Fairy Godmother

It suddenly struck Elena — Bella had intimated that she had been a maiden lady all her life. Did this mean that Godmothers were not supposed to have anything to do with men? She felt a moment of mingled shock and dismay.

Not that any man ever showed any interest in me — but is it worth giving up the possibility?

'There is nothing wrong with a young woman being interested in young men,' Bella retorted.

'A young woman, certainly. But a young Godmother?' Rose snorted. 'Madame, think of the risk! The Tradition has no room in it for wedded Godmothers! And any young man falling in with a Godmother is going to be forced by The Tradition into some familiar path! So what does that leave?' Rose gave none of the others a chance to answer that question. She counted off the options on her fingers. 'The Rogue, who will leave her brokenhearted, and perhaps in difficulties. The Betrayer, who will lead her enemies to her. Or the Enemy himself — whether he is the Enemy or later becomes the Enemy....'

'Or something new,' Madame said firmly. 'The Tradition can be redirected. Witches have married Wizards and made good matches of it, and Sorceresses joined to Sorcerers, and there used to be no place in The Tradition for that.'

Rose snorted again. 'Only if the Godmother is strong of will, and if it isn't only the Godmother who has the will to steer it into a new path. And from what I've heard, there wasn't a one of those girls that had the will to turn a goose from grass, much less The Tradition from its chosen path.'

Madame laughed, and shook her head. 'Only rumors, dear Rose. And really, if a girl is that unsuitable, she's generally run away from all the hard work before the Queen gives her blessing. I would not have taken Elena to the Queen if I had not thought that she was suitable, and the Queen has her own means of weighing candidates.'

Rose nodded grudgingly. 'Well, you were careful, Madame, and there have been those that just took the first girl to cross their path with a wreathing of magic about them.' Finally she turned to Elena. 'I have to say, even though I thought Madame was rushing you, I must admit that Madame was right about you. I've never heard of the Queen giving a blessing to anyone on their first day of being an Apprentice.

The talk turned then away from Elena, and to, of all things, the small doings in the nearby village. Elena did what she had learned to do among Madame Klovis's servants when she wanted to learn things.

She stayed quiet, and listened.

This was how she learned that Madame Bella not only was thought of as one of the local White Witches, but that people made the long trek out through the forest to the 'cottage' on a regular basis. Furthermore, there was a less-powerful Witch who served as Bella's agent in the sale of potions, healing draughts, and herbal remedies, with a stall on market day in the square of the largest village.

Finally Rose seemed to realize that Elena was there. 'I don't suppose you know much of concocting,' she said, dubiously.

'Common things, yes,' Elena replied, and pulled a face. 'My stepmother never spent a penny on anything other than herself and her daughters, so I had charge of the stillroom — '

'Ah, good!' Bella exclaimed. 'Then tomorrow we'll work there, and I'll see how well you follow a recipe. If I am content, I will leave you to work alone, and once you have produced the actual potions, I will show you how to infuse a little magic into them. Not a great deal, but enough to make them work efficiently and effectively.'

Elena's look of surprise must have been very obvious, for Bella laughed, and so did Rose. 'Godmothers aren't always going about lobbing magic swords in the paths of rightful heirs, or giving younger sons the right answers to riddles!' Rose exclaimed. 'They do as much good with the little magics as they do with the great ones, I'll be bound. It's more working with The Tradition; the happier and healthier a Kingdom is, the harder it is for the Evil Ones to insinuate themselves into it.'

'Meanwhile, your day isn't done yet, my dear,' Bella said, as Hob cleared away the dishes and Elena moved to stand up. 'I want you to come along with me.'

Now what? she thought, with dismay. It had been a very, very long day —

But Madame led her straight to the library, and after studying the shelves for a moment, selected three books and handed them to her. 'Here you are, your work for tonight,' she said. 'Read them, and ask me for more when you've finished.'

'What are they?' she asked, turning the books over and seeing no title worked into the leather covers.

'The earliest histories of the Five Hundred Kingdoms,' Bella replied. 'Priceless books, in their way; I don't think there is more than a handful of copies in existence that are not in a Godmother's library. I want you to read them, see how The Tradition has grown and changed over the years.'

Elena nodded, but felt a thrill of greedy glee. As if being told to read was some sort of work! She took the books and went upstairs, where the lamps were already lit.

She settled in with the books, and paused to look about herself, and marvel at how her life had changed. It was, literally, unbelievable.

I had better get used to believing in the unbelievable, then, she told herself, and turned her attention to the first of the books.

After the first few pages she realized that above all else, Madame was right; she had a lot to learn. But it would not be the first time, and she had everything to lose —

— and everything to win.

Every waking moment of every day from that moment on was filled and overfilled with something having to do with being a Godmother's Apprentice. From the lessons about magic to the work in the stillroom, from the forays into the forest to collect the wild herbs that would not grow in a garden (though those were few, with a Brownie being the one doing the tending) to her long nights studying the