Under the tutelage of Lion, Angela worked diligently to gather the tools of the witch’s trade. Now that they had a witch’s greatest tool, a cauldron, she had entered a fever pitch. With all the enthusiasm and desire her little fox heart could muster she began to work feverously to achieve her goal. With each passing day, Angela's room became the center of learning for a beginner witch. Equipped with a small arrangement of flowers and fungi placed in a mix-match of jars and drinking glasses, she was readily being taught the basics of herblore.
Her mother only saw the fun and fantasies of youth as she donned her witch attire. It was all seen in good fun and the mother remained clueless of her daughter's progress in the supernatural. In the depths of their study, Angela began to leave her room less frequently as she poured over the knowledge of the book with increasing understanding. After a few days of study, Lion decided she was nearly ready to complete their pact. The time of her effort was approaching, and she grew more determined with each passing light.
"My little witch..." Angela grinned widely as her mother approached her. She was waiting outside of her room, ready to meet her mother for her morning goodbye. Morgan pulled off her daughter's silly hat and gently stroked the fur on her daughter's ears, "If you keep wearing this old costume, I just might have to get you the real deal..." After some minor grooming she knelt down, "If we can find a store for this kind of thing anyway." Her mother's voice fell sweetly into her ears, her calming voice only reinforced her desire to make mother happy. "You know... In a few months the carnival will be back in town. Maybe we can get lucky and find something there, hm?"
Angela gasped, "The carnival?" For a moment her thoughts were torn away from witchcraft as she lunged forward to wrap her arms around mother. Her tail wagged and she poked her muzzle at her mother's. "So, we're going!?"
She wrapped her arms around her sweet little kit and gave her a good squeeze. "I know we couldn't go last year, but things are... a little different this time around... I promise we're going this year." The foxes held the tight embrace. On workdays, their morning hugs were the last time they could speak until evening. "Lunch is in the fridge. I might be gone a little later today, but I'll be back with something extra cool." She gave Angela an audible smooch to her forehead before releasing her kit. Morgan stood up with a giggle, "I promise. Bye, sweetie." With one final pat to Angela's head, mother hurried off to work into the bright early morning.
"Bye, momma!" Angela watched as mother disappeared. She raised a paw to her ear, pushing it towards their front door and listened carefully. A moment later she could hear the wumpth and click of the front door. Her ear twitched as the sound confirmed the safety of her solitude.
With a nod she turned and opened her door, revealing Lion standing right on the other side. Lion had been waiting patiently for the kit, it nodded and turned away to lead Angela back into the room. Waiting for her was a wooden spoon and a hotplate scavenged from the house. Their workstation was outfitted with her witch’s tome along with four small glass jars, three with bunches of flowers and one half-filled with a murky green water. Lion curled up nearby, laying down to check over their ingredients once more.
Angela locked the door behind her for safety then hurried to Lion's side. She slid down onto her knees and looked to the jars that Lion prepared. She looked at the arrangement and recognized most of it. One of the jars had a green leafy herb called rosemary and another contained a cute purple flower called phlox. The fourth jar in the set was some moss water she gathered from a small stream running through town.
She looked up from the jars to Lion, wagging her tail and pressing her paws together. "Is it love potion time?!"
"Very soon, young one..." The symbol on Lion's forehead fumed idly, "But first, tell me... what is this flower?" It raised a paw and pointed towards the first jar.
"That's phlox. I gathered it from Mr. Artie's garden... It's a flower that gives you... courage, right?" She saw the small nod from Lion, "But you said it does that whenever you draw it out... I don't think we got to that part yet."
Lion nodded again, "You draw out the qualities of the earth through your interpretation..."
"Enter... Interp..."
Lion repeated the word slowly, "In-ter-pre-tation. To interpret, which means to represent or explain something." It nodded to the book lying open nearby. "Witches across time have varied in ability and methods... Some even label themselves differently as to how they perform great feats."
"So... all of the stories are true then?" She scooted closer, putting her paws one top of one of Lion's celestial arms, "Like Baba Yaga?" She shook at his arm with excitement sparking in her eyes.
