His madra was patting his back 'til half the contents of the cup in his hand spilt into his lap. She had always patted him like this to comfort him so whenever she did it he always did feel better in spite of the fact she often "patted" him so hard she made his teeth rattle. He drank from the cup with it knocking into his teeth as his madra called him her "poor baby" and he almost spit the vile stuff out but had already swallowed it.
"What is this Jezel?"
"It's a potion to calm your nerves."
"Drink it. You'll feel better. You have done all you need to do and now you need to rest," his madra coaxed. He drank the rest of the swill down in one swallow.
What am I? I couldn't protect Kasiria and now I'm weak-kneed and sick to my stomach just watching the ordeal she had to go through. I am an embarrassment to my madra and to my grandfather's name.
"Hold the stretcher that's all I had to do was hold the stretcher," Jabone said. "I couldn't even do that right."
"Yes you did, son. You didn't get sick 'til you got out of the water. You did well. You've had very little food and less sleep. There is just so much a body can take," his madra said.
He didn't believe her. She was just saying it to make him feel better and . . .
Did a bird just fly by? I'm pretty sure a bird just flew by. And what's that? Is that a whale? That pool's not big enough for a whale. What nature of idiot put that in there?
He started to laugh because it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen.
Next thing he knew Taboro had him under one arm and his madra had him under the other and they were hauling him back into Jazel's Inn. . His fadra was walking at his back, assuring him that Kasiria hadn't felt a thing. He didn't remember anything after that.
* * *
"Well?" Jestia asked Jena, looking over her shoulder at where she was finishing stitching up Kasiria.
"It went well, but I just don't know," Jena said with a sigh. Suddenly she was just exhausted, still she wanted to know. "What is the nature of the spell, Jestia?"
"She stays asleep 'til she heals." It was Jezel who answered. "If she can heal. If you can fix the actual injury, and it looks like you have, then you don't have to worry about the wasting, and she should heal just fine."
"What do we have to worry about, Jazel?" Jena asked. Carefully tying off the last stitch and cutting the thread she turned to face the witch.
"Jestia did a good job with the spell but this is a very powerful spell one that most witches won't cast. This spell cheats death and death doesn't like to be cheated. It takes much from the caster and . . . If it works, the girl will awaken when she is healed and be fine. If the spell hasn't ruined her mind," Jezel explained.
Jena was still confused. "What do you mean if it hasn't ruined her mind?"
"I told you," Jestia said, sounding more than a little put out. "She could be an imbecile."
Jena nodded. She did remember that. Had that only been a few days ago? It seemed like years.
What private hell is this, to see my son in such pain. He is already beyond being able to function. How much worse will he be if she dies, or worse yet wakes up and is something he never knew and his madra has to kill her? He'd never forgive Tarius and that would crush her. But if the girl lives then we will be forever tied to Persius a man I despise with every fiber of my being. My child with his. He nearly killed Tarius, he nearly ruined us.
She looked back at the girl,
but Tarius is right, the girl is not her father and our son does love her and I can't bear to see him in such pain. I have had my hands inside her and stitched her up. She isn't any different than any other Katabull I have helped work on over the years. I must accept her whether she lives or not I must reconcile with this.
"Is there any way of knowing if her mind is broken?" Jena asked.
"Not until she wakes up," Jazel answered.
Together they moved her to a dry stretcher, then stripped her of her wet clothes put her in a gown and started moving her towards the inn.
Ufalla had taken one end of the stretcher and to her surprise Jestia had taken the other and she didn't seem to be having any trouble at all with it.
All the sword training has made her strong
Jena thought, but then Jazel was cackling at her back.
"You've done it, haven't you girl?" Jazel asked.
Jestia turned her head to look at the old witch and smiled.
"Done what?" Jena asked curiously.
"She's learned to cast from her thoughts," Jazel said proudly. "She doesn't have to use incantations she just thinks what spell she wants and it is cast. What are you using?"
"Half weight," Jestia said.
