You can't chose your family, if they're determined enough you can't chose your friends either. Basically it's probably better to just go with the flow and stop complaining on both counts sadly. Events unfold including but not limited to: Grace being a 'bad doggy' (according to a 'funny baby' with an apparent death wish) Oh! and Hannah get's to play peacemaker for once.

 

“Han?”

I squeezed bridge of my nose slightly harder at Sarah’s voice.
Why did I ever want to come home?

I should have stayed in the backwards-ass traditionalist paradise.
At least people there were too in awe of me to cause much trouble in general.

“MUM?!”
Sarah finally seemed to realise who was lying unconscious on the floor.
Despite how tired she looked she still ran over and joined John in trying to lean her up into a more comfortable position.

I’m kind of tempted to let off a blast of my magic to wake her up but if my guess is right and somewhere inside the house at the moment is a rather large group of MPA or government officials, then that REALLY wouldn’t help my case with them much at all.

Before I could finally crack and let off some magic anyway Mum groaned.
She sluggishly started moving again which solved my little internal conflict nicely.

With one last warning glance at Eris, who actually seemed to have realised that what she did was wrong judging by the worried looks she kept sending Mum, I paced up the step and joined the little huddle at the door to see if she was okay.

“I-”

Before I could say anything Sarah cut across me.
She sounds REALLY tired for some reason?

“Han, we’ll talk later. At the moment you need to go out back, we’ve spent the last few hours trying to stop World War Three from kicking off. The only thing that’s going to calm that lot down is you.”

I opened my mouth to say.. something?..
I don’t know what I was going to say honestly, she kinda threw me off with the sudden ‘World War Three’ talk.

“Go! We’ve got Mum, she’s just exausted, we’ve already left them alone together for too long.”

Our eyes met and I could read her face easily.
She’s frustrated, confused, annoyed and above all else TIRED.

Without another word I nodded to her, shifted Eris on my hip a little better and squared my shoulders.
Never a boring day around here..

I drew in a deep fortifying breath because, honestly, I kind of needed it at this point?
I’ve barely walked in the door and yet again I’m going to throw myself into the middle of a situation that I have no idea why it’s happening, how it’s happening, what’s really going on or why the hell it has anything to do with ME in the first place!
..my life kinda sucks sometimes..

Eris’s little head kept swinging from side to side as we walked through the house.
She seemed fascinated by our boring old house for some reason?

We made it to the backdoor and I hesitated for a second.
I could hear a certain rumble coming from outside as we walked through the house but now that we’re closer it sounds more like a dull roar of raised voices.

With one more deep sigh I shifted Eris again and took the last step back out into the midday sun.

======

“What the HELL is going on here?!”

Eris shoved her head to my chest when I yelled.
Without really thinking about it my hand came up to cover her head protectively.
I was a bit busy glaring at everyone out here to focus on her at the moment though.

..let’s take stock shall we?..

To my left we have several men in suits, along with a few lab coat wearing techs, a contingent of SWAT members with their guns raised slightly and standing at the front is a very flushed looking Trudy.

To my right, standing closer to the treeline and looking a lot more feral then the last time I saw them was my ‘new’ extended family.
The men were mostly standing at the front with their hands stretched out in an odd way that I think would look in some way threatening if they had some form of ‘claws’ to show off with it.
Behind them I could see a line of the women with their hands cupped up in a standard ‘casting’ pose for elemental magic, which is as close as you get to an open threat from a mage really.

Even further back was a mix of men, woman and some ‘children’ ranging from the teenage girls I saw hanging out by the radio during the barbeque at the farm down to a few kids, Jessie’s boys age.

Standing at the front of their little war-band were three people.
Gran, obviously, she looked frustrated more than anything.

To her side, being held back loosely by Gran’s arm was a rather wild and dangerous looking Grace.
Her eyes kept scanning the ‘Hub’ group for any kind of threatening movements.

Standing on Gran’s other side was, of all people, Edith!

I’d probably consider her wide stance and grumpy little old face with her squinted eyes amusing if I didn’t know her well enough to know that she’s practically ready for battle from the way she’s holding her shoulders so tightly under her floor-length little old lady dress and fluffy slippers.

“Lady Arista, get back! They’re Wolves!”
One of the suited men actually took a step towards me as he yelled out his ‘warning’ but that single step was enough to make several growls rumble out across our back yard in a way that made me instinctively want to run VERY far away.

It was honestly quite terrifying to hear, even when it wasn’t aimed at me in the slightest.
Eris shivered and pulled herself a little tighter into my chest somehow.

Trudy turned and, ignoring the growls, seemed to relax a little at the sight of me.
The SWAT guys on the other hand lifted their guns slightly higher at the warning sounds coming from the family side of the yard.
They seemed ready to start firing at any moment!

“YOU LOT!”
My free arm came off of Eris’s head to point at the Hub group.
“GUN’S DOWN! NOW!”

It actually surprised me a little when they listened to my command.
With obvious reluctance they lowered their gun’s to rest at their sides.

It was easy to see that they were in NO way comfortable standing there without their weapons raised.
I don’t have time to plicate their egos though.

My head turned to glare at my ‘family’ and my arm swung around to point in their direction too.

“YOU LOT! HEEL!”
I couldn’t really think of anything else to say to them, they don’t exactly have weapons to put down so I figured a ‘dog’ command would be about as good as I’d get given the circumstances.

