A/N: This story contains F/F discipline spanking of an adult person. It is completely fictional, it does not reflect real life.
This is the third part of a three-part story. If you haven’t read the first two parts, or if you want to reread the whole story, links to those parts are below. I have properly edited them now.
Part 1
Part 2
Previously:
She placed the book on a desk, keeping it away from the bucket to make sure she didn’t accidentally burn it. She was responsible. She then threw paper into the bucket and stood a distance away from it, but making sure the bucket was at a lower level so that she could see into it. Seeing the target of a spell was always useful. She held up her hands, focusing her magic.
“Dreiki logi eða viðr logi,” she said, quite loud, thinking she had a better chance of making something happen if she used more power in her voice. What happened next was quite unexpected…
….
Huge flames shot from her hands and missed the bucket by a long shot. They hit the four-poster-bed which burst into flames, eating up the drapes and blackening the detailed wood-carved frame. The flames seemed even more vicious than what was normal, which probably made sense as they were magic flames. Eylion’s eyes widened, and she felt her stomach drop. Leda was going to kill her. This was a little more than a tiny magical accident; this was a disaster.
“No! No, no, no, no. Eh… what the hell do I do now?” She thought hard, feeling herself panicking. “Focus, Eylion, you idiot.” She smacked her palm against her forehead, thinking. “Fire stop!” she yelled, holding up her hands towards the flames, which unsurprisingly did nothing. “Cease fire! Argh… crap, crap.”
She ran over to the spellbook and looked for the water page, but she couldn’t find it. She heard running outside in hallway just as the posts of the bed came crumbling down, the flames hungrily incinerating the expensive wood. She wondered how long a servant would have to work to afford such a luxurious bed; there was no saving that now. All she could do was to prevent the flames from spreading, destroying more of Leda’s valuable belongings. She flipped through the pages, frantically, trying to find a spell that would help her get rid of the fire. She heard another crackling sound from the flames, and she only had time to look up from the book when Leda came rushing through the door followed by Gwen and Aisling. The redhead raised one hand, palm open, and closed it, snuffing out the fire. It took her less than two seconds. When she turned to look at Eylion, the younger woman was still gaping in shock. The panicky feeling in her stomach that came when the spell went wrong hadn’t had time to leave her yet.
“I… eh…. fire,” she muttered, speechless, pointing at the incinerated pile of wood that was once a beautiful, hand-carved four-poster.
“Would you care to explain?” Leda asked, but her stern tone said that was wasn’t asking, she was demanding an explanation.
“I’m eh… you… you can put the bed on my tab,” was all Eylion managed to say. She felt really guilty having ruined Leda’s property.
“I don’t care about the bed,” Leda replied angrily.
“Are you sure? Because it looked kinda expensive,” Eylion pointed out.
Leda’s face was reddening, which, admittedly, scared Eylion. She was skating on very thin ice.
“I told you not to try the spells by yourself,” Leda scolded. “I warned you that it could be dangerous.”
Eylion frowned, knowing that Leda was right. She looked from Leda’s reddish face to the other two, who both looked at her with a disappointed look. She had been caught red-handed. She knew she had disobeyed, and there really wasn’t a good excuse.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I didn’t mean to, ya know, burn the house down.”
“You could have hurt yourself.” Leda’s expression softened. “Fire magic is not something an untrained witch should experiment with alone.”
“But… the one with the fire symbol worked pretty well,” Eylion argued, looking up from her shoes, her blue eyes looking innocent. “I thought since I mastered that spell, the other one would work just as well, but then the flames were so big, and they completely missed my target.” She pointed to the metal bucket.
“What spell?” Leda asked, picking up the book, finding the chapter on fire.
“Here,” Eylion said, pointing to the one at the bottom of the page.
Looking at the page, Leda sighed. “Eylion, do you understand this language?”
Eylion shook her head. “No, ma’am.”
“So you used a spell without understanding the meaning of the words?”
Eylion was starting to feel stupid. “Uh-huh.”
“When trying to light a bucket of paper,” Leda said, trying to control her anger. “It might not be a good idea to summon dragon fire.”
“Dragon?” Eylion’s eyes widened.
“Also known as forest fire,” Leda continued. “That is what the spell says it is, which is probably why the spell was at the bottom of the last page about fire spells; because, it was the most powerful of them all.”
“It would seem,” said Gwen, “That the girl was lucky she only managed to set fire to the bed.”
“Indeed,” Leda agreed, still keeping her gaze on Eylion, her arms folded.
Aisling stepped forward. “Now, hold on.” She turned to Leda. “The girl might have acted foolishly, but she is a twenty-year-old witchling without any training. You were the one giving her a spellbook that teaches how to make dragon fire.”
“Yeah!” Eylion started. “She di…”
“Quiet,” Aisling cut her off. “Don’t think you’re out of the woods yet, young lady. You disobeyed and used a spell without even understanding the meaning behind the language. You have behaved very irresponsibly.” She turned once more to Leda. “You shouldn’t have left her alone with a spellbook. What do you think Andromeda would have said if she knew?”
Leda winced slightly. Her former mentor would have had something to say, alright, and most of that would have been said with Leda over her knee! Leda might be nearing one-hundred, but her former mentor would not hesitate to correct her if she saw the need. Witch-relationships were complicated that way; you could always count on your mentor to take you to task for things, even at Leda’s age. She would never, of course, admit that Andromeda still had that kind of authority in her life.
“You’re right, Aisling, of course, you are.” She closed the book and picked it up. She looked at Eylion and said, “You have betrayed my trust, Eylion. I’m not even sure what to do with you. You have lost your reading privileges, missy! I am taking this book, and you will not get to read any spellbooks for at least a week. You can spend your time learning about plants.” She walked over to the door and held it open. “Now kindly take your things and move them into the guest room down the hall, and try not to set the bed on fire.”
Shocked that her lecture was over, Eylion didn’t even think to argue. She had been convinced that she was finished in Leda’s house, that she would be kicked out. Without saying a word, she quickly picked up the few things she had and carried them down the hall to her new bedroom. This one was slightly smaller, and it didn’t have an en-suite bathroom, but who was she to complain, it was more than she had ever had in her entire life.
After she had placed all of her things on her new bed, she looked around to see Leda’s back. She had followed her into her new room but was now leaving her. She was probably going to the library to put away the book. Eylion wondered if she locked the library door when she wasn’t using it. Maybe she could sneak in at night. She felt slightly guilty for thinking of breaking her reading ban so soon, but even if she had made a mistake, she had never felt this powerful. She exited the room and joined Gwen and Aisling, who were both staring at Leda at the end of the long corridor. They also seemed a bit puzzled by her behaviour; maybe they thought Eylion should be kicked out.
