Ginelle had slept very well that night but was awakened by a voice that that she didn’t recognize. He was calling out her name, over and over again, but she couldn’t see anyone. It was high pitched sound, so she could tell it wasn’t Dickie. Whatever it was, it kept calling out her name.

“Ginelle,” the voice called out, “Time to get up, girl! The sun’s up and the day is already passing you by!”

“Who said that?” Ginelle asked, sitting up in her bed and wiping the sleep from her eyes. She looked around the room and see anyone.

“Dickie?” she called out; despite her doubts it was the small mouse.

“No, my name is Marcus.” The voice called out, “I ain’t no rat.”

“Where are you?” Ginelle then asked as she still couldn’t see where Marcus was. She started to think the voice talking to her could be coming from an insect like an ant or even a spider, thus making it too small for her to focus her eyes upon.

“I’m up here,” Marcus said, “At the window.”

“Oh,” Ginelle said as she hopped out of bed. There was a small chair by the desk so she moved it over to the wall so she could stand on it and therefore be able to see out the window. The window was open, and standing on the windowsill was a lovely looking bird, a bird her mother told her was called a blue jay. Marcus had a lovely shade of blue with a nice white chest that Ginelle thought look absolutely marvelous.

“Hello there,” Ginelle said, “Pleased to meet you, Marcus.”

“The pleasure is mine,” Marcus said, “I was wondering if we could talk.”

“What about exactly?” Ginelle inquired.

“I was hoping I could get work,” Marcus asked, “Do something for you in exchange for some food.”

“I see,” Ginelle said, finding the request rather interesting. “And why not speak with Margorie about this?”

“That old bag didn’t seem interested when I asked her,” Marcus admitted, “I think she’s got a bigger bird working for her. Probably some dark things like an eagle or vulture. So, I thought I’d ask you.”

“What kind of work are we talking about?” Ginelle asked.

“I don’t know,” Marcus answered, “What can I do for you?”

“Well, you do fly, right?” Ginelle asked.

“Well, yeah.” Marcus answered, “I am a bird.”

“How about a scout?” Ginelle offered, “I could use someone to watch out for anything that might be a danger to me.”

“A scout, eh?” Marcus said thinking about it.

“Yeah,” Ginelle said, “You fly around here and keep an eye out for things that might be a danger to myself or the old bag.”

“What kind of dangers?” Marcus asked.

“I fled the city,” Ginelle told him, “There were bad men working for the king that wanted to take me to a dungeon. I escaped but fear they might come out here after me.”

“So, you’d like me to fly around and look for them,” Marcus said, as he appeared to get the idea. “How often?”

“A few times a day,” Ginelle answered, “You could also keep an eye out for the men to let us know when they’re coming back from the forest. We could use a heads up if they return early. Do that for me and I’ll make sure you get feed very well.”

“And what if I see something dangerous?” Marcus asked.

“You don’t have to engage,” Ginelle said, as she could sense the worry in his voice, “You simply come back here and warn us. That’s what scouts do, they just look around and report; nothing more. If you fly high enough, that should be an easy task for you, and I will feed you for your efforts.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Marcus admitted, “You have a deal!”

“Sounds good,” Ginelle said, “Time to get flying and scout around the camp for me, Marcus.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The small blue jay said, even nodding to her. “I’ll see you around, Miss Ginelle.”

“Just Ginelle will do,” Ginelle said, “Now get flying.”

Ginelle watched as the blue jay launched off her window ledge and fly into the sky with great effort. She could tell by how he was flying up that he was going to take his job rather seriously, and that it was time she got ready for the day to work as well. The sun was barely coming up as Ginelle started to set the tables for the morning meal. Dickie was in the dining hall to help her again, but this time out Ginelle remember the settings a bit more than the first time and required fewer corrections from the small mouse.

“What did that annoying bird want?” Margorie asked as Ginelle entered the kitchen after finishing the tables.

“He wanted something to do,” Ginelle said, “And some food.”

“Did he now?” Margorie said, amused she got a straight answer, “And what did you tell him.”

“I said he could have some food if he kept an eye out for me and looked around the camps for me.” Ginelle said, “Like a scout.”

“I see,” Margorie said, curious about it. “To look out for Royal Soldiers?”

“And the men,” Ginelle added, “To warn us if they return early.”

“Oh,” Margorie said, rather impressed. “That would be helpful.”

“And to also look out for Royal Soldiers.” Ginelle admitted, “I’m sorry, I just worry about them coming out here for us.”

“Given what you’ve seen, that understandable.” Margorie replied, “And at least if he’s working for his keep, he won’t be bothering either of us at our windows. So, there’s that. Help me with breakfast, and afterwards we’ll do some work with Chaos magic.”

