Delores felt nervous as she entered the kitchen. Like the rest of the house, the kitchen looked like it had been built by the people that lived in it. Cozy and a bit archaic. Dottie was already prepping something and she turned at the sound of Delores’s feet on the vinyl.

  “Just you, hun?” Dottie asked.

  “Uh, yes ma’am. Elton does our cooking usually and decided to bail. I can’t blame him for that.” She tried smiling.

  Dottie grabbed a small knife and had a boiler in her other hand.

  “Do you know how to cut potatoes?” She asked Delores.

  “Sure.” She said. “Well, I mean, I know the idea. You peel them then make them smaller. It’s not hard.”

  “Perfect! I’m making homemade french fries. If you can cut the potatoes it would be a big help.”

  She set the boiler and knife down and Delores saw it was full of potatoes. Dottie brought her another boiler for the pealed spuds. Delores picked up the knife and set to work. She wanted to get to know this woman, but she had no idea how to start the conversation. Dottie solved that problem as she returned to her work.

  “I’m glad you were the one to come with me, Delores. Elton seems nice enough, but he’s not the one I really wanted to talk to.” Delores tried not to get more anxious at that.

  “Well, I don’t really cook, but I wanted to get to know you. Terry has a lot of fond memories of you two. You in particular.”

  Dottie smiled.

  “I’m glad to hear that. Growing up, it was hard to tell how he felt about us. But I know all about my boy. Tell me about yourself.”

  “Not much to tell, really. Just a girl from the coast.” Delores knew how lame that sounded as soon as she said it. She knew her entire aesthetic was weird as hell out here. She was concerned with how Dottie was going to take most of her past.

  The older woman turned from the counter and walked over to the center table where Delores sat. She put her hands on the table and leaned forward.

  “Delores, I know you’re nervous. That’s fine. I know we must seem like backwards yokels but I promise that there’s very little you can say that’s going to offend me.” Dottie said with a smile.

  “You sure about that, Mrs. Lingal?” Delores asked.

  “Call me Dottie. Mrs. Dottie if it makes you more comfortable.” She said before pulling up a chair across from Delores and sitting. “When I was younger, I was at a bar out on highway 80 five out of seven nights a week. I wasn’t there for boys. Not the way most girls were. I was a brawler.”

  Delores knew her eyes had gone wide and Dottie laughed at her expression.

  “Didn’t Terry tell you I taught him to fight?” She rolled her sleeve back and flexed her bicep. Delores ogled. The woman was built like a horse! She quickly went back to cutting her potatoes.

  “He’d mentioned it but I assumed. . .well, forget what I thought. Wow.” She said. Dottie leaned back in her chair with a fond smile on her face.

  “I would go out looking for fights. I was an unruly drunk. Haven’t had anything in probably 30 years now.”

  “Congratulations.” Delores said. It sounded impressive. And difficult.

  “Thank ya, dear.” Dottie said. “I had a partner in crime back then. The bartender at the place. Ironically, her name was Marie Boozer of all things.”

  Delores stopped cutting and looked up.

  “Nooooo. Seriously? THAT Marie?” Delores knew exactly which Marie she meant. Dottie had a knowing smile.

  “She was a wizard with alcohol, if you catch my meaning.”

  Delores just nodded. Dottie continued.

  “I still have no idea how the woman kept her job, as many fights as she got me into. And out of. Come to think of it, I don’t know how I didn’t get banned from the place.”

  “I don’t mean to interrupt,” Delores interrupted, “but Marie must have been extremely strong. WITH DRINKS." God, all the tip-toeing. "Why the hell was she tending a dive bar?” She realized she’d swore in front of Terry’s aunt but Dottie just kept grinning.

  “Because she didn’t care. She used her skills when she needed to. Or wanted to. It didn’t really matter to her though. That wasn’t all she was. She worked at a dive bar because she enjoyed it. She met people. She met me. We met some Lingal boys. It made her happy.”

  Dottie thought for a moment.

  “Hell, we shared a jail cell more than once. She even enjoyed that. She just loved living.”

  Delores smirked at that.

  “Anyway. Delores, I’m telling you this so you’ll understand that, unless you sacrificed kids to some dark god, there’s nothing you can say to shock me.”

  Delores nodded. Ok, she thought, I legitimately like this woman.

