Just a Little Magic
A witch,cat and crow prompt. As offered by Anonymous and @nocturnal-birdie
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A cat made it's way up a hill to an old abandoned barn. It was not as empty as it looked however, and it didn't sound empty either much to the cats annoyance. As she walked into the barn she was spotted by a crow.
"Azura! Azura! Watch this!" He shouted, quivering with pure excitement. The young crow and his small rider dropped suddenly from the rafters in a plummet, at the last minute the crow swooped up in an upwards twist before holding his wings to level out. Dizzily, he called out.
"Whoa! Azura, did you see that?!" He asked giving a few energetic flaps before landing in front of the black and white cat. The cat blinked slowly, as it sat by the entrance.
"Yes Nigel." She huffed, walking over to the girl riding on it's back and picking her up by the hem of her clothes. "You should have been in bed an hour ago." She spoke to the person she carried. "Did you two do anything productive at all while I was gone?"
"Hey! Let go! I'm almost fifteen." The tiny in her mouth fought. "Come on Azura!" She kicked her legs swinging herself from the cats jaw. "Nigel! A little help?" The young lady turned to the crow hopefully.
Nigel tucked a feather in shifting on his feet. "Um, I don't know, It is kinda late..." The girl huffed at his weak reply.
"Sorry Riley." He apologized quickly.
Azura shook her head, swinging Riley even more. "Don't apologise. Everyone should go to bed, it's late, look at the moon." The moon hung high in the sky, almost over head. Soft light poked through the broken patches of the barn roof giving little light to the room.
She jumped to the barns loft, and set the girl down. Laying beside her in a makeshift nest of blankets, she gave a few quick licks to the back of Riley's head.
"Stop Azura, I'm clean!" Riley complained, but the cats paw hooked around her, and pinned her down.
"Fine. But you're sleeping next to me, it's going to get cold tonight." Azure stated firmly.
"What? Says who?" Riley asked in disbelief.
Azura eyes narrowed to slits. "I can feel it in my whiskers." She turned her head away ending the subject. Nigel flew up to them nervously.
"Hey, uh if it's gonna get cold can I, can I sleep with you guys?" He asked nervously. Riley pushed the paw off her and stood up.
"Yeah! Come on over scaredy cat!" She teased.
Azuras tail twitched. "I take offense at that." Riley rolled her eyes.
"You take offense at everything." She waved Nigel over, who shook his wings and settled down beside her. Riley tossed a few scraps of blanket over Nigel before laying down.
"Goodnight Azura, night Nigel."
"Night Riley, night Azura" Nigel echoed.
"Sleep well you two." Azura ended, as a stiff wind blew threw the beat up walls of the barn. Riley gave a small shiver; Azura couldn't resist. "I told you—"
"Yea yeah I know!" Riley cut off. Azura gave a catish smile and sighed contently before shutting her eyes in sleep.
The cold continued till morning, waking Azura from a stiff sleep. She didn't move as to not wake up the young crow and girl besides her. Though she did not look it, Azura knew Riley had magic. She was what people now a days would call a witch, or they would if they believed in them. On the day Riley was born, Azura had been blessed with long life and intelligence, and charged to assist Riley in all that she did by her mother, Coral. But Coral had died when Riley was ten, experimenting with a spell that backfired, shrinking her into nothing. In the after wave of magic, Riley had been shrunk to three inches tall, and now Azura did the best she could to look after her.
Riley was turning fifteen in two days, which meant she would unlock her magic soon. She had already found a familiar, the crow that slept next to her, now they just needed to prepare. She wondered what did Nigel think of all this? They had run into him only a year ago and he had been extremely anxious upon meeting her. "But he clicked so well with Riley." Her thoughts nagged. She wasn't really sure what she was doing, she only knew the basics. Azura rested her head until she felt Riley stir an hour later.
"Good morning Riley." Azura greeted, licking at her paw. Riley pressed herself closer to Nigel's wing.
"It's freezing!" Riley stated.
Azura stood, causing Riley to crawl under Nigel's wing. "Wow, really it's cold? I hadn't noticed, thank you for informing me." She chuckled.
Riley peeked out from under the wing, face pink. "It's not as cold as your sense of humor." She snapped, and disappeared again. Azura jumped down from the loft and made her way to the stream. Leaves drifted down to stir the water and block her view of the fish, but she was patient. She could wait.
It was almost half an hour before a flash of silver darted by. Azura lundged and swiped at it, catching the tip of the tail with the edge of her claws. Careful not to get her fur wet, she picked up the flopping fish and carried it to the barn. "Miley, gef dow here." She yelled through a muffled mouth as she carried it to the fire pit. She placed it on the stone and called out again. "Riley! Get down here and start the fire!"