The men of our family turned their heads and offered an almost simultaneous glare at me for saying it like that.
I don’t mind though, if they’re busy focusing on me they’re NOT focusing on the other group at least.

Grace turned her head and silently glared at me as well.
I don’t think she appreciated the command, mainly because it came from ME of all people.

“Leaders, to the center!”
My feet paced out along the imaginary line dividing the two sides and came to a stop right between Trudy and Gran.
“We’re sorting this mess out NOW and you AREN’T turning my garden into a warzone no matter what happens!.. COME ON THEN!”

Everyone jumped at my raised voice, even Eris.
My hand came up to cup her head again, the instinctive action brought me a bit back to reality.

I kinda fell into old habits for a second there?

Sometimes on missions it’s easier to just take charge, even when you have no real idea what you’re doing.
People tend to fold quickly if you at least SOUND like you know what you’re doing usually.
It probably doesn’t help that I’m still a bit exhausted, emotionally all over the place, drugged up AND in a bad mood from John’s little trick that made Mum faint!

My magic’s rolling with my mixed up emotions, I imagine they can all feel it in some way.
That tends to happen when a powerful mage is pissed off.
Even normal people can feel the magic pressure, although it tends to be more of a cold wind to them then a physical force.

Trudy waved off the few people that were going to follow her forward.
Gran, Edith and Grace stepped their way over to me without any kind of delay from the family though.

It’s kind of funny that the trained soldiers and Hub staff were the clingy ones in this while my family worked like a well-oiled machine?

When Trudy reached my side she reached out an arm and gave me an awkward hug, avoiding Eris as best she could.
Grace growled at her for it but a look from me stopped her short.

We’re sorting this mess out NOW!
I’m not going to be blamed for some kind of pissing contest gone wrong between my new family and the de facto magical government of the United States!

“I’m glad you’re here Hannah, I’m not sure how much longer I could have held back that lot.”
Trudy casually pointed over her shoulder at the gun toting SWAT team and all the staff around them.

“Ya timin’ be annoyingly good useless girl..”
Edith hobbled up to my right and her lips twitched into the barest hint of an approving smile before she went back to her usual grumpy old flat look for everyone else around us.

Gran came up to my side and with a curious look down at Eris, who was watching her back with equal curiosity, she gave me a light hug of greeting.

When Grace came within range of me the Hub lot tensed visibly but all it took was a warning glance from me for them to settle down again.
..I think I get what’s going on here..

“Anyone want to fill me in? I spend a few days recovering from an overloaded spell and come home to THIS.. I’m honestly not in the best of moods so let’s keep it simple shall we?”
Eris moved her head to lie against my chest again.
She really seems to like that position for some reason.

Grace opened her mouth to speak, judging by the openly hostile glint in her eye anything she was about to say wouldn’t be very helpful at all.
Luckily Gran brought a hand up and placed it on her shoulder which instantly seemed to make her rethink her planned words.

“I be hearin’ Lou-Lou be visitin’ ya. Come to chat. Fae pets found out about her bein’ here and turned up ready for war.”
Everyone seemed reluctant to say anything else after that.
As always Edith managed to get to the heart of the problem easily, even if she did say it weirdly with obvious bias in her voice against the ‘Fae Pets’.
Trudy was blushing slightly and seemed to be trying to not look as guilty as she felt.
“Lil’ Tudy saw what be happenin’ pretty quick, she kept them back while we kept the wolf-kin back.”

Trudy’s face scrunched up and her blush went up another level at being called that silly nickname again in such a serious situation.
You don’t get out of nicknames from Edith no matter what’s happening, take that from a ‘useless girl’ with first hand experience on the topic.

“When did you get the new hip accessory?”
Everyone turned to look at Grace.

She had the decency to flush a little when all of the older members of our little group glared at her for going off topic.

I glanced down at Eris who seemed to be studying Grace like a particularly disgusting worm.
Feeling a bit vindictive for her prank on Mum earlier I took a step forward and slid her off my hip into an awkward forward hold.
Before either of them could protest I slid her into Grace’s surprised arms and stepped back with a smirk.

“HEY! I don’t do babies?!”
Grace glared at me over Eris’s head and growled a little in annoyance.
She didn’t let go of Eris though, just held her awkwardly against her chest as best she could.

A little hand came up and lightly swatted Grace on the nose.
I froze momentarily at the surprise evident on her face as her head slowly turned down to look at the little red-haired bundle in her arms.

“Bad Doggy, don’t growl at my Mom.. and I’m NOT a baby!”
To finish off the moment Eris leaned her face a little upwards and gave a surprisingly good impression of Grace’s previous growl.

With a jolt I managed to snatch her back out of Graces arms and turn her away quickly.

Powers! Has this kid’s got NO self-preservation instincts?!
You don’t just go around hitting werewolves on the nose and calling them ‘Bad Doggy’s despite how funny the idea is!

I’ve seen personally why you do NOT want to even PLAYFULLY growl at Grace specifically either!

Grace had the start of a truly deep growl building up in her chest when Gran reached out to her and stopped her short with just a touch again.
They shared a look and Gran cocked her head to the side.

Reluctantly Grace backed down, she actually walked away from our group to go join the rest of the family near the treeline in the end.

When she was reasonably far enough away Edith burst into a short, uncharacteristic peal of laughter.
She pulled herself back together quickly but shot an amused look at Gran for a second before turning back to me and squinting at Eris thoughtfully.

“I be likin’ her. Useless girl maybe not so useless if she be spawnin’ funny baby’s like this one..”