  “Let’s start with an easier question.” Dottie said as she stood and returned to her cooking. Delores started back on her peeling. “What got you into magic?”

  Delores thought about that for a moment before answering. She hadn’t considered that question in quite some time.

  “Well, I got talked into it fully by a boy. What got me interested?” She gestured broadly, trying to take in the whole world. “Everything! There are dragons out there! And fairies! And my folks just went along trying to pretend none of it was there. I remember seeing a flight of green dragons going by when I was little and my dad told me I hadn’t seen it.” She grew angry. “Ducks. He said I’d seen ducks!”

  ‘Well that’s stupid.” Dottie said over her shoulder.

  “I know! So one day I realized I felt. . .connected. I don’t know how else to explain the feeling. The first time you know you’ve drawn in mana it’s like you’ve expanded just enough that you can’t fit back into your own brain any more. Even with as little capacity as I had back then, it was like the world changed. Or I did. I could see more.”

  Dottie nodded. She’d heard this, Delores realized.

  “So that, combined with my dad’s weird gaslighting, got me to start looking into magic. I met some girls in a, well, they called it a coven, but it was more of a cell. None of us knew any better. We started going out into the graveyard across from my house and we’d do “witchy” things.”

  She smiled at the memory. It had been like slumber party games, but with results.

  “We all collectively had enough ability between us to light a candle and scare ourselves at midnight by a gravestone. For a long time that was enough. But I needed more. I got ideals.”

  “Oooow.” Dottie said. “Those are dangerous. I’ve seen them.”

  “I bet you have.” Delores said knowingly. “So I met this boy one night. Goth kid. He picked me out of the crowd and asked me if I wanted to learn real magic.”

  “And you did.” Dottie said.

  “And I did.” Delores agreed. “Anyway, after he moved on from me I started independent study. I started learning counter spells in an attempt to fix. . .” Delores trailed off. She’d forgotten why she’d dove into the subject so hard. She wanted to fix the biggest mistake she'd made. There was no fixing it though, she'd discovered. She’d already specialized, but not in anything the Circle considered reputable. And it would be considered a terrible reason to do so.

  Dottie looked over her shoulder at Delores when she'd paused.

  “There is nothing about you that needs fixing, dear. Let no one tell you different.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Delores just stared at the woman’s back for a long moment. How many times had she wished her mom had said something even close to that? She swallowed.

  “Anyway, I ended up being what they call a “counter-spell kid”. Counter-spells are some of the easiest since they use little mana and are all about redirecting intent. It seems more impressive than it is.”

  “Well,” Dottie said, “from my point of view it IS impressive. Having been hit with some things by Marie, I can tell you I would have LOVED to be able to do something about it.”

  Delores smiled. This whole conversation could have been awkward and painful. This woman had completely disarmed her and drawn her out.

  “So how did your family take all this?”

  Delores became very quiet. She hadn’t had time to process the previous day with her and Terry’s fight and the drive up here.

  “That’s over now.” Was all she could really get out. Dottie turned around and watched her.

  “Hun, I don’t know what happened to you with your family. I care, but I don’t care if you understand me. I welcomed you to this family earlier. I mean it doubly now.”

  She walked around the table and knelt by Delores, who looked at her as if she were a unicorn.

  “I’m a good judge of character. Even if you hadn’t driven up on that scooter with my boy and just showed up looking for help or a place to stay, you’d be welcome here.”

  Delores bit the inside of her lip because she’d be damned if she cried again. She’d been doing so entirely too much the last week.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Dottie.” She finally said. “I appreciate that.”

  Dottie stood back up and patted Delores’s shoulder before walking back over to the counter.

  “Thank you for the help, dear. And the company. You don’t have to stay if you’d rather run off with the boys.” She said. She seems so happy right now, Delores thought. Delores never got to be around people's parental figures when they were happy.

  “No ma’am, I think I’ll stick around here with you if that’s all right. I’ve seen enough of Terry swinging his sword the last few months.”

  “I just bet you have.” Dottie said without turning around, but her implications were clear. Delores’s eyes went wide.

  “MRS. DOTTIE!”

  The older woman cackled.

  Elton was starting to worry about Terry as they rounded the house. He was losing his innocence rapidly, along with any respect for the Order he’d sworn himself to. He hoped this didn’t lead to him changing as a person. Terry had wanted to help people above all else when they’d met. He hoped that would remain when whatever transformation he was going through was over.

