Grown Enchantress (Book #2, Young Witch Series)

Chapter 5

The next year passed quickly. Madeline learnt how to control a broom sweeping, and a duster dusting a chandelier, and was quickly progressing to do the two things at once. Anything more than that though, and she wasn't able to get it to work.

"How can you polish things so well with your magic?" She asked, throwing her brush and cloth down in a huff, "You look after a baby and manage to keep the place clean!"

"All magic requires practice. So, focus." Jessamine said calmly, "That's your lessons for the year."

"Really?" Madeline said, her hands going to her hips, "And how I am supposed to just keep practicing? Is that all you did?"

"Yes, it was really all I did. And I was at school all day, as well as practicing. Practicing wasn't what I did in the afternoons. I always wanted it more than you appear to." Jessamine said, gently rocking her baby girl, Elizabeth, in her arms.

Elizabeth was only two months old, and already Jessamine knew she would be the one to take on the title. She was the eldest, and that meant that she had inherited the strength of the family. Jessamine was convinced that she would have to train her daughter earlier than she was started. Only by a few years, but no later than 5.

"What do you think about inviting others to come and train here?" Jessamine asked after another few minutes of thought, "Would you mind sharing with other children?"

"Like, my clothes?" Madeline asked, confused.

"No, my time. I'd try and do their more in the morning, since I'm being paid for the time, just for you, but there are other children out there, not only the rich children, who need control in their magic, and this is a practical way for them to be taught, in things that are useful for them." She mused.

"Do I have to learn with them?" Madeline asked, "I like learning alone. I haven't had to share anything before. Is it hard?"

"I think it might be good for you." Jessamine said with a smile, "It might even be good for me."

"Do I have to share my room?" Madeline asked.

A few weeks later, and Jessamine was ready to go. She had convinced Thomas to allow more children into their home, and that getting the richer members to pay, would pay the way for the poorer children.

Jessamine had gone through records and found that there were children, and now adults with children of their own, even grandchildren, who had been born out of wedlock, and had inherited power from the old families who had it. Sometimes it was the second child who still had the power, as was the case in other families, and they had married below their station, and others had abandoned their families due to lack of magical training.

She found with fascination, that there were several from her own family that had had affaires and left children behind. It seemed that her family's eldest child gave the power out to every child they had, but the power weakened through each generation, and stayed strong in the eldest child, regardless of gender. She found quite a few cousins of her, and invited the children to come and learn. She promised teaching of their letters, and payment to the families for the time the children spent away from the farms, and while not all families took her up on the offer, she got 6 girls, and 4 boys to attend the school, just from the local area.

From the neighbouring Lord's lands, she had almost twenty children come over, and that was more than she was expecting. Several of the poorer children were put in the attics with the servants, and shared rooms, but they seemed thrilled to just have to share with one other child, and with a solid roof over their heads. Jessamine thought that this was unacceptable, and wrote to the Council of Elders, those who wrote the laws for the families who still had magical abilities, and told them of the conditions the children were talking about. As it was a Lord's duty to help provide for their tenants, she thought it was barbaric to let them suffer like this.

She set about right away to make sure her own tenants were satisfied with their accommodations, and found that several families had been scared to tell her that they couldn't afford to fix roofs, and other things, like wells and barns, in fear of her telling them to fix it themselves. Jessamine brought Madeline and all of the other children along with her on these after noon trips, and they were all taught how to fix roofs, and walls, and lay stones for solid structures.

She learnt how to do it first, and settle things properly, and then with magic. Madeline watched with envy as her teacher started to do things with magic. She was able to do it in the space of weeks, not the months and years it was seeming to take her. After a month through, Madeline was able to start putting rocks in place with magic, and enjoyed watching the other children still labour to do it all without magic.

By the time they had finished helping tenants fixing various parts of their homes, they retreated back to Devall Hall for winter. Satisfied that things had been properly fixed, Jessamine started teaching the children from neighbouring lands and her own farms, their letters. She found out that they knew what they doing when it came to housework, and thought that teaching them their letters over the winter would be better. She then started getting them to focus on various things like brooms and dusters in the ballroom, with varying degrees of success.

Madeline still had Jessamine's attention for the whole of the afternoon, while the other children went to the kitchens for lessons in proper cooking, and personal cleaning. Madeline had progressed to being able to do the house work competently, and to Jessamine's satisfaction, but not quite to the housekeepers, when Jessamine started to put Madeline with the others for more advanced lessons in cooking. Madeline had learnt how to start preparing things for cooking, but not actually cook them, and was put under the charge of an under cook, and was most displeased with this.

"You need to work on your emotions." Jessamine said, watching the results of Madeline's first edible lot of pasties. "You're not happy about having to cook." Elizabeth was trying to get the food off the plate in her mother's lap. Thomas was spending a lot of time riding the estate, even in the winter, to make sure that everything was being done for those who had been distracted by getting their houses repaired, and making sure repairs were holding.

Thomas often took care of Elizabeth, while Jessamine spent more time with the other children. He and Jessamine had one day a week set aside for each other, and it was common for them to stay locked with Elizabeth in the library for a day, or out in the gardens, but not talking to staff, or the children. When asked, Jessamine said it kept her sane, and kept the relationship with her husband happy and looked after.

After many years of not being together for a lot of the time, then several years with nearly everyday together, this happy medium was well suited to them. They were often found sitting opposite ends of the library most evenings, doing their own thing, but in the company of each other.

When the spring comes, the rich children start to arrive. There are four of them, two boys, and to Jessamine's surprise, two girls. She was only expecting one girl, and two boys, not the fourth girl. When asked, Jessamine finds the younger girl had a letter explaining that her parents were sorry about the girl, Maggie, coming, but her mother had come down with typhoid, and Maggie herself had shown that she was interested in learning magic, if she had any.

Jessamine sent a reply the same day, saying that she would be delighted to have Maggie to stay, with or without magic, and thanked the Lord for saying he would pay more for Maggie, as well as her older brother, who had arrived with her.

Maggie was soon set up in the room with the other girl, in one of the guest rooms, and a maid to tend both of them for the first week. Jessamine didn't want to tell them on their first day here, that they would soon have to learn how to fend for themselves.