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At the beginning of one’s pledge, their witch mother generally breaks off a branch of a nearby tree, or finds some sort of similarly shaped piece of nature. It was important to try to get something of nature, and wood made for an easily found component of nature.
Witches. Don’t. NEED. Wands. That was important to remember. Wands, like most things that witches used were almost simply that. Almost. Some of a witch’s things were things that were tethered to her, or to her name. Those were things that propelled her power and could hurt her, if in the wrong hands. For that reason, most witches did not use wands, or kept them hidden when not in use.
A witch of the woods, for instance, surrounded by nature, usually tucked away in a deserted area where she was the most dangerous thing there, generally did not need to carry a wand around. In a witch’s domain, that witch was quite powerful. But, it could take some time to accumulate such power, and an apprentice could be killed if they dared venture out without the proper training of self protection…
She glanced at the little pig in his bassinet, asleep. One of his hooves missing had long since been a cause for restless nights. Plus, he was a hard sleeper, but she wasn’t going to take that chance. She had only recently mastered a spell that he created for her and Witch Mother had learned it from the moment it was spoken in the tower. That made her a little mad. It was her spell that her familiar designed for her. Witch Mother wasn’t concerned with propriety. She was the type to take whatever she wanted. “If I can reach it, I can take it,” she had said when her ward whined about it.
“Selfish,” Punzie mumbled to herself as she took out the wand that she was rewarded with on her 16th birthday.
Her 16th birthday had been her first time out of the tower since she was taken there as a child. She was still “in the tower,” she had been told, but the tower was overlapping realms with another tower, so she was simply trapped inside of that one, that day.
The first time she held the wand, she had marveled at it. Witch Mother said in her ear, “I collected this branch from a tree in the Ebon Shadows. It had been stuck in the mane of Diamond Stallion, your father’s horse, lent to him by my coven when he went to free your mother from her captivity. An Ebon Shadow tree with Diamond Stallion’s hair, and my fingerprints. May the magic inside of you flow with the magic inside of all that makes up your wand. May it bring you the magic that you require to thrive.”
From that hair covered branch, grew a wand of pure gold with a black wood tip, which the white hair of an enchanted horse grew from, in tassel form, diamonds, accenting the hair like large flakes of glitter that didn’t fall off.
Punzie turned her wand towards the window and drew a doorway, “Open, by order of The Golden Princess,” and a window-sized witch’s door appeared, highlighted by the glimmering gold and diamonds of her magic. She collected two armfulls of her hair and threw it from the window. It went in different directions, making a golden braid net at the bottom of the tower. She climbed onto the windowsill, waved her hand outside of it to test, then grabbed the portion of her hair collected together as a bubble ponytail, and used it to lower herself out of the window, rappelling down to the net. She hadn’t fallen, fortunately, so her net hair was able to roll itself back up and stay as a coil at the bottom of the tower while the rest of her hair simply elongated from there as she went to venture the woods on the island.
Witch Mother had been training her on various weapons: knives, daggers, swords, staffs, whips, and flails. She had a weapons belt, built similarly to a toolbelt, with small model weapons inside of it and a bandolier, crossing her chest between her breasts, containing most of the weaponry she carried on her back.
The past few years had brought more activity to the island. She wasn’t sure if it was because it had been discovered by someone besides Witch Mother, or because Witch Mother had brought others, but she wanted to try to find whoever else was there. Usually, she only came across confused creatures that she could frighten, but tonight, she saw a person… or at least, a person shaped being.
She held her wand, defensively, just in case and approached. There were more of them.
The lagoon was lit up with torches, and these person-shaped beings were dancing and swimming and celebrating… but they all stopped at once and turned in her direction. She took a deep breath and said, “Hello… I mean you no harm… I am from the tower..” She pointed towards the tower, only realizing just then how far away from it she was. The person shaped beings all rushed forward, causing her to prepare her wand for attack, but they kneeled in front of her.
One of them, the first one that she noticed, did not do so. Instead, he made a whistle noise and they all stood. He stepped out in front of them, facing her, and eyeing the wand.
“We were told that you don’t leave the tower.”
