Visions Across the Veil

by Gretchen S. B.

  Narcissa gave up on stirring the stew. As the story progressed she turned off the stove and moved the pot from the burner, giving the young MP all of her attention. It sounded exactly like a black MP trying to hide the fact they have somehow gone dark. Black magic is not something to be trifled with and if the angry outbursts HJ mentioned are any inclination, there is more going on than just someone who made a mistake and is trying to cover for it.

  "Did you put in a call to the Council?" Narcissa asks, not sure which answer she is hoping for.

  HJ shook her head and took a large gulp from the water glass in front of her. "No, I figured I would talk to you first and see what you said."

  Trying to distract herself, Narcissa pulls out bowls and yanks the bread out of the oven a little faster than she should have. "I think you need to tell the Council. Even if you want to leave his name out of it, you can. They will want to know the name of the shop you visited. If that makes you uncomfortable write down as much information as possible before you leave today and I can report it for you. I can leave out enough details so it doesn't get traced back to you. But this definitely sounds like something they need to know. If there's a shop selling that kind of thing, the Council will need to know about it."

  HJ is nodding slowly at the table. "I feel much more comfortable writing it down for you than reporting it myself," she stammered quietly.

  Narcissa puts the bowls, each with a roll balanced on the rim on the table. One in front of HJ and one across the table. "That's fine with me. Why don't we have a nice lunch and worry about this after."

  She reaches across the table to where HJ's hand lays flat against the stack of Lloyd's books. As she gives it a gentle pat and a squeeze there is a flash across her brain.

  It's been a while since such a flash happened, but Narcissa doesn’t come into as much contact with people of the Night World as she used to. The flash was in the library. HJ stands in a pale pink sundress and kitten heels, her curly blonde hair cascading over her shoulder as her head leans back and she laughs. Next to her, with his arm around her waist and a hearty smile on his face is Bandit. He stands in dark jeans and a tight T-shirt with a leather jacket in his hand. In front of them stands a small towheaded boy, maybe about five, holding up an open picture book for the adults to see.

  The image vanishes as soon as it comes and Narcissa yanks her hand back. Trying to cover she gives a smile she doesn’t feel to HJ. "Now eat. Warm food always does the psyche good."

  She isn’t sure what to do; her heartbeat speeds up at the ramifications of what she saw. Narcissa has always had the ability of matchmaking. It is a relatively rare skill amongst MPs and it’s one that traveled down her family bloodline. Her grandmother's older sister, who died when Narcissa was in her mid-teens, had been the last one in the family to possess that gift other than Narcissa herself. When it became clear Narcissa also had the gift her great aunt Mabel did all she could to pass as much information about what that gift entailed as possible.

  When one sees a match they have to act. The need to matchmake only becomes stronger the more resistant one is to it. If an MP with matchmaker capabilities denies what they see for too long they go crazy, as they see the love matches for every person they come across and not just those who are close to meeting their mate. She doesn’t fully understand how the timelines work even though she has been doing this for more than fifty years, but she tried to fight it once, the first few years after Lloyd died. Love seemed like such a foreign thing that she wanted nothing to do with it, but she quickly changed her mind as she saw the love lives draw out of everyone around her. She realized it was easier to just go with the ones that came to her in visions than to fight it.

  On the other side of that coin, one never sees the love lives of those closest to them. The pirate brothers are basically her family so she never expected to see either of their mates. Matchmaking MPs and those who could see the future all say the same thing. It’s sort of an unwritten rule of magic. Your abilities don’t work on yourself or those closest to you. It is as if magic prevents you from using it for personal gain. Seeing Bandit mated to one of the most powerful white MPs in the Kingdom is a huge shock.

  She already warned Bandit away from HJ and with good reason. The pirate brothers are heavily into one-night stands and weekend flings. She has never known either of them to have any relationship last longer than a week. HJ isn’t that type of woman. She wouldn’t be content with a fling or with the wandering lifestyle the pirates live. This sort of match needs a lot of time to ferret out and finesse. At least she is of the Night World, so the general rules of Warrior love won’t be entirely new to her, hopefully. Normally it takes time but time is the one thing she doesn’t have. She only has a matter of weeks to throw these two together. Short of yelling at them to touch each other, she isn’t sure what to do.

  She learned when she was younger that forcing a Warrior and his mate to touch before they were emotionally ready could doom the relationship. It always throws the Warrior into the maddening but, in the long run, stunts the growth of their love.

  Those thoughts worry her as she and HJ sit in silence, a silence she doesn’t mean to have in the first place, that is until Bandit comes back.

  There is a loud thunk as the front door opens and Bandit drops a bunch of supplies in the front entryway. "Honey, I'm home," he hollers from the front of the house.

  Narcissa watches the corner he’ll be coming around like a hawk. Seeing his reaction to HJ could give her some insight on how to get these two together.

  As he turns the corner he starts to speak, though Narcissa isn’t sure what the words are because he stops midsentence as he stands in the doorway and his eyes lock on HJ. It’s a good sign. Clearly he finds her very attractive, but he then sees Narcissa watching him and he blanks his face before moving to grab a bowl of stew for himself. He purposely moves around the table and tilts his chair, so he is sitting closer to Narcissa than HJ, almost crowding her a little.

