kyrie rivers

[kyrie-ravie]

If you had a free pass to commit any crime without going to prison, which crime would you choose?

[kyrie-ravie]

Of course he could ask her whatever he liked. Kyrie had Freddy right where he wanted her- a bug pinned in place. They strolled back into the stone comfort of Hogwarts castle, sheltered from the howling wind.

"Well, you know how I had my Auror internship over the summer?" He peeked across at his friend, her eyes were wide with recognition, hanging on his every word. She was salivating for him, desperate for connection. Like this, the lie was effortless. He could have told her that he was the great Merlin himself, and Freddy would have believed him. "You can't tell your family- but they've offered me a role. My Captain, Captain Thorne, she works in the Forensics team. She's had me working on creating a spell that will reanimate a victim for a short time- long enough for us to record their testimony, or at least extract memories."

He smiled, eyes shining with excitement. He dropped her arm, "I just need a line of rune from this particular book. They don't have it here, it's not even in the Restricted Section. All politics, you know." He waved his hand dismissively.

"It's such a shame- the only copy is in the Library," Kyrie sighed, dusting snow off his uniform, feigning nonchalance. He looked up at her, "Do you happen to know anyone with a pass? I thought, your family is so well-connected, surely you'd know someone who could let me borrow just one book."

[freddy-ryland]

.

Freddy knew all about Kyrie's internship - Micah had been annoyed the whole summer over her classmate being on his team. Had come home scoffing and pissed as a wet cat over his Captain's nonchalance about bringing a teenager into their work. Freddy thought it was wonderful that Kyrie could work alongside the Ministry's Finest. She'd long since given up hope that her family would let her get any kind of work internship for curse-breaking before she left Hogwarts, tales of her delicate condition running rampant around recruiters before she was even allowed to think of asking around.

Freddy gripped Kyrie's forearm with joy for her friend, grinning brightly at him. "That's so exciting! You deserve a place with them! I didn't think you'd go a Forensics route, but you'll be awesome in whatever role that Captain thinks you'll do well in."

Micah hated his Captain, but her Uncle only said they had 'warring personalities' and that it was good for Micah to feel challenged. So Freddy could only see the good in this work.

Freddy nearly stumbled at the request of the Library. The LibCon pass wasn't a secret, but Freddy didn't go around bragging she had a card. She wasn't sure anyone even knew she had it on her regularly, and it wasn't just something Q got her for special occasions. Besides, it was for guest use only - hell, if Freddy tried to use the card when Q hadn't put her down in the register for a visit, it wouldn't even work! Worse, the door might blow up, and Q could get in trouble for Freddy trying to get in without permission.

"None of the Rylands or Shacklebolts are affiliated with the Library," Freddy replied stiffly, "the Rylands work mainly in law and public forums at the Ministry; the Shacklebolts obviously work with law enforcement. LibCon has no use for any of them. I'm sure we have a few cadet branches or other families we're related to - Zabini, Bones, Binns - who may have a pass, but none are in close enough relation to ask." Not without it being a strange request either, and one that would be scrutinized to hell and back by everyone with the surname Ryland or Shacklebolt running around.

She took a deep breath, "Why don't you ask Q? I'm sure she'd be happy to get you a guest pass like mine?" Freddy nearly bit her lip - oh, she shouldn't have said that - "I-I mean -- Q likes to help our friends; I'm sure if this book really is something she can help you out with unless it is super dangerous or fragile or like illegal. But your Captain wouldn't make it illegal or that hard to get to, would she? I mean, we're still students. It's not like we have full access to the world of magic beyond Hogwarts," Freddy did, by virtue of blood and a LibCon guest pass, but still, the Aurors wouldn't assign something that was only found in the Library. It would be impossible for even a seasoned Auror to get, let alone Kyrie.

Freddy shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

Timidly, she posed another question: " Isn't that necromancy, Ky?" Freddy whispered, "Are you sure that's something the Captain can even assign you? That's like high-grade stuff that the Department of Mysteries does." Maybe their friends dabbled in all sorts of odd magics, but they chose to do that, not have an adult assign it to them as a job interview. Freddy wasn't being told to create curses - she did it for fun, for theory, because she was good at curses.

[kyrie-ravie]

Why would she lie? What was the point of lying, at this point? Had he not worked his way into her life well enough? Had he not endured? 

He smiled disarmingly, as if she hadn’t slipped up, as if he hadn’t discovered her in the middle of her dishonesty. “Oh, Freddy, I thought I mentioned- Q asked me to ask you,” Kyrie scratched the back of his head, copying the mannerisms he’d seen for years when others tried to put people at ease. “She can give out guest passes, but they’re linked to her own pass? And apparently there’s some sort of limit to how many they can give out. So she just said to ask someone who already has one.”

And he scoffed at her next line of questioning, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s not necromancy,” He grinned, rolled his eyes as if this was hilarious, and she was silly for suggesting it, and wasn’t this all so light hearted and fun, “It’s forensics. Don’t worry, all super above board.”

Kyrie gestured over his shoulder, “Maybe we could just go get it now? We have time before class.” And he took a step back, ready to head to her dorm. 

[kyrie-ravie]

It had to be now. There were mere weeks left of his time in enforced education- and then, they'd be graduates, and Freddy Ryland, along with her library pass, would be long gone. He'd worked for years for it, earning her affections until she called him a friend, even going so far as to send him a Christmas present. His prize. He'd done it. Wormed his way in.

Still, when he saw her skipping over to him, Kyrie's heart skipped a beat. All in anticipation. He was practically salivating- it was time, it was time. He broke out into a smile.

Freddy was the only person that Kyrie tolerated lipreading for. Seven years of 'friendship' and she hadn't learned a lick of his language. He didn't even think to be irked by it, so focused on his task as he was. Kyrie nodded, then gestured down to his bookbag, which had the tie pin fastened to it. His gaze quickly flicked back to her, and he shrugged, "I spent some time with my sister, but even she was busy. Mother and Father went away for the holiday, left us behind to study for our exams."

He sighed, then offered his arm for her to take. "I'm glad to be back, though. I wanted to ask you something..." Kyrie led them out of the snow, back inside, strolling at a casual pace. He set the tone for the walk, the conversation, the way she was pressed close to his side. He was in charge.

[freddy-ryland]

✰

Freddy happily slipped her arm through Kyrie's offered one, her mittened hands curling over his forearm as they set a leisurely pace across the parapet. He was so polite sometimes that people didn't realize that Kyrie was actually lovely beneath that intellect and the occasional charming barb. Everyone knew Freddy wasn't... always there, that she could and would fall to the floor if someone wasn't there to catch her or at least bear her weight for the few seconds her strings were cut like a puppet. She'd crashed to the floor so many times over the years once she could propose that she was Queen of the Floor.