“Umh… so… are we still going to the forest tomorrow?” she asked, her head down like a naughty puppy. She still felt bad about disobeying, and she felt embarrassed that she had made such a colossal mistake as using a spell without understanding what it meant first.
“Sure, hon,” Gwen said, surprising Eylion with the gentle kindness of her voice, “if Leda still wants to go.” Her gaze followed Leda. “I should follow her. Excuse me.” She hurried down the corridor, her brown curls bouncing off her back.
“You don’t really deserve to go,” Aisling told her, her arms still firmly folded as she gave Eylion a stern look.
“I know,” Eylion agreed, looking ashamed. “I honestly feel really bad,” she said truthfully. Her stomach still ached. It was probably the aftermath of the terrible shock as she thought she would be kicked out on her butt, and she also felt terrible guilt, remembering the disappointed look on Leda’s face when she said that she had betrayed her trust.
“You should.” Aisling pointed to the bedroom. “Now, go to your room and stay there for the rest of the evening. I will tell Leda to send you some food later this evening, but you will not leave, do you understand?”
“But… this room doesn’t have a bathroom.”
“You may use the bathroom, but otherwise you will stay in your room. You are on punishment.”
“But…” Eylion wanted to argue. She hardly knew Aisling, and this wasn’t even her house. Who was she to tell her she was being punished? But seeing the look on Aisling’s face, she said, “Yes, ma’am.”
She returned to her room with mixed feelings. She had thought Leda would kick out her, for sure. So far, she had been nothing but trouble, but Leda hadn’t told her to leave. Why? Maybe she was just too shocked right now, and maybe once she had calmed down, she would realise how much trouble Eylion was, and tell her to pack her stuff. Her recent behaviour, after she saved her from the fire, was odd. Why did she just leave all of a sudden, and why would Aisling, a person she only just met, and who didn’t even live with Leda, tell her that she was on punishment? She felt like arguing, not because she didn’t deserve a punishment, but because it shouldn’t come from Aisling. She had no connection to Aisling; it wasn’t Aisling that she had disobeyed. She knew, however, that if Leda wanted to punish her, she would have to take it. She owed her too much; she respected her too much. Leda was going to help her with her magic, and that could change her life. Once Leda had taught her the basics, then maybe, just maybe, someone might want to apprentice her. If she got lucky.
*
“What was all that about?”
Leda turned to see Gwen come into the library.
“What do you mean?”
“An irresponsible brat almost burned down your house, and all you do is tell her that she can’t read your books for a week? She has never had access to any books like that her entire life, she can wait.” Gwen raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her. “What has gotten into you? Why didn’t you give her a proper punishment?”
Aisling came into the room. She stood upright, folding her arms in front of her.
“I told the little urchin that she was to stay in her room for the rest of the day. Don’t forget to feed her,” she said, winking at Leda. “Also, what the heck? Why didn’t you wallop her behind?”
Leda rolled her eyes at them. “I have already told you, I am not apprenticing her. I don’t have that kind of authority over her. I don’t really know what kind of relationship we have, or what is appropriate.”
Aisling approached her friend, putting a supporting hand on her shoulder. “She is a young person living under your roof. She has to follow your rules, or there will be consequences.”
“I know that,” Leda said, “but I haven’t made up my mind about what those might be yet.”
“Spank her,” both of her friends said.
“She did something really dangerous,” Gwen pointed out. “And next time she might end up really injuring herself. I cannot believe that you of all people are hesitating on this. It’s like you are this whole new person. You are different now. Insecure. This girl has changed you.”
“I’m not insecure, I just want to do the right thing,” Leda argued.
“Most witchlings that age get spanked, we all sure did,” Aisling said. “Gwen definitely did! She still does!”
“Hey!” Gwen pouted, but she also smirked a little.
“I know it is common for mentors to spank their apprentice if they disobey. I would if she were my apprentice because there would be an understanding. She would have to accept my authority as her mentor and thereby accept my discipline.” She rubbed her temple. All of this gave her a headache. “I only meant that seeing as she is not my apprentice, I don’t feel like I have the authority to spank her.”
“I think you should apprentice her,” Gwen reassured her. “You know you want to. If you didn’t, why are you doing all of this?”
“Because, Gwendolyn, she doesn’t know how to control her magic. She doesn’t have anyone to teach her, and she can’t afford to pay for school.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “Come on, Leda! You know you could pay that girl’s tuition and not notice a thing. It doesn’t have to be you who teach her. You would have saved so much time by just paying someone else to do it, but you chose not to. You have invited her into your house, you have bought her clothes and actually spent time with her, getting to know her. How can you have done all this, and not even considered the possibility that you could mentor her?”
“What about you, Leda?” Aisling said with a look of concern.
“What about me?”
“You’re lonely.”
“I am not lonely,” Leda argued, frowning.
“Yes, you are,” Gwen shot in. “Your lover left you…”
“Do not talk to me about that man. My life is richer without him; thank you very much.”
“Then, Andromeda moved away.”
“Well, she has a life of her own. She had things to do. I’m a hundred-years-old, Gwen. Andromeda cannot spend her life looking after me.”
“But she was the most important person in your life, and you miss her.”
“I do miss her,” Leda agreed, looking sad. “She’s my mentor; it is a special bond.”
“It is, but I can tell that the girl makes you happy.” Gwen put her hand on Leda’s shoulder, gently. “I mean… she’s not a lover…”
“Of course not! She is twenty-years-old!”
“Right. She is not a mentor, nor is she a lover; she is something new. A new experience for you. The next step, perhaps? You are fond of her, I can tell.”
Leda looked like she was about to say something, but she didn’t find the right words. “I… I have to think about this,” she said, looking at the two women, now smiling at her. “I’m confused.”
“Thinking is a good place to start,” Aisling said, patting her on the back.
“I think I’m going to go for a walk.” She looked up at the other two. “Can you… eh…”
“We will babysit the brat for you. We’ll keep her away from flammable objects and such.”
“Thanks,” Leda replied gratefully. “That girl is a danger to herself sometimes.”
