A Good Night for Flying - 1/17/2016
Quietly, so as not to wake his master, the little black cat crept down the stairs. It was a cool morning, a good morning for a run. The sun was just barely shining through the cloudy glass windows. The cat approached one of the windows and pushed it open gently, hopping outside once it was open just a crack. It looked back at the open window from the ground, knowing that the master would be upset by the draft, but that was just something it would have to deal with later. The cat looked at what was before it: a quaint cabin, no bigger than 20 feet long and 20 feet wide. It always had a fresh smell to it, but that was mostly because of its master being a clean-freak. There was a little loft, almost like a hay-loft, hovering over the back half of the cabin. Up there was where the master slept, but that was about it. All that was up there was a bed, a nice mirror, and a fancy carpet for the master to dig their feet into on cold mornings. There was a narrow flight of stairs leading to the rest of the room, which seemed relatively airy considering its actual size.
Turning back to the task at hand, the cat ran out the window, into the woods, and through them into the nearby stream. It methodically began the daily task of catching a fish, running home, leaving it on the table, running back, catching another fish, and so on, until there were enough fish for it and the master to eat for the rest of the day. When it was done catching fish, it returned to the stream to bathe itself. It hated bathing, but its master would reprimand it if it didn’t. When it stepped out of the water, it shook itself off. Still not completely dry, it returned to the windowsill, where it stretched in the sunlight and settled down for a much deserved rest. As soon as it closed her eyes, everything went black.
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Iris opened her eyes. Everything was black, as usual. She took a deep breath.
“Come ‘ere,” she muttered sleepily. She rubbed her eyes and stretched as Phosphero, her little black cat, hopped onto her lap. Iris picked him up, and placed him gently on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, and saw the room before her. It was a quaint little cabin, but Iris was proud of it nonetheless. With her eyes still closed, as they generally remained, she slowly got out of bed and stretched again. She saw at the foot of her bed, where her plain black shift was laid out, and decided that today was not a day for it. She strode carefully down the stairs in nothing but her underclothes, which consisted of a loose white camisole and an equally loose and white pair of bloomers that reached right above her knees. She looked at the table with the fish on it. “You did a good job today Phero! Normally you barely manage to catch 3 fish, let alone 5.” Phosphero wasn’t sure if he should take that as a compliment or not, so he let the comment pass, and watched as his master cleaned and prepared the fish. It was such a nice day that there was no need to prepare a fire immediately, but Iris was hungry and didn’t feel like eating raw fish, so she set it anyways. Phosphero was content to eat his fish raw, however, so he set to the first one, while Iris cooked the other 4. He could eat cooked fish for dinner, whether he liked it or not. By the time they were both done with breakfast, the sun was already high in the sky. “You should have woken me up earlier, instead of napping on the windowsill like a lazy little thing.”
“I didn’t see you catching breakfast,” Phosphero muttered frustratedly, hopping off of Iris’s shoulder.
“Hey!” Iris called, losing her balance as her vision spun across the room and anchored on the same warm windowsill where Phosphero had taken his nap earlier.
“I deserve a rest. I work hard. Not that you’d appreciate it.” Phosphero licked his paw and began to bathe himself.
“Cut that out! You already took a bath in the river earlier, you don’t need to lick it all off and make yourself dirty again.”
“I’m already dirty! That water hardly did anything! This is just what cats do.” Phosphero hissed, licking himself in an unsavory place. Iris groaned, and opened her eyes, not wanting to subject herself to looking at her cat’s crotch as he licked himself.
“And what did I tell you about closing windows? You know I don’t like the draft!” Phosphero ignored her, and continued cleaning himself. Iris sat in her chair by the fire with her eyes open until she felt Phosphero jump into her lap. She scratched his head for a bit before closing her eyes. “Will you get me a book, Phero? The one about extinct animals, please.” Phosphero hopped down and slowly walked over to the large bookshelf in the corner of the room.
“You sure you want the one on extinct animals? Isn’t that rather morbid for a day as nice as this one?” Phosphero looked back at his master, still sitting in her chair.
“Yes! I’m sure! Now hurry it up or they’ll have to write a whole new book just so they can put you in it!” Phosphero chuckled, grabbed the book’s binding with his mouth, and dragged it over to Iris, who picked him up, book and all, and placed him back on her lap. He curled up into a ball, but kept his eyes open so that his master could read. After about an hour, however, he drifted off, as did Iris.