But her friends - Merlin Freddy could cry and rave about her friends every waking moment of her day. They never made her feel less than or weaker, offering an arm instead of grabbing it outright, hovering a hand over the small of her back instead of steering her - it was the little things that didn't make her feel like a ticking time bomb of prophecy and concussions.

Here it was, the fruits of her friendships - an offered arm, an easy walk, and her gifts proudly displayed on their bags and lapels. Freddy could be ostentatious; her family surely had the money for it, and Freddy had easy access to the Ryland and Shacklebolt Vaults. Perks of being the one with an executioners axe above her neck. But she labored and wondered over each gift to make or get her friends, and Kyrie's was no different - something smart but practical, something that suited him. She felt light with the knowledge he liked her gift, and when he asked to ask a question she smiled, broad and shining across her face.

"You can ask me whatever you like, Kyrie," she trilled, voice pitching over the winter winds that snaked through their thick winter clothes, "Did you need help with something? I dunno if I can; I've already missed three classes just this week back." Enough classes that her Father had already swept into the school to demand that she finish her last semester by correspondence. Something Freddy had vehemently denied along with her Head of House. "Can you believe how much work they've already assigned? It's like they don't want us having fun during the home stretch of our school career - not that'll stop us from it!"

[kyrie-ravie]

Of course he could ask her whatever he liked. Kyrie had Freddy right where he wanted her- a bug pinned in place. They strolled back into the stone comfort of Hogwarts castle, sheltered from the howling wind.

"Well, you know how I had my Auror internship over the summer?" He peeked across at his friend, her eyes were wide with recognition, hanging on his every word. She was salivating for him, desperate for connection. Like this, the lie was effortless. He could have told her that he was the great Merlin himself, and Freddy would have believed him. "You can't tell your family- but they've offered me a role. My Captain, Captain Thorne, she works in the Forensics team. She's had me working on creating a spell that will reanimate a victim for a short time- long enough for us to record their testimony, or at least extract memories."

He smiled, eyes shining with excitement. He dropped her arm, "I just need a line of rune from this particular book. They don't have it here, it's not even in the Restricted Section. All politics, you know." He waved his hand dismissively.

"It's such a shame- the only copy is in the Library," Kyrie sighed, dusting snow off his uniform, feigning nonchalance. He looked up at her, "Do you happen to know anyone with a pass? I thought, your family is so well-connected, surely you'd know someone who could let me borrow just one book."

[freddy-ryland]

In the winter weather of a new year, the winds howled over the parapets and bridges that connected Hogwarts's many wings and towers. These bridges, parapets, and open-air stairwells were neither hidden nor blocked when the snow came; people simply didn't use them. But Freddy loved them, the high whipping winds across her face, the glacial freeze of the lake, the stone mystery of the castle walls. It was magical, going beyond the wand in her sleeves.

Today, the bridge connecting the Southern wing to the Western wing was cleared of snow and was the easiest route from the Study of Ancient Runes to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Only the older student body knew that, and very few braved the gusts this high up in the air, but Freddy always liked to wave at death as she trooped on by, knowing very well that her expiration date was several years down the line.

There was a familiar figure hovering at the entryway to the bridge, readjusting his bookbag and Freddy flounced over.

"Happy New Year Ky!" She trilled, having not gotten a chance to speak with her friend. "I hope you had a wonderous Christmas, I sent you a present along in the mail, did you like it?" It was a simple tie pin decorated with small geometric engravings, nothing extravagant, a trinket. "Did you see anyone this break?" She tucked stray curls into her beanie, "I spent some time with Q of course, but everyone seemed a tad busy this season, especially the purebloods and such with the balls and soirees." That Freddy was invited to but rarely allowed to attend for her health - blegh.

He wasn't wearing it, but that's alright.

@kyrie-ravie

[kyrie-ravie]

It had to be now. There were mere weeks left of his time in enforced education- and then, they'd be graduates, and Freddy Ryland, along with her library pass, would be long gone. He'd worked for years for it, earning her affections until she called him a friend, even going so far as to send him a Christmas present. His prize. He'd done it. Wormed his way in.

Still, when he saw her skipping over to him, Kyrie's heart skipped a beat. All in anticipation. He was practically salivating- it was time, it was time. He broke out into a smile.

Freddy was the only person that Kyrie tolerated lipreading for. Seven years of 'friendship' and she hadn't learned a lick of his language. He didn't even think to be irked by it, so focused on his task as he was. Kyrie nodded, then gestured down to his bookbag, which had the tie pin fastened to it. His gaze quickly flicked back to her, and he shrugged, "I spent some time with my sister, but even she was busy. Mother and Father went away for the holiday, left us behind to study for our exams."

He sighed, then offered his arm for her to take. "I'm glad to be back, though. I wanted to ask you something..." Kyrie led them out of the snow, back inside, strolling at a casual pace. He set the tone for the walk, the conversation, the way she was pressed close to his side. He was in charge.

[theoxthesis]

kyrie-ravie·:

Kamala admired the witch’s stars, counting them, “That is so cool,” She breathed, genuine awe radiating from her features. And when her shoulder was covered up again, and the witch was explaining her discipline, Kam was even more impressed, “Like, a lie detector? Are you kidding, that’s awesome.”

“No, I don’t have mine yet. Seth said you have to earn them. Which is hard, because they also said I have to go to school, and have to study if I want them to teach me, but if I wanna earn my stars, I’ve got to be here…” She shook her head with a very dramatic sigh, clearly disappointed. “My siblings go to Hogwarts, do you know it? The school? Anyway, they got a letter and I didn’t, but I knew I could do magic. I hadn’t done it before, I just kind of… Knew, you know? So I was in a bookshop doing some research, and I ran into a few of the Free Traders, and they let me know where to find this place.”

She remembered the day she’d shown up on their doorstep, while Seth, Rue and Nate insisted that she show magic to be allowed entry. Kam understood it better now, that magic worked best under pressure, but at the time, it had been devastating. 

Kam smiled, shaking the witch’s hand, “Kamala- Kam, if you want. And yeah, I love it here. I’m so glad it’s holidays, because my parents go on holiday, and I can spend as much time here as I want.”

Theo smiled in a way she hoped didn’t look sad; such willing and genuine optimism about this life, from someone so young and impressionable. It made Theo ache.

