The Vampire & Her Witch

Chapter 1642: Going for a Stroll

Amahle stared at Mamao for several heartbeats without blinking as she processed the impossible-sounding news.

Violca, the woman who had succeeded her teacher as the Mother of Storms, had done something almost unheard of among the Great Witches by adopting one of the orphans of her predecessor’s coven. In three generations of six witches, it was something that had happened less than five times, and the last person to do so had been the previous Mother of Tides.

The practice wasn’t necessarily taboo, though many avoided it for more practical reasons. The trials a witch faced when they were adopted were said to be more than twice as difficult as the ones they’d faced to become a witch in the first place and fewer than half survived the adoption rituals.

More than that, however, it meant that the new Great Witch was willing to give up one of the few spaces available in her coven to someone selected by a predecessor who had died before she was even born. A coven was a family built through careful choices, so for Violca to give up that choice...

"No, she didn’t give up a choice," Amahle murmured as she followed the Mother of Storms’ reasoning. "She made a choice all her own. But why?" Amahle asked as her focus sharpened on Mamao. "Why would Little Sister Violca bring Makya into her coven, darlin’? And who all knows that she did?"

"Nobody knows, Cousin Makya said that only witches can know, and I promised I’d tell you and the coven," Mamao said in a rush. "But nobody else because he doesn’t want most people to know, and it’s really sad because he said that even as the Sandstorm Witch, he won’t be lingering on much longer, seeing as he’s already so old," she explained.

"But he said that Auntie Violca is looking for a Sovereign," Mamao continued, seemingly without pausing to take a breath. "And she told him to watch over the west while she crossed the sea in the east so she could search for signs of the missing ones, and she wants to find some ruins in the east from an ancient empire, and I really wish I could go with her because it sounds like so much fun but it’s so dangerous over there that I know I can never go and..."

"Breathe, Honey-dew," Saini interrupted, placing a finger gently on her lover’s lips. "And don’t be goin’ and sayin’ such scary things," she added with a slight pout at Mamao. "Ain’t none of us ever goin’ across the sea. Just knowin’ Auntie Ashlynn took Tala east of the mountains is scary enough, ain’t it?"

"The human Church is a frightening thing," Amahle agreed. "But it ain’t the only thing to be frightened of, and Tala has worries all her own," she reminded the coven. "Too much is happenin’ at once. Everythin’s ’bout to get real complicated for folks all over," she said, shaking her head at how many things seemed to be spiraling out of control.

Soon, she would have to make a decision about where she stood.

Years ago, Amahle had reshaped the Briar into a refuge, intending it to be a place of safety for those who lost their place in the world to the great struggles that redefined the world every generation or two. She’d meant it as a place for people like Talauia with powerful enemies who needed the safety of a fortress of thorns in order to live a simple, ordinary life.

For several decades, Amahle had remained in the Briar, like a spider at the center of her web, while allowing her most outgoing witches to gather news of the outside world. She’d pulled and tugged on things here and there, borrowing one of the Harbinger of Death’s progeny in order to understand the stolen powers of the Human’s church, or offering refuge to people she deemed worthy of her protection, but she’d never done anything to impose her will on the shape of the world.

Now, a new Mother of Trees was preparing to declare war against the human Church and their stolen Sovereigns, and she’d bound herself to the Harbinger of Death to do it. The Mother of Storms was headed into the lion’s den in search of something that only she understood, and she’d restored the aging Eldritch Emperor to his place as the Sandstorm witch to do it.

The Mother of Tides had sent her fastest messenger to meet with the Father of Calamities as well as Ashlynn’s family, and saying that the End of the World was ’on the way’ was the most ridiculous excuse Amahle had ever heard for provoking the most volatile of the Great Witches.

"Everythin’s ’bout to get real complicated for lots of folk," Amahle repeated. "But things is still simple here. This place is still our home and ain’t no one, Church or vampire, allowed to make trouble in it," she said firmly, tamping down on the thread of worry she could feel taking hold in the hearts of her coven.

"But maybe it’s time we take a stroll," Amahle added as she made up her mind on something small in the hopes that it would help her to settle her mind on something larger. "When the snow melts in the mountains, we’ll go pay Little Sister Ashlynn a visit," Amahle declared. "All of us."

"Just for a month or two, I don’t want to leave home for long," she said quickly. "But we see how Tala’s gettin’ on, deliver the seed for Ashlynn’s next witch and meet the rest of her coven too," she said as she thought through her plans to visit. "You know, she took a Cypress Seed from the trees of the Briar to be her next witch after little Heila," Amahle pointed out. "Won’t that just be a treat to meet the person she gave it to?"

"Oh! Such a treat, and I have another seed too," Mamao said excitedly as she dove back into the satchel. "When I told Cousin Makya that I was fetchin’ a seed for Auntie Ashlynn, he decided to fetch one for her too, from the western shores, to send as a gift so she knows she’s welcome in Thousand Spires if she ever wants to visit. I know it’s in here somewhere," she said.

"Oh, and Jacques, I have a book for you," Mamao added, dropping a large, leather-bound tome on the table with a -THUMP- that was heavy enough to rattle the utensils on their plates. "About the Wetlands of the West, and I brought back samples of some of the things that grow there for you, and..."

Once the book landed on the table, several other items quickly followed. Jars containing carefully preserved flowers from half a world away, letters from acquaintances rarely seen, packets of spices so expensive this far away from where they grew that they’d only come out for special occasions, and countless other wonders that had been stuffed into the pair of traveling satchels the Blackberry Witch brought home.

It was the longest night of the year, and there was plenty of time for Amahle’s coven to revel in their reunion, praising the thoughtful gifts and marveling at the oddities until their hearts were warm and filled with enough love and care to overflow.

Still, Amahle hadn’t lost the thread of worry. When spring came, she’d take her coven to the Vale of Mists and see how the world was moving with her own eyes. And then... Then she would decide what to do about what she found. She only hoped that, by the time she was ready to make a move of her own, the opportunity hadn’t passed her by.