Chapter Seven
Celeste led the way to her house. It was just inside the edge of the village.
"The neighbors are definitely going to notice that we are here," Rhoswen mentioned.
Celeste's house would have been the first house the collector would have seen. No doubt he thought he was going to get a lot of money or barter from the village, judging from the first house, but he was mistaken. Celeste, the Lady Celeste, had not been born in the village, but had settled there later.
She had traded her hustle and bustle Dublin life for a more calm, serine existence. The country life suited her, and the village people were warm and welcoming. They didn't treat her like some poor little blind lady. They simply let her be, and she let them be—mostly. Burley's manhandling today was an exception. He would have been shocked to find out that this fine little lady could have squashed him like a bug.
Her two story brick house was on a good sized chunk of land. She had her own clay deposits which was why she had chosen this property to begin with. A stream meandered along the edge until it appeared to crash down on the rocks below into the sea. The girls knew in fact that the stream continued on its meandering path through their lands—before crashing into the sea.
"I wonder why mama didn't include your property into the safety zone," Alana wondered.
"I asked her not to," Celeste replied.
"You knew about her plan?" Kellan asked surprised. All the sisters looked at Celeste startled.
"She did mention it from time-to-time," Celeste hedged. "She had one plan or another, running in that head of hers, for a long time."
"Oh!" Kellan said surprised.
Celeste opened her house. The sisters watched as the wards flared brightly. No one would be entering this house uninvited. She opened the door and cats came streaming out, most of them complaining for having been locked into the house all day. One particular lanky gray-haired tom circled her legs before exiting. There were plenty of cats who decided they didn't want to go out in the rain and curled up on the sofas, tables, even the mantle.
This wasn't the first time they had been in Celeste's house, their mama and papa had visited quite often bringing the girls with them. They always had fun here. Celeste didn't treat them as most adults did. She didn't ignore them, or insist on them being quiet. She had puzzles and games. She romped around the large front room with them. She would invite them to introduce themselves and play with her dozens of cats.
Now, she invited them into the large kitchen. She prepared tea in a lady-like fashion offering them tea with little sandwiches.
"I'd like some rat's guts please," Vevila asked with a serene expression.
"Right in front of you," Celeste answered her without a pause.
"Oh sick!" Vevila exclaimed, the others laughed.
"So how does this agreement thing work?" Kellan asked as she munched a sandwich.
"It's like running a business," Celeste explained. "First you need to make sure you're all on the same page. I suggest writing things down, so the first order may be to choose a scribe."
"That should be Rhoswen," Dara suggested. "She has a fine hand, and can think, listen and write. I'm only able to do two of those at the same time."
"Hey!" Rhoswen protested. "It's not all that easy. Besides, it wouldn't be fair for me to have to scribe all the time."
Celeste pushed herself back to watch the sisters. She was very happy to have this opportunity to be with them. It had actually been a good thing for Burley to have tossed her out of town. This had come about so naturally.
"Maybe we should rotate the task," Alana suggested. "It wouldn't hurt for you to practice scribing," she added to Dara.
"Fine," Dara said resigned.
They were interrupted as a yellow tabby cat jumped onto the table to talk to Celeste.
"Alright then," Celeste answered and the cat jumped down.
"What did she want?" Kane asked curiously.
"Some silly nonsense about Kroger's dog getting into our shed again," she answered. "Apparently, they shut him in."
Dara looked at the shed and giggled. Indeed, two fluffy kitties were guarding the shed door after apparently shutting it. The dog whined pitifully.
"I'll go first—scribe," Rhoswen volunteered and left to grab one of the drawing pads. "Ready."
"So what's important to us," Kellan asked, "that we need to decide on and make a stand?"
"We need time to learn our magic!" Dara answered. "I think that should be number one. Every time I sat to read one of mama's books, Aunt Caryn had me out doing something stupid."
"She did that to me, too," Alana told her. "It was deliberate."
"I agree, we have to learn our magic," Rhoswen started to write it down. "Does everyone concur?"
They all nodded, so she wrote it down.
"No marriages unless it's for true love," Alana called out.
"That is a silly thing to write down," Dara protested.
"Is it?" Rhoswen asked. "After thinking about Aunt Caryn, I'm not so sure."
"Write it down," Dara agreed.
"What about the house?" Kellan asked.
"What about the house?" Vevila asked confused.
"There are a lot of magic rooms and then there are the storage rooms," Kellan explained. "I'm not sure that Aunt Caryn should have the run of them. I'm sorry, but I don't trust her anymore. I think we should lock them."
There was a pause as the sister thought about that. The storage rooms were filled with supplies which would help a lot of people get through some very rough times. Their mama and papa had worked really hard for a number of years to get it so. It would make them sick if Aunt Caryn was to just squander it. They would feel even worse if she ruined the magic rooms.