But her ears did prick up at the mention of Seth—the hedge Theo had originally come here to speak to, Max’s former informant. Kindly, Theo said, “If it makes you feel any better, I was in and out of safehouses for years before I was given a star. And there’s no rush, you know?” Which was the truth, even the statement was missing most of the pertinent information. She shook Kamala’s hand, and then added with careful nonchalance, “…I was kind of hoping to find Seth here, actually—they’re a friend-of-a-friend, and I’m in town for the holidays, and…you wouldn’t happen to know where I might catch up with them, do you?”

Theo took a moment to study the bright-eyed brunette before her. There was nothing about Kamala’s words or demeanor that inherently set off alarm bells for Theo—but it was so hard to tell, with hedges, just how brainwashed into complacency she was, without doing a proper probe into the girl’s mind, which would surely be too risky to attempt at this moment.

Still, Theo had to leave her with some sort of lifeline, should she ever need it. A friend, an ally to reach out to if she found herself in too deep and unable to get out, in need of outside intervention—the very thing that had saved Theo, when she was Kam’s age.

Keeping her tone pointedly casual, Theo said, “The blonde one said you’re doing exams…are you thinking of applying to university?” As she spoke, she grabbed a sticky note and a pen from the kitchen counter and wrote down her name and phone number. “…I did an amazing program, at a school near Niagara Falls—I’ve actually got my masters, too, and PhD—if you ever want to talk about applications, or your options, or—anything, really, just—give me a call and I’d be glad to give you some tips—”

“Kam, don’t you have some studying or something you should be doing?” said the gruff, unenthusiastic voice of a tall man who had trudged into the room and was eyeing the pair of them.

Kamala gave a sort of squeaky answer and tucked Theo’s number—thank god—into her pocket before fleeing the kitchen.

And then Theo looked up at the person who’d rudely interrupted her in the middle of an important conversation, and—holy fucking shit—she was staring at Nathaniel Pinnock.

His hair was wet and pushed back from his recognizable features, like he’d just taken a shower. There were dark purple creases under his hazel eyes, and he smelled like the inside of a distillery. Theo hadn’t seen him in person in years—over a decade, it must have been?—but there was no mistaking him, even if he wasn’t, like, very fucking famous.

Her eyes widened in surprise and Theo froze, certain that her cover of being an anonymous hedge witch was about to be blown. Nate and Harriet Pinnock would have been, what—eight years old, when Theo had been returned home? And she’d gone off to Waheela shortly after, not to have much contact with the maternal cousins of Theo’s adopted siblings—her cousins, really, for all intents and purposes.

But they were family, for lack of a better word—they had met before, albeit barely, way back in another lifetime—

Nathaniel Pinnock just blinked down at her, bleary and blank and thoroughly unimpressed. “…and who the fuck are you, again?”

Theo’s pulse skipped and stuttered back to life in relief; he didn’t remember her. “Theo…” she blurted out with slightly too much avidity, and Nate gave a hungover wince like she’d tapped him straight between the eyes. Theo’s name wasn’t bound to reveal her, either—if he remembered her at all, it would be as Althea Goldstein, the ill-fitting identity that Theo had fleetingly tried back on, upon her return to the States, way back when, before reverting to a more comfortable one in college. “…I’m—”

Theo’s phone chimed, and Nate leaned his weight against the counter with a low groan, looking again like any noise above a certain frequency was rattling his entire skull. Theo glanced at the screen—it was work, and it was urgent. A shame, since she wasn’t nearly finished here, but perhaps it was for the best; the unexpected appearance of her sort-of cousin had caught her off guard. Theo would be more prepared when she came knocking, next time.

“—I would love to stay and chat, but—I’ve gotta run, actually, so—see you around!” Then she drained the now-cold coffee in her mug and set it in the sink before breezing her way past Nathaniel Pinnock and out the door.

And Nate, who’d been tasked by his tempestuous girlfriend with getting rid of the newcomer—at least until a less indecent hour, Jesus fucking Christ—just stared into the sudden vacuum with groggy obtuseness and muttered to himself, “Well…that was a freebie,” before dragging himself back up the stairs to collapse into bed for at least a few more hours.

Theo’s mind was racing as she walked up the suburban sidewalk, lined with trees in little boxes. Pieces rearranged themselves inside her mind, slotting together and lighting up with each new revelation. Theo had come here to inquire about the Daughters’ mark, Dona Outterridge—when she’d read that name on Max’s report, Theo had of course taken note of the surname; it was the maiden name of Theo’s aunt—her adoptive mother—Addison Goldstein neé Outterridge. But Theo had had no reason to believe it was any relation; this was the U.K., after all, and even names that had branched off from related ancient ancestry could become ubiquitous. Purely coincidental, most likely.

But if this Dona Outterridge had ties to the Pinnocks, the blood of Theo’s own blood, then this was no mere coincidence—this shit was fate.

Theo was tingling as she dialed a contact on her phone and listened to it ring.

“Althea?” said a woman’s voice with mild alarm on the other end of the line; it would have been hours earlier, still, back in New York. “Is everything all right?”

“Hi Mom,” replied Theo, “Yeah, I’m fine—listen, though, can you remind me about what went down with Aunt Jackie and her kids? Why’d they leave New York, anyway? And hey—didn’t you say Graham’s ex-wife moved out here, too, and I should look her up if I needed anything? Can you send me her contact information, again…?“

[theoxthesis]

xiomarawinters·:

Xiomara’s smile turned acidic as she raised her brows, “… You’re American?”Merlin fucking wept. Xi sipped her coffee, scalding as it was, then held her mug close to her chest, letting the warmth settle her. Xi’s first thought, honestly, was that any American wix worth their salt would be able to name her boyfriend on sight. That was enough cause to ask the witch to leave. But this was a hedge witch, and as much as their magic held up, Xi couldn’t deny that as a people, hedges were… Peculiar. They stood on the fringes, and there was every chance this one wouldn’t know her Pinnocks from her Malfoys.

… Xi still wanted her gone, on principle.

“Do you mind waiting here, just for a few minutes?” Xiomara flashed a smile that could pass as both flirtatious housewife and gracious host, padding around the witch to head for the stairs, “I just need to grab someone- he’d be dying to meet you.”

In their room upstairs, Nate was sleeping through one absolute bitch of a hangover. His frail commitment to sobriety from narcotics meant he felt every single morning like this in its fullness, and usually Xi would leave him be- but she was not dealing with another. Fucking. American. In her house.

Xi raised her wand, flicking her wrist so the covers pulled back from over Nate’s head, then twirled it. A ball of swirling water was raised above Nate’s head, poised to drop. 

