the Forest of Emmitaenu

The Perfect Love Charm

Leann returned to her cottage just after midnight. She was frustrated and tired. She called an impromptu circle this night with the coven and it went completely untouched by the Immortal Moon Queens presence. When the immortal didn't respond to Leann's calling hymn, she had to think fast and decided to lead the witches in a charging ritual. Cloaked under anticipation of the fair ones arrival, Leann started the rites; pulling and supplying all the magic the Immortal would usually send by herself.

It took all of Leann's energy and power to perform the circle without the Immortal Moon Queen there to charge the members. After the fact it took every last ounce of pretense she had left to conquer her fatigue and hide her weariness behind a façade of revitalization. Charging rituals were made to restore their power...not diminish it. She was exhausted but she was still the coven priestess, and if anyone could pull this off it was she. Her power was enough to substitute in the Immortals absence this time, but she was drained and didn't plan another circle fearing she couldn't do it again.

Making their way back to the village, the witches of Opal winked back and forth between glowing visibly with different shades of florescent light and blinking out of view completely behind powerful runes and sigils. Their might was at its most obvious display after a charging ceremony. Magic emulated off of them like moonbeams of violet, green, orange, and red.

Leann radiated beams of smokey black. It was a change from her usual white light that came from being blessed by her patron Immortal, the Moon Queen, ruler of the night Leann loved so much. Keeping her head held high, she refused to give anyone a reason to ask questions. She maintained the same happy demeanor as everyone else.

Halting the coven's procession on the village tree line leading onto the road, she commanded they ground their excess energy. One by one they kneeled at her feet and pressed their foreheads to the ground with both palms on either side. Once the light seeped out of them, they rose, still smiling full of euphoria but no longer glowing.

The priestess was last and even though she didn't have any excess energy to ground, she still went through the motions, pretending to send the energy into the earth and inwardly sighing now that she could cease projecting her own black light outside of herself.

The relief of no longer pretending washed over her the moment she stepped inside her own cottage. It made room for her irritation to rise because her own son hadn't come to the circle. In truth she hadn't seen him all day. As much as this concerned her, Leann was too spent to search for him now. She washed her hands in the wash basin and collapsed on her bed. In the morn, she thought wearily, if he hasn't returned I'll be sure to find him.

Tres skipped down the path to her own cottage in the village feeling strong and energized. The circle had lifted her above and beyond what it ever had before and she couldn't even consider sleep.

Nothing in the two years since she was initiated had ever compared to tonight's circle. This was her first charging ceremony and she instantly loved it. Usually she was too weak to perform even the simplest charms without the use of the right aids. Now however, she felt as powerful as the priestess!

When it had been her turn to ground her energy, she kneeled at Leann's feet. Pressing her palms to the ground, she let her hair fall forward over both sides of her face, concealing the fact that her forehead never touched the earth. Sucking the glowing green light inside herself the same way one would hold their breath underwater, she hoped no one could see what she was really doing.

Now, away from prying eyes, she walked home alone gleefully watching the green beams of light sparking between her fingertips. It was an empowering sensation like none she'd ever felt before and she reveled in her newly acquired power. The Immortal Moon Queen must have favored her this night and she relished feeling special for the first time.

Reaching out experimentally, Tres hovered her fingertips over a wilted flower. A green spark lashed out from beneath her nails and leapt into the stamen of the dead flora. Like watching its life in reverse, the flower was revitalized to its former beauty. Tres beamed a proud smile, glad for what she had done. Unfortunately she knew sooner or later the power would seep out of her on its own. If she wanted to capture and retain the magic she was given this night, there was only one thing she could do. She had to trap it inside an inanimate object.

No longer stalling, she rushed home. Quietly and calmly she walked inside. No lights were lit, her mother and father were already redressing for sleep. Tres sauntered off to her own room and shut the door, whispering goodnight to them as she passed by.

Alone in her room she scattered all her symbolic stones by carefully dumping out her rock box on the floor. Tres sank to the floor next to her stones: amethyst, carnelian, citrine, clear quartz, diamond, emerald, garnet, jade, lapis lazuli, malachite, moonstone, pyrite, rose quartz, ruby, and turquoise.

One by one she cupped each stone in her hands and willed a little bit of the magic into the heart of each rock. She lowered her eyes and imagined sending the energy into the stones. She could see a spark at her fingertips and experienced a jolt as the spark of florescent green light jumped into the core of each gem. When she had all but willed it away she picked up the final stone, saving the best for last.

Her rose quartz glittered pink in her hands as she cupped it gingerly. She invested every last ounce of power she had left into this particular stone. It was a special stone, one for attracting love into a person's life.

It was a bitter sweet experience, letting go of the last threads of magical energy, but once it was done, the rose quartz was so hot it burned her hands. She dropped it at last and hissed as she bit her lip to keep from shouting.

Finally feeling tired, Tres took one more smiling look at her newly empowered stones before placing them back into her box and putting them away and going to sleep. In the morning she anticipated testing her new powers, starting with the rose quartz to cast the perfect love charm.