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NEVER SPLIT THE PARTY: THE ADVENTURES OF THE CREEPING BAM, BOOK THREE: WARMER - CHAPTER 9

If you’re new to the story, please go check out Book 1 first …

Book 3 Chapter 1 is here …

MPORTANT: Please note this story includes content that may be considered mature, such as moderate battle violence, some strong language and occasional mild sexual scenes.

If you want to support my writing, feel free to swing by my Patreon or Ko-fi.

CHAPTER NINE: GAEL

Lady Naru walked us out after the meeting broke up, giving Daste a particularly fond parting hug and kiss on the cheek before we left the chamber and finally broke the spell. The whole way down the stairs and out of the door she hovered close at my side, and she just kept firing questions at me. She wanted to know the most contrary things, I genuinely couldn’t work out why she was asking about these things, none of it seemed to have any import at all. She just wanted to know about me. How it had been for me growing up, what I’d been through in my training, and my adventures out in the wider world. The exact kinds of questions da always asked me when he returned to Bavat, actually.

She’s kind, and gentle with me. I found myself warming to her very quickly, something about her just puts me at ease, but there’s more to it than that. It’s taken me so long to work out how it feels to me, but I realise now it’s like I already know her. From somewhere deep in my past, before I was capable of remembering her. She just feels so familiar to me.

That being said, the whole time I could still feel Kesla watching the two of us like a hawk, and I knew she was silently judging our new acquaintance, deciding if she can be trusted. I’d like to think she’s just being protective, but the truth is this is just Kesla being Kesla. She really is incorrigible in some ways.

Personally, I just want to have this. I have no real family apart from my father, or at least I don’t think there’s anyone else out there, I never got to know my mother. Da won’t even talk about her, the one time he relented to my questions he simply said that nothing good can come from me knowing before I’m ready. I wish I had the first clue what that even means. But because of this I’ve always striven to get as many friends as I can, even though it can be a little difficult for me sometimes, I’m really not good at all that social mess, I just never got the hang of it. So I’ve got plenty of family out there, but only one of them is blood.

Sulin Naru is another connection to my past, someone who’s very close to my father. The more I manage to learn through inference from her own questions the clearer it’s become to me she really does know my father, so even if Kesla’s unconvinced, she’s won me over. I want to spend more time around her, as much simply because I really do like her as because she’s one of my father’s oldest friends.

Besides, she’s kind of fascinating. I’ve never met a real sorcerer, in truth very few have, at least knowingly, but thanks to my education I know a lot more about them than most. The opportunity to learn more from personal experience is too great a temptation for me.

After leaving the Transit House and heading back across the bridge, we went back to our hotel for the first time in days, mostly on the pretence of swapping out some of our old gear for fresh clothing and supplies from our luggage. Certainly it was nice to be able to change my own travelling clothes from my packs, and I needed to replenish my own components as well as help Tulen rethink her own gear in the face of what we’re now into, but we ended up staying longer. To start with, we needed to see to our horses, Kesla and Shay in particular giving some attention to their fearsome mounts, Trampler and Elder, who seemed to have grown lonely despite having been looked after well enough by the stable-workers. Then Art declared he needed a drink, which prompted others to admit they were hungry, despite the hearty breakfast we had before we left the temple, so we ended up taking food and a few pints before heading out again.

So now the afternoon’s growing long above us as we’re navigating the streets again, this time following my nose as I use the blood dried into my ruined handkerchief as focal point for the tracking spell I’ve put up alongside Olsbeq’s Awareness Augment. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I tried this, and I suspect I look a little strange to casual passers-by right now due to the components, but I’ve got more immediate concerns right now. Despite my own personal mastery of the mechanics of the spell, I have to admit Tulen has a good point with this particular piece of magic. It’s a lot.

After smearing lines of corn syrup around my eyes, ears and under my nostrils, I had to take a piece of raw cotton and soak it in castor oil before holding it under my nose and taking a deep breath. With the unpleasant medicinal tang of it in my head I summoned up the relevant sigil and spoke the incantation, then ran my fingers over the lines, mashing them as deep in as I could without either temporarily blinding or deafening myself as the charm took hold. I’ll admit having the sweet corn syrup in my nostrils easily drove off the unpleasantness of the castor oil, but it still had me blinking from the sting in my eyes while my ears popped as the spell finally took hold. Then suddenly I could see and hear everything. Or at least that’s what it feels like.