  Narcissa shakes her head. "Bandit this is HJ. HJ this is Bandit. Bandit, if you couldn't tell by his name, is a Warrior. He also has a twin brother whom I don't know if you've met, named Buccaneer. Bandit, HJ is the powerful white Magical Practitioner I was telling you about."

  They both mumble greetings at each other and then sit in silence before HJ looks up and begins ripping small pieces from her bread.

  "Nice to meet you, Bandit. I have to say though it is a bit strange that a Warrior would be staying with an MP. Even one with as impressive a reputation as Narcissa. Usually the two groups don't mingle unless money is involved." She gives a little chuckle at the end of her words.

  Bandit slows down his shoveling the stew in his mouth and smiles across the table; Narcissa knows him well enough to know the smile is friendly, as if he is purposely toning down the flirting he would normally do. "I agree; it is a bit weird. My brother and I met Narcissa when she was thirteen, I believe?" He looks at Narcissa for confirmation and she only nods. "She was waiting tables at her family's restaurant. Though I use the term restaurant loosely, it was more of a bar.

  "Some other patrons were giving her trouble. My brother and I stepped in before her uncle could come around the bar to break it up. We ended up getting our drinks on the house for that night. We liked the place, and we were in town for a week, so we ended up coming by two or three more times and each night she was working there so we sat, chatting with her and her family. Each time we came back through Mississippi, which back then I'd say was twice a year for supplies, we would stop by the little bar and got to know her and her family quite well." He stops and his smile drops.

  Narcissa knows why. She and the Warriors did not become as close as they are now until she was nineteen. Right after Lloyd died. Both Buccaneer and Bandit were so concerned they stayed in town a month longer than their initial plan. They helped out at the restaurant and helped Narcissa keep busy.

  "By the time the fifties started, she was getting all hot and hea
vy with a gentleman named Lloyd, whose books are sitting next to you. Long story short, Lloyd went off to war and didn't come back. I can't to this day tell you why but both Buck and I decided when we heard that news we needed to stay put in the South for a while and look after that sassy young woman we watched grow up. She reminded us of our little sister, I think that is what started the friendship. Ever since then we've always come for visits. It may sound silly but this is where Buck and I spend Christmas every year. Wherever we happen to be we turn back around and come spend three or four days here with our gal. Because she's family and you're supposed to spend holidays with family." He pauses in his eating as if he forgets the stew is there.

  Narcissa reaches over and gives his hand a squeeze and smiles when he turns to look at her. When she looks at HJ, the younger woman's eyes are round and a little glossy.

  "I never knew you were married. I suppose that means it's not common knowledge. Are you sure you want to give me his books? Wouldn't you rather hold onto them?" she asks in awe that Narcissa is giving them to her.

  Narcissa steels herself and nods once. "Absolutely. I don't use them and you're the strongest white MP I know. They should go to you. Lloyd would want them to go to you. He was a white MP himself, not as strong as you are but he loved to do research. So those books have practices and spells he was never going to be capable of doing but he wanted to collect them all just the same. You'll get more use out of them than I possibly could."

  "Thank you," comes the whisper from across the table as HJ looks again at the large leather volumes in front of her as if they now hold the new meaning and a new importance they didn’t before. "Thank you," she whispers again.

  Silence hangs around the table as all three of them slowly go back to eating, only this time they aren’t so quick to continue the conversation. Narcissa doesn’t quite feel like conversation but she has to get the conversation on a more positive note. She can’t leave this negative air surrounding the table.

  "Don't let his sentimental words fool you. He and his brother are terrible influences on everyone. They were actually pirates back in the day." It’s the first thing Narcissa thinks of to lighten the mood.

  HJ looks up from her almost empty bowl in curiosity at Bandit. "Oh?"

  There’s a slight chuckle from next to her as Bandit sets his spoon in his empty bowl. The brothers have both been very fast eaters for as long as Narcissa can remember. "We're not that bad, at least not anymore. Okay well at least not with Narcissa, and the Lady of the Dead. We like having our freedom. Which is why you don't see any brands on my palms." He lifts up both his hands to show that he is in fact without a Warrior tattoo.

  Warriors get brands on their palms that are magically enchanted so they stay on their skin, despite the enhanced Warrior healing. There are different colors depending on what Kingdom the Warrior pledges his allegiance to.

  Both brothers were around the Americas long before the current King took over and neither of them saw a reason to pledge their allegiance since he let them continue their lives as they always had.

  HJ's eyes grow wide. "I've never met a rogue Warrior before. Not that I know a lot of Warriors but I've never met one without a tattoo."

  Bandit chuckles and pushes back from the table, getting another bowl of stew. "Yeah, our hands look like everybody else's, sorry to disappoint."

  Narcissa looks over at HJ and the other woman is eyeing Bandit's back warily. Narcissa kicks herself. She forgot HJ's love of rules and working within the system. Perhaps starting with Bandit being, for lack of a better term, an outlaw in the Night World isn’t the best starting point.