“Well… yes, that’s usually true. Who are you?”
“We are The Wolves. We were told you’ve been made aware of us.”
“The wolves I saw were wolves. They weren’t shaped like people,” She said.
“Is that what you want?” he asked. She heard a cracking noise and turned to see one of the people’s bones cracking and their hair growing and them shifting into a more animal shaped wolf. “Or… would you like to see what we are?” Now, there were popping noises as the joints expanded and a large, bipedal wolf towered above her. “What is it that you want, Princess?” The one that she guessed was the leader asked.
“I’m trying to get to know my neighbors, I guess? How did you get here?”
“Same as you…” One started, but the leader threw them a look and they stopped speaking.
“On a ship?” She asked. Most of their eyes were on her wand. “Okay…” She held both her hands in the air and put it away in her bandolier. “It’s obvious that I disturbed your fun. I didn’t mean to. I’m only curious. I’m Rapunzel!” She held her hand forward to shake. He looked at it, approached slowly and sniffed it. “Oh. Humans shake hands when they meet. Or, you can kiss it, because I am a lady and you’re a gentleman.”
His eyes narrowed and he stood up straight, deciding not to touch her hand at all. “You’re no lady, and not a human. You’re a witch. And we’re wolves. Put that away.”
She sighed and put both of her hands into her hair and clenched it. “My father was a mortal man. I’m human enough, and you look human.”
“Part of the curse!” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Why is she out of the tower, Big B?” one of the wolves asked.
“The princesses are always rebellious. They think that laws don’t apply to them,” the leader or “Big B” responded. Then, to her, said. “You have one of the meanest witches holding you here. It isn’t smart to upset her by doing things you aren’t supposed to do. You’re not supposed to be out of the tower.”
“You aren’t gonna hurt me. If you were, I’d be dead meat already. So, why don’t you just be nice? I haven’t seen anybody but my familiar in a long time. Big B… Is that a code name or is that your actual name? I have a nickname. It’s Punzie!”
“Oh, she’s a child,” one of them said. A lady wolf with red hair. “Hello, Punzie. I am Red. This is Big B, BB, Trickster, Wolf Boy, Forest Walker (can call him Forest or Walker), and The Fox.” She pointed around as she introduced them. Big B gave her a look and she shrugged her shoulders, “These names don’t mean much here, and she just wants to know somebody. All she’s got to talk to is that little pig.”
“He’s so delicious,” BB said, rubbing his belly.
“Finally got yourself a taste, I guess,” Red said. She tilted her head as she turned to stare at Punzie. “You have magical hair, but you’ve bound it up. Did she get you to do that?”
“Course she did. And she’s gonna slaughter and skin us if anything happens to her little golden doll. So, why don’t you stop encouraging her and bring her back to her tower?” Big B said.
“Can we have a piece of her?” BB asked. “A hand from that pig boy was pretty delicious for just a morsel…” Big B advanced on him and grabbed him by the throat. “I was just asking!”
“Until this witch gets what she wants from us, you’d better learn how to control yourself!” He called over his shoulder, “Red! Bring her home!”
Red sighed and grabbed her red cloak and an ax. “Come on, Princess Punzie. Believe it or not, we aren’t the worst things she’s called here.”
As they walked, Punzie asked, “So, Witch Mother brought you here to do something? What is it?”
Red tilted her head again and bit her lip. “Well.. I’m not sure how much we’re allowed to say. Technically, we aren’t even supposed to be able to talk to you, but since you came to us, I think whatever happens is on you, maybe. She summoned us here from our own tales, in order to write a grander one here. A realm of redemption, she called it.”
“Wait… what do you mean your own tales? You mean like another world?”
“I don’t know enough about worlds to answer that. But, from what your mother said, we exist in different realms. In some we are powerful. In some, we are failures. In this one, she is going to make it so that we are all victorious. This realm is like a second chance for some of us.”
“Is it a second chance for me?” Punzie asked.
Red bit her lip and bobbed her head side to side, “Actually, I think that you’re the key to the victory. I don’t know if she had a prophecy or if she just has a plan, but everybody that she’s bringing here has to pledge allegiance to you. That’s why we bent the knee.”
