Hocus Focus
					    Chapter 6

	As Gwen saw Rick off to work with a wave as his Prowler rounded the corner, the smile on her muzzle faded—only to be replaced with a steel eyed glint as she closed and locked the front door.
Gwen made her way to Rick's former den. Sitting at the desk, she opened the bottom drawer and remover a metal lock box. With a wave of her paws she chanted the lock spell as the box glowed blue momentarily and slowly opened.

	A small sphere of azure light, approximately the size of a golf ball rose from within the box to hover in front of Gwen's face, and she smiled. Small sparks seemed to emanate from the ball as it suddenly zipped about the room, leaving a faint glowing trail in the air.

	"Hello, Flit.  Yes, this is our new home now." she spoke to the glowing orb as the air elemental darted to and fro while she removed the tools of her craft. For Gwen Coona was a Sorceress.

	"Yes, I know…No, Flit, I haven't told him, not yet. We have work to do and, what?  No, he's at work, we won't be disturbed." she spoke to her servant as she prepared to cast her wards of magical protection on the house as the agitated elemental zipped about the room. "…Yes, I know, no I don't think he'd freak out, it's just that it's never come up, that's all." Gwen stood placing her paws on her hips looking agitated  "I am NOT stalling! Yes I trust him; he's my soul mate. It's just…" Flit pulsed softly pausing in front of the sorceress.  "This is all moving so fast, I don't want to shatter this relationship before it's had time to set…Yeah, I know he's not a mundane, it was just a bit of a shock when Kacy introduced us. They are split from the same soul." Gwen sighs heavily with resignation. "Okay, Ill tell him tonight. But for now, we have work to do."

	She laid out her magical tools of the trade from within the box.  Holding her paws out in front of her, she uttered a string of guttural syllables and a large well-worn tome dropped into her outstretched paws.

	As she went from room to room casting the spells that set the magical wards and protections around the property, she created a fortress against attack and invasion. Gwen watched as Flit zipped hither and yon investigating it's new surroundings, finally coming to rest on Gwen's open paw. "Yes, it is very nice." it shimmered in response. "It is like a sanctuary, I agree, one of those flower boxes would be perfect for my herbs." 
Gwen smiled at her servant "Okay, now make sure we didn't miss anything, I'll be in the study." Flit vanished in a shower of sparkles to do its mistress's bidding.

	Gwen looked down to the pentagram medallion that hung between her breasts, recalling it being a gift along with the book from her Gran upon her initiation into the family craft at thirteen. This was much to the horror of her mother, who would have nothing to do with such things. Sorcery was in her blood, and despite the wishful thinking of her mother, her Gran told her that she could no more deny it than her lungs could deny breath. It made her who and what she was and had brought her beloved to her as well. 

	Closing her eyes she examined her handiwork with her second sight. Everywhere she looked, there was a radiant electric blue glow of protective wards. As Gwen uttered the last line of the incantations the wards flared briefly and settled to a barely perceptible presence.

	"Excellent." Gwen smiled softly then went back to the den. Noticing it was coming up on eight p.m., Gwen's thoughts turned towards dinner.  A nice hearty beef stew. Rick would love it—a batch of KC's Beef stew, yum.
She opened a dimensional pocket and set her spell book back within it, and it promptly vanished. After stowing her tools, Gwen held her paw out and Flit settled on it.

	"Well, that's it for tonight, my friend. Thank you for your help Flit, you may rest now, but be ready and able to assist me again when I call you." Flit shimmered brightly then vanished in a shower of iridescent sparkles that always made Gwen chuckle.

#   #   #

	When I got home that evening I noticed two things…the mouth-watering aroma of beef stew and the faint trace of sage smoke. Seeing Gwen coming out of the kitchen dressed in only an apron, I had to smile. Gods it was wonderful to come home to her.
	"Welcome home Love" Gwen greeted me with a kiss. "It's good to be home love, is that what I think it is?" I asked sniffing the air as we made our way back to the kitchen.

