Mentor

   The kid stared at me blankly for a few seconds. A few seconds stretched to almost a minute. Am I sure this guy’s okay?

At long last, he spoke. “You’re Kiku?”

I gave him my best well, duh look. “Uh, yeah.” Then I remembered, I was still Cloaked. I flicked my ponytail and reverted to my natural colours. Pale skin, bright blue eyes, pastel pink hair. “I’m Kiku, who the hell are you and why were you looking for me?”

He slapped his forehead. “Right! My name’s Daniel Greenwood, and I… need your… help.”

He trailed off under my less-than-happy gaze. At least he was smart enough to realise I could kill him without effort, and get away with it.

Eventually I sighed and went back into the kitchen to make some coffee. I don’t drink the stuff often, since it’s so potent and always triggers my metabolic mimicry, but I had a feeling I’d need one to get through this. After all, it’s not good manners to start chugging alcohol at a first meeting.

Kiku was… not what I’d expected. I’d have thought, for a guy over two thousand years old, he’d be older. But he was young. My age, even.

He came out holding two steaming mugs that smelled like coffee. He offered one to me, sipping from the other. I took it. “Thanks.”

He shrugged. “No prob.”

He sat down next to me, lost in thought, occasionally sipping from his mug. I found myself glancing at him frequently, trying to discern anything about him. He’d seen so much in his life. The stories he must be able to tell, the historical fallacies he must be able to fix…

And then there was his appearance. I hadn’t expected -

“What?”

I jolted out of my reverie, realising I’d been staring. “I, uh, was expecting you to be more…”

“Intimidating? School-teacher-ish? Up-my-own-ass?”

“Masculine…” I breathed.

Apparently I’d caught him off-guard, because he paused for a second. Then his eyes darkened. “Problem?”

“Oh, no! Not at all, it just surprised me is all!” I replied, shaking my head vigorously. I could tell I was on thin ice.

Thankfully, he just laughed it off. “Why do you need my help anyway?”

I glanced around the room before answering, but it was just the two of us. “I have… powers. Powers like yours, I’ve been told. But I can’t control them, and they’re killing me.

“Please. Teach me to control this power, so that I won’t hurt anyone.”

I stood up and dimmed the lights, sparking a few glostars to float around me like a halo. Whoever said drama has no uses?

“Why should I take you on, Daniel Greenwood? My last pupil almost destroyed this galaxy; why should I trust you to prove any different?”

He hesitated. Good. he was actually considering my words, thinking of an answer, rather than just saying “but I wouldn’t”...

“If I don’t learn to control this, I will end up destroying the galaxy.”

“Hmmm…” I was just playing hard to get at this point. He was determined to study under me, and I was literally incapable of saying no.

“Please… I’m begging you…” he said, dropping to his knees.

I sighed. “Alright, I’ll train you. Now get up, no student of mine is gonna be caught dead on his knees.”

The kid jumped to his feet and hugged me. “Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me!”

After a second he seemed to realise he’d just cuddled a practical stranger, since I felt him stiffen. I put an arm around him before he pulled away, though. It felt good to get a hug after over a decade keeping almost exclusively to myself.

Poor kid… he doesn’t know how much danger he’s putting himself in…

But I’ll do my best to protect him.

That evening, I tried teaching the kid some self-discipline. It didn’t go well.

“No, not like that!

“NO!!” This kid was gonna be the death of me…

“Like this?” He asked, voice distorted by mandibles and fuck-knows what else.

I sighed through my teeth. “Daniel, you look like Frankenstein’s monster gone wrong. Revert and try again.”

His face scrunched in concentration, then went slack with panic. “I can’t…”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose and beckoned him over. “Time and Change, you really do need my help.”

“Why do you use ‘time and change’ as an oath, sir?” He asked as I reverted his form.

“Drop the ‘sir’, kid.” I replied. “As for why, they're the two universal constants. Anyone who tells you time is just a measure of change doesn't know what they're talking about. Time is a living concept, unlike distance and weight and all that.”

The Changing One certainly was more academic than I’d expected. His understanding of human psychology was incredible, and he spoke with such confidence that you almost couldn’t help but believe him.

When I brought it up, he laughed and told me, “Knowledge is power - and I mean that more literally than you could comprehend.”

“Well,” I responded, “Guess I’ll just have to learn quick, then.”

That got a laugh, but his face soon became serious again. “Where’d you even get your powers from, anyway?”

“I… Umm…” I tried to think, but the answer wouldn’t come to me. I was sure I knew it, but I just couldn’t get the name… “I, I don’t remember. Something to do with… gems, I think?”

Next thing I knew I was on the floor, Kiku, straddling my chest. His hands were forcing my head to face his. “Look me in the eyes.” He commanded. “Now!”

I tried to tell him to get off, but he started squeezing my temples until it hurt. I looked into his eyes.

His widened, and he said something in a language I didn't know. Sounded like a curse. I think it went something like: “Do la kiristale.”

He got up and pulled me to my feet. “It's worse than I thought, kid.

“You’re Enchanted.”