The Garden, Friday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

This was going to be a bad one; Karla could tell.

Everything had a price. Pain balanced the power she could wield during the rest of the month. No witch could use her Jeweled strength during the first three days of her moontime without agony. For darker-Jeweled witches, that agony extended further, making even basic Craft a chore to be suffered through. Some months were better than others, when basic Craft was painful but doable. Other months, like this one, Karla woke with a taloned fist wrapped around her insides. That meant that any Craft, even something as basic as vanishing a book or floating a glass of water, would be accompanied by intense pain, gasping, and probably tears.

However, there was a way to ease a bit of the pain, and that's what Karla was doing now. Queens were able to siphon their power into the land. They called it the Queen's gift; a bit of blood or power into the land made it richer and more healthy, made the plants stronger and harvests better. And by pouring her Jeweled strength into the land, she would hurt less tomorrow when her moon-time actually started. There wouldn't be the reservoir of power within her to turn into twisting pain. Craft would still be beyond her her capabilities, but she'd be able to walk and move and interact with people, instead of being huddled up in bed, wishing that Ben had programmed Mini-Morton with the rules about fussing.

All of which led to Karla being outside, on her hands and knees, mucking about in the garden. What had started as a plan to siphon off a little power had turned into a decision to start prepping some of the garden for spring--it was still early yet, but Karla could feel the land readying itself and wanted to lend a hand. Her hands were chapped and red (the earth was still half-frozen), her clothing was ruined, and she had streaks of dirt on her face and in her hair.

All of which added up to one happy witchling.

[Establishing stuff for the weekend, but open!]

Comments

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda came out of the garage pushing a wheeless motorcycle towards the main gate. The bike seemed to just hover in the air at about the height wheels would have given it.

She was humming softly to herself.

[glacial_queen]

Karla waved as Leda passed. "Have fun," she called.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"That's the plan." she grinned at Karla. "You too, with your honest, hard work. Or are you looking for your contacts?"

[glacial_queen]

"Contacts?" Cue her trademarked puzzled frown.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"They're like glasses, that're so small you can just put them on your eyeballs."

[momslilassassin]

"Hey, stranger," Ben said teasingly as he walked closer. "After three months of having you around constantly, the last few weeks have been weird."

[glacial_queen]

"I'll agree, but only if you promise 'weird' doesn't mean 'nice,'" Karla teased. She brought a hand up to brush her hair away from her face, oblivious to the fact that she left a smear of dirt behind. "Though I have enjoyed being able to talk to non-Ben people about topics that don't involve babies and while using full sentences."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, if you miss it, knock on the door," Ben said. "I'm sure Ender will love to be cryptic at you. Nothing about babies, though. Hopefully ever."

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed, tossing a clod of dirt Ben's way. She winced a bit at the motion, then tried to cover it up with another chuckle. "I'm sure he'd love it, too. But I've had enough of cryptic half-sentences to last me a lifetime, thanks. Brat."

[momslilassassin]

Ben noticed the motion, of course. "What's wrong?"

[glacial_queen]

"Just a little sore this morning," Karla said. "That's why I'm out here. Getting rid of some excess power."

It was a measure of how much she'd come to trust Fandom, that she didn't plan on hiding in her room all weekend instead.

[momslilassassin]

"Do you need mini-Morton to get you stuff the next few days?" Ben asked shrewdly.

They'd been together for months, after all.

[glacial_queen]

And had spent the last several months being the only person Karla trusted in an entire world. Yeah, Ben was probably well-aware of the warning signs.

"Probably wise," she said, a bit rueful. "Though that's why I'm out here. Making it so I don't need him to, if it comes down to it." She ducked her head and muttered, "I'm going to take it easy this weekend, too."

Oh, how the fates did laugh.

[momslilassassin]

"Good," Ben said with a smile. "I'll stop by with ice cream."

[glacial_queen]

"I don't know if I can handle more ice cream after the Vermonster..." Karla teased.

