Custody Arrangements

Two very different women land their broomsticks in front of the very normal house. Each broomstick disappears into thin air as the women walk from their landing spots to meet in the open driveway.

“What are you doing here, Ella?” says the taller of the two.

“Collecting on a promise, although I wish I did not need to,” replies the one with the shorter hair.

“Me too. I am sorry that we both have to take from them at once, it seems cruel.”

“Such is the nature of a contract, as I’m sure you know too well.”

Ella simply nods, and they walk to the door of the house, where the taller one knocks decisively. A man opens it a crack and sees the two women standing silent, their faces kind and sad. He sighs, and opens the door fully.

“Mage Secrets. And this must be Mage Power.” he says, nodding to first the taller, then the shorter. “Please, come in. The situation is more complex than you yet know.”

“I hope you know it is beyond my power to change our contract, Lucas,” warns Mage Secrets, stepping inside.

“I know.”

“And beyond mine to change mine with your wife,” Mage Power confirms.

“I know that too. That is what makes it so complicated.”

The women exchange a glance. Lucas gestures for them to follow him into a large, sunny room where a haughty woman sits on a sofa, intently not looking at the small bassinet in the middle of the room. The women seat themselves opposite her and Lucas sits down beside her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. The room is silent.

“So, why is our contract complicated, Mariah?” Mage Power asks, smiling sadly across at her.

Mariah just looks down at the floor, and her lips tighten into a thin line. Lucas speaks up.

“You each only have half the story.”

A long pause, and then, haltingly –

“You know, Mage Secrets, that I promised you a debt many years ago. And Mage Power, you know the same of my wife.”

Both Mages nod.

“What you don’t know is that, well, both of us - we both required spells where the debt was the same. You are both promised the same firstborn child.”

A sharp intake of breath from Mage Power. Mage Secrets just stares.

Mage Power eventually nods, and asks “What is her name?”

“Emilia. Emilia Reign.” Mariah sits upright, proud. “It’s a family name and one she shall keep.”

“We would not dream of changing it.” Mage Secrets stands. “I will take her for now, and Ella, you may collect her from me in a year.”

Mage Power stands too. “Secrets, you know very well that will not work.”

“I know nothing of the kind!” She stands on one side of the bassinet.

“You know the witch to who she has been promised must raise the child completely.” She stands on the other.

“They will! I was promised first, so I go first.”

“Ash, you know it doesn’t work like that.”

“Stop telling me what I know!” Ash waves her hand and a flash of light flies across, and Ella moves her mouth, but no sound comes out. She sighs and waves her own hand, another flash of light and she tries again. The parents of the child have moved further away from the arguing witches.

“That was childish. Can we figure this out while acting our age?”

“Fine. We switch every month, or every week, or every DAY if it makes you happy.”

“Have some sympathy for the child! Besides, the contract is clear, it says she must live with the witch to whom she is promised. If she’s going back and forth all the time, she isn’t living with either of us!”

“Surely you aren’t proposing we live TOGETHER?! Ella we can barely get through a conversation without an argument!”

“Well, it’s hardly MY fault you’re so hot-headed,” says Ella, losing her temper. “You always-”

BAM. Another spell flashes across, and Ella’s scarf whips across her mouth, muffling her speech. She rolls her eyes, flicking it back down.

“Really? You think that’s going to help?”

“The last time we saw each other you told me to feel free to shut you up if you ever started speaking in absolutes, I was merely following your own orders!”

ZAP. A spell flashes across from Ella this time – Ash’s hair is pink. Emilia giggles.

“PINK HAIR? AND YOU SAID I WAS CHILDISH!”

“Well…. actions have consequences!”

“Oh, you’ve really run out of arguments now!” Ash picks up the child. “WELL FINE. LET’S LIVE TOGETHER AND DO THIS EVERYDAY.”

Emilia starts to cry. Ella rushes across and takes her from Ash’s arms, holding her against her shoulder.

“Secrets!” She says, more gently. “Don’t yell into a baby’s ear! You scared her!”

Ash looks genuinely sorry. She flicks her hand and suddenly she’s holding a teddy bear, which she hands to Emilia, smiling. Emilia stops crying, clutching the bear, and smiles back through her tears.

