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xp_logsTante's shack. Amanda has questions. Tante has answers. Whether she gives them or not is another story.
Frogs and crickets chirped in the deepening twilight gloom as Amanda walked in from the rough dirt road to the small clearing that held Tante's shack. Over on her left, something large moved in the underbrush and splashed into the swamp. Mosquitoes whined around her ears. But despite all these signs of life, there was something... subdued about the place. Like it was holding its breath. Or was waiting for the hammer to fall.
She was sweating heavily by the time she reached the shack, the humid air so thick it felt like she was breathing water. Hopefully Tante would have something cold to drink. Hopefully Tante would be there. But Amanda couldn't imagine the swamp witch being driven out of the swamp. It was her centre, her place of power. Things would have to be drastically wrong with the world for her to be beaten there, let alone some petty factionlism from the Guilds. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with her forearm, she climbed the rickety steps and knocked firmly on the door.
"Jah feel dat jah need to knock. What have jah done dis time, childe?" Tante said behind her. The big woman was covered in mud up to her knees, and held a string bag full of plants and herbs from the swamp. Both Marie-Ange and Amanda had done their time as collectors to know how far into the bayou it took to gather what the voodoo queen needed.
"I was just bein' polite." On the way down, Amanda had practiced in her head what she'd say, the way she'd say it. But now, standing here in front of the large black woman, looking into those unreadable eyes, all the rehearsed words disappeared. "I, um, needed to ask you something."
"Dat right? Long road to walk just for a question, childe." Tante tossed the heavy bag of plants to Amanda, who was stuck fielding it awkwardly. She walked past through the door and into the cabin. Amanda followed behind, struggling under the weight and the balance of her own bag. Tante turned on the kerosene lamps, brightening the small space, and hoisted the heavy black pot on to the iron bar over the fire grate.
Setting Tante's bag down carefully on the scrubbed wooden table and dumping her own unceremoniously in the corner by the door, Amanda watched Tante going about the familiar rituals of cooking. Or spell casting - with Tante it tended to be the same thing, almost. "It's important," she said at last, knowing how lame she sounded but not knowing what else to say. "I didn't want... I had to come down and see you in person, I s'pose." So she could see Tante's face, hear her words when she asked the important bit. "I think something's wrong with the spell you did," she continued, finally unzipping her jacket pocket. The werelight, released at last, zoomed angrily around the room like a demented lightning bug. "The one you used to take the magic away."
Tante looked at the werelight for a moment, and turned back to filling up the black pot. "Seems fine to me, childe." She started a fire in the grate, and began to add ingredients to the pot, humming under her breath as she did so.
"Fine to..." All of Amanda's carefully-maintained self-control was shattered with those five words. "How can you say that?" she demanded, her voice rising slightly. "Last year, back at the school, you told me I'd never do magic again. You promised me."
"Dat's right, I did tell jah dat, didn't I?" Tante said pleasantly, passing over a cutting board, a knife and a basket of vegetables. "Small pieces, childe. Jah know how I like dem."
"But, but..." Amanda spluttered, automatically taking the basket, the board and the knife balanced on top. Her mind felt like it had slipped a gear - Tante wasn't reacting how she thought she'd might, there were no answers here. Just more of the fake Yoda shite. "You lied to me!" she burst out at last, angry tears standing her eyes. "You knew how important it was to me, and you sat there and you lied. Was any of it real? Was the magic ever gone? Or has all this, have I just been more of your fucking mind games?" She was still holding onto the basket, she realised dimly, and set it down on the table. Overhead, the werelight was hovering around the ceiling, as if uncertain. "Was it all fake?"
Tante just stood silently, a little half smile on her face. She gave Amanda a long look before finally putting down her wooden spoon. "Talking to Tante like dat? Jah must be angry den. Sit." Amanda opened her mouth to say something. "I said sit. Tante accept anger, childe, but jah getting dangerously close to disrespect." That brought Amanda to a chair rapidly.
"I told jah once dat magic is like people. From dem. And like how people change, so does de magic." Tante held her in her deep stare. "Who jah were, Tante cut jah from magic forever. Dere is no way dat 'manda from dat time could use magic. But to cut a body from it complete would be cutting dem off from de energy of de world. Wouldn't take long before dey sicken and die. So childe, de question becomes not why is de magic back, but how jah changed dat it found you again."
Amanda sat dumbly, her mouth gaping until she remembered herself and closed it with a snap. Words. It was all words and semantics. But... Perhaps it was right at the time, and what is right and wrong changes with circumstance, and surroundings? Marie-Ange's words, the day she'd gone to the cemetery. "I thought it was for good," she managed at last, her voice sounding lost and uncertain. "I thought... I was safe. That I couldn't hurt anyone with it any more. I thought I could be normal."