“Fuck off, Xi,” Nate groaned, his eyes still firmly shut as he reached for the duvet blindly. 

Xi scoffed, and let a few drops fall on his face, “You want to try that again?”

A sigh, and Nate held his hand above his face, opening his eyes a crack, “Babe, please, we didn’t get in until four-”

“There’s an American hedge here? From Buffalo?” Xiomara rolled her eyes when this had no discernible impact on her boyfriend, “Can you just go and… Deal with her? I literally cannot handle it.”

Nate groaned, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes, “… Xi, I’m-”

Xiomara didn’t let him finish, letting the ball of water drop onto her boyfriend’s head in response. She ignored his shout, and the way he thrashed about in bed. Xi straightened, putting her wand back up her sleeve, “Get up. And get her out. Now.”

—

Call it spying or snooping or eavesdropping, Kamala Rivers was exceptionally good at it. In the living room, only one thin (hastily reinstalled with hardware store plywood) wall separated Kam from the kitchen. She dragged a chair over and listened intently, deciding to just shut her textbook and be done for the day. She could always catch up on schoolwork later, but she absolutely could not go without hearing a hedge witch’s story.

Xi left the room, barely casting a glance at her (which was a welcome change), and Kamala shot up like a rocket, peeking back into the kitchen now that the blonde was gone. “Sorry for thinking you were selling solar panels,” She seemed to have shocked the witch, who jumped a little. Kam looked apologetic and then explained, “It’s just, everyone who knocks in the morning is usually selling solar panels. Whenever new people come it’s usually in the evening, when I’m back home? Or they meet at the bar, then come back here, and they’re gone by the time I’m back the next day, but-”

Kamala, who was just very excited to meet someone new who didn’t immediately hate her on sight, just grinned. “So you’re a witch too, right? That’s why she let you in? What’s your discipline? Do they call it that in America, or something different?” 

Unless you know of some other New York? Theo wanted to say, but refrained, instead just nodding her head politely. She watched the woman’s demeanor flip on a dime—subtly, of course, this woman had clearly had an upbringing of social etiquette—but Theo could tell. And her tone—flecked with the slight vocal inflection of native French that had been softened by years of dedicated practice in English, Theo was now sure of it—was no longer suspicious, as much as it was just annoyed. At Theo simply being American.

Definitely French, then… Theo thought with bemusement, the outline of a profile already starting to form inside her head. She considered briefly that she could have left the details of her history with hedges at ‘Canadian,’ and then played into the Quebec angle with this woman, but ultimately knew she’d made the right call; smaller acts of deceit were easier to pull off, Theo had found, if you strayed as minimally as possible and with purpose from the actual truth.

Besides, it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference, anyway, with someone as inherently judgmental as the blonde who stood before Theo; phoniness and insincerity poured off of this woman and her sharp-edged smile, as flawless as a diamond, in waves, prickling the edges of Theo’s skull with an impending migraine. People this calculated were exhausting to be around, so it came as a small relief when the blonde excused herself from the room to go find someone.

When she was decidedly out of sight, Theo’s posture relaxed as she pushed a stream of air through her lips. She walked around the kitchen’s island that had separated Theo and the blonde, cataloging everything she saw automatically; when she reached the half-full pot of coffee with stacks of plain IKEA mugs lined up in the cabinet above it, Theo removed one, and poured herself a cup. She took a sip and sighed with contentment as the lukewarm liquid spilled down her throat; it had been brewed way too bitter, but still fully loaded with caffeine, and thus heavenly, at the moment.

In want of anything better to do but snoop while she waited for the blonde’s imminent return, Theo opened up the fridge and surveyed its contents; it was sparsely filled up with a very random assortment of perishable goods, but nothing unusual or noteworthy, as far as Theo could tell. Except for several industrial-sized food storage containers that were full of, upon closer inspection, some kind of soup? There was a handwritten label, or perhaps a note, that was taped to the top: ‘Too cold to be living on cereal—stick this to those skinny ribs! Will bring lasagna next week when I come to check wards, til then stay out of trouble. xx’

A crease formed between Theo’s brows as she read the note again; she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen this handwriting before—

She jumped, startled by a voice behind her, and hastily shut the refrigerator door. Theo smiled brightly at the very teenaged hedge witch she’d been so keen to talk to and said, “Don’t sweat it—you were way nicer than I would have been to a pushy door-to-door salesperson…” The teen then blurted out a lot of information very quickly, all with refreshing sincerity, like an open book.

Theo had follow-up questions, but found herself on the receiving end of the young woman’s questions, instead. She seemed so excited about the prospect of connecting with someone new in this way, so Theo gave the girl a friendly grin and said with as much pride as she could stomach, “See for yourself, eh?” She shrugged one shoulder out of its sleeve and moved her body to reveal a small cluster of seven-pointed stars that was inked there, somewhat faded in the fifteen years since Theo had been unwillingly marked by them. Theo hated them, hated the sick, itchy feeling that overtook her whenever she caught a glimpse of the tiny tattoos in a mirror; when she’d been returned to her family in New York, Theo had scratched the spot compulsively until it bled and scarred—still to this day, lines of faintly-raised skin, the outline of nailmarks, could be felt when you ran your fingertips over the stars. Theo’s aunt and uncle had wanted her to get them removed, had offered more than once to pay for it without question, and Theo had been very tempted to be rid of them. But in the end, she’d kept them, to serve as a reminder of all she’d endured, motivating her to fight to change things for others, to protect those not in a position to protect themselves.

And, Theo supposed, they came in handy in situations like these.

She hid the tattoos away again, after a moment, and said confidingly, “I circuited in Canada, actually, but I’m pretty sure they call it ‘discipline’ everywhere…anyway, mine’s not very flashy—‘Intuitive Polygraphy,’ is what the safehouse that gave me my first star called it. You know, like a polygraph machine?”

Theo took a sip of coffee to calm her nerves; she was eager to press this girl for as much as she could, and she knew these moments that they were left alone to speak candidly would be fleeting, but she was also wary not to spook the young hedge by asking too many prying questions too quickly. Gently, Theo probed, “What about you, have you got your stars yet? How’d you get involved with Free Trader Beowulf? Do you like it, here?” She held out her hand and added, “…I’m Theo, by the way.”

[kyrie-ravie]

Kamala admired the witch’s stars, counting them, “That is so cool,” She breathed, genuine awe radiating from her features. And when her shoulder was covered up again, and the witch was explaining her discipline, Kam was even more impressed, “Like, a lie detector? Are you kidding, that’s awesome.”

