I sat down cross-legged, holding my head in my hands. “What am I going to tell my family? I can’t go home like this.”
“That…won’t be a problem.”
Noticing his hesitation, I looked up. “How come?”
The Doctor looked grim. “I hate to break this to you, but your human life is over. You’re going to have to cut ties with it.”
“But what about my family?!”
“I’m not sure; there’s a faculty meeting later today to discuss how to handle your situation. I’m not at liberty to say any more about it.” He gave a sigh and added “The plus side for you at least is part of your curse will gradually make you not care about your past life. In time you won’t care, but for now…” he gave a shrug.
My shoulders slumped. “Is there no way I can tell them?”
He shook his head. “They’re mundies. They don’t even know this is a magical university do they?”
My head dropped, realising he was right. My family knew that Stonewood was a prestigious institution, but not that it was magical. Some sort of charm prevented them from knowing or even questioning about it.
“As painful as it is, this is for the best.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I sighed in resignation.
“I’m glad that you agree. Now, there’s something else we need to discuss that’s related to this. Your old identity is no longer any good, so we are going to have to create a new one for you.” The Doctor held out his hand and the nurse handed him a clipboard. “For a start, you can’t really go by your human name any more.”
“Why not? What wrong with-“ I furrowed my brow. My name was on the top of my tongue but not quite within reach.
“Well your curse is making you forget it for a start. For second, you will probably find it easier to pick yourself a fairy name anyway.”
“But I don’t know any.”
He nodded “Not an issue; we can fill out more of the form and come back to that later. You’ll be assigned a fellow fairy as a mentor to help you settle in; they can help you pick one if you ask them.”
We spent the next hour or so with him conducting standard physio tests on me to fill in the form. Presently someone else entered the room.
“Ah,” commented the Doctor, looking up as the entered, “Here’s the student I was telling you about earlier. They’ll help you integrate into being a fairy in no time.”
“Hello,” I said, swallowing.
“Hi,” the fairy replied “My name is…”