Chương 70: Chapter 68: The Mother

Sootpaw's new boots click click clicked on the ground with a bit more force than was strictly called for, but according to her, the sound they made was pleasing, and stomping in them felt so good!

They were simple affairs compared to footware I was used to from earth, with black leather and each had three big bronze buckles rather than laces They extended up onto my little girl's calves, rather like cowboy or combat boots, and they looked like not only could they stomp super well, but they would probably be good for kicking the stuffing out of somebody, too! As she stomped, hand in mine, she sang a song I wasn't familiar with.

"Down around the bend, Up the downy glen I chased my father's chicken!" Stomp, Stomp, Stomp!

"A thick and surly hen! Much bigger than a wren! She was my father's chicken!" Stomp, Stomp, Stomp! The song changed - a verse?

"She broke a'loose and kissed a goose a clamor did she strike!" Stomp!

"Down the square I do declare! She gave my nan a fright!" Stomp, stomp, stomp! Was she dancing? My suspicion was confirmed when she took her hand from mine and twirled, pulling a brilliant smile from me as her black, red, and green new dress flared out around her and whipped about her legs. It was more a robe than a dress, made of three sturdy parts; an undergarment, a petticoat, and an overlay of thicker scaly black leather with red accents and huge pockets!

Her hat had been staunchly held onto - I suspect it was something I'd need heavy equipment and straps to get her to lose or get rid of, thus I wouldn't dream of it seeing the way she'd watched Ms. Spruce, her new friend, work on it and replace bits of fabric - but it had been upgraded and repaired and modified. Heck, Caramel (at Sooty's prompting) had even very gently taken the shelf mushrooms on their piece of fabric and put them onto the rest of the hat itself once she was done, almost... reverentially.

The tailor lined the hat with felt and silk, and provided my little girl with clips and ribbons to help manage her hair. The outside was fortified with treated wool, the brim of it made of a hardened leather, I was told, and it had a number of little pockets inside. Before it had been dark, but now it was black, and a lovely red ribbon sewn with cute little green and black crows formed the brim.

The ghoul even put the mushrooms back onto it, and I was told, gave them something to use to spread in the middle layer of the hat.

"Stylish AND strong!" I was told by my utterly delighted Sooty! The bottom-most layer was a kind of underwear I figured, with puffy pants and long, warm looking sleeves that clung to Sooty's arms tightly. It had a detachable underside, like my own underlayer - a standard feature of clothes of this world, it would seem - that was fastened by four buttons - two in front, two in back. This was an off-white brown color with little crow patterns on the seams that, as I'd seen her do previously, Ms.

Spruce had sewn onto the clothes on the spot as she stitched them up quick as a bird swooping, even though nobody would probably ever see the designs but my little girl. The puffiness of the shoulders and sleeves served to give the rest of the garment some extra shape, and to keep, I was told, the rougher parts of the fabric that made it hard-wearing, much comfier and to let the garment both breathe and keep the chill out.

The next layer was a kind of petticoat, a middle layer that helped to pad and give the dress Caramel had made my baby a little extra protection and function. and it had padded elbows and shoulders that put me in mind of a college professor's jacket or something. It was made of a darker green heavy fabric that looked fine to my eye, with had a long skirt that hung to mid-calf. It had a simple design, with a pillowy diamond pattern sewn into it where I'd seen Ms.

Spruce pad the thing, especially where it was likely the girl would need the extra squish of comfy clothes - on the back, over her knees, on the shoulders, and in her lap region in general. It had a couple pockets down the sides, and straps that would fasten the outermost layer to it on the back and midsection. At first I thought that the midsection straps were to hold the outer layer, but no - they were to secret away and secure a knife in a way that would defy detection,"Just in case!"

Ms Spruce explained, much to Sooty's mystification. Personally, I hoped she'd never need it, but I could have kissed the ghoul in that moment. The outermost layer was the most elaborate, and I could have sworn that it would be able to stand up on its own! It was made from sections of the same scaly leather as my shawl and cloak, and was tied by the straps in the back to the petticoat underneath, reachable by a pair of flaps that secured under the chest section over her breast.

