Vyshmere

Chapter 1

         "Jesse," Alia called out as she looked everywhere around her.  Her jade shaded gaze scanned every nook and cranny as she searched for her sister.  "Jesse Willows," she cried, "where are you?"
         
         Alia, Jesse's older sister, was beginning to get worried about the little one.  This worry was beginning to turn into a bit of fear.  It wasn't like Jesse to disappear like this.  As a matter of fact, she generally stayed pretty close to the hem of Mama's skirt.  Even when she had chores to do, she wasn't one that was in the habit if shirking her duties.  She always did what she was told to do, and then she asked for even more responsibility. 
         
         "Jesse," the girl tried again, "I know you're around here somewhere."
         
         Jesse was tiny for her age.  Their parents worried about her safety around the ranch.  Chores that needed doing could often be dangerous.  However, they did not want Jesse to feel left out and were aware that their youngest child was more than willing to jump in with both feet whenever she was allowed to do anything to help.  If that weren't the case, and if Jesse were a slacker, Alia would be more irritated, frustrated, and slightly angered by this happening.  That not being the case, though, Alia was beginning to become frightened.  This just wasn't like her little sister.  "Come on, Jesse!" she begged, "Where are you!?!"
         
         Jesse, standing all of four feet three inches high, had been assigned the daily duty of rounding up the cows for their morning milking.  She was thirteen harvests old.  Yet, she was very petite.  Although all her other siblings had been rounding up the cows, and doing many other such chores, since they were around the age of nine or ten harvests, Jesse's size had kept her parents from giving her this chore any sooner than this.  It wasn't that they didn't think she was capable of doing the work.  It was simply that, with her being the youngest, and her being as small as she was, her demure size had made them hesitate when it came time to assigning her any duties that called for any kind of fortitude. 
         
         Although Jesse had developed as any young lady should, her features were diminutive, and she rather resembled a life size porcelain doll than a real girl.  She had been a premature baby and, thus, small from the very start.  Also, her mother had gone through such major difficulties, during labor and delivery, that her parents had decided that she was to be the last child they would ever have.
         
         Jesse and Alia were the last of the daughters that lived at home.  Their other four sisters were married and moved away.  They had families of their own, and Jesse only saw them every once in a great while.  Out of the ten brothers they shared, any that were, as of yet unmarried, helped to run the ranch and support the family.  They would do this, at least, up until the time they decided on a mate, got married, and settled into a place of their own.  There was always the chance they would take up the option that some of the older ones had taken as well.  If they did this, they would get married, stay on the ranch, and help their father in the daily operations.  The brothers that took this option had their own homes on different parts of the property.  Yet, they lived very close, and it helped Mama and Papa from having to do too much as they got older.  It did not, however keep their mother from worrying about Jesse when she hadn't returned within a timely manner.  Thus, with all the boys busy with their own duties, and Alia being the only one about the house, Maria had asked her second youngest to go and find Jesse.
         
         Alia was four harvests Jesse's elder.  At seventeen, she was tall and lithe.  Her strawberry blonde hair and green eyes set her apart from the rest as she was the only child, in the family, to have this coloring combination.  She was beautiful, however, with her light freckle dappled skin.  Her duties on the ranch, however, were more geared towards learning the running of the household, taking care of babes, and being present at gatherings for the purpose of finding a suitable husband ever since she had become of a marriageable age.  Her days of rounding up the cows, helping with the milking, and feeding the chickens had ended when she was fifteen; just as they would for Jesse.
         
         Although Alia understood the need to learn the things she was having to do, she found them to be boring and monotonous.  She would much prefer to be out rounding up the cows, feeding the chickens, ore some other ranch chore that would get her outside and away from the endless needlework in the sitting room, the seemingly endless lists of instructions, goods, and menus for the help to fill, and the boring task of supervising everything.  Therefore, this distraction of being asked to go out and look for Jesse was quite welcome at the very beginning.  All the men were busy with their work, and Alia was more than happy to get out of the house for while.  However, the longer it took her to find her sister, the more worried she became.  Her worry was such that, she was on the verge of returning to the house to get more help for the search.  Yet, as she rounded the last corner of the barn and began to head back, she came upon her sister.
         
         Alia looked at Jesse for a moment, transferred her gaze to what was hovering in the air in front of Jesse, then looked back at her sister once again.  Before approaching the child, she took a deep breath and told herself to be careful.  She didn't want to startle her younger sister, as she didn't want the poor cow that Jesse was levitating to be harmed in any way.  Fortunately for the cow, after having had their older brother Donny develop Majik, finding a youngling with Majikal abilities was no longer unheard of in their area.  Not that she had expected to find her little sister having Majikal abilities at this age, but it was not totally unheard of.  Therefore, Alia was able to keep a calm head about her.  If not for past experience, however, she might have been shocked, scared, or otherwise intimidated into complete paralysis and inability to handle the situation.  As it was, Alia simply asked Jesse, "What were you thinking about right before the cow started to go up into the air?"
         
         Jesse, afraid to take her eyes off the cow, gave Alia a quick, sideways, furtive glance.  She didn't know if taking her eyes off of the frightened bovine would make it fall or not, but she didn't want to take any chances, and the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt the cow in any way.  Therefore, as her glance quickly darted back to the floating cow, she shook her head as she told her sister, "Shhh!"  Her large, doe-like, brown eyes had a telltale shimmer about them that told Alia how close her sister was to tears.
         
         Although Alia was sensitive to the youngling's upset, she couldn't allow that sensitivity to dictate her actions if the cow were to be brought down safely.  Thus, she approached Jesse and placed a hand on her shoulder as she told her, "It'll be okay, Jesse, I promise.  But . . . In order for it to be okay, I need to know what to tell the town Wizard he's up against before I can get him out here to help."
         
         With another quick glance that flickered from the cow, to Alia, and back to the cow again, Jesse nodded and told her older sister, "Okay," she panted, as she was a little breathless in her fear, "I had gotten all of the other cows in the barn, right?"  She paused for a moment.  At Alia's nod, she continued.  "Well . . . This one . . . She was being stubborn . . . wouldn't move.  So . . . I started to try to push her, gently, in the direction I wanted her to go, but she wouldn't take the hint, and she refused to budge."  The frightened girl chanced another quick look, at her sister, out the corner of her eye before she went on.  "All I did was to wish that she wasn't such a heavy, fat, ole thing, and that I could move her by myself.  And . . . up she went."
         
         Alia breathed a sigh of relief.  Although she had been but a babe when their brother, Donny, had developed his Majik, the story had been related on a regular basis.  The family was very proud to have a Wizard in its number, and they liked to tell the story to whomever would listen.  Also, Donny would visit home whenever he could, and his displays of Majik helped to familiarize the rest of the family with what could be done with such powers.  Therefore, Alia was able to accept that explanation and respond with, "Okay!  Wish Majik! It's the same that Donny started out with!  That's just the first step of Majik!"  Alia then took her hand off of Jesse's shoulder and turned to run to get help.  As she was running off, she told Jesse, "Don't move!  I'll be right back!"
         "
         Oh . . . trust me," Jesse said to herself as she continued to stare up at the cow, "I'm not budging."  And . . . as she heard Alia's steps fading off, she scowled at the cow, saying, "Stupid, fat, ole thing!"