Most of the group look pretty much the same as they normally do, just in much greater detail since now I’m able to make out each individual stitch and weave in their clothing, every near-imperceptible line and wrinkle in their skin, every single hair grown from their heads. There are other, subtle details, though. When I looked at Kesla the first thing I saw was her strength, as if the latent power stored in her muscles was a palpable thing, just rising from her like strangely beautiful fumes. There’s something very similar to Thel and Dumoli, I quickly noticed, as well as Yeslee, although that didn’t take me by surprise after seeing it in the others.

Others were more interesting to observe, however. Krakka glows like a beacon, he’s entirely too bright for me to look at, and I know that’s the blazing power of his beloved goddess. Shay shines too, but hers is more subtly subdued, more akin to my own slightly pearlescent glow, which I know comes from her own half-elf blood. I know full well that I must be as brilliantly illuminated as Tulen, though, her magical potential ebbing and flowing much like the dancing auroras seen over the mountains sometimes in the Northern Reaches which I hear are a nightly event in Tektehr. In her case it pulses with the beat of her heart, and I’m sure my own does the same, although I suspect my own brilliant colour scheme is subtly different, although I hope it’s at least as strikingly beautiful. Since she refused to try the spell again she couldn’t tell me.

Lady Naru was, unsurprisingly, a bonfire. If I had any doubt before that she really is a sorcerer, it died in that instant. Her own power is no aurora, it blazes as bright as Krakka’s but with the dancing, golden fire of the sun’s corona. And while Tulen’s waves waft off her in impressive but ultimately lazy waves, Naru’s boil and flare with furious flashes like a blast furnace. I couldn’t make out her face in the midst of it any better than Krakka’s.

Big Man surprised me the most, though. I’ve grown so used to him as this dark, dull, cold hulk of impenetrable ceramic, the only real indicator of life his bright red eyes, but when I laid eyes on him after activating the Augment … he’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. His physical form is still there, but I can see that his hard, cold form is really just a shell. The real Driver 8 is the bright red fire inside him, which crackles and dances and spins with unmistakable arcane life. I couldn’t help myself when I saw it, the words escaped me all on their own: “Big Man … you’re incandescent.”

He looked at me for a long moment before replying, and I swear I could actually see his attention this time, I knew he was looking right at me now, looking me over, and something about the way his dancing fire seemed to spin and weave as he did it … I can’t explain it, it felt like appreciation, and love. For the first time I knew he cares about me the same way I’ve come to care about him. The rest too, I’m sure.

“Thank you, Gael. You are very much the same to me.”

Hearing that put the theory to bed for me. It seems this is very much how he sees the world too, so given Kesla’s requirements this was clearly the smart choice. So I concentrated and did the requisite fine-tuning, just like I always did back in the classrooms when we tried this, as well as in my examinations when I last tried it, and everything calmed down again. I could still see everything, and feel everything, and I hear things I never do with my normal ears, but otherwise it was mostly as it is normally.

Now all I have to do is focus, when I need to, and I can pick up on what’s going on around me, or I can read people around, me, pick up subtleties I would never be able to observe with my normal eyes or ears or sense of smell. I’m inherently aware of everyone around me, not only within my sight but beyond too, and with a surprisingly minor adjustment I can increase the range significantly. I don’t know quite how far out I can make this work, but it’s a fair assessment that anything within a quarter mile is conceivably within my awareness now.

Once she was assured my spell would easily serve the same functions as Big Man’s sensory abilities, Kesla divided the group. Putting Shay in charge of our group seemed to make Thel a little prickly when it became clear that means taking her lead from the half-orc, but she’s warming to the idea easily enough, although I think having Brung along for the ride probably helped. She also put Krakka with us too, just in case we do run into anything more than we can handle on our own, and I suspect she assigned Darwyn, Yeslee and Zuldrad too for the same reasons. I noticed Darwyn breathing a little smoother once she realised this meant she wouldn’t have to put up with her ex, much like last time.