The robe looked sharp, with thicker shoulders in a shawl rather like mine, but unlike mine, hers didn't have a cloak. Or rather, the whole thing was kind of a cloak! Thick, heavy pockets covered by flaps that could be secured shut by buttons were all over the design"because a proper witch needs lots and lots of POCKETS!" Sooty assured me. She could fit a lamb each in the two biggest pockets near the floormost edge of her robe, and neither Ms.

Spruce nor I understood a wit what she'd had in mind for the request when she'd asked that the pocket could let water out of it if there was too much, 'Like a flowerpot!'

"Child you make it sound like you intend to grow plants in these pockets!" Ms Spruce had said, and Sooty nodded emphatically!

"Mhm! The Craft likes living things, and the more life on a proper robe, the better and stronger it will be for working forces!" She gushed"Witchcraft especially! I can have a little garden I can carry with me, and earth that is tied to my aura!" She explained, and it was like somebody hit me in the head. Just like that, my little girl had taught me something about my own magic as well and I could clearly envision a chubby middle aged woman grinning in my mind's eye.

I could see her so, so clearly, the way her frumpy raincoat robes were dirty with work but her hands were clean, even if there was caked in dirt in the creases of her hands and green actually worked into the skin of her fingers and palms from a lifetime of labor in her gardens, the way she took off her hat and hung it on a branch in my head, and her bright red, curly curly hair as she freed it from the bun which had been under her hat.

My Wolf stood onto her feet in surprise, her eyes wide, and Gelidia BLINKED at the woman. I blinked too, and the portly woman offered me a palm to help me stand.

"Wul hi there sweetie!" The woman said, and I... took her hand. The moment I did, I felt an intense frisson of energy course through me. Your [LIFE, MAGIC, SYNERGY] Braucherei skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank D is a free rank! Suddenly I knew who this stranger was. Are you... the Mother?

"That's me, dear! In the flesh. Wul, haha! Sort-of!" and she let out a big, merry laugh that shook her tummy and made the forest around me, the space of my head, somehow much, much more real than it had been only moments ago in a big wave of energy that washed out from her like sunlight. Gelidia's mouth dropped open, and she looked like a very pretty bowling ball with her eyes so wide like that!

The Mother pointed at her and said"Shup your mouth girl, sommin' might fly into it" she said, literally having said 'shup' instead of shut up or something. Her accent reminded me of a Minnesota housewife, but it wasn't... quite the same. And... Gelidia shut her mouth. Something might fly into it. Then, she balled her fists and glared at the embodiment of Braucherei in my head.

'Excuse me? I am a Duchess!' She said without thinking and the Mother raised her eyebrows.

"Witches don't care about things like that your honor, but I'm sure I meant no harm by it! Now hush up." she said firmly, as if talking to a child. She gestured, and quite as simply as that... pushed my beloved out of my head entirely. Didn't hurt her, I knew, just... insisted. She turned her face to me again, and her regard, as it washed over me, was like sunshine.

"Now that it's just and the two of us-" Just and the two of us... what even did that mean?

"-how about it, dearie? Yer a natural mum, a solid apprentice if ever I met one!" and I was dumbstruck a moment. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I AM HERE ALSO"Silly Beast, you're a part'a of her, and she's a part'a of a you. One and the same, one and the same!" she waved her hand vaguely as if dismissing the point. You... want me for an apprentice? I asked, and the Mother nodded.

"Eeyup!" She said cheerily.

"I'd normally approach you once you learned juuuuust a twinge more dear, and you're deeeeefinitely the strangest girl I've taken on, but I knows talent when I sees it and-" and her face darkened a little, and her eyes trailed where she'd pushed Gelidia earlier. She turned to face the spot fully, squaring her shoulders"-Oh really? You dare, chit of a girl?" she said, angry, but still smiling. The look reminded me of my own mother, and I didn't understand - what had happened? What was happening?

