Once upon a time, a sixteen-year-old trainee witch woke up smelling treacle tarts and with dreams of colourful banners on crumbling walls. It was time for her journey. Leaving Indara with her trusty familiar Opal (a moth) and a fallen star in a jar in her much-loved jeans, she flies to the city of Koriko and there her adventures begin.
And so begins our story …
Previously: Kit sends her first letter home
My dearest Cecily,
First of all, I did not pack your tea cup in my luggage. You’ve clearly misplaced it and it will turn up when it sees fit to or when your Mum decides to cast a searching spell. Try looking under the bed again, you know that’s where Coal likes to hide things he doesn’t want your Mum to see. I would never dream of taking that blue and white monstrosity! (Because it’s yours, not because it isn’t a good cup). Secondly, how dare you suggest I use something so mundane as glue to fix my favourite cup. I will find a fixing spell that’ll hold, you know I was never that good at household magics. Opal suggests I purchase a new one, you’ve been a terrible influence on my familiar. Kindly desist your meddling. Glue indeed.
I wish I could show you the city, you’ll have to come visit when you’re not working at the shop. That way I can actually show you the arched processional that overlooks the valley and you can watch the sunset with me. We can go and get hot chocolate from this cute cafe I know, and I can introduce you to my friends. Don’t roll your eyes, I have made friends here. Met quite a few people actually. Opal says I’m doing just fine, though of course she’s always telling me I’m doing fine at the moment. This group of artists came needing my help, and I was like “what do I know about art?!” but then we all sat down and I brewed a pot of your Mum’s Communication Tea and we talked about what they were worried about and how they were all still working towards the same goal yada yada. And you know what, it worked. They actually sat down and relaxed and listened to me and we shared some stories, ate some biscuits and they came up with some plans of how they’re going to build their beautiful kite sculpture for the Central Square. One of them promised to paint some moth eyes on it after sketching Opal for a while, as a nod to us for our help. I always knew biscuits and a quiet cup of tea would save the day. When I’m walking through the market where they have their workshop they always stop for a chat and show me their newest sketches, it’s kinda cool – like being back at home except people want to show me things and not your Mum. Can you tell her I’m doing ok? I should probably send her a proper letter.
But, friends – you’ll like my friends. My neighbour Nessa pointed me at the cafe that’s amazing (though Rowan has the upper hand with his hot chocolate), and one cold wintry day I must have been looking pretty glum as Gilly was sat at the table next to me and started talking to me. Her and her husband Lerado have such a great vibe, you can’t help but smile in their company and Opal wasn’t at all shy of them. They’re like sunshine, you just feel happy being around them. Anyways, they’ve been amazing and despite me having found a perfectly good home near Nessa, Gilly has been determined to make my home “more comfortable”. She keeps bringing me things she finds at the market or blankets and rugs she’s made because “she has no room for them at home”, but Lerado says she’s actually making them for us. She’s so generous and kind and Lerado has some amazing stories. I have dinner with them once a week (Gilly’s orders) to make sure I’m eating properly and Lerado says I have to come over anytime I feel homesick and Nessa’s busy at the bakery. I joke I’m their practise child until they’re ready to have their own, and Opal thinks I’m right. They’re going to be great parents. I did meet someone who’s my own age, but it was sort of an accident. I met them when I was on the run from some guard birds when I was out and about on the roofs – do not roll your eyes at me, Cecily! I can’t help it if my feet wander and take me places! And I know I should have been paying attention, but I wasn’t, so I ended up being mobbed by those buzzards and Opal was so frightened of being snapped up and eaten that I had to drop into one of the fancy gardens I’d been admiring (like, the whole reason I was on the roofs in the first place) and then I bumped into Miss Poppy. You should see these gardens Cecily, they’re intense and so colourful, especially when you think the inhabitants of Koriko up-sticks and move every 7 years or so. Some of these fancy families take their whole potted garden with them every time, or so Miss Poppy says. I’m not sure I believe her, but it’s the sort of thing she’d know since her family is one of those fancy families and she showed me her potted tree that will be taken with them on the next ‘transition’. Her Dad is someone high amongst the Merchants Circle, but we don’t really talk about it. She’s a bit odd, dresses in super impractical clothes, and usually has to give her minder to slip for us to talk and hang out – I think I might be the person her minder hates, given the way they glower at me when they finally figure out where Miss Poppy’s gone. There are plenty of nooks and crannies in their garden though, they really should think about how easy it is for someone to get in and out of there. Do not look down your nose at me Cecily, you told me to make friends in your last letter. I’m making friends, they just happen to be posh and fancy and partial to a piece of treacle tart when the opportunity arises. Do you think I could convince her to come climb the roof with me? Opal has a bet with me that I can’t, but I think I can.
