"I'd like to join."

Tevin was conflicted as he sat at the table that night. He waited with a book and a candle for the return of his mentor and coven leader. Margaret turned the doorknob with a soft click and stopped before she even entered the house.

"What has you up, Tevin?" Her soft, low voice was the first thing to enter the room as she opened the door. Tevin took a slow breath before getting up and taking Margaret's hat and cardigan.

"I've had a very eventful day, Maggie." He began, leaving her things on the rack. She looked down at him fondly and seemed to already know.

"Yes, your friends are coming together nicely in learning the craft. Your…Aunt," Margaret hesitated on the word, "told me of your little get-together this morning."

"Yes, but that's what I'm worried about." Tevin finally revealed as he led Margaret back to the table. "You sent me to find witches for my own Coven, but you didn't send me to find anyone who was actually a witch." He explained. Margaret laughed lightly at his worries.

"There are no more." She said sadly. Tevin stared at his candle. 

"In Elsewhere?" He asked, glancing back at her before picking the candle up.

"Possibly at all, though I haven't been everywhere." She corrected and Tevin felt his breath stop. The candle flickered out in his hand and he shook his head to snap out of it. 

"You can't know that, we can't be all that's left." He muttered as he flicked his lighter, trying to relight the wick. It stubbornly remained dark. 

"I suppose I can't know for sure, but I have been alive for a long time." She sighed, taking the candle from him and lighting it easily. The bright orange light flickered to life and the room was once again visible. "I have been alive for a long long time," Margaret stressed. She held no lighter or matches but she handed the candle back and began making her way through the living room. "I saw the last of them die with your mother, dear soul." She lamented. Tevin grabbed the book from the table and scrambled after her as quietly as possible. Her very long stride made it difficult to keep up even at her leisurely pace. She left through the living room onto the outdoor deck. The night air was brisk but comfortable and the only light that showed was Tevin's candle.

"I met one." He said finally, not giving himself enough time to chicken out. Margaret stopped walking as she reached the edge of the pool.

"One?"

"A witch, not from our coven." He clarified. Margaret turned her head slowly to look back at him. Tevin recounted that night after Tera and Mesa had left.

"Do you have a name?" Tevin asked the stranger nervously.

"Quin." The stranger replied. It took Tevin a second to understand the syllable it had been spoken so fast. "I'm a solo practitioner, but I believe a collective could benefit me."

Margaret listened in silence as Tevin spoke. He told her about the odd stranger 'Quin' and how he'd known where to find the coven. He confided in her his fear that the message may have spread too far too fast. The fear that Tevin was no longer in control of who was finding him. He confided in her because she could fix it, she always did.

Margaret stood on the deck and looked down into the water below. It was a deep pool, about a meter into the ground with walls built up several feet out of it. In the past, Dottie would use it to practice diving for her swim meets, but it was filled only halfway during the winter and hardly saw any use. Margaret turned towards her ward.

"I will make this right," she said softly, towering over him in both height and the elevation of the stairs to the deck. "Tell this man to return here next time your coven gathers, I will speak with him." She said. Tevin felt the weight lift off his chest.

"Thank you, Margaret." He said breathlessly. A self-satisfied grin crept onto the elderly woman's face as she turned back around to gaze at the water again.

Tevin left without another word and Margaret felt the smile fall from her lips. This stranger sounded familiar and that didn't bode well. Margaret had met many many people in her extraordinarily long life, and she could count on one hand those she'd approve of interacting with Tevin. She glared at the dark pool of water in intense thought. The coven came first. The family was important over everything. She would speak to this outsider and determine why he would lie to Tevin and what he wanted. After all, there were no other witches but them in Elsewhere.