I'd gotten used to it a long time ago, but it took a long while for me to realize this wasn't a normal circumstance. I remember going up to my teacher, trying to question him as to why a lady made of clouds was trying to give me lolly-pops. My mate Jeremy turned out to be a Kelpie in disguise (who knew they could turn into humans?) oh, and don't forget the time I simply tried looking for a job and was immediately hounded by very suspicious job offers.

"Official horse cleaner of the Jade Palace."

"Cup-bearer of the Troll King."

"Foot-stool of the Great Fae Guardian"

"Apprentice of Surgat, the Opener of Locks."

I ignored them all and worked at the bakery.

Now I'm 31 years old, I live alone in a detached house out in the suburbs of the city, I have no neighbours because my unique sort of, well, curse, scared them all off. I had an Irish woman who lived across the road but the second she heard that Banshee scream she ran for her life and never returned.

I wish I could say I had a girlfriend but once I brought a girl back home, she immediately left upon finding a foot-tall imp playing the violin on my windowsill.

Today is a day started out like any other. I wake up, make a cup of tea, walk outside in my dressing-gown and am immediately stopped in my tracks by a ghostly looking woman with icy-blue eyes, hovering over my decking chair and staring at me curiously.

"I'm not marrying you." I say bluntly, then taking another sip of my tea. She says nothing.

"Erm... so, yeah you can go. Sorry to say no but it is how it is." She continued to say nothing, do nothing, but hover over my decking chair.

"You can-you can go now, ok."

"How curious." She says, twirling upside down, as if she were in zero-gravity.

"Curious? I guess you could say that about me. Anyways I'm off back inside." I turned around, then yelped, almost dropping my precious tea, because she had suddenly appeared in front of my face.

"Jeeeesus Christ woman, I almost spilled my bloody tea."

"Us Sylphs are curious creatures." She says, floating closer to me.

"I hear you are cursed?" The sylph tilts her head, and I gulp.

"Wow, how genius of you, master detective you are. What gave it away, the banshees or the weekly fairy parade on my doorstep?"

"Do you know why?" She smiles dubiously and I take a step back.

"Heh-huh, what? Why? I don't know, maybe I drank some boggarts milk as a kid and he wasn't too happy about it."

She laughs and sits down under the overhang above the doorframe.

"It is truly a mystery how they never told you. You didn't ever ask?"

"... I, no, I mean, yeah I did once, but he just laughed. What's this about anyway, if you're not here to marry me?"

"When you were a baby, you met a woman, her name was Aine."

I didn't say anything. Was she about to simply just tell me, right now, what this was all about? No build-up, no nothing? Just... now?

"Aine is a goddess of Love. When you were only a few months old, you had a dandelion in hand, which you gave to her. She lay an enchantment on you as a thank you, that promised you will always be cared for and watched over by the world of the supernatural."

"... what?"

"How do you mean 'What?'"

"I mean like... that's it?"

"Yes."

"I was expecting something more, well, exciting."

"You're disappointed?"

"Well yeah, I thought I was some awesome like, hybrid. My father was a god and my mother some like, personified force of protection, I don't know."

"You humans truly are full of themselves. Centuries ago, I was hunted greatly by humankind for my wealth of knowledge, but of course I was never caught. Now here I am giving you knowledge for free and you're underwhelmed. That to me is the greatest mystery."

"Are you going to leave now?"

"No."

"Uh, how come?"

"Because I'd like to marry you."

"Fuck off."