised to find humans, especially those who spoke English, used a lot of idioms specific to the land they lived in. The fae had always learned English from the British Isles and there was a difference between English in England and English in the States. Just the other day one of the older clan members had asked her to toss me that poke. She looked around in confusion until Ryan handed her the knapsack on the table. There was even a variance in speech between people in the various sections of the States.

Some of their sayings were easy to understand. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch was very similar to a saying in the Farseen, until the chicken emerges, it’s an egg; others, like best thing since sliced bread required research. She still found it odd that the Seen purchased bread already sliced. How did one know which thickness of bread to purchase since some people like a thick slice and others like a thin slice? Google had become her research tool of choice.

Her favorite idiom to date was Ryan’s comment when they were watching the Taylor triplets at the park. A human teenager, who was learning to ride a board on rollers, had fascinated her. Once he got the basics down he picked up speed and tried to jump the board down a flight of stairs. The kid sailed through the air beautifully, but landed badly and broke both legs.

Ryan had commented, “That’s no trick for a beginner. He’s a few fries short of a happy meal.”

“Be nice, he’ll be paying for his mistake the next few weeks while his bones heal.” Sage’s reprimand would have been more meaningful if she hadn’t been smiling.

Star had rushed to Google to find the clarification for both comments. She learned what  happy meal was and that humans didn’t heal as quickly as fae and shifters.

It was amazing how much the fae misunderstood about the peoples of the Seen. Someone should help the fae better understand the people of the Seen, perhaps her. Her late shift and resultant move to the Seen might be a blessing in disguise.