How do you handle Fae-Touched NPCs?

[DontEatRawHagis]

Finished the broad strokes of character creation with a player and noticed that they have a key promise in their backstory that I'd like to follow up on. They made a promise to return to their sister after going to the pharmacy. The perfect candidate for a Fae Touched NPC. Especially since the PC was lost back in 1920 so their Fetch is likely long dead.

But I'm still unclear about a few things:

• The PC was kidnapped in 1920, if her sister went after her does it make sense for her to still be alive? I know the Hedge can play with time for Changelings when they get captured, but I have no idea how it affects Mortals/.
• Can Fae-Touched become Changelings themselves? I haven't seen anything on this, but it seems like its possible if a True Fae finds them. Or am I wrong?

So far I've got the following ideas:

• Sister realized that the Fetch wasn't real and left for the Hedge. This 10 year old girl survives in the Hedge on her own for 10 years, but manages to escape or find the PC. Though she ends up in 2020.
• Sister gets lost in the Hedge, but manages to escape earlier than 2020, with the help of a Changeling from either the same Freehold or a different Freehold (Likely different because I feel like they would immediately recognize each other). Timeline wise she'd be the Older Sister now (PC is going to be around 24).
• Sister doesn't realize the Fetch is what it is till much later in life. Kills the Fetch and falls into the Hedge. Escapes sometime in the future.
• Sister while in the Hedge is discovered by the PC's Keeper and is used as bait for a trap in the future.
• Sister is stuck in a Dream Bastion. She ends up plaguing the dreams of various humans as she is shunted from Bastion to Bastion.

What do you all think?

What have you done in the past for your players?

[Satchel]

Finished the broad strokes of character creation with a player and noticed that they have a key promise in their backstory that I'd like to follow up on. They made a promise to return to their sister after going to the pharmacy. The perfect candidate for a Fae Touched NPC.

I feel like I'm missing some details, because the promise a fae-touched has kept their end of is generally more significant than "I'll be right back from this shopping trip."

The PC was kidnapped in 1920, if her sister went after her does it make sense for her to still be alive? I know the Hedge can play with time for Changelings when they get captured, but I have no idea how it affects Mortals/.

Going from the third option in this list, your game takes place in Current Year, which means this runs into the problem that is the main reason 1e tended to specify that changelings returning to find half a century or more had passed in their absence were pretty rare. I vaguely remember mention that Kith and Kin might address unusual return timeframes, but otherwise there's not much advice available for running characters a century out of step.

The Hedge does not, absent the use of particular Contracts, treat time too differently from Earth in aggregate, although different locations in the Hedge may see time pass at different rates based on various factors — Arcadia is the place to more regularly find mansions sequestered from the passing of the years and such, whereas a semiregular feature of the Hedge relies on it having sunrises.

Can Fae-Touched become Changelings themselves? I haven't seen anything on this, but it seems like its possible if a True Fae finds them. Or am I wrong?

There's been nothing to suggest that they can't or that the result is anything unusual so far in the line.

Sister realized that the Fetch wasn't real and left for the Hedge. This 10 year old girl survives in the Hedge on her own for 10 years, but manages to escape or find the PC. Though she ends up in 2020.

Living in the Hedge as a human has consequences that may be outside your intended scope, so I'd use this one with caution.

Sister gets lost in the Hedge, but manages to escape earlier than 2020, with the help of a Changeling from either the same Freehold or a different Freehold (Likely different because I feel like they would immediately recognize each other). Timeline wise she'd be the Older Sister now (PC is going to be around 24).

This feels like the strongest pick from the list.

Sister doesn't realize the Fetch is what it is till much later in life. Kills the Fetch and falls into the Hedge. Escapes sometime in the future.

Fae-touched recognizing the fetch is an imposter immediately is by no means required, but without an extended period leading up to first contact it doesn't seem to fit well to skip it in this case.

Sister while in the Hedge is discovered by the PC's Keeper and is used as bait for a trap in the future.

This one has the best odds of avoiding too much temporal distance between the siblings, which may be a point against it, given the usual missed-you-for-years toolkit fiction works from.

Sister is stuck in a Dream Bastion. She ends up plaguing the dreams of various humans as she is shunted from Bastion to Bastion.

Far afield from the usual routes to take trying to find a changeling, since the Gate of Horn is both elusive and Keyed. Wouldn't recommend this one unless how contrived it is is a plot point.

One option not presented on the list is that the sister could have passed her promise on to a younger relative in the intervening years: "Someone always goes into the Hedge. Even if the person who originally made the promise does not — maybe she dies of an accident or resists long into old age — someone takes up the promise."

[Mr.F.I.X.]

The promise can be passed onto ones descendants so the fae touched may simply be down the line and not the individual themself if enough time has passed. To answer that part specifically

[DontEatRawHagis]

I feel like I'm missing some details, because the promise a fae-touched has kept their end of is generally more significant than "I'll be right back from this shopping trip."

She was going for medicine for her sick sister. So it has a bit more weight than a standard trip to the store.

The Hedge does not, absent the use of particular Contracts, treat time too differently from Earth in aggregate, although different locations in the Hedge may see time pass at different rates based on various factors — Arcadia is the place to more regularly find mansions sequestered from the passing of the years and such, whereas a semiregular feature of the Hedge relies on it having sunrises.

Thats good to know I was kind of worried that the players would be entering the Hedge and experiencing sped up time a lot.

There's been nothing to suggest that they can't or that the result is anything unusual so far in the line.

Another option I have then is that the Keeper used her Sister as a replacement.

One option not presented on the list is that the sister could have passed her promise on to a younger relative in the intervening years: "Someone always goes into the Hedge. Even if the person who originally made the promise does not — maybe she dies of an accident or resists long into old age — someone takes up the promise."

This may be the option I go with as it seems like it'll cause the least amount of trouble timeline wise.