"Lock them!" Kane nodded, "She sold my Heidi."
"I agree," Vevila nodded.
"All?" Rhoswen asked. They all nodded.
"What do we do if she tries to force us to unlock them?" Vevila asked with concern.
"Or anything else we decide not to do—like get married?" Alana asked.
"We have to also consider Uncle Arlen and the boys," Dara pointed out. "They're going to support anything Aunt Caryn wants."
"We could run away," Kane suggested.
"That's lame," Vevila said scathingly, "it's our house!"
"It is not lame," Kane told her angrily, "there are other buildings on our property!"
"I think we need a rule," Rhoswen interjected with her pencil raised. "No bickering."
"There's bound to be disagreements," Alana told her.
"Yes, but we don't need to be mean about it," Dara frowned.
"Let's call a code word out to let us just be silent for a minute and think about things," Rhoswen suggested.
"I like that," Kellan agreed.
"Something simple like just calling out—Minute," Kane suggested glaring at Vevila, "and we all have to agree to bite our tongues and just wait."
"I think that should go for glaring, too," Vevila stared at Kane.
"Minute!" Dara called.
"For how long?" Vevila asked.
"Longer than that obviously," Kane told her.
Vevila sighed and started tapping her foot. Celeste was delightedly amused. They had so much energy, and were so interesting. It was good to bring these things up before they had to decide on something important.
"Will you please stop that!" Kellan burst out.
"We need something which will release the stress," Alana suggested.
"Like what?" Dara said interested.
"Eating crackers," Alana told her. "Just try to talk through a mouth full of crackers. That should make the rest of us laugh."
Celeste brought down a package of very dry oat cakes.
"They're pretty old," she told them. "I suggest that if you wish to say something scathing—eat a cake instead."
Kane picked up a cake and bit into it. They all laughed at her expression as she tried to swallow. Vevila poured her more tea. The crisis had en
ded. They had worked through their first obstacle.
"I have a concern," Rhoswen announced. "Let's say I have a problem, it really bothers me, but I can't get the rest of you interested in it enough to meet. What can I do?"
"That could happen," Alana realized. "Not just naturally, but that would be a clever way to cause problems between us. I can see Aunt Caryn pushing us to different concerns to distract us from something more important. An example—and this is extreme—let's say she has Kellan and Dara in charge of canning the blueberries. They are out at the cannery consumed with canning for some poor people. At the same time she has Rhoswen, Vevila and Kane at some ladies house learning womanly way. Here I am alone, getting suspicious that she's trying to marry me off, but I can't get you to buy into it cause you aren't here seeing her manipulations. The next thing you know, I'm at the Catholic priest's house and they are signing nuptials for me—in Latin."
"That's not such an extreme analogy," Kellan told her. "That probably will be the first thing she'll do since she doesn't want to concern herself with magic. She will try to get us married away. She will feel it's her duty to get us properly married. I can see her being conniving about it."
"There is a spell I read about that kind-of knocks," Vevila told them. "I didn't really get it, but the story was about someone mentally knocking to get someone's attention. The person would feel them."
"That's just a courtesy knock before invading someone's privacy," Celeste told them. "It feels like this…" She knocked to each of the sisters. They looked at her startled. "If you really want to get their attention—you bang!"
"Wow!" Vevila's eyebrows rose. "I got it!"
"Can we add a vision to that?" Alana asked, "a bang, with an impression?"
"You can do anything you set your mind to," Celeste told them. "You just have to figure out how."
"How do you do the knock?" Kellan asked.
"First practice sending energy to your physical finger tips," Celeste instructed. "Get a sense for what that feels like. Now picture your body in your mind and send energy into the imagined body's finger tips. Kellan, imagine tapping on my arm with your imaged body."
"Okay," Kellan said, "give me a minute."
She thought about how to send energy to her fingers. She felt the heat of that energy. She pictured an image of herself and sent energy to the fingertips of the image. She then pictured herself tapping on Celeste's shoulder.
"Good!" Celeste told her.
"I could actually feel your shoulder," Kellan said surprised.
"That's right," Celeste answered her. "Now each of you do that with me, and then practice with each other."
"We should have been learning this with mama, shouldn't we?" Alana asked.
"Usually, magic comes on when we are about fourteen," Celeste told them, "if at all. Yours came on early. Aine hadn't expected them to bud for a while. She also wouldn't have been able to tell that they had budded early because of being with child. A baby dominates the attention of the mother. If the baby is sick, the mother may even feel that sickness in her own body. Your mother started unknowingly introducing magic to Haley as she drew up that diagram and made her preparations. Haley was literally born in magic. When Aine was aware that your magic had budded, she didn't have the time or energy to teach you. She called me and Glenna to help you with that."