Then the sky darkened a bit, going from sunny in my forest to overcast in an instant as the wind sighed through the trees. I could feel the Shade's anger and magic welling inside me, and Gelidia reappeared. The Mother chuckled darkly at that as she grinned. Suddenly, the Mother looked a good deal more menacing, and as she glared, grinning still, at the shade, the air seemed to grow thick.

On instinct, I slipped past her and took Gelidia's hand, linked fingers with my beloved Sage, moving my body between the two women inside me in that moment. My Wolf took up station beside me, tail tucked between her legs so tightly that she might as well have not had one!

"Ohhh!" The Mother said, and threw back her head again to laugh with a hearty clutch of her tummy!

"Ohohohoo! Love, actual love! Not just manipulation!" She said, and... I heard the truth of it? What had that meant?

"Is that a fact?"

'How DARE you!' Gelidia snarled, losing her temper, moving past me to get right nose to nose with the embodiment of Braucherei herself! Wolf and I both leaned away, horrified.

'I don't care who you are, you can't just step into my Emily's head' Crack! A peal of lightning in the distance! I could smell the precursor of rain, and ozone on the air'-and say rotten things like that! I am not manipulating her!' Crack! Boom! The forest shook a bit, and rain droplets bounced off my head and my Wolf's flank and... that was truth too! Something that had locked like a frozen fist around my heart eased all at once. The Mother didn't back down.

She loomed, massive and imposing like some kind of ogress right in Gelidia's face, her strawberry of a nose squishing against Gelidia's finer, more pointed one. She spoke in a calm tone, but I could hear her anger, her judgement, and it promised tears before bedtime and a thousand punishments from a woman who could make life a living hell. I don't know how my Gelidia stood it, but she didn't move an inch.

"Oh really? And y'haven't been putting spells on the Wolf, haven't been enchanting the girl to love you? Not even a bit?" The Mother accused, and Gelidia seethed visibly, eyes blazing, crackling with lightning! My wolf sneezed as she went POOF and her fur stood on end, and I felt my hair tickle as it rose a bit too. A corona of magic gathered around the two mages, and I found myself staring and listening in dumbstruck terror.

'NO!' Gelidia screeched, and looked like she could have spat she was so mad, so deeply offended and hurt. Tears beaded in her eyes, but the Mother... remained cool? Wait, what?

'I have leant her my power to protect her! I have given her my aid! She took my power willingly into herself! I helped to save and preserve the woman I love, and she loves me back of her own free will!' and again... the truth that Gelidia spat, it gave me great joy to hear it. It unfroze me, and I began to remember where my own spine was. The Mother gave a warm little chuckle inside my head that... god. It washed through the earth itself, I felt it through my feet!

Were these two really about to duke it out in my head?! Wolf and I felt deeply and profoundly alarmed! I realized I couldn't stand the idea of someone who felt like my own mother and my girlfriend, my Gelidia, fighting. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed both their shoulders and pushed them apart bodily.

They might have been conduits of terrible power, one a probable goddess, one the first and scariest wind mage I'd ever met, but I was stronger physically than either of them combined, and their boots scraped across the ground as I pushed their stiff frames apart. Magic grounded on me, flared like lightning and pink fire down my arms, but I ignored it and the flashes of discomfort as I literally put myself in their business. Quit it the pair of you! STOP THIS My Wolf's voice and my own spoke up at the same time.

Then, I rounded on the Mother, and got in her face myself. Beside me, My Wolf didn't growl - she just leaned against Gelidia's leg and licked her hand, whining softly. Mother, you came into my head, MY head, and accused my best friend and my lover of messing me about? Knock it off, or get out. Now. The Mother's smile... hadn't faltered a bit, and her eyes softened as she looked at me.

Merriment danced somewhere far back in them, delight at something I couldn't fathom, and it was quite the least human thing I'd ever seen in my life. This wasn't a human, not... a person as such. This was... a Being. Divine, in a way, but outside my frame of reference. What was in my head? I glared anyhow, for a solid five seconds before she took a step back with a satisfied nod.

