Harold the Healer, Chapter 22

Harold the Healer Chapter 22: Winter Solstice

Alan Frost's eyes slowly opened, but all that he could see was darkness. A quick Time Check revealed that it was only just past six o'clock, and since today is Winter Solstice, the sun wouldn't be rising for another hour and three quarters. It was chilly in the third of four bedrooms of the Magwitch School for Magical Veterinary Sciences, but since it wasn't his turn to make the trip to the basement to load more coal into the boiler that heated the water that heated the place with hot water in pipes under the floors, he didn't get up to perform the very necessary chore. He was wondering why he'd woken up so soon when he heard a small sob and whimper and felt his bedmate and love of his life Jennifer Caldwell shaking.

"No, no, I don't want to go," she murmured. She was facing toward him as a few tentative touches revealed, so he shuffled over and wrapped his arm around her, bringing their naked bodies together. She startled awake, nearly bashing his head with hers, then clung to him and cried on his shoulder for a couple of minutes as he stroked her auburn, slightly curly hair and made soothing noises.

"You were having a bad dream?" he asked when she'd finally regained her composure.

"It was a good dream that ended sadly," she sniffled. "A dream of butterflies flitting around a lovely meadow, landing on all the flowers and drinking their sweet nectar until a strong wind from the south blew them all away back home in the north."

"Were there seven of these butterflies, by chance?" he asked, giving her a gentle kiss on the nose. He had set a small Mage Light, just bright enough to see by.

"Yes, now that I think about it," she mused, rolling her blue eyes into which he'd lost his soul. "My Kingdom Standard teachers always said that my imagery was rather heavy-handed, which is why I barely passed Poetry units," she sighed, "and it looks like my dreams are no different."

"A fat lot of good Poetry ever did for me," Alan complained. "'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?' What, you mean I can't say long, hot, sticky, and uncomfortable?" Jennifer giggled.

"Has Veterinary Healing burned out the romantic in you?" she inquired, stroking some of the hair on his chest with her left index finger.

"No less romantic or imaginative person exists on the planet. I have no more romance in my overtaxed brain than Professor Moser has musical talent."

"So, those fancy dinners you've cooked for me were not romantic?"

"Purely practical," he replied innocently. "You're far less grumpy and easier to seduce after you've had a good dinner after a hard day's work." She could feel, of course, that he was just yanking her chain. His feelings for her had been very obvious as he'd prepared the latest dinner in the kitchen a week ago that included a candle, a lovely white wine, and a wonderfully carved oak engagement ring presented on bent knee and joyously accepted. She had waited only as long as it had taken for her to put its mate on his finger before wrapping him in her arms and invading his mouth with her tongue to the applause of Steven, Jill, Josh, and Maria, along with comments like "What took you so long?" and "Get a room!"

"Mr. Martin wasn't surprised to see us the next day when we got the marriage license. It's almost like everyone knew already," she whispered, her lips just brushing his. "Small town life."

"I think that we've had lots of practice for the consummation part," he replied, giving her lips a gentle lick that, as always, lit the fire in her nether regions. "We should get up and get ready for the Sunrise Ceremony." He grunted as she moved to straddle him. The covers were illuminated by her red and violet glowing full, firm, C-sized breasts and her pussy, and his hard, seven-inch chartreuse and gray cock. She dragged her hot, wet folds along his length until she reached its tip, at which point she wiggled a bit and sank onto it with moans from both of them.

"We have to practice our spells to get them right," she muttered as she rode the cock that she could ride forever as he fondled and licked her tits and hard, pale pink nipples just the way she liked it. "So, we might as well practice our fucking for when we get home tonight."

"But what kind of fucking should we practice?" Alan moaned deliriously. She was already putting the squeeze on him and the sensations were, as always, incredible. "Soft, gentle lovemaking, rutting like animals, or something in between?" They could feel their Magic merging and wrapping around them in a warm, loving embrace.

"It's going to be a long day," Jennifer groaned. "Perhaps a more ... gentle ... nyurgh!" She fell on him, tongues invaded to join them at the lip and the hip, and she felt every pulse before his cock shot liquid heat deep inside her and they did their best to merge their two bodies into one. They rolled sideways, still in each other's arms, to bask in the afterglow in the warmth under their blankets. Steven and Jill's orgasm waves, quickly followed by Josh and Maria's, enhanced the loving warmth. They had gotten so accustomed to the others' orgasm waves that they had no horniness effect, just feelings of comfort.

"Ugh, I think that bladders were invented for the sole purpose of getting us out of bed in the morning," Jennifer complained a few minutes later. Alan grunted his agreement as they reluctantly separated, he Cleaned their sodden genitals with yelps from both, then the bedding, and they finally emerged into the chill of their room. The Mage Light was strengthened enough to allow them to get to their dressers, select and then put on warm clothes. They were the first out of their rooms and thus the first to use the washrooms downstairs, which had to be downstairs because the manual water pumps with which the toilet tanks were filled after flushing wouldn't lift water to the second floor.

Maria and Jill were next in line and scuttled into the rooms. Josh, who was on coal duty, scurried to the basement to load three more bricks of coal into the hopper that fed the always-hungry boiler. There were enough embers glowing to ensure that the first brick would be able to ignite. Engineers, Chemical Engineers, and their Mage counterparts had finally perfected a process in which coal from the abundant reserves that had been found in the middle of the country could be fashioned into bricks about the size of regular bricks. Even coal dust could be included, simultaneously improving efficiency and getting rid of a potentially dangerous mining byproduct, and the resulting products were slowly making their way into The Kingdom, including Magwitch. He also emptied the ash bin into the main container and went upstairs to take his turn in the bathroom. Meanwhile, Jennifer and Alan had gone to the kitchen to get the main cooking stove and the much smaller unit dedicated to heating the gallon-sized pot of water that was primarily used for coffee and tea cleaned, lit, and warming up.

"About the only good thing of the Winter Solstice Sunrise Party is that it's at a decent hour," Jill Haverstock commented as she carefully cast an Enchanted Mage Light in the middle of the ceiling, thus allowing the others to extinguish theirs. She had found the Introduction to Enchantments textbook from the introductory course that the Professor had ordered for her to be quite interesting and the longevity of her lights had improved substantially. The others, and even the Professor, had benefited as well, but not as much as she had. She had wondered about the oddness of having a talent with Enchantment as well as Healing, but Mark's equally unusual affinity with Metal Magic illustrated that she wasn't the only one with a potential double major looking her in the face. Triple major, if Healing and Veterinary Healing were to be considered separate entities. Odder still was that neither her nor Mark's talents had shown up in their initial Assessments.

They'd occasionally speculated that the Professor's abilities with Martial Arts meant that he was an undeclared Warrior. They could feel that he was being truthful when he'd said that he'd never taken any Warrior courses, but he always got evasive when asked if he knew any of their spells. He'd worked with a Warrior in Carcosa, so they figured that he probably did. The use of Magic as a weapon by non-Warriors was prohibited except in cases of self-defense, but the creative use of non-lethal spells to defuse a situation or temporarily incapacitate hostile parties, such as the Sneeze spell that the Professor had been persuaded to tell them about one time, was fine.

The large icebox and pantry were raided and soon the kitchen was filled with the mouth-watering smells of bacon, eggs, breakfast sausage, toasting bread, and oatmeal with raisins as the six of them performed the complicated dance around the stove to prepare the breakfast buffet and set the table. The three square tables were always pushed together for breakfast for the convenience of having the serving plates all laid out in one place and within easy reach. Trial and error had taught them how much of each needed to be made and how long it took to make them and they'd gotten the timing down to a science.

Graymalkin, the gray and white house cat who'd started out as the barn cat until she'd decided that she wanted a promotion, sat in the corner by the door out of the way of trampling human feet. She was patiently waiting for the sausage treat that Maria would cut up and place on top of her morning kibble. Of all the glowing humans in the house, she was the Chosen One as she seemed to know just how to pet and scratch her. All of the interior doors in the building, save for the one to the mud room, had been built with a cat door for the convenience of cats that the planners knew would be as much a part of the place as the Professors, Office Managers, and the furniture, and Graymalkin always spent a part of each night sleeping in Maria and Josh's room.

The kitchen's clock tinged a quarter to seven as they were sitting down to eat. The attractive peach-coloured curtains over the main window on the south wall that was between the two stoves and over the window in the door that opened onto the back deck were closed because it was still dark outside. They'd occasionally stepped out to look up to see the sky full of stars in earlier months, when doing so didn't invite frostbite, and they had never ceased to be amazed. Small bundles of evergreen branches tied up with red ribbons and decorated with strings of red, gold, and white beads had been hung from the walls in the entire main level as seasonal decorations and they added a nice, fresh scent to the air. A line had been attached to the walls in the southeast corner, on which Solstice greeting cards from friends and family had been hung.

"One thing I like about the night," Maria Valladosa commented as they loaded their plates, "is that when you close the curtains, you can pretend that the outside world doesn't exist. And here, your nights are longer than ours." Her native Carcosa was considerably farther south than Magwitch and their seasonal daylight length variations were much less.

"Nothing like our long nights in the Northlands," Steven Petersson said with a smile. "We only have about seven and a half hours of daylight at this time of the year. Mind you, we get seventeen hours of daylight in midsummer, which also gets tiresome when you need to sleep. We all have very good curtains."

"Today is your big day?" Josh Pinkerton asked Alan and Jennifer. They were sitting opposite each other at the middle table and they smiled, nodded, and gave each other moonstruck looks that got the others chuckling. "Usually, one would think nineteen is rather young to get married, but anyone who can see auras can see how yours all but merge together when you're near." He had discovered an ability to interpret auras that allowed him insights into human and especially animal behaviour that had helped several clients with ill-behaved cats and dogs at the Veterinary Clinic and also farmers with ill-behaved horses and other livestock during house calls. But he'd been especially interested by the ravens that stopped by to help Professor Moser teach them Ravenspeak and to get some snacks for their trouble. Their auras were only slightly less complex than those of humans, and as he learned Ravenspeak he quietly observed the relationship between their auras and behaviour.

"Anyone who experiences your orgasm waves definitely know that your two souls joined by love are stronger than the sum of their parts," Steven added, exchanging a hot stare with Jill. Less than an hour ago, they had been enjoying gentle morning nookie when Alan and Jennifer's combined orgasm wave had passed through them with a warmth that felt like a campfire on a chilly Autumn night. Their orgasm waves had been getting more integrated as time passed and despite repeated exposure to orgasm waves here and in the main Magic School, they still had the power to get their young and lusty bodies fired up. The gentle, rhythmic loving that got her purring had become urgent as she'd demanded that he shove his even harder than usual cock as hard and as far into her hotter and wetter than usual pussy as he could until it had been seized and emptied what sperm he'd been able to produce overnight into her.

Maria, who had been riding Josh's cock toward a carefully-managed orgasm, had dismounted and demanded that he take her from behind. Her swollen pink labia had peeked from her olive-toned pussy as she'd waggled her rump while he'd scrambled into position.

"Hmm, what should I do with this?" he'd asked, teasing her by swirling the tip of his brightly glowing penis around her equally bright vulva. Tickles to her hard, sensitive clitoris had gotten a moan, muffled by her pillow, and a hard squirt. The little brains that ran their genitals had taken over and they'd rutted for half a minute before she'd crushed his cock and felt every pulse and squirt as his balls had emptied themselves into her and they'd collapsed.

"It's the big day," Alan mumbled around some scrambled egg on toast, his face turning an interesting shade of red. "This means that we can walk the circle to finalize it so that the world will recognize that I am Jennifer's forever." The intensity of their emotions made the others blink back some tears and clear their throats before continuing to make their food and coffee disappear. It was customary, but not necessary, for marriages to be finalized on the nearest Equinox or Solstice when the couple made a clockwise circuit around the bonfire in the Magwitch Central Park. Professor Moser had immediately promised to lead the ceremony when he had been asked the following day ("Anyone else except Healer Leila would have woken up in a ditch" had gotten some laughs).

"We will get the cake from Cartwright's after the Sunrise Ceremony and bring it back here, since there are no classes today," Jennifer said, staring sadly at her empty plate. "It and we would freeze solid if we tried to serve it at the Sunset Ceremony, unless there's some way to keep it warm." It was Midwinter and below freezing, as one would expect, but there'd been an unusual lack of snow, only a couple of inches that had disappeared after another storm had blown in and washed it away with cold, damp wind and rain. This had subsequently frozen, making getting around hazardous for a couple of days until the temperature had once again gone above freezing and the ice had melted away. "The cake box will be placed on Ms. Gillis' desk and will not be touched until the celebration begins."

"On my honor, no tricks!" they all chorused as they stood up and Cleaned all the dishes before putting them away. Cartwright cakes are not to be trifled with. Trips to the bathroom were made, warm winter outerwear was donned, they left and locked the building behind them. It was still dark, but lightening enough in the east to show that the sky was overcast, and they all cast Mage Lights of various colours to help guide them down the ramp and along the paved walkway to Main Street.