Eris turned her head from my side and glared at Edith angrily.
When her glare didn’t seem to do much it slid into a pout, which eventually turned into a frown.

“..I’m not a baby..”
She really didn’t sound so sure of herself this time though.
I don’t think she’s been teased about something by more than one person at a time before from the look of it?.. poor kid..

To shake her out of her little funk I jostled my hip again which refocused her attention back on me.
With a rather overdramatic sigh she smiled at me and slid her head back onto my chest, resting just above my heart again as usual.

Powers be damned!
When did having a little kid resting her head on my left breast become ‘usual’?!

“Okay, let’s get back to business shall we? From what I can gather, the Hub found out our house was being ‘invaded’ by werewolves and panicked, right?”

There was a slight grumble from Trudy but in the end both her and Gran nodded.

Edith stayed out of it, mostly cutting her eyes between me and Eris thoughtfully which I’m honestly kind of glad for because she has a tendency to make everything more complicated than it has to be when she feels like it.

“Well.. Trudy, meet my Grandmother. Grandmother, meet my magical social worker Trudy.”
I gestured between the two of them casually with my free hand and couldn’t resist smiling at the confused looks they both gave off, probably because of the ‘social worker’ comment.
“Introductions now complete, we can move on to more pressing matters.”
My head turned to Trudy specifically and she cringed back a little from me for some reason.
“Trudy, be a dear and get your people OFF my lawn will you?.. you can stay but anyone in a suit, lab-coat or carrying a gun has to leave.”

She shot one last worried look over at the rest of the family who, while not giving off any kind of obvious threatening motions, were still standing in regimental lines as if ready for a fight to break out again at any moment.

Grace was talking animatedly with a few of the men at the frontline which probably isn’t going to help things in the long run knowing her.
Finally Trudy turned back to me and reluctantly nodded in acceptance.
We all watched as she made her way back over to the Hub staff and started talking to them with an obviously forced level of calm.

I drew in a heavy sigh and turned to face Gran next.

“I’m not sure why you’re all here but family’s always welcome and no-one got bounced off the wards so there was no ill-intent on either side, towards anyone living here at least, want to get everyone to calm down a bit then come in for a coffee?.. I could do with one at this point honestly..”

Gran gave me a bright smile and nodded happily.
She gave me one more light hug, ran a fond hand through Eris’s hair which surprised the little girl more then I’d expected it to before making her way back to the family side of the garden.
The moment she was within range everyone, even the people hiding at the back, came forward into a big bundle to hear what she had to say.

I glanced between the two sides and sighed heavily in relief.
I HATE being the peacemaker!
..mostly because I’m not normally very good at it..

“Useless girl should have let them fight, I always be wanting to see who would win out’ta gun’s an’ werewolves..”

My head slowly turned to glare at Edith for saying something so mean.
She shrugged her heavy little shoulders and turned to start wandering back toward the house using her JuJu stick as a cane again.

“Useless girl, be passin’ funny baby off to someone an’ followin’ me.. we be needin’ a talk..”

She didn’t bother saying anything else, frustratingly.
I could feel Eris shift against me enough that she could glare at Edith’s retreating back.
My hand came up to pat her head soothingly like Mum used to do for Sarah when we were kids which seemed to help somewhat judging by the way her body relaxed a little.

With one last worried glance over at the two sides of the, hopefully now averted, ‘potential World War Three’ situation I started making my way back into the house.

I know I have to talk to Edith soon, she wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t serious, but I REALLY need a coffee first.
I need to check up on Mum and catch up with Sarah too.

GAH! Too many things to do at once!

“..People are annoying..”
A glance down at Eris’s little face showed exactly what she meant, her eyes were glued on Edith’s back with a glare that honestly looked kind of adorable in a ‘completely non-threatening but trying desperately to be’ way.

“..yeah.. they are..”
My hand came up to pat her hair again and she nestled into me a bit tighter, Edith seemingly forgotten in exchange for hugging tight to me.

..people really ARE annoying sometimes..

======

“Ari, sweetie, is everything okay out there now?”

Not good!
Mum sounds far too cheerful all of a sudden!

“I hope you managed to calm everything down.. now, how about you take a seat and explain to me just how I managed to acquire three Grandchildren overnight who call you ‘Mommy’ and Max ‘Daddy’.. just days after you ran off together to parts unknown.. huh?”
The pleasant tone to her voice didn’t even slightly hide the frustrated, confused look on her face.

“I’d love to Mum but Eris needs to go to the bathroom and Edith asked me to-”
Mum silenced me with a look and gestured to one of the stools by the kitchen counter.

“Sit.. NOW..”

I couldn’t hold back the worried gulp that came out of my throat at the downright angry look on her face all of a sudden.
I really didn’t think she’d react this badly to John’s little prank?

Maybe she’s already a bit stressed out, who knows how long she’s had to put up with the warring tribes outside?!
She looks about as tired as Sarah did earlier, possibly worse now that I’m looking at her properly..

My shoulders slumped a little and I took the last few steps over to one of the stools.
Eris grumbled when I moved her off my hip and sat her in the stool next to me but she perked up curiously as she took in the kitchen behind Mum.

The way she acts about this house.. you’d swear she’d never seen a kitchen before or something?

“Mum I’m-”
Her hand came up to silence me again.

I sat there watching her with a bit of worry eating at me as she busied herself pulling things out of the fridge and doing stuff on the counter out of sight.

