I was leaning against the wall of a house watching the kids when Cassie’s mother Jolene approached me. I didn’t notice her for an embarrassing stretch of time, so focused I was on making sure nothing happened to our young charges. Of course, it wasn’t likely that anything would happen as they cuddled with rabbits (and one hedgehog, despite my warnings), but it paid to be cautious. My focus lead to me startling when she chose to speak up.
“You’re good with them.” She said simply. Once I recovered from my shock, I turned to her. Jolene was usually a fairly jovial woman, not unlike my own mother. She differed in appearance greatly, being tall and lean, blonde hair rather than black. Nevertheless, Cassie came by her personality honestly, although where Cassie was relentless ball of energy, her mother was more like an affable force of nature. Less affable recently, though.
Something in my face must have given away my shock, because she clarified. “With the children, I mean. Although if you wanted you could probably up and leave, I imagine they would be fine. But you don’t.” She was so matter of fact that I couldn’t find it in me to disagree with her assessment, so I just nodded and turned back to the kids. From the corner of my eye I saw Cassie, chatting with a teenager who seemed to want to see the animals, but was reticent for some reason.
“She’s good with them too, of course. In a different way, but still.” There was a note of sadness in her voice, and I was pretty sure I knew why. Cassie and her mother hadn’t really gotten along for years now. I could never get many details out of either of them, beyond the fact that Cassie had done something that Jolene disagreed with and wouldn’t take back, and their relationship had deteriorated from there. They were still cordial, and it was clear they still cared for each other. Even so, I remembered the way that Cassie had idolised her mother when we were kids, and it was obvious to me at least that wasn’t the case any more.
“She’s great with them. Matches their energy, I think. You raised her well, Ms. Vaughn,” I added, just to fill the silence. I hadn’t really spoken to Jolene in a while, since my only real link to her was her daughter. I didn’t dislike the woman, but I couldn’t help but theorise about what had caused their fight, and some of the options didn’t paint Theory-Jolene in a good light. Then again, I was more than a little biased.
“Yeah,” she sighed. “Shame, isn’t it?” That got me to turn and look at her again, if just to give her a confused look. She seemed a little surprised, like she had expected me to understand whatever she was talking about. She shook her head, before barrelling on.
“Nevermind. Cassie said that you’re doing a performance later. When is it? I plan to watch.” I stumbled over the sudden change in topic, but I pushed the feeling away.
“Give it an hour or so, for the kids to tire themselves out. We’d rather risk having it slept through than interrupted. It won’t be anything too long, anyway.” She nodded.
“Take care of her, Julie,” she said before wandering off. I briefly wondered what her visit had even been about, before mentally shrugging and turning back to Cassie.
She had managed to coax the teenager over to the pen, where she was standing awkwardly holding a rabbit. Despite her clear discomfort she seemed to enjoy petting the little creature, and soon settled in to the rhythm of petting one rabbit for a bit, before handing it off to a younger kid and picking up another. After about a quarter of an hour some other kids that looked around her age showed up, but rather than make trouble they just joined in too, almost wordlessly. All the while, Cassie was standing watch nearby, although she bounced over to me when she caught me watching.
I gave her a small wave in greeting, and she responded with a “hey” before launching herself at me for a hug. I may have mentioned that she was very affectionate, in which case I would have been downplaying it.
“Did I see my mum over here?” She asked as she pulled away, shuffling to the side so that we could talk and keep an eye on the kids.
“Yeah. She was talking about how how good you were with the kids. Said something like ‘shame’ and then wandered off. Oh, and she wanted to come to the performance.”
Something complicated passed Cassie’s face, here and gone in a flash. “Huh. Wonder what that’s all about.”
“Yeah, I was confused too. Thought you might know something, but I guess not.” Something was definitely up with those two. Something to do with their argument? Either way, Cassie would tell me when she was ready. She always did.
“Yeah, who knows.” She shrugged, before changing the subject. “How long do you reckon it’ll take before they’re all tuckered out? You’ve always been good at figuring this kind of thing out.”
I took an intense look at some of the kids, many of whom had taken to just running around and playing with each other inside the pen. I wasn’t sure why, but I’d always had a bit of a sense for when people were tired, and Cassie liked to make use of it whenever possible.
“Okay, you see the short one with brown hair?” I pointed, and Cassie nodded.
“Jonathan, yeah.”
