The Coven

Ava

Ava stood other a bucket of water, her hands buried deep in it searching for the last of the dishes in the bottom. She pulled out a plate that she was pretty sure was the last one, and wiped the water and soap off of it with the dishrag beside her.

She placed it on the table next to her with the others, vowing silently to herself to put them in their respective places before too long. She swivled around to sweet child laughter, smiling proudly as her husband playfully chased their daughter around the main table of the room.

"You too be careful now, don't want any broken legs in this house!" Ava warned, but she chuckled along with them, very happy with her family.

Caleb scooped Emma up into the air and tickled her belly as she squealed happily. He quickly plopped down in a chair and placed her on his lap, "Alright, let's settle down now."

Ava nodded, but never lost her smile, "Pretty soon it will be time for breakfast!"

"Yum!" Caleb added, Emma giggled at his facial expression. He glanced to from Emma to Ava, "Maybe you and your Mother can go get a few apples for the tree in the back acres."

Emma swirled happily, eyes wide as could be allowing the light from the window to bounced on her crystal blue hues, "Can we Mama?!"

Ava smiled and tossed the dishtowel aside, "I suppose."

"Yay!" Emma slid off Caleb's lap and headed for the doorway, "Ready!"

Both Caleb and Ava smiled to their daughters sweet innocence. Caleb stood and made his way over to his wife, placing and arm around her waist, "I'll start the fire and collect the eggs." Ava nodded as Caleb leaned in for a small short kiss from his beautiful wife, then turned to Emma, "Now I don't want no apples with worms, you hear?" He released Ava and backed up a bit to allow them an exit.

"Otay!" Emma turned and pulled the door open, rushing out to the yard with Ava quickly behind her. She stopped and turned to her mother, "I beat you!" A small giggle left the sweet childs mouth as she turned and disappeared into the woods.

"Just be careful!" Ava warned, smiling. She was not worried about her daughter really, she knew exactly where the few apple trees could be found.

Keleria

They've found me. That's what I wanted, isn't it? Her angry burst had simmered down, boiling slowly underneath her skin, the heat of her flames showing through. But how can they expect me to help humans, after what they did to us! How can they help them?

She didn't know whether she wanted to give a confirmed answer, one they would most diffinitely expect her to continue and follow; she didn't know if she wanted to make the commitment either way.

"Let's find the others," she finally said, "I want to see what they say."

Rydia looked at her angrily, and Keleria knew Rydia suspected her real motives. Coming up to her quietly Rydia muttered so only Keleria could hear, "You can't side-step your answer forever. You'll need ot join us at some point. We can't have you running rogue, and we will take the neccessary precautions against that if we must."

Keleria's eyes widened, and she in turn looked angrily at Rydia, and found it hard to keep her voice low, "You would threaten me? One of the original Coven. You need me, and you know it."

"You're right, we do need you, but if we have to we can go without you," Rydia sounded weary, "you're not even fully trained yet, not even a full member," Keleria looked away, she couldn't let Rydia see how that had hit her, "But you're right, we do need you."

Keleria looked at her feet as Rydia turned back to the group, starting to organise where they were headed to next. she's right, I'm not fully trained, they can train me! But at the expense of my beliefs? My pride? What can I do?

Persephone-

She watched the group argue and finally come to a conclusion of moving on to find the others. Their little meeting reminded her of countless times she had sat around as a child watching the older members arguing over things she didn't understand as she poured over books that they had given her to read during her training. She loved reading them and had waited anxiously to become an actual member, but it had never happened.

*sorry all I got*

Now we're really making progress =) Isn't it amazing that this has survived for a whole nine pages on such a small piece of conflict? That is down to you wonderful writers. And just think how it will thrive when the coven is re-united (or broken as the case may be) and the real conflict, the fighting and adventure can begin.

Rydia

Calm, Rydia, calm. They need strength; they'll not follow anger. They need a sister, not a mother. Calm, Rydia. Calm and do not berate them. You cannot control them. Rydia looked up and around at the half-coven before her, seeing the faces not present as strongly as she saw those that were.