The two of them were woken suddenly by a harsh knock at the door. This shocked Iris to such a degree that she hopped out of the chair, dumping Phosphero to the ground, the book falling unceremoniously on top of him. The cat screeched, and hopped out from under the weight of the thing.
“Did you hear that...?!” Iris whispered quietly.
“Of course I heard it!” Phosphero hissed. “It was a knock! Are you going to answer it?”
“Who would be knocking?! We’re in the middle of a forest, in the middle of nowhere!” Iris was entering panic mode.
“Hullo?” A voice called from outside the door. “Is anyone home?” Iris frantically grabbed Phosphero and ran up the stairs. She quickly put her shift on as best as she could, then stood in front of her mirror while holding Phosphero in the crook of her arm. She brushed down her long black hair with her fingers, making sure her fringe wasn’t too wild, before running back down the stairs. On the second to last step, though, she miscalculated how many there were, and slipped, falling the rest of the way down. Phosphero, landing on his feet as any good cat should, laughed at Iris while she groaned and rubbed her bottom. Whoever was behind the door knocked again.
“Hold ON!” Iris groaned. She had contemplated not answering for a moment, but she was so bewildered by the fact that there was someone there that she acted on instinct. She quickly righted herself, snatching up her cat on her way to the door. Before opening it, she settled Phosphero on her shoulder, patted her dress down, and took a deep breath, in and out. Then, she opened the door.
It was dark out by now, but with the illumination from her fire, which was still going, she could see her visitor. Standing in front of her was a young man, certainly no older than 18. He was dressed plainly, but he looked filthy. He seemed beyond pleased to see her, which only served to confuse Iris even more. He took a step closer to her, and she took a step back.
“I knew it!” The man shouted victoriously. “They told me it wasn’t true, that it was just a rumor! But here you are! A real life witch!” And with that excitement, the stranger fell unconscious.
Iris was completely at a loss. Not only had someone managed to find her all the way out here, he had done it on purpose. He knew about her, and he had come for a reason. But he was obviously not in a good state, which was no surprise considering that Iris’s cabin was a few days walk deep into the forest from any town. And that’s if you knew where to go. Iris had many enchantments set up in the area surrounding her cabin, making it nearly impossible for people to find it. She was extremely perplexed by these events. Most perplexing was what to do with the man in front of her. She couldn’t just kick him out… He may die. Which, really, was of no concern to her. But she was honestly very curious as to how this man had found his way through the forest, through her magic, and to her doorstep, and what he wanted from her that was so important.
“Are you just going to leave him there?” Phosphero broke Iris out of her reverie.
“Of course I’m not! But I don’t know what you expect me to do… Hold on.” Phosphero braced himself, while Iris bent over and put her arms under his shoulders. He was very heavy, and Iris was many things, but fit was not one of them. She groaned with the effort of it, but she eventually had him dragged to the rug before the fireplace. She fell back into her chair, out of breath and exhausted. She sat there thinking for a while, before the stranger began to stir. As his eyes fluttered open, Iris rushed to her feet. The man propped himself up on his elbow, and began to stare at Iris. She could feel her face warming under his gaze. “What is it?” She finally spoke. “What do you want?”
“Oh, nothing. You’re just… A lot prettier than I imagined you would be. You know, people generally think of witches as old hags.”
“Who said I was a witch?” She put her hands on her hips and made a show of looking down on him with her eye closed, which really defeated the purpose, which was to look intimidating.
“Are you blind?” He asked her, ignoring her question. He held up two fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?” Phosphero turned his gaze to the man’s fingers.
“Two,” She replied sarcastically. “Now tell me, who sent you? How did you know I was a witch?”
“How’d you do that?!” The boy asked, shifting to sitting cross-legged. “Well, I guess you are a witch, so being able to tell how many fingers I’m holding up with your eyes closed isn’t that big of a deal-”
“ENOUGH!” Iris slammed her foot on the ground, stopping him mid-sentence. “I asked you a question, and I expect you to answer it, or I’ll send you back where you came from!” She pointed towards the door while she said this as if to prove she knew where indeed he had come from which, of course, she didn’t.
“Sorry… I guess I just got really excited. You see, I come from a small village on the outskirts of the forest. There are rumors of an evil witch living in the woods, but most people just put it off as fairy tales. But I always believed… And I’m so glad it’s true. Look, you have to help-”
“How did you find me?” She continued to look down on him, stone-faced. “No one should be able to find me. There are enchantments all over the place so anyone who tries to find me will get lost. So how did you get here?”
