As they come back into the farmhouse, Ella and Areida were greeted by the smell of fresh baked apple pie. They found Aggie in the living room, shouting at her "big screen" crystal ball.
"Ridiculous!" she shouted. "Total outrage!" She looked up and noticed the girls enter.
"Girls, I'm telling you, a bunch of idiots are running this kingdom and all the kingdoms roundabout."
"Why? What happened?" asked Ella.
"Just watch." Aggie waved her hand and replayed the image in the crystal ball. It was the news.
"In other news," said the anchor, "The kings of Europe have voted to send more reinforcements to the Holy Land. As mentioned earlier this week, the kings and the Church were to vote whether or not to start pulling troops out of the Holy Land. However, as many of you have heard, two nights ago, our troops sacked Jerusalem, boosting the morale of the soldiers. This morning, the church and the kings voted against bringing troops home. About 500,000 fresh troops are expected to be sent to the Holy Land. The promise of victory is now brighter than ever."
"It's outrageous, girls," said Aggie, "Areida, isn't Ayorthia near Jerusalem?"
Areida nodded. "And I have family still living there. They say the crusaders are hostile toward them. They call my people uncivilized."
"If you want my opinion," said Ella, "They say the Crusades are a Holy War to retake the Holy Land from the "barbarians." If the Crusaders knew the Saracens and the Moors the way I know Areida, they wouldn't call them uncivilized. And besides, just because some important events in the Christian church happened there, I don't see that as a reason to conquer the people living there."
Aggie smiled contently. "Well said, Ella." She took her walking stick and got up. "Now, what say we go have dinner?"
As the girls followed Aggie into the dining room, Socrates flew by.
"Socrates," said Ella, "Aren't you going to join us for dinner?"
Socrates landed on the perch of his birdhouse, and shook his head. "I'd love to, but I need to get some sleep." He yawned and crawled inside his birdhouse.
"He usually takes a nap and goes hunting like normal owls," said Aggie.
In the dining room, the girls, once again, gaped in amazement. The table was covered was a small feast; smoked trout, roasted chicken, glazed yams, fresh garden salad, seasoned rice, potato soup, and so many other good things.
"Why don't we sit down, girls?" said Aggie.
After saying a quick grace, the girls helped themselves to the closest dish. They began swapping stories back and forth. Ella talked about her family, both her parents and Mandy, and even Dame Olga, Hattie and Olive. She blushed when Areida brought up her crush on Prince Char. Areida talked about her life in Ayorthia and her family's move to Frell. Aggie remained quiet for most of dinner, politely listening to the girls' stories. She occasionally opened up and told good story when there was an opportunity.
"So what about you, Aggie?" asked Ella, "Do you have someone special in your life?"
Aggie smiled and chuckled. "Well, there was this one young man." Excited, Ella and Areida listened, intently.
"What was his name?" asked Areida.
"John McPhiney."
"McPhiney?" replied Ella, "So he's your…"
"John's my husband."
"We met in high school. I actually saw him before he met me. You girls know how some girls drop a handkerchief to get a boy's attention?" The girls nodded.
"Child's play. I used to cast small spells to get his attention. It is so cute to see a teenage boy react to magic. I once made a flock of robins fly out of his locker. He looked so cute when he was shocked. But we finally met by accident. I was standing on a bridge in the woods. I saw him coming and started thinking of a spell to get his attention. I don't remember what spell it was, but it backfired and destroyed the bridge. So there I was, hanging from a crumbling bridge, fifty feet over a raging river, wondering why I'd cast that spell and trying to remember the hover charm my father had taught me. Just then, the plank I'm hanging onto for dear life snaps, but before I plummet to my death, John reaches out and catches me."
"Aww," said the girls together. "That's so romantic," said Ella
"He looked at me with those brown eyes and said, 'Are you alright, miss?"
"What did you say?" asked Areida.
"If memory serves, all I could do at the moment was babble like a fool."
This time, they all giggled.
"We dated all through high school. He was a blacksmith and a bit of an inventor. Some of the gadgets in the house are actually his design or made by him.
"He sounds amazing," said Areida.
"My family didn't think so at first."
The girls paused for a moment, then Ella asked, "Why?"
"Well, I come from a line of pureblood wizards and witches. Now, I love my parents, dearly, but they can be a little prejudice towards people they think are different. They didn't approve of John, at first. My father and my brothers used to cast spells and jinxes to scare him away. But my John didn't crack under pressure. Besides, my more sympathetic mother and sister and I were behind him. My father and brothers eventually warmed up to him.