"But, I'm fourteen," Kellan questioned hesitantly.
"Not at the time she became pregnant," Celeste told her, "she didn't feel your magic begin—and didn't know she wouldn't. She was taken by surprise. Now—practice what I just showed you."
They began hesitantly practicing what Celeste had shown them. She finally put a halt to it when they were literally knocking each other over.
"Can this be done to people who don't any have magic?" Kane asked—thinking of knocking on Aunt Caryn.
"With you," Celeste answered, "certainly, but most people have magic, even if small amounts. They just don't know how to train it up."
"Be careful Kane," Rhoswen told her. "Using magic in a dark way will make you dark. You may lose your abilities—look at Aunt Caryn—or you may become lost to darkness."
"Is that true?" Alana asked.
"Of course," Celeste laughed. "Where do you think all the, Witch in the Bog, stories come from? They're real enough."
"Think of grandmother," Kellan reminded them.
"True," Celeste shivered, "very true."
"I'd like to bless the person who gets my hair," Rhoswen informed them.
They all looked at her surprised. Kane thought about who might end up receiving her golden long hair. Maybe some sick old lady. Which would be okay, but Kane didn't really think that kind of lady would end up with her hair. She rather thought it would be a vain woman with a sense of entitlement.
"I'd like to bless my hair in a way that would encourage the wearer to be… kinder." Kane declared.
"Both those idea's can be done," Celeste told them, "it was your hair. I suggest looking up some spells out of your mothers books and seeing what makes sense."
"Do you know how to do it?" Kane asked.
"I know how I would do it if it was my own hair," was her reply, "but you also need to learn how to do these things on your own. I will help you though—after you provide a magical possibility."
Knock, Knock, Knock
"Oh dear," Celeste replied getting up from her chair.
They followed her to the door. She opened the door to show the whole village of people standing in her yard. She stepped out of the house.
"Can I help you?" Celeste asked them.
"We want to talk to the girls," an old woman with roughened hands stated.
Kellan led the way out the door to stand before the crowd. They didn't really seem violent, just confused. She sighed—she and her sisters were just as confused, and a little scared.
"We are here," Kellan spoke out.
"I want to thank the girl there for getting my Betsy back," the old woman told her, nodding to Kane. "I don't know how I could have fed my little Annie without her."
"Betsy was the goat," Rhoswen reminded Kane.
"I'm glad that you got her back," Kane replied.
"We don't know what any of this means," a confused young mother told them. She was holding her little daughter closely—fearfully—but with determination.
"We don't understand what all this means either," Kellan began. "Mother had visions of a mass famine due to a potato disease."
"We've had potato troubles before," a young boy frowned at her.
"Not just one year," Kellan continued, "and not just one field, but all the fields and many years."
"I think she put up the barrier," Rhoswen spoke out, "not to block you out, but to reserve some true Irish possibilities. The English will not know that the O'Byrne lands still exist. They will not be able to take the lands bounty. So the bounty can be carefully returned to the Irish people. The English will do very little to help us when the hard times come, in fact, they will continue to sell off our wheat and foods."
"And you're sure of this?" A man in the crowd asked.
"Aine O'Byrne was sure of this!" Kellan stared at them with flashing purple eyes. "She was never wrong!"
"What is the harm if this isn't so?" Alana asked.
The crowd shifted around uncertainly.
"What about our potatoes?" One woman asked.
"There won't be any!" Dara spoke out. "I suggest you learn to eat other things. What did you eat before the potato?"
"What we hunted or gathered," an old geezer told them. "They call that poaching now-a-days."
"I suggest you plant turnips, or more cabbage, winter squash, or beans." Celeste pointed out. "The Americans plant pumpkins, we can get seeds if you're willing to try that."
"Momma, what's a punkin?" One child asked.
"This catastrophe will not be upon us for several years," Kellan took over. "We can prepare, find out what to plant, and try different things. I pledge thus, the O'Byrne have not abando
ned you. We will help our Irish people through the hard times—IF—you help yourselves."
The villagers looked at the six very young O'Byrne children. They knew they were sincere, but they were just children.
"Why didn't your ma and pa simply stop this from happen'n to our potatoes?" Merle frowned at the girls.
"You have to understand the disease," Celeste told her scathingly, "before you can cure it, and it's not like they will be here when it happens—now will they?"
There was a murmuring through the crowd at the mention of Aine and Keegan's deaths.
"We will help," a voice spoke out from the crowd.
Kellan could see movement as someone forced their way to the front. She was surprised to see three young girls standing before them.
"We have decided that we will take our animals into the forest," the tallest girl told them, "if you will show us the dangers, and teach us how."
Kellan felt proud of the brave village girls. They were willing to do what an elder was afraid to do.
