“Yup. We are then the end of a nine-hundred-year tradition. If I don’t have mage children, our line will depend on Morwiss. She has a technical betrothal, but she can get out of it if either she or her fiancé finds a true match.”
The idea seemed to make Leanne ill. “That is horrible.”
“That is life as a mage. We are counted, watched, monitored, and bred like cattle. When one of us sneaks off to have a fling with the fey, they are usually disowned.”
“What about the ones who marry shifters?”
“They are kicked out of the mage guild entirely. They lose their family and their people.”
Leanne blinked. “That is…”
“Horrible. I know. Fortunately, the regulations seem to be changing now that the Crossroads are in play. As long as there is a strict record of all the connections that are made, they appear to be authorizing it. Well, at least for me. I wasn’t considered acceptable breeding material for the mage guild.”
“But you are so powerful! I have heard about the balance and bindings you have done since you arrived here. You don’t burn out.”
Mel smiled slightly. “Too powerful. It would be like bringing dynamite to a fireworks display.”
“Ah. So, unpredictable children are no good?”
“That is correct. The mages have survived by predictable breeding. This little foray into the wild may loosen things up, or our children may be denied by the mage guild. Who knows?”
Leanne paused in her shelling and gripped Mel’s hand. “You’ll always have a home with us.”
Melwiss gripped back, “And I will always defend my family, new or old.”
It was an ominous expression, but Leanne took it for the declaration of devotion that it was. She smiled, sniffled, and pushed the bowl toward Mel. “Give us a hand.”
Mel started shucking peas and looked around the yard. “So, where are the plants?”
“They grow when we ask for them. It was one of Dira’s promises. We would have what we need when we needed it.”
Mel’s hands kept working, and she mentioned, “I need to chat with her about some kind of a discharge system.”
“You can just go and chat with her?”
Mel chuckled. “It is either that or I give a whole bunch of sugar to her little girls. It is her choice.”
Leanne giggled at the scandalous thought, and in short order, they were ready to start shucking corn.
Andy watched the dragon flying in and setting the huge tree in the vacant hole in their yard. “Why is it always wood with you?”
Mel grinned. “I can’t believe you waited this long to ask.”
“Well?”
“Wood grows for centuries through wind and weather, it waits, it shelters, and it nurtures. When it is severed from its roots, it remains warming and can help humanity in myriad ways. It is alive and dead at the same time, and there is nothing more magical than that.”
He hugged her and murmured in her ear. “You just like it.”
She chuckled. “That is it. For me, wood is pure magic, and having you craft it for me put you somewhere I could find you.”
“In that case, wood is magic for me as well.”
She watched the dragon plant the tree that she would use to take the edge off the power spikes and mentally cheered. More full nights in bed with Andy was a definitely desirable result. Fortunately, time with one’s mate was something that Dira was all in favour of.
* * * *
Over decades, the tree would grow to have silver bark with golden leaves and acorns of diamonds.
Just kidding. It was wood, was host to three children’s swings and two tree houses.
The tree watched over the mage and her mate, protected their children, and took the burn of magic, turning it into power, soil, and shade for the family. Their house flourished in the shade, expanding with each family member to arrive.
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
Wood Be Magic Page 6