"A good witch stands up for herself, an' knows where she be a'standin'" the Mother said"A good witch keeps what is hers, an' looks h'after it" She continued, and held up a hand, palm out to the both of us in surrender. The Mother intoned"Peace be upon this place" and... just like that the gathered magic was gone, back where it belonged in the earth and sky, and in the two mages inside me. The sky cleared, the earth stopped shaking, and the sun shone once again.

"Jus' wanted ya ter know that she coulda put a 'fluence on ya, girl. An' she mighta, but ya took it willin', and it did'na change your heart, did'na do ya no harm. Scary stuff, this'n kinda craft." the Mother said, then turned away from us to move and sit upon a stump. With nothing else to feed the tension, the metaphorical thickness of the air began to lessen, to clear. I felt like someone had kicked a chair leg out from under me and I was wiggling on my back like a capsized turtle.

I looked to Gelidia - she looked... upset, yes, but I could actually feel how much the encounter had disturbed her. I cupped her cheek, and dragged my love's eyes to mine.

'It's... it's not true, I didn't-' And I kissed her, hugging her tight. She was shaking, tears unfallen in her eyes, she was... scared? Scared I'd believe the Mother, scared I'd leave her, scared I'd be upset at her? She'd gotten a good look at the Mother's eyes, just like I had and... the old witch goddess in my head was more than a little spooky at that range. I know. I said. I believed her - at least... I believed that she hadn't done anything to me on purpose.

That was definitely the main thing in my book - intention mattered. But it did make me think though, because that was scary stuff, the idea that someone could subvert my free will, affect my mind, make me feel or want something without my consent. And after the Mother had done what she'd done, after she'd pushed Gelidia away... I felt a little different.

I had no idea how, but something that had been pressing on my perceptions, something that had been happening to me without me realizing, that I'd gotten completely used to, had stopped. Now, with Gelidia in my arms, it was back. I probed the sensation and felt... Gelidia, touching me. It was like having a tooth missing and in that metaphor, my tongue kept going to the absence. And then I realized... it was the coin, the Wolf pendant she'd given me, but... the coin in specific. She was literally tied to me.

Analyzing the feeling, in the real world I touched my pendant and poured some mana into my Inspection skill. [CURSE] Curse of Haunting The Shade of Gelidia Windbinder is haunting you! The Powers frown upon the theft of coins from wishing wells. Return this golden coin to the wishing well of Lambstock to remove the curse.

A Haunt can physically harm you, siphoning your life force, your mana, and your stamina, and mentally harm you, altering your perceptions and emotions to manifest itself and enter or even alter your dreams. If you perish while under this curse, you will become a Shade yourself. Ah. I blinked a little, and nodded. Nothing I didn't already know, but... it was sort of good to know the extent to which I could be so affected.

"That's right, dearie." The Mother said, and I looked at her to see her... lighting a pipe and grinning at me like a pumpkin. She was missing several teeth, and in that moment she looked a fair bit older than she had earlier.

"Best to know this kinda thing. Curses are nothing to take lightly." I took the coin on purpose, I explained.

"Why would you do that?" she asked, her expression a challenge. She met my eyes without fear. Because I wanted to help, and she was the first person who talked to me on this world. the Mother Hmmmmmed. It could have meant anything. I was still a little annoyed at the being from her behavior earlier, but... if she was protecting me, teaching me? This was Braucherei we were talking about, after all. I hit accept on the skill rank. After all, it was free.

The Mother smiled a little, and took a long pull of her pipe, then blew a smoke ring.

"Good choice." She said, satisfied. I'd shifted my attention back into the real world again at that point, and took Gelidia's hand. She looked at me and... I smiled at her. I'm no victim - I'm choosing this life with you, Gelidia Windbinder. The Shade was delighted, and clasped my hand against her chest, lifting it to kiss my knuckles and sigh in relief. That was an hour ago at this point, maybe two. After the visit to the tailor and a heartfelt 'see you later' exchanged between a shocked Ms.

Spruce, who was very clearly resigned to being terrifying looking and my brave, clever, observant little daughter, we'd gone back to the inn. I still had four bars of the sage soap, and it took little convincing to get my little girl to bathe with the stuff. While she'd done so I'd prepared some tea for us and now? Now we were heading toward the lunch date!