The city is weird like that though – in some places it’s old and stuffy and surreal, full of history and old architecture and stuff. And then you go into the main markets and it’s all light and airy and full of people (so many people) that you forget the city just sits here when everyone is gone. Everyone has somewhere to go and someplace to be and they’re all super friendly since I’m their new witch, but once they’ve gotten over the fact they’ve met you they kinda just ignore you after that. It’s not like at home, where people ask after your health and your family whenever you bump into them in the shop or the cafe or the market. No one knows who I am, apart from the being the weird witch kid with the silver streak in her hair and the baggy mossy knitwear who flew into the city on a broom. Most people don’t seem to believe in witches anymore and think I’m making stuff up, but there’s been a bit of bother with people who have taken to dabbling in the old ways. Nothing serious or anything yet, but I got a weird vibe off someone in the marketplace the other day that felt like they were warded, but I didn’t get a good enough look (and you know I’m not the best at untangling that sort of working). Can you ask your Mum to send me one of her books on wards and charms? Can you also tell her I met my predecessor the other day and boy, was she ‘fun’? I thought attending the Witch Gathering with Aunt Yarrow was intimidating, but this old lady was just mean-spirited and it felt like it might rub off her onto me. I couldn’t get a good look at her, she had that aged wispy-ness that made it hard to look at an ancient one clearly, but she was most definitely a witch. She calls herself Hark and has told me that I’m failing as a witch because if people want me they should come to me rather than me being out and about in the city. And that I should be practising potions and tonics and ‘proper’ witchcraft rather than herbal stuff and ‘handwaving’. I wanted to give her a piece of my mind and tell her I was following my Aunt Yarrow’s instruction, but Opal thinks she just wants to teach me some stuff and pissing off Koriko’s last powerful witch is a bad idea. Like, I don’t need to be curse, right? Do you think I should keep going to her for help and stuff since I can’t just go bother your Mum all the time? She’s a bit scary and I don’t like feeling like I’m just a kid with a broom and a star in a jar and a pet moth (don’t tell Opal I said that). I am a witch – I know you thought I was too young to be doing this, but I’m doing ok. Honest.
Nessa has just told me to stop moping and finish my letter so I can send you pretty things. She also says hi, to tell you that she enjoyed the tea Mama sent in your last letter, and that she’s making sure I keep my nose clean (she’s clearly not read the fact I trespassed in Miss Poppy’s fancy garden!). I enclose my latest watercolour of a Koriko sunset because I can’t share it with you in person. Hang it in the window nook in your room so when you watch the sunset you can think of me? I miss your face. Tell Mama I love her and I’ll write back to her very soon, I just want to send it with the parcel for her birthday. And I will write to Aunt Yarrow.
Write back soon!
Kit
This adventure was generated using the solo RPG game Koriko: A Magical Year, created by Jack at Mousehole Press. The game is played by exploring the seasons of a year in the city of Koriko through the eyes of a teenage witch (inspired by many things including “Kiki’s Delivery Service”). For more information check out Mousehole Press’s website with links to the itch.io page and the Kickstarter (which is now closed).
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