“Oh, well, that would explain it.” He laughed, mostly at himself. “I wandered around in the woods for about a week before I found the place. Ran out of food after a couple days, survived off of stuff I found in the woods. Caught some raw fish and the like…” And almost as if on cue, his stomach started growling. Iris sighed angrily.
“Are you hungry?” She asked, not waiting for an answer to move over to the coldbox she kept her food it. It was really just an ordinary box with a cold spell on it. She was proud of herself for that one, though. She pulled at the three cooked fish from earlier. “Good thing you caught an extra fish today. It’s almost as if you knew we’d have a guest.” Phosphero sat quietly on her shoulder as all good cats should. Iris handed the stranger one of the fish, while she ate hers and phosphero ate his in her lap. The man ate his ravenously, and was done in a matter of seconds. Iris took her time, however, and left him sitting in silence for a few moments. When she was done, she waited for Phosphero, then spoke up. “What’s your name? Mine’s-”
“Iris!” The man shouted enthusiastically. “I know. Everyone knows your name. At least where I come from.” This made Iris grimace. Who in the world was talking about her, and how, and why? She hadn’t seen another human being in years, maybe decades. She was broken out of her reverie when he started talking again. “I’m Alex. Alexander, really, but you can just call me Alex. And I’m here because I need your help.” Oh good. A customer, Iris thought sarcastically.
“What do you want?” She asked, impatience dripping on every word.
“My sister is very sick, you see. She’s only six. But the doctors have told me they can’t help her, or if they can, that I can’t afford it-”
“If you can’t afford a doctor, what makes you think you can afford me?”
“Well, I mean, you’re a witch! Surely you take… Other things, besides money.”
“What, do you want me to take your pinky toe? Your ear? I’m not that kind of witch. Now, since I’ve fed you, I’ve got to kindly ask you to-”
“Please! Don’t send me away!” Alex crawled onto his knees in a begging position before her. “She doesn’t have a lot of time left, I don’t even know if she’ll be alive when I get home! I risked everything to come here, my life, her life. She’s all I have! Please, you’ve got to help me!” With that he began to sob. It was very embarrassing for all parties, but Iris would never have it be said that she was heartless.
“Alright, alright. I’ll help your stupid sister, if I can. What is it that’s wrong with her?” Alex perked up at that, and continued sobbing, but this time tears of joy. He stood up quickly and hugged her, to which she groaned. “Let go, let go, before I change my mind!” He let go, and Iris headed to her alchemy station. Vials and bottles full of liquids and plants of various colors and viscosities were lined up on neat shelves. The jars and vials were shiny and clear, because even though Iris hadn’t made any potions in a while, she still cleaned them every week. As Alex described his sister’s ailment, Iris grabbed an empty vial, poured a bit of this, a pinch of that, and after a while, she put a stopper in the lid and shook it up. She took the stopper out, and muttered a magic incantation, which caused a puff of smoke to rise out of the bottle. Then she put the stopper back in, and handed it to Alex. “This ought to work, but in case it doesn’t…” She grabbed up some bottles and shoved them into a leather bag that she had Phosphero retrieve for her. Leaving Alex waiting, she ran upstairs, Phosphero on her shoulder as per the usual, and knelt down under her bed. “Where is it…” She muttered to herself. “Aha! There!” She reached her hand under the bed and pulled out a dusty broom. “It’s been a while, huh?” She batted it against the wall a few times to get rid of some of the dust, then ran to her bedside table where she snatched up a hair tie. She stood in front of her mirror with Phosphero on her shoulder, her broom propped up against her chest. Once her hair was sufficiently tied, she grabbed her broom and carefully went back downstairs. She grabbed her bag off the table, then turned to face Alex. “Well, are you ready to go?” All this time, Alex had stared on quietly in amazement.
“Go?” He asked. “Where are we going…?”
“Your home, of course. You said you didn’t know how long she had. I can’t let you wander around in the woods for a few days again. She may not last that long, and then I’ve wasted my time and you’ve wasted yours. So let’s go!” She grabbed him by the wrist and headed outside. Once out, she straddled her broomstick and prepared to take off. “It’s a good night for flying,” she commented, before turning to Alex. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
“We’re going to fly…?” He gulped.
“Of course we are! Now get on!” She pat the broomstick behind her.
“I mean, well, the thing is… I’m… I’m afraid of heights!”
“Uuugh, enough! Just get on the stupid broom!” She hopped over to where he was standing and forced him onto the broom. Before there was time for him to struggle, Iris jumped into the air, taking the broom, the boy, and the cat with her.