"Hi, Mark. Long time, no see," Steven ironically greeted their classmate after they'd scurried across the street. They'd last seen him at five o'clock yesterday as he left to return home to the Webber and Turner residence that was on the other side of the road and a bit south of the School. "And with the always lovely Stella," he added with a gallant bow.

"I'm as big as a house and waddling," Stella grumbled. She was in her sixth month of pregnancy and definitely showing it, but even wrapped up in a warm coat with a hood, the glow that pregnant women have was apparent in her face.

"Not a house, more like a tool shed," Ted Webber, her father, remarked. "House comes later. Urk!" He twitched under the impact of two point-blank Hard Stares, one from his daughter that could have blasted a pigeon out of the sky and had roasted squab land on his head, and the other from his wife, and Stella's mother, Caroline.

"Pregnant bodies are not to be the subject of infantile humor, Mister Webber," Caroline growled, flexing her not inconsiderable blacksmith muscles at him. Sam Turner, Caroline's father, who also worked as a farrier and smith alongside his blacksmith wife Marjorie, maintained a neutral expression, ignoring said wife's potentially dangerous expression. Not that either of the women had been particularly petite during their pregnancies; they had been a long time ago, but memories remained fresh.

"Yes, dear," Ted squeaked meekly, thoroughly cowed.

"Do you have anything to add, husband dear?" Stella asked Mark, who shook his head while looking as virtuous as possible as they crossed the bridge over the small creek that ran parallel to the Magwitch River and flowed into it shortly after. "Wise choice," she concluded with a dazzling smile, earning a moonstruck look from him. "Why do we keep these men around, anyway?"

"They have their uses," Marjorie replied, giving Sam a hot stare. Uses such as filling her hot, wet vagina with his hard, thick cock that stimulated her hard clitoris by rubbing back and forth against it until she put the squeeze on him and he filled her with squirts of hot love. Thanks to their granddaughter's surprising horniness, even now as she entered her third trimester, Mark's orgasm waves had had them having more sex in the seven months that he'd been here than they'd had in several years. She'd mentioned it to Leila during a check-up that revealed no signs of the feared dementia.

"I've been studying the effects of orgasm waves myself," she'd said. "Our neighbours have been having sex parties fueled by ours," she'd continued, turning a bit red, "and volunteer men have had measurable increases in their sperm count that have resulted in some pregnancies, and some women who'd had trouble conceiving due to various problems have also gotten pregnant. What will be most interesting is what happens to the men's sperm counts when they stop going to the parties. There's been some decline, but not all that much."

They crossed the bridge over the Magwitch River, thus entering the town. The large group continued north on the sidewalk for a few paces before veering to the right to head toward the large gazebo that occupied the centre of the Central Park. It had been liberally festooned with lanterns to chase away the damp, chilly, pre-dawn gloom and already had a sizeable crowd surrounding it. The small group of musicians on the platform was playing a bouncy tune and the good spirits were infectious. Stella's parents and grandparents split off from them with friendly waves, heading for a table that offered coffee.

"There's Mayor Jaggers on the platform," Steven observed, "and Healer Lakash is doing his usual duty with the Amplify spell." Which was why the music had been audible even at the southern end of the park when they'd first arrived.

"That's your father at the bottom of the steps," Stella told Mark, who rolled his eyes. Professor Moser, or Dad, he still had trouble figuring out what to call him, was at the foot of the stairs that are on the west side of the gazebo, hands on his hips, and looking up at a large obstruction at their top. He was in a good humour, unlike Healer Leila who was radiating exasperation, which seemed to be a common occurrence when they were at public events in the Park. The large obstruction resolved itself into Fred Jaggers, Brenda's husband, who was holding their baby Samuel and listening the Professor's wheedling with a bemused expression.

"... that gong has been in storage since the Summer Solstice and really should be tested before it is used, just to be sure it will work," he was saying.

"Seems reasonable," said Alan.

"When he hits it, it makes a noise like a belching contest," Mark snickered. "Stella and I heard it at Summer Solstice Night when he somehow got onto the stage and whacked it to get everyone's attention to announce the pending demonstration of quarterstaff versus training sword. It's quite something."

"Something that we don't need to hear again," Stella added, making a face.

"Don't get any ideas, bub!" Jennifer admonished Alan who, like the other three male students, had gotten shifty looks.

"Well, at least the Professor isn't a stuffed shirt," he replied, trying to change expressions from shifty to innocent. There were a few of them in the Mage School who seemed to take themselves far more seriously than the students felt like they deserved. "Good morning, Professor Moser," Alan continued as he was herded toward them and the students offered Respectful Bow #2.

"Good morning, folks," he replied. "It seems that the Powers That Be aren't interested in having me announce the dawn by striking the gong," he complained, batting his eyelashes at Healer Leila, who snorted a puff of steam at him. "It's just the sort of thing that a Greench would do for fun."

"Oh, Papa," Marcie, their eleven-year-old daughter sighed. "You know that the Greench is being played by Kelly. You're too big to be a Greench."

"What's a Greench, Marcie?" Jill asked.

"Papa told us about the Greench at All Hallows Eve," Marcie replied seriously. "It's a wicked creature that appears when too many children are being bad. Our school is putting on a play tonight about a Greench who came to spoil a Winter Solstice in a small town and how it was finally defeated."

"We will all be there to watch," Jill replied with a warm smile that made Steven's knees get a little weak. A far less innocent version of that smile was bestowed upon him when he was carefully and deliberately feasting on her luscious pussy, a skill at which he'd improved remarkably with her eager coaching. He'd discovered one rainy November night that the little tickles of Magic that are used for massage to loosen muscles had a devastating effect when applied at the right places at the right times.

"I have never done that before," she had moaned as he'd wiped some of the fluid, which she'd sprayed on his face as her body had convulsed, with his hands and licked his fingers suggestively. "What the hell were you doing to me?" It hadn't taken her long to figure it out, and suddenly he had been on his back with her skillfully licking and stroking his rigid, glowing cock and experimenting in ways only a Healer could with massage sparks to see which part generated the strongest response. It was not a surprise that it was the underside near the tip, where most of the nerve endings were. The surprise was on her when she tickled a bit too much and he'd helplessly erupted, sending a large squirt into her left nostril and the second squirt into her right eye, with the remaining going onto his abdomen because she'd had to let it go while coughing and hastily trying to clear out her eye while they both were laughing. Inquisitive stares from the other four the next morning at breakfast had forced confessions that had generated more hard orgasm waves than usual that night.

"The cider that they were serving that night was rather strong," Josh remembered. "I wonder..."

"All right everyone, it's almost sunrise, though you can hardly tell," Mayor Brenda Jaggers announced. It was definitely lighter than it had been even when they'd gotten here, but the sky was still completely overcast. She was holding a mallet, ready to strike at the large gong hanging from a wood frame with wheels on its bottom. It was in the centre of the gazebo to better thwart the Professor's attempts to get at it, and he was pouting theatrically. "Five, four, three, two, one! Here comes the sun!" At exactly 7:47 on Monday, December 22, the warm, brassy noise of the gong rang out and those with partners held each other and kissed.

Marcie Moser Parsons closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of all the love around her as she held her parents tightly. She had a small supporting role in The Greench That Stole Midwinter, but she didn't mind since she'd had the main role in the All Hallows Eve play as the ghost of a woman finally getting to cross over with the aid of a dying Mage. Luke Loran, the Mage in question, had become an unlikely friend, getting involved in the Archaic Spelling Club and even recruiting a couple of his friends. She'd finally had to drop the Bridge Club because school and the Spelling Club were taking up too much time and she just wanted to get outside and run around with her friends.

"Here comes the sun, do-do-doo," the crowd sang, led by the band members. It was the logical song to sing to welcome the Solstice and bring the sun back. Papa, Mama, and all of the students produced as many Mage Lights as they could control and sent them zipping around through the park, making people laugh and try to catch them as they flew by. "Sun, sun, sun, here it comes!" The song ended with another bang on the gong and everyone cheered, generating a lot of steam from their breath.

"Since we're here, we might as well get our wedding cake from Cartwright's," said Jennifer.

"You're getting married?" Marcie squealed, charging in for big hugs.

"Oof!" Alan grunted from the impact. "Your father threatened unspecified harm to anyone but your mother who might try to marry us." Professor Moser wouldn't meet anyone's gazes.

"Congratulations, you two," said Healer Leila, a big smile lighting up her face as she embraced each of them, far more gently than her daughter had. "I can feel how happy you are."

"In honour of the occasion, there are no classes today," the Professor added with an impish grin.

"There are no classes today because it's a holiday!" his wife exclaimed and he looked shifty, getting laughs from everyone.

"But we still have to make appearances at the Veterinary Clinic, Webber Transportation, and the hospital," Steven sighed, striking a dramatic pose, earning a poke from Jill that was mostly absorbed by his dark brown winter coat. "Learning and helping must continue."

"We'll do that after we get back with the cake," said Alan. "A taxi cart would make the trip much faster, but Magwitch isn't big enough to support one." The crowd was breaking up as the citizens made their way to wherever they were supposed to be today.

"You could borrow one from Webbers," said Stella. "I'm sure that there's a horse that needs some exercise that can be taken for a run."

"And we happen to be doing a shift with them anyway," Alan concluded.

"After swapping with us," Maria said, giving them a stare. "Almost as if you had planned to do it this way anyway." The happy couple wouldn't meet anyone's eyes and they all snickered. "Where's Professor Moser?" she asked suddenly. He was still close enough for them to feel his signature and they quickly turned to see that he had taken advantage of everyone's departure from the gazebo and the general confusion of people leaving the park to sneak onto it and grab the gong's mallet.

"Don't you dare!" Healer Leila shouted, but it was too late. With an expression that could only be described as evil glee, which the students had never seen before, he gave the gong a mighty whack and a noise that could only be described as loud, resonant belching from several people rolled out and across the park, making those who were within range stop, shake their heads, and laugh. He then made a little scream and dropped the mallet as she charged up the four steps, then he turned and made a truly acrobatic vault over the southern railing of the octagonal structure.

"Ha-haa! I am the Greench! I do what I want!" he said cheerfully, running at a remarkable speed toward the Veterinary Clinic, which was just across Main Street and down a few buildings.

"Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional," Jill quoted. "At least, now we know what a gong sounds like when he hits it." They shook their heads and winced. They definitely did not want to hear that again. They had all witnessed one of his performances one Friday Get-Together where he got onto the gazebo stage (with permission) and misused the band's instruments to add comical sound effects to enhance a silly story that had had them all laughing and feeling much better afterward. It had been an intense week, and he'd sensed it and had done what he could to make them feel better.

"We're going to school now, Mama," Marcie announced. Four of her friends had shown up and they had exchanged Happy Solstice greetings with the Mage students. "We have one last rehearsal."

"Off you go then," Healer Leila replied with a smile. "I will deal with your Greench father later." The ominous overtone in her voice had the Mage students twitching nervously, as it sounded far too similar to the Headmaster's during one of her regular lectures at assemblies. Marcie and friends twitched because they wondered what would happen to the Professor after he'd spent so much time helping them to practice. Josh and Maria had the Clinic shift and Steven and Jill had Hospital duty. Mark was returning to his home with Stella to do some more Metal magic exercises, leaving Alan and Jennifer to walk north on Main Street by themselves. They walked past the Town Hall, the Bank, and Macy's Diner, in which the lure of hot coffee had to be pushed aside for later, before they reached Poppy Street and turned right.

On the other side of Alder Road, the city block-sized Webber Transportation compound began. You need a lot of space to store horses and everything they need, not to mention a large variety of coaches, wagons, and carts and everything they need to keep them on the roads, many of which were of dubious quality even at the best of times. Close to fifty people were employed and the variety of skills that were required still amazed the students, who had had no idea that moving stuff and people around was so complicated. For their part, the employees were both pleased and impressed by the students in how quickly they learned and how they and the horses got along so well. Anyone who loved horses the way that the students did was all right by them.

"I wonder if they'll have any little tests for us today?" Alan mused and they both got sour expressions. They'd all been told to check for things very carefully as they were working because even the smallest thing could multiply into a big problem, usually in the worst possible place. The local roads could turn a small wheel wobble into an "unfortunate separation", a loose horseshoe could come off and lead to a lame horse, an improperly tied down box or barrel could come loose, and so on and so on.

"Maybe when we tell them that we want to get our wedding cake, they'll have mercy," Jennifer replied. They looked at each other and laughed. They walked to the east driveway and along the west side of the large former house that served as the office to get to the main barn. "Hi, Maxie," she greeted Maxie Pollock as they walked in. She had a dappled gray gelding named Gandalf in the main aisle and was giving him a good brushing that he was clearly enjoying. Maxie was a solidly built blonde, five-foot-nine, and in her early thirties with two boys who came around occasionally and helped out a bit.

"Hello, you two," she replied with a smile as they came over and gave Gandalf a good scratching behind his ears. "It's Solstice Day, a prime day to get married." She eyed their rings.

"It's why we're doing it today," Alan replied with a smile of his own. "We were wanting to borrow a horse and cart so we could collect the cake from Cartwright's and take it back to the School. It's a rather long walk and it will probably be heavier than we expect."

