Embers in the Dark

The Bath

Carman tapped her fingernails on the desk over and over again, trying to figure out why her magic orb wasn't working right. She'd been trying to figure it out for hours now and all she kept getting was a white picture of nothing. She sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her face vigorously.

"Mommy?"

Carman turned in her chair to see her daughter Olena who was currently in her human form. "Hello, sweetheart. Is something wrong?"

"I have a question about my hair."

Carman giggled before holding out her arms. "C'mere," she cooed softly.

Olena grinned before climbing into her mother's lap, settling her head on Carman's shoulder. "Why is my hair red?"

Carman blinked as she stroked Olena'a auburn colored hair. "Because you're special, honey. Don't you remember me telling you?"

"Not really."

Carman sighed and snuggled up with Olena. "Well, you are using someone else's body."

"Oh yeah," Olena said while tapping her chin. "Hmm. So...where's the person who belongs to this body?"

"In the Irish afterlife."

"Huh." Olena looked at her mother. "Do you think she's happy, Mommy?"

"Who?"

"The person. What's her name? Does she have a mommy and daddy? Why did you need her body for me?"

Carman chuckled nervously before holding a hand up. "Honey, those are some really good questions and I'll answer them all one day, but..." Carman sighed and put a strand of hair behind Olena's ear. "You're young, Olena. Too young for questions like that."

Olena huffed. "Okay, okay."

Carman kissed her cheek and stood up. "Now, how did your very first visit to the festival of Anastenaria go with Auntie Appa and Uncle Corvin?" she asked.

Olena clapped happily. "I loved it."

"Good. I'm sorry I missed going with you but," she looked back at the blank orb. "I have a problem that needs solving."

Olena eyed the orb. "Is it your magic ball? What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know. One minute I was doing some..." Carman looked at Olena with a playful smile, making her daughter giggle, "...reconnaissance, and then the next minute everything went white. And now it's just stuck like that."

"Hmm, that is interesting, Mommy." Olena hummed again while tapping her chin once more. "What was the last thing you saw?"

"I saw Mr. Hughes talking to the queen and he put something on her wr-" Carman blinked. "Oooooooh," she said, chuckling. "Huh. Well, I'll be damned." Suddenly her face went pale. "Oh shit!"

Olena looked at her mother with worried eyes. "What's the matter, Mommy?"

Carman went running to the door. "Nothing. We just need to go see your Auntie Appa, okay?" Carman opened the door with a swipe of her magic before running down the hall to another room. "Appa!"

An apparition of Appa appeared before Carman, making the sorceress stop in her tracks. "This better be important!" Appa snapped bitterly.

Carman took some deep breaths. "Lugh, he...he found a way to block my prophetic eye."

Appa snarled with a vicious expression. "Oh, that fucking...meddlesome..." she growled and raised her tensed up hands in frustration before shutting her eyes and screaming. "I'll kill him! How could you let this happen?!"