"Sherrie Amber, you get yourself back here right now!" A very large woman pushed her way to the front. Sherrie raised her eyes and her chin.
"I'm ashamed of you," she faced the village folk, which included her mother. "These ladies faced a collector and his bullies to get your animals back, and not only do you not say thank you, but you call them witches behind your hands, and talk trash about them. Then they make a suggestion about how to keep our animals safe, and you're too scared to listen. We aren't!"
The other girls nodded.
"You really aren't listening to anything they are saying," one of the other girls continued. "We can make life better, easier. We don't need to have our babies dying because we don't have the milk to feed them. That's what would have happened had they taken our cows and goats. That's just trash!"
"I don't see any damage caused by the arrival of the Raven," a middle aged lady spoke out. "We can all cross back and forth. We aren't trapped, but it's a mighty fine thing to have a back door which the English can't walk through. I for one am very thankful to the O'Byrne!"
"But what if strangers see us just disappearing into the ocean?" The elder asked nervously.
"So we be more careful when strangers are in town," another spoke out. "There is only the one entry, and that's in Celeste's barn. It's safe enough."
"We must be careful around those who do not have the mark," another added.
"Anyone not wanting the mark," Dara spoke out, "can have it removed, but must leave the village and not return."
There was a lot of murmuring and quiet discussions circling around the yard.
"There are some in the village who do not have the mark," Sherrie told them.
This surprised and concerned the sisters. They had assumed that mama had marked everyone of concern.
"That is ‘cause they are of evil intent," Lady Baker told the crowd. "It is them Flynn boys, they have no mark."
"I suggest that you tell them they must leave," Celeste spoke out. "Make sure they take all their belongings and have enough food to live for one week."
"They're right mean they are," the elder told them worriedly.
"I will tell them," Mickay called out. He pushed his way to the front. "You need to find your backbone you do, or we need another village leader."
"Fine!" The elder told him. "I step down, you manage these ungrateful beggars."
"Beggars he calls us," the old geezer said scathingly, "called beggars by an old coot, a coward, and the biggest beggar I ever did see."
"We are getting off here," Widow Lavender called out. "I say we start making this work, not be part of the problem," she eyeballed the newly retired elder.
"Okay," an old man spoke out, "But that creature cannot stay here!"
"AW-EE, AW-EE," Kingdom bellowed. "EE-aw, ee-aw," Heidi answered. Rosy just ate her grass. The O'Byrne girls laughed.
"Only in an emergency!" Kellan assured them.
"We can walk Sherrie and her friends into the forest in the morning, and show them what to watch for, and how to behave with the wild beasts." Rhoswen assured them. She laughed to herself when she saw the villagers shiver and make hand gestures against the witches.
"If there is anything else?" Kellan told them. "We will be staying here tonight, showing these ladies the secrets of the forest in the morning, and then be on our way sometime after that."
"We," Dara hesitated, "we aren't sure of our aunt yet. It would be best for you to avoid her."
"That would be Caryn McKenna?" A woman about their mother's age asked.
"That would be her," Alana confirmed.
"Oh yes," the woman commented. "That would be best—good for you—Ladies."
Kellan was surprised by the term Lady, and even more surprised as she watched the woman bow to them before turning away. They watched as the rest of the villagers made their way out of the yard.
"One more thing," Rhoswen called out, "does someone have a couple of boy's trousers and shirts to spare? Kane and I might as well be comfortable as we wait for our hair to grow back in."
A young woman approached Rhoswen and offered to let her and Kane have some of her younger brother's clothes. They walked down the road towards her house.
"That went well I think," Celeste commented as they walked back into the house.
Rhoswen and Kane returned to the house shortly carrying a few sets of clothes.
"We need to wash these before we can wear them," Rhoswen began. "Can we borrow your wash room, and if you have it, some Lilly-ash soap. These are just dreadful."
Rhoswen and Kane spent the next hour washing, ringing, and washing out the old clothes.
"How do boys get so dirty?" Kane asked, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
"No wonder why the Unicorns won't let the boys near," Rhoswen added. "We may be doing this again tomorrow, depending on what the girls wear in. It would be better for them to be wearing trousers, but not if they smell like these."
"I think they are clean enough now," Kane told her on the final rinse.
"Good thing," Celeste surprised them, "or there wouldn't be enough soap."
"We're sorry Celeste," Kane said startled. They had used a lot of soap.
"That's okay," Celeste told them. "I'll trade you for some with a different scent. I'm getting a little tired of that kind anyway."
She walked over to the hanging clothes and started pulling them down.
"But they aren't dry yet," Rhoswen told her.
"Aren't they?" She laughed and handed them the clothes. Rhoswen and Kane were surprised to carry the dry clothes out into the front room.
"Let's see you in them," Alana requested.