“Well, he’s hiding it like a champ, but he’ll be out like a light within the hour. Meanwhile, blondie-”
“Katie”
“-could easily go for at least another forty minutes after that. There’s your range.”
Cassie nodded her head idly as she thought. “Well, how about we shoot for an hour and a half, then? That’ll give us time for the last minute prep.”
I tilted my head. “What last minute prep? Wait, the only thing that we didn’t sort out this morning was your costume. Oh gods, Cassie! What did you do?”
Cassie just walked away while laughing maniacally, and I couldn’t help but fear for my wellbeing.
----------------------------------------------
It turned out that when Cassie said “I’ll handle it,” she really meant “I’ll get us both even deeper into herb-debt with the local wizard”, because Almon was helping out with the costume too. Which is to say, there was no costume. Instead, Almon would be performing a short-term illusion to make Cassie look like an actual monster.
“Oh my gods, was this why you insisted on rehearsing on all fours?” I asked, incredulous as I stared at Cassie. The illusion covering her made her look like a giant wolf, if a wolf was scaled and had two tails. It was also taller than I was, so I was worried about scaring the kids.
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Cassie made a discordant hissing sound, before Almon cancelled the spell. “Sorry, it makes whatever I say sound like an animal. The answer is yes.”
I shook my head. “You are going to terrify those kids.”
“Nope!” Cassie was grinning now. “You haven’t seen the best part yet! Almon, hit it!”
Almon grumbled something under his breath, but he placed the illusion over a small stick. The illusion itself was now completely static, and tiny. Cassie mimed striking at it, and Almon waved a hand that caused a burst of multi-coloured confetti to burst into the air with a popping sound. It disappeared when it struck the ground, and Almon dismissed the spell again.
Well, at least it’s family-friendly.
Cassie’s grin was wider than ever. “See? Completely fine, they’re gonna love it.”
I sighed, but acquiesced. “At least we’ll be memorable before we get banned from ever performing again.”
“It’ll be fiiiine,” Cassie drawled, the smile on her face making it very clear how she thought this performance would go. “Anyway, you got your spear?”
I nodded, glad to move on. I reached for long bundle of cloth beside me, unravelling its casing to reveal a six-foot length of wood. I had spent a long time on this bad boy, but it was worth it. The handle was carved with spirals, although the patterns avoided a few slightly raised bits of wood where I would be holding the weapon. The head, was also made of wood, long and leaf-shaped, with prongs where the blade met the handle. The wooden blade was also marked with spirals, although these patterns didn’t stray too close to the edge of the spearhead. This was the kind of prop that I just wanted to hang on my wall after it was used, and since I made it, I could do just that.
“Damn! How long did you spend on that thing?” Cassie looked at the spear with wide eyes.
I flushed at the implicit praise. “A few weeks, whenever I had time. I’m happy with how it turned out, so no illusions on this one please.”
I saw Cassie make a dramatic dismissive gesture at Almon, who just harrumphed and looked away. Born for theatre, as I said. I couldn’t help but laugh at the display.
“Alright, let me go and get everyone riled up. Your signal is ‘What is that noise?’, remember?”
I received a round of nods and headed up the steps to the stage we were currently under. I stepped out to see a mix of kids and their parents, most seated but some standing. The crowd hushed when I stepped out, holding my wooden spear and dressed in hunting leathers. My eyes lingered for a moment on Jolene at the very back, before I took a steadying breath to recover from their attentions and prepared for my performance.
“Hello, one! Hello, all! I am the Huntress, and today I will be felling a great beast for your entertainment!” As I spoke I flourished with my spear, twirling it to my side in a move that had taken ages to do properly in rehearsal.
I began to pace the stage as I spoke, occasionally gesturing with my spear. “You see, I have been tracking this fiend for days now. This beast has been terrorising the villagers, all good people like yourselves, and none have been able to follow its trail to even attempt to slay the beast. None except for me!”
I paused in an exaggerated stance, holding my head high and gesturing to myself, before sagging slightly. “But, loathe as I am to admit it, I have been facing some issues. This beast is a wily one, and I am afraid that I have lost its scent. I know it is somewhere on this stage, but precision eludes me!” I made an exaggerated searching motion with my hand above my eyes, before stopping suddenly.
“What is that noise?” I once again made a show of looking around, allowing Cassie to appear on the stage and move directly behind me, pacing the back of the stage as she kept out of my vision.