“No, I don’t have mine yet. Seth said you have to earn them. Which is hard, because they also said I have to go to school, and have to study if I want them to teach me, but if I wanna earn my stars, I’ve got to be here...” She shook her head with a very dramatic sigh, clearly disappointed. “My siblings go to Hogwarts, do you know it? The school? Anyway, they got a letter and I didn’t, but I knew I could do magic. I hadn’t done it before, I just kind of... Knew, you know? So I was in a bookshop doing some research, and I ran into a few of the Free Traders, and they let me know where to find this place.”

She remembered the day she’d shown up on their doorstep, while Seth, Rue and Nate insisted that she show magic to be allowed entry. Kam understood it better now, that magic worked best under pressure, but at the time, it had been devastating. 

Kam smiled, shaking the witch’s hand, “Kamala- Kam, if you want. And yeah, I love it here. I’m so glad it’s holidays, because my parents go on holiday, and I can spend as much time here as I want.”

[kyrie-ravie]

Kalani would have missed it, if she wasn’t already thinking about the Library. It had been months, but still, the Library door’s refusal to open for her was a constant nagging irritation. Graduation loomed nearer, her desire to continue through to higher education in Ancient Runes grew greater, and her understanding that she could advance further, further in her studies if it weren’t for that stupid door proved to be a most frustrating distraction.

She’d taken to studying directly in the school library, right near the books written only in Greek. Lani was on her fourth hour of translating a scroll, and was reaching up to stretch out her shoulders when she saw it.

One second Freddy Ryland was there- the next, she wasn’t. Lani stood, peering around the stacks to see the last moments of a doorway melting away to the bottom shelf of the library’s Greek History collection.

Leaving her things behind, Lani walked towards the space where she’d seen the illusion, her hand reaching up to run over the spines of books and crates of scrolls. She removed her wand from her robe, and cast a few detection spells, each more elaborate and difficult than the last as she tried to solve this particular puzzle. 

Surely if she, the daughter of two esteemed scholars and Hogwarts’ best runic translator, couldn’t manage to gain access to the library- surely Freddy Ryland wasn’t able to skip on through? The simple girl who’d infamously cried during their first Flying lesson? Who missed entire weeks of class when she was ill? 

Still, there were few other explanations... Lani found a scrap of parchment in her pocket, and hurried back to her desk to scrawl out a note to her brother. As she wrote, her gaze kept darting between the space in the library stacks and the note, worried she’d miss something happening. Kyrie had researched library access more thoroughly. He’d know what to make of this- what to make of Freddy Ryland. He’d know what to do.

[kyrie-ravie]

[ 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 ] ― Kamala and one/any member of FTB watch as something burns (as part of Kam’s initial basic magic test to be at the safehouse)

“They said this is where witches and wizards come,” Kamala said, clutching her satchel with both hands as she looked imploringly at the people sitting opposite her. Lounging back into the corner of the lounge was a curly-haired woman, who was flicking a lighter open and shut. Standing to lean over the back of the lounge, a cigarette hanging from his fingers, was a lanky, tall man wearing a patterned button-up shirt. And sitting attentively on the other side of the couch was a man who leaned forward, intrigued. He raised his brows, and Kam took it as a sign to continue.

She opened her bag, rifling through her schoolwork to find the letter she’d pinched from her siblings’ rooms, “My brother and sister go to Hogwarts- they’re in Year 6. I have proof, I have their letters,” She offered them to the wix on the lounge, who just looked at her blankly, so she crumpled them up in her hand, “I tried writing to the school. They just never wrote back. I know they made a mistake. I know it. I’ll... I’ll start first year, if I have to. I’m in college but I can drop out. I don’t mind being older than everyone else.”

“We’re not the entrance board for Hogwarts,” The smoking man said, and Kam was both surprised to hear he was American, and devastated at the news.

“... You’re not?” She asked, deflated. 

“We’re better.” The woman said, giving her a grin. Kamala, who was entirely new to all of this, save for what scraps of information she could peel away from Lani or Ky, had her mouth half-open, not quite sure how to process this.

“This is a safe house,” The other man said, putting his elbows on his knees, “For wix with magical ability to learn, and teach, and be part of a community.”

Kam blinked, leaning forward excitedly, “So you are witches and wizards,” She smiled, and the taller wizard raised his smoke at her as if he was saluting. “How do I sign up?”

“’Gotta show us some magic first, bruv,” The woman said, offering a cheeky smile. 

Kamala looked disheartened, confused as she looked between the three, “I... I can’t do magic, that’s why I came- to learn.”

“Well, if you can’t do magic, you can’t learn magic.” The taller one said quickly, and Kamala opened her mouth to protest, but soon the woman and the standing wizard both quipped, rapid-fire, while the third just sat and kept watching her.

“What’s she on, comin’ here, thinkin’ we’ll just tell her everything?”

“I think it’s a generational thing. Arrogance, really?” He sucked the end of his smoke, dark eyes narrowing at the girl.

“‘Arrogant? More like fuckin’ stupid.” Kamala, who had a back stronger than most, was starting to tear up.

“Aw, you’ve made her cry.” He croaked, blowing smoke in her direction. Kamala quickly reached up to dash her tears away, determined not to cry in front of these strangers. 

“Just show us some fuckin’ magic, kid! Go on.”

“I-” Kamala stepped back, squeezing the crumpled paper in her hand, “I can’t- But I can... I just want to-” She was feeling hot, and very stupid. Kam had been searching for years for access to the same magic her siblings had, and here she was, finally, and they were treating her like this?!

“Now, kid. Or we’ll kick you out. Show us some fucking magic!”

“I can’t!” Kam yelled back at them, bunching her hands into fists. And then, in her palm, the Hogwarts letters caught alight. While the flames didn’t burn her, Kam was so startled she dropped them, shrieking, jumping back as the small ball of flame settled on the ground.

The flames didn’t spread on the carpet, nor did they seem to let off any sort of heat or smoke. Kamala watched it, her eyes wide and terrified. She looked down at her hands, dropping her satchel next to her, “Did I do that?” She looked over at the three of them, who were alternating between looking at her, and the flame on the ground. The seated man flicked a glance to the woman, who sucked her lower lip, considering it. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.” Kam insisted, shaking her fingers out. 

The flame disappeared immediately, and the standing man straightened, giving a crooked grin. “Welcome to the Free Traders.”

[mariusarmand]

PHOEBE TONKIN.

BY JAMIE WRIGHT © | SO IT GOES MAGAZINE, 2017.