Finally after almost a full minute of clinking glasses and scraping knifes she turned back to us, sliding a Jam sandwich with the crusts cut off in front of Eris.
She turned again and came back around with two tall glasses of orange juice.

Eris’s little eyes lit up at the juice.

She grabbed the tall glass awkwardly with both hands and managed to drink it fairly smoothly all in one go.
We both watched, kind of stunned, as she managed to down the entire glass before wincing a little and letting off a surprisingly deep sounding ‘burp’.

Mum turned her eyes over to me with a raised eyebrow.
A smirk slowly came to her lips.

“She’s definitely her mother’s daughter.”

I glared at her slightly but I’m honestly a bit relieved that she’s up for jokes?
For a second there I thought this was going to be like one of our old ‘sit down and yell it out’ arguments that we used to have a lot when I was ‘Al’.

It looks like Eris unwittingly managed to calm Mum down just by being a cute kid.
Never underestimate the power of a child on a woman’s maternal instincts!

Not that it’s relevant or useful in most situations but I’m glad Mum’s calm from it at least.
It should make this whole conversation a lot easier..

“You disappeared again Ari, at least this time you told your Grandma why beforehand I guess..”
I cringed a little and sunk my head down guiltily.
“Okay enough with the guilty looks, fill me in on what happened and I’ll tell you what you missed over here in return, sound fair?”

Cautiously I moved my head back up to stare at her but she really does seem to just want to know what happened while I was away?
That’s what her surprisingly relaxed body language is telling me at least.

For a moment I felt relieved before I remembered just what DID happen while I was away..
This isn’t going to be easy to explain.

Maybe I can soften the edges a bit for her, make it sound ‘not as bad’ as it really was somehow?

======

“..so Max died?!”

I sighed and brought my hand up to rub away my headache for what felt like the millionth time.

It seems she can take the whole ‘Hannah is technically the Mother of Magic’ thing with barely a blink and a giggle.
She understood my little field trip around the country with nothing more than a mumbled statement that I should have thought it through better and at least brought some help with me.

John dying, when he’s currently visible through the kitchen window playing a surprisingly effective peacemaker between what’s left of the MPA group and my worryingly large family, seems to be a step too far for some reason?

Thank the powers I didn’t tell her about Storyteller!
The whole ‘I have Grandkids, I’m too young to be a Grandmother’ aspect of things let me brush over THAT little bombshell so that’s something I guess.

“..yeah.. he died..”
Not to sound callous but he’s alive NOW, ya know?
This is the third time I’ve had to repeat that sentence for her and for some reason having to say it really annoys me!

“..really dead?..”

My hand squeezed down on the bridge of my nose to stop my building headache from getting worse.
“Yes.. Mother.. dead, stone-cold, not breathing, no heartbeat, no magic signature, no aura, DEAD! OKAY?!”

Mum flinched back from me.
Eris whined a little and tried to tuck herself into my side.

I huffed a heavy breath through my teeth and tried to calm down.
Talking about it gets me worked up, I really shouldn’t snap at her for it.

My arm snaked out to pull Eris closer to myself.
She obviously took that as an open invitation, because in seconds she’d scrambled from her stool over to mine and fit herself comfortably into my lap.

I’d protest about it but honestly, I really did need the comfort that her presence provides right now.

It turns out that this new ‘not really a new incarnation’ incarnation is a bit of a ‘cuddler’.
I should have guessed as much the first time I squeezed poor Felix really, Al would never have let himself do that but as Hannah.. sometimes I just kinda NEED to, ya know?

While Mum looked nervously around the room, obviously not sure where to go from here and Eris leaned a little forward to pull her second Jam Sandwich closer to herself again, I slid my free arm down to my side so I could grab my bag.

It wasn’t too hard to get it onto the table and with a bit of searching I managed to find my pill bottle.

That little outburst I just gave Mum is probably a good indicator that my mood stabilizers are wearing off to some degree.
Mum watched me curiously and opened her mouth to ask something but stalled out eventually as she watched me pull out two pills.

I downed them quickly with a few gulps of orange juice.
After a long pause between us l caved to her curious stare.

“They’re mood stabilizers, I pushed things too far a few days ago and my magic is pushing back.”
I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at her awkwardly.
“Before I started taking these little gem’s I was a complete mess.. worse than usual even..”

Mum didn’t seem very amused by that remark.
Eris probably didn’t like it either, she glared at the pill bottle until I slid it back into my bag out of sight.
That probably says a lot, although I’m in no state to work out just exactly WHAT it means, if anything.

“..so.. you just.. poof!.. and he’s alive again then?”
Mum really tried to make that question sound casual but, as ‘smooth changes of topic’ go, it’s not the best I’ve ever seen to be honest.

She gave me a weak smile which was enough for me to let her get away with it anyway.
I shouldn’t have yelled at her so I owe her at least one weak ‘out’ from an awkward conversation moment in return.

“It’s really not THAT simple.. but in essence.. yeah? Poof! and he’s back to his usual asshole-ish, breathing, beating-heart self..”

Mum hissed in a breath and glared at me warningly.
I couldn’t help but cringe slightly.

What the hell did I do NOW?!

“..don’t talk like that around the little one..”
Really?!..

..‘Asshole-ish’?..

That’s barely even a swear word!
Eris has said worse things than that about ‘Dite in the last few days, let alone heard them when I was having my little freak-out sessions!