“I’m sorry. You’re right. We’ll have to learn to live with each other.” She snaps her fingers, and her hair goes back to its usual brown. “We’ll need a big house, so I vote yours. Can you at least keep the dog out of my room?”

“I think Emilia will like Erebus.” Ella smiles at the baby, catching the falling teddy bear and returning it to her grasp. “And I think she’s going to like having a big brother too.”

Mariah speaks up, haughtily confident again now that magic has stopped flying.

“What do you mean a big brother?”

Ella turns to her. “Three years ago, I received another child of promise. Clay must also live with me until he reaches adulthood. He is already a kind young boy and I believe he will make Emilia an excellent sibling.”

Mariah nods curtly. “Well. Then I guess that’s it. You’ll both take her. Lucas can see you out.” Abruptly, she turns and leaves the room. Lucas leads them both to the front door. Mariah suddenly reappears.

“Take care of my baby.”

Ash & Ella both nod solemnly and Ella replies “We will.”

The parents stand in the doorway of their home, and Emilia waves goodbye over Ella’s shoulder.

*** *** ***

The witches argue often over the coming weeks. Where to put the bassinet, what colour Emilia’s room should be, where Erebus is allowed in the house, which room belongs to Ash. Ash’s hair goes from brown to pink to brown to pink to brown again. Every temporary speech-stopping spell known to man is used time and time again.

But eventually, Ella gets used to Ash, and Ash to Ella. Ash becomes more comfortable in her new home. Clay thinks having a little sister is the best thing in the world, and despite being only three years old can already float her toys around her in a way that makes her laugh and clap her hands with delight. The arguments between Ash and Ella become less frequent. Ash begins to form a friendship with Clay, proving surprisingly apt at performing puppet shows for him and Emilia. Slowly, the little family starts to find their new normal. Ash is found curled up with Erebus on her bed reading a book. Ella smiles and says nothing. A week after Emelia’s first birthday, a ridiculous argument breaks out:

“So, you always tell the truth?” Ash says incredulously from the kitchen doorway.

The children sit in the next room: Clay stacking blocks into a castle, Emilia watching intently.

“Honesty is the best policy,” says Ella, kneading the dough for the bread she was making for the next day’s breakfast. “You lie ‘all the time’? Can I trust anything you say?”

“I’m known as Mage SECRETS, what you expect me to do when someone asks for one of those secrets?”

“Tell them it’s secret? That you can’t tell?”

“Oh come on, who does that satisfy?” Ash comes forward to stand the other side of the bench. “They keep asking and asking, you have to tell them something!”

“You need more patience.”

“You need to learn the value of a white lie!” She picks up a rolling pin, wielding it as though it serves to emphasise her point. “Are you telling me, if someone looks terrible, and I mean objectively just bad, on their wedding day, but they like it, and they ask you, you’re going to stand there and say ‘You look terrible!’. You’re really that mean.”

“Well… that’s different.”

“Aha, but it’s a lie!” The rolling pin is pointed at Ella's nose.

“It’s being nice! It isn’t really lying to say they look nice, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they look nice to them. Truth can be subjective.” Ella snatches the rolling pin, putting it back down on the counter.

“’Truth can be subjective’, hah! You’re really running out of arguments now.”

Ella glares at her, raising a hand, but suddenly Ash flicks her fingers, and turns her own hair pink.

“Beat you to it.” Ella laughs and shakes her head, lowering her hand. Ash grins and leans across the counter, pressing her lips to Ella’s. Ella stands in shock for a moment, then raises her hand back up again and puts flour through the pink head of hair, the bread dough all but forgotten. Finally, they pull apart. Ella smiles, slowly going back to her bread.

“I still think honesty is the best policy.”

Ash is still grinning. “Okay. Then I don’t like that you put flour in my hair.”

A small pile of flour floats up and lands on her head in a cloud of white dust.

“Hey!”

“I never said telling the truth didn’t have consequences.”

“Apparently the consequence is washing your hair.” Ash stomps upstairs to the bathroom, a smile still hiding beneath the exaggerated pout.

Ella looks out at their children, Clay now making silly faces alongside a puppet show for a giggling Emilia. She smiles. This definitely isn’t the life she’d had planned… but somehow, it feels better this way.