  The younger woman then turns to Narcissa. "That doesn't bother you? Being friends with rogues?"

  Narcissa can’t help the laugh that bubbles up from her throat. "Why would it? They were my friends long before I had any understanding of how the Warrior Kingdoms worked. Plus, they are not out there doing things I believe are wrong. They just don’t take orders from the King.”

  Bandit comes and sits back down at the table, a smidge farther away from Narcissa, which she takes as a good sign.

  "Yeah, why follow the rules if you don't have to? Life's more fun when you don't color within the lines," Bandit adds with a smirk.

  Narcissa inwardly winces at his words. Then she sees HJ's slight frown. While the younger woman doesn’t outwardly disapprove of Bandit's sentiment, she is clearly inwardly registering that perhaps he is not someone she wants to be around.

  "To each their own I suppose," she relents.

  Next to her Bandit chuckles. "What am I saying, white Magical Practitioners are the equivalent of the ideal rule followers. You never do anything wrong. Never do any magic for personal gain. Your magic is always the strongest on average because you use it the way it's meant to be used and always to help others. I can't imagine you've stepped out of line even once in your life."

  Narcissa watches as the conversation begins to spiral out of her control and HJ bristles, straightening her back. "Following rules isn't a bad thing. I'm not judging the way you live your life so I see no reason you would make jokes about mine. You might be physically stronger than me. When it comes to magic I'm positive I have you outmatched." This is a level of confidence Narcissa isn’t used to seeing from HJ. Perhaps the conversation isn’t as lost as she thought.

  Bandit snorts. "You might be more powerful magically but you're not going to use that magic against me. That's the problem with little white witches." He doesn’t look up from his bowl as he speaks. Using the lay term all Magical Practitioners hated, because he knows it will ruffle HJ's feathers.

  HJ bristles further, but before the conversation continues, Narcissa speaks up, "Now, now, children there will be no arguing like this at my table. Everyone is entitled to live the way they want to as long as their lives are not infringing upon other people." She kicks Bandit as hard as she dares under the table and when he looks at her curiously, she frowns before turning back to her own roll and beginning to tear it apart. "And you know better than to use that word in my house."

  There is a moment of silence before HJ stands up, brings her bowl to the sink and rinses it out. "I should probably head back down since I told my sisters I would be home this afternoon. Where do you keep spare paper, Narcissa? I can write down all the information you need for the Council.”

  Narcissa curses. HJ is shutting herself out of the conversation, being polite and escaping before any real problem can arise. She knows from her experience with the younger woman that any effort to pull her back in isn’t likely to work as long as Bandit continues to be an antagonist.

  "Under the microwave, second drawer. There should be pens in there too. You can bring it back to the table and fill it out while I'm here. I can watch and let you know if I need you to fill in gaps before you leave."

  When Narcissa is sure HJ can’t hear her, she nudges her foot into Bandit's leg to get his attention. When he makes eye contact she hisses, "Be nice."

  Bandit looks her confused. "What?"

  Narcissa doesn’t have time to explain it before HJ returns to the table. So she responds with the first sentence that comes to mind, "Because it's in your best interest." It still comes out as much of a hiss as her last statement.

  The look he gives her says if HJ weren’t in the room he would question her adamantly. Thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut.

  When HJ sits back down at the table Bandit clears his throat. "How did you meet Narcissa? She must think very highly of you in order to give you Lloyd's books. She wouldn't give those things up to just anyone."

  HJ looks up at Bandit, gives an embarrassed look and begins to blush. In the handful of times Narcissa has seen someone complement HJ, the younger woman has never been able to respond beyond embarrassment.

  "Well, it was about five years ago. Every other year there are sort of regional Magical Practitioner conferences, I guess you'd call them. The people who can get together do. It's a way of networking a
nd finding instructors if you need them. It is my understanding that I was the second to last pupil Narcissa took on. Though I was only here maybe two weeks. The rest was done in weekend visits over the course of a year.

  "She said I was in dire need of a tutor because she was afraid I'd be overshadowed by my sisters. I still don't know what I said or did to get her attention. I remember standing with my three sisters as we waited for one of my aunts who was talking to an herbalist. Narcissa walked by, then walked by a second time and stopped in front of us. She introduced herself and my oldest sister recognized her name. Nancy knew she was someone of importance and somebody on the Council, but it didn't seem to matter which of my sisters tried to talk to her; the only one she seemed to want to communicate with was me. It ticked them off. To say they were displeased is an understatement. I think they're still a little upset with me over that." There is a bashful smile on her face as HJ finishes.

  Before anyone can say anything else, Narcissa's phone rings from where she left it on the counter. Since it could be anyone ranging from a councilmember to a past student who's in trouble, Narcissa has to take it. Quickly she gets up from the table and moves to the phone. Much to her surprise, Harold's name appears on the screen.

  Picking it up she turns to her to guests at the table. "Excuse me, I need to go into the other room and take this," she says before clicking the answer button and making her way to the front of the house. Though she only acts like she’s walking to the front of the house, she turns the corner and stands in the hallway so if she talks quietly she’ll be out of earshot but can still see Bandit and HJ's interactions.