# # #

         
         As Alia was running toward the road that headed into town, she realized that she would have to pass right by the house in order to get there.  Figuring that, were her mother to see her racing past the house without a word about what was going on, let alone not knowing whether or not Jesse had been found yet, she would get even more worried and scared.  She would assume the worst, and she would get all kinds of ideas as to what could have happed to her baby girl.  Thus, in order to save her mother this kind of added stress, and to allay her fears, Alia wisely decided to stop at the house and tell Maria what was going on.  As she breathlessly entered the foyer and turned to seek out her mother, Alia found that Maria was already standing in the doorway waiting to see what her child had to say.  She had been watching out her sitting room window when she had seen Alia running up to the house, and she figured that something serious was amiss in order for the girl to be in such a state.
         
         Although Maria was anxious to hear what Alia had to say about Jesse, she also knew that, once her daughter had caught her breath, she would tell her the reason for her breathless rush.  There was not need to pressure the child, as Maria was sure she would begin her explanation as soon as she had caught her breath.  Thus, instead of nagging Alia until she explained, Maria waited patiently for her to slow down enough to be able to tell her what she needed to know.  When the child did finally manage to convey her message, however, what she had to say was the last thing that Maria had expected to hear.
         
         Alia panted as she supported herself with a hand on the frame to the front doorway.  "Jesse . . . (huff puff) . . . has Majik . . . (huff puff) . . . floating cow . . . (huff puff) . . . need to get . . . (huff puff). . . town Wizard."
         
         Having delivered her message, Alia turned to head back out of the door.  Maria, however, was able to keep her head about her.  Therefore, although she was a bit shaken by the content of Alia's message, and she wasn't feeling anything near to the calm she wished to project, Maria managed to reach a hand out and gently touch Alia's arm to stop her for a moment.  She quietly looked at  her daughter, took a deep calming breath, and told her youngling, "Wait!"  When Alia turned back to see what her mother needed, she continued.  "Ethan had to come in to grab a few things for your Papa.  He's still in the kitchen," she chuckled, "I guess he decided to get a snack before heading back out to his work."
         
         "But, nothing," Maria told the girl.  "I'll have Ethan get on a horse and ride into town.  He'll get the Wizard and, while he's doing that, you can come into the sitting room with me and calm down.  You sound like you can barely get air, and you're all flushed."
         
         Alia was nowhere near wanting to simply sit and wait.  "But," she argued, "what about Jesse?"  The girl was worried about her little sister being left out there all alone.  She was worried how Jesse was going to deal with the cow that was floating in the air in front of her.
         
         "Well," Maria smiled now that a bit of the shock had worn off, and she was able to breathe normally herself, "the way I see it is, if you were to run all the way to town; on foot mind you; she would have been out there a lot longer than she will be now."  She tugged at her daughter and started to guide her toward the sitting room as she continued.  "If Ethan goes to town on horse, he'll be back, with the Wizard, a lot quicker than you would have been.  Also, he'll be a lot less worn out than you; not having to exert his self as much."  As they arrived at the sitting room, Maria pushed Alia toward one of the settees.  "She'll be just fine for now.  She's a smart girl.  Besides," she added with a smile, "I'm sure she'll handle this quite well.  She did put the cow in the air in the first place, didn't she?"  Then she added with a chuckle, "Now . . . sit down and rest.  I'll be back as soon as I send Ethan on his way."

# # #

         
         As Maria turned to go into the kitchen, Alia watched her mother for a moment.  She noticed that Maria was moving a bit slower as of late, and it seemed; to her at least; that any movement her mother made was fraught with pain.  Her short, round frame was well earned.  After all, she had given birth to sixteen children, and was a true housewife on a prominent ranch.  She had cooks and maids to do most of the work around the house, and her time was spent in directing them and doing her needlework as she sat on her settee in the sitting room.  However, as of late, her movements seemed to take her a bit more effort than they used to.  This pain, that Alia was noticing, didn't seem as if it were a surface thing, either.  It appeared as if it ran quite deep..  Thus, not for the first time, Alia found herself wondering if her mother were feeling all right.  She had been at home, with her mother, ever since she started her rites of passage into womanhood, and it seemed as if it were getting harder and harder for her mother to move around.  As the years went by, there was a marked difference that Alia could see without difficulty.

# # #

         
         By the time Maria made her way into the kitchen, told Ethan what she needed him to do, and then made it all the way back into the sitting room, Alia had managed to calm herself sufficiently.  Her breathing had settled, and she had resumed work on the piece of needlework she had set aside at her mother's request that she go out and look for Jesse.  Her mother could tell, however, that she was only working on the stitch-work in order to have something to do with her hands.  If she didn't have that something to occupy her mind, she was going to fuss, stress, and worry about her little sister.  This was evident in the worry lines that were still etched across the young woman's brow.
         
         As she entered the room, Maria cleared her throat.  Alia had been so engrossed in her needlework, that her mother feared to startle her if she didn't announce her coming.  The girl looked up to meet her mother's smiling, light brown eyes that reflected some of the pain that Alia had suspected.  Then, as she sat down, after crossing the room to her own settee, Maria allowed a sigh of relief to escape through her lips as she slowly lowered herself to rest.
         
         Alia, being concerned over her mother's health, allowed herself to put aside her worries over the current situation with Jesse until Ethan's return with the Wizard.  Nothing more could be done until that time anyway.  Therefore, setting down the work she had been busying herself with, she turned to Maria and asked, "Momma, are you feeling okay?"
         
         Maria glanced at her daughter, and a small smile played across her lips.  Alia was a good girl.  She was very loving, and she tended to be more concerned with those she loved than she was with herself.  This trait allowed Maria to be fully aware of what she was being asked.  "Well, Sweetheart," she responded, "I guess I'm as okay as I can expect to be.  Why do you ask?"
         
         Alia debated with herself for all of about twenty seconds on how to say what she wanted to say.  Yet, being raised to be as open and honest as the day was long, and having straight forward ways, the debate could not have taken her much longer even had she wanted it to.  "Well," she started, "you don't look so good.."  She then took a deep breath as she thought about what she had just said to her mother and the ways it could be taken. "I mean," she continued, "you seem to have quite a hard time getting started moving any more, and when you do move , it's real slow.  Half the time, lately, you seem as if you're in pain as well.  And," the girl explained further, "you always sigh, any more, when you get to get back to sitting.  You know," she chuckled, "like it's the best thing since covered wagons."
         
         "Well," Maria laughed in response to how her daughter had phrased that last, "covered wagons were a good idea.  You have to admit that one.  If not for them, how would you keep the rain and snow offen' things when  you need to?"
         
         Alia sighed and laughed along with her mother.  "You know what I mean, Momma."
         
"          I know, baby," Maria conceded, "but," she paused, "you know your Momma's getting old, don't you?"
         
         "You're not old, Momma."
         
T          his comment was met by a hearty laugh from Maria, and she found her heart warming with the love she felt for her child.  "Yeah, yeah," she said, "I know.  Seeing the harvest come in a mere sixty times makes my a young heifer instead of an old milking cow, huh?"
         
         "Oh, Momma," Alia started, but was interrupted with the raise of her mother's hand.
         
         "It's all right, Darlin'," she assured her daughter, "I was going on my forty-seventh time of seeing the harvest come in when I had little Jesse out there.  Don't you know," she asked, "that's why I had such a hard time with her, and how come she's so small and all?"

# # #

         
         At the mention of Jesse's name, Alia turned her gaze towards the window for a moment.  She was listening to all her mother had to say, but her mind had begun to ponder the current situation once again.  "I wonder how she's doing out there all by herself."
         