Then again, our resources are pretty well spread out between the two groups now. Art knows the streets as well as his fellow thieves, and with Driver 8 watching out for them they shouldn’t have to worry about anyone following them, at least without them catching up on it. Besides, he can take on a small army by himself, having both Tulen and Lady Naru with them almost feels like overkill for inherent defence. Besides, if they are going to head into the richer quarters of the city, then surely the chances of them running into an actual fight actually drop considerably. We’re the ones who are actually going out looking for trouble right now.

Besides, we can still keep in touch with the others if we need to. Tulen promised before we parted ways that the moment anything at all happens on their end she’ll let me know about it, and Lady Naru said the messenger magic’s as easy to her as anything else. That being said, I find myself wondering what it would actually be like to try using that spell while I’m already in the thrall of the Augment. It’s perhaps not the most enticing prospect right now …

Stopping just short of the curb, I give the bundled cloth in my free hand a little squeeze as I turn a slow semi-circle and scan the broad thoroughfare ahead of me. I don’t see the others stopping behind me, but I know they do all the same, even the order they do it in as they note than I’m adjusting to the change in surroundings again. I can feel Shay shifting her weight from one foot to the other, regarding me for a long beat, and I can even sense she wants to speak now, even as I take in all the other bodies around us. Business is still in full swing so the wide street is pretty busy, but there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary.

Finally Shay clears her throat and takes a step closer. “Um … Gael, you all right there?”

“Perfectly fine.” I breathe, thoroughly aware that I’m speaking at a conversational level she can easily pick up on even out here with all this ambient noise.

The way I can not only see the creasing of the little wrinkle between her brows but the muscles behind it is a little discomfiting for me right now, but it’s a more subtle effect I’m still a little lost over how to actually realistically ignore. “Gael … you’re walking like you’re in a trance, and your eyes are … gods, that is weird. Your pupils are dancing. They can’t decide if they’re going to stay wide open or tight as pinholes. And you look frightful. People are staring.”

Frowning and actually feeling every inch of my face subtly adjusting from that one movement, I look around again, and I can see what she means easily enough, as much feeling the attention of those who are passing us by. I’m drawing a lot of looks all right, but then with what must looks very much like fresh blood painted in smeared lines across my face I’m well aware of the outlandishness of my appearance. Even in Untermer I know this must be a weird look, even without the way I’m apparently moving around.

“Honestly, Shay?” I find myself forming the words without thinking too much about it, really. “I have no idea how the hell Big Man does this every day.”

“Because he’s a golem, Gael. He was built that way. He’s always seen the world like this.” She steps closer now, putting her hand in the small of my back, but gently, not putting any real pressure on me yet. “I thought you said you’d done this before, though. That you had control over it.”

“I did. I do. It’s just …” I blink, and while the act only lasts for the split of a second it seems to feel to me like it takes much longer. Oh, that might be the worst part of this, the stretching of perceived time in certain moments. “Ooof … um … oh, yes, well … that was in a controlled environment. Back in the Academy, in the classroom, or in the examination hall. This is … somewhat different.”

Shay’s frown deepens as she looks right into my eyes, and as she opens her mouth it’s worryingly like I can already see the words she’s forming. Like some horrible pre-emptive echo. “Do you need help?” She presses my back more firmly now, but I can feel every tendon in her fingers, the bones behind them, even the ridges of her fingerprints, through the layers of my clothes.

“No. I’m all right. Really. I promise.”

Stepping back as she breaks contact, Shay still watches me closer than a hawk, looking thoroughly unconvinced by my words. “Gael, I …” She takes a deep breath, then lets it out in a deep sigh. “Fuck. Okay, if you insist. Kesla put me in charge, sort of, but … I’m going to defer just this once, because you’re supposed to be the expert on magic here.” She sets her jaw, and I see the muscles shifting under her impressive cheeks. “Which way?”

Squinting now, I focus on the other half of the combined spell I’ve woven, and the handkerchief still gripped in my hand almost seems to pulse as I shift my gaze. I feel the subtlest throb behind my eyes, then I see that bright red line I’ve been following since I finished the spells shift. Curving right, down past two stores across the thoroughfare and then cutting into the alleyway just past. I start walking without thinking.

