39. Responsibilities

William came into the house, holding his broom in hand.

Hilda sat at the big table, a large pot of tea hovering over a candle, a big smile on her face as she saw him come in. "Hello, wizard. How did you go?"

After putting his broom away and taking off the cloak, he sat down. "Thank you," he said as Hilda poured him tea. "I think it went well. I outran Walt's fountain, went through some streets in the village and scared some people at Mirror Lake. Oh, this is really nice tea."

Hilda, supporting her face with her hands, elbows leaning on the table, stared at him with a dreamy smile. "I'm glad you had so much fun, William."

"Yes, it was fun, indeed. With you there too it is better, but this was... special." He winked.

Hilda saw that he was sporting much more confidence about his abilities now. Amazing, after such a simple trip out alone, she thought. "So you actually went and scared people?"

William grinned, a blush spreading over his features. "I just couldn't help myself. I think you are rubbing off on me or so, I would never have done this in my previous life."

Hilda got up and walked around the table. As usual, she squeezed herself between the table and William. She put her hands around his face and kissed him. "Good for you, sweet man," she then said. "It's about time that you loosen up a bit more about all this. the ordinaries have some responsibilities and some fun. We have the big responsibilities so we should also have the big fun."

William looked in her black eyes. There were no sparkles of any colour, so she was very serious. And he understood what she meant. The work of the local witch was not just flying around and doing crazy stuff by challenging the king and his fountain. It also consisted of locating evildoers, taking care of them in a way that they were not harmed (but that might depend on the situation), and handling a lot of issues around the village. Like trying to find the flower-witch that had disappeared, Fidelma. "Yes, I understand that," he said. "I really do."

"I know," she said, and kissed him again.

He slipped his arms around her. She smelled nice and heat seemed to radiate from her. "How long did you stay in that tub?", he asked, and she giggled.

"Very very long."

They sat like that for a while, enjoying each other's presence, until a singing chime sounded through the room. Hilda looked up, frowning. "Ah, please, not now..." She slipped off William's lap and walked to the crystal ball, while William poured the both of them some fresh tea.

"Hi Drago, what's up?", he heard Hilda say. He had never heard of someone called Drago.

"What?!" Her outcry was so loud that William almost slapped his tea from the table. He turned and looked at Hilda, whose red housecoat back was turned towards him. "No! That can't be true!" Hilda turned and beckoned him to come over, which he did.

"Drago, this is William. Tell him what you just told me."

William saw a black face with even blacker hair in the ball. The eyes of the person were red, his teeth scarily white in his black frame. "William," the face said with a short nod, "someone has taken Calandra from her house. I went to visit her and she was not there. It seems that she was taken by force, telling from the state of her house."

The wizard-to-be looked at Hilda who was already staring at him. They both had the same idea of who had done that.

"Any signs of Grizbles?", William then asked Drago, which got him an appreciative look from Hilda.

This seemed to surprise the black man. "No," he said after thinking about it, "not that I noticed anyway. I do have to admit that I didn't pay much attention to that. I can go back there-"

"No, Drago, don't. It is much further for you than for us," Hilda interrupted him. "William and I will see that we go over there tomorrow. I wish we could do that now, but we've already done a long flight today, and then William went to do the rounds after that-"

Drago's eyebrows flew up. "You let him do the rounds?"

"Uhm, yes? Why not?"

"Calandra mentioned something about you and him, and him not being a magical person, so I wondered..." Drago's face changed into a frown. He wondered if he should better have left that unsaid. "Uhm..."

"Technicalities, Drago, technicalities that don't matter now, okay? Point is that she disappeared also and-"

"Also? What do you mean 'also'?" Drago's expression changed again. His face was like rubber.

Hilda told him about the flower-witch Fidelma that had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. "First her, and now Calandra. We suspect that this is all Lamador's doing. I suppose you've heard..."

Drago nodded. "Yes. We all know about it. Lamador is not exactly keeping this a secret, Hilda. And now I also understand the question about the Grizbles..."

Hilda and William nodded.

"Good luck, both of you," Drago said, "I'm afraid you will need it. Let me know if there is something I can do to help."

"Thanks, Drago," said Hilda as the black face vanished, leaving the crystal ball.

"Drago is a warlock. He and Calandra are close friends," the witch explained to William as they returned to the table, William sitting on his chair and Hilda sitting in his lap again. "They are really close. Not like us, but good friends." She started fidgeting with a button of her housecoat.

William knew that this latest news was highly disturbing his little witch, and with reason. It unnerved him also. He had no real experience with Lamador, save the encounter with the huge image in Gerdundula's garden. He put his hand over the one from Hilda that tried to amputate the innocent button. "That is not going to solve things, sweetheart. We have to find a way to make Lamador feel the way we do."

Hilda looked her man in the eyes. "Sure. And how do you plan on doing that?"

William smiled and pulled her against him. He whispered in her ear, and as he spoke, her face became stage to a host of expressions that were chasing each other around it.

"That is the most outrageous, crazy, insane and impossible thing I have ever heard," the wicked witch said as he was done talking. "Damn it, it might actually work!"

As evening had come and they had found their way to bed, Hilda lay on top of William and looked at him. "About that plan of yours... are there more people in your old world who think in such strange ways?"

He smiled as he slipped his hands under her hair and slid them over her back. "Trust me when I say that this plan is not at all considered insane there."

"Hmmm - oooh yes that's nice don't stop - I mean, so you are one of the more sane and- aaaaahhhhh do that again - coherent people that lived there?"

William grinned as she tried to comment on two different things at once. He did not stop his handiwork though, as she requested. "I'm not sure if many people would call me coherent and sane back there, but I do know there were many who were far less stable."

"Aaahhh...." Hilda lowered her head on his shoulder and decided that this was a good moment to attempt a change into putty.

"Are you somewhat comfortable?", William asked, playing the innocent one.

"Uhuh...", she breathed heavily in his neck, "as long as you go o-ohhhhh...."

He took the responsibility and went on. This was one of the really good ones.