         "Never mind that for now," Maria put in.  "You got me started."
         
         Alia smiled and turned back to her mother.  "I'm sorry, Momma.  Go on."
         
         "You did know that your sister came out earlier than she was supposed to, don't you.?"  At her daughter's nod, she continued.  "If your Poppa and I hadn't already decided that she was to be the last, Mother Ailsa let us know that she was the last we were going to get when she caused the onset of the change for me," Maria explained.  "That was proof enough for me, and your Poppa, that I was already getting old when Jesse came into this world.  I'm even older now, and as the cold of the season lingers, it's just a little harder to get moving, sometimes, is all.  But," she sighed to herself, "I'm well enough."
         
         "Are you sure, Momma?" Alia asked as she continued to stare out the window.
         
         "Pretty sure," Maria assured her child.  "I am looking forward to the warmer months, though; I have to admit.  I won't ache as much.  I'll be able to move easier.  Solaria's rays will be beaming stronger and making the world a much warmer place."
         
         "I sure hope so, Momma," Alia agreed.  "But," she confessed, "I still can't help but worry about Jesse out there all by herself."
         
         Maria chuckled once again.  Her daughter's mind and heart were split in two.  At the moment, they were divided between her concern over her mother's health and her sister's well being.  "You should know by now, young lady, that when I tell you to relax and not to worry about something, you should do as I say.  Jesse's no more alone out there than you are in here."
         
         Alia turned her head quickly at this bit of information.  She looked at her mother quizzically as she asked, "What do you mean, she's not alone?"
         
         "She's being watched over until the Wizard gets along," Maria explained.  "I sent Ethan to town, yes, but I had him get Michael to find Jesse, and the floating cow, in order for him to watch over them.  Which one is it, by the way?"
         
         "Which one, what?" Alia queried.
         
         Maria laughed at the look on her daughter's face.  "Which one of the cows is stuck floating in the air?"
         
         "Oh!" Alia started at the realization that her mother was completely changing gears.  She had gotten thrown off a bit and had to take a minute to search for the answer to her mother's question.  "It looked to be Bessy's youngest," she finally responded.  "She's just come into milking age, and she hasn't been named yet.  But," Alia mused, "her just coming of age is probably why she was giving Jesse such a hard time.  She's not quite used to the daily routine yet," Alia chuckled a bit.
         
         Maria cocked her chubby face at an angle and looked at her child for a moment.  "What's so funny?" she wanted to know.
         
         Alia smiled as she looked at her mother.  "I guess this little bit today will earn her a right, good name.  What do you think?"
         
         Maria rocked a bit in her seat, as she chuckled along with her daughter.  "Yep," she mused, "I bet it will at that."  After the bit of levity had passed, however, Maria turned thoughtful for a moment.  "Just coming of age, huh?" she wondered.  "It seems kind of fitting, though."
         
"          What seems kind of fitting, Momma?" Alia wanted to know.
         
         "The cow is just coming into milking age," Maria explained.  "Jesse just started her cycle a couple of months ago."  A contemplative look came across her face as she tried to piece things together.  "You know," she mused, "since she didn't show any Majikal abilities before this . . . you know . . . at the normal time younglings show that they have Majik . . . I wonder if it could be that Jesse's turning into a woman, starting her cycle, and having all of those chemicals released into her system, that could have done it."
         
         "Done what, Momma?"
         
         "Why," Maria smiled at her daughter as she answered, "brought out the Majik, youngling.  What else?"
         
         "You know what, Momma?" Alia asked.  "I think you're right," she smiled at the thought for a moment.  "As a matter of fact," she agreed, "I just bet you are."
         
         "Well, Darling," Maria said, "right nor not, I think I hear Ethan's horse coming up the road.  And," if that is Ethan's horse I hear, That'll be the Wizard Jacob's cart that I hear right behind him."  she smiled at her daughter as she turned back to her needlework.  "You be a good girl and take the Wizard out to see your sister.  That way, Ethan and Michael can get back to work, and Jesse can stop being so scared to hurt the cow.  I'm sure the wait has been unbearable for her."
         
         "Okay, Momma," Alia said as she got up to leave.  "I'll be back as soon as I can."
         
         "Take your time, Sweetling.  There's no hurry," Maria assured her.  "Make sure your sister, and the cow, are well taken care of.  Once the cow is safely back on the ground, and in for milking, bring your sister and the Wizard Jacob back to the house."
         
         "Yes, Momma," Alia agreed on her way to the door.
         
         "Oh!" Maria called out as an afterthought.  "Grab your Poppa on the way back.  It should be getting close to lunch time by then, and he should be close to the house.  So," she explained, "it shouldn't be all that difficult to find him."  She paused long enough for Alia to think she done.  Yet, just as the girl was about to say that she understood what she had to do, and get on her way, her mother finished with, "And," she chuckled, "make sure the cow gets a name now.  She's earned it."
         
         Alia giggled as she finally made her way out the door to do her mother's bidding.  "Okay, Momma.  I'll do that."  And . . . out of the house she went.

# # #

         
         Maria nodded to herself as she watched her next to youngest daughter go out the sitting room door, and smiled.  She smiled as the sun shone off the fiery glint of Alia's long tresses, and she thought aloud, "She's a good girl."  She then told herself, "She'll make some fine young man a good wife sometime soon."  Thus, with a satisfied sigh, she returned her gaze to the stitch-work that had been interrupted.  "Might as well get as much done as I can.  Once they all get back here, it'll be too busy to get a single stitch in."

# # #

         
         As Alia stepped out onto the front landing to finish waiting for Ethan and the Wizard to arrive at the house, she glanced back toward the window of the sitting room with a little bit of sadness, and a lot of love, in her gaze.  She was expecting to get an offer of marriage, from one of the several young men in town, any day now.  She knew she would accept it if it were a decent offer from a decent man.  It was her duty as a young woman in the village.  Yet, she also knew that she would miss her mother, dearly, once she was wed.  Yes . . she could visit her other any time she wanted, and her mother could visit her if she were to live close enough for the trip to not be too much of a hardship, but it just wouldn't be the same as it was now.  Also, with Jesse getting Majik. . . well. . . she would have to be sent off to the academy.  Their mother was going to be in the house all alone.  The men would be out working the ranch every day, and Maria would have no one to keep her company.  How was she going to cope?
         
         However much she worried about her mother, though, Alia's thoughts were pulled in a different direction as she realized that the sound of Ethan's horse and the Wizard's carriage were getting closer.  She turned to watch them approach and forced her mind to focus, once again, on the matter at hand.  She even managed a smile for the two men as her gaze turned to her brother first.
         
         "Momma said for me to take Wizard Jacob out to Jesse so that you and Michael can get back to the business of your own chores.  She doesn't want this little episode, entertaining as it may be, to be an excuse for you to fall behind," she explained.  Her eyes, then, transferred to the Wizard, her smile broadened.
         
         As the Wizard Jacob pulled his cart up next to Ethan's horse, he smiled down at Alia with eyes of such a light blue that they seemed almost white.  The girl smiled back at him as she began, "If it's okay with you, Wizard Jacob, I will get on your cart, with you, and I will take to you my sister, Jesse."
         
         The Wizard chuckled a bit at Alia's formal manner as he replied, "It would be fine with me, Miss Willows, if you were to join me in my cart.  It would help us get to Jesse that much quicker."  With this, Jacob looked at Ethan and said, "Thank you for coming to get me, Master Ethan."
         
