Amber - 9 (Patreon)

There was something of an argument come the morning of our departure, on who exactly was going to see Lord Crowley, though it was one with a foregone conclusion. Admittedly I wasn't sure everyone else involved knew that at the start like I did.

"Please," Emma whined, looking up at her mother with her best pout and the beginnings of fake tears at the corners of her eyes. "I don't wanna be left behind! I want to see Gwen's home, I want to meet Lady Lorna and Donovan!"

"Emmaline," Celestine started, only for Emma to whine piteously at her.

"But I'm your apprentice now!" She cried, "I should come with you!"

"I've spare room for her in my house," I said, knowing full well she'd be coming along. Celestine was strict when it came to chores and duties but for denying her children anything she leaned on Robin, and he'd already voiced his support for Emma joining us. "Only the one, but it's enough for a few visitors. Worst comes to worst we can snuggle up together like we used to."

Emma looked at me like her birthday had come early for an instant before making a show of blinking away tears at her mother. She wasn't the best actor, that was for sure. "See! Gwen says it's okay!"

Celestine shot me an irritated look and I just smiled back.

"I want to come too," Rosaline said, kicking at the dirt. "Not gonna learn magic here."

Robin looked at his daughter in surprise, some measure of upset on his face before schooling it and crouching down next to her. "You sure about that, little rose? It's a long way and I won't be here."

She looked at him, bit her lip, and nodded. "Yeah. Frazzle said she'd teach me."

"Then you'd best pack." He said solemnly, sending her dashing off back into the house.

"Are you sure, Robin?" Celestine asked, though it was clear she had already caved.

"It's not the life I'd thought my kids would have when I was younger, Tina," He said fondly, "But it's a good life for both of them."

Frazzle perked up. "I'll make sure to take good care of her, Mister Tolbecker!"

He laughed. Soon enough both Emma and Rosaline were ready to go, their satchels and bags already packed with their 'essentials'. It took us a few minutes to slim things down a little; Rosa had stuffed the great big plush owl toy I'd made for her some years ago into her bag. As much as it wasn't really practical to bring I found a way to fit it into my own bags.

It was as big as she was when I'd made it, and it was still almost as big as her. Emma had one too, a Raven, but she was oddly less attached to hers.

At least one of them had thought it made a good gift.

Once again the journey would be a stagecoach ride, first to the capital to drop Myriam off then onward home to Crowford, and hopefully without any bandit encounters this time around. Not so much out of concern for them being a threat, since with Celestine, myself, and Frazzle they wouldn't be a threat at all, but because I'd rather the kids didn't end up scared by the experience.

The coach I'd used to get here was still waiting for my return trip at the inn, the advantage of hiring them out entirely rather than taking a standard route, but there was someone else waiting at the stables.

Her presence and piercing gaze were unmistakable, along with the raven that stood on her shoulder.

"Celestine." Old Grims croaked, her voice strangely weak. "Kept me waiting, you did. Be more punctual, girl." As soon as she was finished speaking she fell into a hacking cough.

All around her the stablehands pointedly didn't look in any direction except at her, and the coach driver looked rather uncomfortable due to how close she was to him.

It wasn't a virus, a spreadable illness. But she was sick; sick with age and time. She had looked fine back at the solstice meeting, but now? She was bent over and leaning heavily on her cane, quivering almost imperceptibly under the weight of the raven on her shoulder.

"Need to have a chat," She said, glowering as she looked over the rest of our group. "Mages, huh? Times change, times change. Might as well let them hear it; though not these blighters." She jabbed her head at the stable hands. "Didn't even offer an old lady a cup of tea while she waited in the cold, ungracious sods."

One of the boys flushed with indignation at her words, but bit back whatever it was he wanted to say.

This was where I'd first met Old Grims. She came here often and was likely well known, at least to the people that worked here. Which might explain why none of them wanted her attention.

"We were soon to leave," Celestine said, frowning.

"And it can wait. This can't. Now, follow." Old Grims ordered, turning and walking off to the edge of the stable without even bothering to check if we would follow.

"Mother?" Rosa asked, looking up at Celestine.