"Congratulations! I think that Gandalf here could use some exercise, and there's a two-wheeler in the parking lot that you can use. Let me get you the tack." She went down the aisle and turned right at the end into the large tack room where all the harnesses were carefully folded up and stored in cubbies ordered by size of horse and type of conveyance. Folding it up so that it didn't get tangled was an art all its own that had taken the students a while to master. Gandalf recognized that he was going to go out and perked up.

"Thank you, Maxie," said Jennifer after Maxie had returned with the bundle of folded-up tack. They carefully unfolded the collection of thick leather straps and odd metal connectors and installed it on the horse. They systematically tested each piece, noticing a weak point in one that went around the belly and using Soften Leather to strengthen it. The rest of the gear also got some treatment, as it was stiff instead of flexible.

"This gear seems pretty old, Maxie," said Alan mildly as the various straps were tightened. Jennifer bribed the horse with an apple, which he crunched greedily. "We've conditioned it to give it some more life, but there's only so much that even Magic can do." All of the Mage students had, through necessity, become very proficient with Soften Leather, which was also helpful for fixing shoes and boots. Back in November, Josh, rather desperate to add some Community Service hours, had come up with the idea of all of them going to the school to fix the kids' footwear. It had been a roaring success, to the point where they'd been asked to come back, which they'd done three days ago. There hadn't been as much to deal with this time around, but they'd still returned to the MSMVS feeling exhausted.

"I think that we can mark their Community Service hours as complete," the Professor had told Ms. Gillis. "The community, however, probably has not." Moans and whines as they'd realized that they'd become the victims of their own success had only made the two of them snicker, far more evilly than necessary. What they didn't know was that he included a paragraph on their effort in his December Monthly Report to the Headmaster. Shoe and boot repair were on the list of Community Service projects, but hadn't gotten much activity. Discreet inquiries at schools in the Docklands, whose inhabitants were not the wealthiest by any measure, led to cartloads of students being transported to them and thousands of pieces of footwear being repaired free of charge. As to why this sort of outreach hadn't been done in the past, the King and Queen asked Headmaster Sarah Willoughby rather pointedly during her Annual Report presentation that April, she'd had to admit that outreach had never been a priority of the Magic School until very recently and that it would be a priority from now on.

"Well, you passed that little test with flying colours," Maxie replied, unfazed by the hoped-for criticism. "Let's see what you can find with the cart." Gandalf was led out the back door of the barn that was quickly opened and closed and they made their way to the cart parking lot, where a two-wheeled delivery cart was found. Maxie held Gandalf and gave him ear scratches while Alan and Jennifer gave the cart a thorough check, tugging at the two spars to which the horse would be attached and scrutinizing the wheels and undercarriage that were the most likely sources of trouble.

"Cracked spokes on both wheels," Jennifer announced as they stood with mittened hands on their hips. "The axle is rusty and the left wheel has a wobble that will probably increase exponentially if something isn't done about it. It will barely do for our trip, but its final destination should be the fire pit in the Central Park for the bonfire tonight." Maxie grinned at her.

"The world was a lot younger when this thing was built," Alan added with a mock sorrowful shake of his head. "Dry rot on the delivery platform boards? Really? I think that we'd be better off walking, or maybe just saddling Gandalf and one of us getting the cake."

"Aah, I should have tried harder," Maxine replied. "We've been meaning to get rid of the thing for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe you guys could practice your Mend Wood magic on it?" They shook their heads.

"We barely have time to learn what we're supposed to be learning, what with all the other things going on," Jennifer sighed. "When I see him, I will give Josh a swift kick in the ass for getting us to repair all those damned shoes and boots!"

"Well, it was a good thing to do. Here, this cart will do the trick." They checked just to be sure, tightening the loose left wheel cotter pin and fixing a cracked spoke on the right wheel with Soften Wood, another spell with which they'd become all too familiar. Gandalf was backed between the two poles of the cart and securely hooked into it. Only when they were all done did he lift his tail, fart loudly, and eject several turds. He even whinnied and nodded his head vigorously, as if laughing at them.

"You shameless, disgusting creature!" Alan exclaimed as the two students mounted the cart, with Jennifer in the driver's seat. Gandalf turned his head to look at them and farted again. "You should have named him Asshole!"

"If we'd named him that, we'd have had to have named all of them that," Maxie sighed. The horses in the School's barn, which primarily the caretaker took care of, were well past their prime, but still liked causing mischief. "I'll get a shovel. You guys go get your wedding cake, with our best wishes." Like with the other students, their horse handling skills had improved dramatically and Jennifer let Gandalf take them up Alder Road at a good clip, stopping only at Mapleview Street and again at Spruce Drive. It was just after eight-thirty and the kids were entering the school on their left with none of the reluctance that they displayed during the warmer months. They turned left, then right at Main Street and were lucky to get a parking spot just outside the bakery that was about halfway up the block on their side of the street. The reins were tied to the attractive bollard that had been installed as part of the street replacement project and they went into the Heart of Darkness, as those on diets often referred to Cartwright's Bakery.

"Hello, you two. You must be here for your cake." Wanda Cartwright looked at the two young, fresh-faced students, whose cheekbones were pink from the cold. It was far from cold inside the shop, of course, and she was in a lightweight outfit of pale green shirt, slacks, and matching apron. They nodded and their smiles seemed to light up the place. Everyone on both sides of the counter could feel the joy radiating from them and couldn't help but have their souls lifted. There was a set of large shelves on the left wall and the topmost had a large, flat, sturdy cardboard box that was transferred to the counter.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" they chorused when it was opened. "Congratulations Alan and Jennifer!" was carefully written in blue piping on the snow-white frosting. More carefully-scalloped pink frosting marked the edges and a yellow sun in the top right corner sent beams of yellow frosting to the midpoint of the left edge, the lower left corner, and the midpoint of the bottom edge. "It's too beautiful to eat!" It was a Cartwright cake, so there was no way that there'd be so much as a crumb left, beautiful or not. They each plunked a Sovereign and several doubloons on the counter as the final payment; it was expensive, but they could see how much time and effort must have been spent on making it and it was money well spent.

"I wish that there was a way to keep it from freezing solid at the Solstice Party tonight," Alan said. "Having it there would be much easier than trudging back to the school in the cold and darkness."

"The Town provides chafing dishes to keep food warm at the party," Carlos Cartwright replied. "Other couples who have been married at this time reported that placing the cake box on one will keep it warm enough to not freeze, but not so warm as to melt the frosting. A few are held in reserve for wedding cakes. It's not a popular time of the year for outdoor wedding receptions, for obvious reasons."

"Thank you so much!" Jennifer said gratefully, and the people in the store thought that the two would float to the ceiling with happiness. Within minutes, Gandalf was happily propelling them to the Magic School.

"It's warm in here and my eyes are sweating," Carlos replied to his wife's inquiry as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He'd heard Professor Moser say it a few times and liked it.

"You are such a softie!" Wanda replied, making sure that he didn't see her wiping her eyes.

-=-=-=-=-=

Turner's Veterinary Clinic opens at eight o'clock, and even though they knew that the Professor and the staff were already in there, Josh and Maria waited until the bell in the Town Hall tower started to bong before they opened the door and held it to allow two people holding a large basket loaded with blankets inside.

"I'm Josh Pinkerton, Mage in training," Josh introduced himself to the couple, who appeared to be in their mid-sixties.

"I'm Maria Valladosa, Mage in training," Maria introduced herself, making Polite Bow #2 to the couple along with Josh. "How can we help you today?" The students removed their coats and draped them over their arms; they would be hung up in the back at the first chance.

"We're Allie and Dale Brady," the woman replied as the basket was put on the floor of the waiting room and they removed their coats and hung them on the coat tree near the door. "And this is Bailey." Dale pulled back a double-folded blue blanket to reveal a small, short-haired dog, about the size of a cat, of definitely mixed parentage. His muzzle had been black, but was now mostly gray, and he had floppy ears and fur that was in black and white patches. As Josh and Maria bent over to gently stroke him, they could feel how little subcutaneous fat he had. Bailey opened his dark brown eyes to look at them, then they closed and he laid there, breathing rapidly. The students felt the Professor approaching, turned and offered Respectful Bow #2.

"We're here because it's time for us to say goodbye to Bailey," Dale said to Virginia Klassen, the receptionist, his voice full of tears. "He's seventeen and has been in steady decline for a month or so. He's barely eating or drinking and only wants to sleep." Josh and then Maria carefully reached out to feel the dog with their senses and exchanged a look.

"His life sign is weak," Maria said softly, her eyes glistening. "He doesn't have much time left. Is there anything we can do, Professor?" The Professor's oval face, which was unremarkable save for his odd blue eyes, was sad.

"When a person or animal's death is near, we can use a spell called Soul Net to pull the spirit from the body and set it free," he replied, his baritone voice gentle. "I've done it several times over the years, and it never gets any easier. This is the saddest part of our job," he addressed Maria and Josh, whose eyes were red-rimmed as they held each other. "I'll demonstrate it to you now so you can get a look at it. You won't officially come across this spell until your Eighth Year, so this will give you a bit of a jump on your colleagues." They all smiled a bit. He closed his eyes and Reached out for his Magic and the spectators, who now included Brad Kimble, the Veterinary Assistant, Joe Stevens and Julie Millet, the veterinarians, watched as he spoke some words and carefully created a small mesh net of threads of red, dark blue, light blue, and brown that he made visible for the convenience of the non-Mages. At his request, the dog's owners lifted Bailey up so that the net could be put under him. "Call him. Call him to you."

"Bailey! Bailey, wake up! It's time for a walk," Dale managed to say. The Professor gently lifted the net up a bit and the dog's breathing stopped with one last sigh. His spectral head suddenly lifted from his body, soon followed by the rest of him as the Professor finished passing the net through the body.

"He looks like he did when he was young," Allie whispered. "Oh, our beautiful Bailey. How we love you. Look at you now." He stood and looked around the room, and when he finally saw his owners, his tail wagged and he barked. His ears perked up and he turned to look out the door, seeing and hearing something that they could not.

"Go and play with the Goddess," Professor Moser said, his voice cracking. "She will take you to the Rainbow Bridge where you will cross it and play with all the other pets until your humans come to claim you." He gave Allie and Dale one last look full of the love only a dog can have, then turned and trotted through the door, tail and head held high, leaving a room full of crying people behind him. Professor Moser carefully undid the clasp of the thin leather collar, which was well worn and had started its life as red, stood up shakily and handed it to Allie. "You probably know that we will unveil the Rainbow Bridge in the Park tonight as part of the Solstice Celebration. Its purpose is for people to attach the collars of their departed pets to it as a memorial. You can be among the first."

"What should we do with the body?" Dale asked, gently stroking Bailey's fur. "We can't bury him because the ground is frozen."

"I've seen people build small fires that cover the area that they want to thaw," Professor Moser replied. "A couple of hours with whatever scrap wood you can find should be enough." He made some motions with his hands and said some words, and a glowing forest green and turquoise ball the size of a golf ball appeared in his left palm. "This is a basic Engineering spell," he told the students, who'd been watching carefully. "When applied to a shovel, you can lift twice the usual weight with half the effort. I have helped dig far, far too many graves with this spell." He placed the glowing ball in the basket and covered up Bailey's remains with the blankets. He closed his eyes and took a couple of steadying breaths. "Don't worry, I don't charge for this," he told the couple shakily. "I can't."

"You are the most human Professor we've had," said Maria softly as Allie and Dale gave him a Respectful Bow, put on their coats, and picked up the basket. Josh held the door open and they left.

"Thank you, Maria," he replied with a smile that echoed his sadness. "I've been called all sorts of things, but seldom 'human'. Oddly enough, both of your parents did, independently of each other, relating to my efforts to get Women's Health Centres set up and running in Carcosa." He paused to collect his thoughts. "Let's hope that we have a boring and routine morning that can be spent learning the ins and outs of running a veterinary clinic." There was a pregnant pause.

"Maybe you didn't just jinx yourself, Professor Moser," Virginia said with a grin. "It's almost as if you don't want to spend time showing them the ins and outs of running a veterinary clinic." His eyes got shifty and the others snickered.

"I'm just worried that I might over-excite the impressionable youth with the joy of inventory! All those index cards with numbers and shelf locations on them begging to be verified! The ones at the front being the ones needing orders! Forms to fill! Envelopes to mail! Are you excited yet?" Virginia, Josh, and Maria shook their heads and rolled their eyes simultaneously. A young woman with a medium-sized dog with patches of gray, black, and white fur arrived at the door, whose large window allowed them to see her. Before Josh could be gallant and open it for her, she pushed it open and dragged the unwilling pooch inside. Maria was able to close the door behind her.

"Thank you for saving us from a morning of inventory," she said in a loud stage whisper.

"Aww," the Professor whined, almost believably.

"I'm Darcey Cook and this cowardly creature is Bingo," said the woman. Bingo forgot that he was at the dreaded vet's office, was intrigued by the glowing humans, and gave Josh and Maria a good sniffing as they scratched and petted him. "I have an appointment with Dr. Millet." Julie Millet popped out of the door to the left of the front desk and smiled at them.