*
Leda put on a black cloak and went outside for some fresh air. Being the heir to one of the more wealthy families in the village, Leda’s home was situated on a massive piece of land, with an idyllic, beautifully kept garden ready for her when she needed a walk and a think, and Leda needed to think. She decided to walk towards the goldfish pond, as she always kept some snacks in her pocket for them. The fish amused her as they bopped their heads up to get her treats, tickling her fingers. As she reached the pond, she sat down, pulling out a box from her pocket.
Gwen was right, she thought, as she opened the lid of her little container of fish food, and drizzled in over the water where the hungry wish were waiting. She was absolutely right in that Leda could have just paid someone else to help Eylion. If it was all about education, then Leda could have her on her way to the academy right now. Even if they usually didn’t just take people in mid-term, Leda could pull some strings and make it happen. There were plenty of people who owed her favours. But she had chosen to help Eylion herself, she had taken her into her house, and she had spent time with her. Why?
“Well, I suppose I enjoy her company a little,” Leda thought to herself. “The girl is trouble, that is for sure, but I feel more excited now. It feels nice having a purpose.” She took in a deep breath, thinking hard. “The girl is strong too. She is not lazy; she is eager to learn, and she never gives up. She will fight for what she wants.” She smiled, thinking of the determined look on Eylion’s face as she took on the more experienced witchlings. She had no chance of winning that fight, but she was not going down without one. And the passion in her eyes when she asked if she could read her spellbooks, the girl truly wanted to learn. Leda knew she would do anything to make sure that Eylion had a fair chance at becoming a sorceress, just like the other girls. Life had not been fair to her, and she deserved a chance.
“Mistress Clagarian?”
Leda turned and saw a blonde woman approach her. She looked familiar. Leda knew who she was, but she especially took notice of her blue eyes. She had seen eyes like hers before.
“You’re from the Oswald family.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I’m Marietta Gresham,” the woman replied, “but yes, I was born into the Oswald family.” She smiled weakly, but she also blushed slightly. “I… I came because I heard rumours that my cousin was involved in something the other day. Clarissa?”
Leda raised an eyebrow. “If you consider seriously injuring another witch, knowing she wasn’t able to retaliate, as being ‘involved’? Then yes, she was.”
“Yes, well… Clarissa claimed she was attacked, but I know that was not the case.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do,” Marietta replied. “I know that Eylion, the other girl that is, she… her magic is not very well developed.”
“And how do you know this?” Leda inquired, suspicious of this woman. Why would Clarissa Oswald’s cousin come to speak to her about this incident, knowing it was not Eylion’s fault?
Marietta looked down on the ground. She seemed almost ashamed. “I just know, that’s all. I came to see if there was anything I could do for her. I know her father is missing. She probably needs money, and…”
“Why do you want to give Eylion money?” Leda asked sceptically, but she noticed tears forming in Marietta’s eyes. Suddenly understanding hit her. This person knew Eylion’s name, she knew about her powers, she seemed concerned for her, and she wanted to give her money. “Are you… you’re not her…” she tried to form the question, and Marietta’s fearful eyes gave her away.
“Are you her mother?”
“No!” Marietta shook her head. “It’s not me, I swear.”
“But you know who her mother is? Is she alive?”
Marietta nodded sadly. Leda noticed a symbol embroidered into her cloak; it was a rose. It looked just like Eylion’s brooch.
“Eylion has a brooch that looks just like the rose on your cloak. It belonged to her mother.”
“It… it was my sister’s brooch. I’m… I’m her aunt.” Tears ran down her cheek. “But she cannot know, I don’t want her to know.” She wiped her face with her sleeve. “Please,” she pleaded. “She is far better off not knowing.”
“Not knowing her mother is alive and that her family doesn’t care?”
“I feel terrible for what my family did. My sister was finishing her apprenticeship, and she was engaged to her husband, the pregnancy would have ruined everything. Only a handful of people within our family even knew they didn’t even tell me, but I eavesdropped. I was only sixteen at the time, and I couldn’t really stop them from doing it.” She looked at Leda with pleading eyes. “Once in a while I would go to the Shambles, in disguise, and I gave her father money. I made sure she had enough.”
“He spent most of it on alcohol,” Leda retorted.
Marietta nodded. “I know, but I always made sure to buy food, and I hoped he would save some of it to buy her something.”
“And now what? Have your family decided to take her back?” Leda hated the idea. It would devastate the poor girl to know that she was born to a woman of the Oswald family and that everything that Clarissa had was also rightfully hers.
“No, I don’t think they would do that. Even if the story came out, they would deny it. I’m here because I want to ask you well… I know you said you wouldn’t apprentice anyone from our family, I understand, but please consider helping Eylion. I just want to do right by her in some way. I have the money. I can make it worth it. Just name your price, I’ll pay.”
“I don’t need money,” Leda said coldly. She had mixed feelings. On the one hand, she understood that this woman could do little when she was sixteen, and she knew that the help she had given Eylion all her life was more than any other person in her family had given her, but she was also disgusted with the information she had just been given. A mother giving up her baby like that, for what? A family reputation? If she regretted her actions, it was still she who made a mistake, not Eylion. It would seem that Eylion was being blamed and punished for her own birth. Thinking of Eylion, it made her sick to her stomach to think that her mother didn’t even want to know her.
“I will apprentice her,” Leda said, making the woman look up, eyes full of tears. “But I’m doing it because I genuinely care about Eylion, and I want her to succeed in life. I do not need money, nor do I want it. If you want to help Eylion, you will set aside money for her in a trust that she can access when she is done with her apprenticeship.” She got up, and feeling sorry for the Marietta she gently wiped some of her tears away with her thumb. “I’ll teach her everything she needs to know, and I will provide for her until she has finished her apprenticeship.”
“Thank you!” Marietta let out a sigh of relief. “I cannot explain how much this means to me. I have lived with this incredible guilt since I was sixteen.”
“But you did not help her once you were old enough,” Leda pointed out.
“No, I… I guess I’m no better than the rest of my family,” said sadly. “I’m a coward too. I know that.”
“You did something, which is more than what can be said for her mother,” Leda said, comforting the younger woman. “Will you set aside money for her future?”
Marietta nodded. “My husband has many contacts at the bank; he can arrange a trust for her tomorrow. If you agree to apprentice her, she’ll have a large sum waiting for her by the time she is done with her apprenticeship.”
“It is a very big secret that you have shared with me,” Leda said, worried. ” A mentor shouldn’t really keep something as big as this from her apprentice.”
