by L E Gordon
“I made some tea for you when I heard the shower going on. I thought you would like some peppermint to help wake you up.” Michael handed me a mug, knowing this small gesture would make for an easier morning for him.
I inhaled the fresh smell before I sipped the hot drink. Lifting my head, I smiled at him; “Thank you, I needed some extra sleep, not sure why I felt so tired.” I winked at him and turned to the kids, who were playing under the kitchen table, “Hey you two, Aunty Kenna is coming round in an hour.”
“Yeah, Aunty Kenna!” The kids responded, loving Kenna like a true Aunty, even though she wasn’t. In our family, any close friend received the honour of the ‘Aunty’ title. The kids were happy to have so many Aunty’s to look after them, and it was good practise for my friends who didn’t have any children yet.
Knowing Michael would need a bit of time to get organised before Kenna arrived, I decided to distract them for a while. “Who wants to help me with some baking?”
Their hands raised in unison. “Me!”
“Go get your aprons on and we’ll make banana bread.” Baking was a favourite activity and would keep them happy till Kenna arrived, allowing Michael to sort through his stones and decide which he thought would work well for jewellery.
Realising I was giving him time to work unhindered he retrieved a large piece of black velvet from the dresser drawer and put it on the far end of the kitchen table, eyes focused on the jewels, matching the ones he thought worked well together.
With flour everywhere and two happy little faces smiling at me, I put the cake in the oven and set the timer to let me know when it was ready. Looking at the clock I got the kettle and put it on to boil in readiness for my friend’s arrival.
Just as the kettle sang to let us know it was up to temperature Kenna walked through the back door. My friends would walk in my house, knowing the door would always be open to them.
“Merry Met, one and all,” Kenna greeted us with an enthusiasm I could never stir up before noon.
“Merry Met, beautiful. I was just about to make tea, what would you like?” I asked her.
“Do you have any of that blend you made for the school fete? I’d love something to give me a pick-me-up.
Kenna was referring to a mix I sold in my tea shop, some of which I donated to the school fundraiser. I had mixed it to boost energy and creativity and it sold like hot cakes round exam times, the students telling me that it helped them study.
“Coming right up, Michael would you like anything?” I asked him.
“No thanks, love, I’ll get something later.”
At that point the kids burst in from the bathroom and jumped on Kenna. “Aunty Kenna, we made you banana bread!”
“Well that sounds yummy, how about you guys go and play for a while so I can work with your daddy. Once it’s ready we can all sit down and enjoy some?”
Happy with the suggestion they headed to the back door to run about in the sunshine. Kenna sat beside Michael, eyes wide at the display on the velvet cloth.
“Wow, I hadn’t expected so many. These are beautiful, Michael,” she said as she tucked an unruly curl behind her ear so it didn’t fall in her eyes.
She looked over the combinations Michael thought worked well and started to shuffle some of the pieces about.
Knowing they would be like this for at least an hour, I busied myself getting chores done and took the banana bread from the oven to cool. The children were still playing outside and together we went down the sea shore to check if the ocean had left them any treasures.
Sticks and shells were picked up and discarded, sea gulls were chased and puddles were jumped in. Soon enough it was time to walk back to the cottage and have an early lunch before I went to the shop to work.
Walking in, we found Michael and Kenna laughing and chatting, the busy work of design completed for the moment. Kenna would take the precious stones and start her sketches, which would be presented to Michael and, when they were both happy, she would work her magic on the metal and transform them.
Salads, bread and cheese were placed on the table for everyone to pick at and eat their fill. Once the children had full plates I sat beside Kenna, eager to chat about the upcoming Sabbat of Mabon.
“Are you looking forward to the Mabon working, Kenna? I love this time of year with the crisp nights before it gets too cold,” I said, thinking of the cold, dry night we were fortunate to have for the feast last year.
“You know I am, the Mabon Feast is such a good way to welcome the winter months. I can sense the energy building already. I said to Flora and Cait that we will catch up tomorrow night at my house for final preparations. Is that good for you too?” Kenna asked.
“Perfect, it will be good to chat about it all together. I’ll bring some wine and Michael can pick me up, no point in letting an opportunity to unwind slip us by, just because we are talking business!”
Kenna laughed. “My thoughts exactly, all magic and no play makes me a bitch of a witch. I’ll make us some food so we have something to eat.”
We ate our lunch, and the banana bread, and chatted about the jewellery she would make with Michael’s finds. By the time we had finished lunch it was time for me to go out to work.
“See you tonight, love,” I said, giving Michael a kiss with a promise of more excitement to come tonight.
“Smell you later, alligators.” I kissed Aaron and Ailsa on the head, their giggles at my silliness making me smile too.
Kenna walked to the car with me, heading to her workshop to start on her commissions.
“See you tomorrow night, Kenna, Blessed Be.” I got into the car and followed her out of the gate and into town before she turned towards the harbour and her warehouse workshop.
The afternoon at the shop went quickly. I had studied acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (minus the rhino horns and other such nasties) and became obsessed with blending tea during my studies. I started to make my own blends, then gave some to friends, and from that I ended up with an online shop and, when I finished my degree, opened a tea shop in my home town.
