Sometimes, Audrey couldn't help but think that magic didn't really seem to make life easier in any way. At least, on Skid Row it didn't.

It probably could earn more of a living, if she was willing to be shrewder about it. The spellbook her mother left her contained plenty of notes her family had jotted down over generations, explaining about what modifications could be made to squeeze all the money possible out of customers. Spells could get addicting, if you knew how to sell them the right way, and selling magic could easily become enough to ruin lives while lining her own pockets.

But Audrey could never bring herself to get that ruthless. She knew just as well as anyone else how hard it was to live where they did. And when people came to her door, desperate and low on money, all she could think about was wanting to help them.

Charms for good luck or increased riches were some of her bestsellers, though she often considered whether it was unethical of her to keep offering them. She didn't know whether she just hadn't mastered them yet, or if the spells had never worked reliably for anyone. She suspected it was the latter, as most of the other spells in the book worked just fine for her. Either way, she'd never seen any real evidence that they actually resulted in anyone getting a better life. But no matter what warnings she gave, there were always people who wanted to buy them anyway. She'd taken to selling them as a two-for-one deal with her more practical and reliable spells, so she could know that at least she was also sending them out the door with something that would help them sleep with sweet dreams, or give them a few minutes of cheerfulness after a rough day.

As bad as she felt at times, she always decided that she couldn't bring herself to stop offering those particular spells. She knew what it was like when hopes for a better life were the only thing that kept you going some days, and people always looked just a little more hopeful after receiving a bit of magic that might offer them the life they dreamed of. Even if the luck and fortune spells didn't work, they could still offer people a brief moment of optimism.

And besides, maybe one of these days she'd be skilled enough that she could actually get it to work.

Audrey wondered what people would think if they knew what sort of life she would choose for herself, if she only had the power to pull her fantasies into reality. She already got plenty of odd looks over her very frilly apartment, and it was clear that it wasn't what people expected to see when dropping by to visit the local sorceress. They'd likely find it even stranger if they knew just how much time she'd spent as a child trying to figure out if she could enchant the pictures in Better Homes and Gardens so that she could travel inside them. Or that she still kept all of the magazines around, even though none of her efforts had been the slightest bit successful.

Her mother always said that if she worked hard and was clever enough, her spellbook could solve all of her problems. Audrey sometimes thought it might have gotten her closer to the life she wanted if she could just figure out how to brew up a good casserole.

It did get difficult sometimes, knowing that there were a lot of issues she couldn't fix. But seeing as this wasn't something many people were able to do, she felt that she had a responsibility to help people in whatever way she could.


It was the dark night of a new moon when a timid knock came at her door. Knowing that it was almost certainly a potential customer, Audrey grabbed her staff, and took a few moments to wrap a shimmering cloak around her shoulders and put on her pointed hat with a few peonies glued the brim. Her mother had always argued that the flowers wouldn't "inspire anyone's confidence in her abilities," but Audrey still thought it looked lovely that way.

She opened the door to find a man with glasses and a sweater vest, carrying an old can that now had a small cactus growing inside.

He looked nervous and fidgety, and stared down at his plant instead of meeting her eyes. It wasn't too unusual for Audrey to encounter customers who looked a little jumpy. Some people weren't used to dealing with someone who could perform magic, and they often expected to find something rather spooky. Hoping to put him more at ease, Audrey offered a warm, welcoming smile. "Hello there, my name's Audrey."

She had found that introductions were a good way to make it easier for people to talk to her. 'Audrey' seemed to be much easier to approach than 'The Skid Row Sorceress.'

"I, um... I'm Seymour. Seymour Krelborn."

"It's nice to meet you, Seymour. Is there something I can help you with?"

He nodded, hardly taking his eyes off the cactus for a moment to look at her. "Please, can you help plants?"

Audrey's smile grew wider. Plant magic was her favorite, and it was rare for anyone to come asking for it. Hoping to get a better sense of what she was working with, Audrey took a step towards him and held out a hand.

"Would you mind if I took a closa' look?"

After a second of hesitation, Seymour handed the plant over. He immediately stuck his hands into his pockets and rocked anxiously on his feet, but he didn't move farther away. Audrey was starting to get the sense that maybe his nervous air didn't have to do with talking to her, but was instead coming from concern over his plant. It was charming, she thought. He looked almost like a concerned parent with a sick child. She didn't meet many other people who cared about this sort of thing.

But she needed to focus now. There was a customer to help, and a problem to fix. And even from a quick once-over, it was clear that the cactus was in rough shape. More of it was brown than green, starting from the roots and spreading upwards to only a small fragment still clinging to life.

"It had a bad case of root rot when I bought it." Seymour explained while Audrey examined the plant. "I've been trying everything, but I think it's too far gone."

"Oh, what a shame... and it's so lovely, too."

Seymour was quickly losing any sense of apprehension as he saw the tender way she handled the plant. Most people would have scoffed and told him he was being dumb over an oddly-shaped bit of greenery that wasn't anything special to look at, anyway. Seeing that Audrey seemed to care, Seymour instinctively found her trustworthy.

