Hey, folks! Sorry, my brother just got married out in Utah, so I've had a busy summer. Chapter 12 is finally up. Hope it was worth the wait.
Returning to the farmhouse, the girls found Aggie seated in front of her crystal ball watching a public service announcement.
"The Black Death," stated the announcer. "Thirty years ago, this epidemic ravaged all of Europe, killing thousands, and reeking havoc on the kingdoms' economic and social systems. But thanks to a partnership of science and faith, this outbreak is in remission. But not all is well just yet. There are still several places across the lands, which are still suffering from the aftereffects of this terrible disease. So tonight, we ask for your donations so that we can help those who still need our help."
Aggie was putting some gold coins into an envelope. As she closed and sealed the envelope, she looked up at the girls. Hattie and Olive were cringing in disgust as they saw images of disease-ridded victims covered in boils, and some covered in blood, flash across the crystal ball.
"Not a pretty sight, is it?" said Aggie.
"Uh-uh!" stammered Olive.
"No, it's not!" exclaimed Hattie.
"Makes you wish you could help them, doesn't it?" Aggie continued.
Hattie scoffed. "No! It makes me want to stay as far away from them as I can. Honestly, have you seen these people?"
Aggie scowled. "Yes, I have. And not just in a crystal ball. I helped fight the Black Death, so I saw these people up close. I even helped save a small village from the outbreak. During the plague years, myself, three physicians and a cleric, were stationed in a small German village called Stulzburg. Believe me, it wasn't pretty. We actually lost a third of the population while trying to find a cure. I still wish I could've done more for them. But I didn't give up, none of us did. And after a year, we managed to come up with a vaccine that saved the town. We sent the vaccine across Europe, but I wasn't a cure, just a first step. Soon after, a stronger vaccine was developed, that saved the rest of the kingdoms from the plague."
"Wow," muttered Hattie, "But you know, if you really wanted to effectively stop the plague, you should've just quarantined the infected and exterminated them."
It took all the restraint Aggie had to keep from slapping Hattie.
"Honestly, if it's only poor people who are infected, just kill them off. They won't be missed. And by putting out of their misery, you'll pretty much be doing them a favor."
"Clearly there's a lot we disagree on," muttered Aggie.
Aggie picked up the sack of gold on the coffee table and walked over to the safe in the corner.
"Seven, seventeen, forty-nine," she said, as she dialed the combination. She gasped and covered her mouth. "I shouldn't have said that out loud." She looked back at the girls.
"I can trust you girls, can't I?"
"Oh, of course!" Hattie said, sounding sincere. She crossed her fingers behind her back and kicked Olive in the ankle.
"Huh, wha? Oh, yeah, of course," Olive stammered. "What are we agreeing to?"
Aggie seemed to believe them.
"Okay, girls." She closed the safe and locked it. "Now, c'mon, let's go have dinner."
Aggie wasn't the least bit surprised. The girls had complained about everything else, why shouldn't they complain about dinner?
"You call this a meal?" Hattie screeched, as stared at the meager dinner, which consisted of soup, a salad and yesterday's leftovers. "This…just won't do!"
Aggie sighed. "Well, girls, you didn't exactly give me much to work with."
"We brought you a whole wagon of food!" shouted Hattie.
"Yeah, I got slapped by a fish!" added Olive.
"Well, most of what you brought me was spoiled or not ripe, so I had to improvise."
Hattie groaned. "And once again, we come back to the fact that you're a witch! Just wave your hands and fix all this!"
"And once again, Hattie, I have to remind you that I'm a witch, not a miracle worker. I admit, I'm good, but I can't feed a multitude with five loaves of bread, I can't make fish appear out of thin…water, and I certainly can't turn water into wine."
"I can turn water into wine," cried Socrates. Everyone turned and watched as the old owl tipped a wine cooler off a shelf and into a pitcher of water.
Aggie chuckled, and then zapped Socrates with a magic bolt from her fingertip. Socrates ruffled his feathers, angrily.
"Blasphemous smart-alec," said Aggie
Socrates huffed and flew over to his birdhouse.
"Well, girls, shall we eat?" The pampered heiresses glared at their hostess.
"Look, girls, either you eat now, or go to bed on empty stomachs later. Sorry, rules of the house."
The girls sighed and sat down.