         Ethan, having always been a man of few words and even fewer manners, simply nodded his golden head at each of them before turning and riding away to see to catching up with his work.  His sister watched his slim, agile figure for a moment as he rode away.  She was sure that he would be the next of her brothers to marry.  There were several of the young maidens, in town, that were just dying to get an offer from him.  They seemed to like the rugged type.
         
         Once Ethan was on his way, Wizard Jacob turned to Alia and climbed down off his cart in order to help her up.  Once she was seated beside him, he asked, "Okay, then . . . to the barn.  Or . . . am I mistaken?"
         
         "No," Alia assured him, "you are not mistaken.  Only," she giggled, "it's to the far side of the barn."  She then focused her attention to the path in front of them.
         
         "To the far side of the barn it is," Jacob smiled.  "And," he added, "on the way, you can tell me what you know about what happened.  That way I can get an idea of what I'm dealing with  That way, I can get the cow back down to safety."
         
         "It was wish Majik," Alia stated in a tone that made the information matter of fact.
         
         The Wizard looked at Alia for a second, before he returned his eyes to watch where he was steering his cart.  He smiled at her manner, once again, and asked, "Are you sure?"
         
         Alia's lip curled up in a slight smile as she recalled the way Jesse had put it to her when asked.  "Yeah," she assured the Wizard, "Jesse said something about wishing that the cow weren't such a heave ole thing.  She also said something about wishing that she could move it by herself.  Once she had wished that, according to Jesse, that's when the cow started to go up into the air."
         
         Jacob laughed at this simple description of something that had probably frightened the young lady in question.  "Okay, then," he reassured his companion, "I think I can handle this one.  It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to get Jesse to put the cow back on the ground."
         
         Alia turned to look at him for a second, and she asked, "Are you sure?"
         
         "Yeah," Jacob laughed, "pretty sure."

# # #

         Jesse was in the exact same spot where Alia had left her.  The only difference between the time that Alia had run off to get the Wizard, and her return, was that Jesse was now sitting on the ground, rather than standing.  Her eyes, however, were still riveted on the floating bovine.
         
         Michael was sitting on the grass next to, and a little behind Jesse.  His broad back, with his long burnished hair flowing halfway down its length, was all the view they had of him as they approached the pair.  He seemed to be patiently waiting for someone to arrive and relieve him from his duty.  Thus, when he heard the sound of the Wizard's cart approaching, he stood up and turned to greet them.
         
         It was apparent from Michael's reaction that it was only the Wizard that he was expecting to be greeting.  The look on his face was very revealing.  Alia saw surprise and speculation in his eyes.  This told her that he had not expected to see her riding in the cart with the Wizard.  This was not surprising since young ladies didn't usually ride around in carts with young, single, men that they were not either being courted by, were not betrothed to, or were not already married to.  Even then, without the actual marriage having taken place, a young lady would have to be chaperoned.
         
         From the quirking of a brow, and the slight tilt of his head, Michael's curiosity was quite evident.  However, since the situation was not normal, he seemed to be able to simply shrug it off.  Yet, Alia still felt the need to explain.  "Momma told me to show the Wizard where Jesse was, and his cart was the quickest way to get here."  she looked over at Jesse for a moment, to check on her, before returning her attention to her brother and continuing.  "She said for us to relieve you so you could get back to work."
         
         "Okay, okay," Michael nodded.  He didn't seem to agree with the idea of continuing to leave Alia alone with the Wizard, but his curiosity had been appeased, and they would have Jesse there.  It was apparent that he felt somewhat better about leaving by having a reasonable explanation for his little sister to be without a chaperone.
         
         "Has she said anything, Michael?" Jacob asked as he reached out a hand in greeting.
         
         Michael just shrugged a little.  "Not much, really," he explained.  "All I've been able to make out of her mumbling is that she things the cow is being a stubborn oaf, and a stupid, fat, ole thing."  He chuckled a bit as he added, "She's also been grumbling a bit about being stuck sitting there in order to keep the cow from getting hurt."
         
         Jacob smiled as he asked, "Was there anything else?"
         
         Michael thought for a moment before replying, "Oh yeah!" he realized.  "She also keeps saying that she hoped you can get it down okay.  But," he laughed, "I somehow get the impression that she blames the cow for its being in the air."
         
         Jesse, who was sitting with her head tilted so far back that her long, dark brown tresses fanned out over the ground behind her, still refused to take her eyes off the cow for more than a split second.  She did, however, hear what Michael was saying to the Wizard.  She responded to this last with, "I do not blame the stupid cow for her being in the air.  I blame her for being stubborn.  I blame her for being stupid.  And," she added, "I blame her for being fat."  She paused to take a deep breath and let it out in an exaggerated sigh.  "I know I did this," she explained.  "I just don't know how I did it, or how to undo it."
         
         After the men had assisted her out of the Wizard's cart, Alia walked over to where her sister was sitting.  She knelt down beside Jesse.  "So," she said in a low voice so that the men could not overhear her, "are you over feeling like you're going to cry?"
         
         "I wasn't going to cry, Alia," Jesse argued.
         
         "But," Alia seemed confused, "I saw tears in your eyes earlier."
         
"          I was so angry," the younger girl enlightened her sister, "and I couldn't do anything with that anger.  It had no other way to come out."  She then took a chance at another quick sideways look at her older sibling.  "You know how it gets sometimes, don't you?" she asked.
         
         Alia nodded in understanding.  "Were you angry at the cow?'
         
         "No, silly," Jesse sighed.  "I was angry with myself for putting her in the air."
         
         "Ah," the older girl nodded once more.  "No need for that," she reassured her little sister as she put her arm around the tiny girl's shoulders and gave a loving squeeze.  "It wasn't your fault any more than it was the cows."
         
         "How do you figure?"
         
         "Well," Alia explained, "it wasn't like you knew this was going to happen.  It's not like you knew you had Majik and used to make this happen on purpose, now was it?"
         
         "No," Jesse agreed.
         
         "Okay, then," her big sister reasoned as she stood up to let the Wizard jacob know that it was okay for him to come over, "no need to be angry with yourself, now is there?"
         
         "I guess not," Jesse breathed a sigh of relief.

# # #

         
         The Wizard, having figured that the girls were talking about something they didn't want the men to overhear, wisely waited by his cart for them to finish.  He slowly approached Jesse, however, once he saw Alia straighten up from whatever private conversation the sisters had been having.  As he walked a little closer, Jacob reached out his long slender hand to lightly touch Jesse on the shoulder once he was within range.
         
         Once his hand had managed to touch Jesse's shoulder without startling the young girl, the Wizard bent to her ear.  "Okay, Jesse," he started, "we're going to get the cow down now."  He looked over his shoulder to where Alia had moved in order to not be in the way.  A slight smile played across his lips, and as he turned back to Jesse, he explained, "You wished for her to be lighter, right?"
         
         Jesse tilted her head a little in order to pay closer attention to Jacob as she nodded her head in ascension.
         
         "Well then," Jacob continued, "All you have to do is to wish her back down again."
         
         The child scoffed at this idea.  "Don't you think I've tried that idea already?" she asked in frustration.
         
         "Oh, Jesse," the Wizard chuckled, "I have no doubt that you have.  What I do doubt, however, is that you really meant the wish when you tried."  At this comment, Jacob glanced back over his shoulder to see Alia concealing a giggle at the idea.  He then turned back to his charge and explained, "I mean, since you're still calling the cow names and all, I highly doubt that you've, as of yet, forgiver her for her stubbornness."
         
