I walked up the stairs on Tia's front porch and moved to her door. I really didn't want to drag her into it and had slept on it because I didn't want to bother her that day, especially after seeing how affected Fayette had been with her visions. It upset me more than I would have liked to think it would but she was my little sister and no one liked to see family looking as pale and drawn as Fayette had been. However helping run the bar for the night and then sleeping on the problem hadn't given me any other suggestions on how to figure it out.
I could have scryed for Violet myself but I was absolutely shit at ordered magick. I was more of a toss my hands out and give intent. It was how I had always done my magick and part of the reason Tia had made me my leather bracelet. However Tia was the one person I knew who could rock the shit out of structured magick, scrying included. That thought didn't comfort me as I knocked on the door four precise times.
I looked out and down her street, watching her neighbouring houses carefully. I hoped they weren't bothering her unnecessarily. The last thing Tia needed was to be incessantly bothered by stupid and bullshit neighbourhood concerns. I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my beat up leather jacket, studying the neighbourhood. From what I remembered, there were mainly older couples living there and the only trouble had come form a young human who had moved down the street who had wanted to flip the older house he bought. I doubted he would be bothering her any time soon after the last time I had a 'discussion' with him.
There was the sound of several locks turning before front door creaked open slowly behind me and I shifted on my feet, looking at the tiny crack that had opened up. "Hey, Tia." I said it gently, giving her a soft smile.
She pulled the door open more, pushing her glasses up her nose as she gave me a returned smile. "Hey, Lili." She opened the door further and gestured me to come inside. I did so quickly, knowing she would just get more stressed if I lingered in the doorway. She closed the door and I watched as she once again locked it all up once more. I noticed a new lock as well as a door knob brace she put underneath the door handle, kicking it in slightly to make sure it was well braced. "Do you want something to drink?" She turned, brushing her copper curls from her face as she did so.
I gave her another soft smile. "I would love one." I knew I was stalling but using magick made Tia anxious, even when it was being used to help ease her agoraphobia. I followed her through the house to her cozy kitchen. There were books stacked on all the available surfaces, that was the only chaos that Tia actually allowed into her living space. She certainly loved her books. "Any new books?" I asked it as I trailed my fingers over the cover of a heavy tome she had resting on the end of her banister as I turned towards the kitchen.
"A few romance novels from Eliza on the corner." She said it carefully. "Left them outside on the porch. Had a note that said she had no more use for them and she knew I liked books so I might as well have them. I left her a thank you note on my mail box." I watched as she headed for the cupboard, pulling out several tea cups, setting them down on her table. "Please sit, Lili." She gestured to the little breakfast nook and I moved over, pulling off my jacket as I did so.
I slipped onto the bench seat and moved the cups around, getting them just "That was nice of Eliza on the corner. Has asshole from three doors down or his friends bother you since last time?" I asked it lightly, glancing at her from the corner of my eyes.
"No." She shook her head before looking over her shoulder at me as she moved her kettle from the sink to the stove. "Thank you for taking care of that. I know I should be able to help myself but I just.. I froze." She paused, looking so ashamed that it twisted my heart in my chest.
"That's understandable, Tia. It was scary for you to have that happen at so early in the morning." Her reaction had me wanting to find the asshole's friend so I could kick his ass again. "And what am I here for? I'm the brawn and you're the brains. It's my job to beat up people who bother you." I watched as she set the kettle on the stove and turned it on.
"You sell yourself short, Lili." She seemed to float around the kitchen. There was no huddling or wary glances around when she was in her own space. I liked to see her like she was, it reminded me of who she could have been, or would have been before that fucking sadistic warlock got his hands on her. "Mama thinks I need to go talk to a healer."
She said it softly and I grimaced, "Mama needs to let you work through your issues without pushing you." I knew our mother loved Tia, I knew she loved all of us, but sometimes she pushed when she wasn't supposed to or when it was detrimental to do so.
"I have an appointment with the healer next week at precisely three. She is coming over for tea." Tia carefully grabbed several jars of loose tea and set them on the table, adjusting them so they sat precisely where she wanted them to. "I don't have to leave the house." At that I wanted to laugh, I could only imagine how much it grated on mother to not get Tia out of the house like she wanted her too.
"Did mama like that?" I picked up the jar of home made peach tea and carefully spooned some into my cup as Tia sat across from me and grabbed her lavender tea and took a spoonful of that.