“But think about the damage it will do to her? She is much better off not knowing. She has her mother’s brooch, I stole it and gave it to her when she was just a toddler, and she can look at that and think that her mother loved her. Isn’t that much better than to be told that her mother is alive and has never tried to see her? My sister is married; she has other children, she has never been anywhere near the Shambles since her little rebellious streak when she got pregnant. She never talks about her, and she has never tried to contact her in any way.”
“I’m not my sister, but I’m not…” she started crying again. “I didn’t do much for her either. I’m not brave enough. If I were, I would have tried to find a way to be in her life and look after her. When I was a teenager, I would sometimes disguise myself and walk through the Shambles. I’d see her with her father or the old woman next-door, and when she got a bit older, she would play with the other children in the street. But when I was around twenty, and I was about to become an apprentice, I was seen. My family thought it was just a one-time thing and told me never to do it again. They said that if people found me in that part of town, it could ruin my opportunities. So I stopped. Her father would meet me somewhere else to pick up the money I had for him.”
“I will keep the secret, for now. I cannot know what the future will bring, you understand? I agree with you that Eylion would be devastated knowing her origins, and she had come to terms with her mother’s death, but if there comes a time where she questions the story she has been told, I cannot promise that I will not tell her the truth. These kinds of secrets are hard to hide, surely your family knows this? The truth usually finds the light of day, some way or another.”
“I understand,” Marietta agreed. “But right now, she is worried for her father, not her mother. And if she has already accepted that she will never have a mother, perhaps it is better to leave it.” She frowned. “Please don’t think that I am trying to protect my sister. I’m not. I just really do not think that the truth will make Eylion happy. There are people in my family who would do anything to keep it a secret. They would deny it, maybe even try to ruin Eylion’s reputation, which will make life hard for her. Eylion would not be happy knowing she is related to them. Trust me on this.”
“I do,” Leda replied, and she meant it.
*
Determined to tell Eylion as soon as possible, Leda went inside. She went in the kitchen door where she came from, but when she entered the kitchen, it was empty. Feeling like something was off, she made her way up the old servant stairs to the upper floors.
“Gwen? Aisling? Where are you?”
By intuition, she made her way towards the room Eylion was supposed to be staying in. It was empty. It made her feel uneasy. Where was the girl? She went back into the corridor and saw Gwen hurrying towards her.
“I can’t find her,” they both said at the same time.
“What do you mean you can’t find her,” Leda asked. “You were supposed to look after her.”
“Yes, and we went to her room to check on her, but she was gone. Aisling went to check the library.”
“She’s not in the library,” Leda said, shaking her head. “I put extra protection on that room to keep her out. She wouldn’t even be able to get through the door.” She bit her lip nervously, something she rarely did. “Do you think she ran away? Maybe she didn’t want to stay here.” It broke Leda’s heart even to think the thought. Was this it? Would she never see her again?
“Don’t be silly. She was happy staying here. She asked if we could go to the forest as planned,” Gwen said, comforting.
“She is not in the house,” Leda said, reaching into the wards with her hands. “I can’t sense her magical energy in the house.”
“Do you use your wards to spy on your guests,” Gwen asked, suspiciously.
“No, I most certainly do not,” Leda said, offended that Gwen would even ask such a thing. “But it is a big house with a lot of valuables, as the mistress of the house, I need to be in control of who is here. I have had intruders before. Anyway, that is not important, what if Eylion really has run away? She will never know that I wanted to mentor her.”
“You want to mentor her?”
“Yes! Of course, I do.”
“But you said…”
“Never mind what I said, Gwen. I say a lot of things. We need to find Eylion.”
She took a moment to think. Where could Eylion be? She couldn’t have gotten far, but she was probably not right outside.
“Brooms!” She exclaimed. “We need brooms. Eylion can’t fly yet.”
“She could have taken a broom.”
“I will kill her if that is true,” Leda threatened. “No, she wouldn’t be that stupid, surely. But we’ll be able to find her easily from the air.”
Gwen and Leda ran downstairs to the entrance hall where Leda had a cupboard where guests could put their broomstick when they came to visit. They both grabbed their broom and ran out of the house, not sure where Aisling was. No sooner were they outside, they kicked off the ground and gained height. They soared a hundred feet up in the air when Gwen shouted:
“There! I see her. She is with three others.”
Leda looked in the direction Gwen was pointing, and sure enough, that was Eylion, facing Clarissa and her gang.
“No, not again,” she muttered, knowing Eylion must have looked for them to get back at them. “Come on. We must stop them before they kill each other.”
From the air, they could see as the spells started firing. Clarissa cast some ugly hexes that Eylion managed to duck, but Leda knew that she would never win this fight if she did not intervene.
“Is that Aisling?” She called to Gwen as she saw a woman running on the ground below them.
“Yeah, it is.” She answered back. “She must have gone out to look for her on foot, but she’ll never make it there in time to stop them from doing real damage.”
They flew as fast as the brooms would take them towards the group of girls, and Leda winced several times as she saw some really bad curses being cast towards her future apprentice. Then a spell hit her, and she fell to the ground.
“STOP!” Leda roared as she came close enough for them to hear her. This distracted Clarissa and her gang, because they stopped hurling hexes just long enough for Eylion to get up from the ground, run towards Clarissa and deliver her a solid knuckle sandwich.
“My nose!” Clarissa cried, holding her nose, blood coming out.
“Oh my,” Gwen said, shocked, just as Aisling joined them, panting.
“You’re welcome!” Eylion said, smirking mischievously. “It looks much better now.”
“You!” Clarissa raged. She readied another curse, a pretty bad one, but Leda cast a protective shield between them, and Clarissa’s curse fizzled out into nothingness.
“Enough!” She glared at all four of the girls. “This has got to stop. You are going against the code. Witches never use magic against other witches unless it is to protect themselves or others from harm.”
“She started it,” Clarissa argued, holding her hand over a bleeding nose. “That little runt. She came to find us; she wanted the fight.”
“You had it coming, you filthy cow!” Eylion yelled, not even denying she was the instigator. Her rage was real, and her magic caused sparks around her. “If you think that I will let you get away with… Hey!” She was interrupted by Aisling lifting her off her feet and hauled her over her shoulder.
“Let me go! Aisling!”
Aisling gave Eylion’s bottom a solid SMACK. “Enough, brat. Not another word.” She looked at Leda. “I should remove this one from the situation, Leda.”
“Just a minute, Aisling, we’ll all go. I don’t intend to be here long.”
“My family will hear about this!” Clarissa said, angrily. “They will want to take action.”
“Fine,” Leda said, crossly. “Then tell them to contact me when they want to chat.”
“You? Why would they contact you.”