The dinner conversation that evening was very lackluster, and Aggie felt she was getting dumber just listening to it. She would ask the girls an intelligent question and get an idiotic answer in response.
"So Hattie, what are your goals for the future?"
"Oh, I can answer that!" interrupted Olive. "She wants to marry Prince Char and become queen of Lamia."
Now that was a somewhat intelligent answer.
"And what do you plan to do as queen?"
"Be rich and adored and married to the hunkiest prince in the land!" declared Hattie.
Or not.
"But do you plan to help make things better for the people?"
Hattie chuckled. "No, the system is perfect as is. Elves working as entertainers, giants working as laborers, all so they we humans can be happy and carefree.
Ah, yes, she's vain and stupid.
"And if a problem should ever arise, we'll have a team of advisors to tell us what to do." "And let's not forget that I'll be married to the greatest king in land."
"Oh, so you think Charmont will be a good king. Is it because of his policies, his viewpoints, his education?"
"It's his face! My goodness, he's gorgeous!"
Aggie sighed. Yeah, I can just feel my IQ dropping as they speak.
Olive looked up at the wall with all the portraits.
"Who are all these people?"
Thank you, a subject change. "That is my family and my friends. See the tall, handsome gentleman. That's my husband, John, a brilliant engineer and blacksmith. He actually built many of the gadgets and gizmos that run the house and the farm. The young lady next to him…in the revealing outfit…is my daughter, Celeste. She's a dancer."
"She looks trampy in that outfit," protested Hattie.
Okay, that was harsh.
"Who's the boy with the steel arm?" Hattie continued.
"Ah, that would be my son, Robert. He's an adventurer. He travels the world with his crew, the Red Falcons, looking for ad-"
"He's cute, but not as cute as Prince Char."
Aggie rolled her eyes. "Shallower than a puddle," she muttered.
"Who's the old man in the cape?" asked Olive.
Aggie looked up at the portrait and smiled. "That would be my father, Gregor, Governor of the township of Glendale."
Aggie suddenly found herself lost in memories of her childhood.
"My father's a great man. Industrious, intelligent, generous, kind to everyone, regardless of race or species, and very devoted to his family. Growing up, Father was always busy, but never too busy to be with his family. I still remember playing with my sisters in his office, while he was working on, eh, some sort of business, I was too young to care back then."
Hattie and Olive listened, but were clearly too uninterested to care.
"Oh, one of my favorite childhood memories was our family vacation to the Crystal Lake in the North Mountain Forest. I was nine at the time. One night, we were all huddled around the campfire in front of our cabin, and a unicorn just walked out of the woods. I was so excited. I'd never seen a unicorn before. I wanted to run up and pet it, but Father told me I would have scared it away. Very gently, he approached it with an apple, Father always knows just how to talk to people, and animals, showed it that we were friendly and brought it back over to the campfire. My two sisters and I each took a turn riding it. Now that is a memory you don't just forget."
"Did you keep the unicorn?" asked Hattie.
"Of course not," Aggie replied. "It's a unicorn, it's meant to run free."
"Well, that sucks. I would've kept it. People would pay good money to see a unicorn."
Aggie rolled her eyes. "Well, some of us care about more than just money. Anyway, there were some times we didn't get along. One such time was back when John and I started dating. Now I said that my father respected everyone, regardless of background, but Father lived through a witch-hunt as a lad, so he did have some issues against mortals. In some cases, he still does. So-,"
"Wait!" Hattie exclaimed, "You said 'he does'. Are you implying that your father is still alive?"
"Yes," Aggie said, "Is there a problem with that?"
"Well, you're what? 90?"
"Watch it!"
"So you're father would have to be like, what, well over 100?"
"150, next month."
"Seriously?"
Aggie nodded. "We witches age quite gracefully. So, the thought of me dating a mortal annoyed him a bit. He and my four brothers said and did a lot of things to make him feel unwelcome. But John was a strong-willed man, and he didn't crack easily. And he had me and my mother on his side. Eventually, my father came around and gave John permission to marry me."
Olive stared, blankly. Hattie listened, but she was bored by the whole story.
"Hey, can we talk about something else?" Hattie asked.
"Like what?" asked Aggie.
"Well, can we go back to talking about Prince Char?"
Aggie sighed as the girls went back to babbling on about how hot Prince Char was.
I miss Ella and Areida.