"We will leave immediately. Unless any of you have someone to wish farewell to?" Rydia turned to the three, two of whom shook their heads but Athene started.

"The baby," she whispered, attracting looks of confusion from the others. "The baby was so cold... forgive me but I have forgotten - who here can command fire? A heat spell could save the child."

"Caelin and... Keleria," Rydia answered with a slight hesitation. The girl recoiled at the mention of her name while Caelin looked thoughtful. "Keleria will do it," Rydia said. A stunned silence eased across the group. Rydia turned to Keleria and approached her and hesitantly took her hand. "If you are to join us, it will be to help humans one way or another. I must know now that you can do that. Can you?"

*Yay, i hope this continues for a while, it's great!*

Keleria

Keleria blanched. She stared at Rydia in absolute shock, then glanced around quickly for someone to step in and save her from the task. Her eyes finally rested on Calean, pleading silently. He shook his head slowly and Keleria felt suddenly alone. This was the chance she'd been waiting for, the chance to show what she could do, but to save a human baby? Could she do that?

"I can't," she finally said, "I havn't been trained fully, I don't know how."

"It's a simple spell, Keleria," Rydia replied, "I'm sure you'll have no trouble."

"I've never done it before," she was struggling to keep above this dangerous ground, "I wouldn't want to hurt the...the baby," the words came out quickly and quietly, and Keleria was ashamed she'd said them.

Rydia frowned, then looked at Calean. Keleria again pleaded silently for his help and thankfully he stepped forward.

"I can show you through the spell," Keleria's heart sank, that wasn't what she wanted, "I'm sure you have done it before, in one way or another."

Keleria looked down at her feet, angry with herself. she knew she couldn't back out now, her excuse was alleviated, and she couldn't just refuse outright, they would surely kill her, thinking her a threat to their cause. She couldn't let them so, sighing, she looked towards Athene.

"Where's this baby?"

Persephone-

Felling very useless Persephone followed the others to where the baby was. It was so cute wrapped in a soft blanket, but it was shivering. She looked at it's little fingers wrapped around the edges of the blanket and hid a smile. The others didn't seem to have the exact same reaction to the baby though. She didn't want to get in the way so she stood near the door of the home hoping that they could help save the baby. She didn't realize she had been holding her breath until Nic came over and nudged her.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." He gave her a reassuring smile and she sighed.
"I hope so." She leaned against the door. "It's good to see everyone again." He nodded eyes fixed on the others. She couldn't think of anything else to say but the silence was opressing.

Tempest

Tempest stopped suddenly as she heard footsteps approaching.Voices were coursing their way through the trees. "Sit," she told the dogs. "Sit." Being far more obidient than Rover, they obeyed.

It wasn't long before the source of the noise was revealed; a young girl followed closely by her guardian. Tempest exhaled, and tugged the leads, continuing with her search.

"Rover!" she called. "Rover!"

Frazzled at the lack of results, she turned to the woman and the girl, hesitating before asking whether they had seen the dog, describing him to them so he wouldn't be confused with other dogs they may have seen, thus lending her false hope.

It wasn't until she'd raised her eyes to the woman's to ask her question that she began to recognise her. She frowned. "Ava?"

Ava

She heard Emma's footsteps stop in the distance near the apple clearing she thought. As she caught up with her, she noticed she was standing oddly still, a woman infront of her.

"Emma! Come here." Emma backed up to her mother and stood behind her skirt, peaking around the site at the woman and her sleu of canine companions.

Ava placed a hand on Emma's shoulder behind her, making sure she was safe. Ava wore a small satchel always, filled with a few herbs and a small athame. She placed her other hand on that. It was rare for them to ever run into someone else in these woods.

She raised a brow listening to the woman ramble about her dog and the locks. Ava thought this incredibly strange to begin with, in this time dogs were wild animals for the most part. It was odd that someone would be so upset about losing a wild animal, and locking their house? No one in Ava's village had locks.