J          esse's only response to this suggestion was a sigh.  She neither agreed nor disagreed with Jacob.  She simply hung her head and looked at her feet for a moment.
         
         "So," the Wizard went on to tell her, "if you really want her down and safe, you have to stop blaming her for her actions.  She is, after all, just a dumb animal."
         
         The young girl raised her head at this suggestion.  "I don't blame her!" she exclaimed.  I'm the one that put her into the air."
         
         "But," Jacob responded, "the reason you put her into the air was because she was being stubborn and not doing as you wished her to do.  Therefore," he explained, "even though you realized that you are the one that put her in the air, there must be some blame being put on the poor cow, else she would have come down when you wished it."
         
         "She was being awful stubborn," Jesse conceded.
         
         "I understand that, Jesse," Jacob acknowledged, "but she can't think and reason like you can.  She can only respond to the things around her, and she simply responded the way that came naturally to her.  So, you're going to have to accept the fact that she's not at fault for being stubborn, or else she's going to stay up in the air for the rest of her life."
         
         "Okay, okay," Jesse sighed, "I'll try again."
         
         Jesse took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she stood up and concentrated on curbing her anger.  Even though she hadn't even realized that she was mad at the cow, she figured that, if she could manage to stop being angry with herself for putting the stupid cow in the air in the first place, she should be able to stop being angry with the ignorant cow.  After all, hadn't she told Alia that she realized it was her fault and not the cow's?
         
         As the young girl breathed, she realized that; although she had said as much to her sister; she hadn't admitted to herself that it was more her fault than it was the cow's.  Her patience had grown thin, and she was reacting more out of irritation, fatigue, and unstable emotions than out of logic.  If she had only thought of this sooner, the poor cow might have already been back on the ground.
         
         Once she was able to calm her emotions a bit further, and she had taken a couple more steadying breaths, Jesse wished for the cow to come back down safely.  As she did this, she told the cow, "I'm sorry, Baby.  If you had just gone where I was telling you to go, this never would have happened."
         
         The Wizard chuckled at this last bit of temperament, but he was not going to admonish the child for it.  He could understand her frustration, and it wasn't as if she had done this on purpose.  Besides, the cow was finally making it's way toward the ground in a nice, slow, and easy manner.  He smiled as he reassured the girl, "Good, Jesse.  That's the way to do it."
         
         Once the poor animal was back on the ground, Jesse breathed a sigh of relief.  She knew that she was upset by the situation, but she hadn't realized how upset she had been until she felt what seemed to be an almost physical weight lifted from her shoulders.  With this lightening of heart, she turned to the Wizard Jacob and threw her arms around his waist.  "Thank you, so much!!!" she exclaimed.
         
         "It's okay, Jesse," Jacob told the girl as he snickered to his self and patted her shoulder.  "That's what I'm here for."
         
         Jesse screwed up her diminutive features into a questioning look as she turned her face up to look the Wizard in the eye.  "So," she asked, "I did that by simply wishing for the cow to be lighter?"
         
         "Yep!" she was assured.  "That's all there was to it."
         
         Jesse giggled, then, and caused the Alia and Jacob to smile.  "Then," she decided, "if my wishes are going to start doing things like that, I better start watching what I wish for."
         
         "That might be a good idea, little one," he agreed with a laugh.
         
         Once the cow was down, and as Jesse hugged the Wizard, Alia strode over to be closer to her sister.  Jesse turned from Jacob and wrapped her little arms as tight around her sister's waist as she could; squeezing with all her might.  Her large, doe-like eyes gazed up into her sister's rich green ones.  "Thank you, Alia," she expressed.  "Thank you for coming to find me.  Thank you for going to get the Wizard.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!"
         
         Alia smiled as she caressed Jesse's hair while returning the girl's embrace.  She gave a slight guffaw as if it were nothing.  Yet, now that the cow was down and safe, and Jesse was unharmed, she felt just about as relieved as Jesse appeared to be.  Still, she assured her little sister, "It's okay, Jesse.  That's what big sisters are for."  She then raised her gaze to look up at the Wizard's smiling face.  "Isn't that right, Wizard Jacob?" she asked.
         
         Jacob smiled back at the young lady.  "Exactly so."

# # #

         
         On the way back to the house, with Jesse safely snuggled in beside her as they rode in the Wizard's cart, Alia finally managed to relax enough to allow herself to do a bit of wishing for herself.  Her wish was a bit different than Jesse's had been, however, for she wished that it would be Wizard Jacob that would make an offer of marriage to her.  She had not expressed this wish to anyone else, as it was unseemly for any young woman to pick her own mate.  However, with her arm tucked around her little sister, looking at the man who had so capably handled the unusual situation, she wished she had her sister's powers, even if she were to have them only for this one wish.  If she did, then, perhaps she could use that wish Majik to make it so.  Yet, instead of expressing any of this, she simply hugged Jesse closer to her side and told her, "I'm so glad that you're okay."
         
         Jesse looked up at her older sibling and smiled broadly.  "Well," she told her, "it wasn't as if I were the one in any danger.  It was the poor, stupid, fat, ole cow."  She laughed for a moment before she added, "She should  have gone where I was telling her to go in the first place."
         
         Alia and the Wizard Jacob both laughed at this.  They were both glad that Jesse was able to get a handle on her anger and do what she had to do.  If she hadn't been able to do that, the Wizard would have had to find a way to use his own Majik to get the cow down and release the hold that Jesse's Majik had on the animal.  That not being the case, however, all came out for the best.  There was one thing, though, that the Wizard was thinking of, and he expressed this as he turned in his seat enough to be able to look at Jesse for a moment.  "You do realize, young one," he asked, "that this means you will have to be sent away to the academy for Majik, now, don't you?"
         
         Jesse sucked in her breath when she heard this bit of information.  With all that was going on, and her worry about the cow, she hadn't thought about having to go away.  All she had been able to think about, up to this point, had been getting the cow back down on the ground.
         
         Jesse looked from the Wizard, to Alia, and back at the Wizard.  She knew that her older brother, Donny, had been sent away when he was five harvests old because he had proven to have Majikal abilities.  As a matter of fact, because he was so much older than she, and because he was always gone away to some school to learn how to use his Majik to do good and help the kingdom, she didn't even get to meet her brother until she was five or six harvests old herself.  She didn't want to go away.
         
         Normally, if a youngling were to prove to have Majik, that Majik became apparent by the time they were eight or nine harvests old.  If it didn't show up by that time, no one expected that child to have Majik at all.  On rare occasions, though, some would go as long as their tenth harvest without showing any signs.  Then, all of a sudden, majik would pop up.  But . . . That was only the case for one in thousands.  Jesse had never heard of anyone getting Majik when they were as old as she was.  So . . . When all of this happened, all she could manage to think about was not hurting the stupid cow in any way.  She hadn't even thought about the fact that it had been Majik that had put the cow in the air, and the idea that the Majik had come from  her hadn't had time to register.  The last though she would have come up with, from this whole event, would be the idea of being sent away from the ranch in order to go to some mysterious academy.  Therefore, she was not happy with this development, and she made sure that it was known.
         
         "I didn't think about having to be sent away to the academy," she confessed to the Wizard as she looked down at her feet.  "I don't want to go away.  I love being here with Momma and Poppa."
         
