Ember's Awakening

Chapter Eight

  Ember awoke the next morning before anyone else in the household, she felt charged and unable to sleep any longer. She inspected her outfit in the full-length mirror and nodded, a smile playing on her lips. The patchwork skirt billowed around her as she finished fastening the front of the rich brown underbust corset. The material of the cream-colored peasant top should keep her warm through the day, and if not, she would have her cloak to wear outside if it got too chilly. The weather was starting to change. They had been lucky this week, for her birthday and the festival, but Ember could sense change coming. The rain was moving in.

Ember slipped on her brown leather boots, taking one last look in the mirror she grabbed her bag and made her way downstairs to the kitchen for her much-needed caffeine fix.

Ember sat perched on the window seat reading when she heard her Gran enter the kitchen, soon followed by her aunt. The two women didn't notice her, too enthralled by their conversation.

"I know she will be safe at the shop. I just worry. This is the first time she will be living on her own, Ma'." Her aunt was saying.

"Wen, we will be close by if'n she be needin anything. I know what ya be feelin, girl. How d'ya think it was when ya both left me?" Her grandmother was smiling gently.

Ember didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation. Hearing the emotion in her aunt's voice about her leaving them; She snapped the book shut and cleared her throat.

"I made coffee already," Ember told the women as they both turned toward her. "I need to tell both of you something." She continued, walking to the coffee pot and filling her cup.

"Oh, what is it?" Her aunt questioned, shooting her a grateful look for not commenting on her outburst of emotion.

"Let's get breakfast ready, and then I will tell you both."

Her grandmother just smiled knowingly, setting about getting ingredients out of the pantry.

"So, Em. What is it you wanted to tell us?" Arwen asked looking at her across the table of fresh baked goods.

"Well, last night I was looking through the book and I felt it. I felt my magic."

Arwen sat straighter in her chair and Nori just continued smiling that same smile. As if she already knew what Ember was going to tell them. Ember nibbled on her muffin. Letting the words hang in the air for dramatic effect.

She grinned at the two women, setting her muffin on her delicate plate. "I did a spell!"

Nori laughed, rich and full, smacking a wrinkled hand on the tabletop. "I felt it! I knew it was ya." At the same time, Arwen blurted, "Which spell?"

Ember scooted out of her seat in the corner booth. "I'll show you." She said going to fetch the book.

Arwen's eyes cut over to her mother's face, a look of worry flashing briefly in them, "Em, you must use a circle at all times."

"Auntie, I'm not going to do the spell now. I'm just going to show you guys in the book. I'm not completely uneducated even if I did just learn of these powers." Ember turned then, walking to the window seat to retrieve the book.

Nori clucked, "Ya need ta have a wee bit o' faith in yer niece, Arwen."

"You're right," she sighed, "I'm sorry. I just worry is all."

Ember flipped the pages of the book, finding the spell she sat it on the table in front of them.

Nori looked silently at the page as Ember recounted the details.

"This is the spell that you did?" Arwen questioned; a slender red-tipped finger pointed at the open book.

"Mmmhmmm. I figured if I had the magic that Gran seemed to think; I wanted to know. I didn't want to start small."

Arwen sat silently looking from the book to her niece, her lips pursed in a thin line.

Nori boomed a laugh, clapping her hands together like a child. "An ya was worried about no having yer magic." She winked at Ember, sipping her coffee. "So, where'd ya go?"

Ember grinned at her grandmother, "Just to the store. I wanted to go somewhere familiar. That I knew would be safe."

Arwen started clearing the table, still having not commented on the spell that Ember had succeeded in casting. Ember's eyebrows knitted together, her face falling. She looked to her grandmother, still sitting at the table across from her. Nori shook her head at Ember giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Would ya be a lamb an go fetch some foxglove outta tha garden? I've a lesson in mind for us ta do later." Nori stood from her seat motioning Ember towards the back door.

"Yes, Gran'," Ember replied with a nod, grabbing her cup before heading out back to do as her grandmother requested.

Once Nori heard the back door bang shut, she turned her attention to her daughter.

"Och. Mind tellin me what tha devil that was on about?"

Arwen stood at the farmhouse sink, her shoulders hunched, still silent. Her hands gripped the edge; knuckles white.

"Arwen Brighid Midnight! Ya might'n be a grown woman, but ya still be my child an ya will be answerin' me when ya are spoken to." Nori's powerful voice filled the quiet kitchen, the magic the old woman possessed flowing from her.

The power in her voice almost tangible making Arwen flinch. Straightening her shoulders, Arwen turned to face the older woman.

"I'm worried Ma'. We know that she is powerful; more than any of us, and I'm glad to know she's tapped into her magic, but she needs more training before she tries any more spells alone. Especially spells like that. What if it had gone wrong?" Arwen drew a shaky breath before continuing. "What if she had ended up somewhere else? We would have been clueless. She could have been hurt, or worse. How are you so calm about this, Ma?"

Nori snaked an arm around her daughter's waist. "Ya canno' be so negative. Ya know well an good what tha can do. It worked out jus' fine, but ta make ya feel better we will talk ta her about doin spells alone. She hasta learn though, A leanbh. Just as ya and yer sister did."

Arwen leaned into Nori, her body relaxing as her mother's words washed over her.

."Yeah, no, I know. You're right, Ma. I just can't help but worry. She's just so much like Bel." Arwen could picture her sister in her mind, trying to remember her when she was alive. Not the last time she had seen her sister. Having to identify the remains. Arwen shook herself, her throat constricting.

"Och, wild'n free she be. An' even more powerful than all o' us combined" Nori felt Arwen go rigid. She squeezed her daughter close. "Why don' ya finish cleanin' up in here and I'll go fetch Em out'o tha garden." She patted her daughter affectionately and then turned heading through the kitchen, giving Arwen a few moments to herself.

Arwen leaned back watching her mother leave. She heard a bubble of laughter from her niece outside as Nori said something unintelligible. Fear gnawed at her as a roll of thunder sounded overhead; in that moment she wondered if bringing Ember to the island had been a mistake. 

A crash of lightning streaked across the sky as the darkness rolled in, eating its way across the blue sky above them.

Arwen closed her eyes breathing deeply. Fear gnawed at her and she somehow knew that this was just the beginning of it all. Things were changing and Ember was going to be at the center of it all.