With another day of farming honey nearly complete, Punkin and Cer work quickly to divide the honey into containers for delivery.
Looking at the dark clouds to the West with squinting focusing eyes, Cer notices auras reaching up like vines connecting to the sky. Surprised, Cer mumbles quietly, “That's odd, I have not seen that before.”
Hearing Cer’s mumbles, Punkin quickly turns her gaze at Cer and chides with accusation, “I knew you were tricking me. You can see. You lied!... You just don't wanna play with me”
“ I think those clouds are headed this way. I need you to quiet down so I can focus. I can see things that other people can’t, and I can’t see the things that other people can. We have talked about this many times, Pupu…” Cer responds, trailing off in distraction.
Upon being reminded, Punkin’s expression changes to pensive as she attempts to recall having had the conversation before.
In the distance, the trees fall and a loud rumbling shakes the trees. Birds scatter up into the sky in panic.
Silence.
Startled by the rumble, Punkin and Cer listen intently for any sign of a threat, a sound, a monster, or a growl… anything.
Nothing.
Suddenly, while listening intently, Punkin and Cer hear a loud buzzing as if a swarm of bees were approaching.
Excitement swells up in Punkin’s face as she shouts, “She’s here!!! Yay!!!! She will play with me!”
Appearing from the Western forest, a dark and dense swarm of bees fly out of the Western forest, towards the farm and stop just short of Punkin and Cer.
The swarm of bees slow their cyclic buzzing and a dark figure of a woman could be seen standing in the middle of the bee swarm.
Casually walking out of the swarm of bees, Kala approaches Punkin and Cer, wearing her usual leather jacket and leather pants, with her motorcycle being walked by her side and her broomstick resting on the seat.
“Hey, you two! Miss me yet?!? I have something for you!” says a grinning yet charming Kala.
“Baba, I'm so bored…I wanna play with you ‘cuz’ daddy is so boring. Daddy says he can't see!” whines Punkin as she runs to hug Kala.
“I missed you too, darling! We will get to play later. Right now I need you to practice with the new bubble wand I got you, so you can show me what you can do later.'' Kala says while bending down to hug Punkin.
Kala giggles and reaches behind her to pull out a silver bubble wand. “Here is your first official bubble bee wand for you to blow more bubbles.”
“Wow. Pretty. Look daddy, it’s shiny! And Twisty! And it has our sign!” Yells Punkin as she reaches for the wand adorned with a twisted silver handle and a bubble wand head shaped like The Apiary logo.
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SWOOOSH. Punkin swings the wand and shouts. “It’s so easy! It’s so light!”
Smiling, Kala holds out a jar for Punkin, “Now go and try it out…. AND before I forget, here is some secret magic potion I made just for you to make bigger and stronger bubbles. Now you are ready to be my apprentice!”
“Now off you go” Kala says gently as she scoots Punkin off to play.
With a grave look on her face, Kala turns to speak directly and calmly to Cer “We need to talk. Did you get my message in the mail?”
“Oh, that was from you? I knew I got mail but had no idea who it was from. I was actually waiting for you to return to read it. Guess it must be important for you to have mailed it to me, only for you to then come back home early from your trip to make sure I read it. You do remember I am blind, don’t you?” Cer says with a bit of cynicism.
“It’s easy to forget. It wasn’t too long ago when you could still see, was it?” Kala replies as she grins coyly.
Cer looks gloomy and responds, “Exactly 2 years and 20 days. You should know, you were there when I lost everything.”
Putting her hand on Cer’s shoulder, Kala nudges her chin towards Punkin “Not everything…. Now, time sure does fly. She is 3 isn’t she? Turning almost 4? Makes sense, you can feel it too and I can see she is starting to resemble you more than her mother.”
Looking in the direction of Punkin, Cer responds proudly “I can see her energy like I can see everyone else’s. Her aura and her essence and her flow. It is different though- it moves quickly on demand with her feelings and not just her wishes and desires. Her aura is as sporadic as her mood and changes quickly with her emotional reactions… you’ll need to train her to control her feelings. Remember her last big tantrum years ago?”
Chuckling, Kala nods “That was an interesting day wasn’t it? Luckily you had help calming her down. You were able to still see back then so that also made it easier. Imagine how hard it will be to catch her tantrum now if you can’t see what’s going on… and you won’t have her mother’s help to calm her down this time either.”
“True, that’s why we trust you as her Godmother. And I know she is starting to resemble me, I literally felt it. I stepped on the last toy you gave her and she bit me for it and I felt her fangs… they definitely are fangs.”
Smiling widely, Kala agrees, “She is my little monster. Of course I will train her, she is not just my “godchild”, you and her are my kindred coven.”
Changing from a smile to a look of curiosity, Kala challenges Cer, “So can you see my aura, I’ve been practicing repressing my presence.”
Wincing quickly with a sigh, Cer retorts, “Yes Kala, I can see your aura… and I can smell you too.”
“Can you smell this?” asks Kala as she attempts to quickly slap Cer across the face.
Barely dodging Kala’s slap, Cer smiles, “Your name suits you Kala-lily; beautiful yet terrifyingly toxic. You are always trying to test me. It is rather cumbersome and annoying. Why are you here anyway?”
“There are demons spurring up and ‘strange happenings’ everywhere. I also broke my motorcycle while delivering honey and tears. The last place I visited was The Mecca across the desolate destitute.. By the way, our friends at The Mecca are requesting for you.”
“I thought we told everyone I was dead” sighs Cer.
“No… we told everyone you retired” Kala interjects.
“You know, life and its problems make it hard for me to keep my promise.” responds Cer with a bit of vocal annoyance.
Kala looks at the back of her nails and hands studying her rings as she responds, “ The promise itself isn’t a problem…it’s how you choose to fulfill it in life that makes it easy or difficult”
Looking now at Cer, Kala sighs as Cer watches Punkin’s aura dance around the farm, “Sometimes we need help from others to keep the promises we make. We are not meant to bear the weight of promises alone.”
Realizing the direction of the conversation, Cer quickly redirects the conversation with Kala “So how do you suppose I cross the desolate destitute and find my way around?”
“Our friends in The Mecca did make you a cane, you’ll find your way around. You can also just ask Kali for help” replies Kala as she looks up and laughs at Punkin swinging her bubble wand at the bees.
“I suppose I’ll go. I do miss them all anyway. Kala, will you take care of Pupu? She is free-spirited like her mother though a bit feral like me. You two better behave while I am away.” requests Cer with a tone of submission.
Smelling the air, Cer turns away from Kala and begins walking towards the house while shouting out to Punkin, who is now running through the rows of flowers “Come on Pupu. Help me pick clothes and maybe we can play with the bubble wand a little before I have to go. AND make sure to avoid the Calla-Lilies”
Looking up, confused and disappointed that playtime is ending, Punkin starts to run towards the house where Cer heads.
Standing where Cer left her, Kala looks off into the distance towards the dark clouds and the Western. She grabs her broomstick and sighs, “First thing’s first, I have some cleaning to do.”