"Hi, Darcey, hello Bingo," she said, her soprano voice warm and inviting. "Are you ready for your checkup, Bingo?" The dog wagged his tail happily. He was a good dog, but not all that bright.

"I'll help with the Window," Maria volunteered before Josh, who was still scratching the Place the Must Be Scratched behind the dog's left ear, could, earning a frown, a pout, and batting eyelashes. "My talents would be wasted doing inventory." Maria and Darcey disappeared through the door with the dog.

"Well, Josh, it's just us, so we should get started..." Two people suddenly appeared at the door. The one who wasn't holding a box quickly pushed the door open, held it for the other person, then closed it behind her.

"Gimli got into a fight with another cat. He's hurt really badly!" the man, who appeared middle-aged, said frantically as the woman carefully put the box on the counter in front of Virginia.

"I'm Josh Pinkerton, Veterinary Mage in training," he introduced himself as both he and the Professor moved quickly to lift the green blanket to reveal a badly torn-up and bleeding brown tabby cat, who was lying on another blanket, eyes closed. Both winced.

"I'm Harold Moser, Professor at the Mage School just down the road," he said.

"Yes, we know about the school," the woman said with a smile. "You work miracles regularly, from what we hear. Gimli here will need one or two to pull through." Her eyes suddenly welled with tears.

"If Gimli can be saved, then we will save him," said Josh firmly, looking them both in the eyes.

"Please, take a seat," Virginia invited the couple as Josh picked up the box and the Professor cast the Window spell with remarkable speed, he noted, and then opened the door. "Hey, Brad, prep for emergency surgery!" she called back down the hall.

"Will do," Brad's voice came back from somewhere deep in the bowels of the office. "It's far more exciting than inventory!"

"Nonsense! A badly injured cat is just a blip when compared to the joys of inventory!" he insisted as they hustled through the doorway, turned left, and disappeared out of sight.

"The Professor believes that a little humour goes a long way," Virgina said dryly as the worried couple settled on two of the well-used chairs that lined the perimeter of the waiting area. "If you want to go outside and get some coffee from Macy's while you wait, please do. It looks like it will take them some time to get poor Gimli patched up." They looked at each other and stood up.

"Thank you, ma'am," said the man. "We live just around the corner and down the street. We didn't see what it was that attacked Gimli, but it must have been another cat, given all the noise that they made. We'll go home and come back in a bit."

"The Professor is top-notch," said Virginia, "and the students are pretty sharp too. They've had worse than him walking out of here in one piece." Her reassuring smile seemed to help.

"We'll be back. Thank you," said the woman. "By the way, we're Colleen and Andrew Baggins." For the millionth time, it seemed, Virginia wished that there was some way to keep the cold air out when people opened the door.

In the end, they were able to save the cat, though it was touch-and-go for the first few minutes. The 'emergency shutdown' that the Professor had drilled into all of them at the start of the year was quickly employed by Josh. He put the cat into as deep a sleep as possible to reduce his heart rate to the minimum safe rate to slow bleeding, and applied the Neck Tourniquet to block what must have been massive pain from the many nasty rips and cuts from some nasty critter. Next, the wounds were triaged in order of severity as Brad quickly set up a saline IV drip to replace lost blood. An important artery in the left rear leg had been nicked and Professor Moser had to employ something that he called the Modified Turnbee Method to repair it; both Josh and Maria, who had by then come in after the totally routine checkup had finished, observed closely, closed their eyes and tried to shove it somewhere into their already overstuffed memories where it wouldn't leak out.

"All done," Professor Moser sighed after Maria had successfully closed up the last of the cuts. "Have you got the inventory of what we had to do, Brad?" he asked, getting an eye-roll from the Veterinary Assistant and some tired snickers from the students. He turned the paper on which he'd been writing and all three of them raised their eyebrows.

"That was one beat-up cat," said Maria, gently stroking the sleeping Gimli. "We should take him out to his people."

"And then take ourselves to the coffee in the break room," Josh yawned. Gimli was transferred to his box that had been carefully Cleaned and Sterilized, along with the blankets, and Professor Moser carried it back to the waiting room.

"Gimli has a few years of love left in him," he said as he placed the box on one of the chairs in the waiting room, where Colleen and Andrew bent over to have a look. Large parts of his belly had been shaved in order to make the necessary repairs and there were several finger-wide stripes of shaved fur all over his body. "It was very close. Had you been even ten minutes later, he wouldn't have made it."

"Thank you, Professor," Colleen managed to say. Tears were running down both of their faces. He turned to see Virginia mouthing "How much?" He held up a hand with all digits out. She nodded and started writing up the bill for five Sovereigns, which was a lot less than it could have been, given how much time it had taken. "The kids were so scared, but we had to send them to school in a rush so we could get him here."

"We'll give you some pills to help him with the residual pain, which will last a couple of days." Brad appeared behind Virginia and put a small paper packet on the counter. "We healed him up, but the nerve endings are still all jangled and need a bit of time to reset. Let him rest in a warm place, eat and drink as he needs to, and he should be OK in a few days. But keep him indoors."

"I don't think that will be too difficult," Andrew said with a weak smile.

"And please be sure to brush his teeth regularly," Maria added. "We saw some inflammation of his gums that we fixed. Dental health is just as important for cats as it is for us." A small toothbrush and tube of feline toothpaste were added to the pill packet.

"And now for the moment of truth," said Colleen, walking to the desk. "I ... was bracing for a lot more than this," she said, eyes wide. "Thank you."

"Winter Solstice discount," Professor Moser replied, wiping his eyes again. "We can see how well you take care of him." Gimli's eyes opened and he looked up at Andrew before closing them again. Purring was audible in the very quiet room. "This is why we do it," he said, primarily for the students. "The long hours of studying, working, and practicing. All to get us to these moments."

"We should go before you have to get the mop," Andrew said with a sad smile. "Who would know that we could love a creature so much?" Within minutes, the bill had been paid and cat and caretakers were gone. There was still no sun, only light filtering through the overcast.

"Any weather forecasts?" the students were asked. Tired though they were, Maria and Josh closed their eyes and reached out with their Magic, testing and feeling the air currents.

"Snow is coming off the ocean," Josh said, feeling it. "Possibly in time for the party tonight."

"That would be nice," said Joe Stevens, the other veterinarian, as he and a young woman with a brown and yellow dog, who seemed very interested in getting out the door, emerged from the back rooms. "It doesn't happen very often and always makes the party more special."

"A lot of it," Maria added. She seemed to have a talent for reading the weather. "It's going to be a big storm. We should spread the word so people can get ready."

"The Town Hall bell?" Josh asked. The Professor nodded.

"Go tell them, then take the rest of the day off. It's nominally a holiday," he said dryly. "You both did very well today. Thank you for your assistance. Now, about the inventory..."

"Thank you, Professor Moser," they chorused immediately. Fatigue or no, they found the energy to get their coats on and escape through the door, though not in that order. They scurried across the street as they hastily buttoned their coats against a light, but steady, breeze blowing from the south straight up Main Street. The Town Hall was on the northern boundary of the City Park, where they could see various people working to prepare for the party tonight. A large object near the centre of the southern boundary was hidden under tarps, which someone was tying down to keep the wind from blowing them away, but it only held their attention for a few moments.

"It looks like someone took the gong away," Josh snickered as they marched double-time to the Town Hall, in whose large, square tower the clock and bell were. The clock's mechanism drove a hammer that struck the bell on the hour, but it could also be manually struck to sound warnings, mostly for storms.

"Good morning, you two," said Aaron Klein after they'd emerged from the temporary frame that held tasteful navy-blue drapes that surrounded the door. There was plenty of room in the foyer for this, which greatly reduced the drafts; the windows along the south wall provided the necessary illumination. They noticed that the gong had been parked between two windows with its mallet placed on top of the frame. Retired folks volunteered to sit behind the reception desk for two-hour shifts to provide information to those who needed it, as well as commonly-requested forms. They Politely Bowed in return. "What can I do for you, um, Josh and Maria?"

"Good morning, Mr. Klein," Josh replied, reading the nameplate on the desk. "We're here to ask you to get someone to hit Storm Warning on the bell." Aaron's bushy gray eyebrows rose over his brown eyes and the students nodded.

"Thank you for telling me," he said, getting out of the very comfortable chair with some difficulty and making his way to a solid oak door with shiny brass fittings that was on the left side of the foyer. He opened it and went into the office behind it, spoke to someone briefly, then emerged and closed the door. "I've let them know. Someone will get on it immediately." They Politely Bowed again.

"Thank you, sir," said Maria. "We've got to get back to the School. We had a rather draining session at the Veterinary Clinic."

"You look tired," he responded sympathetically. "Do you think it will snow for the party?"

"We think it will start at about that time," Josh replied. "The storm is coming off the ocean, so the flakes should be nice and fluffy. At least at first."

"I'll pass that on too. See you tonight."

"We wouldn't miss it!" Maria replied emphatically, getting a smile through the neatly trimmed gray beard. They passed through the curtains and then the door back to the chilly outdoors. Then they turned south and headed for home. They'd made it to the first bridge before the bell began to sound. Bong-bong, bong rang out several times, the tones washing out over the town. Students and teachers at recess heard it and stopped in their tracks and listened.

"That's the storm warning," Marcie's teacher Steve King, who was on yard duty, told his students when asked. "It looks like Winter will be arriving on the Solstice this year." The word would be spread when the students went home for lunch and again after school. The warning chimes would be rung every half-hour on the quarter-hours for the rest of the day. The General Store, Frankie's Food Store, Mulgrew's Butcher Shop, Cartwright's Bakery, and even the Bank started getting more business as people went out to stock up.

-=-=-=-=-=

Jill Haverstock and Steven Petersson made their way to the Magwitch Hospital, which was on South Street that ran west from Main Street and just north of the Magwitch River. There were other entrances aside from the one on the west side that opened into the Emergency waiting room, but Emergency was where the students, Healer Leila, and occasionally Professor Moser when acting as backup for a student shift, hung out waiting for business to come. Illnesses follow a seasonal cycle, with a baseline of ear infections and strep throat for kids that peaks after school starts in September. Cuts, burns, and falls generating various injuries were the primary sources of business for the Emergency room. Falls would pick up once the snow came and ice became a problem, despite the residents' liberal use of ashes from their home heating units. Ice also generated injuries for horses, and the students, already warned by the Professor, would be learning how to diagnose and treat them.

"The room is delightfully empty," Steven said when they passed through its draft curtains to see unoccupied, neatly ordered, well-worn wooden chairs in the waiting area. "I'm sure that it will fill up with dozens of people in the next few minutes, now that we're here."

"Are you trying the reverse jinx?" Jill snickered as they made their way to the front desk, where Michael Saunders, the nurse on duty, was reading the morning paper.

"Let the Universe know that I have no idea what a reverse jinx is," he replied, looking suitably shifty and getting a giggle.

"You probably just summoned something from the inside instead of the outside," Michael said, looking up from his reading and rolling his brown eyes. "Maybe the Work Monster will think that the summons came from some other part of the building and will bestow its blessings there instead." Right on cue, the swinging door to the interior of the hospital was pushed open and Dr. Jane Tarkenton, the third of the three doctors on staff, popped in.

"Aah! The Work Monster!" the other three chorused in mock fear. Jane rolled her eyes and sighed.

"The Three Wise Guys. Have you drunk all the coffee yet?" she demanded, hands on her hips, but there was a twinkle in her green eyes. She was in her mid-thirties, tall and sturdy with past shoulder-length dark brown hair starting to go gray at the temples. She was from the middle of The Kingdom by way of The Capital's Medical School. A job posting on the board for the Magwitch Hospital had her checking the map to find out where it was and, since it seemed more attractive than the other options, she'd packed up her stuff and come down to the place to interview for it. She landed in the middle of a crisis that had been caused by a runaway two-horse cart that had caused several serious injuries. The Town Healer and a visiting Healer had been triaging victims in the Emergency room when she'd run in.

"Welcome to Magwitch," the visiting Healer, who'd identified himself as Harold Moser, had said with an ironic smile. "The person at the desk will get you started." The two Healers, the other two doctors, the nurses, and she had worked for several hours doing emergency surgeries and she'd come out of the experience as the third doctor on staff. Now the Professor, as he'd become known, had a bunch of students that he was trying to shepherd through the system and two of them were about to get a challenge.

"Not yet, Doctor Tarkenton," Steven replied as he and Jill gave her Respectful Bow #2. "We just got here." He was a large fellow, but somehow managed to project the same attempts at innocence that his Professor did. Perhaps it was the curly blond hair, blue eyes, and open, somewhat rectangular face. She just shook her head. Work Monster, indeed.

"I'm glad that you're here," she told the students. "Mrs. Downie in Elder Care has had a fall and we need to check her over with those magical Windows of yours to see if anything's broken." The students exchanged a worried glance. 'Elder Care' and 'fall' were not a combination that anyone wanted to hear. They quickly removed their coats and mitts and hung them in the closet that was behind Michael's desk.

"Let's go," said Jill, straightening her blonde hair that had become disordered by her coat's hood.