"Not until I smoothen out their hair cuts," Celeste came into the room with a pair of scissors. "Some peasant children may run around with cropped hair—not ours."
They were surprised to see just how curly Kane's hair became.
"It makes sense," Dara commented, "I don't think it's ever been cut. It must have been pretty heavy."
"How does it feel?" Kellan asked Kane.
"Amazing!" Kane said with a smile, "it's so light—and if this means I can go around like a boy—it was worth it."
"Really?" Alana asked doubtfully—remembering just how careful Kane was with her hair.
"Really!" Kane told her sincerely.
Celeste bowed to Rhoswen and offered her the chair.
"Maybe we should style it into little spikes," Celeste teased. "That way no one would dare to pat her on the head, like the cute little girl she is."
Rhoswen laughed into Celeste's eyes. She was shocked to see just how much like Druantia's they were. She felt odd as she realized that Celeste was one born—wrong. She realized that she had a real fondness for Celeste, and would be terribly saddened if anything were to happen to her.
"I would like it all spiky," Rhoswen laughed.
Kane romped around dressed in the trousers and shirt. Her hair was curling up into a golden halo.
Rhoswen's hai
r didn't curl and wouldn't spike. It fell straight down. Celeste cut bangs to emphasize her lovely amethyst eyes. Rhoswen grabbed the pair of trousers she picked out and struggled into them.
"I thought they would be more comfortable," Rhoswen complained.
"Boys trousers," Vevila told her. "They weren't made to hug hips,"
"Mine are good," Kane said as she jumped around.
"They look a little big, but that's okay," Dara told Kane. "It makes you look more like a boy, a pretty boy, but still a boy. Is that okay?"
"I don't mind looking like a boy," Kane told her. "Boys get less noticed, and can do anything they want."
Celeste was unsure. There were real weird ones in the world who would find such a pretty boy desirable, but then the same weird ones might also find pretty little girls desirable. Kane could definitely defend herself against any such as them.
"Try the other pair," Celeste suggested to Rhoswen, "those are simply too tight."
The other trousers fit okay across the hips, but were loose in the waist.
"It's okay I guess," Rhoswen said.
"We can design something which will work for all of us," Kellan suggested. "We don't want to be crossing to America in confining clothes."
"I agree," Dara nodded, "I don't want to be wearing anything I can't move quickly in."
"I can help you with that," Celeste assured them. "I've become quite a master when it comes to comfortable and magical clothes. Check this out."
Celeste pulled an apple from her hidden pocket. Kane examined the area of the pocket and couldn't find an entrance. Celeste pulled out a lady's money purse, and then a comb. The girls looked on with interest as she pulled out a blanket, a vase with a rose, a live frog, a right shoe and then a left shoe which didn't match, a dress, a fan, a book, a blue-berry oat muffin, a bag of all-spice, salt, and a vial of oil.
"Hey," Kane exclaimed. "Mama made me a pocket like that in my brown skirt. It was my favorite."
"I don't think she made it so you could squirrel around all those little critters," Vevila told her.
"Why would you want to carry all that stuff?" Dara laughed.
"It has to be major magic," Alana said with certainty, "or your dress would be pulling downward."
"That would be very handy while traveling," Kellan said speculatively.
"Not so major," Celeste told Alana, "the limitation is that it has to fit into the pocket entrance. I can't put a chair or anything like that in there. I put stuff in here all the time." She held up the pair of shoes. "I was looking for that shoe a week ago. I forgot it was in there."
"Does the pocket have to be created with magic," Rhoswen asked, "or can an old pocket be magic'd?"
"You tell me?" Celeste countered.
"I think both," Rhoswen frowned considering. "Certainly we can create special pockets, but I think we can also modify what already is."
"Correct," Celeste told them. "Let's work on modifying the pockets in your new trousers. I think they should be special. So what do you want them to do?"
"I want to be able to keep food fresh," Kane called out.
Celeste looked at Kane considering. It was time to see how intuitive the girls were with regards to magic. It was one thing to copy a spell that someone else had created—something else again to create something new. She looked at each sister. She was pleased to see every one of them interested in the possibilities of this magic.
"Grab a writing pad," Celeste told them. "I would like you to work alone and draw out what you would like to do with your pocket."
"I don't know how to write that well," Kane said with disappointment.
"Then draw a picture," Celeste told her, "or use symbols. Magic is about focusing your energy and will to accomplish a task. It doesn't matter how it is written. We write it out in a language when we want to pass the knowledge on to another. There are magic users who never write anything down."
"That would explain some of mama's notes," Rhoswen frowned. "They don't make any sense. How are we to find out what they did to the wall?"
"By figuring it out one step at a time," Celeste answered her, "now for the pockets."
