Chapter 63 - Date Night III

AN: I'm really struggling to write recently. Only got three chapters done this week. Don't worry! You're all getting the full 5.

I don't know WHAT'S wrong with me. It's possible that with the end of year and all the tax and other stuff, I'm just overwhelmed. I anticipate full chapters through the month. Schedule might change in Feb. I'll let you all know ahead of time what's going on!

Cheers!

Selkie

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Among runecasters and shield-bearers, Bjorn proved his worth not with spells, but with fire in his eyes.

He charged where spellfire raged like a firestorm from Muspelheim, unarmed and unarmored, yet laughing.

He pulled comrades from burning ships.

He stood in the breach while others fell.

And when the skalds asked how, he merely shrugged:

“Fate watches. Let her be impressed.”

The Saga of Bjorn, Verse 10

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The house of Morgana La Fey was almost disappointing. It looked like the other townhouses on the row. Perhaps a little older and less frequently updated. The only ‘special’ thing about it was a small bronze plaque that proclaimed that this was the house the dreaded witch used to live in.

“I kinda expected more, to be honest.” Erik said.

“Yeah.” Alexandria whispered, not removing her hand from his. “At the same time, I came from a place like this. If she can do it, I can do it too.”

Erik squeezed her hand.

“Perfect for a Commander.” He said. She shot him a withering glare.

“I’m not doing it for you or the Morsins.” She hissed.

“I never said that.” Erik said. The two started walking, still holding hands. Erik had the idea of a park that could be nice to walk in, and Alex was along for the ride. “It’s just… what you want to do, and ideally what you’d be doing once a Morsin, are the same thing. They overlap. Yeah, part of it is training people, leading sorties, killing whatever monsters popped up this week. But for all that, you’re expected to be the biggest, baddest, scariest witch around. Aligned goals, yeah?”

Alex sniffed, and Erik paused, pulling them onto a bench.

“Whoa, what’s wrong?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Alex said bitterly. It was obviously not nothing, and Erik was half-tempted to think that none of his peers would be so oblivious as to miss it… but they absolutely would.

“Well, when you’re ready to tell me about it, I can lend you an ear.” Erik said. 

After a few minutes, they got up from the bench. The two walked quietly, reaching a park and meandering through the trails. It wasn’t the biggest park, and they did laps around the lake. The air between them was awkward, but they didn’t stop holding each other’s hand.

“Sorry.” Alex whispered. “It’s one of the ways my own family fucked me over.”

“Mmmm.” Erik made a listening, supporting sound.

“Renards are always Wardens. Always. We’ve got a long family legacy of it. ‘Clever as a fox’ and all that. Sure, a number of people who’ve married into the family are Commanders, but the Renard family is all about Wardens. And they made me a Commander. Just to fuck us over.” She whispered bitterly.

Erik thought about his next words carefully. 

“Well, are we going to let them fuck us over?” He asked.

“They already did.” Alexandria whispered.

Erik almost proposed revenge, but it was her family they were talking about. Not exactly a valid target to propose vengeance against, not without knowing a whole lot more about Alexandria and how she felt about them. A topic for another day. The coven that got vengeance together did rituals together? No, no, it needed more workshopping. A shared purpose would help them all move as one, and from what he understood so far about rituals, would help improve them. Alexandria had a long list of people who’d wronged her. Sora had her own demons. Vivian… probably nothing more than a petty grudge or two, but that could work. Hazel had to have a long list of people who’d done terrible things to her, by definition. The only real question there was if any of them were still alive or not. Felix most likely had his own share of injustices visited on him. Being poor sucked, and people tended to push them down more than help.

Erik was well aware that he, intentionally or not, likely fell into the first group more than the second. 

Something to consider. Although… hmmm…

“Denarii for your thoughts?” Alex whispered.

“Coven timing.” Erik replied. “Samhain would be excellent for a coven relating to death, necromancy, and all that. Full moon versus new moon. I was just wondering if there was a good revenge or vengeance timing.”

“You don’t have to do it for me.” Alexandria hissed.

“It’s not for you, it’s for everyone.” Erik gently corrected. “Except maybe Vivian.”

“She can hold a mean grudge.” Alex whispered.