“If they have a problem with my apprentice, they can talk to my lawyer and me. They know where to find me.” She turned around and started walking. Then she stopped. “Oh, and one more thing, Miss Oswald, keep in mind that I know which curses and hexes you cast at my apprentice. I am sure those will be considered a lot worse than a punch to the nose, wouldn’t you agree?”
Then, Leda, Gwen and Aisling walked back, with Eylion hanging very limp and unusually silent over Aisling’s shoulder, not saying a word.
*
When they got back, they all stopped outside the front door of Leda’s house. Eylion was still silent when Aisling placed her down on the ground. Had she heard Leda right? What did she mean “her apprentice”? Her bottom still stung a bit from the slap Aisling had given her. Her palm was hard! She looked up at the three taller witches all looking at her with serious expressions, and for the first time, Eylion truly felt like she was in a lot of trouble.
“Get inside,” Leda said with a steely glare.
Eylion did not argue; she just nodded and hurried inside. The three older witches followed her. When they came into the sitting room, Leda pointed at a chair.
“Sit.”
Eylion sat down. She still had not uttered a word. She felt confused, a little excited, and like she was in a world of trouble.
“Well, Eylion, are you happy?” Leda said as they had all taken their seats. “You have now physically injured a witch belonging to one of the most powerful families in the village.”
Eylion lowered her gaze to the floor.
“Answer me.”
“Would you like an honest reply?” Eylion muttered.
“Yes, please.”
“Well… ” Eylion took a deep breath. “Honestly… I feel really happy about giving her a good knuckle sandwich. She needed that.”
There was a loud snort, as Gwen tried and failed to conceal a laugh.
“Gwen!” Leda, admonished. “Do not encourage the girl!”
“Sorry,” Gwen giggled, holding her hands over her mouth.
Eylion smirked a little.
“Do you think this is funny, young lady?” Leda asked, seriously. “What will you do if her family comes after you?”
“But… will they? I mean you lied for me and said you were my mentor, right? So… they wouldn’t dare, would they? If they think I have your protection?”
“You think I lied?” Leda asked, her voice sounding softer.
“Well… yeah… I guess.” Eylion suddenly felt emotional, and she wanted to run out of the room, she wanted to hide. “You know what they say about me. I’m bad news, that’s what they say. They say my father is a drunk, and I’m just a lot of trouble. You’d be crazy to apprentice me.”
“Well, you are wrong, young lady, because I’m going to apprentice you,” Leda said, seriously. It sounded almost commanding and out of place. Eylion’s raised her eyes to meet with Leda’s.
“What?”
“You heard me. I will be your mentor, and you will be my apprentice. You will stay here, and I will teach you everything you need to know about magic.”
“But… the work?”
“Oh, come on, Eylion. I was never going to make you repay me for buying you clothes.” At this, Leda actually rolled her eyes, and before she could stop herself, she was sharing her feelings with the younger woman, and her friends. Feelings that she had bottled up inside, and they needed to come out. “I was never going to make you pay me back for the rent either. I told myself I just wanted you to stay so could teach you to control your powers, and I do, but the truth is that I’ve been feeling lonely and I like having you around.” She stopped to take in a slow breath. “I thought… well… I thought I would never apprentice anyone, I had convinced myself I would never want that, and then you came along, and you changed my mind. You have made a difference in my life, and showed me something I was missing. I just needed time to process how I was feeling, and… well… I am done processing now. I have come to my senses. So there.”
Gwen chuckled. “You are so predictable.” Aisling, who always seemed like such a tough person, wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
Eylion couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“So… so… I’m going to be an apprentice?”
“Yes,” Leda said, smiling at her.
“For real? I can be a real sorceress?”
“The best in the village. After me, of course.” Then she thought for a moment. She had always assumed that the mentor chose the apprentice, but Eylion had never asked her for an apprenticeship, and she was a free person. She did not have to accept. “If that is what you want. Do you?”
“Are you begging?” Eylion wiggled her eyebrows, suddenly a lot more cheerful.
“Don’t push.”
“Of course I want to be your apprentice! I would be an idiot not to.”
“So…” Aisling interrupted, “I’m guessing then that you will have no qualms about discipline in the future?”
“Oh no, not at all,” Leda said, turning to Eylion. “If you accept this apprenticeship, that means submitting to my authority. You will follow my rules, and you will obey me or suffer the consequences.” She folded her arms.
“Fine,” Eylion sighed, knowing what was coming next.
“Good,” Leda smiled. “Now, brat, you can get ready for bed.”
“What? But it’s not late,” Eylion protested.
“It is if you have been a naughty, misbehaving witchling. Go get ready, I will be up in a bit, and then we will deal with your misbehaviour before bed.”
“But… but… what do you mean?”
“You disobeyed me.”
“Yes, but…”
“Not once, but three times….”
“What do you mean three times? I only tried the spells, and yeah, okay… I suppose sneaking out and punching Clarissa in the face was wrong, but that was it. Two things.”
Leda gave her a look of pity. “Young lady, do you seriously think that I do not have sensory charms protecting my library? You tried to sneak out some of my spellbooks when I was out for a walk after you almost burned down my house by trying to do magic on your own, I might add.”
“Oh… ” Eylion winced. “Uh oh.”
“Yes, uh oh, indeed.” Leda pointed to the door. “Now you get your butt upstairs, get ready for bed, and I’ll be up in a minute to deal with you.”
“But… when you say deal with me, what… ehm… what do you…”
“It means I’m going to spank you.”
“What? No, it doesn’t.”
“Your disobedience put you in danger, and now I’m going to put you across my knee.”
“You cannot be serious. You can’t spank me.”
“I am dead serious, girl.”
“But I have never been spanked before.”
“It’s about time,” Gwen mumbled, across the room, and Aisling snorted.
“Young lady, this is the witch way. Disobedient witchlings get spanked, so you better get used to it. Get upstairs and get ready.”
Eylion looked like she was about to argue.
“Now.” Leda gave her “the look”, it was a look she had stolen from her mentor and practised in case she needed it herself one day. It was the look that told the receiver they were in big trouble. It was the look she, herself, had been on the receiving end of many times, and usually right before she was about to get her bottom soundly spanked.
Eylion swallowed nervously. “Okay… I’m going. I’m going.” She hurried out of the room and could be heard as she ran up the stairs.
Leda turned to her friends, who both looked at her with approval.
“I’m proud of you,” said Aisling.
“I knew you would finally come around,” Gwen said, grinning. “I never understood your reluctance to apprentice someone.”