"Aauuugghh.... Fine." She groaned. Azura knew by the flapping noise that Nigel had woken too. He flapped down taking Riley with him.
Azuras ears twitched. "You can come down on your own you know, Nigel's not just a ride. He's supposed to be your companion, your confident. Not a taxi service." She lectured. "He has special gifts as your familiar, you shouldn't waste them.
Nigel picked at the ground slightly miffed. His gifts weren't much, he could mimick and he could carry slightly more weight than other crows, but that was it.
Riley just took a match and ran it across the box. "What's got your tail in a twist Azy?" She asked boldly, throwing the match into the pile of twigs and branches.
"Nothing I just think Nigel has more potential."
Nigel poke his head forward. "I'm right here guys." He said akwardly. Azura nodded.
"I am aware of that."
"It's just a lift. Who cares?" Riley shrugged.
"I do. You're going to come into your magic soon and you act like a child." Azure rebuked.
Nigel ruffled his wings and scratched the ground. "I'm sorry Azura, but it's really no problem. Really! I..." He trailed off at the look she gave him.
Riley placed the fish on the heating brick to cook and came to Nigel's defense. "Maybe I wouldn't act like a child if you didn't treat me like one, we're the same age but you act like your my mom or something!"
Nigel twitched anxiously. "Guys let's not fight. I mean, we have a lot to do today and.. uh." He hoped around. "I'm just gonna um, go get some breakfast." He flapped his wings and took off.
"You know Nigel's scared of you." Riley blurted when he had left.
Azura scoffed. "Preposterous, he slept next to us last night." She reasoned.
"Yea, only because you were in a good mood, but when you get cranky he gets nervous, I can feel it, and I know you can see it." She fought. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for awhile.
"The fish is done." Azura said, expertly hooking the fish off the hot brick. She set it on the platform Riley used as both a plate and a table.
"Do we have to go into the town today?" Riley asked changing the subject.
Azura nodded. "When the moon rises, on your birthday you will experience a burst of magic. If you have potions and pollutices ready, it will be easy to direct your magic into that and create something instead of just letting it all out everywhere." She explained. "That is why we are going to town, so we can find more ingredients and containers."
Riley cut the fish, and pushed half of it to Azura. "You mean steal." She pointed out.
"Only because I don't want you wasting magic. Witches traditionally spend years preparing for this night, I don't want it to be a waste."
Riley looked down moodily and poked at her fish. Azura sighed.
"That said, even with all we have I feel it will not be enough, you will have enough leftover for a few things off your own choosing." She picked the fish up and began eating.
Riley looked up, a grin on her face. "I want to fix the barn! And I want to start an all year garden, so we don't have to go to town ever." Azura stopped mid mouth.
"You don't want to go to town ever? I know you don't like that we have to take a few things, but what about Lewis and cherry? What about Dennis? Won't you miss them?" She questioned.
Lewis and cherry were dogs that belonged to the general store owner. They helped create diversions while they grabbed what they needed. Azura didn't care for them much, but she knew Riley loved them. Dennis was another cat, and he got things from sources outside of the small rural town.
"I like them just fine, I like them even better when they come here." She grinned slyly. "Besides you just like Dennis." She teased.
Azura stiffined. "I do not." She protested. "Besides he's well, you know." She didn't want to ruin Riley's mind. "Not interested."
"Yea, because he Fixed." Riley said bluntly. "But you're not!" She laughed at Azura face, she looked appalled and mortified.
"Who told you that!?" She demanded angrily a hiss coming out at the end. Her ears pressed flat against her skull.
Riley kept laughing. "It doesn't take a genius to find out! Besides, Cherry told me."
Azura disdain for the dogs only grew. With as much dignity as she could gather, she picked the rest of her fish up and stalked out the door, tail stiffly lowered in irritation.
Riley giggled and ate her fish.
Nigel sooner returned carying with him a plastic water bottle.
"Hey I know you need containers how about this?" He suggested holding it up.
Riley grinned. "That will work! We should clean it though." Nigel smiled and headed for the stream when Riley remembered Azura. "Wait! Don't go out there!" She warned.
Nigel stopped his flight. "Why? What's wrong?"
Riley grinned. "I ticked off Azura, big time."
"Oh no, what did you do now?" Nigel asked almost exasperatedly.
"You don't want to know." She giggled. "It's cat stuff."
Nigel flopped his wings and hopped over to where they kept the supplies. "You know what, you're right. I don't." He shook his head confused and placed the bottle next to the pile of empty containers.