         "Well," Jacob explained, "that's where you will have to go, and," he added, "since you're already how old?" he hesitated as he waited for her to answer him.
         
         "I've seen thirteen harvests," she provided for him.
         
         "Okay," he continued, "Since you're already thirteen harvests old, then, you'll have to go to extra classes, at the academy, so that you can learn quickly.  That way, you'll be able to catch up will the other children, your age, that are already at the academy.  They won't want to stick you in the beginner classes with all the other younglings that developed their Majik at much younger ages."  He smiled down at Jesse as he added, "That way, you won't feel out of place among all the little ones."
         
         The young girl looked back and forth from her sister to the Wizard.  Her lower lip quivered, and her eyes filled up with tears.  "Oh?" she asked.  "Do I have to go?"
         
         Alia saw the look in Jesse's eyes and became angry with Jacob.  Yes, she wanted this man, of all the eligible young men in the town, to be the one to make an offer of marriage to her.  However, she did not appreciate the fact that he had upset her little sister like this; especially after all the poor child had already had to endure.  On the other hand, she could see the excitement in the Wizard's eyes, and she realized that he had not meant the information to cause the trauma it had.  Thus, she tried to be impartial and informed him, "I think that bit of news should have waited until we had her back home with Momma and Poppa around her.  That way," she told him, "they could have let her know that everything was going to be all right and given her the comfort she's in need of, Wizard."  She turned to Jesse, then, and hugged her sister closer as she reprimanded further.  "I would think that, considering all that's she's had to handle, already, you could have held that tidbit of information off for just a little longer, don't you?"
         
         The Wizard Jacob, feeling sorry and ashamed of his lack of consideration, hung his head as he explained, "I was just so excited for her."  He looked up at the older of the two girls.  "I thought she would be excited too."
         
         Alia nodded in understanding.  "How old were you when your Majik made its appearance, Jacob?" she asked him.
         
         "Only four harvests old," he confessed.
         
         "Exactly," Alia looked at him with meaning.  "I think this is a little bit different," she chastised.  "And," she continued, "I think that if you had waited until Momma and Poppa were around, they could have made her feel better about it from the very beginning.  Now," she finished, "they're going to have to do repair work to the damage already done."
         
         "I'm sorry, Alia," Jacob apologized as they continued on their way.  The expression on his face reflected his regret as he let out a heavy sigh and conceded, "I just wasn't thinking."
         
         "Well," the girl said as she turned to look back at their path, "it's a little late, now.  Let's just find Poppa and get back to the house as quickly as possible."
         
         "Okay," the Wizard agreed with a nod and a flip of the reins to get the horse moving a little quicker.

# # #

         
         As she waited for Alia to bring Jesse and the Wizard back to the house, Maria tried to concentrate on her mending.  Yet, she found that her gaze followed the sun out the window.  She kept looking to the front yard in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Wizard's cart approaching.  When she, at last, heard the sound of the cart, she went into the kitchen to get the warm drinks she had told the cook to prepare in anticipation of their arrival.  She wanted them to be in the sitting room; waiting for them to drink.  It wasn't quite as cold as it had been at this time of year.  However, there was still a little bit of a nip in the air, and the warm drinks may help not only to warm their bodies, but to soothe any nerves that may have been ruffled in the course of this situation.
         
         This sitting room where Maria waited patiently, was where she was the most comfortable.  The walls, paneled in a warm golden oak, were pleasing to the senses.  The morning beams, from Solaria in the sky, that streamed in through the windows mad them glow warmly and brightened the entire room in which she did most of her sewing work.  It was where her children were used to seeing her.  It was where she was everyday; sitting on her settee.  It was where they were used to coming to her, in times of need, whether it be for a simple hug to heal a hurt feeling, or a kiss to cure the common scrape or cut.  Therefore, it was also where Jesse would expect to find her once she arrived back at the house after the startling morning events.  Due to all this, Maria believed that it would help Jesse to have as much normal as possible while adjustments were being made to her life.  The appearance of Majik would reshape her entire future.

# # #

         As the cart drew up before the front landing, Maria could hear Jacob, Alia, and Jesse talking.  Although she could hear their voices, she could not understand what they were talking about.  The walls of the house were well insulated, and they muffled the sounds.  Therefore, she sat and anxiously waited their entrance, and heart began to hammer in her chest when she heard them disembark from the cart.
         
         Maria was scared for her youngest child.  She was full aware that Jesse would, now, have to be sent away to the academy.  This change in Jesse's life, at this stage in her development, would be a shock to the girl's system.  It was not that she though Jesse would not be up the challenge of learning new things.  It was, simply, that she knew the child would be frightened about leaving home, and the thought of her daughter's fear brought on Maria's own.  Thus, as to allay too many hysterics, Maria tried to contain her own fear and slow her racing heart, as she didn't want it to be obvious to her daughter.
         
         As the front door opened and the girls entered; followed closely by the Wizard Jacob; Maria made a concerted effort; one last time; to slow her breathing and calm her heart.  She took one deep breath for each attempt, and reminded herself that this would be a good thing for her child.  As frightened as she may be, for Jesse, she was sure that this would turn out to be a positive aspect for the girl's life.
         
         Jesse, who was so small as to appear much younger than her actual age, would not be considered for marriage by many young men.  Even when she became of marriageable age, there was a strong possibility that no young man would make an offer of marriage.  The young men of the village wanted strong women who could bear the weight of daily work and stand side by side, with them, in the fields; if need be.  Many of the gossips in town had even intimated that she may not even be seen as desirable unless she were to grow to normal proportions.  There was even talk of the possibility of Jesse's being ostracized in the town.
         
         Maria had been worrying about Jesse's future for some time.  She had stressed over the girl's health and overall size.  If she were not to grow to an acceptable scale, she would be a spinster, for no young man would see her as desirable.  If she did not get big enough to have the strength to deal with the normal running of a house, farm, and taking care of a man, no man would want to take her as a bride.  Perhaps the appearance of Majik in her life was what had been needed to secure a future for the child.  For all these reasons, and many more. Maria was bound to make Jesse feel that this was a good thing; a very good thing; indeed.

# # #

         
         On the way up to the house, Alia was thinking that her mother would be as impatient as she had been before, and that she would be waiting at the entrance to the foyer once again.  However, when she looked around to find her mother, she was not there.  "Momma?" she called as she walked through the entryway.
         
         As Alia called out for their mother, Jesse made a b-line for the sitting room.  She did not waver in her path, and she never seemed to question the fact that her mother would be there.  Alia turned to follow her little sister, and as she came through the door to the sitting room and saw her mother perched in her usual spot on her settee, she shook her head and said, "I should have known."
         
         "Should have known what?" Maria wanted to know as she opened up her arms to fold them around her youngest child.
         
         "That you would be sitting in your settee, and waiting for us, rather than standing in the door to the foyer as you were before," Alia explained.
         
         "Ah," her mother nodded.
         
         Jesse rushed to her mother's waiting arms.  She dove into her embrace, planted herself on her mother's lap, wrapped her arms tightly around Maria, and buried her fact her the folds of her mother's skirts.  "Momma," she cried, "I don't want to go away!  Don't make me go, please!?!"
         
         Maria, alarmed by Jesse's distress failed in her own attempt to remain calm.  As she wrapped her arms around her baby in order to try to ease her fears, a tear crept down her cheek.  She looked up at the Wizard as he entered the room behind Alia and gave him an accusing glare.  "Who told her?" she demanded.
         
