Page 7 of Homesick, Lovesick
"They're my thing," Match replied."My mom has her cats, my grandmother had her roses, and my thing has always been my matches."
Minerva smiled."Never met a witch who had a thing for fire starters.Not what we usually go for, but if I've learned nothing else, it's that you're unique."
Gail rolled her eyes."See what I mean?Favorite child?"
"No joke," Walter said with a laugh."She's gonna drop all of us from the will."
Minerva shot him an exasperated look."I dropped you from the will the day I found yet another lizard in my sewing room."
Walter snickered.
Ronan glanced over Gail's arms as she waved them about.No tattoos, so in training or possibly was like her father."He's everyone's favorite child.Even my parents, who disapprove of my everything and particularly hated that I dodged all their prestigious marriage candidates, are slowly coming around to him."Though that had more to do with how popular and beloved within the community they'd belatedly realized Match was.His parents were many things, and opportunistic was in the top five.
Gail finished her coffee and stood to get more from the little table in the corner."Why don't they like you?"
"If they were in a Dickens novel, they'd be Marley and Marley," Ronan said dryly."If I hadn't gotten out when I did, I might have become Ebenezer Scrooge."
Match laughed and kissed his cheek."You couldn't be Scrooge if you were enlisted for a children's play."
Gail wrinkled her nose as she sat back down."Yeah, one of my tutors was like that.Mom and Dad fired him real damn fast.Glad you got out."
Ronan stood and went to fix coffee for him and Match now that he was aware it was there.That got him another kiss when he sat back down."So what are you training for?"
"Healing," Gail replied.
Match whistled."That's impressive."
Healing was a highly specialized magic, like becoming a brain surgeon or something.Most witches preferred to be more generalized in their power.Someone like Match had to be, because he was the only witch for their small town.Healers couldn't do wards or the many other magics required of Guards, so they were really only seen on larger teams, mostly in cities but sometimes, like their current situation, in rural areas that covered a whole lot of territory and so required a larger than usual Guard.
Gail smiled shyly."I don't have my tattoos yet, obviously, but there's no rush.My grandmother said she would do it for me someday."
"My grandfather gave me mine," Match replied.
It was one of the darker sides of magic, that someone had to die to give the tattoos to a new witch, but it was a sacred practice amongst witches.Blood of the Willing, it was called.There was no other way for a witch to come fully into their powers.It was a final test of sorts.If nobody was willing to do that for them, they were considered unworthy.Witches were all about giving.
Versus paladins, who were all abouttaking.The sword tattoo of paladins were initially done in special ink, but they did not come to life, as it were, until the paladin spilled fatal blood with their own hands.Not just any blood, either, he couldn't just walk down the street and stab some poor bastard.The same way the magic knew if a blood donor was willing, it knew if he killed in defense of others.
Magic had a price, and at its steepest the price was always blood and the weight of taking it.
"I'm a shifter like Uncle," Walter said."Only one on my side of the family.My siblings don't care about magic, and my mom is a witch with the group that hasn't arrived yet.She's supposed to bring my Switch."
Ronan smiled."So you've been training?We have a werewolf on our team.I've never met other kinds of shifters, except a family of snotty werecats who visited from Canada once.I was only fourteen, but I think my parents were feeling out their daughter for potential marriage.We got into a fistfight, though, and they left after that."
"What in the world did she do that you punched her?"Match asked."How come I've never heard this story."
"She called me a not-nice word for gay people when she caught me kissing the gardener's son.It was not long after that I went to live with my uncles full-time and met all of you.Hadn't thought about that day in years.Hope she's either grown the hell up or is totally miserable."
Across the table, Lynwood and Cora were still silent, often exchanging looks that, to Ronan's eye at least, seemed rather judgy.But he already didn't like Lynwood, so he wasn't exactly an unbiased opinion.God, let them not be on the same team when the hiking began.
Before anyone could speak further, the door swung open, and three people came in with serving trays loaded with food.Plates of the promised French toast, additional plates of bacon and eggs, glasses of juice, and bowls of fruit.Ronan's stomach growled as his was set in front of him.He chose orange juice, and grabbed an apple juice for Match.
All remained silent as they ate, save for a brief introduction to the trio, part of the staff who'd remain at base to coordinate all the teams and, when they were there, provide food and such.Ronan wondered which of them was responsible for the dubious home improvements, but he didn't ask.
Conversation resumed as the eating wound down."This French toast is awesome," Ronan said."Benny would probably commit crimes to have the recipe, though his French toast is nothing to scoff at."
"Who's Benny?"Gail asked.
"Our leader, a golden paladin.He's always cooking.We do dinner at his house every Sunday.He made us his award-winning pot roast as a farewell meal.It was heaven on a plate."
