Sarah was unsure at first. How was this being supposed to relate to what she was going through? They were born and raised with magic, seeing the humans walking around in blissful ignorance.”

  The doctor picked up her reticence. “As I said, I’m not here to judge you. The first step in a healthy doctor patient relationship is trust. Today I want us to focus on building up that trust.”

  She closed her notebook and placed it and her pen on the coffee table. “How about I start with telling you a little about myself? My name is Cora Rigas and I have been practicing medicine for seventy years and have been a mental health specialist for fifty of them.”

  Sure, another person looking a fraction of their age. Not exactly helping her at the moment.

  “Over those years,” she continued, “I have helped ten beast-cursed come into their own. It is always difficult at first. Are you human or being? Am I really the owner of this body? All newly cursed go through this transitional stage. I won’t lie to you and say it’ll be easy, there will be challenges. What I can guarantee is that I’ll be here with you every step of the way.”

  Sarah thought about what the fishy woman said. Not that she was suspicious, it was just that she was part fish. Was that offensive? Probably. She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. If the woman was being honest, then maybe she could be the breakwater between her and insanity.

  “So,” the doctor said with a kind smile. “Tell me about you.”

  “Well,” Sarah sighed, “I was born in…”

  Over the course of their session Sarah started opening up to the doctor. Whenever she started to tighten up or shut down, the doctor would hum a little tune. Whenever the melodious tone filled the air, her muscles and mind loosened letting her continue. She knew the sound was hypnotic in nature. At that point anything to help her stay calm was welcome. She told her about her history, how she was effectively stolen from her life, how worried she was about her family, her tiger’s influence, and everything else she could think of. By the end of the session Sarah felt significantly better. She was able to get everything off her chest to someone who genuinely seemed like they cared.

  Eventually she reached the point of running out of things to talk about. She still didn’t trust the doctor so there were still a few things she kept to herself.

  “I believe we should end it here for today.” She gave Sarah a sharp-toothed smile. “We can plan for another session once I get my hands on your schedule. Is that something you would like?”

  Sarah thought for a few seconds. Would she want to keep this up? She wasn’t stubborn enough to think she would be able to survive all this without plenty of help. “Uh, yeah. I would.”

  “Good. Next will be your last stop of the day. When you exit here, turn right and follow the music.”

  “Follow the music?”

  She giggled. “You’ll know what I mean. I hope you start feeling better.”

  As Sarah left, she gave Dr. Rigas a smile. “Thanks for listening.”

  She shrugged, “it’s what I’m here for.”

  While still smiling Sarah closed the door behind her and tried to listen for music. It didn’t take long to understand what she meant. There was the deep thumping of heavy metal coming from down the hall. As instructed, she followed the music.

  By the time she reached the source, the music was enough to make it difficult for Sarah to think straight. It was especially grating since she was never one for any kind of heavy metal or punk music. She was more classical or classic pop.

  She forced herself a step forward into the room. The whole thing screamed tattoo studio. Half of the walls were covered in artistic designs while the other half was a huge collection of circles similar to the one she stood in the middle of for the scan. There were two seats, equipment she couldn’t identify, and a too-large speaker system pushed against a wall.

  Apparently, the last step was getting a tattoo. She didn’t have any, her parents would have killed her if she did. She also had never seen the appeal. Some of her friends had a few and were pretty, it just wasn’t for her.

  On top of the blaring speakers was a doll house couch, and laying on the couch was a tiny woman with a pair of long gossamer wings. It looked like she was going to get tattooed by a fairy. Damn magical bullshit. What’s next, a centaur accountant?

  Anyway, the little winged woman was very different from the expected tinkerbell look. She looked like she was about to dive into a hardcore mosh pit. It was like the 90s punk era decided to minitarize itself and put on a pair of wings. Her look was complete with a red spiked mohawk, leather jacket, frayed jean shorts, fishnet stockings and heavy boots.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Sarah was quickly noticed. With a flutter of wings, she rose off the couch and landed on a nearby remote-control. With a stomp on the power button the eight inch tall being stopped the music, leaving silence and a light ringing in Sarah’s ears. She had finally gotten the ringing from the last sonic assault out and now it’s back.

  “Oy, what you want?” She asked in a cockney accent. She sound annoyed that someone was interrupting her jam session.

  “My name is Sarah, and this is my last stop for processing.”

  “Ah,” she said, flitting over to one of the chairs with a smile and an immediate shift in attitude. “The ol’ ink and shiv then. I thought you were one of them miffed at me. Too loud and all that. Now take a seat and I’ll make you right lush.”

  Sarah sat in the seat the woman was standing on. “So, you just here for the boring stuff or you up to some real art?”