“Whoa, wait!” I feel Shay grab me hard, and it sets off a whole flood of physical sensations through me as she digs her fingers into my shoulders and pulls me back. Just as the trotting horse and cart I’d been fully aware of but somehow still managed to completely ignore as I focused on the path rolls right through the space I would have occupied on the cobbled street. “Gods, Gael, focus.”

“That’s just what I am doing …” The words are out without conscious thought once again, my reasoning mind still detached from my awareness, I think. Another of the strange side effects of this spell. “But thank you. That could have been bad.”

“No shit.” Shay lets go of me and I set off instantly, and I hear her muttering a slightly winded oath as she scrambles to follow me again. I can feel her frustration radiating from her like a palpable fever now. I can also sense all the others following too, and I know they’re just as concerned as Shay now, especially after that near miss.

“Shay,” I hear Thel muttering as she draws in close to her side, even though the low tone’s intended to be private. “What the fuck is going on with ‘em?”

“Magic. I don’t get it either, and I like it even less. They say they’re on top of it, though.”

“Seriously? You saw what just happened. They’re stumbling round like they’re being controlled by some crazy druid. They carry on like this they’re gonna get hurt.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

Thel doesn’t reply this time, but I can feel her frustration growing now too. Directed as much at Shay as at me, though, I notice. Chafing at the required deference, I think.

The moment I step into the alley the smell hits like a physical wall, trash and raw sewage and body odour. I pull the scent-portion of my input out as much as I consciously can as I start stepping gingerly, not actually having to look down to keep track of the cleaner, drier spots in the broken paving as I navigate the overflow from the badly maintained drains. I keep my focus directed on the path ahead as I lead the group into the next stretch of the labyrinth.

“Ugh … charming place.” I hear Krakka mutter from somewhere in the middle behind me.

“Welcome to Untermer.” Shay growls under her own breath “Again.”

“You get used to it.” Darwyn pipes up, and the amusement is clear in her voice, but I can also sense her more mischievous streak stepping up too. “Eventually.”

“I don’t want to get used to this.” Krakka snaps “Even the poor quarters in Tabaphic don’t smell this bad.”

They continue for a few more moments, and while it’s definitely bickering I can tell it’s relatively light hearted now they have something else to take their mind off my current predicament for a minute or two. But something else is starting to draw my own attention now. Not here, in the tight, winding confines of the allay, but ahead. In the more open space that I can already sense a little way ahead.

So I just stop on the spot, not really a conscious decision but just smart given the situation. Shay catches it quickly enough, of course, but I feel the message taking more time to travel through the rest of the group, so some of them come close to walking into the backs of others as we all draw to a clumsy halt.

“Um … Gael, are you –”

“Something’s ahead of us.”

The group falls dead silent at those words, and I feel several of them tense on the spot. Shay and Thel both reach for the weapons on their hips purely by instinct but don’t draw. An electric moment passes by, then I feel Shay step up close so she can lean over my shoulder, intending to whisper in my ear now.

“What kind of something?” I know she’s looking ahead now, but she can see as well as I can that the alley’s twists are as haphazard as any others we’ve encountered, nothing ahead actually visible right now.

That’s what Kesla would call a stumper, actually. I’ve been keeping my attentions trained for threats this whole time, and so far nothing’s actually presented itself, at least nothing explicitly dangerous. What I can feel up ahead … there’s no direct menace to it, I can tell at least that whatever threat there is here it’s not specifically focused on anything right now, it’s more pregnant with possibilities. A watchfulness, I suppose … of course that’s what it is. Guards. Sentries. Someone set out on watch. More than one person, I can feel now.

“Someone is … watching this path.”

“What …” Shay tenses a little more, I feel her grip tighten on her sword as well as hearing the creak of the tendons in her fingers, the subtlest creak in the leather of the scabbard. “They’re expecting us?”

