Chapter 2: A Chat in the Garret

It was dusk when the witches touched down on the street in front of the bakery. They had flown most of the way there in silence. A few times, Kiki tried to strike up a conversation to get to know the new witch: "So, what's your hometown like? Is it far away?"

"Eh, it's just a normal town… not far from here," Terry answered.

"A friend of mine said he saw you flying near the north side of town this morning. Did you just arrive today?"

"Yeah… got here early."

The lights were on inside, but no one could be seen through the windows. Kiki opened the door and entered: "I'm back. Hello. Osono?" Terry followed behind, examining the new surroundings; Dan followed beside her, a slight waddle to his gait. Kiki peeked her head into the hallway behind the shop, then she called back to Terry, "I think she's upstairs. Wait right here." And she headed up to the second floor. A minute later, Kiki returned with Osono, who was carrying her infant son. "Osono, this is Terry," Kiki said. "She's a witch in training and just arrived in town. Is it okay if she spends the night up in my room?"

"Well, hello, Terry. It's nice to meet you," Osono said with a gentle smile.

"Hi," Terry said flatly. Kiki clenched her teeth at the terse response.

"I think it would be fine if you spent the night, or a few nights if that's what you need to get settled."

Kiki smiled with relief: "Thanks Osono." And she turned a sharp look over to Terry.

"Yeah, thanks," Terry agreed.

"Don't mention it. Well, I need to get back upstairs with this little guy. We'll talk more in the morning, okay?" said Osono, shifting the almost-one-year-old to her other shoulder. "Oh my," she said as she began to walk towards the hallway, "if I'm not careful, my bakery will soon become a boardinghouse for witches, hahaha!"

Kiki led Terry through the bakery and out the backdoor into the little courtyard. Then up the stairs to the attic room. "This has been my home for the past year," Kiki said as she showed Terry in. And the witches propped their broomsticks by the door. "Osono has let me live here ever since I first arrived. She really is the greatest."

"Hmm, I doubt I'll be staying here that long. But I really don't care what city or town I wind up in. As long as it's away from home," said Terry, dropping her bag to the floor and taking a seat at the small table.

"Oh…" said Kiki, looking on Terry with concern, and searching for the right words.

"Hey, how about that hot cocoa?" said Terry as she beckoned Dan to jump onto her lap.

"Hot cocoa, right!" Kiki said, and she put a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Silence filled the room. Terry sat at the table looking down and gently petting Dan. Kiki stood by the stove watching Terry. It was strange, Kiki thought, she had been so eager to meet the new witch since Tombo had mentioned her. She thought that they would get along instantly, and that the new girl would be just like she was when she first arrived. Now, Kiki did not know how to interact with her guest who would be spending the night. Terry had shut down every attempt Kiki made for conversation and had not said one positive thing since they met. Kiki had even been afraid a moment ago that Terry was going to be openly rude to Osono. She seems more than just awkward and shy, Kiki thought, she seems really upset about something. But that's no excuse to be rude. And what was that just now about "as long as it is away from home?" And that, "if that's what you want to call it" thing she said earlier about training? Well, at least she seems to get along with Dan, that frowny furball of a cat. Nothing at all like Jiji was. Where is Jiji anyway?

Kiki took two saucers out from the cupboard and poured a little milk into each. "Here you go, Dan," Kiki said, and she set one of the dishes on the table. Then she opened the window and placed the other dish on the sill. "Jiji! Jiji!" she called out into the night air, but not too loudly.

"Is Jiji your cat? Like your companion cat?" Terry asked. Kiki looked at her for a second before responding; she was surprised, and relieved, that Terry said something unprovoked.

"Oh, yes! Jiji is my black cat. He flew in with me when I first arrived. We've been together since I was little."

"Does he still talk to you?" Before Kiki answered, Jiji and one of his offspring, a small black kitten, jumped onto the windowsill; each giving a friendly meow.

"There you are, Jiji," Kiki said, and she lovingly stroked his coat from the top of his head down his back. Jiji purred, and then joined his offspring at the saucer of milk. "No. We stopped being able to communicate suddenly. About a week after I arrived here." Melancholy was in Kiki's words, and she turned away from the window to see Terry reach over and pet Dan again, who was now on the table and drinking from the saucer.

"My sister's cat stopped talking, too," said Terry. "But it happened closer to the end of her training."

"Oh! Your sister's a witch?"

"Yeah… Maggie. Maggie the Great. Maggie the Magnificent. Maggie the Pride of the Family!" The sarcasm in Terry's voice was more than obvious to Kiki.

"Is she much older than you?" Just then, the kettle began to whistle. And Kiki walked over to the stove to mix the hot cocoa.

"She's fifteen. She finished her training last year," Terry said. "And when she came home, she was so eager to show off her new talent. Fortunetelling! And fortunes about love, too!"

"Oh… I met a witch last year who said her talent was fortunetelling!" Kiki said as she set two mugs of the sweet, hot, beverage on the table. Then she walked over to the small pantry to fetch a plate and a couple of pastries, which had been baked in the early morning for the shop. "And she said she was about to head home after training. I remember she had a really stiff upright cat. And flew with a lantern on her broom," she said taking a seat at the table.