"No but the healer insisted upon it to keep me comfortable." She set her spoon down and moved the tea jar back into the right spot before she looked at me. "I think I want to talk to her. I feel..." She pinched her lips together tightly, blinking those big eyes at me. "I feel...trapped." She said it carefully, fidgeting slightly and I pinched my lips together. "What Horati-"
"Don't say that bastard's name." It came out clipped and Tia let out a shuddering breath.
"Fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing you refuse to name. It gives it control over you. Horatio has enough of that already." Her hands shook slightly as she adjusted her teacup. "He trapped me and because of that I have allowed my fear to trap me just like he did. I need to adjust and move forward because if I don't, that means I never left that little room he had me in." I didn't really want to talk about the night that that bastard took her, where he tied her up and sadistically tortured her for hours and I really didn't like that she was bringing it up at all.
"That name should not sully your tongue." I didn't want her to say it because then he was there with her again and I honestly couldn't handle that.
"It won't. It is just a name, it has no power over me, not unless I give it that power." She pushed her glasses up her nose before looking at me. "You don't want me to say it because it is your way of protecting me from him when you couldn't before." She gave me a crooked and sad smile and her words struck at my chest, making me scowl. I wanted to disagree but the hated fact inside of me was I couldn't.
"I should have." I should have been there for her that night, instead Bam and I had escaped into the Forests to rebel against the world we were in. I never should have left because then he never would have gotten his slimy little hands on her.
Tia reached across the table and grasped my hands in hers. "You cannot live your life protecting me from the world, Lili." She gave my hands a soft squeeze and my scowl deepened.
"I can damn well try." I muttered it out and she set my hands down, patting the back of them gently before putting her own on her lap.
"I'll never not need you, Lili, but I think I need to try and step out on my own. Even if it is as simple as letting someone else in." She met my gaze and her smile was a bit brighter than the previous one and I had to smile at her in return. I might not have wanted her to bring everything back up again, to relive what had happened, I would support her through it regardless.
The kettle whistled and she quickly stood up and headed over to it. She grabbed it off the stove and carried it over. She poured the boiling water into both of out cups as carefully as she could before she returned it to the stove top. "When did you get so wise about this shit?" I picked up my spoon and stirred my tea, swirling the leaves in the hot water.
"Robert from the next street over gave me a box of psychology textbooks with a note that said he thought I would get more use out of them than he would." Tia returned to her spot and sat down. "I read them all and put a thank you note for him on my mail box." She gave a small shrug as she stirred her tea as well. "Change is hard and I doubt I will change much but the prospect of feeling safer it always appealing." She blew on her tea and I followed suite. I grabbed some sugar cubes and dropped them into the tea.
"Whatever you want to do, I'll be right behind you." I would. I would walk into hell for her, I would sink to the bottom of the ocean for her, jump into an active volcano for her. If she wanted to get outside help and change how she viewed the world. I wouldn't stop her, I would never stop her from doing what she wanted or what she felt she needed.
"I know, Lili." She dipped her head before picking up her cup and blowing across the top of it. "Now why are you here?" She took a sip before quietly stating about it being a touch too hot to herself.
I grimaced slightly, "I need some help finding Violet." I really didn't want to drag her into it. I really, really didn't but I didn't have much for options.
She froze, holding her tea cup in her hands. She was silently for a few moments, "You couldn't find anything at the Emporium?" She asked it quietly, slowly lowering her cup to the table
"The shop was ransacked so no traces of her or the werewolf were left and anyone I asked said they left through the main portal so she could be anywhere at this point." I sighed, turning my cup around on the table slowly. I didn't want to ask Tia for help, I really didn't want to ask her to work magick for me. "I went to Fayette but..." I trailed off, remembering just how poorly Fayette had looked when I had left. I hadn't realized how badly turning into an Oracle could affect a witch and I felt so terribly sad for my little sister. Her entire life would be confined to the Oracle's Manor with no life outside of her Oracle sisters and her visions.
"Is she alright?" At the question I couldn't even hide my wince. "Oh... poor Fayette. I would go to see her if you came as well." She gave me a faintly imploring look and I gave a hasty nod. If she wanted to go see Fayette for a visit, I would take her.
"Of course." I would take her to the end of the world if she asked it of me. I picked up my tea cup and blew off the steam and took a sip. It was still way too hot and I was sure my body was screaming 'what the actual fuck?!' at me for putting it into my body. I was more of a coffee and cream liqueur type of person or just alcohol in general. The only time I really drank tea was when I visited with Tia.
