The fairy went on after a moment of remembering.  “Adair helped a lot after my dad’s death, trying to calm people down and explain that going to war with the humans wasn’t going to achieve anything.  He tried to call it my dad’s legacy and say that people shouldn’t dismiss it, but there were still those who saw him as the savior and my dad as the villain.”  He shrugged again, then sighed deeply.  “I knew it wasn’t like that, and Adair was quite adamant whenever he spoke on the subject that he and my dad were equally to blame for underestimating humans, him more so even since he’d planned for it longer.  For the record, I don’t blame Adair.  He and my dad were working together on it, really, and I’d say it was their project equally really.  The fact that things went differently than they’d anticipated just means they couldn’t see the future and predict everything.  I blame the people who decided the best action was murder.  They’re the ones responsible.”

He looked down at his hands.  “But Mom…when she finally woke up, things were different for her.  I suppose it’s a bit like a human with dementia or Alzheimer’s – she’s not herself fully.  She’s missing large parts of her memory and her brain doesn’t seem to work fully anymore.  She doesn’t know what year it is, doesn’t recognize us all the time, and has no memory of what happened specifically.  We’ve actually avoided telling her, because we’re afraid it could trigger her to go dark again, and given her reduced mental capacity…we don’t think we’d have any choice but to kill her if that happened.  She’d fall too quickly for us to try to stop her.”

From what Elanius had told us during this past week after the fairy had shown up at the office, the fairy kingdom had ended over a century ago, meaning he’d been dealing with this for a long time.

He continued after a moment.  “My mom’s younger sister is a nurse and stays with me, taking care of Mom with me.  She’s basically her caretaker 24/7 and is the person Mom remembers the best.  Sometimes she mistakes me for Dad, or just thinks I’m some random person.  When Adair visits, she most often thinks he’s Dad, but before they were married.  He’s always very gentle with her about it, but I think he’s afraid to visit her often in case she realizes he’s not Dad and starts asking about him.  He does check in all the time, though, seeing how we’re doing.  But mostly it’s just me, Mom, and my aunt.”

He looked back out over the park.  “Mom’s always loved Christmas.  She loves the lights and the Christmas spirit.  It’s one of the few times of year she seems more like herself.  I’ll admit, part of the reason I want to throw this is for her to get a chance to come out of the house and see the whole town in full-on Christmas spirit, drinking hot punch and going ice-skating, exchanging gifts, all of that.  What I said about helping people is 100% true, I just happen to also hope I can help my mom through that.  And,” he swallowed, “maybe get a little more of her back for a few days.”

I felt so sorry for him.  Here he was, a rich man who couldn’t buy the one thing he really wanted – his mom’s mental state.  No amount of money could fix that.  But he was doing the best he could anyway, for decades on end, and if he got to see her a bit more over Christmas?  I could understand why he might want that.

“I’m sorry about your mom,” I told him sincerely.  “I hope it does help her to see the party.  Have you ever tried making Christmas on other days?  Just to see if it helps her?”

He nodded.  “My aunt and I did a few times.  We can’t get away with it for long, Mom seems to notice if Christmas goes on longer than it should.  But we try.  We try to do anything that helps her out.  This park,” he motioned around us, “it was actually named for my dad.  When Lyndale was founded, some fairies who were genuine friends of my dad bought the land and donated it as a park in his name.  That was the one requirement, that the name stayed.  Adair’s done some similar stuff, trying to remind fairies that Dad was someone to be respected and his memory honored.  He even discovered a new flower once and named it after Dad.  But this park was one my mom vaguely remembers, so I decided to move here and see if she would be happier.”

The poor mayor, going all out to try to get this fairy to stay, when all he needed to do was show the park some love.  He had no idea.

“That’s sweet of you,” I told him seriously.  “Trying to make her happier.”

He seemed embarrassed by this assessment.  “She’s my mom.  Just because she doesn’t remember that most of the time doesn’t make it less true.  I’m going to keep doing everything I can to make her happier.”

That was admirable.

He’s not the only one, Kat interrupted, startling me since I hadn’t realized she had woken up and I had no idea how long she’d been listening.  You helped Dad out when he was dying of cancer.  As a teenager, I might add.  Ran the house, helped him, and kept up with school.

I glanced up at the fairy hesitantly.  “My dad died of cancer,” I told him abruptly, startling him with the change in subject.  “He, um, was going downhill for a while and I was basically his caretaker.”  I decided to leave out the part about my age at the time.  “I know what it’s like to see a parent like that and not being able to do much.  It’s hard.”  I glanced at him again, kind of relieved to see the sympathetic look there – not because he was sympathizing, but because it meant he knew that I understood.  Yeah, it was different, but we both understood the pain of watching someone you cared about fade and suffer.

Only your dad was supposed to be taking care of you.  He was an adult when this happened.  I know, I know, she added before I could argue, it’s still his mom and it still will affect him, but the point was, you didn’t have anyone else to count on.  He has.  His cousin, his aunt, his dad’s friends.  You had no one.

I had you, I reasoned.  I wasn’t alone.

She was quiet for a moment.  Yeah, that’s true.  You had me.

I personally thought she was a great support system.  Sure, she couldn’t be there with me physically, but sometimes she helped handle the chores when I was too exhausted and we were sure Dad wouldn’t catch her, and if nothing else, she always helped me by being there and talking to me and making me feel less lonely.

We were all quiet for a time, then I realized I’d run out of coffee, my fingers were getting cold, and Kat was going to have to go to the club soon so I should probably be getting back with Goose.