“No, I don’t …” I concentrate a little deeper into what’s ahead, and it’s like a picture in abstraction forming ahead of me, it’s very strange. I can see the brick of the walls ahead of me, but somehow I can also make out what lies beyond, a small square lying between the crush of surrounding buildings. No nature here, though, just flagstone paving underfoot and some scattered man-made topography, looks like some tables and simple benches set out in the space. There are doorways in some of the walls, one of them currently open, and there’s a figure sat on the stoop, half in and half out of the entryway. This is the most watchful attention, I can see, but they’re not alone. There are three others here, two sat at one of the tables while a third is pacing idly in the middle of the open ground. None of these others look particularly alert, but they’re awake enough. All it takes is for one to notice you, after all.

This is … yes, this is definitely the place. As I push my focus a little tighter onto all of them, I can see they’re clearly of the same basic stock as the rest we’ve been fighting lately. The same makeshift leather gear and cloaks, the same borrowed or stolen Guild gear and weapons. As I push even deeper, looking past the man sat in the doorway – and it’s the strangest thing, I know right through that it is a man – I can sense they’re definitely not the only ones here.

The building in question is three storeys, somewhat slender but long so there’s room despite it being cramped. It’s all kinds of disconcerting that I can actually look through walls to see what lies inside, but more so to actually be able to make out the occupants too, although in these cases they’re more indistinct, mostly just vaguely man or woman-shaped blobs. The way they’re picked out in warm colours makes me think perhaps I’m seeing them through their body warmth, which is another strange and worrying thing, and I wonder if that’s how Big Man sees us all when we’re out of his direct sight. I try not to think about it now as I make a rough count but then the number just suddenly comes to me even though I didn’t actually ask for it first. Oof … I hate this.

I’m stumbling backwards before I quite realise, but I don’t fall as Shay just grabs hold of me again and holds me up. “Shit … Gael, come on. This cannot be good for you. Seriously, how long can you even keep this up?”

Blinking a few times, I finally just mash my eyes closed for a few beats and then give my head a good shake before finally forcing myself into a comfortable standing position again as I open them. “Oooh … it’s rather subjective, I’m told. It depends on the wizard, really. Tulen can barely handle it for a minute or two, after all.” When I look back at them now I’ve dialled it all right back so I’m seeing the group mostly how they normally are, but I still can’t quite escape the most obvious effects. Minerva … Krakka’s still a beacon. “I’ll be all right for a little longer, I think.”

“Bollocks.” Shay really doesn’t try to sugar-coat it this time. “Please, Gael. Just drop it.”

“He’s in there, just a little way down. But he’s not alone, there are quite a few more of them with him.”

Shay shuts her mouth a moment after I finish speaking, the words she clearly wanted to say dying in her throat. Instead her face darkens further as she looks past me for a moment, then back. “You’re sure about that?”

“Yes. It’s a strange thing, but … yes. I even know how many of them there are, just like Driver 8 does. It’s … I think I’m starting to understand him a little now. But I don’t like it.” I look at the others, seeing them all listening intently. Yeslee’s shouldered her way through the group now, stood just behind Shay as she looks right over her head down the alley ahead of us. I don’t even need to see her nostrils working to know she’s scenting the air now, I can almost see the air being drawn in through the flaring. “There’s close to three dozen altogether. The same kind of people we’ve been dealing with this past week.”

“Have they rumbled us?” Thel asks after a moment’s musing, looking almost excited now. Clearly she’s been pretty sick of all the waiting we’ve been doing of late. “Y’know, do they know we’re here?”

“Of course.” I can’t help cocking my brow at that. “Um … no, from what I can tell they’re pretty idle, actually. I mean the guards seem alert enough, but no more than you or I would be if this were just a normal day. I think. Um …” Faltering, I turn to Shay again, preferring the opinion of someone who actually has a tactical mind.

“Means they’re not expecting us, but they’re not being stupid about it either.” She strokes her chin for a moment , thoughtful now, then looks up at Yeslee. “What do you think?”

Yeslee’s brows shoot right up at that. She seems genuinely surprised that Shay’s actually asking for her opinion, but doesn’t actually come right out and say it. Instead she looks down at the half-orc for a moment, her expression smoothing out again as she thinks about it. “You’re the boss here.”