	"Yup, Kacy's beef stew, I thought you'd like it." as she reached for a couple of bowls

"Hon, did you burn some sage earlier today?" Gwen paused a moment. "Um, yeah. I smudged the house today…Is that okay?"

"Sure, I should have thought if it before, thanks. It feels better in here." I noticed Gwen seemed to want to talk with me about something but didn't quite know how to broach the subject.

	"Hon, is there something you want to talk about?"

She smiled warmly as I poured the wine, "After dinner, okay. I have something that we need to discuss. How was work tonight?" she asked.

	"Oh, not bad for a Wednesday, it was 80's night, we had the Vice City Rangers on. They are loud, but they know their stuff. Oh, I got this for you." I said, reaching in and extracting a business card from my shirt pocket and handing it to her. She eyed it critically. "Who's Guido Scalearoni?" Gwen asked, puzzled.

"The band manager. He's half reptile, a very interesting if somewhat scary fur. I mentioned to him that you did P-R graphics and such. He seemed quite interested. Gave me his card to pass along to you, I gave him one of your cards and he said to look for his e-mail." 

Gwen perked up "Thanks hon, ready for some dinner?"

	"Oh yeah, it smells wonderful, love!" I nodded with a grin.

Conversation over dinner was light. I opened up a bottle of Gamy Beguile to go with the stew. All the while, Gwen seemed somewhat preoccupied. After the dishes were put away I hung the dishtowel over the hook on the wall. 	
	"So what did you want to discuss, love?"  Gwen sighed.

"How does the place feel to you?" She asked. I closed my eyes extending my subtle senses, my brow furrowed. "…Cleaner, nice." My eyes flew open and I stared wide-eyed at my beloved.  "You set wards?" 

Gwen nodded mutely.

	"Nice job, hon. I felt a slight tingle pulling into the garage and coming into the house…but how?" I asked, grinning at my beloved…somewhat puzzled.

"My Gran taught me. It's my Legacy…" She looked at me to gauge my reaction.

	I nodded. "FamTrad Wicca?" I asked.

	"No." She shook her head slowly. "Sorcery."

I stared as a bemused smile crept across my muzzle. "Really? " Gwen nodded. "Flit!" she called as she snapped her fingers, and a golf ball sized iridescent blue sphere winked into existence and zipped around me .
	"Well, hel-low there!" I said, a delighted lilt to my voice, as Flit zipped around the room. "Air elemental? Or is it an Egrigore creation?" I asked. Gwen blinked. "Flit's an Air elemental, an assistant of sorts. You know about them?" I held out my paw and Flit settled on it, shimmering.

	"Oh yes. Just not in this form before, this is wonderful!" I chuckled. Flit shimmered and Gwen grinned. "Yes Flit, you were right," she chuckled.

"Eh?" I asked. "Oh, Flit said you wouldn't freak out when you learned the truth…where did you hear about Elementals?" Gwen asked, intrigued.

"My studies of Ceremonial Magic, I've been studying Magic for the last twenty five years love. It's how I first had visions of you."

	"Really?" 

"Yeah. It was more on the esoteric side, but I became quite proficient a summoner." Flit zipped back to Gwen.

	"So you’re not bothered by this?" Gwen asked quizzically.

	"Actually, I was just wondering the best way to broach the subject of Magic with you. Sure, we've discussed my illusionist skills," I said causing the coin I'd been pawing to vanish with the snap of my fingers. Only to be plucked out of the air a moment later. Gwen cooed, "You’re good!"

	"I took it up to meet girls." I chuckled. "It comes in handy at work to distract unruly customers. So, my beloved Gwen is a full fledged Sorceress."
I looked at her and she nodded slowly. "I love it…So, do you think you can teach me a few things?" I asked.

"What? " Gwen blinked. Flit shimmered throwing off a corona of sparkles.

"Teach me." I smiled at the shocked look on my wife's face. "You know, compare notes and techniques…" 

	"Oh hush, you!" She swatted at Flit, who bobbed and zipped off into the kitchen as we both broke out in delighted laughter at our unexpectedly wonderful discoveries.

#     #     #