She sighed and started walking after the old woman. "Don't listen too closely, girls. Grimsby is... rarely polite."

We quickly caught up to the old lady, just far enough away from prying ears that it was unlikely we would be overheard.

"What is it you have to say, Grimsby?" Celestine asked, still frowning.

The Raven on Old Grims' shoulder croaked. "It's Speaker today, girl." She grumbled, squinting at us. "Not that I'll be speaker much longer."

"I see," Celestine said, and the implication was obvious enough. Emma and Rosaline didn't get it, though Emma looked proudly up at her mother; she at least knew Celestine would have the title next. "What brings you to me this day, Speaker of Ravens?"

Rather than answering she holds out her arm, the one on which the Raven rests, to Celestine. After a moment of hesitation Celestine reciprocates and they clasped hands, the raven croaking solemnly twice before it shuffled across the bridge to Celestine's shoulder.

"I ain't gonna see another winter." Old Grims said morosely. "Got sick coming home, ain't gone away. Not proper."

I was about to step forward, to offer to try and help, when she shoved her cane into my face.

"Ain't shit you can do about it. Maybe four months ago, with all your fancy Dalaran know-how, but it's just age now." She growled. After a moment the cane quivered and she wobbled, forced to drop it back down and lean on it as she breathed heavily. "Age and old bones too tired to go on."

"I could still try." I protested. I didn't like the old woman terribly much, with how she was one of the people that drove my mother down the path she went on, but she had also defended me at the meeting. Declared I was part of the circle properly. She didn't deserve to suffer and die.

"You've better things to spend your magic on than a sack of old bones." She croaked, grinning oddly. "Lost my last grandson anyhow, not much reason to go on anymore. 'Bout time I got to rest."

"But isn't Rockwort your grandson?" Emma asked, sounding confused. "I saw him two weeks ago!"

"Great-grandson." Old Grims muttered with a roll of her eyes. "He ain't my little boys, nor my precious little girl. No. I'm done. But I've got some words to give first." She squared her shoulders, forcing herself to stand up straight and look Celestine in the eye. "Times change, are changing, and things change with them. We don't see eye to eye, Celestine, we don't often agree. But you're the best." Her eyes slipped to me for an instant, amusement sparking in them. "For now, anyway. We've got to change too. Back when good old Archibald was king things changed too, but I was too scared back then, remembered me own father and uncle being burned. Didn't want to risk it."

"They didn't," Frazzle whispered.

"It wasn't common," Myriam whispered back, "but the last witch burning was eighty-two years ago."

"She's that old?" Rosa whispered incredulously.

Old Grims shot Rosa a glare, making the young girl swallow nervously, before looking back to Celestine. She let out a long breath. "Was a mistake, back then. King Archibald was different. Missed my chance, this new one I never trusted much, but things change." She gestured at me but kept her gaze locked on Celestine. "Best you take the chance to change with them."

"We already planned to," I said, not entirely unthinkingly. She had said we could listen, and she accepted us being here. This may have been for Celestine but I was part of it too. "Celestine is coming with me to see Lord Crowley, to discuss how to move forward."

Celestine nodded. "She speaks true. Only time will tell what comes of it, but the current... difficulties–

"Are an opportunity. Don't need to tell–" Old Grims fell into a hacking cough, clutching at her chest. I moved up to help but she waved me off. "Said you've got better things," She hissed at me. "Bah. Don't need to tell me, I'm not stupid, girl. Just tell me how I can help."

I bit my lip, glancing at Celestine, who nodded at me. "Can you call a meeting?" I asked. "All of us. Men, women, apprentices. We need to have a unified plan, not a mismatched hodgepodge." Don't think about the other stuff that happens at the joint meetings. Just... don't.

It's better not to think about it.

Old Grims raised a brow at me, not answering, and looked to Celestine.

"Argue the Fox Speaker into making the summer solstice a joint meeting," Celestine said. "That would be the greatest boon, grave things are coming and all need to know them."

"I've seen some of what's on the horizon." Old Grims said, that strange smile returning. "Rather glad I won't live to see it." She jabbed a bony finger at me. "Don't die, the ravens like you. Think you're interesting."

The raven on Celestine's shoulder croaked in agreement.