"Some are likely just stories created as cautionary tales... But yes. Many things are possible when you learn how to interpret the essence of the earth. Then practice with guidance... Though many have never received guidance." Its paw moved to cover their tome. "Such as the author of this book. Witchcraft as I've taught you thus far uses incantations and emotion to influence the qualities and 'magic' of the earth. Without proper knowledge and interpretation... a witch is likely nothing more than a natural cure doctor, which is what the author of this book was."
"Wait..." She grabbed at the book from under Lion's paw and held it up, making the pages flip around wildly as she shook it from side to side. "So, this isn't a witch book?"
"A faux-witch's book. She was a rare individual. Her knowledge of the craft must have taken years to gather... but I can tell from her methods that she was self-taught and without a familiar." Its symbol began to fume again. "This was written long after the golden age of witches... still, she may have never even tried to summon one of my kind. She knew much of our world, but some of these recipes are strange. The love potion you attempted before with sugar, hair, and a rhyme of vigor is an interpretation of the love potion I'm unfamiliar with... Yet she's noted that it was her most successful potion in the following pages... How she managed to learn an alternative witchcraft is quite peculiar."
Angela swallowed roughly and set the book down next to Lion. "But that's why I'm lucky to have you. You're going to teach me how to do it like a witch should."
Lion's symbol fumed more wildly until the dark essence fizzled out and it refocused on the task at hand. "Yes. I will teach you a powerful love potion, one that I have seen many times." It gestured towards the layout beside them with its mighty paw. "Come, let us resume..."
Angela nodded and scooted closer to the assortment of jars. She lifted up the identified phlox and raised it to her snout. A red fox's nose may not be as potent as other canids, but the fragrant sweet scent was easily detected. With a sigh she placed the flower back in its jar and looked to the flowerpot cauldron. The water settling in the pot was boiling now. "So, do I add in the phlox now?"
Lion shook it's head, "Soon. You identified the phlox and spoke of its courageous quality." He waited for the confirming nod before continuing, "But as you said, you do not understand how to draw out this quality. You practiced this already."
"I have?"
"Remember your notebook."
Angela brought a paw to her cheek, rubbing idly as she thought back to Lion's teachings. "The rhyming games? But I thought you were just teaching me words to read better..."
"I was teaching you more words and how to rhyme them together. Now think back to the book, why would it's author rhyme so often and even include it in their love potion?" It watched Angela consider the information, her puzzled expression slowly shifting to widened eyes. "With enough focus and knowledge, any one of your kind can perform feats of 'magic', as they would call it. That power does not come from oneself. The self is important, that magic is borrowed from the earth."
"And- And that's why!" She pointed down at their setup, "Potions are so strong, right?! Because it has stuff from the earth."
For the first time Lion let loose a soft chuckle into Angela's mind, "Very good. Herblore is indeed very powerful, perhaps the most powerful tool of any witch. The energy of the earth is what I am... As is the same for the rest of my kind." Lion gestured for her to look up and it pointed a claw at the mobius symbol on its forehead. "Truthfully, I am only this... But the rest of what you see." Its paw spread out to display his celestial fur, it shone brightly as it focused the energy into its paw. "Is the energy of the earth made tangible into a form familiar, but different from your kind. I appear on four legs and cannot speak from my own mouth, although I can imitate a growl if I choose to." It's paw fell back down to rest on the floor, "This process is similar to how you draw out the qualities of the earth. To make it tangible to your kind, you must focus and interpret these qualities for yourself... Rhyming is expressive and therefore invokes a feeling that allows your kind to connect to the earth. You then take these intangible qualities and fill the energy back into itself in a new form."
"I... I think I understand?" Angela fidgeted in her seat, rocking back and forth on her rump as she tried to comprehend it all. "It's hard though."
"Even telling you this is not the entire truth behind it... Hence why I emphasize interpretation. The earth is the greatest force. For now, you are a servant to the world as I am. Now, continue identifying the rest."
Angela nodded and refocused on the flowers, something that she was much more comfortable learning about. She pointed to the next jar besides the phlox, "This one is Rosemary. It helps you remember stuff." she asserted as she eyed the green herb that was headed with a dull blue flower. Her paw moved to the next jar, but it was unfamiliar so she skipped it without asking. "And the fourth jar is the mossy water we collected at that small stream running through the middle of the town. I don't know what it does though."
