((All copyrights to elements borrowed for the purposes of this story retain the property of their original owners; David Weber and Joss Whedon made the toys, I'm just playing with them.))

Once upon a time, a witch named Willow Rosenberg cast a spell.

It was an extraordinarily powerful spell. It changed what had once been an empowerment given to a single person into something tied to the bloodlines of every potential recipient.

It changed the balance of power in the universe forever.

Some two thousand years later, Admiral and Steadholder Honor Alexander-Harrington, and her treecat companion, Nimitz, emerged from an alleyway in Landing City, as Honor slid a wooden stake back into the pocket hidden under her skirt.

One could explain a lot of things with 'genetic augmentation' these days.