“Did any of you fine folks see anything?” I gestured at the crowd with my spear, to the delighted yelling of “Behind you!” and “It’s right there!” from many in the audience.
“It’s behind me, you say?” I turned quickly, while Cassie slid to the front of the stage. I caught a glimpse of her in the corner of my eye, but the crowd didn’t need to know that.
“I see nothing. You wouldn’t lie to me, would you, friends?” I swept my spear towards them as I turned, only to spot Cassie staring directly at me, growling low and deep.
“Fie! I have found you now fiend, and you have found your end!” I struck a dramatic pose with my spear pointed at Cassie before lunging, giving her plenty of time to slip away from the blow. Her illusory form was almost serpentine as it moved, despite its bulky form. It seemed to flow from one place to another, as she leapt at me from my side. I stepped away from the blow, slashing down with my spear and forcing her to disengage.
We circled each other, her growling and hissing as I forced my face into a rictus grin. “You have met your match this day, monster.” I shouted, taunting Cassie as she moved again towards me and pounced. Rather than side stepping the leap I ran forward and slid beneath her as she flew, scoring a blow on a front paw. The moment my spear made contact, confetti burst from the wound, adding to the squealing from the younger members of the audience and earning a few polite chuckles from their parents.
Cassie yowled as I made the cut, making a show of limping as we returned to circling each other. I laughed, loud and deep. “That’s right, cur! I am your end!”
With a battle cry, I lunged again. Cassie leapt out of the way, and once more made a show of staggering as she caught her weight on her injured leg. I took advantage, not lunging again but throwing my spear. This wasn’t planned, but I felt like getting some payback for not telling me about the illusion. Thankfully, Almon either planned for this or read my movement, because my spear stuck in the illusion just fine.
Cassie stumbled, giving a defeated whine as she collapsed heavily on the stage. I strode confidently toward her, placing one foot over the illusion and once again trusting in Almon. After a moment of holding my foot over the image I felt a force push against my foot, and rested my weight more confidently over the still body of my slain foe.
“Come one, come all! I thank you all for your aid in finding this most fell of creatures! The villages of the area will be safe now, thanks to our combined might!” I tugged my spear from the force holding it in place, holding it above my head to proclaim my victory.
After a moment of holding my pose the illusion surrounding Cassie began to melt, revealing a girl who was flushed and grinning. I offered her my hand and pulled her to her feet. We stood side by side as she spoke. “We hope you enjoyed our show, ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for coming today!”
We both bowed, and I could see that Cassie was basking in the applause. If I was honest I didn’t mind it either, although I was thoroughly exhausted and kind of just wanted to get out of the limelight for a bit.
The moment that Cassie and I were out of sight she squealed and tackled me, which I had absolutely no excuse for not anticipating. I had to drop the spear to hug her back as she practically vibrated with excitement.
“We were so good!” She chirped. “I mean, the growling and the spear and that throw! Gods, I should be mad that you broke script but that was so cool! Tell me we can do that again at some point. Please!” She looked up at me with wide eyes as she gave me a moment to mentally parse her torrent of words.
Eventually I nodded. “Yeah, sure. But we should probably do a show about something different next year. Also, you can’t talk about going off-script, Miss I-added-magic-last-second.”
Cassie just grinned, tightening our embrace at my assent before letting go. “Thanks, Lia, you’re the best.”
“Damn straight I am!” We laughed, before I added. “Now if you don’t mind, the best is ready to sleep at three in the afternoon, so I’m probably heading home.” I wasn’t actually going to sleep, not yet. I was tired, though, thoroughly unused to being the centre of attention. It was worth it to see Cassie so happy.
“Ooh, can I come? I wanted to talk to your mum about something.” I paused, before nodding again.
“Sure, what about?”
She shook her head. “Oh, nothing you need to know about.”
“Clandestine meetings with my mother? Whatever will the neighbours think, Cass?” We laughed again, but I didn’t push. If she didn’t want me to know I wasn’t going to get anything out of her, and I trusted her enough to respect her boundaries.
“Come on, then, we can thank Almon and then get going.” I nodded my head, and we soon made our escape from the grumpy mage with only a light scolding for making him change the magic on the fly. It didn’t take long until we were free and clear, leaving from behind the stage to avoid the crowd that was still present around the front.