“You would if you had had my experiences with a bratty witchling,” Leda said, narrowing her eyes at Gwen.
“Are you talking about me?”
“Yes,” Leda said dryly.
“Leda, how many times do I have to apologise? I am sorry I turned you into a donkey. It was over seventy years ago. When are you going to let that one go?”
“Never.”
“What made you change your mind?” Aisling asked.
“Well… I just met someone, and we had a talk.” Leda didn’t really feel like sharing the information of Eylion’s parentage just now. She might share it with her friends in the future, but right now, it was fresh, and she wasn’t sure what to do with this new information. “Besides, I don’t think I needed to “change my mind”, I probably would have ended up apprenticing her anyway, I just needed to gather my thoughts.” She chewed her lip pensively. “I know this is the right thing for me. For us.”
“She will be a handful though,” muttered Gwen.
“Urgh… don’t remind me.” Leda dramatically held her hand against her forehead. “But I suppose she won’t be as difficult as you were that age, so I think I can manage.”
*
As Leda walked down the corridor towards the room Eylion was staying in she knew what she had to do. She was ready to be strict and firm as she delivered the punishment, and she was ready to take the younger woman into her arms and comfort her when it was all over. That was, after all, what Andromeda used to do whenever she had been punished; though Leda thought smugly, she, herself, would never have cast dragon fire by accident. Andromeda probably would have killed her. And she shuddered to think what Andromeda would have done if she had punched another witchling on the nose. She wondered what would happen if Eylion and Andromeda met. It would probably happen one day, but for now, Andromeda was far away, and there was no use worrying over something that could be years away. She would have to deal with it when it happened.
When she entered the room, she saw that Eylion had already gotten into bed, pretending to be asleep.
“Get up. I know you’re awake.”
“Oh, but I’m so comfy here,” Eylion sighed.
“Well, you are not going to be “comfy” over my knee, that is for sure.” Leda pulled the comforter off Eylion and found the brat in her pyjamas. She grabbed her upper arm and pulled her out of bed. Then she sat down on the edge of the bed, and she was about to pull Eylion over her lap when the younger woman winced in pain. Leda let go of her immediately.
“Are you okay? What was that?”
“My side hurts a lot from one of Clarissa’s spells. Can you please heal it before you make me hurt again?”
“I… of course, why didn’t you say anything?” Leda pulled her gently closer and pulled up her pyjama top. “And I’m giving you a spanking; I’m not going to injure you, just so you know.”
“I know, I’m just playing. Owwww!” She winced again as Leda felt her rib with her fingers.
“That is a fractured rib. Again. I just healed you from a similar injury. That Clarissa likes to break bones, doesn’t she?” She placed her hand over Eylion’s side and muttered a spell, numbing the area. “And I bet that trip over Aisling’s shoulder hurt too.”
“Yeah, it did, but I was quickly distracted when she slapped my butt! Hard.” Eylion pouted.
“She did? I didn’t see that” Leda commented, smirking a bit. “Bet that stung, didn’t it, missy? I happen to know she has a solid palm.”
“I think I have a red mark!”
“Well, we’ll soon find out if you do,” Leda said, casting the healing charm to fix the younger woman’s rib. “There we go, that should take care of that. Does it feel better? Do you have any other injuries?”
“My bottom stings a bit…” Eylion said pouting.
“Well, it’s going to sting even more. Tonight you are going to bed with a red and sore bottom,” Leda said, lifting Eylion’s chin with her index finger, so she looked directly into the brat’s blue eyes.
“But… what if I say that I am really, really sorry?” Eylion asked, giving Leda an innocent look.
“You will be really, really sorry,” Leda said, raising her eyebrow. “You can’t just say sorry to get out of punishment.”
“But I’m new to all of this. I’m not used to all these rules. Maybe we can start again, and then I’ll be better.”
“You will take your punishment, you will learn your lesson, and then we can start again, and yes, you will do better.”
“Come here,” she said, pulling the younger woman into her arms into a hug. She held her tight and let Eylion relax, leaning into her shoulder. “I care about you. You know that, right?”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you do. You are important to me. I never thought I would ask someone to be my apprentice, but I chose you. That is not something I would do lightly; it means something. It means that you are special to me.” She rubbed the younger woman’s back lightly. “And know that I’m not going to cuddle you like this every time you get in trouble, brat. You’ll find that the hugs usually comes after a punishment, but I realise that this is a first for you, and you are worried that I won’t like you when you misbehave.”
“Uh-huh.” Eylion nodded.
“I will not like the misbehaviour, but that doesn’t mean that I do not like you. Every mentor knows that witchlings mess up from time to time; it is just what they do. Taking on an apprentice witchling, teaching her, it takes a commitment. Part of my commitment to you is discipline.”
“I’m okay if you want to overlook that part,” Eylion mumbled into Leda’s shoulder, still hugging her.
“Most witchlings are,” Leda chuckled. “But unfortunately there must be consequences for bad behaviour. Magic is dangerous, very dangerous. I will teach you dangerous things, but I cannot do that if I do not have control over you. I am responsible for you and for what you do with what I teach you. A lot of young witches complain that they have more rules and restrictions than others, that we mentors are harder on them, but they do not realise the dangers of witches out of control.”
Leda pushed Eylion gently back up so they had eye contact.
“I am the mentor, you answer to me, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Eylion nodded.
“What you did today, practising unknown magic alone, using a spell you didn’t understand, it was extremely dangerous. You could have really hurt yourself, and we were lucky it was only the bed.”
“It was a really expensive bed,” muttered Eylion.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” Eylion said, looking sad.
“Not to me, I won’t notice the expense.”
“But that bed probably costs more than…”
“Look at me,” Leda said, forcing Eylion to look deep into her eyes. “It doesn’t matter. You are much more valuable than any four-poster-bed. Much more valuable. And, to be honest, you’ll probably destroy more things while practising magic, but it’s just things, things can be replaced. I cannot replace you if you accidentally kill yourself by using magic in an unsafe way.”
Eylion nodded.
“So… can you please tell me why you are getting punished?”
“But we just…”
“We discussed one thing, yes, but let’s make a list. How many things have you done today that is cause for discipline?”
“Well… the fire spell and destruction of your property, that is one thing, I guess.”
“Correct.”
“And sneaking out of the house to deliver Clarissa a knuckle sandwich. That makes two.”
“And?”
“And what???”
“The library?”