I nodded. There wasn't much else to respond to that with. I did file away that the ravens thought me interesting though, there was something about that which felt familiar to me.

With her piece said Old Grims turned and left, waving off our goodbyes and giving none in turn. Now it was just to make our journey; and then another. It felt odd to think I'd be going back to Tal'Doren this soon with how long the gap had been before that.

-oOoOo-

"Are we there yet?" Rosaline asked, her knees pressing uncomfortably into my stomach as she used me as a stool to look out the window of the stagecoach. "All I see is trees!"

"We're still six days away," I replied, not for the first time today. Children were wonderful – in small doses. I grabbed Rosa and dropped her back into the seat next to me, ignoring her angry pout. "We'll be stopping at an inn soon and you can have another lesson."

She harrumphed and turned away from me to stare out the window on the other side, past her mother.

Cramming six people into a single stagecoach was not comfortable. Even with three of them were small and there was, by Lorna's standards at least, minimal luggage involved. Having claimed a window seat by dint of paying for the sodding thing I also ended up with either Emma or Rosa clambering over me to stare out the windows as the countryside rolled past. It had gotten a little better after we dropped Myriam off in the capital, but not by that much.

Neither of them would dare clamber over Celestine, and our luggage was piled in the corner opposite her, which left either fighting with each other or me.

"Based on your previous progress you should be able to maintain a stable magelight by the end of the month, and after that, we can work on intensity and colour alterations!" Frazzle said encouragingly.

It only made Rosa frown more angrily; she wasn't happy with how slow she was progressing, comparing herself to her sister.

Emma had been learning from Celestine since she was four, and since Rosa hadn't wanted to become a Witch she had skipped almost all of the lessons on magic her mother had offered her. Not that they'd have been all that useful; even with my mana sight I'd still find casting the little mage light Myriam and Frazzle had taught her hard.

I was sure I could do it, but that would be stupid. I was refraining from conjuring my starlights too because if I did I might make her feel even more inadequate.

"Can I get one too?" Emma asked, glancing away from her spot at the window.

Celestine nodded. "Yes, I'll be continuing your education as we go."

"I meant from Gwen!"

I looked to Celestine, who mulled it over for a moment before nodding again. "If she's amenable."

"I'm fine with it." Considering we'd be stopping for the night I'd probably try and show her how to connect to the Astral. "You're welcome to supervise, of course." I nodded at my old teacher; the last time I'd offered to teach her my method of connecting to the Astral she'd declined, saying she was too busy. I was fairly sure it was more a case of her pride as a Witch not letting her take a lesson from her own student.

The offer for her to supervise should let her sidestep that.

From the way she frowned at me she knew exactly what I meant by it too, but after a few moments, she nodded.

"Oh, I want to as well!" Frazzle said, sounding excited for a moment before sighing. "But no, I won't. I did promise Myriam to get Rosaline started on basic exercises after all."

Rosaline once again took it badly, glaring at her sister enviously.

Some moments the sibling rivalry and mutual hatred they had seemed to be gone, like when they had both been staring in awe at the spires of the Cathedral of Dawn in Gilneas City, or asking a dozen questions a minute about the spewing smokestacks of the industrial district as we passed the outskirts. Or the way they, clearly intentionally, took turns to ask me if we'd gotten to Crowford.

But just as often it was clearly still fully present.

Well, I couldn't claim to have any better of a relationship with my own siblings before. Not many people I liked less, honestly...

The coach trundled on and we returned to keeping the children entertained enough that they didn't drive all of us insane. Even if I'd been this bad the first time through, I refused to believe I could possibly have been even close the second time around.

I refused.

-oOoOo-

When we finally arrived in Crowford I felt some measure of relief. I really did like children, I liked Emma, and even Rosa with her moodiness; indulging their interest and curiosity was wonderful. But being stuck in a small box with them for close to two weeks was not fun. Not by any metric.

After grabbing a local and asking them to run a message to Lord Crowley and tell him I'd returned I led us down the path to my home, leaving Celestine to corral her curious children as they examined the somewhat different terrain to that they normally lived in. The land around Keel Harbour was all headlands, heaths, grasslands, or farms. Everywhere, even here just outside of Crowford, if it wasn't being actively cultivated or worked on there were trees. Not quite the full Northgate Woods but the remnants of it were still present even where it had largely been cleared.

