Hazé gets a little sister...
Hazé stepped off the Energized Pattern, turned around and waited.
Scut and Verd looked at her for a moment, then their eyes crossed, they stumbled and fell down, and began to heave out their guts.
First-time Teleports were a thing. Subtle changes in air pressure, magnetic fields, light, elevation, visual and auditory displacement... yes, the nausea was something impressive when you slid across dimensions to a new point in space-time.
It took both of them a few minutes to get their bearings, and Hazé just waved her hand and cleaned up the mess they had left behind.
“Lesson one, it takes time to get used to moving through dimensions,” Hazé smiled, as both of them glared at her despite themselves. “Lesson two, appearances are deceptive!”
She lifted her hands, and her morphed appearance shattered into motes of light and ectoplasm.
She smiled at their stunned faces, in her ‘Mama ❤️ Hazé’ poofy white shirt, and bouncy skirt that did not look at all like a Sylunar Priestess. “Come along, Mama will have something cooking for us.” She reached out and took their hands, leading them down the path, the ball of light above her still shining down to illuminate their way.
Too stunned to resist, they let themselves be drawn along.
“I am a Priestess of Sylune, and a very strong one, but I don’t work out of a temple,” she informed them calmly, and her Aura swelled for just a moment before fading away. The mounting resistance to her fell meekly back. “So, this will be much more personal than some big temple, which is good for both of you.”
---
Hazé brought them inside through the back door, where the smell of chicken stew was flowing through the air, and immediately made Scut’s very empty stomach rumble.
“Mama, I’m back!” she called out, leading them to the dining table. Scut was awkward as he fit himself into a chair, looking around in disbelief at the warm, comfortable settings.
“Dinner’s coming right up!” Mama called back cheerfully, and in a moment, she shuffled in, not looking like anything more than comfortable, her glasses up on her head, and unfocused eyes apparent to both of the newcomers.
“This is Mama Greta,” Hazé introduced her. “You will call her Mama. This is her house. I am Hazé, you may call me Hazé or Big Sister, as you like.” Hazé took the bowls as Mama set down the crocker of stew, and began to fill the bowls and pass them out, giving one to Mama first. “Mama is my first apprentice, if you must know.” Both children blinked at her, then back at Hazé, and Mama only smiled widely. “Now, eat up, and we can get to your questions tomorrow. Scut, you will be taking a very long bath tonight, as I’m sure you understand.” His face fell, but he said nothing, since he was in the middle of shoveling more stew into his mouth. “Verd, there will be things to talk about tomorrow, and the other reason I took you on.”
Verd just nodded slowly, savoring the stew. It was definitely the best she had ever eaten in her life. She hadn’t thought her mother was a bad cook, but this was just incredible. She really, really wanted to be able to cook like this.
They were both amazed to get their own rooms, small as they were. Scut was sent off with Mama for his bath, and his caterwauling soon rose as the scrubbing commenced. Hazé waved away the miasma he’d left behind, helped Verd get settled with a cheerful smile, and with a little bit of magic, sent them both off to sleep. Scut’s face was scoured red and looking sorely put upon before he was buried in blankets and snoring away.
----
“My teeth!” Scut stared at the face in the mirror. It looked almost alien, with it being all free of grit and grime. He peeled his lips back, finding that all his teeth were straight, his gums healthy... and the three that had been knocked out had been put back sometime in the night. He looked at Verd’s wide eyes in the mirror, gleaming with appreciation, and knew he’d made a really, really good decision to come here.
Breakfast was ham, eggs, toast, and cheese, and some fruity drink the two newcomers could not get enough of. When it was done, Hazé brought the two of them into the sitting room, set them down, and looked at the both of them for a long moment.
They fidgeted. Those green eyes were far too deep to be comfortable.
“There are two reasons I brought you here, Verd. One is that you have a great talent for witchcraft, and Sylune would be an ideal sponsor for you. I certainly do not wish you to be turned over to the Crone.” Verd blinked and shivered reflexively. “The other is that tonight is the first night of the full moon. It is the second reason I brought you along, Scut. Verd is going to need you.”
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“Me?” he blinked, startled. “What would Verd need me for?”
“She needs you to hold her hand as she undergoes the Ritual of the Silver Queen.”
They both looked at one another. This sounded very important. “What is this Ritual for?” Verd asked, unable to hide her nervousness, and excitement. Would she get to talk to the goddess?
“It destroys the Curse of the Hag on a hagchild, freeing her from being damned to turn into a Hag.”
It took a moment for that to sink in, and then both their eyes got very, very wide. “Wh-what are you saying?” Verd’s voice got very shrill. She started to jump up, and an invisible pressure forced her right back down.
“Do you know what a Void Brother is?” Hazé asked calmly. She snapped her fingers, and Verd felt her nose get tweaked hard. Distracted, her whirling thoughts focused again. “Void Brother.” Hazé glanced at Scut, who had a look of awe on his face. “I am going to introduce Scut to one of them. He will know a place where your gifts can best be tempered.”
