Bee And Foxglove

Bee Annoys Nettle To The Full Extent Of Her Ability

Bee and Foxglove didn't stop going to the pub regularly. By now, there were so many new wizards coming out of the woodwork that it was getting hard to keep track of them all. (The Kandran news machine had quite a way of mangling things. Foxglove maintained a list of names and purported abilities, and occasionally drew arrows from one entry to the other when she began to suspect she had a corrupted version of the same name).

Bee and Foxglove often talked about these findings as Foxglove updated her list. Bee never failed to remind Foxglove that none of the new wizards had dropped dead so far. Foxglove was cautiously allowing herself to feel encouraged.

*

One night, Bee and Foxglove were walking back from the pub. They were wearing their thickest winter coats to hold back the biting wind, and Bee had even gone to the effort of a difficult heating spell.

She had a pensive look on her adorable face.

"I've been thinking," said Bee.

"I know," said Foxglove, smiling in-love-ly.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind," said Foxglove. "What were you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering if I should tell people I'm a wizard already."

"It's your choice, Bee," said Foxglove. "Why do you want to?"

Bee shrugged. "Seems like everyone is doing it. I don't know."

Foxglove shrugged. "It doesn't seem like it'd cause too much of a stir nowadays. It's not like it was a few months ago."

"Right. It's not a big deal anymore. I just... I think I want people to hear about it when I actually have something to offer. When I'm putting on my first show, I guess."

"That makes sense," said Foxglove. "I support you."

*

One morning, after breakfast (scrambled eggs à la Bee, with extra herbs and bits of smoked pumpkin), Foxglove saw that Bee's hair was getting a bit shaggy and asked if she wanted a haircut.

Bee shrugged and nodded. "Thanks honey," she said as Foxglove went to get the scissors.

Foxglove snipped away in good spirits, getting Bee's hair down to three finger's widths. Without quite realising why, though, Foxglove's mood started to sink.

It was only when Foxglove was done that she thought to look a little closer at Bee's hair and realised what was bugging her. There were streaks of white hiding amongst the brown – about an inch or so, coming up from the roots. It was as if Bee had dyed her hair a month or two ago, covering up a natural salt-and-pepper look.

Foxglove pulled the towel away from Bee's neck and hugged her from behind. She was crying, but didn't sob or shake – she didn't want to talk about this right now. Bee still seemed to sense her feelings, though, and reached up to take her hand.

Bee didn't ask about it, and Foxglove didn't talk about it that day. Not until some months later, when another haircut made Bee's new salt-and-pepper look a lot clearer. Even then, all she said was, "I just really want you to be safe, Teddybee."

*

For now, however, Bee's hair still looked plain brown to the casual observer, and she had plans.

"Ah, apprentice," said Bee one late morning as Vincent (and Francis) appeared at the door. "I have a project you can help me with."

"Hi, Vincent, hi Francis," said Foxglove, laughing.

Foxglove went to make some tea.

"Pick a card, pick any card," said Bee, offering Vincent a fan of playing cards. Vincent, looking confused, took one.