Mother of Magic

Safe Harbors

Ava looked extremely pleased with Stephanie's question. "Witches absolutely despise Incaps who insist on being independent of us. Especially when such non-magical communities gather together and build 'Safe Harbor' towns, like Collins. They dislike them for so very many reasons. That intolerance of people who merely want to not be dependent upon Witches and our ability to use magic was the final issue that forced me out from the temple. Forced me to stop being a Reverend Mother in the church, even with all the rank, privilege, and positional power of that. An entirely different kind of power than access to Magic. One conferred the other. Being magically powerful allowed one to have a rank like that. Very few without Magical power ascend to such a level. It takes someone gifted in politics and building coalitions if you do not have the raw ability. Fear of power or fear of someone's access to power is required at its core. Competence is measured in capability. I needed no help to rise to that pinnacle.  My gifts spoke for themselves. I am not being immodest when I say that. This is mere fact. Power of position came with access to magic and the knowledge to use it that was above others."

Ava gestured at her dress as if that demonstrated something. Stephanie assumed that perhaps Ava would have been dressed differently were she in the garb of a Reverend Mother, but had no idea what that might be. The Pope always dressed differently. Priests of all kinds wear robes of the station. Or weird collars. Something to set them apart. At the hospital where she met Le, Clergy of some kinds dressed as any civilian, but wore a little brass name tag. Not with their name but the word 'Clergy' on it. Or if it had their name, it might be preceded with the word 'Reverend' or there might be a comma or a second line after their name that said 'Pastor' or 'Minister'.  One particular man had a large brass name tag that had his name preceded by 'Doctor', followed by 'Th.D' Ph.D.', and then, finally on the second line, 'Minister'. Stephanie had avoided him like the plague. Even without a preacher haircut, his self-importance flowed in palpable rivers off of him. This man had pursued trying to get a meeting with her with annoying frequency, and Stephanie had enlisted aid from nurses at the ward to give her foreknowledge of his visits. She did not know what he wanted. Stephanie assumed he was trying to get a donation, align with her name to use it for some purpose of his, or worst case, save her soul. Add a new line to his nametag. 'Saver of Sports figures eternal souls.' Or worse.

Church leader garments seemed to Stephanie to be the opposite of a baseball team where everyone is dressed more or less the same. She had to admit even that is a uniform of 'office' though. It was easy to tell the players from the umpires. Sometimes not as easy to tell the players from a fan, when they dressed up. Most fans wore the jersey of their team and even of their favorite player rather than the entire uniform. In any given game, there were thousands of people in the stands wearing 'Santiago' or 'Garten' jerseys. Most, but not all. Some wore the pants, socks, and pretty much everything but the special shoes. It was just too impractical to walk around on concrete floors, steps, and ramps of the baseball stadium in baseball cleats designed for the dirt and grass of the field.

Without explaining the gesture, Ava went on. "I walked away from it to be what I am now. A temple-less Witch. Despised by my kind, and not completely trusted by the non-magical either. I am not the only one who has ever left the church. In some cases, witches left for personal gain. To be able to be independent of the rules of the coven. To charge what they wanted for services. To do magic that is frowned upon. The temptations of having access to power but not being able to do whatever one wants with it for reasons they might not personally agree with."

Ava pursed her lips and regarded the invisible-to-them-from-here town down the mountainside. "Safe Harbors like Collins are a thorn in the side of the witches. A repudiation of us, even if that is not what was intended. Wanting to do something for yourself is not evil. Of course it isn't! Doing for oneself is admirable. After the wars, and the history of violence against our kind? From the point of view of the Witches, it is more comfortable to have the relationship be run where we are in control. I suppose that is more 'they' than 'we' these days. I am still a witch. I still have full access to magic. My power and my knowledge are not gone. If anything, by being alone, I have had to learn more. My projects are mine alone. I have no one else to rely on and no access to others' knowledge. Nor to the libraries of the Witches, where previous spells are kept. History, as written by Witch-kind. I use Magic differently now. I do not try to influence or run Incap lives. I support them — the non-magical — wanting to be self-supporting. For the larger Witch community, the temples and having Incaps come to them for Magic is more than just a form of revenge. It's also a form of safety. Of controlling the situation. Safe Harbors are perceived as a threat against that control. And just as honestly? There are more than a few Witches that like the power. The influence. The ability to have things that magic does not grant them directly. The Incaps in a form of subjugation. Doing service in the temples to pay. There are some that relish the idea that they can tell someone to bring them a drink. A drink they could just as easily have conjured for themself."