“Right! That’s you, Vivian, and Sora for sure. Felix I’m willing to bet has his own list of people, and I’ve got my own motives.” Erik said.

“Oh?” Alex’s whisper was dangerous.

“A coven united in purpose is a good thing, and I’m happy to be along for the ride if this is what we decide.”

She looked thoughtful.

“Waning gibbous or dark moon?” Alex asked.

“Mmm… Waning.” Erik said. “Banishing or releasing, instead of void or ending. Pushing the problem away, and freeing ourselves from it, instead of simply removing it. Mars in retrograde, or Saturn in transition?”

“Both?” Alexandria asked. “If it’s even happening this year.”

“Let’s go consult a star chart?” Erik proposed. “I brought an orrery along.”

Alex shot him a look.

“Of course you did.” She whispered with an eyeroll.

Motivated by a shared goal, the two of them hurried back to Camelot from Corwin, taking the Argo. They had to wait behind a pair of drunk students, who were too busy sucking each other’s faces off to make any comments. They hustled through the hallways, up the stairs, and into Erik’s room, missing Vivian’s knowing smirk.

“We’re in luck!” Erik exclaimed a few minutes after consulting his charts and orrery. “September 9th to November 13th, and the waning gibbous is September 19th to 23rd.”

Alexandria’s eyes widened.

“The equinox is on September 22nd. We could do the ritual then!” She hissed.

“I don’t believe our luck.” Erik said. “We’re in a year where Mars is in retrograde at the same time Saturn’s in transition. Happens now and then, sure. The date range is large enough that we’re going to get at least four nights of a waning gibbous, sure. And one of the four days just so happens to be the equinox? I can’t believe our luck. It’s seriously unbelievable, like something out of a storybook.”

“Not luck.” Alexandria hissed with conviction. “Destiny.”

“Felix is going to be the hard one to convince here.” Erik said.

“Why’s that?” She whispered.

“It’s fall break. He probably wants to go home and see his family.” Erik explained. “Saying ‘hey, want to come to my place to do a ritual instead of seeing home’ is going to be a hard sell.”

Alex went quiet.

“The Morsins practice the old ways, don’t they?” She asked.

“Yes?” Erik asked, not quite sure where she was going.

“So it’s not just going to be ‘come skip the break to do a ritual with us’, it’s going to be ‘hey Felix! Do you want to see a human sacrifice?’ I don’t think it’ll go over well.”

Erik winced.

“Yeah. Except I don’t know if I’ll have access to any better ritual circles. Not to be mean about it, but you or Vivian…”

“We don’t have amazing ritual circles, not on the same level you do.” She whispered. “Are there even any you can use, or are they all booked?”

Erik scowled.

“I might need to invoke Morsin privilege to get a good one.” He said. “Which is going to piss someone off… I’ll need to arrange something nice for them as an apology. Or see if anyone’s willing to sell their slot. Obviously I can’t grab the primary one, but… hmmm… I’ve got some letters to write.”

“Could find a ritual specifically for it while we’re at it. We’ve got the time to practice.” Alexandria whispered.

“We can, yeah.” Erik agreed. “Kinda ruins the next idea for the date I had.”

“Oh?” Alex whispered.

“Yeah, I thought we could practice a fairly common coven ritual I have. Just the chanting parts, but hey, every little bit, yeah? Instead, do you want to try out the Praetorian room?”

Alexandria looked down.

“If you think I can do any sort of exercise in this outfit…” She whispered.

“Go change. I’m also not exactly dressed for running and jumping around.” Erik said, pulling at the collar of his robes. “Meet you at the room in ten minutes?” 

“Sure.” Alexandria whispered.

Vivian practically ambushed Alexandria as she walked into her room.

“How was it? Did it go well? Did you kiss? Did-”

“We’re not done yet.” Alexandria whispered.

“Ooooh!” Vivian grinned like a fox. 

“But you’ve won your bet with Sora.”

“YES!” Vivian pumped her fist. “Okay, what’s next. I’ve got outfits for everything.”

“Praetorian room.” Alexandria whispered. Vivian shuddered.

“Alright, yeah, you keep Erik to yourself. Anyone trying to drag me there on a date will not have a second one.” Vivian said. “Exercise clothes, exercise clothes… oh! I have a great thought!” 