"Alright. So you need me to..." Tia swallowed hard at that and winced before taking a deep breath as if bolstering herself up. "To scry for Violet?" She looked at me, stress making lines in her face and I winced, looking down at my tea cup at the slightly peachy coloured water inside of it.
"If it's not too much trouble." I internally winced as I glanced up at her.
"I... I can do that." She had gone pale slightly but then nodded, looking more than a little shaky. "Yes... I can do that." She looked more than a little grey now and she swallowed convulsively, giving a faint little shudder before she straightened her spine and looked at me. "But you must stay for tea afterwards and-and Brian and his husband Tony from across the street brought me scones this morning with a note that said they were trying out a new recipe and for me to enjoy them. I have yet to have them and you and I can write a note back thanking them for them." She gave a shaky nod at that and I returned it hastily.
"Of course. I will stay for tea and the scones from Brian and Tony from across the street as well as help you write a thank you note. I will also help you organize whatever you want me to help with so you can relax." It was never a big thing for me to help out Tia and I was pushing her way outside of her comfort zone. It was different when she worked magick for herself. She felt more in control and everything was precisely how she wanted it to be but when it came to someone else asking her for it, she felt out of control and like things were going to come back on her and hurt her for it.
"That would be..." Her breathing evened out slightly as she blinked at me from behind her big lenses. "I do need some help with my crystal altar. The stones are being naughty and they don't want me touching them. They think I have been neglectful." She made a slight face at that and I fought back a fond smile as she muttered about her various crystals and stones she had and how they were being difficult for her.
"What little brats. You are far from neglectful." I emphasized the word and she nodded.
"Let me go get my ulexite ball, at least that one isn't giving me attitude." She adjusted her cup, looking more at ease and relaxed much to my relief. I could tell she was more at ease and felt more in control now that I had agreed to help her and stay for tea. It was no longer something that could come back on her. At least that was what I was pretty sure she was feeling. A closed loop. She helped me and I helped her. A balanced scale. "My obsidian plate was throwing me an absolute fit this morning when I went to use it. I kept seeing flashes of what I needed and then utter darkness and then running. A lot of running. Utter nonsense." She waved her hand, pinching her lips together as she scowled.
I chuckled, unable to help myself. "Definitely a naughty child." She nodded at that before she stood up and walked out of the kitchen rather quickly. I quickly waved my hand, my magick flowing through me as it gently lowered the temperature of the tea to a drinkable level but not extreme enough she would notice.
She came back, a rather large ball of ulexite in her hands and a velvet cushion. She set the cushion on the table, gently placing the large ball of mineral on it. She moved over to the lights and turned them off, the kitchen darkened but there was still some sunlight coming in through the window. She hummed slightly to herself as she moved over to it and pulled the curtains closed. Once that was done she came back to the table and sat down in her spot. She gently moved her tea cup off to the side and pulled the cushion towards her.
I took a sip of my tea, watching as she stretched out her fingers and gently touched the ulexite ball with her fingertips, muttering underneath her breath. The ball glowed brightly, causing her to look almost ethereal as she looked down on it. I watched her carefully as she muttered out Violet's name and the glow went out with a pop, plunging the entire room into darkness.
Tia yelped and I inhaled sharply. "Are you okay?" It came out harshly and there was a moment of silence that had my heart thumping hard in my chest before Tia let out a rather surprising curse. "It didn't hurt you, did it?" I didn't realize the magick would snap out like that. I didn't want her hurt because I asked her to help.
"No." She said it rather abruptly before I was able to make out her moving away from the table. She pulled the curtains open and scowled. "But mama just slapped my hands." At the words I blinked.
"Pardon me?" I blinked at her as she moved over and turned on the lights.
"Mama has a block on Violet. Her magick slapped my own in warning for looking." She came back over to the table, not looking too impressed and I didn't blame her. No one liked getting their fingers slapped by their mother.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Mother had sent me on a fucking wild goose chase and she had a fucking block on Violet the entire fucking time? I shook my head, feeling all sorts of pissed off. There was no reason to send me out to find Violet if mother already knew her location enough to put a magickal block on her. "Her and I are going to have words." I silently seethed as Tia sat back down, moving the cushion out of the way.
"I can imagine but first, you promised me tea time and then help with my altar." Tia gave a firm nod to that and I swallowed my anger down into my belly, letting it simmer.
"So I did." I might have been pissed off at my mother for lying to me and sending me on a wild goose chase but I did promise Tia I would visit and help her out and I would stick by that. But after we were done, mother was going to get a big piece of my mind.