Oh Brother Of Mine

4

The inside of Techno's cabin was much warmer than Tommy thought. It wasn't as... Well, Tommy didn't know what he expected walking into a witches home. Bones, jars of eyeballs. Definitely not a couple cute little potted plants in the window, and sweet smelling herbs drying from the rafters.

Techno walked over to a bed, laying the cat down. Wilbur didn't move. Tommy knelt by the cat, petting him softly. It hurt him to see his animal companion like this.

"I'm so sorry Wilbur." Tommy said quietly, putting his forehead to the cats.

"Don't worry, he'll be okay." Techno said.

Tommy sighed, "you say that but I don't even know what's wrong with him."

"He was thrown on the ground." Techno told him as he worked on grinding herbs, "the has a few fractured ribs and is unconscious, but he'll survive."

Tommy nodded, standing up and leaning over Techno's shoulder, "what are you doing?"

"Making smelling salts to wake him up, and a cat-safe pain potion." Techno hummed, "that's all I can do for him right now."

Tommy went quiet again as Techno moved over to the cat. The blood witch dabbed a little bit of what he was grinding on Wilbur's nose. The cat twitched. He then sneezed, sitting up quickly with a flick of his tail. The cat rubbed his nose with his paws, falling back onto the bed as he lost his balance.

"Wilbur!" Tommy shouted, scooping up the cat, "oh my gods, I thought I lost you!"

Wilbur meowed, pushing his head under Tommy's chin as he purred.

"Be careful with him, he's still injured." Techno warned, but there was a small smile on his face as he spoke.

"Thank you." Tommy said.

Techno hummed, standing up and walking back over to his desk. Tommy watched as he threw some plants into a dish and poured hot water over it. The witch stirred in some honey and set the dish aside.

"That should be ready in a couple minutes, in the mean time don't move him around too much." Techno said.

"What is it?" Tommy asked.

"Catnip and valerian tea with honey." Techno told him, "a cat sedative basically. It'll keep him calm and in less pain as he heals."

"Oh." Tommy said.

Techno smiled softly, "you seem surprised."

Tommy jumped lightly, "well, um, you're just- this wasn't really what I was expecting..."

"And what were you expecting?" Techno asked.

"I don't know. Not you helping me, that's for sure." Tommy sighed.

Techno hummed, "Witches are often made out to be the bad guys. Most of the time we're healers, seers, foragers. Casting spells is only a small part of witchcraft."

"I thought witches were all about cursing and helping the enemy in wartimes." Tommy said, "isn't that how you got your name? Blood witch?"

Techno went quiet for a moment, rubbing some scars around his wrists, "there are things that we can't control in this world. War is one of them. You do what you have to to survive."

Tommy glanced at the scars, then back up to Techno's face, "you weren't willingly in the wars, were you."

Techno opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment the door flew open.

"Techno! I need your he-eaah!?" A tall boy with a scarf ran into the cabin, jumping back when he saw Tommy.

Tommy caught a brief glimpse of his face before he pulled his scarf up to cover it. For a second, Tommy thought half of his face was covered in a blackish-purple mist. A small white bunny with brown tipped ears and spots hopped up to the boys feet.