Alex wasn’t enamored with the leer on Vivian’s face.

“What.” She said, flatly.

“Well… Erik’s from a Dark family. Like, super Dark, right?” Vivian said. “Super conservative, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Alexandria whispered, changing clothes.

“Well. The really conservative families get really uptight. If you wanted to give him a treat, flash him your collarbones.”

“What.” Alex whispered.

“Your-”

“I heard you!” She snapped. “I’m not ‘flashing’ anyone anything. No. Just… no.”

“Sorry.” Vivian seemed to draw into herself. “I got a little too excited.”

“You did.” Alexandria whispered, staring at herself in the mirror. “It’s fun for you. It’s my life.”

Vivian draped herself over Alex in a hug.

“Sorry.” She repeated herself. “I just want you to have the best life possible, you know?”

Alex smirked.

“And have your fill of juicy gossip?” She teased. Vivian mock-gasped.

“But of course!” She said. “What’s the purpose of life without gossip? Please, Alex, you’re my only source right now! Straight from the tap!”

“No way am I your only source.” Alex whispered.

“Well. Only direct, first-hand experience.”

Alex snorted.

“You know everything going on already, don’t you?” She said.

“Oh you better believe it!” Vivian said.

“Just… don’t have my business all over the castle tomorrow, okay?” Alex said.

“I’ll wait at least a week.” Vivian promised. Alex rolled her eyes. It was the best she was going to get.

She grabbed her wand and went down to the Praetorian room, a door leading off from the main Thunderbird common room, and met Erik there.

“Shall we?” He asked, opening the door for her.

“Thank you.” She whispered.

The two of them entered the Praetorian room. It could be configured any number of ways, and a few other students were practicing their magic on Friday night. They told the room which spell they wanted to practice - not that they had a ton - and a number of white disks detached from the wall, and slowly moved across the room. The two of them fired the spell as quickly as they could at the disks. When one of their spells hit, the disk flashed with color then faded out. At the end of each round, numbers and statistics were presented. The two of them were just barely able to get all of the current disks - at the slowest speed, at the closest setting.

“Let’s try hard mode!” Erik suggested.

Alex snorted.

“We’ll be lucky to hit one.” She said.

“Yeah, but the point is to have fun.” Erik said, changing the configuration.

Disks whizzed past at the far end of the room, a tiny white blur almost a hundred meters away.

“We’re supposed to hit that?” Alex asked.

“Yup!” Erik grinned as he sent spell after spell downrange, missing all of his shots. Alex rolled her eyes and fired off her own spells.

“This is stupid.” She said.

“I know!”

Alex rolled her eyes, but kept trying. 

Eventually, the two of them returned to more sane settings. It just wasn’t fun missing everything. Their time in the Praetorian room was cut short when they exhausted their magic, unable to cast anything more.

“Come to my room?” Erik suggested. “I want to show you something.”

Alex snorted.

“If Vivian heard you say that, you’d never hear the end of it.” She whispered.

Erik paused, then slowly went red.

“Right. Phrasing. How about you skip that part when you gossip with her later?” He said.

Alex mulled the idea over, then smirked.

“And miss all the joy she’ll get out of it? Not until King Arthur returns.” She whispered.

Erik groaned.

“I’m doomed. Doomed!” He said. “Ah well, since I’m already in for it, want… a show?” He said.

“Now you’re just seeing how bad you can make it.” Alex said.

“With only a few bits of shame.” Erik agreed, and offered his hand. Alex took it again, and they walked out of the room, and up the ramp to his room.

“I wasn’t clear if Vivian’s winning a set amount, or a scaling amount with Sora.” Erik commented.

Alex spluttered.

“How did you know about that?” She whispered.

“Please. You think Sora and I don’t chat?” Erik said.

“Fair enough.” Alex went quiet, wondering about Erik’s relationship with Sora. At the same time, things were too new, too fresh, to tackle it.

They got back to Erik’s room and slipped in. He headed over to his satchel, and pulled out his violin.

“You play?” Alexandria whispered.

“When I can. And tonight, with your permission, I’d like to play for you.” Erik said.

Alex took a seat.

“Alright then.”

Erik put his violin up to his chin, lovingly pulled the bow across the strings, and did exactly that.