"We got married in the spring, well I mean, not that spring, but the following spring. It was actually quite romantic. We actually had an outdoor wedding in the North Forest. There's a nice little outdoor chapel used by small coven of druids. It was lovely, even some of the little forest animals came. The only embarrassing moment was when my cousin had too much to drink, started making some obnoxious wisecracks, then started hitting on all of the bridesmaids. Family, you can't live with them, and you can't jinx them.
"Did you guys have any kids?" asked Areida, as she took another scoop of yams.
"Two," answered Aggie. "Robert and Celeste. They're both grown up now. Robert's an adventurer, nothing specific, just an adventurer. He works with a group called the Red Falcons. They hunt monsters, they explore uncharted territory, they hunt for treasure, they've fought pirates, heavens, those boys do everything. In fact, that's them on the wall up there. Robert's the one on the far right."
The girls looked up a portrait on the wall of a group of seven young men, (all different cultures and ethnicities) standing in front of an armored wagon with the words, Red Falcons, painted on the side.
"He's handsome," said Areida.
"Ooh, I sense a crush," said Ella, nudging her slightly, embarrassed friend. "What's wrong with his arm?" she added, noticing what appeared to be an artificial arm in the portrait.
"Oh," replied Aggie, "that would be Robert's robot arm. The Falcons had just hunted down and killed a coven of witches."
"Robert killed witches?" said Areida, looking surprised. "Didn't that tick you off?"
"Not when they kill, torture and terrorize innocent people. These were dark witches. Anyway, the Red Falcons ride in and save the day, but one of the witches cast a curse that blew off Robert's right arm. Normally, I can regrow lost limbs easily, but this was done by black magic, so it was beyond my ability to heal. Then, John came up with a brilliant idea. He designed and built a mechanical arm for Robert. He just needed me to attach it. The clockwork mechanisms in the arm were ingenious. Robert still had all of his dexterity, and he would brag that he now had an indestructible arm."
"Wow" said Ella, "So what about your daughter?"
"Celeste is a dancer," replied Aggie.
"Oh, what kind?" Ella asked, interested.
"Several kinds. Ballet, ballroom, and folk dance. Then for my 80th birthday, Celeste decided she'd give me a heart attack. She told me she'd taken up belly dancing. I spent the next three days beating myself and asking myself where I'd failed as a parent."
"I take it you don't like belly dancing?" said Ella.
Aggie shook her head. "It's much too provocative." She sighed. "But I got over it, eventually. It's her decision, not mine. And no matter what style of dance she does, she's good at it." Aggie pointed up at a large portrait of Celeste in an elegant ball gown. Next to the portrait was a slightly smaller portrait of Celeste in her belly dancing costume. The girls cringed as the saw the second portrait.
"Ooh," muttered Ella, "You're right. That outfit is way too small." Aggie smiled, grateful that someone agreed with her.
"So where's John?" asked Ella. "Is he working late?"
Aggie lowered her head a little. "John died about ten years ago."
Ella gasped. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean…"
"It's alright, Ella," said Aggie, "I didn't say anything so how could you have known? As a witch, I knew I would outlive John by several decades. He actually lived to be 85. I was 82 at the time. I tried to make him comfortable in his last few hours. The last thing he said to me was that he loved me."
"Aw, how sweet," said the girls, almost in unison.
"The funeral was…" Aggie tried off and started to cry a little.
"If it bothers you," Ella told her, "you don't have to get into it." Aggie smiled.
"Let's just say it was lovely. But it wasn't the last time I would see him. Every Halloween, I bring him back from the dead, just so I can be with him for a few hours. But it's only for a few hours. Although we've developed spells that can resurrect the dead, Death will not be defied. In the end, we must all cross over. This spell just allows me to see John in the flesh for just a few hours. Then, he turns back to dust."
"Awesome!" said Areida.
"Um, I was just…" Ella said, nervously.
"Yes, Ella," said Aggie.
"I was just wondering, remember I told you my mother died when I was twelve?" Aggie nodded. "Well, I was wondering if you could bring her back, so I could see her?"
"Sweetie, absolutely," replied Aggie. "But you'll have to come back at Halloween. That's when the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnest."
Ella gave an excited squeak. "I just want to know if she's well and if she's proud of me."
Aggie smiled. "If she's as good a mother as you described, I'm sure there's no way you could let her down."