Ava didn't study the womans features much. She just watched her hands incase her odd story was just a distraction for what she really wanted to do. But, when she heard her name she turned up to her face. She may have looked familiar, but Ava just wasn't sure. Everyone looked familiar to her truly, she had been acquainted with many people in her life.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

Tempest

Tempest frowned, and clucthed the leads more tightly. Perhaps she'd been mistaken. She wasn't about to say anything more than was required.She looked at the woman again. She didn't think she was wrong. She was older, obviously, than she had been the last time she'd seen her. Her clothes were more...conventional than Tempest remembered, but of course, grown women didn't tend to dress in the same was as they did when they were teenagers.

"Tempest." She replied, waiting to see if any spark of recognition registered before saying any more. The woman was looking directly at her now, onstead of locking her eyes on her hands. Tempest was glad. She'd always been uneasy around people who didn't make eye contact.

Keleria

Keleria's eyes widened aat the sight of the little baby, it was so cute! She shook her head, she didn't have thoughts about how cute things are, that just wans't like her, yet all she could think was how beautifully fragile the little bundle was. She wanted to help it, no matter if it was human or not.

She looked up at Calean, "How do I do this?"

He picked up the baby and placed it in her hands, the thing was tiny in her grasp, and her feeling of its fragility increased. Calean came to stand over her and talked her through the process, explaining carefully and clearly each step.

Keleria felt a wonderous joy as her fire started to grow inside her, feelng every part of her body. She looked inside herself and saw a bright well of it, brimming over, eady to spill. She grasped a section of the flames, enough for the baby to hold, and slowly let it creep through her hands into the tiny body in her arms. When she knew the baby had enough, she broke the connection, but didn't want to let that well simmer dwown, she felt wonderful. Calean frowned when he realised she wasn't letting it go, and quickly took the baby from her, telling her to stop.

But se culdn't, she tried, but her power was overwhelming her, her control was gone. The fire was beginning to overflow, and she diodn't know how to stop it. The burning reached her skin and threatened to leave her body. she needed help.

Rydia

As the air began to crackle with the sense of magic and a strong, pulsing scent of wood-smoke, Rydia motioned for the others to retreat. All around Keleria, the air rippled with heat and it expanded outwards to fill the room, slowly cooking them all. But Keleria worse than anyone else. What have I done? Rydia despaired. This is a disaster! I am no longer fit to rule this coven. But for the moment, there was no one else. The others did not step forward to take charge, even Caelin had ceased his demands that Keleria 'stop' and was looking to Rydia. Their eyes seered and burned Rydia's flesh much more intensely than fire ever could.

"Take the humans outside," she said. "Not you Caelin, give the baby to Athene. I'm going to need your help." Her voice was strangely calm and it leaked reassurance, revealing nothing of the leader's inner turmoil. And then she supressed all thoughts of fear, anger rage and soothed herself, reaching for the cool, serene magic within her spirit. "Dispell the heat, don't let the house catch fire." Caelin nodded.

"What else do you want me to do?" he asked, his hands moving quickly as he controlled the fire around them, sending the heat out of the window, into the ground and even dragging it within himself, anything to keep it from building up and igniting into a bonfire. Without speaking - the oxygen was growing thin as tiny fires gurgled smoke about the room - Rydia coated both herself and Caelin in a mist of water, laying it across their skin to fight the fire.

"Nothing else," she said and then she took the three antagonising steps towards Keleria, her water shield evaporating instantly.

"Listen to me," Rydia said quietly, siezing the girl's arm and flinching with the pain. "I can help you control this."

Keleria looked pleadingly at Rydia, she was out of control, and the fear was threatening to overwhelm her defences, making her power spill over in even larger waves of fire.

I thought I was ready! how could I be so naive?

The joyous feeling she'd had before was gone, in its place a searing pain began to eat into her soul, and despite her immunity to fire, her own power was more than enough to overcome that. she didn't feel heat, she was unable to, but she could feel pain.

Rydia's touch was a sharp, piercing cold on her arm, and she knew that it was hurting Rydia as much as it hurt her.

How could i let myself do this? Why didn't I just stop when I could?