This time it’s Shay’s turn to be amazed, the way Yeslee said that was so matter of fact I know it was meant with the utmost respectful deference. She’s genuinely willing to go with Shay’s ideas since Kesla clearly thinks she can do it too. That being said, it’s not without precedent, Yeslee remembers as well as I do what a good job Shay did hunting us back in the mountains. “Um … yeah, cool. Thanks.” Frowning, she turns back to me. “How do we get in there, then?”

Thinking for a moment, I realise what she means. “Oh, yes. Of course. Entrances, yes.” I concentrate again, and I don’t even need to turn around, I can see the layout of the place again even though it’s behind me now. I’m trying very hard indeed to not actually think about that right now, I’m liable to make myself throw up, or something worse perhaps. “Um … okay, there’s the main one on the far side, but that’s not easy to access from here, we’d have to go all the way around to approach it from the street.”

“No point anyway, guarantee they’d be watching out from that way.” Yeslee pauses for a moment, still thoughtful, then looks up. “Oh, yes. Of course. The same way I would.”

“Why ain’t they picked up on us coming this way?” Thel’s looking back down the way we’ve come now, and she’s gripping the axe at her left side tight, while her free right hand just works on its own, clenching and then flexing. If they’re watching the front entrance, then –”

“I must have picked up on that without even realising it.” I shake my head a little, but with my eyes open it just causes everything to swim and jumble for a second. Gods … I shouldn’t do that again. “Um … I don’t know. As we were approaching, I was looking out for anyone actually observing us. I mean, more than just idle curiosity. Like watching with a purpose. I didn’t seem to pick up on it, but … I brought us in at a somewhat oblique angle, I think. I’m not sure.” I shrug, looking at Shay again as I sigh. “I don’t know. Maybe they just missed us.”

“You’re sure we’re not being watched, then?” Shay’s eyes are locked on mine as she asks, then she looks up the way Yeslee’s still doing. “There’s no chance they could be hiding it from you?”

“No, it doesn’t work that way. If there was someone observing us, I’d know it.”

“Is there a way in from above?” Yeslee’s question seems to stump Shay as much as me, I have to think about it for a moment, then my attention just seems to … it’s strange, there’s almost like a pinging sound deep in my head as I just know again, my attention seeming to home in on the answer. Minerva … I’m starting to hate this.

“There is. And there are two of them up there, watching out, although their attention seems to be mostly devoted to the front of the building. I think that might be why they missed us. It’s a lot of rooftop to cover for two of them.”

“That’s right, they should be more spread out so they could watch both sides simultaneously.” Yeslee breathes, finally looking down as she reaches into one of her pockets and produces her coiled bowstring. A simply flick of her wrist unspools it all at once, then she simply slips the tiny knotted loop at one end over the top of her bow’s stave and then upends the whole thing before bending it against her foot. The stave creaks somewhat and I know that she’s exerting a spectacular amount of force on it now as she bends the bow into shape, but as she simply pulls the string taut and slips the other end in place too she shows no strain at all. Finally she reaches into the pocket again and produces the two carved bone horns, tipping each end of the bow with the same quick care she’s shown in the rest of this operation. The whole thing can’t have taken more than fifteen seconds. “They’re not half so smart as they think they are, I suspect.”

“You’re sure you want to try this now?” Shay cocks a brow as she looks at the Fir Bolg.

“Best not to give them a chance to get more clever while we’re being so lucky.” She slips the newly strung bow over her hand and lets it rest across her back as she starts to roll her shoulders and picks up her feet. It’s a ritual I’ve come the recognise, she’s limbering up for a climb. “Can you make it up this wall after me?”

Frowning a little, Shay narrows her eyes. “After you? I thought …” She cocks her head and starts to smile. “Ah, yes.” She looks up again. “I think so. I’ve scaled smoother than this before. The drainpipes should help, anyway.” She looks at the rest of us, and her gaze lingers on Darwyn. “How about you?”

Darwyn’s not even looking at her, she’s just frowning upward as she takes the wall in. I follow her gaze, and my enhanced senses instantly start picking out imperfections, cracks and weak spots in the brickwork around us. Slowly I start to see what they’re talking about – these walls are sheer, but they’re also very rough, and there are far more handholds, perilously tight as most of them might seem, than I would have thought to just look at them normally. That being said, it’s still … well, if I’m daunted by a six foot drop onto a sandy beach, this kind of thing genuinely boggles me.