"And now it seems dat jah have a need ta not be any longer." She motioned to the basket of vegetables. "Small pieces, now."
Picking up the knife, Amanda began to chop obediently. It was strangely comforting, reminding her of the weeks she'd spent living in this same shack after leaving the school. The werelight stopped hiding in the rafters and came down to rest near her shoulder, colour shifting in shades of neon blues and greens. "It was such a shock," she said eventually, frowning down at the carrots she was cutting. "I woke up and couldn't find the light switch and there George was." At the sound of its name, the werelight bounced against her cheek and she waved it away irritably. "And I can't switch the bloody thing off. None of the counterspells are working."
"Magic takes time and changes wit' de person. Now dat jah different, de magic will be as well. Jah going to have to start at de beginning again, and learn it all over." Tante dropped a couple of handfuls of herbs into the water and stirred it, watching the black depths of the pot. "Where jah are now, where jah were, dey two different t'ings."
Go back to the beginning? Learn all over again? Amanda blanched a little at the thought of all that work. But Tante's lessons had stuck - magic shouldn't be easy. Too easy and you lost respect for it. "Can you help me?" she asked instead. "Help teach me what I need to know?"
"Non. Dere's nothing jah need dat Tante can teach. De way of de voudon is not jah path, 'manda." Tante Mattie took the pile of vegetables and added them to the now bubbling pot. "Jah know already how to respect de magic. And Tante give jah de basics. Now jah need to find jah own way."
"So I'm on my own?" It came out a lot more pathetic than she meant, but hadn't that been the problem last year, going it on her own? Or at least making the choices on her own.
Tante rolled her eyes. "Don be stupid, childe. Jah never truly on jah own less jah make dat choice t' be. Magic is a human thing. Jah going to find jah path to it through de world 'round jah. All jah need do is look for it."
Tante added a few more things to the pot and stirred it some more. "Now, dere's time t' have some dinner 'fore jah go back on de plane. Dis town isn't safe right now. Dat Remy should have known better t' let jah come here."
Amanda's ears turned pink - no-one but Tante had the ability to make her realise how dumb she could be sometimes. Continuing to chop, she replied: "Well, if he'd known I was going to come down, he probably would've had something to say about it. But I haven't seen him since Wednesday."
"Jah being seeing him soon enough." She said cryptically. "Now, let's see if we can't make dis little light go 'way before dat happens."
Frogs and crickets chirped in the deepening twilight gloom as Amanda walked in from the rough dirt road to the small clearing that held Tante's shack. Over on her left, something large moved in the underbrush and splashed into the swamp. Mosquitoes whined around her ears. But despite all these signs of life, there was something... subdued about the place. Like it was holding its breath. Or was waiting for the hammer to fall.
She was sweating heavily by the time she reached the shack, the humid air so thick it felt like she was breathing water. Hopefully Tante would have something cold to drink. Hopefully Tante would be there. But Amanda couldn't imagine the swamp witch being driven out of the swamp. It was her centre, her place of power. Things would have to be drastically wrong with the world for her to be beaten there, let alone some petty factionlism from the Guilds. Wiping the sweat from her forehead with her forearm, she climbed the rickety steps and knocked firmly on the door.
"Jah feel dat jah need to knock. What have jah done dis time, childe?" Tante said behind her. The big woman was covered in mud up to her knees, and held a string bag full of plants and herbs from the swamp. Both Marie-Ange and Amanda had done their time as collectors to know how far into the bayou it took to gather what the voodoo queen needed.
"I was just bein' polite." On the way down, Amanda had practiced in her head what she'd say, the way she'd say it. But now, standing here in front of the large black woman, looking into those unreadable eyes, all the rehearsed words disappeared. "I, um, needed to ask you something."
"Dat right? Long road to walk just for a question, childe." Tante tossed the heavy bag of plants to Amanda, who was stuck fielding it awkwardly. She walked past through the door and into the cabin. Amanda followed behind, struggling under the weight and the balance of her own bag. Tante turned on the kerosene lamps, brightening the small space, and hoisted the heavy black pot on to the iron bar over the fire grate.
Setting Tante's bag down carefully on the scrubbed wooden table and dumping her own unceremoniously in the corner by the door, Amanda watched Tante going about the familiar rituals of cooking. Or spell casting - with Tante it tended to be the same thing, almost. "It's important," she said at last, knowing how lame she sounded but not knowing what else to say. "I didn't want... I had to come down and see you in person, I s'pose." So she could see Tante's face, hear her words when she asked the important bit. "I think something's wrong with the spell you did," she continued, finally unzipping her jacket pocket. The werelight, released at last, zoomed angrily around the room like a demented lightning bug. "The one you used to take the magic away."