         Jacob, already upset enough by Alia's reprimand, lowered his gaze as he replied, "I did, ma'am."  He shook his head dejectedly as he added, "I wasn't thinking."  there was another slight pause, as the Wizard took a deep breath, before he continued with his explanation.  "I was just so excited about this development, in Jesse's life, that I thought that she would be as excited and happy about it as I am."  He raised his eyes to look into Maria's as he admitted, "I was wrong."
         
         Maria nodded in agreement as she caressed Jesse's hair in her continued attempts to try to soothe the child.  "Obviously," she stated.  She turned to Alia as she asked, "Where is your Poppa?" she wanted to know.  "Didn't I tell you to go and get him on your way back to the house?"
         
         Alia nodded as she informed her mother," He wasn't quite finished with the piece of fence he was mending.  He said that he didn't want to risk the cows getting out of the pasture, and that he would be here as soon as he was done."
         
         "Did you, or did you not, explain to him how important this is?" She demanded.
         
         "I did, Momma," the girl answered.  "But," she added, "Poppa said that, if Majik could wait this long to show up in Jesse's life, it could wait a little longer for him to be finished with what he was doing.  When he got finished, he would deal with the changes the Majik was going to bring."
         
         Although Maria was frustrated by her husband's attitude, she chuckled a bit as she nodded and said, "Yeah, that sounds just like your Poppa."  she looked down at Jesse's head as she continued to smoother her hair off of her tear-streaked face.  "Did he say how long he thought it would take?"
         
         "He said he would be right behind us," Alia explained.  "Said that he only had a couple more fastenings to take care of, and that he would be in as quick as possible."
         
         Just then, they could hear a step on the rear landing and a bit of pounding on the step.  "That should be your Poppa now.  He must be knocking the dirt from his boot heels before coming into the house," Maria explained needlessly.  She then turned to Jacob and asked, "Since you decided to get my youngling so upset, do you think you could be so kind as to usher her Poppa in here, at the quickest possible pace, so we can calm her down?"
         
         "Yes, ma'am," Jacob nodded as he turned to do as she had requested.  He turned, then, and headed out of the sitting room door on h is way to the kitchen entrance where Jonathan would be coming in.
         
         "And," Maria called after the Wizard's back, "make sure you tell him what you did so that he'll be prepared for what he's walking into."
         
         Jacob grimaced and cringed a bit, but he kept walking toward the kitchen as he replied, "Yes, ma'am."  He already felt bad enough bout upsetting Jesse, and he was willing to do whatever was necessary to try to make amends any way  he could.
         
         During all of the talking that was going on around her, Jesse had her face buried in her mother's lap.  She was crying silently as she kept her face buried in the folds of her mother's skirt in order to cover up the sound of her sobs.  Her mother had placed her ample arm around her shoulders, and she had been trying to soother her as much as she could, but Jesse would have no part of it.  "I don't want to go away, Momma!" she told her mother as she raised her red shot eyes to plead once again, "Please don't make me go!"
         
         "You have to go, Jesse, and crying isn't going to change that," Maria tried to explain to her in as soothing of a voice as she could manage.  She had wiped away the errant tear that had managed to escape from her eye as she soothed, "Hush now, sweetling.  Hushhhhh."  She continued to smooth her child's hair and back as she told her, "It'll be okay, I promise."
         
         "No, it won't be okay!" the child protested as she cried all the harder upon hearing that her mother was not going to support her unwillingness to go.
         
         Just as Jesse exclaimed that it wouldn't be okay, Jonathan, her father, walked into the room.  His hulking frame filled the doorway, and his bright blue gaze was sharp as he looked at the women in the room.  "Now, what won't be okay?" he wanted to know.
         
         Jesse lifted her red rimmed eyes to look at her father as he crossed the room to sit down.  "It's not going to be okay for me to go away, Poppa," she explained.
         

         "Why isn't it going to be okay, Jesse?" her father asked her.  His deep voice was almost booming although he talked in a regular tone.  "You'll get to go to the same academy as Donny did.  You'll get to meet all kinds of other kids that can do Majik.  And," he added, " you'll learn how to control that Majik of yours so that you won't make any more cows float up into the air."  He chuckled at the picture that came into his mind at the reminder of the morning incident.  Yet, smothering his mirth, he continued explaining, "You'll also get to make new friends and learn all the tings that your brother did when he got to go to the academy.  It's not a punishment, Jesse," he assured her.  "It's a privilege."
         
Indent}"But," Jesse pouted as she continued to protest, "How cant it be a privilege if I don't want to go?" she asked.  "I want to be able to stay here, on the ranch, with you and Momma."
         
         "Well, now," Jonathan told her as he finally took his seat in an armchair that was next to his wife's settee, "that's not possible any more."  He reached out and gently grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger.  "You're a big girl, now.  You're not a baby.  You're a good girl too.  So," he sighed, "you'll do as  you are told, and  you won't argue about it any more."  He nodded at his wife at this point as he assured her, "Your Momma was right when she told you that it will be okay, okay?"
         
         Rather than continue to argue with her father, as she knew that it would do no good any more, Jesse turned her face away from him as she slipped out of  his gentle grasp.  She buried her burning cheeks back into the folds of her mother's dress and continued her sobbing.  At this show of upset, Jonathan stood up and lifted tiny Jesse out of Maria's arms.  Maria reached out, seeking after her child in protest, but her husband simply shook his head as he turned and sat back down and placed his daughter on his lap.
         
         Once positioned back on his chair, Jonathan wrapped his arms around Jesse and held her close.  He did not like to see her this upset, but he knew that coddling her would do no good.  She would have to face up to what was happening sooner or later.  The sooner the better.  She was not one, normally, for hysterics, and he was pretty sure that this bout of tears was brought about more from pure exhaustion than it was of any true fear or worry.  Her morning ordeal was not something she was used to.
         
         Jesse had turned her face into her father's shoulder when he wrapped his arms around her.  Her tears were drying up, but she wasn't quite ready to face what was going on, as of yet.  She knew that she would have to go to the academy.  No one here, at the ranch, would be able to teach her how to control and use her Majik.  It was just that she wasn't prepared for this.  It wasn't something that she had expected to happen.
         
         Realizing that the sooner Jesse's tears stopped, the sooner they could begin to discuss the plans for her future, Jonathan tried to reach that sensible part of his child with reason.  He patted her on the back and smoothed her long brown hair down the length of her back as he tried to soothe her at the same time.  "I know this isn't easy, Sweetling, but it's nothing we can change," he told her.  "Your Majik came at a late age, and it was completely unexpected, I know.  But," he continued, "no that it has made its appearance there is no help for it."
         
         Jesse, still not wanting to look up and face things, and feeling more and more tired as the minutes ticked by, said nothing.  She kept her face planted in the crook of her father's shoulder and tried to calm herself without falling asleep.  She knew that any more crying wouldn't get her anywhere; she just couldn't seem to help it.
         
         "Now," her father's tone got a little bit more stern, "that's enough of the tears, Jesse.  This isn't like you.  Besides," he told her, "they're not going to help."  It was as if he had read her mind, and she knew it was time to turn around and deal with the things that were going on.  She simply wanted, as any child might, a little more coddling before she did.
         