“Sure.” She shrugs after a moment, giving a cocked little smile. “Compared to some of the buildings I’ve had to climb up this might as well be a ladder.”

“Really?” I can’t keep the incredulity out of my face. “You’re sure?”

Looking up at me now, she cocks her brow. “Been doing this shit since I was genuine tiny. Art wishes he was good as me.”

Zuldrad snorts behind her, and when she gives him a hard glare he entirely ignores it, just smiling a quizzical little smile as he starts stripping off his gloves. After a frowning moment Darwyn starts doing the same. Seems he’s going with them too, then.

“Well … all right then, I suppose.” I turn back to Shay. “I can’t do this. You know I can’t do this. I’m bad enough with trees. I just never got the knack, it was very embarrassing for me when I was young.”

Letting out a little sigh, Shay just steps forward and lays her hand on my arm, giving it a gentle squeeze while she pulls me close until she can lay her forehead against mine. “Just breathe. You don’t have to. It’s just going to be the four of us, the rest of you are staying down here.”

“Brung can climb too, though.” Thel ventures, and when we look her way we find her small goblin companion’s stood at her side now, looking up the wall himself. “And he’s just as sneaky as any of you.”

“No, I want him to stay down here.” Shay steps back from me now, and I realise she’s not pulling her own gloves off any more than Yeslee is. Then again, neither of them have any fingers on their gloves. “You’re all going to be just as busy as they rest of us, I promise.”

“We are?” The words are out before I can stop them, the Augment’s still messing somewhat with my ability to differentiate between my simply thinking the words and actually saying them.

“Yes. You’re going to be the distraction.” The way she grins when she says that fills me with trepidation.

Thel, on the other hand, is just starting to smile again. “Oh, well reckon I can live with that. Long as I get to batter somebody I’m happy with this plan.”

Pulling off her cloak, Shay considers for a moment before folding it once and holding it out to me, but I really don’t mind. In truth it’s worth it if I get to look at her new armour.

Kesla insisted she should consider something with more protection than just the bracers she was wearing the other night, but I think Shay’s learned her lesson well enough after nearly dying. Instead she’s gone all the way to the other extreme – as soon as we got back to the hotel and had access to the rest of our luggage she went straight to her room to retrieve the new suit of armour she acquired from Hurrig back in the Academy in Bavat. She also rather sheepishly asked Tulen and I to help her get into it.

It was definitely worth the efforts, I think she looks amazing. Even without the Augment she looks absolutely beautiful, albeit in a rather dangerous way. The fine black scale-mail has the subtlest gleam, but something about it seems to let the light slide off of it rather than reflect too much, which I suspect is intended to add to her stealth. Hurrig was right when he said it should fit her, in truth it looks almost like it was made to measure for her specifically, the cuirass as snug around her torso as the sleeves and leggings. The pauldrons, faulds, vambraces and grieves, meanwhile, don’t so much bulk her out as simply compliment her form, and as she takes time to adjust the lie of her weapon harnesses I swear I can see the subtle shifting of her muscles through the metal scales. It might simply be another layer of the Augment, but I suspect it’s a genuine aspect of the armour itself. Either way, it’s quite beautifully made, and suits her down to the ground.

“Bloody hell.” Thel’s oath breaks me out of my reverie as surely as it grabs Shay’s attention. She’s looking the half-orc over with fresh appreciation, and as she starts to smile again she nods. “That is impressive.”

“Yeah, it is.” Darwyn nods too, although she’s frowning a little as she adjusts her own gear, having now shed her own cloak. “Bit fancy though, ain’t it? For what we’re doing, I mean.”

“Better not to take any chances if I can help it.” Shay takes a moment to smooth her hands over the snug scales covering her chest, moving cautiously down towards her belly. The armour makes the subtlest hissing sound as she does it, but to my ear it’s nothing more than the rasping of snakeskin against leather, there’s little chance of it giving her away. “Besides, this stuff is much lighter than it looks, and it’s got great flex. I won’t have any more trouble getting up there than without.” Stopping just short of her belt she takes her hands away and flexes both for a moment before looking to me again. “You should have worn yours too.”