Which was a blatant lie, really.

"I guess we'll just have to see. In the name of science, of course."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Dinah said, standing at the edge of the garden, giving Karla's work a clueless but interested work. "You're looking happy and Spring-y."

[glacial_queen]

"I feel happy and Spring-y," Karla said, smiling up at Dinah. "Not entirely comfortable right now, but working with the land always makes me feel better. How about you?" She sent a slashing glance Dinah's way. "What sent you home?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Minor trauma," Dinah said, sitting down and folding her legs up tailor-style. "Um, to sum up: attacked, gassed, kidnapped, choked and almost-hanged, rescued, new power exploded out of me, home to be power-hugged and poked at. How was your last 48 hours?"

See, and said like that, you'd almost think it was normal.

[glacial_queen]

Karla blinked at Dinah. Several times. "None of the above," she choked out. "Did you want to give me the non-summed up version, or should I just assume the worst?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah made a face. "But see, if you assume that, then you're leaving out the part where awesome people we both love came and saved me after only three hours! And did a really good job of it." She tried to think where to start, how to explain, then realized that beginning at the beginning was probably good.

"So, uh, Momoko and I were in Baltimore. At the Causeway." She paused. "Remind me to tell you why, later. Funny story." Yeeeah. "And, this person who has a huge grudge against Barbara decided to, uh. Abduct me."

[glacial_queen]

"Abduct you?!" Karla was, well, not quite horrified, as Dinah was here and fine. But the fear of what could have happened, of how this whole thing might have ended, was still in the back of her mind. "Go on."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Her name's Shiva, it's a long story, but basically, she wanted revenge on Barbara for her sister's death." See, this was why revenge was bad! Bad. "She knocked out Momoko, grabbed me, and took me to a warehouse where she was going to lay traps for Barbara and Helena. Well, she did. And had me hung up on a chair..." Yeah, that had her rubbing her throat and swallowing. "Anyway. Momoko woke up, booked back to Fandom, grabbed Roy and Priestly, who grabbed Tony and Raven, and they all came after me within about fifteen minutes or so, I guess, as soon as Tony did a locating spell and then there was a huge fight..." She was watching Karla anxiously, not wanting to upset her. This was the kind of thing she almost didn't *want* to mention, but. Very obvious something had happened, the next time magic powers came up.

[glacial_queen]

"Hung up on a chair?" Karla asked. Apparently she was only capable of repeating things Dinah said with a slightly different emphasis. "There was a huge fight? Did anyone get hurt? Well, Raven was there, so...Are you sure you're all right? That's a lot to have happen, even with a happy ending."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Dinah, tied to chair, tied to rope, hung over hungry dogs that Raven tamed and adopted." Dinah paused. "And that doesn't get less weird... um. I had to hold the chair up with the telekinesis, or I'd choke." She smiled bitterly. "Shiva's way of making sure I couldn't fight her."

She grinned, a very tiny but real grin, then. "But everyone got out okay, and I was never so glad to see anyone in my life, and yeah. I think Roy got a scratch, but he's actually much to macho to care, and Momoko got hurt a bit, but Raven healed both of us." She sighed shakily. "Except I have a new power now." She bit her lip. "Can you tell? Can you sense it?" And then she sent, even though she couldn't hear Karla's response, I think I understand your offering to Darkness thing now. I got my mom's gift.

[glacial_queen]

Karla listened to Dinah, both what was said aloud and what wasn't. She peered at her friend closely, trying to probe Dinah's psychic scent without more than the barest brush of Craft. "You look...more now," she said, trying to find the right words. "It's not like magic, so it's not like you're stronger or more powerful, but..." She looked again. "It's like you fit your skin more closely. And your throat hums with power. If that makes sense?"

It was akin to trying to decipher a particularly tricky tangled web; dreams and visions that only made sense if you looked at them sideways.

"What do you understand?" she asked. "And what gift?"