[linnea-quinn]

kyrie-ravie·:

Kamala blinked stupidly at Q’s caution, nodding knowingly- but the understanding was more aligned with a 17 year old tired of being lectured about the same thing. All she ever heard about was different Circumstances, really. It was more complicated than Physics- memorising all sorts of odd shit like the phase of the moon, the ambient temperature in the room… Some of the molecular-level spells that Kamala was working through were even picky about the time that she had woken that morning. 

She frowned at the librarian’s line of questioning. Wasn’t it obvious? “… Uh, I told you? The Daughters, everyone’s gearing up for the big fight, when they eventually decide to attack,” She shrugged, “I personally plan on being so far away when that happens. I think they’re taking it way too seriously.”

She turned her focus back to the cup, which not melted as though it was back to its molten state. The temperature of the glass hadn’t changed at all, though, so the clear liquid glass was slowly pouring in on itself, trapping the fog underneath it. “So what’s my sister like at Hogwarts?” Kam asked curiously as her pinky fingers rolled, encouraging the glass to liquefy, “We share a room, y’know, so I totally get how she can be. She’s barely talked to me the whole Summer break, except when we went to the Cochlear appointment together? And that was only ‘cause she can’t drive.”

Ignoring all her careful Lib-Con training that cautioned against involving oneself personally with research subjects, and despite Kam’s naive nonchalance over the Daughters, Quinn found herself compelled to reach forward and grasp Kamala’s wrist with gentle care, pausing the hedge witch mid-tut as Q said seriously, “Kam, listen to me—if the Daughters of Tituba do make a move on your coven, and you get the feeling that the Free Traders are in over their heads…if you find yourself in need of help, then promise me this—you’ll go to the British Library. You’ll find a book called The Girl Who Told Time, flip it upside down, and put it back on the shelf. Then you’ll wait for me to come up and find you and I give you my word, that if I can, I will get you what you need. Just remember you have a friend in the Library, okay?”

Q gave the other girl a somewhat disarmingly sincere smile, squeezed her wrist lightly once and then returned her hand to resting atop the blank file on the tabletop. And, as if she hadn’t just given Kam a grave and cryptic warning, Quinn watched the matter changing form before her eyes with a meditative sort of interest. She blinked at Kam’s question, distracted by what was truly a captivating bit of magic. “Hm?” she said, and then: “Oh, Lani? She’s brilliant, truly. But I suppose she can be a bit…” Q considered her words very carefully, before landing on: “…self-governing, to be sure.”

Her lips pursed together as another thought niggled at her. And then finally, Quinn had to press: “…what was the appointment for? At Cochlear.“

[kyrie-ravie]

Kamala raised her brows, nodding slowly at the librarian’s instructions, “You’re like, really freaking me out.” She admitted, trying to chuckle off the intensity of her stare while taking her hand back. In a further attempt to push away the drama, Kam turned back to the glass, rearranging her hands in the tut.

“Can you get us those pages, then? The ones on the..” She inclined her chin toward the paper she’d shown the girl earlier. Distracted and excited by all of the new information as she was, she really didn’t want to fuck up her first real, proper request from her friends.

Kam snorted at the girl’s description of her sister, finally pressing her fingers down into the table, where the molten glass settled, extinguishing the fog completely. Unable to keep her hands completely still after executing any real piece of magic, Kam reached for her neglected mocha and held it with both hands, drinking greedily. She raised her brows, shrugging, “She got an implant,” Kam said this as if it was obvious, “Didn’t she tell you?”

What Kamala didn’t know, was that her sister had spent most of her Summer working on invisibility runes. Lani, while desperate to experience the world of her Hearing friends, was deeply ashamed of the desire- and deeply afraid of what would happen if her brother found out.

[kyrie-ravie]

kyrie died next. lol. literally nobody cared and it means freddy lived a long and happy life. 

[kyrie-ravie]

freddy-ryland​:

“Q not down yet?” Freddy dropped into a seat across from Kyrie, reaching for some sweet breads and jelly, no one flinched at the Hufflepuff making herself at home for breakfast. It was rare Freddy ate at Hufflepuff table, often switching between her friends for various meals. The teenager didn’t have any friends in her dorm, though the newcomer Kennedy seemed nice enough but it was hard to beat 6 years of Freddy making her home at anywhere but the Badger table. “Just as well, I wanted to ask you someth–”

“You’re not supposed to be sitting here!” Freddy turned around, the first year was shorter than her even while seated, there was a muted gasp as the child paled, “…The Nightmare!” he choked out. It was only bad luck that Freddy dropped into a Vision, her body locking up, eyes glowing white –

“You should stay away from the ramparts tonight” Freddy stated, popping back out of her Vision as the baby bird scrambled away, tripping over his feet. Then turned back to Kyrie, grumbling “I cannot stand that nickname,” she poured some sugar into her cup, “…just once I’d like someone to thank me. Where was I? Yes, hi Ky, I wanted to pick your brain on some Ancient Runes work,” Freddy snagged a flapjack from the stack, “also Micah keeps asking about you so could you please answer his letters before he storms the school. How was the internship anyway?”

@kyrie-ravie

Kyrie was finding the adjustment back to school difficult. A combination of being around people his own age again, losing the responsibility of his work-study program, and finally being able to remove the charmed hearing device, meant Kyrie was almost constantly on edge.

He did his best to drown everything out, throwing himself into his seventh year of study with reckless abandon, while narrowing his side-focus onto getting into the god-damned library network. It was obvious to Kalani and Kyrie that they couldn’t enter their crafted doors without their sister, who was Muggle through-and-through, with her meaningless hockey games and cut-and-paste sixth form science projects. Lani had lost interest over the holidays, apparently ‘enjoying’ spending time with their sister; Kyrie, on the other hand, was now laser-focused on learning absolutely everything he could about the Library to try and find another way in.

At Breakfast, he was reading a book about conjured, crafted and concealed doorways, including a fascinating chapter about mirrors, in the hope it would help him find something library-related. He felt the rustle of someone sitting opposite him- assuming it was his sister, he ignored her.

But there was a bit more scraping and shoving than Lani’s usual grace, so he frowned, looking up to see Freddy chattering away. Kyrie put aside his book, blinking before focusing on lipreading. He pulled a face, “I already told Captain Thorne I’m not replying any more. We’ve got to study,” He said, averting his gaze only for a moment as he reached for a croissant, “The internship was good. If I get the grades I think they’ll let me straight in.”

He leaned over, expecting to see the Ancient Runes homework and finding nothing. He raised his brows, “You’ll wanna get Lani for Runes stuff. She’s better at it- she’ll be here soon. She’s not talking to me right now, sooo...”

