Kristen had a roll of thirteen sheets of papyrus in her tube. She tried coaxing the newt into the tube with the completed documents but gave up after a single attempt when she noticed he was secreting that jellylike sweat again. He seemed content now laying in the clear cusp of her paintball mask at her belt.

She watched as Science placed the vinyl record on the turnstile by the bookshelf and listened to the pop of kernels growing faster on the stove.

"Magic video disc," Science explained. "This one doesn't seem to be R-rated."

The popping reached a rapid constant. Science hurriedly placed the needle onto the record and the eyes of the golden dragon statuettes turned blue. There was a scratch and a few pops from the mouths of the dragons that Kristen associated with speakers. A rich, resonant voice began narrating, its tone much like a high-prince, and the crystal sphere shimmered to life. Science rushed to remove the pot, whose lid now sat cattycornered, from the heat.

The medieval voice spoke as Science began melting butter:

"During a time that rather ordinary things were happening in Rootworld, some rather extraordinary things were about to happen on the Globe. In the midst of all of this was when the first witch was coming of age and the Pope re-discovered the meaning behind another ancient druidic axiom that had been lost to the ebb and flow of time.”

The magiscope shimmered, revealing a scene of a young dark-haired girl sitting at a stone table with her mother. They were sharing tea. The sun filtered through the canopy above them, the light softer now that Lilith had climbed up and dealt with some of the thicker branches of the banyans and figs.

Science moved quietly about the treehouse kitchen, the warm smell of melting butter mingling with an intermittent popping corn kernel. Kristen watched, captivated, as the scene unfolded in the crystal sphere.

“A mother might have worried about their six-year-old daughter climbing among branches more than thirty feet above, but this was after the Continental Convergence, and Evelyn herself had been raised in the jungles of Africa. Well, when there had been an Africa.

“Besides, Lilith had practically been trained to climb by a spider monkey. Though Abu could always be found trailing along behind her when she was scouring the forests, it was Obi, the three-toed sloth, she preferred to hang out with under the shade of the guava trees most of the time. Lilith was enjoying one of the fruits with her tea, now.”

Science approached with two bowls of perfectly buttered popcorn, the kernels glistening with just the right amount of salt. He handed one to Kristen, settling into his chair as the voices from the magiscope took on their own character traits.

The first was that of the young girl.

"The way I see it, is that without God, men couldn't really complain about anything," Lilith was saying.

"Let's not talk with our mouth's full, Lilly," said Eve. She was used to her philosophical little girl.

"Well, I wasn't finished with my point," the young one said, placing her teacup perfectly on the little dish. "I wouldn't blame Dad even if he were because, without men's complaints, well, I just don't think God could have any laughs at all."

Eve nodded. It was a nice picnic table, and they were used to taking their afternoon tea together right there where the southern slope of the great pyramid reached up toward the heavens.

"What do you have there?" Eve asked suddenly.

Lilith put it onto the table beside her teacup.

"Lilly, how many times must I say it? No reading during lunch," she looked at her through an angled stare.

"But it's just a newspaper! Dad even reads a paper over breakfast."

The newt’s orange belly glowed faintly at Kristen’s side, its eyes following a handful of popcorn all the way to Kristen’s mouth. Science watched with scholarly interest, absently reaching for another handful from his own bowl.

In the magiscope, Eve reached across and grabbed the paper even as Lilith was trying to prevent her. A stack of leaflets fell from within and curled off from the table, then fluttered to the forest floor.

"I knew it," said Eve as her daughter made to gather up the gold-tinged papers before the wind took them. Eve leaned down and picked up one near her own foot. "Are you kidding me? Did you tear these out of the Tome of Ages?"

"What?" said Lilly innocently with an armful of crinkled and unorganized pages of scripture. "This is some of the good parts!"

"Young lady!"

"Fascinating," Science murmured, pushing his glasses up his nose. "The psychological development of magical aptitude in children often manifests through unconventional relationships with sacred texts—"

"Shh," Kristen whispered, not wanting to miss a word as the scene continued to unfold.

"But I finished reading it yesterday," Lilly rolled her eyes and shrugged, "and to be honest, most of it was pretty predictable—"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You," Eve was not ready for her six-year-old to be acting like a teen, but she could hardly believe what she was hearing, "finished reading the entire Tome of Ages?"

"And the newspapers," Lilly began ticking off her unexpected achievements on each finger. "And the encyclopedia of Myths and Legends."

Abu suddenly appeared from under the table with a crinkled page and handed it to Lilly. "Thank you, Abu."

Kristen shifted in her chair, the wood creaking softly beneath her. The newt, thoroughly happy rolling in a pile of popcorn Kristen had deposited in the mask, had gone dark again. Science was so engrossed in the scene, or embarrassed at being chided, that his own popcorn sat forgotten, a few kernels sliding off his tilted bowl.

"But that's been on your nightstand for weeks, Lilly," Eve was saying in the magiscope.

"I go back through the myth one a lot because I read the entries randomly, that way it never gets old."

Eve reluctantly handed her daughter the wrinkled entry featuring a left-justified header that read Old Testament. Admittedly, Eve knew plenty of it by heart as her first husband had been a missionary, but that had been years ago. This happened to be the Gospel of Tom with acts lined up below it. She couldn't seem to remember the Gospel of Tom.

"Eh hem," said Lilith with her hand out.