“Oh, yeah… alright.” Eylion put her hands in her pyjama pockets and shrugged with her shoulders. “I might have tried to break into your library once you told me I wasn’t allowed to read any spellbooks for a week.”
“So that is three? Anything else I should know about?”
Eylion looked at Leda with glazed eyes.
“Come on… tell me.”
“Umh… last night… I snuck into the kitchen and stole food to store in my room. I’m sorry.”
“What? Why?” Leda frowned at this last piece of information.
“Cuz… there was so much of it, and sometimes I don’t have any. I just… I like to know I have some around, but… I shouldn’t have… well… ya know… stolen it.”
“Honey, you can take food from the kitchen whenever you want. It’s not stealing if you live here. A girl has got to eat.” Leda got up and put her arms around Eylion. “You don’t have to worry about food ever again, okay? You will never have to go hungry. I promise to feed you. Okay?”
“Okay. I’m sorry I was sneaky about it. I should have just said something.”
” Don’t be sorry about that. I understand. But if you need to store some in your room, at least tell me so I can put a spell on it, so it keeps fresh.”
Leda made a mental note to never even threaten to send Eylion off to bed without supper. She would never have actually used that as an actual punishment, but sometimes people would make jokes about this. There had been times where Andromeda, jokingly, had said “Watch it, my girl, or I will make you go to bed without supper!” but she never meant it, and for a wealthy girl like Leda, it was never a threat. But for a girl like Eylion, who had experienced having to go hungry because there wasn’t any money for food, it was not a funny joke.
“Okay, I think we better just get on with it, hmmm?” She gently guided Eylion around to her right side and instructed her to get over her lap. The brat did as she was told without making a fuss. Seeing the brat lying there over her lap, bottom in the air, tore a little at Leda’s heartstrings. She knew discipline was important, but after hearing that Eylion had hidden food because she was afraid of starving, just made her want to hold her close and cuddle her. But nobody ever said delivering a spanking was easy for the mentor. With her left hand securely on Eylion’s waist and her left hand resting on her bottom, Leda said,
“Are you ready?”
“Umh… ya, I think so,” Eylion said, sounding a little nervous. “I just want this over with.”
“I will spank you on top of your pyjama bottoms first, but then I will pull them down and spank you on your bare bottom.”
“Must you? That’s embarrassing! And I am already embarrassed as it is.”
“You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before,” Leda reminded her. “And yes, I must. A proper spanking is given on a bare bottom. Embarrassment is part of the punishment, I’m afraid.” She patted the girl lightly on the bottom with her hand. “I also think you have earned some swats with a paddle, missy.”
“I’m not going to survive this, am I?” Eylion sighed.
“Oh, hush. I would never give you a punishment you couldn’t handle. This is meant as a correction; I’m not going to damage you.” She rubbed Eylion’s bottom with her hand. “Right then, my girl, I think it’s time we deal with you.”
And with that, she raised her arm and brought it down, swatting the younger woman’s backside. She started somewhat slow and not too hard, making sure that Eylion could feel it, but that she didn’t overwhelm her with pain from the very start. She intended to give the girl a proper lesson, but she would need to give her a warm-up. She slapped Eylion’s bottom, changing between right and left buttock. She gradually increased the force, feeling the younger woman squirmed a little over her lap. So far, she took her spanking well, but she knew there would be more squirming and protests once she bared her bottom.
She had some experience spanking people. She had spanked Gwen a couple of times. And she had some experience spanking her lovers in the past, but that was not for discipline. Not real discipline anyway. She once had a female lover who wanted to role play discipline, but that was different. She didn’t feel upset about spanking a lover, because they wanted that. With Eylion, it was different. Leda had to teach her discipline, so she didn’t use magic to cause havoc. Witches and wizard had immense power compared to the mortals around them. It was only too easy for a person to cause serious damage to others, or even to themselves. But Leda had been on the receiving end of discipline too! She had plenty of experience being spanked by Andromeda over the years. She had never been as naughty as Gwen, but that did not mean Andromeda never had to take her in hand. And whereas Gwen got minor punishments more often, when Leda messed up, she usually had done something to really displease her mentor. Andromeda had been a strict mentor, she was firm, but she could also be very loving.
After having given the girl a proper warm-up, Leda stopped. She put her thumbs in the waistline of her pyjama bottoms and tugged.
“No…” Eylion protested, bringing her hand back to stop her.
Leda grabbed her hand. “Stop. We talked about this. A proper spanking is given on a bare bottom, so you might as well get used to it.” She pushed the brat’s hand away and continued to tug down her pyjama bottoms to her knees. She could see pink skin under her white cotton panties before she lowered them too. She allowed the brat a little break and rubbed her hand over her bottom. It was only slightly pink, but she would make sure the colour was a lot darker before she was finished. She also rubbed the brats back for a while. She might be coddling her too much, but this was her first spanking, and Leda didn’t want to scare the girl.
When she could feel that the brat was calm again, she slowly started spanking her on her bare bottom. Her spanks her a little sharper now. Eylion yelped at the first one. It caught her by surprise.
“Ow. That hurt.” And then at another one. “Oh!”
Leda continued delivering stinging swats to the brats backside. “Nobody said punishment was a walk in the park. And you have earned this spanking!”
Her hand rained down swats to the young woman’s bottom with more force and speed now, and Eylion was finding it harder to lie still. Leda gripped more tightly around her waist as she held her tight and used her right hand to slap her reddening bottom.
“Oww! I’m sorry, I’ll be good,” the brat pleaded. “It stings!”
“It–is–supposed–to–sting,” Leda said, following each word with a sharp SMACK. She peppered the younger women’s entire backside, giving extra attention to the place where the bottom meets the thigh. It would sting when she sat down.
Then Leda stopped, and she rubbed the poor girl’s bottom softly. And again, rubbing her back, allowing her to calm down.
“I’m going to let you up now,” she said gently. “But… I still think you deserve some swats with a paddle. To really bring the message home.”
“Nooo… please. I have learnt my lesson!” Eylion whined as Leda helped her up.
Eylion stood before her, rubbing her backside furiously while Leda still sat on the bed. The brat had completely forgotten about how embarrassed she was about being naked from the waist down because she seemed not to notice her pyjama bottoms and panties had fallen off and were lying on the floor.
“Come here,” Leda said, grabbing Eylion’s arm and gently guiding her towards a corner in the room. “You will stand here, facing the corner while I go get something. Do not move, understood?”
Eylion opened her mouth to speak, pointing to the lower part of her pyjamas lying on the floor.