  As they reached the back of the house, Terry stopped, bringing them all up short. There were half a dozen trailers in the pasture beyond the house that they couldn’t see from the road due to trees. Elton could only assume this was a new development.

  “The heck?” The Errant asked his uncle.

  “Well,” Ernest began, “remember when ya left I said I had my choice of kids wantin’ to train with me?”

  “Yeah.” Terry said. From the look on his face, Elton could tell Terry had just done the math.

  “Well I figured, why choose?” The old man said with a grin.

  “Good Lord, Uncle Ernest. It’s going to look like you’re building an army out here.” Terry said, a smile spreading on his face.

  “Well, I also figured if I could get more kids thinkin’ like you, then maybe the world would be better off.”

  Elton was surprised. Terry had said a lot about his uncle, but idealism hadn’t been one of the traits mentioned. He saw Terry put an arm around his uncle and squeeze.

  “I certainly hope it works out for you, Mr. Lingal.” Elton said.

  “Ernest.” The old man said back. “Too many Lingals runnin’ around the farm right now to start with mister.”

  Elton just nodded. He finally noticed a lone figure with a sword, moving from stance to stance beyond one trailer that was older than the others. Every now and again the figure would try some silly leap or pose. He was young. Probably fifteen. He had sandy brown hair and was wearing a squire’s blue and yellow tabbard over standard plate. Terry had noticed as well and he was frowning.

  “Your cousin, I take it?” Elton asked.

  Terry sighed.

  “Yeah. Uncle Ernest, does he do that silly stuff every time?”

  “Any time I’m not watchin’.” Ernest replied. “ He’s tryin’ to do that isolation thing ya did, too and I don’t think he’s built for it.”

  “I wasn’t built for it.” Terry said with sadness in his voice.

  “Think ya can talk some sense into him?”

  Elton watched Terry smirk.

  “I’ll do you one better. I’ll help you train him while I’m here. Maybe that’ll get his feet back on the ground.”

  They started their approach again and after a moment, the young man noticed them and stopped dead, staring at Terry.

  “Hi, David!” Terry said as they reached him.

  “Uh, hi!” The young man said. He couldn’t stop staring. Elton had seen this with celebrities before. He knew he was trying to make Terry more popular but the fact that his work was doing this filled him with a dual sense of wonder and dread. This was Terry’s family after all.

  “Uncle Ernest says you’re working too hard.” Terry said with a smile.

  The squire seemed to finally shake himself and remember Terry was, in fact, a human.

  “Oh. Yeah. He says that. I just want to get as good as I can as fast as I can.”

  Terry walked around him like he was inspecting the boy. Elton thought this was for show. He wasn’t sure though. Maybe there was something he was looking for. David looked nervous suddenly. He stood at a sloppy attention. As Terry came around to face him again, he had his hands clasped behind his back and a serious expression on his face. What was he trying here?

  “David, you have all the makings of a fine knight one day.” The boy’s face split in a smile. “But you’re going to end up getting yourself killed if you’re not careful.”

  Elton kept his face in check at that. Terry was the last person to go telling someone to be careful.

  “What?” David said, his expression becoming worried.

  “Look,” Terry said, relaxing, “I started when I was half your age. TOO young. I had nearly ten years on you for training. On top of that, I should have been spending time with people.”

  “But, look at all the things you’ve done! Look at what you can do! It must have been worth it, right?” David asked.

  “I’m back here right now because I don’t know that it was.” Terry said with feeling. “But I AM here now, and I’ve offered to help teach you a few things while I’m here, if you’d like.”

  David’s eyes went wide.

  “That would be AWESOME! Maybe I can show off for the other squires when-”

  “NO.” Terry said, stopping David. “This isn’t for glory or bragging rights. I don’t care what the pulps or blogs say. Why did you want to come out here, anyway?”

  David looked sheepish.

  “Well, I’d been reading the pulps.”

  “That’s fine,” Terry said, “because that’s usually what gets you started.” David smiled.

  “But then I started hearing about you out here in Raymond. Everyone had nothing but good things to say about you and. . .” David paused. He looked stricken. “And I just wanted to feel better about myself.”

  Elton watched Terry. His expression changed. He’d gone from being ready to give a lecture to sympathy just like that.