We drew a lot of attention as we walked, even more than I usually did in fact. Frazzle alone was garnering quite a few stares; I wondered how many of the locals had ever even seen a gnome? They might look like children at first glance, but even discounting major differences like the lack of a fourth finger their proportions were entirely off. For one, someone the height of a six-year-old didn't normally have a bust.

And with all of the locals' experience with me and Heather, I suspected that a fair number of them pegged Celestine as being another Witch.

"And here's home," I said, pushing open the gate through my hedges. No one was here at the moment, if Heather had done a lesson today she'd returned home rather than staying overnight. I imagined Trix would show up soon enough, likely however long it took her to get here after she found out; she was predictable like that.

"It's nicer than you described," Celestine commented while Emma and Rosa stared at the waterwheel.

"Why do you have a wheel on your house?" Rosa asked, childish derision at the oddity in her voice.

"My workshop. Let's get you settled; we all need a wash after the trip and I just need the water heating."

"Is that a water tower?" Frazzle asked, her eyes tracking the various parts of my home. "It is, isn't it. You have plumbing! No more wells and having to conjure all my water! Yes!" She cheered, literally jumping for joy as she did.

While everyone else looked at her like she was being strange, I couldn't help but smile. I'd found a kindred spirit who understood what the important things in life were.

"I don't have running hot water, sadly. But the wheel keeps the reservoir full so the water pressure's always decent."

"A water-powered water pump, not how I would've done it but clever," Frazzle said, then snapped her fingers; a flame sprouting in her hand as she started to grin. "And I'm not too worried about heat. Is there a separate tank for hot or do you heat it after pouring?"

"Separate tank," Darius had permanent hot water in his mansion, but I didn't have a hearth fire that burned day and night like he did. Nor the gas supply that fuelled it and his lights.

I wasn't that rich.

Frazzle waved her hand, dismissing the flame. "Much easier to work with then!" She chirped as she walked on inside.

"We can sort out living arrangements after dinner," I said as we went inside my kitchen. Most of my home was taken up by the wheel and the workshop, but I was still happy with the rest of it. Two floors, a real bathroom, two bedrooms, kitchen and dining room, a little study upstairs where I kept my growing collection of books, and of course the garden. "Crowley is likely to invite us to meet tomorrow afternoon, then to stay for dinner with him and his family."

I glanced at Emma and Rosa, who were already going around and looking at the artfully carved cupboards and counters of my house, and even the filigreed iron stove. I hadn't meant to end up with ones as heavily decorated as I had, but when you healed a carpenter's son, then hired him on to help build your house, you didn't get much say in how much he decided your coin was worth.

Rodger hadn't even let me pay him at all for the stonework he did when building up the walls and watercourse. The same sort of thing ended up being true for a lot of the people I had hired to build my home.

"What's through here?" Emma said, pointing at the heaviest door.

"Workshop," I pointed out where everything was. "I'm guessing you want to see it?"

Both Emma and Rosa nodded fervently.

"Alright, but don't break anything."

"Oh, this should be excellent." Frazzle chirped. "Did you manage to get anywhere with those 'pens' of yours you talked about?"

My hand covered my mouth as I snorted out a laugh. "You could say that." Opening the door to my lab I gestured to where I kept my patent on the wall; it was a copy of the original, the first being destroyed by Godfrey's men when he ransacked my workshop. I still had most of the pieces, and the copy was still signed by the king, but it wasn't the same.

I went on to give them a tour of what I worked on, Frazzle understandably the one most interested in exactly what it was that I was doing while Rosa and Emma were just looking at the strange objects lying around.

It still worked as a decent distraction for them while I quickly directed Celestine and Frazzle to the bathroom; the latter to give Celestine hot water to use. If she was going to heat my water tank for herself, she could do it for all of us! I really did need to work on whatever was up with my elementalism, I'd been neglecting it; I should be able to do the same thing. Maybe.

Once Celestine was done, it was the girls' turn; and neither of them had encountered plumbing before.