"See you later," Michael waved as the three pushed through the door and turned left. There was a stairwell in the front corner that they used to get to the second floor where Elder Care was located. The central part of the hospital had a rectangular well aligned with its long axis that contained a carefully engineered ramp that spiraled up at an angle and allowed gurneys and carts to be pushed up from the ground floor to the third floor. It made for a long walk, so the stairs were usually used.

The ward ran along the front of the building, with rooms on the outside wall and the nursing station on the interior side of the hallway. The entire building was lit by Enchanted Mage Lights contained in attractive fixtures, and here the fixtures had a farming theme. They heard quiet conversations coming from some of the rooms. Each of the plain doors had a card with a name on it, and Lorna Downie's name was on the third door from the corner, right in front of the nursing station. It was open.

Where a fourth room could have been was an open area with four comfortable chairs, room for two wheelchairs, and a large table in the middle with some books and magazines on it. Peaceful landscape paintings were on the walls and the window had tasteful lavender curtains. Marring the scene was a woman lying on the floor with a pillow under her head and two nurses and two other people kneeling beside her. The woman's eyes were closed and the people were holding her hands and looking afraid. Steven and Jill were a long way away from Professor Moser's and Healer Leila's ability to cast the Window spell on the fly and they slowly and carefully went through the moves and said the sentences in Nital that resulted in successes for both of them this time. It's a complex spell that they start working on in their Second Year with the expectation that they master it by their Fourth Year, and backfires can be quite painful, as all students discovered at least once. What looked like two-by-two-foot panes of glass materialized out of thin air and they carefully adjusted their sizes.

"Please tell us what happened and where we should look," said Jill after she and Steven had introduced themselves and each had moved to a side of the patient. The middle-aged couple introduced themselves as Lisa Downie and Pat Downie, Lorna's daughter and son-in-law.

"We were walking Mom from her room to this area for our visit, just as usual," Lisa explained, wiping tears from her eyes. "We were each holding an arm because she's frail and unsteady on her feet. I let her arm go to reach for the chair and she just collapsed without any warning. Pat was holding her and she managed to hit her head on the padded part there before he was able to lower her to the floor."

"I hope that I didn't hurt her," Pat added. "It was a reflex."

"Don't worry," reassured Dr. Tarkenton, patting him gently on the shoulder. "You saved her from hitting her head on the floor, which would have been very bad news. Steven, please scan her brain and Angela," she indicated the first nurse, "will look for anything that looks like a stroke. Jill, please check her lungs and heart. Myron," she indicated the other nurse, "will look for a pulmonary embolism and myocardial infarction. Those are the two first things to look for in a case like this." They nodded and got to work. At Angela's direction, Jill kept the plane of her Window parallel to the floor so that Angela could see the outline of the entire lung as it was pushed through Lorna's body. Mastering making the Window work was one thing, but interpreting what it was showing was something entirely different, and a lot of time in the student's later years was spent learning what was normal and what was not. Veterinary Healers got the added joy of doing the same with cats, dogs, various livestock, and of course horses. With this training unavailable to them, the doctor and nurses had to use their knowledge and intuition, and all three of them found it fascinating. For their part, Pat and Lisa sat in two of the chairs to give them space, as they weren't all that interested in knowing the intimate details of Lorna's body.

"I haven't had anyone scrutinize my body this closely since Wilf brought me home on our wedding night," Lorna said quietly, startling them. Her blue eyes, almost lost in a sea of wrinkles, were unfocused, looking into the past instead of at them.

"Mom! What happened?" Lisa asked.

"A stroke, I think," she replied. "I suddenly couldn't feel my right leg and arm and that's when I fell. Thank you for catching me, Pat. I always knew, right from the start, that Lisa had made an excellent choice. Are you the one looking at my brain, young man?" she asked, looking up at Steven.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "I think that we've found the blood clot that's causing it." Angela had pointed at a suspicious shadow in a blood vessel. With some concentration, he was able to match the plane of the image to where in her brain it was. He moved his right hand's fingers in a certain way and muttered "Ignis ignit", the Ignite Fire spell, only with much less power. "I did it!" he exclaimed, as much in surprise as relief. The shadow had become what looked like a puff of smoke that quickly vanished.

"Fingers crossed that we got it before it was too late for your brain to recover," Angela said with a smile. The feeling of relief in the small sitting area was almost palpable. "We should get you off this cold floor and into your warm bed." Malcom Ketcham, the orderly who helped out on this floor, had appeared, drawn by the crowd like a fly to a nighttime light.

"Don't worry yourselves," Lorna replied quietly. "There's a time on every journey when you can see its end. The coach station, the store, home. All have a door that opens to welcome you in. I see my last door now, just over there." She was too weak to lift her arm to point, but they followed her eyes to the midpoint of where a wall would be if this area had been a room. "It's ... the front door of our house! Wilf! I'm coming, Wilf!" She shuddered slightly, then was still. Myron removed a pocket watch.

"Time of death, 8:45 a. m., December 22. I'll note it in her file." His voice was flat; Lorna's was not the first death he'd witnessed since he started working at the hospital almost three years ago, nor would it be the last, and each one affected him differently. She'd lived her life, her time had come, and that wasn't hard, it was the people who'd died before their time by accident, illness, or very occasionally suicide that were the hardest. If people had musical accompaniments for their daily lives, his would be the sound of crying, like what he was hearing now. Malcolm returned with a gurney and they carefully loaded Lorna's remains onto it, then covered her with a sheet.

"She wanted to be cremated and her ashes buried next to Wilf's in the graveyard," Lisa sobbed quietly in response to Angela's question. "We'll have to wait until Spring after the ground thaws to do the burial." Jill and Steven stood by the table, unconsciously holding hands, looking lost and forlorn.

"Thank you, Jill and Steven, for coming," Pat said, shaking their hands, followed by Lisa. "Not the best way for you to start a day, but know at least that you made a difference." Then everyone left and they were alone with the doctor, who suddenly didn't seem like a Work Monster after all.

"Are you going to do rounds in the ward, Dr. Tarkenton?" Steven asked. "Maybe you could broaden our education with an introduction to Elder Care," he added without the usual ironic student response to a Teachable Moment. Jill gave him a thoughtful look.

"That sounds like a good idea, Steven," Jane replied, noticing both actions. What would have been a dull hour in the Emergency ward was spent going from room to room, meeting the people, discussing their conditions, using the Windows to get a better look at what was ailing them, and listening to their stories. It became clear to both Jill and Jane that Steven was a natural at this. After the first visit, he borrowed a pencil and some notepaper and wrote down what he had heard in Mage Shorthand.

"There was the Memory Project for the ghosts who showed up in May," he said. "There should be a Memory Project for the people here, too. What did we lose when Lorna Downie died?" After the visits were over, Jill and Steven returned to Emergency where people had started showing up needing help. They had steady business that kept them fully occupied until the end of their shift at noon.

-=-=-=-=-=

Steven and Jill were the last of the students to return "home", as they'd been referring to the Magwitch School for Magical Veterinary Sciences ever since the first week after their arrival on the fifth of September, and as they would continue to so for the rest of their lives. They were only about fifteen minutes after Maria and Josh. They were unaware of the storm warning bell because it couldn't be heard inside the hospital, but weren't surprised when they were informed. Alan and Jennifer had been the second to arrive, as the dropping-off of their cake didn't count. They'd returned Gandalf and the cart to Webber's and had been kept busy fixing things and checking horses until they'd finished their shift. The kitchen clock dinged quarter past twelve as they were putting the lid on the cake box that was resting on Ms. Gillis' desk while doing their best to not drool all over it.

"Oh, thank you!" said Jill after they'd entered the kitchen to find the others sitting at their tables in front of empty plates and drinking from mugs of coffee. Generous ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches were on plates on their table. Hot water was waiting for them on its stove and coffee was soon in their mugs and they sat down. It was comfortably warm after the chill of the outdoors and the sandwiches were as good as they looked. "Bad news, folks," she continued after devouring her first bite. They perked up and looked at her. "I think that the Veterinary Program just lost Steven."

"Say it ain't so!" Alan replied, not sounding very concerned. Each of them, including Mark, had already had at least two fits of near-insanity, during which they'd sworn to transfer to Magical Basket Weaving or something similar, before finally recanting once their brains had reset. "What happened?"

"We had a call to Elder Care, where a patient had had a near fall, but then passed away due to a stroke," Steven replied, his eyes focused on the past. There were sympathetic murmurs. "Healers have to look Death in the face; it's part of our job. Sometimes we can say, 'Not this time,' and Death moves on; sometimes Death says, 'Not this time,' and carries them away." He remembered that he had a sandwich in his hand, took a bite from it, and chewed thoughtfully. "Professor Moser has said more than once that a person is like an iceberg - what you see is only ten percent of what they are. What did we lose when she died today? Everything that she was is ... gone." He paused to wipe his eyes. "I got some stories from the other people in the ward. They're ..." He looked around and rolled his eyes. "On Ms. Gillis' desk."

"Professor Moser helped a dog go to the Rainbow Bridge," said Maria.

"We then had to work hard to save a badly mauled cat," Josh continued. "Death one, us one."

"All we did was fix some stuff and check over some horses," said Jennifer. "But at least we all have something for our 'what I learned at work today' journals. What are you doing, you furry mooch?" This was directed at Graymalkin, who had noticed that the newly-arrived humans had not given her the required tithe of some sandwich meat, had leaped gracefully onto their table and was batting at Steven's sandwich hand with her paw. They each made the required small sacrifice, getting up and going over to her food dish to put the morsels in their place. The cat quickly put the morsels in their proper place and they all chuckled as she sat there licking her chops.

Dishes were cleaned and put away, the counters and tables were cleaned, more coffee was created, and the six of them went upstairs to their rooms to record their experiences. The Professor had suggested this as a way to help prepare their weekly statements that were a significant part of their grade for this portion of the curriculum, and despite initial doubts, they had quickly embraced it.

"What we're doing is recording our stories," Jill said thoughtfully in the middle of their work. "The paper will remember in case we forget. Which is why the Professor asked us to do this."

"So few people bother to," Steven replied, staring at his chicken-scratch handwriting. "Though if I don't improve my penmanship, it won't matter because nobody will be able to read it, including me!" He forced himself to rewrite, much more legibly, what he'd written. "I wish that I'd had room in my luggage for a typewriter! There should be one for us here somewhere."

"Ugh, we'd all have to have one or else there would be squabbling." He sighed and nodded. "And there would be clacking keys at all hours of the day and night to disturb sleep, unless they were set up in the basement. They're heavy and not at all affordable, and mutter, mutter, mutter, grumble." He batted his eyelashes at her and she blew him a kiss.

"Back to work. Eat, work, sleep, repeat." He had a lot less trouble decoding his Mage shorthand than his regular longhand because the characters, which represented sounds rather than letters, were simple to draw, and he made a point of copying the seniors' stories into his notebook very carefully, dating and numbering the loose shorthand pages, and putting them into an envelope. Jill wondered what the differences were between their interpretations of the same event and filed it in the back of her mind.

Time passed. Before they knew it, the kitchen clock was chiming four o'clock and they had drifted back to the kitchen. Apples and basic sandwiches were handed out to fill in the gaps until they could eat at the party. Money had a way of vanishing at these parties, being converted into excellent food that did not last long, so they did what they could to keep their finances from getting depleted too quickly.

"Are you two ready?" Josh asked Alan and Jennifer, who were holding hands and looking rather nervous. There was no point in their getting dressed up, since the wedding would be outdoors and they would all be wearing winter gear, so they were wearing their normal clothes. Maria finished putting the correct amount of kibble and water into Graymalkin's dishes, stood up, and stared at Josh.

"Were you checking me out?" she asked, hands on her hips. He looked innocent, as if eyeing her firm rump while she'd been bent over attending to the cat had been the last thing on his mind. It wasn't as if he didn't get to see it bare on a regular basis, after all. The others snickered. But he could never stop himself from looking, and she knew it.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Alan replied. "This is the marriage license," he added, holding a piece of paper that had been folded in quarters. He carefully put it in his right front pants pocket. "We have the rings, of course. All we have to do is get there." They heard the front door open.

"Hello? Anybody home?" It was Professor Moser. The six of them hustled to the front room where they saw him standing in front of Ms. Gillis' desk. "Why is Graymalkin guarding the cake?" he asked, hands on his hips. The cat had curled up in a ball and fallen asleep on the cake box. The students shook their heads and rolled their eyes and Maria removed the gray and white fuzzball, who sleepily protested as she was deposited on the couch that was under the window that looked into the mud room.

"Oh, this is so nice!" he exclaimed, finally lifting the top of the cake box. His Mage Light joined with theirs to illuminate its contents, they all got a good look, then he closed the box. "It's a good thing you'll be here to help me to eat it." They could see his odd blue eyes twinkling. Their Respectful Bow was as automatic as breathing, but they smiled back. He was feeling relaxed; clearly it had not been a difficult afternoon at the veterinary clinic. "Maybe we should have the wedding now so we don't have to waste time coming back here for the cake?"

"Sorry, Professor. Mark and Stella and maybe Ms. Gillis would be most displeased at missing out on their parts of the cake," Jennifer replied sternly, earning a shifty look from him. "What's in the bag?" A light blue carrier bag was on the floor in front of Ms. Gillis' desk.