  “David,” Terry began, “There’s nothing wrong with that. Being a knight? A real knight? That involves helping people. I realized half of what I do is just humanitarian work with peaceful Fantastics. It shows you the value of a life. It can help show you your own value.”

  David looked doubtful.

  “I’ve got those thoughts too, David.” Terry said. “Runs in my family. As much as being in the Order has helped me, having friends has helped just as much. Don’t close yourself off to that. Ok?”

  David looked abashed.

  “I’ll try.” He said.

  “That’s all I ask. Now. I saw you jumping around a minute ago. You get that from me?” Terry asked.

  “Yeah.” David said like he’d been caught smoking.

  Terry let out a deep sigh and turned to look at Elton.

  “Dude, you did it. Don’t look at me. I’m just recording it.” He said to Terry. Terry sighed again.

  “Yeah,” the Errant said to David, “I guess that was kinda my fault. David, I’m not a normal Errant. I’m. . .unique.”

  “I’ll say!” David said excitedly. Terry frowned.

  “I’m about to tell you something. It’s been a secret for a long, long time. I’m going to trust you not to tell anyone else outside of the people on this farm, ok? Can you keep a secret?”

  “Sure.” The boy said.

  “Good. I’m a wizard. I ignored it for years, but the things I do are because of that. It comes to me when I need it mostly. It’s not something you can emulate.”

  Elton thought the squire’s eyes were just going to fall out of the sockets.

  “I thought,” David said, “that you had to be a cleric if you could use magic and wanted to be a knight.”

  “Normally, yeah.” Ernest answered. “Clerics are mind controlled slaves. They take a chunk of yer soul out and ya stop bein’ you. That’s why we never told anyone what Terry was.”

  Ernest looked at Terry.

  “And he USED to be careful about it.”

  Elton snorted. Terry looked at his uncle, a very serious look on his face.

  “I’d like to talk to you about that later.” He turned back to David. “I’m going to do something. I think seeing it for yourself might help to temper your expectations on what you can expect to accomplish. Is that ok?”

  “Sure!” David said. He looked excited. Elton was sort of excited. Terry didn’t show off. Ever. He wondered what Terry was about to do.

  The Errant looked around trying to find something and when he did he turned back to his uncle.

  “Uncle Ernest, did you ever give up on repairing that big tractor out there?”

  Elton looked and in the pasture was a broken down industrial tractor. It had an enclosed driver’s seat and everything. Ernest sighed.

  “Yeah. Never could get it runnin' and it’s rusted worse since the weather changed. Since I’m makin' the switch to full time trainer I don’t guess I’ll need it. Couple a people said they’d take it off for scrap if it weren’t so big.”

  Terry grinned.

  “I think I might be able to help with that.”

  Elton whipped his phone out and started recording. Terry pulled his sword out and David’s eyes lit up. They especially seemed to glow once the blade began to shine. Terry took something resembling a runners stance and held the sword out behind him. They all backed up.

  “David,” he said from his crouch, “I want you to watch this carefully because I’m not prone to demonstrations.” The boy nodded.

  Terry leaped. Elton had never seen him jump so high. Ernest fell down onto his butt as he scrambled backward from where Terry had launched himself, and Elton worried David’s face was going to get stuck in that shocked expression.

  At the height of his jump, Terry did a giant over head slash. Elton cried out wordlessly. A wave of burning white energy came from the blade in an arc and cut the tractor messily in half, front separated from back. Terry then landed with one foot on each half and they flattened to half their height.

  Elton stared. Terry had turned around and was waving like a nut. Ernest walked up next to Elton having regained his feet.

  “I never. . .” Ernest swallowed. “I assumed Delores had been helpin' him in them videos of yers.”

  “Nope.” Elton said. “I never even considered it. It’s been him all along.”

  David was staring. He looked like he suddenly realized he needed to temper his expectations on a lot of things.

  Elton yelled out to Terry.

  “DON’T ACT LIKE I SHOULD BE IMPRESSED WITH THAT! IT WAS JUST A TRACTOR!”

  Terry cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted across the pasture.

  “I’VE NEVER DONE THIS ON PURPOSE! NOT AND KNOWN WHAT I WAS DOING! AND I DON’T EVEN FEEL TIRED!”

  “Good lord.” Ernest said. “That mage has turned him into a damned mythical hero.” He didn’t sound happy about it at all.