         "C'mon, Jesse," Jonathan encouraged.  "You're just going to end up making yourself feel miserable if you keep this up.  Your nose will be all stuffed up and runny.  Your eyes are going to be puffy and red.  "And," he added, "you are still going to have to face the fact of leaving."  He then squeezed his daughter tight and caressed her hair and back until he felt her shoulders relax as she calmed down.
         
         Once it was evident, even to her parents, that Jesse had stopped crying, Jonathan pulled her gently away from his chest.  He tilted her head up with a finger placed under her chin.  "Now, Jesse," he told her, "you need to look at me, and you need to listen to what I have to say, no matter how much you don't want to."
         
         "But," Jesse repeated as she looked up at him, "I don't want to go away, Poppa.  I want to stay here with you and Momma."  she pleaded with her eyes as she added, "I love being here on the ranch.  I don't want to live anywhere else."
         
         At the same time he nodded his understanding of his daughter's feelings, Jonathan noticed that there was a tear sliding down Maria's face as well.  This repeated plea was beginning to get to her heart.  He knew that his wife's tears were not about Jesse's having to go away, however.  She was full aware of how things went when Majik was involved.  She had dealt with things admirably when it was found that they had to send their Donny away.  The issue of Jesse's going to the academy, to learn control and use of her Majik, was definitely not the reason for Maria's tears.  Her tears were because she didn't like to see her child so upset.  However, Jonathan was not going to allow Jesse to make Maria break down and all out cry.  The errant tear or two was more than enough.  None of this was doing any good for either one of them.
         
         At the same time, Maria was reminding herself that she must remain calm in order to help keep Jesse from try to go into hysterics again.  She also knew that Jesse's tears were bore more from fatigue than any kind of weakness of character.  Thus, if she were permitted to lapse back into the hysterical tears, the discussion would be delayed even longer.  Maria felt that, the longer it was delayed, the harder it was going to be.  For this reason, she wiped the tear from  her face, took a deep breath, and steadied herself once more, before Jesse could manage to look at her and see any of this.
         
         Although Alia and the Wizard Jacob were present for all of this, their presences had faded into the background, for Jesse.  They had remained very quiet, and they were waiting patiently while Maria and Jonathan tried to get Jesse ready to talk.  Each one of them realized that this was not going to be easy.  And, having already caused enough premature upset, Jacob did not wish to be the cause of any more duress.  Alia simply wanted her sister to stop crying.  It tore her heart out to see her little sister this upset, and the tear that had escaped to slide down her mother's cheek had not made matters any better for the young lady.
         
         In an attempt to keep things from going back to the point of Jesse having her face buried, once again, in the folds of her mother's skirt as she sobbed, Jonathan chose to take a sterner tone of voice.  It wasn't that he was angry with Jesse.  It was simply that he knew that this situation would not get handled if he didn't take the upper hand.  Therefore, he started with, "Now, Jesse."  At this point, Jonathan made sure that his daughter was looking him in the eye.  "That's enough, young lady.  I'm not going to say it again."
         
         Jesse sniffled a bit more and tried to pull away from her father.  However, Jonathan would have none of it.  "You're going to stop this nonsense," he told her.  "It's not going to help you any," he explained.  "And," he added, "you're going to listen to what needs to be said.  You're not a baby any more, and you have to face this situation, whether you like it or not."
         
         Once Jesse had registered the note in her father's voice, she realized that; like it or not; this was not going to go away until she faced it.  Even then, it was only going to be clarified.  It would still not go away.
         
         Although she had already admitted all of this to herself, her father's tone of voice let her know that she could avoid it no longer.  Therefore, she made more of an effort to stem off the tears.  She took a deep breath and turned to face the consequences that were going to come from her having Majikal abilities.
         
         The control that the young girl had was tenuous at best.  She was exhausted from the morning's happenings.  Yet, she managed to keep any more tears at bay as to not anger her father any more than he possibly was.  She knew that his tone was stern, for now, and that he was not truly angry as of yet.  He was just trying to get control of the situation.  Thus, knowing this about her father, Jesse sniffed one last time, and she looked at her father without the aid of his hand keeping her face there.  "Okay, Poppa," she told him.  "I'm sorry."
         
         Jonathan looked at his wife with a wink before he turned his gaze to their child.  He smiled down at Jesse, and he softened his gaze and  his tone of voice before he told her, "It's okay, sweetling.  I understand.  You're upset, and rightly so.  But," he assured her, "seeing as how you now have Majik, the situation can not be helped."
         
         "I know, Poppa," Jesse conceded at last.
         
         Maria reached out a plump hand to her daughter.  She beckoned for Jesse to return to her lap.  Yet, Jonathan did not think this was necessary, and he put a staying hand on his wife's arm and said, "I think she'll be fine here, darling.  Maybe having Poppa's big strong arms around her will help."  He looked down at his daughter.  "What do you think, Jesse?" he asked.
         
         Jesse snuggled down further into her father's lap, but she reached out a hand to touch her mother as well.  In this way, the girl drew comfort from the pair.  "Okay," she nodded, "I think I'm ready."
         
         Jacob nodded as he raised his eyes to glance at the Wizard.  "Okay, Wizard," he told him, "we sent our Donny away, when he was young, because he had Majik."  He looked at his wife, down at Jesse, then back up at Jacob.  "We followed the advice of the town Wizard, of that time, and things turned out okay."  He paused for a deep breath.  "Donny is a good Wizard, and a good man.  So," he confided, "we are, now, going to trust in you and follow your advice, as we did his, as you are schooled in how to handle these situations, and we are not."
         
         Jonathan leaned forward a little, at this time, as he gazed at the Wizard.  "I will not, however, have you upsetting my baby girl any more than necessary.  Do you hear me?"
         
         Jacob nodded his head in acknowledgment, and he gulped before answering, "I hear you, sir."
         
         At Jonathan's nod, and his decision to sit back once again, Jacob continued.  "I understand that Jesse was not prepared for this to happen.  I wouldn't expect her to be at this age."  He took a breath and wiped his brow before going on.  "As you know, most children that have Majik show their abilities by the time they are much younger than what Jesse is.  I would not be at all surprised to hear that everyone assumed that she didn't have Majik, at all, by this time."
         
         Maria's head popped up at this.  She recalled what she had thought of earlier, while she was talking with Alia, and she wondered, "Do you suppose that Jesse's beginning her cycle . . . you know . . . her becoming a woman and all . . . the chemical changes in her body . . . could that have caused her Majik to come out?"
         
         Jacob mused over this idea for a moment.  He had noticed Jesse's blush at her mother's mention of the cycle, but it was a serious thing to take into consideration.  "I suppose it could have," he agreed after a bit of though.  "It is not, totally, unheard of.  It just doesn't happen often enough for people to look out for it on a regular basis.  However," he added, "puberty, itself, is a strong force.  It is strong enough that, with the release of all those changing chemicals and such, it could have caused the release of her Majik as well."
         
         Jesse, while she had been embarrassed by her mother's question, knew that it had been necessary if they were to try to understand why her Majik had waited until now to come out.  Therefore, even though she blushed, she listened to all that was being said as the adults spoke.  She didn't want to miss out on a single thing.  She didn't want anything that was going to happen to her, from now on, to come as a surprise.  The flying cow as surprise enough.  For these reasons, Jesse figured that, if she were to listen carefully, she may be able to keep calm while her future was being discussed.  She also figured that, if she were to know all of the things that were going to happen to her, she may be able to accept them a little easier with each step; as long as she knew what each step was going to be.  This, at least, was her hope and her goal.

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