When they had laid Kasiria on a bed in the room Tarius had put Jabone in, Jazel looked at Jena and said, "If you'll excuse us I think me and my apprentice have some catching up to do." They took off and then Ufalla shrugged looking forgotten and asked, "Can I help you with anything Jena?"
"Nothing I can think of at the moment, thanks." Jena smiled. "I wouldn't worry too much about young Jestia losing interest in you any time soon, Ufalla. The girl is obviously smitten with you."
Ufalla smiled and nodded, "Well I guess I'll just go soak in the spring." She turned and left.
Jena watched her leave, thinking,
Little Ufalla, not so little, all grown up, they were all grown now. It's so hard to face the passage of time. Getting older, having our children grow older, watching them go through the same trials and tribulations we had to go through
.
They thought they had done their best to protect Jabone and now he was in the worst pain imaginable and who knew whether it was their fault or not. They could have raised him to be a fisherman or a blacksmith, but they raised him to be a fighter because it was what they were and what they knew. It was their tutorage that had brought him to where he was now. If they hadn't trained him to fight then what path might he have chosen? What hell might have awaited him there? You could never be sure that you weren't just pushing them in just the right direction to send them straight into misery. What mistakes had they made raising him that might have contributed to this moment of pain, and were they to blame?
She looked at her son as he slept and even in a potion-induced sleep his face was still filled with worry and something else that she knew all to well. He was no longer happily ignorant, no longer a naive, innocent youth. Two battles had stripped that from him and she knew from experience that once you had lost it there was no getting it back. No pretending that you didn't know what horrors lived in the dark of men's souls. Ignorance
was
bliss, knowledge often as not caused pain. She walked over and took off his wet pants, smiling that Tarius hadn't thought to do so, and then she covered him with a blanket and kissed his forehead. She started to leave the room and then walked over and covered the girl as well. She looked into her face.
How am I ever going to be able to forget who you are? When I look at your face I see him. I see him shooting Tarius in the belly with an arrow. Knowing I did little to stop him I relive my own shame, my own pain every time I see you. If you live you'll know what it's like to be shot through with poison and how will you be able to look her in the eye knowing what your father did to her? To me . . . I have to stop this, my anger won't serve me, and she isn't the cause of my anger just a reminder of it. If I don't accept her it will drive a wedge between me and my son so I have to, and who knows but that she's a lovely girl and she can't help it if she has her father's face.
* * *
Jazel's mate Helen had made them some tea. Jestia loved really good tea. Nothing quite quenched her thirst in the same way and it had been awhile since she'd had any decent tea so she was savoring it. They were sitting in Jezel's alchemy talking. Jestia decided her alchemy would be breezier and not so dank. Where was it written that a witch's potion room had to be so messy and abysmal looking? Would it make the potions any less powerful if you used pretty-colored jars for the herbs instead of stuff just hanging collecting dust everywhere and maybe clay pots to put the uglier stuff in so you didn't have to look at it and . . .
"Jestia," Jazel said and Jestia looked at her. "Are you here with us now?"
"I'm sorry, Jazel, I was just building my own alchemy in my mind."
Jazel laughed. "So casting has your interest again, for how long?"
Jestia looked at her then and all frivolous thought left her mind. "I am a witch, Jazel. It's no longer just another distraction, it's who I am. I am a witch."
Jazel nodded as if it was something she already suspected. "You have gotten very powerful very quickly." From her tone it was difficult to say whether she thought this was a good thing or not.
"Necessity provided an enducement mere desire could not," Jestia said, and decided she needed to write that one down before she forgot it.
They talked for quite awhile about magic and spells.
"Wall of bats," Jazel laughed. "And that worked?"
"Better than you would think," Jestia said with a smile. "But you have to realize there were thousands of them. So many you couldn't see the sky. If I hadn't cast them myself they would have scared me, too."
"Thousands of them?" Jazel asked curiously. "Where did they come from?"
Jestia shrugged, "I have no idea. Wherever bats come from I guess."
"That many, coming that fast—they had to be close."
Jestia shrugged again then asked quite seriously. "Jazel, this may not sound like it but I assure you it is a serious question. Can sex make you more powerful?"