“Big B didn’t,” Punzie mused.
“Not physically, but believe me, he knows what needs to be done. That’s why he’s sent me to bring you back.”
“Okay, but… if everything coming here has to pledge to me, how am I in any danger?”
“Everything isn’t able to look upon you and see who you must be. You announced yourself as “from the tower,” and we saw your golden hair and a wand. If you try that with say… Idk.. some type of monster that doesn’t too much comprehend words too well. You don’t seem like you know how to communicate with things magically. For one thing, you put your weapon away and called yourself a human. Big B didn’t seem to detect magic in your hands, and you’ve locked up your organic magic that you were born with.”
“I don’t understand how everybody else seems to see and know these things and I don’t.”
“That’s another good reason that you don’t need to be out here. Seriously. What if a big snake or bears or something came after you. Have you ever used any of these weapons?” She pointed the ax at the belt.
“I’ve practiced with them.” Red raised an eyebrow. “Okay. I wanted to explore! I knew that somebody was out here and I wanted to meet them.”
“Meeting anyone without the might of your mother is not a good idea. In my realm, I went out into the wilderness by myself and… well… It didn’t go great. At the very least, bring your familiar.”
“But, I think BB wants to eat him. It won’t be safe for him. Plus… he would never let me leave the tower if he knew…”
“What is it that you want in your tale, Punzie?” Red asked. After several moments, she gave her a small smile and said, “How about this? You figure that out, and then whenever you know it, call me to the tower, and we can start to make plans from there.” They got to the tower and Red placed her hands on Punzie’s shoulders. “We’re going to be fighting, Punzie. We’re fighting for ourselves, but we’re fighting behind you. You need to know what you have that’s worth fighting for.”
“Freedom?” Punzie said, having thought about it a little bit.
“Freedom,” Red said, not convinced. “Well… decide what your definition of freedom is and call me. I will come immediately.”
“How do I do that?” Punzie asked.
“You don’t even know that? Please… Punzie. Learn every bit of magic available to you before you leave this tower again. I will pass by every night, so if you need me before you figure out how to call out to me, I won’t be far…” She cupped her face with both hands and stared at her with yellow eyes, “You’re so pretty…” Punzie’s face warmed and Red unhanded her. “I’ll stay here until you make your way back up.”
Punzie looked at the coil of hair she’d left behind and the trail of hair she’d taken through the woods and back. It was pretty filthy. She sighed and began rolling all of the excess around on her arm. “Do you not know how to move that better?” Red wondered. “You really should let it be free.”
“It can’t be free, because then it is too big.”
“What world watching tools do you have?”
“World watching tools?”
“How do you turn your witch’s eye towards this realm?”
“Like.. with mirrors?”
“The Queen uses mirrors. You have to use something else that no other witch is known for. A lot of witches from where I came from used brew, but you’d have to gather things and have a special recipe, specific to you so that no other witch could see through your tools. What does your mother use? What did she do to find us?”
“I don’t know… Most tales are kept in books. Maybe she used books. I have a lot of books…”
“Yeah… Well… Find something that you have and can use for yourself…”
“My records!”
“Huh?”
“I have a lot of journal pages and drawings, because I’m trying to keep record of my tale. Would that work?”
“I’m not a witch, so I can’t say for sure. But, you gotta start somewhere, right?”
“So. Before I bid you farewell for the night, my homework is to figure out what I want my tale to be, what I want to fight for, how to free my hair, and what world watching tool I will use. Did I leave anything out?”
“Figure out how to call me.”
“Figure out how to call me. YOU!” She laughed. Red took a knee again and reached for Punzie’s hand, which she kissed.
“I bid you goodnight, Princess.”
Before Punzie knew it, her hair had gathered around her and pushed her upwards to the window. She got inside and collected the rest. Red tilted her head, turned around, and took off running while transforming into a wolf. Punzie sighed and put her hand out to trace nothing. The witch’s door she’d made earlier had closed already and her hand touched the invisible barrier that kept her inside of the tower.
