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Old Mother Dismass’s clothes had that disarray of someone who, because of a detached retina in her second sight, was living in a variety of times all at once. Mental confusion is bad enough in normal people, but much worse when the mind has an occult twist. You just had to hope it was only her underwear she was wearing on the outside.
It was getting worse, Na
Na
And she was married. Na
And she had money. Na
“Evening, Gytha. How are you keeping, in yourself?” said Gammer Beavis.
Na
“Ain’t this rain dreadful?” said Mother Dismass. Na
“Come along in and dry off, then,” she said kindly.
“May fortunate stars shine on this our meeting,” said Letice. Na
“Yeah, right,” she said.
There was some polite conversation while Na
“We’re here as the Trials committee, Na
“Oh? Yes?”
“I expect you’ll be entering?”
“Oh, yes. I’ll do my little turn.” Na
“There’s a lot of interest this year,” Gammer went on. “More girls are taking it up lately.”
“To get boys, one feels,” said Letice, and sniffed. Na
“That’s nice,” she said. “Always looks good, a big turnout. But.”
“I beg your pardon?” said Letice.
“I said "but",” said Na
She knew this was flying in the face of protocol. There should be at least seven more minutes of small talk before anyone got around to the point, but Letice’s presence was getting on her nerves.
“It’s about Esme Weatherwax,” said Gammer Beavis.
“Yes?” said Na
“I suppose she’s entering?”
“Never known her stay away.”
Letice sighed.
“I suppose you ... couldn’t persuade her to ... not to enter this year?”
Na
“With an axe, you mean?”
In unison, the three witches sat back.
“You see —” Gammer began, a bit shamefaced.
“Frankly, Mrs Ogg,” said Letice, “it is very hard to get other people to enter when they know that Miss Weatherwax is entering. She always wins.”
“Yes,” said Na
“But she always wins!”
“So?”
“In other types of competition,” said Letice, “one is normally only allowed to win for three years in a row and then one takes a back seat for a while.”
“Yeah but this is witching,” said Na
“How so?”
“There ain’t none.”
Letice twitched her skirt. “Perhaps it is time there were,” she said.
“Ah,” said Na
Gammer Beavis didn’t meet her gaze. Old Mother Dismass was gazing at last week.
“I understand Miss Weatherwax is a very proud woman,” said Letice.
Na
“You might as well say the sea is full of water,” she said.
The other witches were silent for a moment.
“I daresay that was a valuable comment,” said Letice, “but I didn’t understand it.”
“If there ain’t no water in the sea, it ain’t the sea,” said Na
“Then perhaps she should learn to be a bit more humble ...”
“What’s she got to be humble about?” said Na
But Letice, like a lot of people with marshmallow on the outside, had a hard core that was not easily compressed.
“The woman clearly has a natural talent and, really, she should be grateful for ...”
Na
It was the same in just about every trade. Sooner or later someone decided it needed organizing, and the one thing you could be sure of was that the organizers weren’t going to be the people who, by general acknowledgement, were at the top of their craft. They were working too hard. To be fair, it generally wasn’t done by the worst, neither. They were working hard, too. They had to.
No, it was done by the ones who had just enough time and inclination to scurry and bustle. And, to be fair again, the world needed people who scurried and bustled. You just didn’t have to like them very much.
The lull told her that Letice had finished.
“Really? Now, me,” said Na
“We were rather hoping you would,” said Letice.
Na
“Tell you what,” she said, “you can tell her tomorrow, and I’ll come with you to hold her back.”
Gra
Everyday herbs of sickroom and kitchen are known as simples. Gra
Even she didn’t know where some of the Herbs came from. Roots and seeds were traded all over the world, and maybe further. Some had flowers that turned as you passed by, some fired their thorns at passing birds and several were staked, not so that they wouldn’t fall over, but so they’d still be there next day.
Na