It might sound a bit ho hum, but there have been some crazy things happen because of that tea shop, but those stories are for another time.
I restocked some of our popular items on the shelves and, thinking that the warm weather wouldn’t hold for much longer, I decided to blend up some winter tea’s to help fight colds and other germs that came about when the temperatures dropped.
The fresh blends were stored in airtight containers at one side of the door leading to the back shop and on the other side I had shelves with a small selection of tea cups, tea pots, infusers and storage tins. I even had tables and chairs for clients and would sometimes read tea leaves when the notion took me, or I could tell a client needed help, but didn’t want to ask.
Once everything was in order and the shelves fully stocked, I opened the laptop and made a poster for the shop front letting people know the soothing tea was back in stock. I would let Mam know about it and she would pass the news on to the Grannies, as we called the elders in our coven. They were the best marketing tool I had. They would badger their families to get some, just in case the cold hit unexpectedly.
I was grateful that my regulars would often pop in and just enjoy a cup of tea with me. My older customers appreciated proper tea being served to them in proper cups and saucers. Strangely, the school kids thought it was a cool place to hang out too. There weren’t many places for them to go after school in our small Scottish town, and they had claimed the place as their own once the older ladies had gone home.
Some trusted me enough to be an ear to listen to their problems. Being a water witch I was always sensitive to emotions and could often see to the root of them meaning my advice was not only well intentioned, but was generally taken on. Being a community witch, even if most people had no idea that I was, was highly satisfying and the shop was a perfect way to put my own brand of healing out there.
The shop got busy at
3 o’clock with an influx of school kids, so the afternoon flew past. At 5 o’clock I was getting ready to close up when the doorbell rang, telling me I had one more customer. Peeking out from the back shop, I saw Kira looking at the tea blends.
“Oh it’s yourself, I thought I had a customer. Help yourself to anything you need, Kira, I’m just finishing up.” I never let family or close friends pay for anything, their word of mouth about my shop kept plenty of paying customers coming through the door.
My sister wandered up and down, long skirt swishing over her boots and bracelets jangling together on her wrists as she lifted things up to look at them. She had the whole Stevie Nicks look going on and she pulled it off too. I suddenly felt anxiety pouring over me; Kira was experiencing some pretty strong emotions and my water magic was picking up on them. I threw my emotional shield up and cut her off, allowing me to calm down slightly, but left me wondering what was on her mind.
Before I could ask her what was bothering her she started to speak. “I don’t actually need anything, thanks. I came in because I wanted to ask about the next circle. I have been considering coming back to practice with the coven again.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor, this was the first time in a long time she had mentioned magic in my presence, no wonder anxiety had been pouring off her. Thanking the goddess I was in the back room, I collected myself and went into the shop.
While we got on as well as sisters can about regular life, witchcraft was still a bone of contention with us. Kira ran off before she became our coven’s water witch, which meant her responsibilities became mine and I had years of training to catch up on in under a year, on top of my studies. It was hard. I lost a sister, had to finish my degree and study to be an important part of coven all at once.
Her convenient return after I became Keeper and her steadfast refusal to take on the mantle, or even take part in our coven in any way still pissed me off. I was surprised that she had even brought this up with me, knowing how I felt about her absence in the other part of our family life.
“This is … unexpected,” I replied, keeping a check on my own emotions so they didn’t show in my voice. “I’m meeting with the other Keepers tomorrow night to finalise arrangements. I'll let you know what the plans are on Friday.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say she was welcome or that we would be happy to have her there, as I wasn’t sure I felt that way and I wasn’t about to lie to her.
Sensing she had hit a nerve she simply nodded and turned towards the door. Yet again running away from a conversation that we needed to have. “Thanks, Tarn. I’ll be here when you need me.”
“Just a second, I have something for you” I picked up some of my soothing tea and gave it to her before waving her off as she walked down the street. Once she was gone I locked the front door, lowered the internal window shutters, turned the sign on the door to ‘closed’ and went to empty the cash register, lock up and head home to my family.
As I drew into the driveway the kids ran round from the kitchen door to greet me. They were at such a lovely age, so cheery and happy to see me after a few hours away. I smiled and opened the door ready for them to leap on me for cuddles.
“Hey you two, did you have a fun afternoon? Who will help bring some things into the house?”
I gave Aaron the fresh fish I had bought on the way to work and stored in the shop fridge and Ailsa took some milk. Walking to the back of the house and going in the kitchen door, I could see that Michael had made a start on dinner by boiling potatoes for fish pie.
He walked over and took the other shopping bag off me. “How was your afternoon, my little witch?”
It made me smile that he still called me his pet name, even after six years of being together. “Busy, but I got lots done, which leaves me free to just mind the shop tomorrow. Kira came in just before I closed up, she was so anxious and then talked to me about the coven. It was quite strange, she never talks to me about magic these days. Then she said she will be here when I need her. I have no idea what that was about. ” Once I had gotten over my anger with her I had thought how weird it had been for her to talk to me about the coven. She usually spoke to Mam about magic, not wanting to drive a bigger wedge between us than there already was.