"Ugh," Terry groaned hearing the description. "That was her. She always pretended to be humble, but I knew she would fly with that lantern to attract as much attention as possible. And the cat's name is Balthazar. Balthazar!" Terry shouted the name, causing Jiji and his kitten to jump from the saucer and look on with momentary fright. "Who names their cat Balthazar?! And what was so special about him anyway? I remember this one time she said that Dan probably couldn't really talk at all and that I'm just pretending so that I don't feel bad about having a second-rate cat!" Terry picked Dan up off the table, turned him to face her, and gave him a little shake as she spoke: "Remember that? Remember that, Dan? Remember when she called you a second-rate cat?!" Dan only frowned, and Terry put him down. "I bet that Balthazar could never talk…" she muttered and took a large bite of the pastry.

Kiki held her mug of cocoa and blew on it gently. She did not want to interrupt Terry, since this was the first time Terry had opened up, and she was on such a roll.

"Well," Kiki finally said, "it sounds like your sister is a little overbearing."

"And my parents, too," Terry quickly added.

"Maybe they're just trying to push you in your studies; and, you know, to be a good witch."

"A good witch? Ha. If that means ending up like Maggie, then no thank you."

"You don't have to be exactly like your sister," Kiki said before taking a sip of her drink. "You just need to develop your own abilities and talents and do the things you want to do. And you'll grow up to be a completely different person."

"I don't have any talent."

"You're pretty good at flying."

"All witches can fly a broomstick."

"But not all of them can fly them very well. When I first left home, I wobbled all over the place when I flew. It made my parents very nervous. And you're better than I was then. And now I use my flying to run a delivery business." Terry took a sip of her cocoa and another bite of pastry. "But there are many other talents a witch can have," Kiki continued. "My mother mixes potions. I don't know why, but when potions are mixed by her hands, they always come out just right. Well, almost always, sometimes they explode." Terry nearly choked on her pastry, and she laughed out loud. Kiki smiled. "And I've even heard that some powerful witches can cast spells."

"How about curses?" Terry asked. "That's what I want to do!" Her eyes grew wide, and her voice lifted. "Wouldn't that be great, Dan? If I could put a curse on our enemies. Ha, ha!" She leaned back in her chair and stared up to where the wall met the rafters: "Wahahaha!" Kiki could see that she was enjoying the thought; and she chuckled along, a bit nervously. But after a few seconds of mirth, the grin faded from Terry's face, and she again grew somber. "Well, I'm not even sure if I want to be a witch."

"Not wanting to be a witch?!" Kiki said in shock. "But having witch's magic is the greatest thing!"

"Flying is nice," Terry responded. "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't just get on my broom and fly away when I wanted. I'd feel stuck and… But I don't want to have to find my special talent, as they say. And I don't want to have to use my powers to make a difference. And I don't want to be compared to… anyone. Oh! Why am I even telling you this?" And she took a gulp of her cocoa.

"You can tell me," Kiki said. But Terry did not answer. "Or I can tell you. When I first set out, I was so excited to start my training and be the very best witch I could be. I didn't really have any more of a plan than that. I'm lucky I met Osono. And I immediately started working, both at the shop and on my delivery business. And things began to fall into place. Well, there were a few bumps along the way. But then I started pushing myself too hard, and I didn't even realize it at first. I expected perfection from myself… and from others. I'd get along with some people right away, but with some other people I'd throw a wall up at the first sign of disagreeableness and I'd wind up feeling like an outsider again."

"And what does any of that have to do with me maybe not wanting to be a witch?"

"Well, it was at that time that I began to lose my witch's powers. I couldn't fly and I lost my connection with Jiji." She looked over to the windowsill. Jiji and the kitten were still there. They had finished the milk from the saucer, and Jiji was licking the top of the kitten's head. And then they leaped down onto the rooftiles and were out of sight.

"How did you get your powers back?"

"I needed to look within myself, to find my inspiration again. It happened in dramatic fashion actually. But that's another story. I needed to save a friend. And to do that, I needed to fly. I got my powers back, but I never got back the ability to communicate with Jiji. My mother later said that it was natural that that would happen. That a witch's relationship with her cat companion changes as she grows. Oh, but you already know that. So, what I'm saying is, we all need to find our inspiration for doing things. Without it, our abilities can fade, and we don't grow." Kiki suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable for getting preachy about things she knew very little about. And worried that she had awkwardly overplayed the role of the mentor.

"Um, okay," said Terry, a reply that did not alleviate Kiki's fear.

Kiki let Terry sleep in her bed that night. She thought of how Ursula had done that for her when she invited her to spend the night at the cabin. And she laid some bedding out on the floor for herself. An hour, or two, after they had turned off the lights, Kiki awoke to the sound of Terry talking in a hushed voice. It was dark, close to midnight, but the full moon outside cast enough pale light through the window for Kiki to make out the features of the room's interior. At first, she did not know who Terry was talking to, and almost called over to her. But then she heard a meow and knew. Terry lay on the bed, her back propped against a pillow, with Dan on her lap. Kiki could not make out Terry's words at first, and it was clear that she spoke softly thinking Kiki was asleep. The angle from where she lie on the floor provided her with only a limited view of her guests. Still, she saw Terry pull Dan in close to her chest in a hug and say in a voice near to breaking, "Oh, Dan, I love you. I don't want you to stop talking."