The Witching Hour

With dinner eaten and with the sun setting, causing the waters or the swamp to give off a brilliant golden hue, the four of us moved out to the landing to enjoy some fresh air as I continued the story. “Now, then, where was I? Oh, right!”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A few days later, I was trying my hand at brewing some potions. According to Soot, I should have enough magic control now to do so without blowing up the concoction or wasting the ingredients on making sludge. A simple pain reliving potion that the tome said would be a decent starting point for beginners was what I settled on. If it worked, it could help Soot ease the pain from his wing, and since it was for beginners, I wouldn’t spend anything overly difficult to replace in case of failure.

I wasn’t so sure about the prospect, to be honest. It was still a coin toss on if my spells blew up in my face. But I would have to begin sometime, and according to the recipe list, most of the herbs were simple to replace. However, given what some of those ingredients were, I would not let Soot drink this unless I was certain it would work out. Why did a pain relief potion need wolfsbane, white toadstools, and nightshade anyhow?

One thing was certain, if the potion failed, I would have a brew so damn poisonous it would kill whoever drank it in short order. On the flip side, the potion would show clear signs of success, as the concoction would turn an iridescent teal if you succeeded, while it would remain a murky brownish green if it failed. Although, if I added too much magic, the potion would have an eruption similar to a geyser, followed by an immediate failure.

“Ok, first I dice the nightshade and wolfsbane into a fine powder and mix it together…” As I began following the instructions, Soot remained perched on a table on the opposite side of the room from the cauldron. I didn’t blame him. If this concoction erupted and either of us accidentally consumed any of it, neither of us would live long enough to use any counteragent. “Once you infuse the brew with mana, I’ll help with monitoring your mana usage, so you don’t overdo it. And given what the brew contains, it’s better if we have a non-eruptive failure.”

I gave him a thumbs up before I went back to crushing the toadstool caps in a mortar. Once the toadstools were crushed, I added the water to the cauldron, and finished prepping the other ingredients. “Say Soot. According to the book, I can either use a bezoar, or three tongues of toad to counteract the toxicity. Which would you recommend?” Soot eyed me for a moment. “Well, the Bezoar could be reused, but do you even have one?”

Hmm, good point. “Just a moment… bezoar, bezoar… aha. I have a few, actually, and I also have a bunch of toad tongues, so I’m spoiled for choice, really.” Soot seemed to contemplate it. “Let’s use the tongues. The bezoars are more valuable, as they can be used as-is in case of emergency. Besides, the tongues are more lenient on the amount of magic.” Sounded like a sound argument to me. I stashed the bezoars again and began dicing the tongues, just like the book said, before adding them to the brew.

Now I just needed to add the magic while stirring counterclockwise. “Focus now, not too much, not too little.” As Soot said that, the cauldron made a belching sound. “Too little magic, I assume.” I noted as the brew gave off an abhorrent stench. Soot didn’t answer immediately, just hopped off the bench and bounced towards the door in typical corvid fashion. “Yep, there should be a rune on the cauldron you can put magic into to void the content. I’ll be in the living room meanwhile.”

It took a while to puzzle out which rune Soot was referencing, but putting some magic into each in order, I learned what they did. The Spiral shaped rune made the accompanying ladle stir on its own. The rune that looked vaguely like the outline of a trident I couldn’t identify a use for… until the potion began giving off an acrid smoke. So it would seem it toggled the magic that prevented the potion from burning. When I injected some more magic into that rune, it again caused the smoke to fade.

Then I found what I was looking for. The rune that was just a single circle. The moment I infused it with magic, the inside of the cauldron turned jet black for a split second. When the darkness dissipated, there was no sign of the potion anywhere. The ladle was still there, but the potion was not. Well, that was convenient. I would have to learn what each of these runes meant.

It took another three tries before I got the potion right. However, it finally began turning a brilliant pale blue. Once the potion was done, the cauldron hovered off the fire and placed itself on the stone floor. As I moved in with some potion bottles, I looked down at the concoction. “This looks right. What do you think?” I poured some into a bottle and showed it to Soot. “It looks like a pain relief potion to me. Mind if I take some once it’s cooled off?” I corked the first bottle and placed it on the table before it grew too warm to hold. “Not at all, it's why I began with this one in the first place, after all.”

Soot didn’t comment on it, at all, just looked at me in silence, before he nodded, and hopped out of the room. Days passed and turned into weeks, and with Soot helping me with my meditation, I was getting a proper feel for how to use magic. There was a sensation when there was enough magic used. It was weak, but I could feel it. If I stopped shortly after getting that sensation, the spell would go as I wanted.

It was not getting the feeling when making potions, but it was a question of time, more than anything else. If my hunch was correct, at any rate, though only time would tell on that one.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Midnight looked up from the armrest she was lazing on and up at Soot. “It must have been purretty nerve wracking to drink that first potion, considering one mistake, and it would have been poisonous still, even if the brewing succeeded.” Soot ruffled his wings and then hopped down next to Midnight. “Honestly, that didn’t even occur to me back then. Though, when I consider how painful my wing was, I would have taken the risk even if I knew. It was driving me crazy.” I gave both of them some scratches on the head, earning happy chirps from Soon and a delighted purr from Midnight. “We were lucky it worked out, even more so given the rainstorm that hit a few days later…”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I’d just stocked back up on the mushroom and nightshade when the sluices of heaven opened up, but the rain was preventing me from even leaving because of how intense it was. “Sheesh, hey Soot, I haven’t been living here long. Is rain like this normal?” Soot turned away from of the window, then hopped from the windowsill and over to the bowl of diced meat he was having for dinner. “Not this intense, no. Sure, autumn has torrential rain, but it’s rare we have a literal waterfall deluge like this.” Just then, there was a strange sound from the windowsill.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soot flapped his wings excitedly. “OH, I remember it was-” I gently closed my hand around his beak. “No spoiling the surprise now, Soot.” I let go of his beak. “Sorry, got too excited.” He clicked his beak a few times. “It’s fine Soot, now where was I? Oh, right I…”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Walked over to the window and saw something banging on the glass, attempting to get in and away from the rain, no doubt. I hesitated for a moment before I opened the window and in stumbled a small dark green bundle. I could hear coughing and gagging as I gently picked it up and closed the window again. Then carried the bundle over to the fireplace and placed it down gently in front of it.