One more glance at Mum’s resolved expression made all my protests kinda die on the tip of my tongue though.
“Sorry Mum.”

Just to have something to do that didn’t involve looking at Mum I moved my hand up and gently ran my fingers through Eris’s hair.
..she likes when I do that..

When I chanced a look back up at her, Mum’s lips had slipped into more of a fond smile than anything else as she watched the byplay between me and the now seemingly sleepy Eris sprawling slightly in my lap.

“So.. the Gladstone’s woman, Trudy, said that they thought you were the source of the solar flare that-”
She trailed off when she saw the look on my face.

“..yeah..”
I felt myself cringe a little under her incredulous gaze.
“It was kinda an un-predictable side effect from what I did to John an-”

“Speaking of un-predictable results..”

I turned on my stool slightly to give Sarah an incredulous look of my own.
How long has she been standing there just WAITING for an excuse to cut in like that?!

“Things are calming down outside, everyone’s breaking up to sort out their tents for tonight now that the big bad men with guns have left, and Gran want’s you outside again.. apparently something about your footprints has her worried?.. I dunno, they look the same as last time to me but.. whatever.”
She finished her little spiel with a lazy shrug and grinned at me for a moment before her face split into a jaw-crackingly wide yawn.
“I’m off to bed. Wake me if World War Four starts..”

With a backward wave she was gone, leaving me sitting there with Eris cuddled up in my lap and a worried frown on my face.
..footprints?..

Why would Gran be worried about my foo-
CRAP!

I jolted off the stool and barely managed to keep a hold on the suddenly awake Eris.
She groaned, tried to find something to hold onto me better with through half closed eyes.
A slight bounce on my feet had her settled a bit higher up against my chest, high enough that I could get an arm under her butt to make sure she didn’t slip.

“Sorry Sweetie.”
She didn’t answer, which I’ll take as a positive response seeing as she’s not trying to get away from me or anything.

It’s weird having a little kid around even if she IS cute sometimes.

Shaking myself back to reality I paced over to the kitchen window and cringed.
In an obvious straight-line from our back garden path, across to the near center of our backyard and back were a perfectly formed set of footprints!

How the HELL did THAT happen?!
I’ve not got the bloody cuffs on anymore!
That SHOULDN’T be happening!

“Ari, are you okay?”

Mum sounded worried.
I grunted to her and offered her a sideways glance that may have been a reassuring smile if you didn’t blink, but I was quickly back to staring out the window.

Without another word my feet pulled me through the backdoor and out into the midday heat again.

The moment they saw me everyone stopped what they were doing and paused like a wave of statues, staring at me.

It was pretty unnerving honestly.
I don’t like being the center of attention at the best of times!

“Hannah, over here.”

A glance in Gran’s direction had me shaking my head again uncertainly.
..I don’t want to go walking out onto the grass again..

“Don’t be silly, the damage is done now, come over here so we can check you out properly.”
She waved a hand slightly at the group of woman around her which, if I’ve not missed my guess, consisted of pretty much every mage in the family.

With a reluctant sigh I pushed myself off the path and made my way out to them.
The grass was just as annoying as ever, I don’t know how I missed it a minute ago, I WAS a bit distracted though I guess..

When I reached them one of the blonde women, her name’s Joan I think?
She’s one of Mum’s sisters either way, one of the quiet ones, unlike Grace or Jessie.
She stepped up to me and offered her arm’s to take Eris for a minute.

For some reason I felt reluctant to hand her over?

I know that they need to see my magic to find out what’s wrong.
I kind of wish I still had my glasses, if that asshole Storyteller hadn’t stolen them I’d be able to just flash magesight on myself and see what’s wrong without their help.

I guess I COULD use normal mage sight but with the headache I’ve got rumbling on in the back of my head that’s probably not a good idea honestly..

“Eris sweetie, I need to let everyone check my magic for a second.”
There was a slightly sharp intake of breath from someone but I was busy focusing on the bundle of red hair in my arms.

Her little head turned up to look at me in confusion.
I really can’t tell if she’s still actually sleepy or not?

Probably not considering the jolt I gave her a moment ago when I stood up so suddenly but she really seems tired.. or.. maybe not tired I guess, but lazy?..
Kind of like me when I bliss out a little from venting some magic, ya know?

“I can pass you over to this lady for a second if you want or I can put you down, it’s your choice?”
She scrunched up her face but after a long pause pointed her hand down at the floor.

I carefully slide her onto her feet and took a moment to pat her dress down so it was straight again.
She seemed to like that.

When I finished her hand came out and cupped itself into mine.

It shouldn’t hurt their attempts to find out what’s wrong with me if we’re still holding hands, right?
I straightened up and shot a curious glance at the woman around us.

They all have really weird looks on their faces all of a sudden?

“You’d make a good Mother, Hannah..”
I flinched visibly at Gran’s words.
A few of the women seemed to find my reaction amusing but most of them were focusing on Eris for some reason.

Instinctively I shifted her slightly behind me and shot a warning look at them all.
Why are they looking at her like that?!

As a group they seemed to realise that they’d been caught staring so obviously.

Gran sighed and brought a hand up to the bridge of her nose in frustration.
It’s weird seeing someone else do that same delicate gesture as I’ve been doing so often lately.

“Don’t mind them Hannah, they don’t mean anything by it. They’re just a little surprised to find out the little girl with you is Eris, ‘fates discordant apple’.. we don’t tend to meet many awakened mages back home, it can be a bit of a culture shock sometimes.”