"So, water comes out of these?" Emma prodded the tap. "But, how?"

"Through a pipe, dummy," Rosa said, rolling her eyes. "And the big wheel outside lifts it up to the roof like Frazzle said!"

"Nuh-uh, the wheel turns because water falls on it!" Emma retorted, "It doesn't even go up to the roof, are you going blind little Rose? Maybe you need to make your little light so you can–"

I flicked Emma's forehead. "Enough." I said, glaring at my little sister. "Rosa is right, though not in the specifics." Rosa stuck her tongue out at her sister and grinned, which stopped as I turned a glare on her too. "The wheel lifts the water up indirectly via another mechanism. Now, the taps, twist to open them and twist back to close..."

Teaching two children how to use a bath was something I was oddly familiar with. One would think I wouldn't have needed to do it until I had children of my own, and the thought of bringing a baby into the war-torn world of Azeroth filled me with seven different kinds of dread without even considering the whole being pregnant part of it, but no. This was around the eighth time I'd done this; Trix, Richard, and even half the adults who took my lessons needed to be shown how to use my 'privy' properly.

Heather had, much to her embarrassment. After a while, she started to come around to my position, but she still wasn't a true believer in the value of plumbing. The day I got proper hot water running she'd understand.

"I'll leave you two to it; dinner will be done soon."

Heading back into the kitchen it was, amusingly, Frazzle doing most of the work despite Celestine being the one who said she would start on dinner while I handled the girls. She could cook but usually left it to Robin, so that part wasn't as surprising as it might've been.

But seeing a tiny little gnome standing on a chair to just reach the counter while vegetables floated over to her to get diced, then the chopped pieces drifting over to fall into an already simmering stew, was rather bemusing. It smelled absolutely delicious though, Frazzle abusing my full spice rack as she hummed and cooked away. I'd need to go and abuse Darius' conservatory to grow more of my precious, precious chillies and peppers but that was a regular occurrence anyway.

His cooks and I had a deal, I grew all the various exotic spices from their seeds for them, kept them healthy, and they did all the tedious and annoying husking, drying, and grinding into powder for me.

Best deal I ever made.

If it wasn't for the fact I had effectively stolen his conservatory and turned it into a greenhouse I probably could've charged a lot for providing so many spices. As it was we both politely never mentioned it and I cut a big bit of spending out of my lord's budget.

"Bon appetit!" Frazzle chirped as she levitated the plates over to us. "Now, be careful I might've made it–"

Overeager, Emma immediately took a big spoonful of the curry and shoved it in her mouth. There was a clear demarcation between the moment she felt the flavours, where her eyes lit up, and when the heat hit and they went wide.

"–a bit too hot. Oh dear."

Emma whimpered, somehow managing to swallow rather than spitting it out. "Why does it hurt?!" She cried when her mouth was free.

I tasted it myself; it was decent. A little hotter than I usually went for but not that hot. Looking at the horrified girl who was trying to rub the spiciness off of her tongue I swallowed and grinned. "The pain adds to the flavour." I said, with complete honesty."

Frazzle grabbed a glass and rushed through an intricate conjuration. I vaguely recognised parts of the components for making water, but quickly got lost in the rest of it. The spell was maybe ten or twenty times more complex than when Calebren had made me water after my training sessions in Dalaran.

"Here, milk helps." She said, handing the glass to Emma.

It was quickly guzzled down, I don't think she got ice-cold milk as a treat often either.

Made me wonder if conjured milk could be used to make ice cream? I knew how, for the most part, though without a mage for the ice it wasn't exactly practical.

I reached over and tapped Emma on the shoulder, flashing a Mark onto her. "That should dull the heat a little." It was how I cheated on a dare to eat an entire pepper raw with Vivi after she discovered my stock. "You too Rosa," I didn't offer it to Celestine, who was already stoically eating the meal.

As we devolved into idle chatter over dinner, Emma cautiously picked at her food while Rosa dove into it with gusto now she was protected, the only thing I felt was missing was Mama. But I knew Celestine would... she wouldn't be here if Mama was.

Even as things got better they couldn't go back to the way they were before.