Kellie wanted to hang out more with Katie and her friends, but she was burning with too many questions for Merlin. Also, she was a bit leery about the other girls. Perhaps Mary Elise's view of the girl was full of venom, but Kellie was worrying if the other girls were bullies. But throughout the rest of the day, they didn't really seem to be mean. Katie and Miko were just as friendly as before. It was a bit overwhelming for Samantha to be towering over Kellie, but she seemed pretty nice. However, Claudia was obviously less comfortable around Kellie and tried to avoid being too close. It was really surprising for Kellie to see the spirited and fiery girl she remembered being so meek and mousy. Lisa and Kumiko didn't openly shun Kellie, but she did catch them giving dirty looks at her. At least Mary wasn't so miserable with her new friend, but that didn't seem to quite alter reality enough.
Kellie turned the puzzle around in her head as she headed back home. Hopefully Merlin would be able to shed better light on the subject. Merlin opened the door as she walked up the steps. "Hi, Kellie. How was your first day at school?" asked Merlin.
"Oh, I learned quite a lot," said Kellie as she walked in, "Like the fact that my last name is Pendragon. Seriously?"
"It's a good name," said Merlin.
"A bit too over-the-top," said Kellie.
Merlin waved it off dismissively and said, "So, what have you learned about your old friends?"
Kellie spent quite a lot of time telling Merlin of how her old friends had changed, calling more attention to Mary Elise's enmity with the other girls and Samantha being half-Samoan. "And I've been wondering how much my interference has caused all this change," said Kellie.
"Well, Kellie, messing with reality can have a lot of consequences," said Merlin, "Think of time like a river, with many possible turns."
"We've talked about that before," said Kellie, "Each change could cause the river to flow in a new direction. So did my absence in this reality really made that much of a mess?"
"Perhaps, but you're not the only factor here," said Merlin, "Remember, Lisa and Kumiko weren't this young the first time around. They've been growing up with Katie and her friends."
"You don't think they really are bullies, do you?" asked Kellie with worry.
"What do you think?" asked Merlin expectantly.
Kellie thought about the two of them. "Well, Lisa and Kumiko are certainly more free-spirited and reckless than their respective sisters, but that wouldn't necessarily make them mean. But I bet they'd be more likely to hold grudges if someone really hurt one of their friends," said Kellie.
"That seems a safe assumption," said Merlin.
"So it's that big fight between Claudia and Mary Elise that's the root of all this," said Kellie, "I still find it hard that Claudia's personality is so different. It couldn't just because her siblings are younger, could it?"
"There may be other factors," said Merlin, "What do you think the fight would be about?"
"Well, it wouldn't be about something trivial for them to hold the grudge this long..." said Kellie thoughtfully. After a minute, she said, "Could it be that perhaps Mika isn't the first girl that Claudia admitted her bisexuality about? You think she might have had a crush on Mary Elise, but Mary reacted badly when Claudia admitted it to her?"
"A plausible theory," said Merlin.
"Can't you just confirm it for me? Or change things so that Mary Elise was still their friend?" asked Kellie with annoyance.
"This is your mess to clean up and it's not beyond your ability to do so yet," said Merlin, "If you try to change things without knowing the cause, you could make things worse."
"So is it really my fault that they're not friends," said Kellie.
"I would better say that your absence is the reason they haven't made up after their fight," said Merlin, "But you can be the one who will help them bridge their differences and make amends."
Kellie sighed a bit with relief. Hopefully that won't be too impossible. "So, how did my changes ended up making Samantha Samoan?" asked Kellie.
Merlin gave a puzzled frown and said, "Actually, I don't think you were involved in that one."
"What?" asked Kellie.
"It's possible that your non-presence here caused a series of events that caused Samantha's mother to marry another man, but I don't think so," said Merlin, "I think this is a separate alteration. Perhaps Samantha's mother wished she had a different husband or Samantha wished she was someone different."
"How could that have happened?" asked Kellie.
"There are other sources of magic besides the Rings of Age," said Merlin, "It could have been a wishing coin, a genie bottle, perhaps I sold something to one of them."
"You did?" asked Kellie.
"Well, an alternate me, or perhaps my future self. Things are...rather complicated when you own a multi-dimensional magic shop," said Merlin.
Kellie rubbed her forehead and said, "And I gotta sort this one out too?"
"No, you focus on Mary Elise and Claudia," said Merlin, "Leave Samantha to me."
"For the record, I'm not wanting Samantha to be changed back to how she was," said Kellie, "I just want to know why she's different."
"I won't make unnecessary changes," assured Merlin, "Besides, this will be rather enjoyable for me. I haven't part of a story in years."
"What was that?" asked Kellie.
"Oh nothing you should worry about," said Merlin with a shrug.