"Oh, right. It's the Midwinter's gifts. There was a delay in producing them, apparently, and they only just arrived this afternoon from Havisham." He reached into it and pulled out a cubical cardboard box three inches on each side. "Ah, this one is Steven's." They were marked with their names and quickly passed out; a seventh was marked MSMVS and the eighth, with Mark's name on it, was set on the desk.

"We were there when that cart arrived," said Jennifer. "We were going to help unload it, but the others kept handing things to us and telling us to put them places," she continued. The shifty look returned.

"Well, go on, open them. I haven't had time to look at them and am curious." The next few moments were filled with the sounds of boxes being opened and the tightly-packed shredded paper removed and carefully placed on the floor. These were followed by gasps of surprise as the contents were extracted. They were roughly ellipsoidal glass paperweights that contained carefully painted replicas of the stained-glass window in the front door. Each had the student's name and the year carefully engraved on the front at the bottom. The seventh that the Professor opened had 'MSMVS Class of' and the year.

"Oh, this is beautiful!" they all exclaimed in unison. "Thank you, Professor Moser!"

"They really did a beautiful job," he replied. They were all wiping their eyes.

"I will keep this forever," Alan vowed. They all did, as did the recipients of the successive classes. Each year had a different style and shape, but the same contents. A glass cabinet was eventually created to hold the School's copies and was mounted on the wall to the right of the door to the Headmaster's office where it remains today and is a point of admiration. Many years later, when Professor Harold Moser finally passed away, or "walked into the sunset" as he liked to say, a copy of the year's paperweight was included in his headstone that was located next to his beloved Healer Leila's. Though seven years his junior in age, she'd passed away a year before him and a paperweight from that year had been incorporated in her headstone.

"You should get going," the Professor said. "I'll stay behind to guard the cake. Graymalkin might go crazy without you here." There were skeptics in the audience and they were noisy.

"You can't marry us if you're here and we're in the Park, Professor," Jennifer stated, delivering an eye-roll like so many other women had made over the years. "Since there's a storm coming, we really must bring the cake with us. The Cartwrights told us that there will be a chafing dish that will keep it warm."

"Yeah, nobody's going to want to come back here in a storm, then have to go home after," Alan agreed. "There's a cake server and a box of paper napkins in the kitchen. I'll get them." He scurried to the kitchen, retrieved the items, then returned. The Professor borrowed an ink pot and pen from Ms. Gillis' desk and added them to the bag with the other things.

"We'll put these in our rooms and leave," Jill said. Two stampedes up and down the stairs were followed by bundling up in the required warm clothing and boots in the mud room and they left, with the Professor holding the carrier bag that held Mark's gift, the cake server, and the napkins. Steven and Jill volunteered to carry the box.

"We won't slip, fall on the box and eat through it to get to the cake," he promised virtuously.

"It's a Cartwright cake. Trust no one," said Josh, giving him the stink-eye, and they all laughed.

The southerly wind had strengthened a bit, the temperature had dropped a bit, and the cold, crisp air smelled of coming snow. None of these encouraged lingering and they made it to the Park by four-thirty. The bonfire in the pit that was southeast of the gazebo was the centre of attention. The tables where food and drink were sold surrounded it about five feet from the circular path. Many of the people who were streaming in were carrying scrap wood in bags to contribute, as this was the time to start cleaning house to get ready for the new year.

"Oh, look, there's that cart that Maxie was trying to fob off on us," Jennifer said, pointing out the remains of the cart they'd reviewed negatively earlier that day. It had been chopped at with an ax, but not so much (yet) that it was unrecognizable.

The Professor, however, aimed for the gazebo, where the gong was sharing space with the band that was getting itself set up. The students split up, as they had Enchanted Mage Lights to set up to ward off the increasing gloom that numerous lanterns were attempting to defeat with limited success. Only Jill, whose skill was the best, followed him, as her job was to illuminate the gazebo both inside and out. His effort to reach the gong was severely impeded by the Unwelcoming Committee of the Mayor, who was on the stage holding the mallet threateningly, her husband and his equally large brother at the bottom of the steps, and the most discouraging of all, Healer Leila.

"You will promise to behave yourself and not strike, or attempt to strike, the gong," said Leila flatly, giving him The Stare, whose impact made him twitch.

"Please, Papa," said Marcie, who had materialized from somewhere and was impeding his progress with a big hug. "You don't want to spoil the party with that awful noise!"

"All right, I promise that the gong is safe from me tonight," the Healer sighed melodramatically, as it was clear that he and they knew that he would. "On my honour, no tricks." He saluted his wife with his clenched right fist over his heart, knuckles up, and everyone relaxed. A Mage's word is his bond. "It warms my heart to see that I'm popular enough to have the best people in town be here to greet me." Jill's first Enchanted Mage Light, cast on the underside of the peak of the gazebo's roof, lit everything up.

"Why did I ever fall in love with a rascal like you?" she demanded as he moved in for a hug.

"All I know is that I'm glad that you did," Jill heard him reply. Everyone in the vicinity felt the passion in their smooch. Jill added lights with pale red, green, and blue coloration to the exterior of the gazebo that lit up the entire area around it. Bert Chisholm and Ann Clapham, the teachers who led the Theatre Club, and the students who were starring in The Greench Who Stole Midwinter had gathered near the steps of the gazebo. They had minimal costumes, only their warm winter outerwear, which was fine by all concerned, as it took away a large chunk of work. They had already performed it for the school in the annual Midwinter Assembly, as they knew that not everyone there would make it to the party in the Park.

"All right, ladies and gentlemen," said Mayor Jaggers into the lavender and blue Amplify ring cast by Retired Healer Lakash Moto. "It's time to bid farewell to the shortest day of the year. Professor Moser has promised to not strike the gong tonight."

"Under duress!" the Professor protested loudly, getting some laughs.

"Tonight's guest gong striker is Kelly Doyle, who will be playing the Greench in tonight's play, The Greench Who Stole Midwinter. Please come up, Kelly." Kelly was wearing a green coat, pants, makeup, and wig and scooted up the stairs to some applause and Respectfully Bowed to the Mayor. Healer Leila, who'd cast Check Time to get an accurate time, gave a thumbs-up and the countdown from ten ended in a loud, brassy noise as the gong was struck at 4:42. Everyone cheered and applauded as the band played a brisk little piece to mark the occasion. Usually there was extra daylight after sunset, but the thick clouds concealed that.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please," Bert announced fifteen minutes later after everyone had had a chance to get something warm to eat and drink. Every table had a setup supplied by the town that included chafing dish, which was a rectangular metal pan on a frame with two small alcohol-burning "candles" that kept the pan and contents warm. An unoccupied table was the recipient of the cake box that was balanced on top of the frame and the burners were lit, with fingers crossed that the balance between the heat from the burners and the bonfire would be balanced by the cold from the wind, which had picked up a bit more.

"The Magwitch Public School's Theatre Group is proud to present to you a brand-new play called 'The Greench That Stole Midwinter'. What is a Greench you may ask? Well, gather around and find out!" Gather they did, packing in closer than usual for warmth, while another large group remained around the bonfire watching from a distance. They all applauded. The seven Mage students, plus Stella, Healer Leila, and Professor Moser, had congregated in the southern part of the crowd and were holding large mugs of very good tea made from a variety of locally-grown mints. Mark had received his Midwinter gift with delight from him and Stella and put it in his coat pocket for safekeeping.

The play started with a bunch of kids on the stage pretending to push and shove each other while yelling and crying. Something made a loud pop, Ann tossed a handful of talcum powder, and Kelly scurried up the steps and posed dramatically.

"Who - who are you?" one of the kids asked fearfully.

"I am the Greench! Your bad behaviour has brought me from the Other Side! You will all be punished! I will take away your Midwinter! Ha-ha!" This was the essence of the short introductory song she sang called "I'm a Greenie Meanie!" She evaded attempts to grab her and ran down the steps. The scene quickly shifted to the inside of a house. A boy and a girl were bickering over a toy, and two teenagers from the upper grades were being the father and mother, who were in the kitchen making dinner. The Greench opened the imaginary kitchen door, put a piece of paper on the imaginary table, which was the railing on the gazebo's perimeter, and quickly withdrew with a "Ha-ha!"

"What's this?" asked the father, whose back had been to the Greench. He picked up the paper. "Hey, Billy, you want to have mini cabbages and turnips for breakfast tomorrow?"

"No, I hate them!" said Billy, running into the kitchen. "You know that!" Father handed Billy the paper. "What? This is a fake! That's not my handwriting, and my," he squinted at the paper, "favourite colour isn't Greench!"

"You and Betty have been so nasty to each other that I think we'll have to cancel Midwinter tomorrow night. Maybe we'll give both of your presents to whoever the Greench is."

"But we brought in the Greench today at school!" Betty cried. "We were all fighting in the playground and poof! There it was! It said it would punish us for being bad by taking away Midwinter!" Other mini-scenes had children being blamed for writing "Love the Greench, get rid of kids!" in crayon on the living room wall, tracking mud all over the house in weird footprints, and covering the Solstice Tree with pieces of paper that had rude words on them. One of the parents found a "Mythological Creatures" book and read about the Greench. The kids met in the schoolyard the next morning to discuss how to save Midwinter. The Greench showed up and sang a gloating song about how it was happy and got stronger when children cried and got no presents for Midwinter that made them extra sad.

"The more you hate me, the stronger I get!" were the final words. Kelly's pose and smug, superior smirk earned boos and hisses from the audience, who were getting into the spirit.

"That look is very familiar," Healer Leila said to her husband. "You wouldn't, by any chance, have been coaching that girl?" The students flinched, but the Professor was made of sterner stuff, forged from a lifetime of accusing stares from women.

"The success of the play depends on the villain being believable," he replied smoothly.

"The villain that you created while tipsy on cider!" The students snickered, remembering.

"If you get stronger when kids are mean, maybe you get weaker when kids are happy," said Marcie's character, making the Greench flinch. "Be kind instead of mean! You look very handsome today," she said to Luke Loran, who smiled and returned the compliment.

"Stop it! He isn't handsome at all! You're lying!" The Greench stomped her foot.

"Ha, ha, funny Greench!" said one of the really young kids after a whispered prompt from one of the others. The others on the stage chuckled and the creature cringed.

"Remember when our teacher bent over to pick up some chalk and farted?" another one spoke out, and they all laughed, along with some of the audience, making the Greench screech with rage.

"And if the Greench gets stronger when we're crying, it will hate us when we're singing!" Marcie added. "We're going to need some help with the singing," she addressed the audience. "O Solstice Tree, O Solstice Tree, how lovely are your branches." The audience quickly joined in and Kelly ran around the stage until she laid down and another cloud of talcum powder was thrown. Then they all cheered and promised to be kind and helpful to each other and never summon a Greench again. The audience cheered and applauded its approval and gave Kelly extra enthusiasm when she took her bows.

"She might have a career as an actor waiting for her," Steven said admiringly. She turned out to be a lawyer, and a good one, which was close enough.

"I'm a Greenie Meanie," Alan sang as Mayor Jaggers and the band reassembled themselves on the gazebo stage. "Oh, that's a nasty catchy tune," he flinched as Jennifer gave him a point-blank Stare.

"Tell me that you didn't come up with that one, Professor Moser," said Leila with gritted teeth.

"Yes, Papa did," Marcie said, appearing out of the crowd. "He gave me the poem and Mr. Chisholm said that the music practically wrote itself. We only had to practice it twice before we had it memorized." She glared at her father, who looked especially shifty. "And I don't think we will ever forget it." And she never did; it bubbled up in her mind at the oddest times and she infected others at the Magic School with it when she was overtired and crazed from too much work. From there, the corruption slowly spread.

"Just how much do you identify with the Greench, Professor Moser?" Maria asked, hands on her hips. He was spared having to evade the question when the Mayor spoke.

"On a much more somber note, as was announced earlier, we are now going to unveil the Rainbow Bridge, our new memorial to pets who have left us to cross over to the Happy..." Her voice got rough and she had to compose herself. "The Happy Meadow where they wait for us. Please gather around it." The crowd migrated to the south end of the park where the memorial waited under its tarps. Healer Leila spun an Amplify circle in her colours of turquoise and yellow over it.

"When Harold and I went to The Capital this summer, we visited the Memorial Park." She didn't mention that they'd been driven there by the local Goddess, much to their surprise. "They have a Rainbow Bridge memorial that complements the others there and we thought that Magwitch should have one too. This is the result." Under Mage Lights supplied by the students, she, the Mayor, the Professor, and Sam Turner, Stella's grandfather and former owner of Turner's Veterinary Clinic, each moved to a corner, untied the tarps from their restraining ropes, and lifted them away. The crowd murmured as the people shifted to get a better look. They knew that it would be there for a long time and they could see it whenever they wanted to, but it's always the magic of the first time that draws people in.