The sisters grabbed their own drawing pads and pencils, and separated out across the room. Celeste was surprised and pleased to see the twins move away from each other. They would probably end up together, Celeste noted to herself, but at least they started out independently. She went into the kitchen to put on some new tea. She could tell by their energy, that it was going to be a long night.
Celeste brought in the tea and biscuits. Several of her cats were helping the girls draw. Kane impatiently pushed Tangle off her writing pad. Kellan erased and redrew a section that Benny had messed up by loving up her hand and chewing the end of her pencil. Alana seemed to be consulting with Roomy about a particular symbol.
Rhoswen signaled for her to look at her drawing. Celeste's eyebrows rose as she looked at it. She had only been gone a few minutes and Rhoswen was done.
"That will work," Celeste told her. "You may wish to tighten the drawings." She pointed at two figures, "these can be drawn into one figure. That would save you time later and make it simpler. It is a very good spell."
"Oh I see," Rhoswen answered. "I can do that over here as well."
Celeste walked over to Dara's drawing. It was a lot more involved.
"That's pretty good," Celeste told her, "but very complicated. Your pocket would take a lot of energy. If you really want it to do all that, you need to break it up into sections that you can activate independently of the others. I don't think anyone has that kind of energy to expel. It will leave you depleted, and may not entirely activate."
"Oh," Dara said disappointedly. "I didn't think of that. I can probably write the part about transformation as an independent spell."
"Why add it at all?" Celeste asked. "You can always just perform the task as needed."
"She usually can't remember how," Alana said from across the room.
"Practice," Celeste said and walked over to see Alana's.
Dara blushed and glared at her twin.
"Oh!" Celeste said surprised. "I don't think that's a good idea at all. Think about it."
Alana frowned and stopped to consider.
"That is truly amazing," Celeste praised Kellan's. "It is simple, compact, easily activated, and gives you a lot of mark for the spark. I really like that. It's better than my own. May I copy it?"
"Oh," Kellan said surprised. She had just been doodling. She hadn't been terribly interested in the pockets, but very curious about the magic. "Yes of course. May I see yours?"
Celeste walked over to grab one of her own writing pads. She had them placed all over the house. She quickly drew out her own signature pocket. The sisters gathered around to see what she was drawing.
"I like that!" Dara told her.
"Look at Kellan's," Celeste instructed.
They all looked over Kellan's shoulder. Celeste noted Kellan's discomfort when showing off her work. She would need to help her with that—after all—she was going to lead these girls into the wilds of America.
"Wow!" Vevila said and frowned at her own drawing. She wandered off to complete her work.
"Good job!" Dara told Kellan.
"Mine doesn't make any sense," Kane told Celeste sheepishly.
"Let's see then," Celeste invited. Kane brought her the drawing. "Oh, I see. First things first, list out what you want the pocket to do. Start with what you need, work down to what you want, and then to what sounds like fun."
Kane looked at her confused. That's what she thought she had done.
"Write it out in English," Celeste told her. "A spell can be written in English, we just choose to not in case someone was to find it. So write it in English. It will make more sense to you then. You will be able to see it better. When it is what you want, I will help you to figure out symbols, and then we will destroy the English version."
"I don't see anything wrong with my pocket," Alana said stubbornly. r />
"Are you willing to have it challenged by your sisters?" Celeste asked.
"Yes!" Alana answered, her eyes stubborn and her chin high. "Come see it then."
Everyone but Dara gathered around the drawing. Dara just scoffed at it and continued with her own work. She could see what Alana had done and agreed with Celeste. Hiding in one's own pocket was a very bad idea!
"I don't see what you're doing," Vevila frowned. "It's very complex. It sizes up and then it sizes down. I guess that would be good for stashing big and little things.
"Oh," Kellan said surprised and then frowned at her. "and how would you climb out again?"
"And what would stop someone else from picking up your pocket and walking away with you?" Rhoswen asked.
"And how would you get out of your dress to hide in your pocket in the first place?" Kellan asked frowning.
"That would be a good spell for a closet," Kane told her and winked at Celeste, "as long as it had a knob on the inside."
"Or with a false bottom of the wagon," Kellan said excitedly. "I was wondering how all of us would fit in a wagon with all of our belongings."
"Oh," Alana's slightly hurt expression giving way to thoughtful consideration.
They went back to their drawings with more enthusiasm, each of them expanding out to other possibilities. Celeste was very pleased with the way they interacted with each other, and loved their sharp, curious minds. She could have hugged Kane right then for bringing up the closet. She had deliberately brought up something cheerful to make Alana feel better—this from Kane, the little fighter.
They worked late into the night, until Celeste pulled their writing pads away.
"Okay, okay," Vevila agreed, "but we should be able to activate one of them at least. Let's do Kellan's to Kane or Rhoswen's trousers."