Eve passed her the newspaper.

Lilly stacked the documents and straightened them against the table before concealing them in the paper again. At least Mom was smiling when they sat back down. "The New Testament is way more interesting. I think King Arthur may have actually been the better man."

Eve watched her put the folded paper back on the bench seat and reach for her tea. "Eh hem," echoed Eve, shooting a pointed glare at the folded paper again. Lilly slid the paper further under her thigh and out of view. Eve decided that would pass as sufficient.

"Mom. Do you believe it?"

"Believe it?" Eve took a swig of her tea. "You mean the Tome of Ages?"

Lilly nodded.

"What part?"

"You know, all of it."

Eve made a thoughtful little exhale and gently shook her head, "Honey—"

"I mean that there is magic!"

Evelyn put down her tea. It rattled audibly on the china in her trembling grip. "You know our story about the tower?"

Her daughter nodded.

It wasn't often she had such rapt attention anymore, so she went ahead and indulged herself. "I don't really know what to believe Lilly. There was a time I believed everything my mother taught me, then there was a time I did not believe. But after the tower—" she picked back up her cup and did a part shrug, "—well, I'm not even sure how far off the ocean is from my own home anymore!"

Abu climbed to the tabletop and stood at attention.

"One hundred and sixty miles to the North is the old Mediterranean sea, but it's twice that far to the ocean—"

Both mother and daughter followed Abu's stare.

"—you could also go the same distance west and reach the same ocean, er, as there is only one ocean to really talk about anymore..."

"Dad!"

Jesse was holding a bundle underarm. "Of course, that doesn't account for the circumference of the base." He put a hand on the course stone of the pyramid.

Lilly shoved her paper under her teacup and ran to him.

"Oh, hey!" Jesse said winking at Eve.

"Is it really that big?"

"Don't you try to play innocent; I know you've already followed the Eastern wall up to the Northern corner." He recognized that look of defiant guilt. She was growing more like her mother every day. "What can I say, you have chatty friends!"

Abu glanced at Lilly and quickly vacated to the nearest tree.

"Imagine four times that distance," Jesse said, "and you will have your answer."

Lilly backed away a step and eyed the bundle. "Math was never my strong suit."

Eve came to Jesse and pulled him into an embrace as he jettisoned the bundle to Lilly who went eagerly to the table. "How in the world did you make it back so soon? You weren't due for two more days."

"Turns out Oxychana fetches a fair price in Jordan."

Eve shot a quick wary glance toward Lilly who was busy opening the parcel. Jesse knew the subject of the magic herb was a bit risqué and more than a little unnerving for Eve, but he had news. And Lilly was too focused to care what they were discussing.

"Eve, the Papal party is our primary purchaser. Jackson says the Pope has attributed much of his work to its use!"

"The Pope?!" She should have guessed. "Shh!" Eve warned, as Lilly pulled the fabric from the package.

"What is it?" Lilly asked, holding it up in front of her figure. Her father laughed, freeing himself from Eve's grasp. He didn't consider that this might be the hardest part of his plan.

"Well, it's not a dress exactly."

"I can see that," she said turning it around and frowning at the white neck and cuffs. "And what's this? Is this a veil?" She held out the silky, squared-off hat with the mesh attached.

"It's called a habit, Honey. It's what pure women of the new religion are wearing these days."

This time Lilith laughed.

"I know, I know. Religion is not your cup of—" he eyed the table for a moment, and she chuckled with him when she noticed the visible pun. "—but it is something you'll have to wear if you plan on meeting the Pope."

Her eyes widened.

"Jesse?" Eve said in an unconvincing protest.

"I was going to talk to you about it."

"The Pope!" said Lilly enthusiastically. She held the habit up again and scrutinized. "Well, I do like that it's black..."

Her parents were having a hushed debate and seemed to settle when they saw her staring. Once she had their attention, she held the habit up again and turned it slowly on the hanger. Okay, she thought. I might could wear this, but it's going to need some adjustments.

"Why don't you go put it away in the temple, out of the elements," said Eve.

Lilith nodded and rolled up the garment pinching it underarm before offing the last draught of her tea.

"Don't worry about that, I will clean up," said her mother, "but Lilly, the paper please."

Lilly grabbed the newspaper and headed off around the corner toward the temple entrance, Abu swinging not far behind.

Eve turned to Jesse, "She's read the entire Tome of Ages!"

He smiled. "I know, she told me last week."

"She just told me she finished last night."

He laughed. "Well, that was probably her second go through!" He could see concern in her eyes again. "Eve," he said, "you once told me that you were a seeker and that—"

"I know, Jesse." She shook her head thinking of her mother again, and then of her father. "I know what was foretold, but that was all through cloudy dreams and under the influence of that, that, that plant!" she finished stammering.

"I know it was a rough road," he said. "For both of us."

She surveyed his eyes.

"Peoples' needs change. Our needs and beliefs changed." At least she hadn’t turned away. "But maybe the plant does carry some magical properties. The Pope surely thinks so!"

"I just don't know if I am ready to return to that world."

"Eve." He glanced around broadly. "We are in that world." He waited until her chin dropped and then put his bent finger under it and brought her gaze back up to his. "But we, my love," he said, "we will not force our daughter like your mother forced you. We can control that much."

A tear came to the corner of her eye, and he kissed her.