I perked up an eyebrow at Gran, carefully my eyes shot down at Eris.
She huffed to herself and tried to fold her arms defensively without letting go of my hand.

“..stupid title.. you throw one little apple at one stupid bimbos head and everyone thinks it’s important for some reason..”

..I’m honestly not touching that one..

No wonder she’s so mean to ‘Dite?
..talk about OLD grudges, yeesh!..

I can see where she’s coming from with titles being stupid though.
Coming from the ‘Mother of Magic’, ‘Holder of the keys to Avalon’, ‘Owner of far too many stupid sounding titles’, I can legitimately say that they just get annoying after a while.

“Let’s focus on Hannah ladies, shall we?”
Gran’s words were phrased like a question but following them was by no means ‘optional’ apparently.
Judging by the way the women around us snapped to attention and their eyes all flashed with the easily recognisable signs of activating magesight the message came through loud and clear.

In seconds I felt like I was being held under a microscope.
My hand may have squeezed down on Eris’s a little more in my unease but she didn’t complain if I did.

“Well.. uh..”
None of the woman seemed willing to add anything to the brown haired one, Cynthia’s words.

“That bad, huh?”

Gran winced and shot me a worried look.
I probably should have asked her to check me over alone first.

I knew the results were going to be weird at best, I’M weird at best!

I kind of forgot that it might be a surprise to them?
It’s not polite to scan other people with magesight without asking first after all.
None of them, even Gran, would have probably seen anything close to my messed up magic before now..

“The good news is, the footprint effect should be temporary.”

A breath hissed out through my teeth that I didn’t even realise I’d been holding.
That’s a relief!

“It looks like those devices you let ‘John’ slap on you at the farm have left a partial imprint on your lines, like a weak diversion. You should be able to turn the effect off now that you know it’s happening if you work on it a bit?”
I smiled at her but she didn’t smile back.
“The more worrying aspect is just what on EARTH is happening to your magic otherwise?”

Ah, yeahhh.. well this is kind of awkward isn’t it?..

“That’s kinda.. normal.. for me?”
They all froze for a moment, staring at me in shock.
“Well, I mean.. it’s.. my magic’s always been weird I guess..”

To hell with it, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’ as the Brit’s and John would say..

“I’m a Locus point, my awakening was weird. I had a second partial-awakening that made it weirder, shifting my element from fire to ice.. then Edith added my healing diversion.. AND on top of that Storyteller added a brand that did something I’m still not fully clear on but seems to have turned me into a kinda.. I dunno, magical equivalent of a mage/werewolf hybrid?...”

They all stared at me in blank shock.
Even Eris was watching me with wide, confused eyes.

“Useless girl talk too much.”
My head jerked around to stare at Edith as she seemed to appear from nowhere right behind me in that creepy way she does, usually just before she’s about to hit me with her JuJu stick.

On reflex I actually recoiled away from her but at a second glance she didn’t seem to actually have the stick with her?.. weird..

“Don’t be lookin’ at me like that, ya be lettin’ other’s mess with ya bad JuJu. I be tellin’ ya we need ta talk girl, this be why..”
She huffed heavily and stared at the group of women around us with her beady little eyes.

She obviously didn’t like something she saw because her face scrunched up for a second before smoothing out again into her usual grumpy little frown.

“Ya been slackin’ Lou-Lou. None of ya girls be awakened yet?”
This time it was Gran’s turn to flinch.
She made a nervous noise in the back of her throat and looked away from Edith.
“Sentimental lil’un, ya always been like that, silly girl.”

Gran blushed.
An actual, visible, full on red-cheeked blush!

..just how old IS Edith?..
Trudy was one thing but Gran’s ancient.. like.. three, nearly four hundred years old?!
She looks good for her age I know but that’s mages for you.
We age weirdly sometimes.

It’s kinda random as far as I know, something about the way our magic helps us to stay in ‘peak condition’ also keeps us in ‘PEAK condition’ for a bit longer than it should, if that makes sense?

With that in mind, either Edith’s magic isn’t very good at keeping her looking young, Gran’s is EXCEEDINGLY good at keeping HER looking young or Edith is WAY older then even I imagined possible without some kind of reincarnation being involved!

“Don’t be gapin’ at me like a fool useless girl, ya come by the shop this week’an I be fixin’ ya right on ya lines ‘gain!”

With a worryingly childish huff that she seems to have taken a liking to giving off lately Edith turned on her fluffy slippered heel and marched away towards the house without another word.
A few of the woman around me stared after her in shock and mild offence for some reason but as always she blatantly didn’t care in the slightest.

======

“Sooo.. putting up tents, huh?”
My weak attempt at changing the topic seemed to shake the lot of them back into the here and now at last.

Gran smiled a little awkwardly but appeared to be thinking about something pretty deeply still for some reason.
The other woman sent glances over to the treeline where a load of the men and some of the women were trying valiantly to work out how to use some really old, shabby looking canvas tents.
The tents REALLY don’t look like they should be used by ANYONE honestly, just from how frayed their ropes are if nothing else!

“It’s a bit of a squeeze, we only have five tents and there’s.. ten.. twenty.. thi.. there’s a lot of us?.. let’s leave it at that.”
The brunette woman with Sarah’s smile, that I vaguely remember checking out my glasses when I made them back at the farm, shrugged her shoulders but didn’t seem too fussed by the worrying amount of overcrowding ahead of them tonight.
..if only we had some extra space for them inside..