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Why do I need a tattoo?”

  She buzzed over to meet Sarah eye to eye. “You don’t know why you’re here? You’re right in the deep end ain’t ya?” She hovered back a foot. “Well, it's the most common magic tattoo there is. Essentially everyone gets one when they come of age.” She flew over to the wall covered in circles and pointed at one of the smaller yet most complicated ones.

  “This magic circles take what you hear and put it to what makes sense to you. It isn't near perfect. It really only works if it is a very common human language or the person you’re talking to also has one. The thing also doesn’t translate written language. It’s a bit of a bodge for actually learning whatever talk you’re trying to get. Even then some languages translate weirdly. Even with all the lumps, if it stops you making a clanger mid talk then it’s all good.”

  That’s it, Sarah thought, I’m done. A translation tattoo is not just normal, its expected. “Alright, so what do I need to do?”

  The fairy smiled. “First turn around. I need to lay you flat since the ink is going on the back of your noggin.”

  “My head? Why my head?” she asked incredulously while straightening. Did that mean she needed to get her hair shaved?

  “Cuz that’s where your thinker is. You don’t think with your arm or arse, do you?”

  Though that was true enough, she just wasn’t a fan of shaving her head, pain or tattoos. “Don’t worry love.” The fairy continued, “the pain of my work won’t be like coming from those human kits. I also got some magic to make you proper when I’m done. So, no worries, yeah?”

  Sarah took a deep breath and thought of her session with Dr. Rigas. “Let’s get this over with,” she stood and sat reversed on the chair with her face sticking through the hole of the headrest.

  “That’s the spirit.” The fairy said while doing something Sarah couldn’t see. It was only another minute before she felt a weight on the nape of her neck. The shave was surprisingly smooth with it just feeling like someone wiping a cool cloth on her scalp.

  “Here we go,” the artist said after landing on her upper back.

  Sarah jumped when she felt the first prick and a high-pitched buzz of a miniature tattoo machine.

  A few minutes in the pain started growing. Sarah couldn’t hold back her questions as she looked for something to distract herself. “How do magic tattoos work? It doesn’t make sense that putting a pattern on someone could make them magical.”

  “You’re right about that,” she answered, not slowing down. “There’s two bits that make tattoo circles work on beings like us. First, the subject must have some sort of magic in them. Second, you gotta use special ink.”

  “The ink?”

  “Yeah sis, they take special herbs grown in high-mana areas, throw some extra magic on them, and burn them. They then take the ashes, mix it with some alchemy juices and make magic ink. If done right the being’s mana will run through the thing and activate the spell.”

  Sarah became fascinated at the concept. “If magic tattoos are this effective, does that mean mages get themselves covered in them?”

  The fairy paused in her work. “Not really. Every one gets one or two past the translation but not much else. The problem is that you have no control over when or how much is being pumped in. This makes passive stuff the only thing that works.”

  She laughed as the pain returned. “I remember a time this bruv tried to prove us wrong and put a flamethrower on his palm. When the last line was done the thing blasted and if he wasn’t fireproof he would’ve burned his hand off. They had to use a cold brand to break the circle so they could remove the thing.”

  Sarah was somehow relieved to hear that even beings had idiots. “How did you remove it?”

  “Human laser tech. Nice stuff.”

  “Huh,” Sarah said, taking it in. It sounded like the stories she occasionally heard coming from the frat houses when they mixed booze and boredom.

  They spent the rest of the hour doing small talk. Thankfully, the small woman was interested in modern human culture and kept the speaker off. The tattoo process itself was painful but nothing like what she imagined. Instead of being jabbed with needles it more felt like she was being rubbed with a cactus.

  After the whole thing was over and she cast a spell to heal the damage, the fairy flitted off her nape and floated in front of her. “That’s it.”

  Sarah sat up and felt for the bald spot. It was about two inches across and was perfectly smooth. As she was thanking the fairy, Instructor Liakos entered.

  “Finally done?” she asked still in her no-nonsense tone. She was as straight backed and stern as when they separated.

  “I think so ma’am.” Sarah answered.

  “Yo, how ya doing?” The fairy said. “Still as stony as ever?”

  Sarah’s eyes widened as she heard the questions. How stupid and insane was she?

  Instructor Liakos only responded with a withering glance. The fairy only smiled before returning to her couch.

  “Good” the amazon said refocusing on Sarah. “Now it’s time to start your training properly.” Sarah noticed that the woman’s lips no longer matched what she heard. She had apparently returned to her own language. She quickly spun on her heel and strode out of sight. Sarah took a deep breath and followed her soon to be torturer.