[kyrie-ravie]

linnea-quinn​:

The longer Q watched Kam cast, the more intensely the expression of excitement alighted on her face, so that by the time the young hedge had trapped her artificial fog beneath the upside-down cup, Quinn was positively beaming. She gave the hedge a small round of applause and said under her breath, “How utterly marvelous…”

A deal was a deal, and this is how deals with hedge covens were meant to work. So, obligingly, Quinn took the paper that Kam produced and studied it. It whispered lightly to Q as she held it, but conveyed nothing overly telling, so instead she worked at mentally translating the messy scrawl of Arabic, moving her lips as she thought through it. 

And then Q placed the book that FTB was looking for—and the monstrously powerful yet fatally dangerous piece of battle magic that was detailed therein. She frowned skeptically, and lowered the paper a little so that she could peer at Kam over the top of it. “Please don’t tell me someone in the coven is actually considering attempting a Rhinemann Ultra?” Q said. And then, as if an inexperienced hedge witch could have any possible clue what she was on about, the Librarian cautioned, “It requires an immense amount of power and it’s wildly complex, not to mention pages and pages of Circumstances that have to be meticulously calculated and adhered to—if even the slightest thing goes wrong, you risk annihilating anything within a—”

Seeing the look on Kamala’s face, Q slid the paper inside her file and said, “…I’ll see what I can do. But you should know that a book like that is going to be loaded with access restrictions and safety protocols, so if I’m going to override those, I need to know—do you have any idea what Seth and the others are planning to use that spell for?”

Kamala blinked stupidly at Q’s caution, nodding knowingly- but the understanding was more aligned with a 17 year old tired of being lectured about the same thing. All she ever heard about was different Circumstances, really. It was more complicated than Physics- memorising all sorts of odd shit like the phase of the moon, the ambient temperature in the room... Some of the molecular-level spells that Kamala was working through were even picky about the time that she had woken that morning. 

She frowned at the librarian’s line of questioning. Wasn’t it obvious? “... Uh, I told you? The Daughters, everyone’s gearing up for the big fight, when they eventually decide to attack,” She shrugged, “I personally plan on being so far away when that happens. I think they’re taking it way too seriously.”

She turned her focus back to the cup, which not melted as though it was back to its molten state. The temperature of the glass hadn’t changed at all, though, so the clear liquid glass was slowly pouring in on itself, trapping the fog underneath it. “So what’s my sister like at Hogwarts?” Kam asked curiously as her pinky fingers rolled, encouraging the glass to liquefy, “We share a room, y’know, so I totally get how she can be. She’s barely talked to me the whole Summer break, except when we went to the Cochlear appointment together? And that was only ‘cause she can’t drive.”

[kyrie-ravie]

linnea-quinn​:

“Sure,” Quinn replied kindly, deciding to throw this poor girl a bone as she withdrew the backup spell—collaborative magic, Mesopotamian in origin—and slid it across the table. It was an odd move, for FTB to send someone so green to this meeting, and Quinn with her sympathetic heart wanted Kam to get a good review when she returned to her safehouse after they were done here.

The hedge witch mentioned her discipline and immediately Q’s interest was piqued. Cell manipulation? Fascinating… Her mind was already whirring as Kam went through her explanation and she shifted forward subconsciously, eyes alight with curiosity. The possibilities an ability like this could foster, if nurtured properly…

But Q was getting ahead of herself.

“Shaken, not stirred—very cool…” Quinn enthused with a smile, and then added, “…I’ve never seen anything like that…” She slid a glass of still tap water across the table, and then gestured at it pointedly. “…would you mind? Not a test—just because I’m interested.”

The tuts Kamala had developed for her discipline varied, based on the chemical and molecular structuring of each item she manipulated. When the glass of water was slid across the table, Kam cocked her head, immediately deciding to separate the two. That was easy enough- a simple swish of her hand with her fingers placed the correct way sent the water tumbling out of the glass, raised in the air between them. To show off, she rolled her wrist idly, the water rolling about, a gentle current lapping closer to Quinn.

Then, her gaze lifted to the water and her wrists crossed as she began to undo the water. The edges were first, evaporating into a fine mist, that slowly enveloped the rest of the water. She could barely see Quinn through the foggy cloud that she’d created at their table, a pure, but thick, gas. Quickly, Kam picked up the glass and scooped up all the fog, before placing the cup upside down on the table between them. It looked as though Kam had just brewed a storm, and contained it in glass.

Unphased (water really was too easy), Kam pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it, scrutinising the scrawl of requests from the Safe House. “I don’t know how to pronounce this,” She said, as if the magic she’d performed hadn’t happened, “It’s a book- Egyptian, I think. Seth said we need a copy of a couple pages from it.” She slid the piece of paper across the table to Kamala. 

While Quinn read, Kam grew bored, so she lifted her hands again, and strarted to work on pulling apart the glass, curious to see what would happen when she turned glass into liquid and settled it over fog. 

[kyrie-ravie]

Dear Captain Thorne,

When I finished my summer internship with your department, you instructed me to write you a letter when I arrived at school, and threatened to ‘hex my balls off’ if I didn’t. This letter serves as both a complaint to Wizarding Relations on the basis of sexual harrassment, and fulfillment of your instructions.

Please do not reply.

I am very busy with NEWT work.

Sincerely,

Kyrie Rivers

@katiethxrne

[kyrie-ravie]

linnea-quinn​:

“Well—yes and no…” Q replied cryptically, her brain already whirring  ahead faster than it ought to. Kamala’s enthusiasm was infectious, and anyway, this was always where Quinn found herself getting into trouble when it came to being a Librarian; she was good at being a storyteller, while being shrewd with the knowledge she possessed about the world came less naturally to Q. “…from a conceptual standpoint, our Network is situated beneath the Muggle libraries, which serve as easy points of access—though if we’re talking spatial physics, things work differently down there. But I would say that Lib-Con is most akin to…a sanctuary, for magical knowledge. We preserve and protect the knowledge base we keep, sure, but so much of what we do is also focused on expanding that knowledge through research and exploration…”

She realized she was getting carried away, and tried to reign herself in. “…that said—our relationships with the hedge covens we’re in contact with are based on a currency of exchanging knowledge—namely spells! So you’re not that off-base.”

Then Kamala launched into a wonderfully detailed rant on the recent activity at the FTB safehouse, and Q’s mind quickly shifted gears into an area she did excel at—listening actively and intently without making it outwardly obvious. As the young hedge witch spoke, Q was taking careful mental notes—notes that she would later actually add to their files on the Free Trader coven.