Helen laughed. "Oh don't tell me that young witches are still using that one to get girls into their bed."
Jezel smiled and ignored her mate. "Not that I know of, why do you ask?"
"Because . . . Well I wasn't queer before and ever since I've been with Ufalla, well that's when I started getting so much stronger so quickly. I was trying to do invisible shield—oh and by the way thanks a whole hell of a lot for only giving me half the incantation."
"I gave you the whole incantation. You weren't listening, and I don't like to repeat myself."
"All right I deserve that but anyway . . . " She told them all about Ufalla and the spell. "And then I did healing sleep and I know it should have near killed me and all it really did was knock me out for a little while and make me a little weak. As soon as I made love with Ufalla I felt fine."
Jazel laughed and shook her head. "Silly girl, Ufalla didn't make you queer. Most magic users are. Look at the Katabull—they are magical creatures and most of them are queer. There is an equality in same-sex partnerships which is necessary for our growth as witches. You were just too young to know what you wanted. It's not the sex that makes you grow more powerful, it's because you love her, really love her, and she loves you. Her devotion to you is complete and obvious. That's an incredible well of power to pull from. It's that love, and your own growth as a person that's making you stronger, not the sex. Ufalla grounds you, gives you a reason for all you do. She makes you part of the world instead of just walking on it. Having a lover will never make a witch stronger. Having a bond with someone, sharing not just your body but your soul, your whole self with them, that is powerful magic." She looked at Helen and smiled and Helen smiled back. "And Ufalla's not just a good woman, but a very strong one and not untouched by magic. She's not Katabull but she was raised with them."
Jestia smiled stupidly and said, "We're going to get married."
"Oh, Jestia, your mother will just crap."
* * *
After a long soak, feeling drained, Ufalla had just crawled into bed but she couldn't sleep. She'd gotten too used to having Jestia beside her. She started to get up and just go find her but knew she was off somewhere talking to Jazel about witch stuff. While she didn't find witch craft a boring or frightening subject at all she didn't want to distract Jestia when she was talking to her teacher and she knew that she would—distract her that was.
Because I'm an object of desire. Well it's a good thing I like Montero because it looks like this is where I'm going to be living, unless of course the Queen has me beheaded. Finally we have a room all on our own with a real bed and clean linens and where the hell is Jestia? Off talking to Jezel. I'm here alone and if she doesn't get back soon I will go to sleep and I'm not going to let her wake me up, either.
As if she had willed her to appear the door opened and Jestia walked in her head wet from where she'd obviously been in the spring. She was wearing a short robe. Ufalla smiled, "I missed you."
"You did?" Jestia said with a sly smile.
"Yes, look I've been waiting for you." She pulled back the cover to show that she was naked.
Jestia laughed excitedly, undid her robe and let it slip slowly to the floor no doubt just to watch Ufalla's face become a mask of lust. She walked over and crawled into bed with her and Ufalla covered them both up as Jestia slid over to her. Jestia wrapped her arms around Ufalla's neck as Ufalla grabbed Jestia's waist and pulled her snuggly against her. They kissed and then Jestia just sort of melted against her.
"Wow, in a real bed," Jestia breathed. "You suppose we'll even be able to do it without fear of attack or someone walking in . . . "
"We'll have to work on it." She kissed Jestia again and then stopped and drew back from her a little so that she could see her face. "Did you ask her?"
"Ask her what?" Jestia asked more concerned with playing with Ufalla's breast than she was answering her question.
"Stop." Ufalla laughed and then at the pouty look on Jestia's face, "Just for a minute. Did you ask Jazel if sex made you stronger?"
"She said, yes, yes it did. I told you so," Jestia said.
Then trying to hold her off would have been like wrestling an octopus so Ufalla gave in, but laughed and said, "You're such a little liar."
* * *
It was good it was really good and now Jestia was in the throes of passion, her body writhing, and at the moment her passion had reached it's zenith she cried out what just had to be the strangest thing any lover had ever screamed, "Bats!"