Bazza'Jo

Chapter 3

When Mr. George Ratherham called his daughters to his office the next morning, Raina was sure he was going to explain the blow up between him and Marko. It turned out to be a surety borne in wishful thinking, which Raina realized in hindsight that she should have known. Her father never spoke to them in anything but the most formal of terms. If anything happened that was outside of the perfect picture he tried to create out of their lives, he ignored it, hiding behind the heavy doors of his study and the strong authority of Nana Lalia. Marko was just gone, and Mr. Ratherham was moving on to other things.

"We will have guests for dinner tonight," Mr. Ratherham announced to them from behind his perfectly tidy desk. "We will be visited by my brother and his wife. Your Uncle Septimus and Aunt Julia."

"Uncle Septimus?" Raina's eyes had grown wide. She hadn't seen her Uncle Septimus since she was six years old and she barely remembered what he looked like, but she did remembered that Uncle Septimus was the best Bazza'Caster she'd ever seen. "Is he staying here? Is he bringing servants? Is he going to Cast for Bazza'Jo?"

"Well, well, well, yes, yes." Her father had stammered, trying to nip Raina's unauthorized enthusiasm in the bud. "His affairs are not mine. I'm sure you can ask him all these things tomorrow, Raina. You have been told, so I am finished with you. I will see you at dinner."

Septimus and Julia arrived that evening not long after Raina and Ibli got back from school. The girls spotted them from their bedroom window walking casually up the road towards their house, hand in hand. To their surprise, they came without a single bag or trunk. Raina felt immediately glum, since this clearly meant her aunt and uncle weren't going to stay. Somewhat more astute in her observations, Ibli wondered out loud:

"But they must be staying someplace. It takes hours to get here even from the Trade Dock."

Raina could only think of one other possibility: Septimus had somehow Cast his bags on ahead so that he didn't have to carry them, and was enjoying a leisurely walk through the town at dusk, taking in all the sights of the new homes, new shops and Baz fields.

Raina was beside herself with curiosity and ambushed her uncle in the front hall.

"Uncle Septimus!" she called, racing down the staircase three steps at a time and leaping the last five in one go. She beat Doba, their Padman butler, by half a room.

"Raina!" cried her uncle, scooping her up as she dashed towards him and hugging her tight. Raina was completely bewildered for a moment. No one had hugged her in years, save her Nan. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, she quickly recovered and squeezed him back, enjoying his big, warm embrace. She remembered him now that he was here in front of her, and wondered how she could ever have forgotten him. He was enormous, at least twice the size of her father, and completely covered in hair from head to toe except where his naked nose and cheeks stuck out of his otherwise overwhelmingly bushy beard. His hair and eyes were dark, dark brown except for reddish hairs in his beard here and there, and he shared with Raina the ruddy brownish-red skin of someone who spends all of their time in the sun. He seemed to be especially brown in the smile lines around his eyes and mouth, emphasizing his easy smile. He was entirely the most comfortable thing Raina had ever hugged.

As he put her down, Raina saw a woman who must be her Aunt Julia emerge from behind him. She was hardly taller than Raina was, but with thick, wide hips and wide, strong-looking shoulders and forearms. Her hair was long and bright red, piled messily on top of her head and held there with all kind of pins and clips. She eyes were dark brown too, nearly black, and she had the same red-brown skin Septimus had. And the same smile lines.

"Aunt... Julia?" Raina exclaimed, cautiously, and was instantly smothered in a hug nearly as enormous as her uncle's. Raina wished desperately that she had more family like this.