“Of course,” Ginelle said, as she was eager to help out. She had little trouble helping with the cooking as her mother was also a good cook and had been training her already for years before she had to flee the city. Being a water witch was also helpful because Ginelle didn’t need to use or fetch any water to fill a pot to boil or even wash the dishes. He ability to make water on command was more helpful in the kitchen than Margorie could imagine, and she was even happier to have the little helper around. After the men ate their breakfast and took off for the forest to chop down some big trees, the women cleaned up after and then left the hall to spend a few hours in the woods themselves. IT was agreed that very morning the old witch would use the time before lunch preparation to show Ginelle the spells that many witches consider taboo, even too dark for them to use at all. Margorie considered them worry warts and left their company to keep doing her thing in private. Considering the danger she was in, Margorie considered it helpful for Ginelle to know some of these spells as they could one day save her life. Once they found a nice place in the hills with a bit of privacy, Margorie set down a bag and looked back at Ginelle.

“Now it’s time to teach you something important.” Margorie said, “I will show you how to cast a mirror.”

“Like the ones you had working in the kitchen?” Ginelle asked.

“Something like that,” Margorie said, “There are several variations. The ones I use in the kitchen take up less magic and don’t talk back, so they’re my preferred choice. But there are stronger mirrors that can do more but they can be exhausting to cast. I will show you them all.”

Margorie had Ginelle start by simply casting a few simple mirrors of herself, and the commanded them to gather wood for the kitchen. The old witch then showed her how to make a more powerful and dangerous mirror known as a shadow mirror. After she successful called her first one, it looked the same as the others. This confused the young girl a bit.

“This one looks the same to me,” Ginelle said, “What’s the difference.”

“This mirror can do more, such as touch others and act out,” Margorie said, “Like all mirrors, they have to do as we tell them. They are not allowed to refuse anything we ask for. But shadow mirrors can and will do more if asked. They would even kill for us if we asked them too.”

“Can we make mirrors of just ourselves?” Ginelle asked.

“We can mirror anyone,” Margorie answered, “But it’s a lot more difficult especially when the person isn’t in the room when we cast it.”

“So, if the person we want to mirror is in our sights, we can do it?” Ginelle said, trying to understand.

“I suppose so,” Margorie said, “But I wouldn’t recommend it, as the person being mirrored has their soul projected as well so while they have to do as we say, many tend to whine about it while complying. Our own projections don’t seem to fight us as much, maybe because they understand our thinking.”

“So, unless we want to argue, only mirror ourselves?” Ginelle asked.

“Yes,” Margorie said with a laugh, “That’s sounds about right.”

“How long does a mirror last?” Ginelle asked.

“They can last a while I suppose,” Margorie answered, “But I prefer to dismiss them once their work is done. I find that the longer projections are kept the grumpier they get until they’re dismissed. Even our own get rather restless after several hours so I tend to now work them beyond three hours. I find that seems to prevent and mutinies and aggravations.”

“So, a few hours, got it.” Ginelle said as she watched her own return with some decent wood to take back with them.

“How do I dismiss them?” Ginelle asked.

“Here,” the old lady replied, “Let me show you.”

Ginelle spent the better part of an hours summoning and dismissing mirrors to get the hang of it, and even Margorie was impressed with how well she was handling her first lesson in chaos magic. It made the old lady rather confident that she’d be able to handle them all if given the right amount of time to train. As they were packing the wood to take back with them, it was at this point when a small blue jay came flying down to land on Ginelle’s shoulder.

“He there, Marcus.” Ginelle said, surprised to see him.

“I have news,” Marcus said, “I spotted them men coming down early again today.”

“Already?” Margorie said, “That’s not like Harrison.”

“How far out are they?” Ginelle asked.

“Not to far,” Marcus said, “but I can check again.”

“Do that,” Ginelle said, “And thank you, Marcus.”

The bird took off back into the air and flew away.

“Interesting,” Margorie said, “That bird is rather handy to have around.”

“I like him too,” Ginelle admitted, “He’s a nice-looking bird.”

“He talks a bit though,” Margorie noted.

“What the me coming back early again?” Ginelle asked.

“Normally if they have problems, like someone being hurt.” Margorie said, “We should get going, in case someone needs me to heal them.”

“You know healing magic?” Ginelle asked.

“Every witch should know it,” Margorie replied, “So if you don’t, I know what lesson we’ll be doing tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Ginelle said, “I have to remember, rules don’t matter.”

“They still matter,” Margorie corrected, “But the key is you have to know what they are before you can bend or break them. Even chaos witches need to mind some rules, but not as many as everyone else. You did well today, Ginelle, so I have no doubt you’ll be good at this too.”

“Thank you,” Ginelle said, as she followed the old witch back to the camp to meet up with the men. She knew chaos magic would be different, but she was happy to know they had some rules to follow even if they didn’t respect the normal ones she was used to following. Despite her fear of the unknown, there was a bit of her that wanted to learn more and discover a magic that not many witches learned. The idea of being rare, even unique appealed to young Ginelle, which made her an eager student for the many lessons she would eventually take on her way to becoming a very powerful chaos witch.