"I have a disaster," says Mira. "How much do you know about fairies?"

"A fair amount. They attend a particular person, only one at a time, and can be passed to someone else upon death. They're extremely powerful, somewhat helpful to their person, but often in bizarre ways. It's more helpful to have one than not, at least for the person that has one. What's the disaster that involves fairies?"

"I have one, and that's the only reason I can perceive the situation as a disaster. My stepmother has one and she has gotten her fairy to brainwash my father."

Mira appreciates it. "My mother has been dead since I was five, which is where I got my fairy. My father has never dated since. Then, three weeks ago, he came home and told me to meet my new stepmother Kelsey and her two daughters from her first marriage. Kelsey's fairy is around a lot and stared at my father and me all the time, sometimes the daughters too. Kelsey acted like it was inconceivable that I didn't want to call her Mother and hug her every time I saw her and generally behave more affectionately with her, a complete stranger, than I did when I was five with my real mother. All of which would merely be bizarre, not incriminating, but then the next time I called my fairy up, she told me you're welcome and when I wanted to know what for she said she'd prevented Kelsey's fairy from forcing me to love Kelsey because she suspected that I'd perceive that as a harm. Since then I've been trying to get my fairy to help Chals somehow, but she won't or can't, and Kelsey's on to me, and my father is no longer just ridiculously in love with his wife but acts like he finds me unpleasant to be around even when Kelsey isn't in the room or the subject of conversation. My fairy's most recent failure to directly assist involved dressing me up like this and giving me a coach ride to this party, which I am taking advantage of because maybe you can help. I hope it's not a problem that I snuck in."

"Send people who have fairies who understand that brainwashing is harmful," says Mira. "But I don't think arresting her will fix it. The fairy could be misinterpreting Kelsey somehow and creating this behavior more or less of her own accord - but the consistency means that Kelsey isn't trying to stop her, even if stopping her was just the bare minimum of not calling her up and asking her for things anymore, and the way Kelsey acts means she approves. I think the best thing you're going to be able to do is kill Kelsey and hope whichever of the daughters is her heir isn't the same way."

"... I would like to know more about the situation, and try other options, before having graduating to execution. I do agree that the consistency is a bad sign, approval for this sort of thing is - disturbing. But casual killing, just as much."

"You haven't seen what I have," acknowledges Mira. "I'm just warning you I don't think arresting her will solve the problem, and depending on how much the fairy cooperates effectively with Kelsey it could make it worse."

"Thank you. I don't want to make it worse, but I'm really not the casual killing type. You know the situation better than I, what other options do I have besides sending protected people with fairies to arrest her and get her away from the people she's brainwashing?"

"You have to keep her a certain distance from anybody who isn't fairy-guarded. The fairies won't or can't operate on things too far away from their people. Mine has a range of about a hundred yards, but they might vary. I don't know if you already have a prison setup that accommodates that. But the effects are persistent - my fairy isn't around right now and my dress and these magic shoes still exist, the coach is probably where I left it, she said they'd disappear at midnight but that was something she added because I complained. So just taking Kelsey away from my father will not fix him, although it might let the effect wear off by itself, if that's something it can natively do - in the same way that I could rip this dress."

"There are prisons that accommodate that. I can even throw people in them. But if the effects are persistent - will they go away just because she dies? Do we have anything to gain from her death at all, aside from stopping her from continuing?"

"When I've asked my fairy if she can just fix my father, she says something about rules. I don't know why she's invoking rules, or what they are, or how they work, or for that matter if she's lying, but I would bet that Kelsey's own fairy would be able to reverse the damage if Kelsey's heir wanted her to."

"Then our priority should be, throw Kelsey in person-with-fairy prison, and then figure out who her heir is and whether or not they would be better than their mother. If they're the same or worse, there's not much to be gained from killing her."

"The girls are eight and nine. They're not nice, but - they're not nice for an eight and a nine year old. They aren't, as far as I can tell, evil. And I can't think of who else Kelsey's heir would be, unless inexplicably she's decided she doesn't like my father enough to leave him his own mind but does like him enough to give him her fairy. It pretty much has to be one of the girls."

"Hmm. Okay, I'll talk to them myself once Kelsey has been arrested and the entire situation has been investigated, with the understanding that they're also probably brainwashed. Are there any other telling behaviors that are easy to verify? I do believe you, but I like having proof before I throw people in jail."

"You could try looking at her friends. She has... a lot of friends. I wouldn't be surprised if my father was just the second person she decided she wanted to marry instead of the fiftieth person she wanted to befriend."

"I could use somewhere to stay that isn't - home."

"Okay," agrees the prince gently. "Do you want to stay here at the palace close by so I can easily find you and let you know of progress, or in a nice house somewhere where you can have your privacy?"

"Here is fine. Thank you."

He nods. "You're quite welcome. By necessity, you'll be near a - friend of mine, I don't control the entire palace." Yet. "Do you want me to tell her to leave you alone entirely, or let you two - interact however you like?"