"It will take energy and it's late," Celeste reminded them. "I will let Kellan activate it once only."
"Oh," Kellan said with pride. "I can do that."
"Activate Kane's pocket," Rhoswen said with disappointment. "She's earned it."
"You gave up your hair, too," Kane told her.
"Yes, but I didn't care about my hair," she told her. "It wasn't a sacrifice."
"Okay then," Kellan told Kane, "give me your trousers and I'll write it in the pocket."
Kane quickly dropped her trousers. Celeste handed Kellan a special type of stylist, one with a special kind of ink. It would disappear when dry, and it wouldn't wear out.
"Oh," Dara looked at her own drawing. "Mine would never fit."
"That is one of the limitations." Celeste told her. "That's why it's best not to include every possibility that you can think of. There are ways to condense a spell, but that takes even more energy, and some things are just not worth it."
"Finished," Kellan examined her drawing.
"A fine hand," Celeste complimented.
"Just bleed on it?" Kellan hadn't ever activated a spell before although she had watched her mama plenty of times.
"You can," Celeste told her, "but this is a very simple spell. You can just spit on it, aim for the center, that's fastest."
Kellan spit on the spell. They watched as the spell started glowing and worked its way from the center toward the edges. Kellan felt the pull of energy until the spell was complete and faded out.
"What would happen," Kellan asked tiredly, "if the spell was just too big?"
"If you're lucky," Celeste told them, "you would faint and the spell would just stop—incomplete. There have been times though that the link was too great and the spell finally killed the person."
"Nice to know!" Vevila exclaimed.
"There are also dark sorcerers who will link a spell to another mammal and sacrifice it," Celeste told them. "Human or beast, they don't care."
"That's sick," Kane said angrily.
"Yes," Celeste confirmed, and then handed Rhoswen the stylist. "Now let's do Rhoswen's pocket. Rhoswen can draw it out, you have a very fine hand, and I'll activate it."
Rhoswen gladly removed her trousers and stretched out the pocket. She would do the other pocket later. She could spit on things as well as Kellan.
"Oh," Rhoswen said with delight, "it glides on really easy."
"Let's see," Celeste purposely bumped Rhoswen over. Rhoswen giggled.
Celeste spit on the pocket. They watched as the magic again spread from center out. As the glow reached the edges of the design, Celeste sank to the ground and lay without moving.
"What did you do?" Dara yelled at Rhoswen. She could see that Celeste was faking them all. "You must have drawn it wrong. Oh dear, Celeste can you hear me." She shook her and got no response.
"I'm so sorry," Rhoswen said with alarm and kneeled down in front of Celeste. "What do we do?"
Celeste suddenly lunged at Rhoswen and tackled her to the ground tickling her.
"Kill me, will you," Celeste yelled at her. "So take that and that."
Rhoswen was screaming from the tickles. The cats all bolted from the room. Celeste then tackled Vevila who was standing too close.
"Help me," Vevila screamed, "I can't take it."
Dara and Alana lunged at Celeste pulling her away from the panting girls.
"Hold her," Dara yelled at Kellan, "before the witch does cast a spell on us all and we are all doomed."
Kellan just laughed at them and watched Celeste turn the tables on them and tackle them both down. Celeste was very agile for a blind lady. Rhoswen and Vevila joined back into the row. Kane watched on with interest, studying the moves Celeste was using against them. Five-to-one, and Celeste was winning. Kane watched fascinated.
"Enough," Celeste yelled out. "More about magic. Grab your most comfortable squatting clothes. The next task we will do outside, sitting in the grass."
"Outside?" Vevila asked. "In the dark?"
"Are you scared?" Kane asked.
"No!" Vevila denied.
"Are too," Kane teased.
"I'm leaving without you," Celeste told them carrying her own bag towards the door.
"Hey!" Vevila shouted jumping to her feet.
They followed Celeste to the front door. Here she created a magic glow and put it inside an old lantern. It looked just like a lit lantern, except there was no smoke—and it hovered directly in front of them.
:Shhh,: she sent to them, :be very stealthy, we don't want any nosy neighbors following. Do as I do.:
Celeste heard them giggling. She ran across the yard and into the barn. Here she dive rolled over a pile of hay and stealth walked across a creaky board. She laughed as she watched Vevila attempt the roll and instead entrench herself into the hay. Kellan executed a brilliant roll, but failed miserably on the creaky board. Dara and Alana executed both effortlessly. Rhoswen simply walked around both. Kane followed Celeste's moves exactly as she had performed them. Celeste was fascinated by how different the girls were.
She led them out of the barn and to the biggest oak tree on the property. It had been standing for hundreds of years. When some prospectors came to regard it a year ago, the villagers quickly sent them off—by way of a pitchfork.