“That is strange. Was she okay? Are you okay?” Michael asked, sitting beside me on the sofa.
“Yes I’m fine, I just wonder why she didn’t talk to Mam. She could have given her all the details about Mabon. Maybe she’s considering making amends, Mabon is the perfect time for clearing out your baggage.” I groaned as Michael rubbed my feet while he listened.
Putting my feet on the footstool he stood up, “Maybe she wants to clear the air, but whatever it is you’ll find out soon enough. Now you relax, I’ll finish dinner. Then we can have an early night.” He grinned, showing he had anything but rest on his mind. I smiled counting down to when we could get the kids to sleep and make the most of the night.
After dinner and the kid’s bath we played board games until they started to yawn. It didn’t take them long to settle down in the room they shared and they were both asleep in no time. Thanking the Goddess that they were good sleepers I went back to the kitchen where Michael was waiting for me to make good on his earlier promise.
***
The next day saw a steady stream of people through the doors, making the day pass quickly. At 5 o’clock I closed the shop and went straight home for a shower and changed into a thick, knee-length stretchy black dress with short sleeves, bright mustard tights, and my knee-high boots. I quickly dried my hair, letting the slight curl have its own way for once, and put on some mascara, blush, and lip gloss.
Even if we were meeting at each other’s homes it was still a coven meeting and we liked to make an effort to look good and honour each other. As soon as we arrived we would kick off our shoes and lounge on Kenna’s comfortable sofas, but we could still look a bit fancy.
I helped Michael get the twins in the car and we drove the short trip to Kenna’s renovated warehouse. She was not only a silver smith but an actual black smith too, and did some bigger work when the notion took her. The bottom floor of her home was a workshop and smithy, allowing her to have a jewellery studio and a forge, and still have plenty of room in her comfortable home above it.
I gave Michael, Aaron, and Ailsa a kiss goodbye, got out of the car and walked to the side door. It opened into a spacious entryway, which was a room in itself, where you could hang up coats and leave umbrellas on the wetter days. I took off my coat and boots and put them away to keep her house neat and tidy.
The room opened to a stairway which led to the main living area, I could hear laughter flowing down the stairs and knew I was the last to arrive. I walked up the wooden steps, my hand sliding up the polished metal railing that Kenna had made. At the top of the stairs the living area opened out. It was like walking into an apartment that you would see on T.V., with bare brick walls and huge windows looking out on to the harbour.
Realising I had arrived they all got up and together we had a group hug. “Merry Met!” Kenna said, “Come and sit down, we were just chatting about that new dating show that was on last night. Did you watch it?”
I walked over to the two matching sofas Kenna had positioned at either side of a hand crafted coffee table. Flopping down I accepted the glass of wine Kenna had poured for me.
Flora laughed. “Michael just got home, do you think she was watching a dating show or relieving the tension from him being away?”
We all laughed, knowing this to be true. Our earth witch was all about sensuality and fertility and thought everyone should be having sex all the time.
“You got me there, Flora. I could barely walk when I got up this morning!”
Kenna snorted wine out of her nose and Cait, the most reserved of us, gave me a gentle smile.
“Let me get some food, and we can get started,” Kenna said, dabbing her nose with a napkin while she went to the kitchen and returned with a plate of nibbles
for us to eat.
“Before we start I have some news. Kira came to see me yesterday and asked about joining the coven.”
The room fell quiet as the other took this in. Lifting a cheese cracker from the plate Kenna replied for them all, “Well I didn’t see that coming. Did she say why?”
“I didn’t ask, you know how angry I get about her talking witchcraft with me. I love working with all of you in our circle; it’s as if this is what should always have been. But her leaving, and me having to take on this role because of her selfishness drove a wedge between us. Try as I might to forgive her, I still have resentment there. Then she said something almost as strange, she will be here when I need her. Anyone guess what that is about?”
Cait looked at me, her pale blue eyes calming my frayed nerves, “Do you want me to speak to her? I might find out what is on her mind if the wind shares its secrets.”
She was our air witch and could hear whispers on the wind, secrets from people who were near her or things that were yet to happen. It wasn’t quite clairvoyance, but she could still find out things that we wouldn’t pick up on.
She worked with children with special needs and this ability helped her to understand them better than most. They felt at peace with her, which helped her get great results with children who felt at odds with the world, just because their brains were wired differently to the norm.
These whispers and secrets could make life difficult for Cait and she didn’t have many friends outside the circle, most of us being able to shield ourselves magically from the elements. She was getting better at blocking them out, but it still took effort and left her exhausted at times.
I nodded, “That would be great, thank you, Cait. We still don’t know exactly what happened when she left us, so keep your shields up. Her magic can be a bit erratic. I think this is another reason she has stayed away for so long.”
With that decided we got down to the real business for the night, the Mabon working and feast.
Most of the details of the working were in place, as this night had been celebrated for hundreds of years and we didn’t stray far from what our ancestors had put in place. We had been organising the feast for the past month so tonight was more about ticking boxes, checking that things had been done and seeing if anything unexpected needed to be dealt with.
