Half Magic | Book 2

Twenty Four: A Familiar Face

"You mean I need to learn what powers I've inherited and what I can do with them," I said.

Mila nodded, a ghost of a smile crossing her lips. "Yes. Gelwyn demands to test you herself."

"I don't know how much I like this Gelwyn," I said softly.

"Hmm. Like her or not, child, she does have a great deal of influence in the coven. And I'll not be letting her do anything uncalled for. But someone must give you the tests as we have all been given them, and it cannot be the witch who helped raise you. It is our way." Mila sat back, giving up on her carrots for a moment and resting her back.

"So I will be tested for witch magics, and then I will elarn how to use them?" I asked.

Mila nodded.

"And then I can discuss the information I'm after with the coven?" I asked.

"Yes, then you will have earned your right to ask anything of them. Our young witchlings spend years learning their chosen crafts, but you will find yourself at an advantage," Mila said.

"Years?" I asked, desperately. "I don't have years, I have to get back!"

"Now, Wren," Mila said sternly. "It is our way, and there is no way around it, but I promise you it will not take years."

I held back my tongue, there was no arguing with Mila. I suppose if it was taking too long I could choose to leave early, but I really wanted to know how we could repair the wards. Ideally, I would ask for their help.

"Come, grab that basket." Mila stood from her chair with a grunt. "You can help me bring the extra carrots to Gilly."

I perked up at that. "Gilly?"

Mila didn't answer redundant questions, and I didn't expect her to. Instead she began walking and I grabbed the indicated basket and followed her.

Gilly would often visit for a solstice or moon watching. She liked to braid my hair and teach me to dance under the night sky and to identify birds. Of all of Mila's friends she was my favorite.

We walked off the dirt path and through the grass. I still had no boots on, but there weren't many sticks or stones to be an obstacle and Mila couldn't walk fast anyway so I easily kept pace with her. We rounded a pen with two goats, and went over a small bump of a hill before reaching another cottage where little white flowers trellised up the doorway.

"Gilly!" Mila called. "I brought your carrots."

From the doorway, a head poked out that was maybe twice my age. She had long dark hair that she could just about sit on, and her cheeks were painted with the blue dots of the Palaw villages in the mountains west of my home. Her lips spread into a wide grin and she came out of her cottage with arms wide open.

"Wren, it is so good to see you!" She wrapped me in a fierce hug and I laughed as I hugged her back fiercely.

She pulled me back at arms length with a sigh. "Look at you. What has it been, two years? And you've changed so much."

I grinned sheepishly. "I may have had a few things come up lately."

Her eyes sparkled with mirth as she laughed. "So I've heard! I can hardly imagine you to be Lark's daughter, but now it seems so obvious. You have her hair, and her face."

"You knew her?" I asked as she took the basket of carrots from my hand.

"Oh yes, everyone did. She was a rather infamous witch you know. Traveling around the world, not satisfied to sit still and watch over one part of the Mother's lands like the rest of us. She taught me to read the star charts you know."