My What Lovely Wards You Have who: Cathair and Julianna what: Meeting of the minds and magic when: Friday afternoon where: Page 98 warnings: None
Julianna was about to give up. She had yet to find a decent used book store to find any good spell or herb books in. She found a few scattered pagan shops, but they were more of the new agey stuff and less about actual magic. She was about to head back to her car when she felt a tug. There was strong magic somewhere and she could feel it practically radiating in her bones. She followed it, coming to a quaint little bookshop. Intrigued, she tested the wards a bit with her own magic and found it was well beyond anything she could do at this point. She figured it would be safe to cross over the wards and into the shop as she had no ill intent and did so. It was an odd feeling, to be on the other side of them as she stepped into the store, slightly dazed as she took in her surroundings.
Cathair’s head shot up when he felt the magic pushing at his wards. Reaching up for his reading glasses, he pulled them off. It hadn’t been an outright attack, more like when Sadhbh poked at a new food she wasn’t certain she was to try. Exploratory. The bell by the door rang and a young lady stepped in. He watched her for a moment, wondering if she was the one he’d felt probing at his wards. “Top of the afternoon,” he greeted, closing the book he’d been reading. “How can I help you?”
Julianna turned to the man behind the counter and smiled. "Did you weave a bunch of different wards together to get them than strong and intricate?" she asked, so distracted by the wards she couldn't think of anything else until she knew how they words. "I've played with wards a bit, but I can't get anything like that." She walked to the counter, looking around at the book and she thought she could definitely do some damage to her monthly spending allowance in here.
He looked a bit stunned by her candid questions. Especially as there hadn’t been any introductions or the usual proper dancing about each other. “A bit,” he stammered, more than a bit confused. “More it’s the wards are very exacting spells. Do you always speak so openly of magic?” Yes, he was being as rude as she was, but she’d rather taken him by surprise with her open questions.
She hadn't meant to be rude, she could just be a little scatterbrained at times when she got excited. Part of it was her pregnancy too. The hormones did a bit of a number on her. "Oh...Oh! I'm sorry." she said with a blush. "How terribly rude of me. My name is Julianna Berkowitz...I was actually looking for a used bookstore with some magic books in it and I felt the wards and thought this might be a good place but I got distracted by the wards when I read them."
“It’s all right,” he assured her, walking around the counter. “My manners weren’t any better. I’m Cathair Delaney. I don’t usually sell books with any real magic in them, for obvious reasons.” He chuckled. “Well, the magic I was taught centered on defensive spells as opposed to offensive ones. Wards, blessings, incantations. Offensive magic is tricky and unreliable.” He hadn’t met any other witches since he’d come to the States, so this could be a good thing as well. “Surely, there’s someone in your coven who can teach you proper warding, Mrs. Berkowitz.” He’d seen the rings on her left finger. Didn’t take a genius to work that one out.
She couldn't help the dopey happy smile that came to her lips when he called her Mrs. Berkowitz. She loved being called that. Loved that she was married to the most wonderful man in the world. It was obvious by the look on her face she was very much in love with her husband. "Well, I can't say I have a coven...I have a friend that is a witch and a teenage boy I will be mentoring....Poor boy lost his parents horribly and hasn't a clue on what to do with his magic..." She opted not to mention the feelings she had gotten in that house. Someone had worked dark magic there.
He couldn’t help but grin a bit at the way she smiled when he addressed her formally. Must be a newlywed. It was rather charming. Her reply wiped it away though. No coven? Were witches in the States that disorganized? No wonder she was amazed by his wards. Some spells couldn’t even be cast by one witch. Not to mention the lack of checks and balances not having at least three witches created. “You lot do things very differently over here,” he admitted. “My grandfather’s coven was where I learned magic. Be a bit hard to muddle through it on your own, especially with how many dangerous sorts of magic there are.” They were fast and easy and completely addicting. Even with the guidance of a coven, witches could fall prey to that kind of magic.
"It's not by choice....I'm the only one in my family that really practices....It's complicated...I've been taught some, but most I've learned on my own." she said, a bit proud of herself for all the magic she had learned from hard study and practice. "I'm rather good with healing and herbs, but I'm learning other things..."
The only one in her family that practices? That didn’t even compute any better than ‘no coven’. His mother’s line had been witches back as far as any written records existed. They were proud of it, even if they of course practiced in secret. “I’m not terrible at those,” he admitted. “Although I steer away from health and luck spells. They’re generally more trouble than they’re worth.” He looked at the woman. She was nearly his age and nearly entirely self-taught. “Sorry, I’m just not used no coven and not teaching your own family. I’m already teaching my daughter spells.”