It was an arch about twenty feet long that rose to a maximum height of three feet. The loving craftsmanship that had been put into it by the builders was not fully appreciated until the weather got warmer and the snow melted, but they could see how the boards had been carefully painted the colours of the rainbow, with red on the east end and violet on the west end. The railings were four feet from the bridge and supported on posts and a trellis on each side that had been painted to match the boards.

"The purpose of the trellis is to allow people to attach the collars of their pets to the bridge," said the Professor. "They will be there so that they can be ... remembered. If anyone present wishes to be the first, remember that this, the darkest day of the year, offers hope that the days will get longer, the sun will shine warmer, and the green will come again." Unbidden, the citizens of Magwitch bowed their heads and stood quietly as the Town Choir sang "I Will Always Love You"; many were in tears or crying quietly by the time the last notes of the especially heart-rending rendition of the song had blown away in the wind.

"This is Bailey's collar," said Allie Brady as she and Dale stepped forward, along with two teenaged not-quite-children. "Bailey was a part of our lives for seventeen years. His spirit is with the Goddess now, but his love will remain with us for the rest of our days." She ran the collar through the trellis and fastened it with the metal clasp. And then the air was filled with snowflakes that danced and swirled in the multitude of Mage Lights. There was a quiet, collective intake of breath as they all looked around in wonder.

"Their spirits have come back to play," Steven said. "Crackers, are you there?" he called out, his voice breaking and tears flowing down his cheeks. Despite the hush that had descended on the Park with the snow, he was heard and echoed.

"Patches! I haven't forgotten!" said someone. "Ollie!" "Squeak!" "Bella!" "Felix!" As the crowd looked up and around to see if they could imagine their lost, beloved pets frisking around them one last time, four others quickly attached collars to the monument, announcing their pets' names in a brief sentence. Binky and Boopsie the dogs, and Calla and Mister Underfoot the cats, were remembered and mourned. The crowd began to disperse, with many migrating back to the bonfire and a few less hardy souls heading home. This was the signal for the band and Town Choir in the gazebo to start performing upbeat seasonal tunes to try to lighten the mood. This was made possible thanks to a Ward wrapped around the structure's windward side by Healer Lakash that kept them from getting frozen by the wind.

"We should get married before we turn into snowmen," Jennifer sniffled as Alan put an arm around her.

"An excellent idea," the Professor agreed. "Though you have to go to bed late for Summer Solstice Sunset, at least you aren't going to freeze solid." They made their way through the crowd to the bonfire, with Healer Leila leaving to make her way to a small wedding party on the south side. They found a spot on the east side of the bonfire where people were willing to give them some room where it was warm enough for them to not need to wear their mittens and their coats' hoods. Stella, Jill, and Maria moved behind Jennifer and Mark, Steven, and Josh moved behind Alan. Their engagement rings were removed and exchanged and the couple turned to face each other.

"You know that Mages in general are granted the authority to marry people," the Professor said with a smile, "and it's one of the best perks of the job. All we do is get The Kingdom to officially recognize what the rest of the world already knows: that your two souls are bound together by love, the oldest magic there is." There were some murmured "Awws" from the people around them. "First of all, thanks for coming. It wouldn't be the same without you." The joke was so ancient that it was essentially a part of the ceremony, but it still got some chuckles, and Jennifer and Alan smiled and relaxed a bit. "Next, I must ask the required questions. Jennifer Caldwell and Alan Frost, are you willing participants in this marriage, with no external actions coercing you?"

"I, Jennifer Caldwell, do solemnly swear that I am here of my own free will, brought here by my love for Alan Frost."

"I, Alan Frost, was brought here by, and only by, my love for Jennifer Caldwell."

"Finally, if there is any legal reason why Alan and Jennifer cannot be united, let it be known, or forever hold your peace." The air was filled with music, song, snow, and the sounds of dozens of conversations and dancing within the bubble of light and warmth cast by the crackling fire, but these sounds were somehow muted in the circle of observers. The required fifteen seconds passed with no dissent, everyone relaxed, and somehow the sounds of the party returned. "Who wants to go first?"

"We went through Intake and Assessment together," Alan said for the benefit of those who didn't know the story. He saw that Ms. Gillis and her husband Ron had made their way to the circle and smiled at them, then redirected his attention to Jennifer. "We both already knew that we were headed for Veterinary Healing, since we'd both loved animals from the start and we'd gotten some basic training from our parents after our powers had started coming to us."

"We were the only two of the dozen or so kids in the I and A section in Veterinary Healing," Jennifer continued. They'd clearly told the story before, the Professor seemed to notice. They had his full attention, which was unusual but not intimidating for some reason. "So, we found ourselves standing next to each other, two wide-eyed kids in a strange place, away from home for the first time. And we found ourselves holding hands. And it felt right."

"We looked in each other's eyes, and something clicked in my head. We were then assigned our dorm rooms, lugged our stuff up and installed ourselves in our rooms and met our roommates."

"The dorm rooms house two, and the administration somehow sets it up so that the roommates are in different programs," the Professor explained to the audience, who nodded with interest.

"To make a long story short," Jennifer said, "since I think that we'd all rather be inside soon," she added dryly, brushing some melted snow from her hair, "we knew almost from the start that we were meant for each other and our time together here in Magwitch has made that abundantly clear." She looked at the ring in the palm of her right hand, then at Alan. "Alan Frost, I have a wonderful ring that you made to give back to you. If you want it?"

"My hand feels empty without that ring on my finger," he replied. "My heart and my soul would be empty without you in them. Yes, with that ring, I thee wed." Her hand trembled slightly as she slid the ring with its carefully engraved exterior onto his left ring finger. He flexed his hand twice and said, "Yes, this feels right." He looked at her, into her eyes, and could feel her emotions about ready to burst. "Jennifer Caldwell, will you accept this ring again, this time to walk the ways of life by my side, over the hills and through the valleys, be they paved, gravel, or sometimes the trackless mud of the Westlands sideroads?" That got the smile he wanted to see on her face as much as possible, and chuckles from the audience, who knew all too well how the roads could get, especially in the Spring during snowmelt.

"Yes, Alan, I accept your ring, and with it, I thee wed." It was on her left ring finger a moment later. They faced each other and placed their left hands palm to palm so that their rings touched to begin the Invocation that finalized the wedding.

"Ring to ring," they said together, as though they'd been practicing (they had been). They touched their foreheads, then their partner's, with their rings. "Mind to mind." They touched their hearts, then their partners, with their rings. "Heart to heart." The Professor, the wedding party, and the onlookers joined in. "Two souls joined by love are stronger than the sum of their parts. You are now joined by your rings and your minds and your hearts."

"I was about to say, you can kiss to seal the deal," the Professor remarked, "but that is unnecessary." Red and violet and chartreuse and gray auras flared, swirled, and merged together as a burst of love and joy blew through the others as they cheered and applauded loudly.

"The Rainbow Bridge is love that was. This is love that is," said Maria thoughtfully.

"There's a paper to sign and a cake to eat," said the Professor. They moved to the table with the cake box that was warm enough to melt the snow that had been falling on it. A quick Banish Water blew the snow off the table, the inkpot was warmed by a careful variant of Ignite Fire, and the marriage license was officially signed by all those who needed to. There was more applause.

"We should have the cake now," Jennifer said, "before the Professor's eyes bore holes through the box." Nobody was buying the innocent look he was peddling. Jill and Steven did an impromptu drumroll on the table as the newlyweds carefully removed the box's top and the remaining onlookers murmured their approval. Professor Moser hastily spun a Ward over them to keep the snow, melting into a light rain courtesy of the bonfire, off of the cake.

"Twelve slices will do," Alan asserted, cutting it three by four with the cake server. Seven Mage students plus Stella, Ms. Gillis, and finally the Professor, each got a coveted slice. Marcie appeared with Kelly, who was still wearing her green wig.

"Once slice for a very deserving Greench," said the Professor, "and one for Marcie and it's all gone," he said sadly as they all did their utmost to make it last as long as possible.

"With your orgasming with that cake," Steven murmured into Jill's ear, "you won't need one from me tonight." Her bright blue eyes stared into his.

"After the orgasm wave those two are going to produce tonight, my hot, wet pussy is going to eat that wonderful, hard cock of yours until it fills me with another load of cum," she whispered.

"Maybe we won't wait that long." An Official Throat Clearing from more than one person stopped them short and their faces turned red. "Oops."

"Maybe we should hasten around the fire," said Jennifer dryly, getting some giggles. The newlyweds, arms around each other's waist, began their circuit on the circular path around the fire. The absolutely de-crumbed box was Cleaned and the cake slicer, ink pot, pen, carrier bag, and marriage license were put into it and its top was firmly placed. There was already a thin layer of snow on the areas that weren't heated by the bonfire, which was being allowed to die down as the people began heading for home to wait out the storm. The people at the tables were also packing up and the people from the Town who'd supplied the heating equipment came around to collect it and put it rather untidily into a large hand-cart. Josh gave it all a big Clean, causing a loud clattering that made them all jump. The music and singing had stopped a few minutes ago as everyone on the stage followed the example of their audience.

"Good luck, you two," Healer Leila, who'd appeared shortly after Alan and Jennifer had finished their circuit. Another Town employee leading an unhappy-looking horse that was pulling a larger transport cart, was collecting tables, getting help from the people in folding the legs so they could be stashed on the cart. Lanterns were also being collected, extinguished, and put on another cart. Nothing would be left behind for the snow to cover. Only the Enchanted Mage Lights would remain until they fizzled out later.

"Thank you, Healer Leila," said Alan with a smile that could light the whole place. Marcie gave them enthusiastic hugs.

"There probably won't be any classes tomorrow," said the Professor ironically. He'd still maintained the Ward over them. "I expect you to be filling the hours with the company of your books." The moans and whines appeared to be music to his ears. "I'm a Greenie Meanie!" That got a raspberry from someone. "I'll see you when the storm is over." They all Respectfully Bowed and everyone turned and started for their respective homes. Maria managed to cast a Ward, which was a lifesaver because they had to walk into the wind to get back.

"It really does soak up the energy," she said, struggling a bit with directing the wind energy into the spell to power it and getting a small assist from Josh.

"Thanks, guys," said Mark when they arrived at his kitchen door. Stella's folks were already there, waiting for them. "Congratulations!" He and Stella embraced Alan and Jennifer, then scooted inside. No time was wasted returning to the Veterinary School, which wasn't that much farther and on the other side of the road.

"Should we check the barn?" Jill asked after they'd gone onto the porch. "I think that we definitely will have to tomorrow morning, as I don't think that Mr. Boyd will be able to make it."

"We probably should," Steven said. "We'll borrow your Ward, if you don't mind." Maria gladly transferred control to him and the others went inside while the two scurried to the barn, lighting the way with Mage Lights. The horses were in their stalls and covered with warm blankets, Wizzo the brown tabby barn cat had settled in with Stardust, the red roan mare who'd been rescued on the day they'd arrived in Magwitch, and the barn owls up top hooted sleepily in their nest when Jill's light was moved up for a peek.

"Hmm, what's this?" she asked, squeezing a hard bulge in his pants, which were thick enough to conceal the telltale navy blue and lemon-yellow glow.

"Nothing that can't wait until we get back into our nice, warm bed," he said airily. "Which is waiting for us not too far away." He looked pointedly at the east door, where the Ward was sitting just outside.

"Would it want to wait if it had this to ravage?" She undid the buttons and her pants fell down, revealing that her crotch was glowing brightly in cherry pink and apple blossom white. The comfortable, but currently annoyingly restrictive, panties met the same fate and she shuffled the three strides required to the comically pop-eyed man because she'd have to take off her boots. They'd had sex many times, of course, but he was reading emotions from her this time that were confusing. Lust was bright and clear, of course, but there was something else underneath it. He snapped out of his reverie and quickly undid his pants and they and his boxer shorts fell to the floor, revealing his rampant erection.

"You have an ulterior motive, don't you, Jill?" They were in each other's arms, still in their coats, but with their bare lower halves pressed against each other's. "Hard and fast here, then slower and longer inside after Jennifer and Alan give us their newlywed orgasm wave?"

"It's like you can read my mind," Jill purred. "I think that the only way we can do this is from behind. I'm not wasting the time to take off my boots. Mmph!" Unable to resist, he had moved down for a kiss and it was the most natural thing in the world for their mouths to open and tongues to invade. As they kissed, he rather awkwardly moved his right hand down past the blonde curls of her bush to her hot, wet pussy that offered no resistance to his probing middle finger that sank all the way in with one push. "Ungh! What are you doing?" she moaned, her lips brushing his as his thumb expertly pressed and rubbed her clitoris.

"I will ravage your pussy like this and give you not one drop of my sperm," he replied, licking her lips and feeling her clamp down on his finger as he pressed her clitoris from the inside and outside.

"I don't think so, bub!" Her right hand pushed between them and grabbed the hot, hard cock that was sandwiched between them. It had gotten under her coat and blouse and had been rubbing pre-cum all over her belly and a hard squeeze and pump produced more than enough to lubricate her hand, which squeezed and pumped its sensitive tip while also continue to rub it against her. "You're going to cum all over me, so nasty and dirty like you've always wanted to," she moaned. They'd both been close already, and that was all it took to shove them over the brink. His finger was squeezed harder than he'd ever felt it before and something hot sprayed his hand. She felt the thick six-and-a-half-inches pulse and a hard squirt of heat and then another splattered just below her navel and start trickling down. Their ecstatic moans filled the barn on the heels of their orgasm waves, which washed over the horses, cat, and owls and sent them into deep, restful sleep.