"I know just how to help." Audrey announced as she handed the can back to him. "Here, come inside."

As he followed her into her apartment, Audrey quickly began flipping through her spellbook to the page for a vegetation restoring spell. After finding the right one, she read it over once, then closed her eyes and began silently mouthing the words to make sure she had them committed to memory.

"I, um... I don't have a lot of money..." Seymour hesitantly spoke up, feeling rather awkward to be mentioning it now that she was already getting to work. Maybe he should have brought up payment before requesting anything at all.

Audrey looked from her book and replied, "This is a real simple spell. Growing a plant from nothing, that's harda', but fixing up a sick one is hardly any trouble. Would a quarta' be alright?"

Seymour nodded, though Audrey was too distracted to see the surprised look on his face. People usually talked as if mages would take enough to ruin you if you gave them half a chance. He hadn't really expected that, now that he'd met Audrey, but he also wouldn't have expected real magic to be a whole ten cents cheaper than it would have cost him to walk down to Schmendricks' and buy a slice of pie.

Ready to get to work, Audrey set the cactus down on an end table and held her staff a few inches above it. A green mist began to swirl around the stone at the end, and with a few words of magic, the spell leapt to the plant and surrounded it in a soft green glow.

"It'll take a few minutes to finish working." Audrey said. Once she was sure the magic was working right, she pulled her staff away and set it down on a chair.

There were some customers who would have made her nervous enough that she'd tell them she needed to be alone to focus, and they should come back later. But Seymour seemed like the sort of guy who would be nervous to hang around alone in the streets at night, rather than one of the people who would be making others nervous. And besides, she liked him so far, and she wouldn't mind getting more time to talk with him.

When she looked over, she saw that Seymour had begun examining the broomstick sitting propped up in the corner.

He certainly spent a lot of time using a broom while he was working, but the one in the shop didn't make an odd sort of noise when he reached out to touch it, almost like it was about to start humming to life. Nor did it have what appeared to have once been a bicycle seat and handlebars attached to it. He probably should have been letting things alone, but curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, "Do you use this for flying?"

Audrey smiled a little wistfully. "I can, but I haven't done it in awhile."

The broom had been a present from Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon, who made up the three-person coven on Skid Row. They hadn't much liked her past couple of boyfriends, and decided that she ought to have a way of getting out of reach if need be. Audrey liked to think that they viewed her at least some sort of friend, though they were mysterious and elusive enough that it was hard to be sure.

She'd added the bicycle parts herself. Going side-saddle would certainly be more ladylike, but she found it much too challenging to stay on that way, let alone worrying about steering.

While she appreciated the gift, there wasn't much worth flying over in Skid Row, at least in her opinion. Flying had been amazing when she first learned, but it quickly lost its appeal when she learned that it only gave her a birds-eye view of dirty streets and unhappy people. She often daydreamed about packing a suitcase and flying somewhere far away, but she knew it wasn't really a practical idea. There was no point going anywhere else if she didn't have enough money to make a new home wherever she decided to land.

Apparently still feeling curious, Seymour next asked, "Do you have a cat? I heard that people who do magic keep black cats."

It had been a long time since she'd gotten a chance to discuss magic with anyone, and she found herself elated that he wanted to know more.

"A lot of us do. I've thought about getting one, but I guess I've always been more of a dog person." She paused for a moment to think as an old memory came to mind. "Mama always believed in tradition, and she was sure cats were best. I rememba' around my birthday one year, she said she might get me a kitten to bond with, and I could name it Fido if I really wanted. I asked if it would count if I got a puppy and named it Whiskers instead... Mama decided I wasn't ready for a familiar yet."

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that color had faded from the mist, and it had begun to evaporate away. As she walked closer to get a better look, she was pleased to notice that Seymour didn't look the slightest bit nervous anymore as she went to pick up the cactus and return it to him. And she was even more pleased to see that the plant had turned a nice, healthy green color, any sign of browning or withering completely faded.

"Wow! That's incredible!"

Seymour gave her an awestruck smile, and Audrey glanced away to hide how she was beaming.

"It's really no trouble. I've played around with plant magic so much I could do it in my sleep." She rarely got a chance to have a conversation about magic, and found herself explaining more before she could stop to worry if she was going to end up driving him off. "I've been trying to work on potions recently, but it's much more difficult. I guess it might be easia' to practice if I could get ahold of the right ingredients more often, but there isn't really a good magical greenhouse around here."

"Oh, well, if you ever need stuff from unusual plants, I could help with that." Seymour eagerly responded. His spare pocket change really didn't feel like enough to repay her, and he was delighted that he might another way to help. "Collecting unusual plants is kinda a hobby of mine... I wouldn't want to take enough to hurt anything, but I could definitely gather up some roots and leaves when they need pruning."

"Really? Oh, that would be wonderful!"

Even more than the possibility of better access to potion ingredients, Audrey was excited at the thought that she might get to see him again. She'd met a lot of people doing this work, but none had come back again after they'd gotten what they wanted. And Seymour was someone she would be very, very eager to see again.