We have the sofa’s I guess?
Me and Sarah could double up in my room, so that’s two more single beds in our old rooms and the guest room on top of that.

That’s still not NEARLY enough to hold them all fairly though!
It’s not like I can just expand a room on the fly for them an..d..

I really need to keep track of things better!

“Gran, hypothetically speaking, if I had a pocket dimension to hand which I think is probably big enough to hold you all for the night if you’re okay sharing a room.. but it’s currently full up with unsorted clutter, would you all be interested in helping me clear it out in exchange for a more comfortable night’s sleep?”

Gran’s shoulders slumped in obvious relief and she smiled at me fondly.

“Hypothetically speaking, I’d shovel horse manure for hours if it meant we could sleep indoors tonight Hannah. Some of the girls are already talking about going home instead of spending the night in these old tents, the whole thing is probably a bad idea with the MPA being so edgy around us at the moment anyway.”

I couldn’t help but wince at that.
Having worked with Hub people in the past and been around them all in general for a while, I can honestly say she might have a valid point there.

I wouldn’t put it past some of the SWAT guys to come back under the cover of darkness with hair-trigger fingers and a determination to ‘protect Lady Arista’ or something equally stupid.
..being famous sucks sometimes..

“I’ll go get the doorway setup somewhere indoors if you want to go gather the troops?”
Gran nodded, smiled warmly at me and stepped over to give me a hug before casually wandering over to the still struggling tent setup teams.

I glanced down at Eris to make sure she was ready to go back inside, she smiled at me in a way that made her little dimples show on her cheeks.

My chest felt warm at the sight of it for a second but I’m not sure why?
In the end I shrugged the feeling off and squeezed her hand as we turned to walk back into the house.

From behind us, near the treeline, a sudden enthusiastic cheer rose and if I’m not mistaken it was followed closely by the sound of several people throwing down their tools and assembled tent parts.

I’d better hurry before they start getting antsy to get started!

We eased our way into the house through the backdoor.
Mum was still standing in the kitchen, fresh cup of coffee in hand.
She looks a bit more awake now at least.

Her head turned to look at us and she smiled warmly at me.
I couldn’t help but smile back.

Eris tucked herself into my side a little uncertainly for a moment but eased off a second later.
I don’t think she’s quite used to Mum yet?
She’s not particularly good around new people from what I’ve noticed so far.

“I think I’ve got a way that we can fit everyone in the house tonight Mum, I kinda.. already told Gran about it, sorry.”
Mum’s smile slipped for a moment as I spoke but eased back into that same warm look by the time I finished.

“That’s okay Ari, do you need any help?”

I’m not really sure what kind of ‘help’ she thought she could offer but it’s nice of her to offer at least.
Really, if there’s as much old mail in that pocket dimension as I THINK there is then I could probably do with every spare pair of hands I can get!

Once we’ve actually managed to get inside and checked out the room a bit my current plan is to get some expanded bags off of John.
We can just pile it all into them for temporary storage today.
Even expanded bags have their limits though, we might end up filling my old room up with bags by the time we’re finished if there’s as much in there as I THINK there is!
Over a hundred years’ worth of Birthday, Christmas and ‘Anniversary’ cards at the very least!

“Is it okay if I set the doorway up in the back of the elevator?”
That idea came to me just a second ago as I spotted the sliding door to the old thing out of the corner of my eye.

No-one uses the elevator anymore and it’s pretty much the best place to hide things in the house.
I don’t particularly want any ‘normal’ visitors like Aunt Lily to just wander into the pocket dimension thinking it’s a toilet or something after all..

“That should be fine Ari, I still don’t like the thing but as long as you’re not going up and down in it you should be okay. I had a man check it out a few years ago, he fitted some electro-magnetic breaks to it at cost..”
I don’t think she noticed the slight blush that came to her cheeks but I certainly did!

My eyebrow popped up curiously.
When she noticed it she blushed slightly harder and looked away guiltily.

Something tells me Mum’s tried dating again since Dad left?
Just call it a gut instinct.

..well.. good I guess?..
On one hand: ‘eww’ old people dating, especially when it’s my mother.
On the other hand, I’m not going to begrudge her trying to move on, ya know?

..it’s kind of nice actually?..
Yet another sign that I really DON’T know what’s going on in her head anymore, sure, but considering the last time I was wrong about that sort of thing she ended up practically apologising to me for how she treated me when I was Al while we had a little heart-to-heart in the car, I’m not TOO upset with the idea that she’s changed so much under my nose.
Even if it IS still annoying to some degree..

I think that annoyance is just my old instincts making me twitchy honestly?
I don’t like not knowing things, it tends to come back to bite me on the ass nine-times out of ten!

With a smooth movement I picked up my bag with my free hand and gave Mum my best reassuring smile to show that I didn’t mind the idea of her dating again.
She seemed to get it after a moment judging by the relieved smile she shot me in return.

With a scoop and a slightly happy skip in my step I made my way upstairs, bringing Eris along for the ride.. as if she’d let me leave her alone anyway!

She really can be a bit clingy at times?
If it wasn’t so cute and I didn’t kinda still need some kind of reassurance when my emotions go a bit haywire sometimes then it could possibly be considered ‘annoying’ too, but currently it’s just ‘cute’ luckily.

As we reached the stairs Eris’s eyes lit up and she asked me to let her down.