"Oh, how I needed that," Steven whispered as they held each other, as much for mutual support as for love, in the darkness, as their Mage Lights had gone out when they'd come. He lit another Mage Light once his brain had finally regained the ability to do so and they stood there listening to the wind blowing around the barn. It had gained strength even during the time they'd been here. They Cleaned each other and their underwear and quickly pulled up and buttoned up their pants, as the chill in the air was starting to be felt.

"We should get back before we get buried," Jill remarked. "This is a bad storm." The protective bubble of the Ward covered the door, so they were able to get outside and close it without getting into a shoving match with the wind. It had stayed on because there was more than enough wind and snow hitting it to provide the needed power. At least an inch of snow had already accumulated and it crunched under their feet as they made their way around the north side of the School, which served as an effective windbreak, then they ducked into the side door instead of going all the way around to the front. They were on a landing that was five feet square; directly ahead of them were three stairs going up to the main hallway and the two washrooms, which they were feeling a strong need to use. Above them was the stairway going upstairs. Someone's Mage Light revealed Josh and Maria, looking rather unsteady and unfocused, making their way up the stairs to the basement that were on their left.

"Oh, hi there," said Josh as the other two Cleaned the snow from their boots, sending it outside where it belonged, and Steven allowed the Ward to lapse. Steven and Jill went up to the hallway to allow them to come up. "It's Maria's turn tomorrow to keep the boiler going and we thought that it would be a good idea for a refresher course on how it works." The other two snickered and they reddened. "How are the horses?" he asked pointedly, noting how they wouldn't look them in the eye.

"Oh, they're all fine and snuggled in for the night," said Jill airily, waving a hand in the general direction of the barn. "Excuse us a moment." Washroom doors were hastily closed and very necessary actions were performed.

"Come into the kitchen when you're done," Maria invited them, getting muffled affirmatives. They emerged holding their coats and boots and went to the mud room to put them in their places. Even though their boots were as clean as they could be, it still felt wrong to be walking around in them and not their warm, fuzzy slippers. The place was starting to warm up, thanks to the restocking of the boiler coal, and the kitchen was warmer still thanks to the small stove that had been lit and was heating water for the pre-bed chamomile tea.

"What smells so good?" Jill asked. Then she saw a pie in its metal pan sitting on the front of the small stove, apple by the smell of it. "Where did that come from?"

"It's a Solstice / Wedding gift from Mark and Stella," Jennifer replied. "They sneaked in after we'd left, put it in the icebox, then told us after we got to the Solstice Party. It should be warm enough now." The plate was transferred to the middle table, on which was a thick hemp and kenaf woven mat to protect table tops from hot things. The cake server and the Professor's carrier bag had been removed from the cake box; said bag had been tossed in the corner by the door where Graymalkin had promptly claimed it for a temporary bed. The pie was expertly sliced into six equal pieces and served on a plate with a fork. Sitting there in the kitchen with their friends while the storm raged around them, they did their utmost to make their slice last as long as possible, which as always wasn't nearly long enough.

"Oh, if I could make something half as good as this, I'd never be able to leave," Alan mumbled. "Literally. I'd be too fat to squeeze through the door!" They all laughed and made agreeing noises.

"Though it was a nuisance today, it's a very good thing that Cartwright's is a long walk away from here," Jennifer added, miming having her stomach expand and waddling around, getting more laughs. The tea, which had been steeping as they'd been eating their pie, was poured into mugs.

"To the bride and groom!" Steven said, raising her mug in a toast and they all carefully clinked them together and drank some. Maria added something in Carcosan.

"May you be blessed with healthy children?" Josh inquired, making the newlyweds blush. As her roommate and bedmate, he had more than the formal Carcosan lessons that she gave twice a week. He had a role in the improvement of her teaching skill in the three and a half months since they'd arrived, and her "thanking him properly" had frequently left them nearly unconscious in their bed.

"It is what we say in Carcosa," she replied firmly and they had no reason to disbelieve her.

"We have been blessed with great friends. Thank you for being a part of our special day," said Alan sincerely. "A day that needs to end as it began, in bed." He yawned and blinked, the image of an exhausted man. The hot stare that he and Jennifer incorrectly thought had gone unobserved had the others snickering and they turned red. The dishes and tabletops were Cleaned and everything was put away. Graymalkin was petted, the washrooms were visited, and they made their way upstairs, taking their Mage Lights with them and leaving the Enchanted Mage Light in the kitchen for the cat. Graymalkin knew that her humans were happy and she was glad for it in her feline way. Happy humans were generous with their petting and scratching and were more likely to give her treats and make that red light appear for her to chase. She could hear the wind and the rustle of the snow hitting the building and was glad to be here.

"Well, here we are, our first night as official husband and wife," said Alan after Jennifer had firmly closed their bedroom's door. Her dim Mage Light provided just enough light to see by. "As opposed to the unofficial status we've had for the most important months of my life." She moved noiselessly to where he was standing next to the window, where he peeked through the curtains, but couldn't see anything because it was totally dark and the air was filled with snow. He turned to her and they embraced. "My love, I am tired after a long day and I think I'll go to bed." She put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," she said, pointing to his tented pants, illuminated by chartreuse and gray.

"I see another pair of pants on fire." Her pants and blouse were glowing brightly in red and violet from within. "Do we need to have scorch marks on our clothing?" They did not, and soon the restrictive clothing had been discarded. He pulled down the covers on the bed and they got in.

"Me on top, bub. I know that you like licking my tits as I ride you." He willingly laid himself in the middle of the bed and she straddled him, dangling her breasts invitingly in front of his face.

"What, no foreplay?" he asked as she positioned his cock at her entrance and sank onto it, making them both moan. She moaned louder as she clamped her hot, wet sleeve onto his penis and rocked her way through an orgasm. He tried to extend it by gently licking and stroking her left breast.

"This whole day has been foreplay," she growled. "Don't think that I didn't notice the squeezes." Then she was down on him, their mouths connected, tongues invaded, and they wrapped their arms around each other as he gently thrust into her.

"They're waiting for us," Alan whispered when they finally had to break for air. They were both breathing heavily, him more so because her weight was on his chest. She shifted to put a hand next to each side of his head to relieve him. "Shall we knock them out of their beds?" They were aware that their integrated orgasm wave was having a strong effect on the others, who had yet to adjust to its intensity.

"Yes, my husband, we shall knock them out of their beds tonight and we will all be ruined." She raised and lowered herself and he bucked up to meet her halfway, making their bodies audibly slap together. "Making love is much more powerful than just fucking."

"My wife for life," Alan moaned as they looked into each other's eyes. Her squeezing had been getting harder and finally locked him in place all the way in, and he hosed her tightly-closed cervix with a hard squirt of cum. They managed to roll sideways to lie in each other's arms in the darkness, basking in the afterglow, with his shrinking cock still inside her, as their arousal light and her Mage Light had blinked out during their orgasm.

"My husband for life," she mumbled, her brain already shutting down. "I hope they enjoyed the orgasm wave." The last thing that Alan was able to do was Clean the mess between their legs, getting only a grunt from her. He then pulled the covers up over them and they slept.

The others had been passing the time in their beds talking quietly about the day's events and exchanging gentle kisses, strokes, and squeezes to warm each other up. They had felt Jennifer's first orgasm wave, which felt like being immersed in a warm bath, but they were used to it and it only had a mild arousing effect. A few minutes later, they suddenly felt a rush of warmth and love pass through them and could tell that it was the combination of Alan's sunny Spring day and Jennifer's orgasm waves.

"Oh, that felt so nice," Maria murmured, with both her and Josh lying next to each other, smiling contentedly. She'd cast a dim Enchanted Mage Light on the ceiling so they could see. She turned on her side to look at him. "Are we in love, Josh? Do our orgasm waves combine?" He turned to face her.

"I have been wondering that myself," he replied. He had to be honest because they'd been close for more than long enough to be able to read and react to the other's emotions. "What are the symptoms of love?" She gave him a push. "Hear me out," he protested mildly. "People in love exhibit certain behaviour that can be called symptoms because they don't exist in people who aren't in love, right?"

"Like thinking about your love instead of your school work."

"Like thinking about your love when she's naked instead of your school work. That is very distracting." He gently stroked her almost black left nipple, which had become very hard, and she moaned.

"Missing him when he isn't around. Implicitly trusting him with my everything." Her lips were on his and a hot, wet kiss happened. His hard, hot cock was sandwiched between their naked bodies and her hot, hard nipples were pressed into his chest. "But something is missing. Something small, but important." She rolled onto her back, taking him with her. Her man, almost her man, felt her buck and wiggle a bit as her pussy sought to get what it wanted stuffed into her. Thinking was difficult right now, as the primal urges were taking control from unresisting minds. The tip of his brightly glowing pale yellow and dark tan cock found the entrance to her brightly glowing maroon and peach pussy that was slick with the juices of anticipation and need and pushed in to the hilt in one thrust, making them both moan. Locked together, nose to nose, his brown eyes staring into hers, he had a thought.

"Is it fear?" he asked as he gently thrust to stimulate her clitoris without moving his cock. "Are we afraid of something?"

"Afraid that a Carcosan woman will want to take you away from your friends and family to a strange land, never to return?" She bucked to get him moving, making them moan as he started gently thrusting in and out, trying to make it last as long as he could.

"Afraid that this man would be keeping her against her will in a strange land of cold and snow, never to see her friends and family again? Afraid that this Northerner man would not meet with the approval of her parents, who happen to be the Ambassadors of Carcosa?"

"Love does not care about the approval of others," Maria grunted and then moaned as Josh adjusted himself just a bit to rub against her clitoris as he thrusted. "Love is about us."

"Love does not care about location," Josh moaned. He was thrusting harder and faster, unable and unwilling to control it any longer. "No matter where we are (grunts), together or apart (moans), it covers the distance in an instant. It is for us, and only (gasps) us!" Their entire lower bodies spasmed and his cock, nearly crushed by the force of her orgasm, sprayed his one remaining squirt of cum deep inside. Had she not remembered to close her cervix, she would have been knocked up then and there. Had anyone been watching their auras at that time, they would have seen them swirling around each other, then suddenly merge into a multi-coloured cloud that swirled a moment more, then flash out in an expanding sphere.

Steven and Jill had been taking a little longer because their encounter in the barn had been intense and he'd already been tired from a long day and he'd been having some difficulty staying hard, despite the impetus from Alan and Jennifer's orgasm wave. He was just about to give up when they felt something new blow through them, a brief feeling of standing in the shade of a hot summer sun wrapped up in the warmth of their kitchen as the oven door is opened.

"Maria and Josh," Jill whispered as they stopped while their bodies and minds absorbed and processed it. "Their waves were together."

"The orgasm wave of newly-made love," he whispered back. "We got to experience it."

"And its effects," she purred. "I can feel you getting harder." He thrust back and forth experimentally. "A lot harder," she moaned and they both felt a sudden surge in her juices, which had been a bit lacking because she was also tired. They were hard, lubricated, and suddenly coming.

"I was afraid that I would disappoint you," he admitted as they began thrusting and bucking with increasing urgency. "Pleasing you is all that I want."

"You are always so gentle and considerate of me," she gasped. Pleasurable sensations were overwhelming her brain. "You sprayed your cum on me with your finger in my pussy and your thumb on my clit and I'd never felt so good and I don't know why! Pound me! Rut on me! Use me for your pleasure and ruin me!" she demanded, and who was he to refuse? Not that the tiny brain that ran his cock needed any more encouragement. He thrust as hard and as fast as he could and each impact had them both seeing stars until finally his organ was seized and she felt it pulse several times before all of the cum remaining in his balls was delivered with one hard squirt, a scream from her and a roar from him. They held their positions for a few moments before rolling on their sides and immediately falling asleep.

Sometime during the wee hours of the morning, pressure in Alan's bladder returned him to consciousness. Grumbling sleepily, he got out of the bed without disturbing his new wife, put on his warm slippers, extracted his dressing gown from the closet, and made his way downstairs to the washroom. After completing the necessary chore, he paused to give Graymalkin some attention, then returned to his room.

"I'm a Greenie Meanie," he sang to himself as he dropped the nightgown on the floor by his side of the bed and hastily got in and covered up.

"I already hate that song!" Jennifer, who had been partially awakened, growled at him.

"What are you going to do about it?" he challenged. "Greenie ... mmph!" The most irresistible way of silencing your husband is to kiss him and invade his mouth with your tongue, and this is how they fell back to sleep, warm and secure in their bed in their shared home as the storm blew around it.

It takes one spark of flame to ignite a forge, one peek of sun to show a rainbow, one flake of snow to start a blizzard, one clod of earth to start a landslide, one dose of rain to wake an acorn. Magwitch was buried under snow that night and for most of the next day, but the acorns that had woken under the snow that stormy Solstice night sprouted, grew, and thrived.