"I'm getting out of this silly, stuffy, stiff dress," she told them. "No one is here, but us. No one else will come here. You may do as you please. You may even dance naked if you want to."
Celeste pulled off the offending dress to put on a soft flowing robe. She spread blankets on the ground and took a seat. Kellan and Rhoswen had grabbed nightdresses. The twins were sitting around in bloomers. Vevila and Kane were romping around in nothing at all.
Celeste drew in a deep breath. It was a lovely warm night. The moon was nearly full, and a soft breeze teased the tendrils of their hair.
"Tonight I'm going to teach you about this oak tree," Celeste began. "I want you to look down, deep down into its roots. See them buried deep into the earth where they take in nourishment, and also fan out to hold the tree upright."
There was a peaceful quiet as the girls got comfortably seated and focused on the big o
ld oak tree. They studied the way the roots cradled the surface, before spearing downwards, toward the heart of the earth.
"Now follow the tree at the base and look slowly upward towards the sky. See how the branches span up and outward, each branch feeding another, and another until it can reach no farther. See the fullness upward and realize the fullness beneath, for what is above—is also below. The tree also takes in nourishment from the sun and the wind. Let your mind wander and think on these things. See the tree breath. Feel the tree live. The tree gives us the air we breathe, shelter for our smaller friends, presence, and joy. This tree is a very old soul. Here before we were born, it should be here long after we die. It has seen the benevolence of men, and the taint. It judges not, for it is meaningless to it, for a man is not a tree."
She let them think on these things. She could tell that they were not falling asleep. She judged it was time to break into their concentration when she could see that Kane had become restless.
"Now," she told them. "You are the tree. You can stretch your essence deep into the earth. Even if your nature isn't earth—is fire, water, or air—you are born to the earth and are a part of it. Drive your spirit down, create the roots that will make you strong and nourish you. Breathe deeply in and out. Pull the water, and the earth into yourself. Now rise from the earth to the sky above. Reach high and out. Feel the moon on your face. Feel the wind in your fingers. Breathe deeply of the air—absorb what it has to offer. By daylight feel the sun on your face, absorb what it has to offer."
She sat quietly while they experienced these sensations. Listened to them breathe deeply in and out.
"Now I'm going to talk about magic," she told them. "Magic comes from the earth and the air. It comes from the spirit of everything living. We are born of earth, but also of magic—for life is magic. Like the roots of the tree, we absorb magic up from the earth and through our feet. We also magically nourish and replenish ourselves from the essence of the air and sun. Some people are more open through their feet and draw up magic from the earth. Some people are more enlightened and draw magic through their crown. All can learn to draw from either. Take a few minutes and see the magic all around you."
Celeste sat in harmony with the nature of magic. She tingled from its light touch. She, who was born too open, had to learn to shut it down. The daughters of Aine would have to learn how to open themselves up. Learn how to put aside their doubts and learn to trust in the magic.
"Kellan," Celeste called out. "Where do you feel it is easiest to absorb the magical energies? Where do you feel the tingle?"
"I don't know," Kellan said confused.
"Stand up," Celeste instructed. "Now hold your arms upward and apart. Think about pulling the energy towards you, accept its presence, and allow it to fill you. Tell us what you feel."
"Wow," Kellan said as she was standing with her arms outward. "I feel like my head is very heavy."
"Allow that heaviness to flow on down your body and into the ground below you." Celeste instructed. "As the magic flows, it will fill those places which are empty and then move onward. You most easily absorb magic from your crown aura."
"I like to pull up from my head, too," Rhoswen announced. "It tingles."
"I can feel it in my feet," Kane told them.
"Me too," Vevila said to Kane. "My toes are tingling, and I feel like I want to run!"
"I can feel it in my head," Alana told them.
"Really?" Dara said surprised. "I can easily pull from my feet."
"We will stay here for a little while yet," Celeste told them. "I want you to think on the tree and practice pulling the magic to every fiber of your being. Think on letting the unabsorbed magic flow either back to the earth, or released into the air. Magic is never wasted. It is returned time and time again."
Celeste occupied herself by climbing up into the tree. She felt its presence, and was thankful that it was so unlike her own. She felt the moon above and the earth below, and gloried in both. She watched with joy as the sisters laughed and played. They would always remember this moment.
"Thank you," Alana climbed up in the tree to sit beside her.
"My joy and pleasure," Celeste told her.
Pretty soon all the sisters were sitting up in the tree, enjoying the night. Tonight, they were at peace with the world.
"Time for bed," Celeste told them as she climbed out of the tree. "I know you all feel like there is no way you want to sleep, but I think you'll find that this magical gluttony will make you snooze off with contentment."
None of them really believed her, but were willing to let her get her beauty rest. Celeste laughed to herself, because she knew—what she knew.
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