We made it up the stairs with me taking my time every few steps so she could catch up.
By the time we reached the top she was puffing little breaths, which was quite frankly adorable.

It also means she needs to get more exercise.
I’ll have to get back into my old exercise routine at some point to stop this new body from being so squishy and useless I guess.
If she’s still around by then I’ll have to drag her into an abbreviated version of my routine to help her build up some stamina.

Her eyes scanned the dining area and connected hallways with that strangely curious look she had when we first came into the house earlier?

She focused on the TV and sofa’s as we walked past the door leading into the TV room but she didn’t have long to look before we moved past it towards the elevator.
She actually looked kind of disappointed when it went out of view?

I’ll have to remember to take her in there later.
She probably wants to watch cartoons or something, most kids like that kind of thing right?
I did as a kid at least..

We reached the second floor entrance of the elevator.
I pushed the call button making it light up.

Even something as mundane as that had Eris staring at it with unconcealed curiosity.
I swear it’s almost like she’s never seen an elevator befor..

Well.. maybe?..
Maybe she hasn’t?.. seen an elevator before I mean?..

She’s young, I’m not sure when she last had an awakening before her current one either?

It’s not recent enough that it’s reached my ‘favorite’ freelance magical gossipmonger’s ears at least.
Jack would have been all over the story if she’d awakened in any meaningful way for the last fifty years or so?
He tends to ignore awakenings further apart then that because those people tend to not be a threat in the slightest due to culture shock more than anything.

I’ve heard of some newly awakened mages over the years having to basically re-learn how society works from the ground up because things have changed so much since they’ve been ‘away’.

Eris.. she’s in awe of our little house?
She used a wand back in New Avalon and no-one seemed to really notice or care at the time?

..has she been living in New Avalon with those backwards-ass traditionalist idiot’s all this time?!..
My hand squeezed hers slightly tighter.

Well not anymore she’s not!

I don’t care what anyone says, no kid should have to live in that place!
DEFINITELY not Eris!

The elevator pinged and its doors rolled open under Eris’s wide-eyed stare.
I took the moments distraction to calm myself down a bit, then shot her a reassuring smile that she barely seemed to notice as she stared at the metal ‘room’ inside the elevator shaft.

With a sigh I let my hand slide out of hers.
For a second she shot me a wild, worried glance but something on my face seemed to calm her down quickly.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I just need to get the doorway out of my bag and set it up. Can you do me a big favor and keep an eye out for anyone trying to interrupt me while I’m working?”

Her little eyes went wide again for a second before they shifted down into surprisingly cute little slits.

Her hand fished around in her dress and came out holding her wand.
With practically a pirouette on the spot she spun around to glare at the room outside the elevator doors as if some kind of monster was just waiting out there to strike at us at any moment.

For a second I had a flash of worry about leaving Eris standing guard like that but it’s mostly just to keep her busy and out of the way while I work.

What’s the worst she can do with that silly little twig anyway?
Honestly, wands are just stupid!

I’ll have to start showing her how to use her lines soon at the very least.
It’s not right for a mage to grow up not knowing how to use them properly!

I sighed a little but couldn’t help smiling at her enthusiasm.
My hand came up casually to hit the button that locks the elevator doors open before I started fishing in my bag for the shrunken doorway leading to Arista’s little ‘private’ pocket dimension.

I finally managed to catch the edge of the door from where it was hidden under my map and yanked it out pretty easily.

With care to keep it angled, so if it gets too big it’s not going to get stuck on something and break either itself or the elevator in general, I ran my finger around the edge of the mini-doorway and cycled my magic until it felt ready to pop.

One line to my pancreas, one to my mind and two lines to my hand.

Cancelling a shrinking charm is pretty much identical to casting one, just in reverse order.
Not every spell is that neat and tidy obviously but shrinking and enlargement charms are about as ‘basic’ as you can get when it comes to altering the properties of existing matter.

The door shook a little and started growing slowly back to its original size.
I stepped back, watching it go until it pretty much filled the entire floor space of the elevator with the way it was turned.

I ran my still charged hand across it slightly when it finished growing.
With a little focus and a slight shifting of my lines the door shrunk down ever so slightly, just enough that it would fit against the back wall of the elevator without issue.

It took a few awkward maneuvers to get it properly placed but I managed it in the end with only a single slightly crushed finger for my efforts.
A flash of my diversion magic fixed that right up and I stood back to grin at the blasted thing.
It actually looks quite good, weird, but good!

Already fully aware of what awaited me on the other side of the door I reached for the handle to open it cautiously.
At the last possible second there was a shout outside the elevator followed by a mild bang and some surprised yells from down the hallway.

“Stay back! Mom’s working!”

I had to open my big mouth earlier, didn’t I?..
I KNEW I shouldn’t have chanced it by writing off that wand as being useless!

“ERIS!”

She yelped in fear at my angry yell and dropped her wand to the floor, her eyes flying up to me guiltily.
For a single moment we stared at each other before her eyes started shining and she burst into tears, her legs folding under herself as she went.

Instinctively I moved forward and scooped her up into my arms.
I was already making apologetic noises for scaring her before I knew what was going on.

My hand came up to pat her hair like Mum used to do for Sarah when she was upset.
It didn’t seem to help much sadly?

Under the incredulous but slightly worried stares of my extended family on the staircase, painfully aware of the slight burn mark visible to their right neatly seared into the wall, I rocked her in my arms and tried to think of a way to calm her down.

Damn it, this is why I don’t work with kids!