"The mossy water will cultivate..." It saw it's young student's muzzle scrunch up at the difficult word, "Or, it will develop the ingredients during the brewing process, helping the qualities charge into the water we will collect at the end of the process. The jar you skipped is an ingredient I gathered myself, it is called bougainvillea. It's sap is irritating to the skin if it seeps through fur. I dried this ingredient over a few days in the sun. Doing this will reduce its irritating touch. Its purpose is to bolster passion." The lesson had come to an end as he finished reviewing the recipe and the water was now at peak temperature. He gestured to the pot with a paw, "Now, we complete your training."
Her eyes narrowed down onto the assortment. With bated breath she began rubbing her paws together. With vigor she plucked up the rosemary, phlox, and bougainvillea from the jars and tossed the ingredients into the boiling flowerpot. With care, she navigated a paw around the ceramic edges to reach for the wooden spoon nearby. The flowers churned as the water briefly settled only to resume its boil moments later. She stirred the bubbling cauldron carefully with one paw while the other reached for the final jar of moss water and promptly added it into the mixture. Lion watched her with increasing interests as she navigated her paws over their setup. Within a few more moments she was flipping through the tome to the page about the brewing process and nodded to each word on the page. All she had to do was keep stirring until the water took some color beyond the murky tones of the mossy water.
"Excellent. Now you must charge the brew with the essence of the earth... prepare yourself and rhyme as you stir. Watch carefully..."
The cogs in her head were turning as she tried to think of some rhymes to use. The words in her head began to string together. With all her hopes and desire, she opened her mouth to let the words pour out into her first witches rhyme. As she rhymed her stirring sped up and her heart fluttered with all the passion a young kit had.
"Heat up, my pot, come on bubble and boil
Here with these plants brought fresh from the soil.
Now brew carefully, become my potion
Set on captivating emotion.
With this potion I'll capture another
A perfect man for my beautiful mother.
A good man who is handsome and clever
One who will love and adore her forever!"
As her little poem went on, she could see a faint reaction between her paw and her work. With each passing couplet, a few faint wisps of what looked like the wavering heat above distant pavement on the hottest Summer day began to surround her paws. As her rhyme ended, she let out a gasp as the wisps made her paws tingle and she felt her breath get heavy. She was shaking as the sensation began to envelop her, feeling what generations of witches had felt for years as they practiced their craft. She could feel every tuft of fur on her body stand up as the essence entered her body.
She paused her stirring to take a deep breath. She felt the tingling sensation creep up her snout and down her throat. She held the breath and the tingle paused. With one hefty exhale she banished the overwhelming sensation from her body and the wisps fell down into her brew, disappearing into the bubbling cauldron.
"Magnificent." Lion raised its head to stare down into the brew. "Very good, very good."
Angela coughed and dropped her spoon onto the floor next to her, "Wh-what..."
"Be calm, young one. The sensation will end soon." Lion got up from its relaxed position to get closer to the pot. Her rhyming and grasp of the craft were considerable for a beginner, but it contributed to the potency of the brew with its own breath of wispy essence. "In just a few moments, the potion will be complete." Its symbol fumed and the hotpot was instantly switched off while one of the empty jars was lifted from its spot and landed softly into Angela's lap. "When you recover, collect a few sips from the top. That will be your love potion."
She pressed a paw to her muzzle and steadied herself. Her head was swimming from the sensation. But just as Lion told her, the dizzy spell ended quickly, and she could no longer feel her fur standing on end. The jar was taken, and she did as she was instructed, gathering a small portion of the brew and stood up to bring her potion to light.
"Wow... A real potion?"
"A real potion. Made by you." Lion nodded as his symbol continued to fume idly. "All that remains of our pact now is to gather a photo of your mother and choose a husband."
Angela turned the jar carefully, watching the liquid quiver as she inspected her work. "Oh, that's the easy part. I already know who's gonna be the perfect man."
"Oh?"
She giggled and brought the potion to her chest to cradle it. "Mr. Artie!"