She tried to speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth, flames started to sprout around her lips, finding an escape from inside her. she struggled to close it again, and Rydia shrank away from the inferno. Rydia was giving of steam in great waves, her water being burned up by Keleria. Suddenly Keleria started to feel a surge or power form around her, and for a second feared that she'd completely lost control, then realised it wasn't hers. calean stood to one side muttering incantations and forming a wall around her and rydia, trapping the heat inside. Again she felt a surge of power, but recognised it as being Rydia's. The power sank into her, covering the well, and encircling it. but the fire still bet against it, breaking areas and striving for release.

"Keleria," Rydia gasped, "don't just watch, help. You can control this now, it's easier, and calmer, take hold of it and close it down."

Keleria nodded, knowing better than to open her mouth again. She reached into the well and began to draw the flames down. The inferno decreased, and she found it easier to control. finally she held it down and felt it give way, sinking back by itself, and staying. rydia's power released it's hold, but Rydia didn't let go until she was sure Keleria had it under control.

Keleria smiled, relieved that it was over. Then collapsed on the floor in exhaustion.

*hehe that was fun*

Ava

She thought for a second, Emma still attached to the back of her skirt. Tempest...tempest... It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite plac....oh yes! the coven!

"Oh Tempest! You look much different dear. How have you been?" Ava asked, curiously and also in hopes that she'd say something that would solidify her thoughts. But when Tempest only shrugged, her hopes were not answered.

"Where are you living now? I haven't seen anyone else, either, for nearly seven years!"

Emma tugged on Ava's skirt a bit, "Mama?"

Ava turned down with a questionable nod, allowing her child to continue, "Can I go get apples now?"

Ava chuckled a bit and nodded, handing her the basket. The trees were just beside them, apples lingering in the wind, "Yes sweetheart."

Emma took the basket and skipped to the tree, setting down the basket and standing on her tippy toes to reach the lowest apples.

Tempest

"I haven't seen anyone either," she sighed. "People are very good at disappearing when they want to." She smiled to herself. That was one of her skills, in more than one sense of the word, but she hadn't vanished properly in years, not since...she shuddered involuntarily. She wouldn't think about that, especially not now, out in the open, and with an old friend.

She was beginning to have flashbacks and they were making her uncomfortable, to say the least. "Rover!" she called, "here boy, come on". She whistled, then sighed in exasperation. "Where is that dog?"

She began to move forward, freezing as she heard a rusteling. She tensed as she moved forward. She hated going too far into the trees, you never knew what was in there. She scowled. Stupid dog making her come into the woods. She called him again, then contemplated invisibility. The thought was barely formed before she began reprimanding herself for it. She hadn't been tempted to do magic in years. Well, not properly tempted at any rate, once she'd gotten over the first horrible, fear induced months without it.

"I'll be back in a minute." She told Ava, rolling up her sleeves and making her way through the trees, decidedly visible, calling Rover as she went. She soon found him nosing about at the roots of a particualrily large oak.

"Come on you scamp," she laughed, shaking her head. "Come on." She had to start forwards and backwards a few times, but he eventually followed, and she returned to Ava in the clearing, in a notably better mood.

"How have you been?" She asked Ava. Usually, she left this sort of question to others, but, given that there were only two of them and Ava wouldn't be familiar with her worsend temperment, she had to make an effort, Besides, if she got to steer the conversation, well, all the better for her.

*Oh I'm so glad this one is back, I like this one!*

Athene-

I took the child in my arms and stared at Rydia, then sighed.

"You had better work this out."

I went over to Mistress Fulham. "Come on, I know you're sore, but-" I hoisted her up and managed to get her out to the square.

"Ssh," I said to the baby as it began to cry, rocking him gently.

"Who are they?" Mistress Fulham asked, her brood standing about her. "Why are they here?"

I looked at her. "There were witches abroad last night. A lot of them."

"And why are they in my house?"

I sighed. "Rydia wants us back."

"Us?"

"Mistress, years ago, I was part of a Coven. I was a warrior. But I've changed. I don't want to fight anymore. But Rydia was our leader, and I have to at least listen to her suggestions."

"And if they burn down my house?"

"They won't. I can control water, they won't."

But the question was eating me up, should I go with them?