The bundle seemed to respond to the heat, and a few moments later it sat up, revealing that the green was a cloak. “Thanks bigun, thought I was going to drown when that rain surprised me.” The little thing tossed off the cloak, revealing two pairs of dragonfly like wings. “You’re welcome. I didn’t know there were fae living near my home, though.” The Pixie? Fairy? I honestly couldn’t tell, looked up at me, as if seeing me for the first time. “Huh… you’re a strange bigun.” I sat down next to the lil thing. “Strange? How so?” The fae wrung the water out of the cloak, then put it down on the floor. “Never seen a bigun with green skin.” I could hear Soot chuckle at that statement. I leaned closer to her. “Well, the green skin comes from the fact that I’m a witch.”

The little thing flinched. “A… A witch? You, um… you didn’t save me just to pluck my wings or collect my dust, did you? After all, biguns always want pixie dust, and some also pluck our wings.” What an appalling idea. I leaned back and looked at her. “No, I have no such plans. In fact, it’s my opinion that such cruelties are unforgivable. Besides, I make it a point to not harm my guests without a good reason. That includes unexpected ones.” The little thing didn’t seem convinced. I went into the potion room and looked up what pixie wings could be used for.

They could be used for one thing and one thing only, according to the book. Potions of youth. Neat but, one, way above my current skill level, and two, they weren’t necessary for the potion itself, but were a supplement. They made the potion easier to brew and increased the potency, but weren’t a necessity.

As I returned to the living room, I sat down and opened the page. “If you are still worried, look here.” I held the book up so the lil thing could read. “I have no need for your wings. Sure, they could be used in this potion, but it’s way above my current skill level, as I struggle to make beginner potions. If you don’t believe me, ask him.” I pointed over to where Soot was still eating.

Soot looked up from said meal and eyed the pixie. “She ain’t lying. It took her four attempts to get a basic pain relief potion down. If she tried that one at her current skill level, she’d likely blow up the house, and a large amount of the clearing as well.” I looked down at the pixie, who seemed much calmer after Soot’s assurances. “As for pixie dust. Again, got nothing to use it on right now. Besides, it would be easier to trade for some when I need it, than to take it by force now, and then have to hunt down pixies that are now hiding from me should I need more in the future.”

The Pixie seemed to ponder my words for a bit. “That makes sense. I’m Ivy, by the by. Nice to meet ya!” Ivy said, with a smile, and began giving off a soft viridian glow. “Nice to meet you too, Ivy. I’m Morgana, and my feathered companion over there is Soot.” Soot, who was just finishing his meal, hopped off the table with the last piece of steak in his beak, which he offered to Ivy. The pixie hesitated for a moment, then with surprising strength took the piece of meat, which was half her own size, and began eating. “Mmm thwif if yhummyh” Whatever fear and doubt the lil thing displayed before, it was now forgotten.

“Bit of food, and you trust us, eh?” The pixie looked at me with confusion for a moment, then swallowed its current mouthful of food. “There is no way someone who makes food this yummy is bad!” There were about a thousand flaws in that logic, but it wasn’t like I was going to do anything harmful to the lil thing, and who didn’t like being complimented. “I… don’t really follow that logic, but in this case at least, it’s not wrong.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“So you met little Ivy that early on, Mother?” Winter asked, flew down from her perch to join in on the scratches. “Indeed, and I am pretty sure she would have drowned if we didn’t meet because that deluge didn’t stop for another two days. I’d say it was lucky for both sides, all things considered. Meeting Ivy put me in friendly contact with Nettledale Village, and them with me. Both the village and I have benefitted from that.”

Midnight opened a lazy eye. “I’d say the cute little fireflies have benefitted more than you, Meowstress.” She rolled over as I began scratching her tummy. “Oh, I won’t refute that. But their prosperity is our gain as well, since through them, I’ve been able to get access to materials I otherwise wouldn’t.”

Midnight sat up and yawned. “The summer and winter courts, true. Trading with them using the Pixies as intermediaries is far safer than attempting it directly. Erydhe and Ilmahir are unreadable at the best of times, and I feel ill at ease in their presence, even if their behavior has been nothing but cordial.” I couldn’t disagree with Midnight on that argument. The local fey rulers were always friendly, but there was always something about them that made me feel… out of sorts. Some sort of otherworldly quality that just made you feel ill at ease.

Soot was the only one who didn’t seem overly affected by it. However, he was by far the most experienced with things like that of all of us, given his old Master, so that wasn’t surprising. I glanced up at the clock. “Alright, you three, it’s almost midnight, so let’s end it there for today.” There was a collective murmur of disappointment from all three. “Now, now, enough of that. We’ll continue tomorrow. Ivy was planning a visit then too, and I’m sure she’d like to listen as well.”