Tante looked at the werelight for a moment, and turned back to filling up the black pot. "Seems fine to me, childe." She started a fire in the grate, and began to add ingredients to the pot, humming under her breath as she did so.
"Fine to..." All of Amanda's carefully-maintained self-control was shattered with those five words. "How can you say that?" she demanded, her voice rising slightly. "Last year, back at the school, you told me I'd never do magic again. You promised me."
"Dat's right, I did tell jah dat, didn't I?" Tante said pleasantly, passing over a cutting board, a knife and a basket of vegetables. "Small pieces, childe. Jah know how I like dem."
"But, but..." Amanda spluttered, automatically taking the basket, the board and the knife balanced on top. Her mind felt like it had slipped a gear - Tante wasn't reacting how she thought she'd might, there were no answers here. Just more of the fake Yoda shite. "You lied to me!" she burst out at last, angry tears standing her eyes. "You knew how important it was to me, and you sat there and you lied. Was any of it real? Was the magic ever gone? Or has all this, have I just been more of your fucking mind games?" She was still holding onto the basket, she realised dimly, and set it down on the table. Overhead, the werelight was hovering around the ceiling, as if uncertain. "Was it all fake?"
Tante just stood silently, a little half smile on her face. She gave Amanda a long look before finally putting down her wooden spoon. "Talking to Tante like dat? Jah must be angry den. Sit." Amanda opened her mouth to say something. "I said sit. Tante accept anger, childe, but jah getting dangerously close to disrespect." That brought Amanda to a chair rapidly.
"I told jah once dat magic is like people. From dem. And like how people change, so does de magic." Tante held her in her deep stare. "Who jah were, Tante cut jah from magic forever. Dere is no way dat 'manda from dat time could use magic. But to cut a body from it complete would be cutting dem off from de energy of de world. Wouldn't take long before dey sicken and die. So childe, de question becomes not why is de magic back, but how jah changed dat it found you again."
Amanda sat dumbly, her mouth gaping until she remembered herself and closed it with a snap. Words. It was all words and semantics. But... Perhaps it was right at the time, and what is right and wrong changes with circumstance, and surroundings? Marie-Ange's words, the day she'd gone to the cemetery. "I thought it was for good," she managed at last, her voice sounding lost and uncertain. "I thought... I was safe. That I couldn't hurt anyone with it any more. I thought I could be normal."
"And now it seems dat jah have a need ta not be any longer." She motioned to the basket of vegetables. "Small pieces, now."
Picking up the knife, Amanda began to chop obediently. It was strangely comforting, reminding her of the weeks she'd spent living in this same shack after leaving the school. The werelight stopped hiding in the rafters and came down to rest near her shoulder, colour shifting in shades of neon blues and greens. "It was such a shock," she said eventually, frowning down at the carrots she was cutting. "I woke up and couldn't find the light switch and there George was." At the sound of its name, the werelight bounced against her cheek and she waved it away irritably. "And I can't switch the bloody thing off. None of the counterspells are working."
"Magic takes time and changes wit' de person. Now dat jah different, de magic will be as well. Jah going to have to start at de beginning again, and learn it all over." Tante dropped a couple of handfuls of herbs into the water and stirred it, watching the black depths of the pot. "Where jah are now, where jah were, dey two different t'ings."
Go back to the beginning? Learn all over again? Amanda blanched a little at the thought of all that work. But Tante's lessons had stuck - magic shouldn't be easy. Too easy and you lost respect for it. "Can you help me?" she asked instead. "Help teach me what I need to know?"
"Non. Dere's nothing jah need dat Tante can teach. De way of de voudon is not jah path, 'manda." Tante Mattie took the pile of vegetables and added them to the now bubbling pot. "Jah know already how to respect de magic. And Tante give jah de basics. Now jah need to find jah own way."
"So I'm on my own?" It came out a lot more pathetic than she meant, but hadn't that been the problem last year, going it on her own? Or at least making the choices on her own.
Tante rolled her eyes. "Don be stupid, childe. Jah never truly on jah own less jah make dat choice t' be. Magic is a human thing. Jah going to find jah path to it through de world 'round jah. All jah need do is look for it."
Tante added a few more things to the pot and stirred it some more. "Now, dere's time t' have some dinner 'fore jah go back on de plane. Dis town isn't safe right now. Dat Remy should have known better t' let jah come here."
Amanda's ears turned pink - no-one but Tante had the ability to make her realise how dumb she could be sometimes. Continuing to chop, she replied: "Well, if he'd known I was going to come down, he probably would've had something to say about it. But I haven't seen him since Wednesday."
"Jah being seeing him soon enough." She said cryptically. "Now, let's see if we can't make dis little light go 'way before dat happens."
