2-107 We did mention my great grandmother’s twin sister’s ties to the earth and the forest so that is where Elena started. She is everything I thought a witch would look like. She is a fiery red-head with emerald eyes. Her hair is so deep burnt orange it looks like it’s on fire in the sunlight. She has different braids flowing through her medium length locks. Some with beads or feathers attached, some just braids tied off with thin leather straps.
She is taller than me, like pretty much everyone, but only by a couple inches, but her personality precedes her into a room, like an Alpha or Beta of a pack. She is very calm, but I feel like it’s a calm she works hard to maintain and if someone presses the right button she could shoot fireballs out of her fingers. Her build is womanly with curves in all the right places, but she doesn’t hide behind frumpy dresses or dress like a sl*t either. She is classy and natural. It’s hard to tell her age because of the way she carries herself.
“Sit straight and place your palms flat on the ground. Tell me what you feel.”
“The dirt is gravely but soft. It’s warm from the sun.” I press my palms further to the ground and take a deep breath slowly in and slowly out. Concentration has been the hardest thing for me. Sitting still and just being quiet isn’t something I ever thought I would have trouble with after spending so much of my life secluded and alone, but I don’t like the not moving, not thinking part of this whole thing. Another deep breath in and then out. The grass is cool and silky under my touch. I concentrate on feeling further below the surface. “It’s buzzing! Why is it buzzing?” My eyes shoot open and I look up at her. “Close your eyes and feel, try to listen with your hands.”
We have had several sessions and it has become frustrating because I have never felt anything. I don’t think magic is a thing that was passed to me. This thrum is the first time I have felt anything other than the obvious physical things around me.
“It’s like a heartbeat or a pulse, but there is a buzz with it, what is that?” I take another breath and try to mentally follow the pulse and the buzz, but before I can get too far with it, I lose the whole sensation and everything snaps in me like a rubberband. My eyes fly open and I jump up like something bit me in the ass. “What in the hell was that?!”
“You felt the trees connecting, they speak to each other through their root systems. What I think the buzz might be was a call of urgency, to prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” I ask just as a loud clap of thunder rocks through the sky and I look up. How long have we been out here? The sun was burning on my face not that long ago.
“A storm.” She says dryly. I think that is the first joke I have ever heard her make.
We both laugh as we run back to the castle trying to beat the rain that is now chasing us down and sweeping over the open yard. We get inside the doors of the balcony, but not without getting soaked first. The storm was faster than we were.
One of the castle omegas came to us with towels, clearly anticipating our very soggy arrival.
“Can I try again? Can we train from inside? I don’t want to lose the feeling now that I have an idea of what it is.” I say excitedly. “I still might not have magic, but if I can detect it, if I can feel the difference between good magic and bad magic, I could help with our missions. Maybe find the witches that have been imprisoned…’
“Hold your horses there, girly.” Elena grabs my shoulders. “The Alpha King did say you were excitable when learning something new. I’m glad to see he did not exaggerate. Your education will go faster outside with the elements. It would be best if I could bring you to work with the coven as a whole, in our space of learning, but you are needed here as well. Come let’s go find the study and we can do some magic history so you can understand what and why you are feeling the things you are.”
We make it to Alpha Reggie’s study where he and I have been going over royal family history trying to fill the gap of my mother and grandmother’s lives. As a member of the royal family, I have been learning some of the protocols and the pomp and circumstance requirements of being a royal. I did find out that I am fifth in line to the throne. Which I laughed at when Alpha Reggie told me, but he stopped me short saying that some kingdoms have had to go that deep into the family for the next Alpha King. Xander is first, obviously, then Osiston. Which is a crazy thought. Then there are two other warriors that currently serve as liaisons with other Kingdoms, then me.
“Sit, let’s talk about magic basics. First, magic itself is neither good nor evil. That is the first and most important thing to remember, no matter what anyone says about light or dark magic. It is easy to blame the magic, but forget there is still a human wielding it. The intentions for the magic are what make it dark or light. Elder witches can change and cast from dark to light and vice versa. It is difficult and requires a lot of concentration and mental strength, so it is a last resort, but possible.”
She pours herself some tea from a pot, I didn’t even see before, making me think she somehow magicked it here. After she pours a second cup, she sits and gestures for me to do the same.
