On the morning of the exam Aava was so nervous that first thing after waking up, even before opening her eyes, she started repeating her spells one last time. “Paraxalum macundius esexor,” she muttered. “Thebelaus marander-”

“Pish posh,” Pishposh interrupted. Aava opened her eyes. Sunlight was already falling through the small window in her attic room. Pishposh was sitting on the windowsill, probably fully aware of the halo the sun was giving them. Today they looked like a large, fluffy cat - orange as always. Aava was amused to notice how much store they seemed to have set by the long white ear fluff. “It’s marandraer.”

Pishposh had not changed into a regular familiar during the past two years. Meredith’s best guess was that they had brought their own body from the plane familiar spirits lay dormant in before being summoned - at any rate, they didn’t assume the form of any one known animal, instead shifting between various small predators.

“Good morning to you too, Pishposh,” Aava replied cheerfully, reaching for the grimoire that still lay open on her desk - luckily the chamber was so small she didn’t even have to get up for that. “You’re right,” she added and smiled warmly at Pishposh.

“Of course,” Pishposh replied ungraciously, and started to clean their paw. Aava got up and scratched them behind the ears. Pishposh had not made a secret of their disappointment in the young witch entrusted to them, but they could never say no to ear scratches - a small purr escaped them, even. Aava was still convinced that under the hard shell there was a soft, caring core. Somewhere. It would show, sooner or later.

She was glad she had them, either way. The little slip-up did nothing to calm her nerves, but petting the fluffy cat that was Pishposh did.

A hot cup of tea and a shortbread later (her nervously knotted stomach hadn’t allowed for more, but she knew she’d regret it if she didn’t eat something), she was on her way to the town hall, Pishposh lounging around her shoulders. She had decided to drop the last-minute revision in favour of catching a bit of sunlight, and maybe some encouraging words.

The entire town was decked out with festive decorations - not only Aava, but a dozen other young witches would be graduating today.

Hopefully.

The people pointed and looked when they noticed her familiar, and her pointed hat; she didn’t usually wear it, but had donned it for the occasion. Most of them smiled, and a few shouted words of encouragement.

“Good luck!”

“You’ll do it!”

“Can’t wait to see what becomes of the lot of you!”

“It’s as if you were the only bunch of witches available,” Pishposh growled under their breath.

Aava playfully tugged their tail. “They’re just trying to be nice. Maybe you want to try it sometime, grumpy-pants.”

Pishposh just majestically swished their tail away.

When they reached the town hall, Aava was relieved to see Meredith already standing outside, sharing a smoke with Corvus, who was sitting on her shoulder. The people were keeping a respectful distance from the fully grown witch. Aava bounced up to her, almost unsettling Pishposh, who hissed and leapt to the ground. “Sorry, Pishposh. Good morning, Meredith! Corvus!”

“Good morning, Aava, Pishposh. How do you feel?” Meredith took a long draw from her cigarette before passing it to Corvus.

“Nervous,” Aava admitted, grinning anxiously.

“That’s normal,” Meredith said, a little smile on her face. She put her hands on Aava’s shoulders. “You’ll be excellent, dear, I know it. Let’s go inside so you can check out the location.”

She tossed the cigarette she had gotten back on the ground and stomped it out as she turned on her heel to enter the building. Corvus conscientiously fluttered down and picked it up to toss it in the nearest bin before he rejoined her.

Pishposh strolled in as if they owned the place, before Aava, who was in much more awe. The arched hallway lead into the big town hall, where a stage had been set up in front of several hundred chairs. The knot in Aava’s stomach grew tighter. Pishposh stopped dead as they realized the marble floor was rather too smooth to be elegantly walked without claws, and morphed into a reddish fennec before moving on.

Other witches and their apprentices were already standing around the hall, chatting, or simply looking around nervously. Meredith went to join some friends, and Aava followed, waving at a few fellow apprentices. Everyone looked roughly as nervous as she, which she found oddly reassuring.

Over time, more and more people flocked into the hall, slowly filling up the seats, and the witches and apprentices finally also took their seats in the first row as the clocktower started to ring out, and the mayor took the stage.

“Welcome all!” he boomed. “Today, thirteen fine apprentices will join the witches of our great town, to help it prosper, and lend a hand where it’s needed. Much could be said for the occasion, but I feel some here will be very relieved to just get it over with, so I’ll save further words for later.” The mayor’s eyes twinkled down at the apprentices. Aava noticed Tayla was looking quite green, and Laurence had sunk back in his chair as if he wanted to disappear. She sincerely hoped she looked at least a little better, and took a deep breath to calm herself, lowering her eyes to find Pishposh paying zero attention to the little speech, and instead staring up at her.

“Without further ado,” the mayor looked down at the list he was holding, “the first is Tayla Wilson, who was taught by our beloved Angelica Moreau.”

Polite applause accompanied Tayla as she stumbled onto the stage, along with Bruno, her squirrel familiar.

To achieve the rank of a full witch, each apprentice had to perform a useful and impressive piece of magic, to be judged by all the witches present. Tayla had one of the floorboards sprout a new branch, green leaves and all. After her, Mia mended a broken vase from its shards. Owen hatched a baby rabbit from a chicken egg. Each feat was met with applause, and passing grades from all the witches.

Aava had prepared to create a signaling beacon out of thin air. Somehow, she managed to calm down, and when the mayor finally read her name, she felt rather light and serene. She would make Meredith proud. Yes.

She stepped onto the stage, Pishposh morphing back into a cat as they moved onto the wooden platform. She took a final deep breath, glancing down at the audience. Meredith, sitting in the first row, nodded at her encouragingly.

Aava rubbed her hands together, then opened them, cupping her palms upwards. Pishposh sat under them, looking up with apparent disinterest. “Paraxalum macundius,” she began, speaking quietly. “Exesor thebelaus marandraer renelagois-”

Suddenly, a violent quake shook the floor, and Aava lost her balance, smashing into the stage. A low growl seemed to rise from the ground, accompanying screams and the sound of chairs falling over as the audience scrambled for the exits.

Aava rolled around, getting up on all fours. “What’s going on?” she shouted at Pishposh, who was still by her side, fur standing on end. Small pieces of debris started to fall from the plastering of the ceiling.

“What do I know?” Pishposh shouted back. “We need to get out of here, come on, you stupid-”

Before he could say anything more, Meredith was there. She seemed to be walking a hand’s breadth above the ground, which was sensible as the ground itself was still shaking, grabbed Aava and Pishposh both - Pishposh protested with a loud hiss - and together they made their way out of the hall before it could collapse in on them.