“It was nice to see you again,” I told him seriously.  “I need to be going, but I hope your mom enjoys the party.  If you have anything else you need run by our office, just talk to me and I’ll help.”  That wasn’t something I usually offered, but I would help him if I could.  I felt like I related and he seemed nice, with genuinely good reasons to do this, so I wanted to help.  Granted, my only way of helping would be to fast-track any additional forms he might need to file, but at least it was something.

I walked off before he could respond, waving at Elanius, who was sitting on the ground, describing the game of fetch to Goose as if this would somehow help.  It actually sounded like a surprisingly in-depth lecture, given that it was a fairly simple game, but as I got closer I heard them explaining to the dog about retrievers and how they were bred to, well, retrieve.

“He’s a mutt, he might look more like a retriever but act more like something else,” I reasoned as I stopped next to them.  I held up the leash when Elanius looked at me.  “Sorry to cut your fun short, but I need to get Goose home so Kat can go to the club tonight.”

Elanius sighed dramatically and stood up, brushing the grass off themselves as they collected the toys for me.  “A dog that doesn’t understand fetch!  I’m so betrayed.  I just wanted to play fetch with Goose!”  They looked at the dog with exaggerated sadness.  “Please consider what I said and think about trying next time?  I promise it’ll be fun!”

Goose wagged his tail, looking at them and then at me, still unsure about what was going on but just happy to be there.

I laughed and waved goodbye, heading back towards our house.  I saw the fairy still standing there and kind of nodded at him, hoping he didn’t feel too weird about divulging his family history to a stranger like that, but I also hoped that maybe I’d been able to help him a bit.  Sometimes all you needed was someone who understood.  I knew that firsthand, from having Kat in my life.  It was nice to be able to talk to someone.

At home, I quickly refilled Goose’s food and water and then Kat took over, hurrying to get ready for the club.

Kat seemed thoughtful the entire time she was getting ready.  I hesitated a bit before deciding to ask her.

If you’re thinking about the fairy, I don’t have a crush on him.

What?  Also way to make it obvious you do, by claiming you don’t when I didn’t even bring him up.

If I could have blushed without my body, I would have.  I just assumed that’s what you were thinking about since we just saw him!

Yes, Ezzie, she responded affectionately, we did.  And don’t give me the whole thing about you not having a crush on him.  You like him, I can tell.  You think he’s nice, thoughtful, cares about his mom, and he fills out his forms properly.  What’s not to like?

I mentally rolled my eyes.  You don’t get the form thing.  I just like it when they’re perfect and not so messy.  It makes me squirm when they’re all filed in wonky.

Yeah, I can feel it.  And yeah, I don’t get it, but that’s okay.  That’s a you thing and I love you.

I felt grateful to her for just accepting me.  Sure, we were kind of stuck with each other, and I couldn’t imagine being a chimera and not liking your other side, but Kat made it easy for me to love her even if we were very different.

So what were you thinking about, then, if not the fairy?  I asked, hoping to redirect her thoughts.

I had a feeling that she wasn’t tricked, but she answered anyway, her tone becoming more serious.

The serial killer thing.  I have people who come into the club from those families, I’m pretty sure.  Organized crime families, originally, but now they’re supposedly straight.  I dunno about that, because Croc came from them, and she said something about “going legit” and being cut off from some of the family, so I have to figure there’s still some illegal stuff going on, but it’s just…not as blatant, maybe?  Point is, I know there’s some people from those circles who frequent the club.  And I’m not sure if that’s a risk for the club.  If someone’s trying to hunt down those families, then them visiting the club could be a place they’d be targeted, which is bad business for us, but also not something we really want – I mean, customers dying means they don’t come back, right?  She tried to make it sound lighthearted, but I could tell she was feeling pretty serious about it.  I don’t want other customers to be in danger, but obviously we can’t just provide protection, it’s not our job.  I don’t even know if there’s anything I can do about it more than we already do – just scan people for weapons and all – but I’m thinking of talking to Croc.  If she knows what’s going on, she might have a better read on whether we need to ask them not to show up for the time being – which isn’t my preference – or keep an eye on them when they do show up, just to make sure they’re okay, though that means extra work on our end, and like I said, that’s not really our job.

I could tell she was thinking out loud, and managing the club was not my area of expertise, so I stayed quiet, just letting her think.

Although, if they’re trying to make the deaths not obvious as murders, then they probably wouldn’t bother the club, right?  Too many witnesses.  Maybe after or beforehand, while they’re parking or something and alone, but not at the club itself.  Probably not really something I can control then.  I wonder if any of El’s family would be willing to station near the club to keep an eye out?  Or is that too self-serving, that I want to make sure my business is safe and not caring about all the other ones in town?

She sighed, then got up and put on her shoes – high heels that I had to admire her for just wearing.  I was nowhere near coordinated enough to wear something like that.  When I wasn’t at work, I liked wearing more shiny clothes and more typical “gay” stuff, just in the quiet of my own home.  Heels, unfortunately, were something I couldn’t seem to master.

I kind of hope El’s family finds the serial killer soon.  Right now I might just be worrying too much, which I suppose is why they’re trying to keep it quiet and not talk a lot about it or let the public know.  They don’t want people to panic.  But I wonder if the families know?  If they’re being targeted, she paused, thinking, then continued more slowly, if they’re being targeted, they’d want to know.  And they might have more resources to find out how it is than the police do, or even El’s family.  El’s family can only watch from a distance, after all.  They don’t know all the players involved, but…I know someone who does.

Her entire being took on a more determined stance, one I recognized.  She’d made up her mind and was ready for action.

Whoever she was aiming at, I hoped they got out of her way quickly.  Kat was an unstoppable juggernaut when she made up her mind to get what she wanted.