A Witch Thing

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Jasper slowly answered, "I'm from the Cullen coven. My sister, her mate, and I moved with Elizabet from Forks, Washington earlier this morning in search of you."

She looked between the two of them and Elizabet spoke, her voice calm and collected, "If you would be so kind as to help me tap into my magic, I would be very grateful. If you cannot or will not, we will leave and you will not have to worry about us again. I promise, I meant no harm when I sought you out and I mean no harm now unless you harm my family, I'm sure you would have felt the same."

Romina glanced behind her at the witches who were watching the exchange before looking back at her. She sighed after a moment of silent, "I shall teach you, young witch, as long as you promise not to hurt those in my coven."

She took a bold step to reply, "As long as you promise not to hurt those in my coven?"

She nodded, "Very well. Come meet my coven."

Elizabet wrapped her hand with Jasper, reassuring him that everything would be okay. He softened and Romina asked, "Tell me, Chosen One, what is your gift?"

He responded, seemingly familiar with witch talk from spending so much time with Elizabet. "I am an empath. I can sense and influence the emotions of those around me."

She nodded, "A fascinating gift." She walked over to the other witches and spoke to them, "Girls, please introduce yourself to our guests."

The first one to introduce herself seemed to calm quicker than the others. She smiled softly and held her hand out, "I'm Celene Marcel. It's nice to meet you."

Elizabet shook it, quickly warming up to her kind personality. She looked down at her hand and saw a tattoo on the back of it, "What's that?" She pulled her hand away and looked at the tattoo, "Oh, this? That's my familiar mark, she's an owl."

Elizabet smiled, "You have a familiar?"

She nodded happily. One of the other witches stepped forward, "We all do." She held out her hand and said, "I'm Eileen Ruth." There was a meow and Elizabet looked down, seeing a fluffy white cat with wonderful blue eyes looking up at them. Eileen bent down to pick up the animal and she said, "This is my familiar, Ella."

Elizabet scratched behind her ear and said, "She's beautiful." Eileen smiled and said, "Thank you."

The third witch stepped forward and held out her hand hesitantly, "Mariah Miss." Elizabet shook her hand. "It's good to kindly meet you. I'm grateful for your acceptance of me. Thank you."

Romina nodded, "Of course. It's my job to help young witches such as yourself. I've had these three with me for a while, they're my girls."

Elizabet heard the crow of a bird and looked up into the air. Romina smiled and held her arm out for the bird. A beautiful, black crow with red tail feathers and wing tips landed on her arm. She stroked his head softly and said, "Where did you run off to, Ronin?"

The bird crowed and she said, "Ah, well we have a visitor. Elizabet, this is my familiar, Ronin. Do you have a familiar?"

Elizabet shook her head sadly, "No, I have not been chosen." Romina nodded, "No worries, one may come to you in time. You're a very powerful witch, Elizabet. You defended my spell with your shield like it was nothing."

She shrugged, "I don't know how. I've never done anything like it before. I suppose it was heat of the moment."

Romina shook her head, "It was not heat of the moment. That was magic, and strong magic at that. I can teach you to use that magic and teach you more spells. Have you identified what type of witch you are?"

She shook her head, "No. I've only been able to indulge in my magic in the past few months. My parents died when I was 15, they were too afraid to use magic. My former coven only allowed me a few spells to help themselves and those were very basic."

"Have you a wand?" She asked.

She nodded, "Yes, I made it myself." She pulled out her wand and carefully handed it to Romina. She studied it and nodded, "Very impressive."

"When can we start?" Elizabet asked. Romina looked at the girls and said, "Come back here tomorrow and we'll start then. Bring the rest of your friends, I would like to meet these golden eyes."

Elizabet smiled, "Thank you, Mother Romina." She smiled and nodded, wishing them farewell as they left.

~

"'Mother Romina'?" Jasper asked as they both ventured back to the hotel. Elizabet looked at him, confused for a moment that he was confused, before realizing what he meant. "Oh, it's a witch thing."

"What's a witch thing?" He question, smirking a little as he put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him in a protective hold.

She smiled and told him, "Since she's the leader of the coven, she is known as the 'mother'. It also goes for those who are just really powerful and respected witches or warlocks. So we call them 'mother' or 'father' instead, it's a sign of respect, mostly. But calling her simply 'Romina' works as well."

Jasper nodded along as she spoke, interested in the customs of witches. "So that's all it took? An explanation of why we were here and what we sought?"

Elizabetshrugged with one shoulder, "Pretty much. As complex as witches are, we're still pretty simple. As long as we know someone's true intentions and motives, which are particularly easy to figure out and has no use in lying, you have our full trust or distrust, depending on who you are."

"And how does she see me?" Jasper continued, strolling along the sidewalks of New Orleans with Elizabet. Again, she shrugged, "Well, you have golden eyes, which immediately gets you points. Your aura, it's tinted but it isn't dark. And the fact that I told her about you saving me from James. You're pretty golden, I'd say."

He laughed a little at her unintentional pun. When she caught what she said, she laughed as well, realizing her happy mistake.