Xi must be Xiomara Winters. French-born, Beauxbatons-to-Hogwarts transfer. New to FTB. Intriguing discipline, difficult to control, which is what prompted FTB to seek help from the Ramesh woman and her younger brother. Earlier reports on her instability seem to be credible and still persistent…

Nathaniel Pinnock, perhaps? Infamous, fascinating story of societal downfall and subsequent integration with local hedges, basically unheard of for a coven to hand over this level of authority to someone with his background. Either he’s got some real talent that we don’t know about, or FTB was getting desperate. Worth looking into deeper…

Ralph Wickers, now there’s someone whose talents are being squandered without the proper learning tools. I wonder what he’s been—

Q paused her mental notations and blinked with mild alarm. “The Daughters, you said? Do you mean the Daughters of Tituba have started practicing again in the area?” That was definitely worth a more immediate follow-up—and not one that Quinn would be assigned to. The last time Lib-Con had sent a Librarian to negotiate with a voodoo queen, the Librarian in question had gone missing. And everyone knew how things had ended with their last turf war with FTB.

But that was something to worry about later; right now, Quinn shifted forward with interest to observe whatever magic the hedge was readying herself to perform. She didn’t, though, and Q found herself frowning lightly for a moment before she remembered why they were even here; right, formalities… 

She nodded and said, “That’s okay—here…” She pulled several sheets of paper out of a back pocket of the file on the table, flipped them, and slid them across for Kamala to look at. They were three-hole punched on the left-hand side, as was FTB’s preference (allegedly they stored their spells in three-ring binders at their safehouse), and they were full of hand-written text; one detailed a rather commonplace but complex ritual, while the other contained drawings of hand positions along with some Old Church Slavonic incantations and their translations. 

Then Q sat back patiently to wait for Kamala to peruse the offered spells, while she pondered the possibility of imminent trouble from the unknown voodoo practitioners…

“Mmm- yep,” Kamala was pulled out of her own train of thought with the librarian’s question. “Everyone’s like, freaking out about it, but they haven’t done anything yet. Maybe they just wanna practice magic on their own, y’know?” She said, blatantly ignorant of the absolute outpouring of information that she had just provided the other.

Kam gave a grateful smile, pulling the papers over and cocking her head at them. She frowned lightly, pushing her index finger down at the ritual, “We’ve got this one already. Do you have another?” She asked politely, turning her attention to the others, but it was like she was reading another language. Kamala knew so very little about the wealth of information her coven held. Couldn’t they have sent literally anyone else?! Kamala shuffled the other two pages aside, nodding, “These look cool, though.” They could be the back of a cereal box for all you know, idiot.

“So. Howell said that my discipline is Cell Manipulation. But at this point, I’m mostly focusing on altering states of matter- solid, liquid, gas and then back to their original state. I can’t switch between them yet, but I’m working on it. What would you like to see? Or know?” She folded her hands on the tabletop, doing her best to look professional, and then raised her brows, leaning in, “Howell said to let you ask questions. And we, like, trade information. Very James Bond.” Kamala grinned. 

[kyrie-ravie]

linnea-quinn​:

Quinn smiled wide enough to show the whites of her premolars. “Oh man, don’t tell me you’ve never seen some Sentient Lit get it on?” she said, as if this were a thing one saw every day. Then she whistled and added, “Better than porn, honestly.” Not that Linnea Quinn Larsen had ever been a fan of any of the very limited pornography she’d witnessed, but it seemed like the Teen Thing to say.

“Triplets?” Q echoed, astonished, her brows arching up near her hairline. She had, frankly, too many follow-up questions about her housemates’ heretofore mystery-sibling, but the most prevalent one—and tactfully, the one Quinn didn’t ask—was, why have they never mentioned you? What she did say, quite earnestly, was, “Of course—your secret is safe with me.”

Kindly, Quinn continued, “And listen…I do go to Hogwarts, but only because my parents wanted me to be socialized with other magical kids—whatever that means. But rest assured the Librarians I grew up with come from all sorts of educational backgrounds, all over the world, and not all of them magical—in fact, my mother’s a hedge witch, and she’s the most brilliant woman I know. It’s no disadvantage—not to me, and not to Lib-Con, nor to anyone who knows a lick about real magic…” She winked at Kamala, and then leaned back against the vinyl-lined booth cushion and tapped the top of her pen against the seemingly-blank file. She scribbled a note, which promptly disappeared from view as if it had never been written. Then she added, “…how has your experience been, so far? With the Free Traders?”

Everything that this girl said was fascinating. She realised, belatedly, that she’d never asked the librarian’s name, but that didn’t seem to matter in favour of all of the very exciting things happening. Thinking about a library full of sentient books and a teenage librarian witch absorbed the hurt that came with finding out that her siblings had not only neglected to tell their freidns that they had a sister, but that it came as such a shock to one of their peers. 

She was eternally left out. Always- by siblings that she loved with her whole heart, by parents who Kamala bent over backwards for approval. By a magical school that seemingly decided she wasn’t magic enough to be socialised with other magical kids. 

The others’ words were reassuring, though. “So... I don’t quite get it. There’s a lot of librarians, then? When Howell was describing it, it sounded like a normal library, but instead of books to borrow it has spells? Sounds like I’m way off base there.”

Kamala couldn’t help but glance down at the blank file, her brow furrowing at it for a moment, before the Free Traders were brought up. “Oh! Yes, so good. They’re crazy, of course, but the amount of stuff I’ve been learning... I had no idea it was possible. It all started when I was trying to find something for Lani, of course, and I stumbled into this bookshop, and there were a few hedges in there, they invited me back to the bar.. Rest is history.” Her eyes sparkled excitedly.

“Things have been a bit crazy, lately. Xi is just out of control, as usual. Nate’s off his fucking tree, yelling at everyone for blinking at him the wrong way. And then Ralph’s had all these weird dreams, which is freaking everyone out. A new chapter of the Daughters have moved in, which has set everyone even more on edge, plus Seth and Rue keep going on about how we need to set up defences, plan in advance in case they attack... Fuck, it’s crazy. But so fun. Makes life spicy.” She grinned, shuffling in her seat..

“And that’s not even starting on how learning all this has helped with college. I understand so much more about molecular structuring now- like I always knew, but now I like, know, you know? Like, for example-” She raised her hands, and was about to position them in the correct tut for what she was trying to explain, when she spotted Q’s eager expression from behind her hands. 

Kam swallowed, letting her hands drop, her fingers drumming on the table to tap out the magic she’d stirred up, and then folded her hands. “Sorry. I got excited. Howell told me I shouldn’t show you my discipline until you show me what you’ve brought. Sorry.” She bit her lip, jerking her lips to the side apologetically.