“I’m sure I’ll be all right.” I puff up a bit, trying not to seem too defensive but probably not quite succeeding. “I suspect you don’t want me in the lead for this, anyway.”

That makes her smile a little, but it’s somewhat rueful. “Yes, you’re right there. You should really hang back, just be support for this. I doubt they’ve got the wizard in there, I imagine she’s still in that tavern where Kesla saw her earlier. Unless the orc’s in there I doubt they’ll even need you.”

“Please don’t tempt fate like that. I really don’t want to have to go up against him again.” I look up the wall again. “All right then, while you’re going in this way, what are we actually doing?”

“Well first of all I want you to give us all a refresher on that image you put in our heads earlier, so we’re sure who we’re actually looking for.”

I’m only a beat realising what she actually means by that, remembering that before I implemented the Augment and the tracking spell I had Thel picture Tog’s face from the other night in her head before pulling a copy of it into my own so I could project it to the rest. I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to do it again. “Of course.”

“Then I want you to contact Yulen, let them know what we’re about to do. I doubt we’ll need any backup but it can’t help to at least let them know we’re about to do something dangerous. You know, just in case.”

I start to blanche at that, I can’t help it. “Oh, no, I don’t know if I can actually do that right now. Not while I’m using –”

“Gael, please just drop this stupid spell. It’s no good for you, clearly. We need you properly alert for this, and for that I want your mind clear. I can’t have you distracted by what might be going on three streets away.” She steps close again, and even if I didn’t already know how serious she was just through my current inexplicable way of just being able to read it her expression’s enough to convince me. “All that’s left for you to do is work out where in there he is and give us an idea of how many we’re going to have to fight our way through to get to him, then you’re going to stop it, are we clear?”

Frowning, I look at her for a long, loaded moment, then turn to take the others in as they continue their various preparations. In truth I’m not really sure that I want to keep the Augment up right now, I suspect I might be uncomfortably close to hurting myself from this if I keep it up. So I jut sigh and nod my assent. “Of course. You’re right. This is getting uncomfortable.”

“All the better, then.” Shay reaches out again, this time touching my shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze, but again I still feel far more from that contact than I’d really like. “Like I said, I want you to hang back, just follow the others in. Thel, once we’re in place up there I want you and Brung to go in this way. You just strut straight in there like it’s your business, while your goblin friend sneaks around them. Once he’s ready I want you to …” She shrugs, but she’s smiling now. “Hell, do whatever feels natural, I just want you to make a big racket and really get their attention.”

“Killing one or more o’ them guards’ll do that just fine, I reckon.” Thel’s own grin is particularly wicked now as she lays both her hands on the heads of her handaxes.

“Then feel free. Krakka, you back her up if she needs it, but I want you behind her anyway. Gael takes the rear, I don’t want them to jump in unless they’re really needed. They need to be able to call to the others if things do go south.”

“How much help do you think they can actually be though?” Krakka wonders, and looking at him now I wonder if he’s even at all enthusiastic about the plan. “They’re halfway across the city by now.”

“Yes, but Tulen can just port at least two of them in at a snap, can’t she?” Shay smiles down at him. “As I said, I doubt they’ll actually be needed. But a little insurance doesn’t hurt.”

Krakka looks up at her for a moment, then just shrugs. “True. All right, then. Is that everything?”

Shay looks up the wall one more time, then down the alley in the direction we all intend to head, one way or another. “I believe it is.” Finally she turns back to me. “Go on, then.”

Remembering what she’s asked of me, I take a deep breath and open up my focus again, looking past the rest and taking one last deep glimpse into this makeshift enemy stronghold ahead of us. Taking a last hold on that strange red thread and pulling it taut as I concentrate on our target, somewhere deep within …

TO BE CONTINUED ...

#never split the party #The Creeping Bam #the adventures of the creeping bam #book 3 chapter 9 #fantasy fiction #original fiction #original fantasy fiction #to be continued

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redgoldsparks · 7 months

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I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood.

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life.

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!"

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why?

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined.

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks."

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017)

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot:

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism

*The government cannot be trusted

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper?

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

#harry potter #harry potter and the problematic author #jk rowling #transphobia #jk rowling transphobic

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