"My ancestors went do deep into hiding in fear of being killed, the magic was suppressed for a long time...until me." she said, biting her lower lip. "I found some books of my family history...some books of shadows...I started with those...So it was almost like my family was teaching me, from the past." she said. Those books were her most prized possessions. She kept those in a fire proof safe only she knew the combination to.
That he understood. “Yes, which is why I was surprised with your forward questions,” he said. “But it’s not the same thing as having an actual teacher. Not that you obviously haven’t done a fine job on your own, I just can’t imagine how difficult it was learning that way.” He shook his head. “And I think I completely derailed your purpose for coming in. Sorry. What sort of spells were you wanting to look for books on? I don’t usually sell them, but I can certainly let you borrow some of my personal library if you’d like.”
"I make due..." she said with a little smile. She did thirst for more knowledge. She wanted to know everything she could about her magic. "I've been looking for family oriented spells....For the home and for a child..." she said, her hand going to her belly instinctually.
Oh she was...? “Congratulations,” he told her. “Your first?” This was important after all. “I’ve got a few spells that might help. Also, if you’d like me to teach you better wards, I certainly could. You’ve got a lot to protect, after all.” This was something he understood. “Does your husband practice magic?”
"Thank you...yes, it's my first." she said with a happy smile. "My husband isn't a witch no..." She didn't know if Adam would want his power advertised so she said nothing. "He's a doctor though, so he's a healer in his own right." she said with pride in her voice.
A doctor? She’d done well for herself. “My wife, rest her soul, wasn’t a witch either,” he told her, crossing himself out of habit. “Neither is my fiancee. My daughter is already a bit too clever with magic though.” He smiled a bit. “Most of my books are at home, mind.” Digging out one of his business cards, he jotted his cellular number on the back. “Give me a ring sometime and I’ll bring you one or two you might find useful. I’ll hold them here at the shop for you, if you’d like.”
Julianna too crossed herself. She was a devoted Catholic and that was just what you did when someone who passed on was mentioned. She accepted the card with a smile. "Thank would be wonderful, thank you." she said happily. "Do you have any texts for beginners?" She wanted to give Xander some materials to study. A lot of her books were more advanced work, but she had a few of beginners spells from when she first started.
“No worries,” he replied. “I’m happy to help. Pity there’s not another one of us who’s more experienced. There’s only so much one witch can do on their own and having no one about to make sure it’s done properly.” And he missed the feeling of community that came with a coven. Granted, his coven had also been his family, considering he had been related to a good half of them by blood or marriage. “Might not want to give him access to spellbooks just yet,” he cautioned. “Until he’s mastered the basics, letting him try to go beyond his abilities does him no good at all.”
"Well, my friend Pasha, he works at the SAO and personal bodyguard to the president of the SAO. He's a witch, and a very good one." She had met Pasha in her time volunteering for the SAO in NYC and had kept in touch. She did some work for them now being in DC and she and Pasha had retained their friendship. "He's the one who pointed me toward Xander..."
Three witches at least would be ideal. There were some spells that couldn’t be cast without three witches even. “Give him my number as well then, please,” he said. “Especially as he seems to be in the know about witches who are in need of training. To paraphrase common wisdom ‘It takes a coven to raise a witch’. There’s a reason the number three is so important and stuck with us. It’s a balance thing. Three perspectives are always better than one, and the other two can tell the third witch when they’re dead wrong.”
Julianna smiled. "I will be certain to. We can all learn a lot from each other. I know Pasha will be interested in those wards." She knew Pasha wanted to protect Phoebe badly. She thought it was more than just a job for him, but she didn't want to pry just yet. She put the card in her wallet and eyed her credit card. "What do you have on herbs?" she asked with a smile.
Cathair nodded. “I’ll be happy to teach both of you,” he said. “Wards were one of my coven’s specialities. Our order was started by a Knight Templar who returned from the Crusades with some new Eastern mystic spells. It’s a bit of that, a bit of druidism and a bit of old fashioned faith based magic. Mostly focused on defence and scrying. When we found trouble, we generally dealt with it by more conventional means.” He didn’t want to come out and say ‘I’m a hunter.’ because it wasn’t true. There was just no actual word for what Cathair and his coven did in common parlance. And it wasn’t a topic for someone he’d just met, especially a lady in her condition. He smiled at her question. “Herbs? I think I can help you, considering.” He lifted the bar that blocked the back from the rest of the shop. “Come with me, I’ll show you what I have.”