“You will not need those right now,” Leda said sternly. “Get in the corner, place your hands behind your back, and do not move until I say you can come out.” She gave Eylion a look that said she better not disobey.
The brat nodded and allowed herself to be guided into the corner.
Leda left her there, and once in the hallway, she looked back inside to make sure the brat stayed put. The girl stood obediently facing the corner, her red, spanked bottom on display.
Leda made her way back to Eylion’s first bedroom, where the remains of the four-poster-bed lay on the floor. Looking through the remains of what had been a really expensive bed (but she would never tell Eylion its cost), she managed to find a piece of wood that wasn’t completely burnt. She held the dark wood in front of her and levitated it, so it floated in the air in front of her. Then she used her magic to cut the wood in the shake of a paddle. She shaped the handle, so it perfectly fit her hand, and the board of the paddle was long enough to cover Eylion’s entire backside. The paddle was not very thick, but it was solid. The bed Eylion and ruined was good quality wood. She knew she was creating a very stingy implement that she would have to use carefully, and she would not use this paddle all the time. However, there was something symbolic about creating an implement of discipline out of the debris of Eylion’s mistake.
After using her magic to polish the wood smooth, she tested it on her thigh. It carried a sting, alright. She would have to be careful with this, but she had to admit, she did a good job. She brought the paddle with her back to the room where Eylion stood waiting for her. She was pleased to find a red backside facing her when she came back into the room. The brat had obeyed.
“Eylion,” she said, approaching the younger woman.
Eylion turned around to see the paddle.
“That?! You are going to hit me with that????” She gaped in shock, and her hand instinctively covered her backside. “Where did you even get such a thing?”
“I just made it,” Leda said, examining her craftsmanship proudly. “I made it from some of the undamaged wood of the bed you burnt.”
“So… you made a paddle from the bed I ruined? And now you plan to spank me with it?”
“Yep.”
“This is a very odd punishment.” Eylion pouted.
“Eylion,” Leda said, looking seriously at the girl. “Do you trust me?”
“What?”
“Do you feel safe with me?”
Eylion though for a while.
“Well… yeah.”
“Do you think that I would harm you.”
“You spanked me, and you want to spank me with that paddle.”
“Yes, but you didn’t answer the question. Do you think that I would harm you? Do you feel like I have harmed you by disciplining you?”
“No… I mean… my backside hurts.”
“I bet it does. But do you feel unsafe?”
Eylion shook her head. “I feel very safe with you. I don’t think you will harm me.”
“Good… now that we have that settled.” Leda put the paddle down on the bed. “Look… any implement in the wrong hands can do a lot of damage. Yes, this paddle can harm someone. So can a hairbrush, or a belt. I could harm someone with my hand. And I especially could harm someone with my magic. The question is: Would I do that to you?”
Eylion shook her head. “No… no, you wouldn’t.”
“This paddle can deliver a sting, but it will not be used excessively, you have my word. It is meant for discipline, responsible discipline. It will not be used all the time, and when I do use it, I will not use it in any way that will harm you.” She gently brushed some of Eylion’s hair behind her ear. “Tonight you will receive six swats with this paddle, and then your punishment will be over.”
“Okay.”
“And in the future… you will never attack someone with your magic. Do you hear me?”
“But…”
“You can protect yourself or others, but you will never use your magic to attack another person first.”
“Yeah… okay…”
“And that goes for hitting someone as well!” Leda said sternly. “No punching people in the face. No apprentice of mine will shame herself or me by being the instigator of violence!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” Leda grabbed the paddle. “Then you, my dear, can bend over the bed. Your punishment is almost over. I will give you six swats with this paddle. They will hurt, but you have my word that I will never use it in malice.”
Putting her hand gently on the small of Eylion’s back, Leda gently guided her towards the bed and had her bend over.
Leda placed herself on the left side of Eylion, placing her hand on the small of her back. She held the paddle up, touching Eylion’s bottom lightly with it. The brat winced as she felt the cold wood against her already stinging backside. Then Leda lifted her arm.
SMACK! The first blow landed firmly, and Eylion winced. It hurt, but Leda had been careful not to use too much force.
SMACK!
“Ow! Owwie.” Eylion moved her legs, trying to shake out the sting in her bottom.
SMACK!
“Owww….”
“Only three more to go now,” Leda said taking a break. She inspected Eylion’s bottom for bruises, gently rubbing her hand over the red skin. “Good girl. Almost done.”
She picked up the paddle and delivered the last three swats. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! After each swat, Eylion winced and let out a little squeal. After it was over, Leda threw the paddle on the bed and took Eylion into her arms. “Good girl, it’s all over now.” There were a few tears running down the girl’s face, but from Leda’s own experience that was often because a punishment spanking could be an emotional experience. It wasn’t always the pain that caused the tears.
Leda brought back the covers on Eylion’s bed, and they both got in. Leda holding Eylion close, cuddling her and letting her cry a little.
“Did I beat you that hard?” She joked while wiping away her tears.
“No… I’m not crying because of the pain. It’s something else…” Eylion said. “Though my ass hurts a lot!”
Leda smiled at her. She kissed the brat on the forehead.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Eylion sniffed.
“Well… I suppose… this is going to sound really stupid…”
“Try me.” Leda winked at her. “I have heard my fair share of stupid. I have known Gwen for a long time.”
Eylion giggled.
“Well… I got emotional because well… I suppose when you disciplined me, I finally realised that I’m going to be your apprentice. And I felt like I have someone now. I’m not alone.”
“Honey, you will never be alone again.”
“And I feel like with you on my side I have a future. I’ve never felt like I had much of a future. I never had anyone who took the time to discipline me because they want me to be the best that I can be. Life in the Shambles can be rough. We grew up thinking we were nothing and that we would always just be… well… nothing.”
“You are not nothing. You never were, Eylion. You are a very special person.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.” Leda got up and tucked the covers around her new apprentice. “I have a very special feeling about this. You will be a great witch one day. You are not a nobody, you are important! Not just to me, you will be important to others as well. You and I will train, you will be a great witch, and you will show everyone who ever doubted you that they were wrong. I know this.”
“I’m going to be much better than that Clarissa idiot. I don’t care who her family is; she’s not better than me!”
“No, she’s not. She is an idiot from an idiot family!” Leda suddenly looked angry.
“Whoa! What was that all about?” Eylion looked surprised at Leda. She never thought she would hear anything like that from her.
“Nothing… I just… I don’t like that family. They hurt someone I love.”
The End.