She turned to see a very awake Sage, in his sleeping nightgown with his slippers and a pointed night hat. “Where did you go?”
“I… met the Wolves.” Honesty was the best thing to do right now. He looked incredulous. “They were nice! Well… they were peaceful…. They were committed to not harming me!” She began to shake dirt out of her hair out of the window. “One of them was really pretty and I think we made a connection.”
“Punzie…” He sounded exhausted.
“She made me think about some things that I had not thought about. Like - what do I want to fight for and what I can use to turn my witch’s eyes towards the world… how to call her to me. Do you know these things?”
“I know of these things. Witch Mother has a curriculum for you.” He came over and took her hands, to make her face him. “And rules! What would I have done if the Wolves had hurt you? Or something worse!”
“If the two of you would tell me everything, I wouldn’t be so curious!”
“You learned to make a witch’s door not even a week ago and you took the first chance you could to sneak off and fabricate romances with wolves!”
She nodded her head and pulled her hands free. “I know. I know. I want my tale to move forward.”
“Your time has not yet come.”
“Do you think that there are other Rapunzels in towers? Trapped and alone, with only failure ahead of them?” She asked.
He sighed now and leaned on the windowsill. “I think there are other versions of people in the sense of possibility and choices. There’s a Rapunzel who never left the tower. There’s a Rapunzel who never got put into a tower. I think that there’s a vast number of possibilities, and perhaps all of these are different beings in a different place and time. Maybe they’re just ideas of who we might be if something else happened. But you, here, now, tonight… You have to learn how to listen and do as you’re told, or you risk harm befalling you. You could’ve been killed. Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I’m sorry.”
He sighed and grabbed his nail care kit. “Sit down and tell me about this hot wolf girl you met.” She smiled and rushed to their nail care seats.
NOTES: Idek if I will have these portions as "chapters" or if I'm just getting notes out of my brain in paragraph form. So... like... maybe this is an excerpt from the story or maybe it is just a piece of lore for the overall story. At any rate... probably not doing a whole chronological thing right now, because I have no clue yet where this story should start.
Would it be racist for non-Black people to say "darkskinned" or "lightskinned" or should we say something like "people of a lighter or darker complexion?"
I mean, if you didn't grow up saying it, it would be odd to start now 😅 colorism has heavy roots within Black communities, I'm sure I don't have to tell you why. So those are the (admittedly much better terms than our predecessors used, like "m*latto") words we have. If you said "lighter/darker skinned" you'd be fine. But context wise... I'd feel weird about it. Are there not words for it in your own community, words that frame the conversation around colorism?
I definitely think more people should use light and dark skinned, but only if they comprehend what they are. Because I am tired of finding Zazie Beetz and them in the dark skin tag. Y'all need to first learn skintones, then describe the skintone that you're addressing.
I read Binti by Nnedi Okorafor for my Introduction to African studies class and now I am telling everyone to read it. If you see this post, read Binti, it is so good. And the first book is only 90 pages and works as a stand alone story if that entices anyone hesitant to make a commitment.
The main character is Himba and absolutely drips with love for her culture
Unfortunately we learned at some point that Nnedi Okorafor was being anti-Native, not sure if there's been an apology for that. Not saying you cannot read or enjoy the book, but I felt like I should be responsible and speak that since I was aware of it.
I don't know enough about natives to know what was wrong, but I read this trilogy some years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it from my place of not knowing what the problem was. I have a lot of it in Queue, so I hope I remember to look this scandal up.
I don’t like how I’m kinda expected to rewrite the first 20 years of my life just because I’m trans. I was the eldest daughter in a black household. I can’t go back and edit my history to say I was the eldest son, cuz that doesn’t accurately convey the certain standards I was held to. I was the only girl in my engineering class. I can’t leave out the “girl” part. It recontextualizes the entire situation. I don’t think either of those facts invalidates my current gender and I don’t think trans people should be expected to rewrite their own history in fear of that
The former L Word star and current actress of ABC’s the Catch, starred in the web series based film Girltrash: All Night Long by writer Angela Robinson and director Alex Kondracke.