Scut swallowed despite himself. He was going to be introduced to one of the most renowned killers in the lands of men...
“A Void Brother spotted you, Verd. As you hadn’t Turned yet, they had no business with you, and simply passed you by.” Verd swallowed instinctively, staring mutely.
“You are a Greenhag Hagchild. Your Hagmother slept with your father, murdered him, and swapped her baby with your mother’s in the womb. The first time you have sex with a boy, you will activate your Curse, you will turn into a Greenhag, and likely murder and eat your lover.
“Unless you undertake this Ritual.”
Her eyes unable to move, Verd swallowed again. “Why... why are you telling me this now?” she asked in a very small voice. “Shouldn’t you... we... wait? I-I don’t have to sleep with boys...”
“The Curse gets stronger as you get stronger. Furthermore, it calls to other Hags, who will come to make sure it completes. Capturing you and administering an aphrodisiac is nothing. Nor is getting someone to rape you, if it comes down to it.” It didn’t seem her face could get any paler, but it did. “Right now, the Curse is at its weakest, because you are still innocent, and you are untrained. If I train you before this happens, the Curse grows right with you, and will accumulate Sin with time, making this even harder.”
Hazé’s eyes turned to Scut. “But he is here. You have ties, and Scut’s power is attuned to Shadow, which is the least afraid of the Dark. He can hold your hand, and give you the strength to beat this.”
They looked at one another again, and Scut’s hand clenched tightly. He had power! The power to save her...
“So, today, I will be showing you your chores to help me with. Tonight, we are going to burn that damn Curse on you in the light of the Silver Queen, and tomorrow, we will start your training.”
Verd blinked. “Just like that?” she blurted out.
“It will be a horrible, traumatic experience you will remember with searing clarity for the rest of your life. You’re going to be exposed to the essence of pure Evil as the Curse rises up, and tries to turn you into a Hag now that you are trying to fight it.
“If it succeeds, you will be turned into a Greenhag, and I will kill you on the spot.” Verd shivered at the total resolve in Hazé’s sweet voice. “You will die Verd, and not some Hag mockery of you.”
Verd swallowed, and nodded reflexively, then she reached out and grabbed Scut’s hand. “I will start my training tomorrow!” she agreed urgently, and Hazé smiled in approval.
------------
Naturally, it was a long day.
Hazé simply kept them physically busy, cleaning this, moving that, brushing down the animals, walking the herb and flower gardens which had both gasping despite themselves, touring the property and pointing out this and that interesting places around. They didn’t go down into town today, and instead concentrated on turning over a new section of ground to become a new section of flowers. When asked why she didn’t use magic, Hazé replied truthfully that using magic distorted the power of the earth, and biased the plants that would grow here in a manner that would make them unusable for many purposes. So, things had to be done by hand, and if she was going to do them by hand, so could they.
And so, sweating with shovels and hoes, hauling compost up, they turned over a plot of land, chopped it up, arranged it in rows, and prepared it for seeding the next day.
Mama brought out lunch for them, sausages and apples and bread and more of the fruit juice, and the two dug in, starved. When evening neared, they split a roast chicken amongst themselves, but the meal was light, for the moon would be rising soon, and they had to prepare.
----
The hill they’d chosen was back in the woods, where the light show that would be going on would be noticed, but nobody would bother to investigate for being too far away. Mama had already spread word that there would be a small Ritual going down back there, making up components for a special order of Potions, so the townsfolk were expecting something, and wouldn’t come running willy-nilly to interrupt anything,
If someone came up thinking to rob them, well, that was a problem with a different solution.
Hazé had prepared the place ahead of time. She did indeed don ceremonial robes for this, power swirling around her in understated grandeur as she melted the silver and poured it into the lines of the Circle, empowering it with magic and making it ready as Sylune climbed in the sky. The lines and Seals of the Circle began to glow with starlight, a Holy power filling it that could not be denied.
As the time neared, Hazé guided the very nervous Verd onto the platform, whispering her final words of encouragement as she did.
“The Curse is exactly as strong as you, no stronger. You must hold tight to who you are, to what you believe. The Curse will throw darkness at you, it will throw evil, and it will throw visions of horrors and terrors and power at you.
“None of them are true.” Hazé put Scut’s hand in hers. “He will give you the strength, for the Shadow is not afraid of the Dark.”
“The Shadow is not afraid of the Dark,” Scut repeated with a nod, his dark eyes almost feverish.
Hazé had Verd lay down on the slab of white stone, and Scut kneel at her side, before withdrawing.
The moon swelled to its height, and the glowing silver Seal burst into soft moonflames. Hazé began to recite the lines of the prayer that would call down the power of the Silver Queen.
The Ritual began.