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“Our village may be small, but we are lucky enough to have a witch living among us. He’s a funny fellow, always wearing his hair over his eyes and fidgeting about. But he’s kind and generous, and more than willing to help us whenever we need some magic. Sometimes I wonder what he does in his private life; he’s almost too available at times. Does he have a job? Some witchy way of supporting himself? Or is he the heir of a wealthy family, choosing to live out in the country for the aesthetic? He never struck me as being like that, but with you witches you can never know.’
‘There was a night we had an awful storm in the valley and our neighbors had a leak spring in their roof. Nobody even had to go for him, he was already there patching it up. In the morning they tried to pay him, but he wouldn’t take money for it. Really, how does he live? But seriously, no one even knew he was coming until he was there. He has a tendency to sneak up on people like that. He’s surprised me several times, though it’s always a pleasant one running into him in the street. Perhaps he’s so sneaky because he’s such a quiet fellow. I think it’s that same trait that makes him so good with the little ‘uns.’
‘I’ve lived in this village my whole life. I married a girl I grew up with, and we have children of our own. Euini— oh, that’s his name, ‘Euini’ —only moved here about five years ago, I’d say. But my youngest two took a liking to him the first time he came over. He has this golden ornament on his cap, like scales, and when they were little they adored playing with it. He would take it off his cap and it could entertain them for hours. He once told my wife and I that our kids made him want children of his own. Now, if that isn’t the utmost compliment a parent can receive, I couldn’t say what is.’
‘Speaking of, my wife and I have been talking about how strange it is that he isn’t married yet. By his age we already had our first kid. There’s a few good, marriageable young ladies in our village, but I don’t know anything about witchy marrying practices. I’d imagine marrying one of us would ‘dilute the magic’ or some such. Though again, he doesn’t seem like he’d think that way.’
‘Now that I think about it, he has been acting a bit different lately, always rushing about. He hasn’t left town at all, but he’s been caught up with something down at his atelier. He’s mentioned wanting apprentices before— don’t ask me what for —so maybe he’s setting up for one.’
‘—Oh, sorry, miss. I saw your cap and got carried away! I should’ve at least asked your name before going on like that. It’s a bad habit I’ve never been able to kick. My wife used to get on to me about it before realizing it was helpless. Are you passing through or will you be staying the night here?”
Richeh smiled, amused.
“I was planning on sticking around, but if you’ve already got a witch in this town, there might not be room for two…”