The sun shone through the abundance of trees surrounding a lone cottage in the forest. Wild birds started their morning by chirping. While a harmonious tone for their kind, it wasn’t so for Lucille who stirred in her sleep. The chirping was actually a grave reminder that caused her to open her eyes wide.

“I have to take the dogs out to wee!” She exclaimed as she rushed out of her bed, grabbed one of her two dogs, a black dog with a curly coat and gray spots, as she rushed downstairs with her curly-coated white dog with cream colored spots following her from behind.

When she put the black dog down, she rushed back in to see if he had made a mess on her bed. She patted the blanket and the covers. A sigh of relief came out when she had affirmation of them being spotless. She then glanced out her window. Seeing the sunny weather made her happy.

“I guess I should get ready to take them out for their morning walk.” She muttered as she stretched. She changed her clothes from her pajamas to a simple gray dress as she tied her long unkempt ash gray hair into a low ponytail. She put on a straw hat to protect her skin from the sunshine and then went over to grab her bag and her dogs’ collars. Before leaving her room, she went over to her small bookcase where she was scanning through her collection.

“What should I bring with me today?” A book with a red cover caught her interest as she took it off of her shelf and stored it in her bag.

When she went downstairs, she saw her two dogs waiting for her patiently. They were sitting down with their tails wagging and their eyes widening with joy; the black dog was smiling with his tongue sticking out. The sight of them brings joy within her as she hastens her speed decelerating the stairs.

“Ange, Noir, are you ready to go out for your walk?”

Noir, the black dog, barked in response while Ange, the white one, stood up. Lucille chuckled as she put on their collars, a blue one for Noir and a pink one for Ange. Once they were outside and Lucille closed the door. She reached a hand out.

“Staff to Lucille!” Her usual, soft voice now became deeper and domineering. A silver ring on her right hand started to glow as a long ornate silver staff decorated with five turquoise gems slowly manifested onto her right hand. Once she grabbed it, she pointed it at her abode. “Conceal the cottage.”

As she recited, her cottage became invisible. She then turned to point her staff at her dogs. “Two leashes to Lucille.”

The words she had recited slowly manifested. Two leashes came out from the collars and onto her hand. “There. Now the townspeople won’t complain about them being unruly dogs…”

She whispered, “Staff to storage,” which caused her staff to disappear; the ring’s glow faded.

Seeing her canine companions’ excitement, she yelled, “Let’s go!” as all three of them ran out of the forest and onto the town.

The nearby town was a small bustling town filled with people who were active early in the morning. There were so many different shops that window shopping became a habit of sorts. The fragrant scent of bread caught Lucille’s attention as she saw the bakery with its window open. She decided her breakfast would be bread. She stood in front of the door anxious. She gulped, took a deep breath and then entered.

A middle-aged woman with an apron greeted her. “Good morning, Lucille!” Her bright smile matched her visage.

Perhaps, it was the brightness of her aura that caused Lucille to freeze the moment she talked to her. She wondered why she always freezes at the thought of someone talking to her. Her thoughts had always yelled, Speak, Lucille! Greet her back! as some way to overcome her crippling shyness when around others.

“G-g-g-good morning…” She immediately clammed up when she started stuttering.

The lady did not seem to mind. Lucille immediately set her sights on the corner where she collected some bread and walked over to the counter. “I’d like to b-buy these, p-please…”

She got out her wallet and handed her the amount she needed to pay before rushing out. She knelt down and covered her face once she took a few steps away from the bakery.

“Why do I keep stuttering? I see that lady everyday yet I can’t even compel myself to greet her back! I’m an awful person! Why do I even live in this town?”

Ange, noticing her troubles, went over to her and licked her hand. The tickling sensation caused her to raise her head up. While both Ange and Noir were sweet-natured dogs, she knew that consolation from Ange, a rather expressionless dog, meant a lot. She reached out and hugged her. Noir approached her, wanting to join in. She hugged both of them.

“I love you two so much!”

She took a deep breath as she stood up. “Alright. Let’s go to the butcher and get you some meat!” The word meat caused both of them to brighten up. Noir started smiling with his long tongue sticking out and Ange’s eyes glistened as her tail wagged.

As they started walking, she passed by two middle-aged men reading the newspaper. One started grumbling as he took the cigar out of his mouth. “Faeries? Have these scholars gone nuts? Why are they wasting their money on creatures that don’t exist?”

“It’s because the government is wasting their time funding these nerds that we have to pay higher taxes!”

Curious about the topic, she approached a newspaper boy and asked him for a newspaper. She looked into the article detailing faeries. “Faeries…they say that they’re magical beings with the power to deceive and trick others.” She hummed. “If they know what they are like, then why do people deny their existence?”

The dogs suddenly stopped walking, causing Lucille to almost trip over them. She looked over and saw that they had stopped at the butcher shop. It was ten blocks from the bakery, so she hadn’t realized she had already reached her destination due to her being distracted. It was run by a happily married couple who has their two sons working with them. Their younger son, Thomas, liked it whenever Lucille came to visit as he liked Ange and Noir. He was a young, excitable boy of ten years. His presence did not make Lucille nervous at all.

“Dad, can I go play with Lucille and her dogs at the square?”

“Just come back in an hour or so!” His dad exclaimed.

His mother approached Lucille. “Sorry for making you care for Thomas every day. He just likes your dogs so much.”

“I-It’s fine. Ange and Noir like him a lot too.” She avoided Thomas’s mother’s eyes as she found making eye contact hard.

His mother seemed to understand her behavior. She handed her a bag. “Here, some meat for your cute dogs! They love sirloin, right?”

That was when Lucille made eye contact with his mother and gave her an awkward smile. “Thank you…”

“Let’s go, Lucille! Show me your magic again today!”

“Sure!”

She gave Noir’s leash to Thomas and the two rushed off to the square with boundless energy. His mother could only chuckle at his energy. Lucille and Ange rushed off after him.

The square was nearby. It was a large, spacious area made of asphalt and in the center, there was a large fountain. There were many dogs, cats and people roaming about. Lucille noticed a group of people gathered around; Thomas and Noir were amongst those in the crowd. When she approached them, she noticed what it was that caught their attention: a spellcaster clad in blue. She had a bronze staff decorated with two green gems.

She’s a witch. Lucille thought.

She used her staff to make blobs of fountain water float around. The people around her were amazed. Lucille kept a straight face as the audience applauded her performance. She peered over to see Thomas not impressed at all.

The witch in blue gave her audience a flamboyant curtsy. “Thank you, thank you! However, the show isn’t over yet!” She used her magic to lift the blobs of fountain water above the people and then snapped her fingers, causing the blobs to dissipate by drizzling. Lucille wasn’t fond of the sudden rain shower, but the audience were and they gave her another applause louder than before.

“Thank you all for stopping by my impromptu magic show!”

When the crowd decided to separate, the witch noticed Lucille standing there giving her an unamused expression. She approached her with a sneer.

“Well, well, well… if it isn’t Lucille! Long time no see, old friend.”

“It…it certainly has been a while, Nadine.”

“I see you still got that stutter!” She gave her a smirk, hoping to rile her up.

With a glare, Lucille barked back. “I see your water magic is still as boring as ever.”

Nadine huffed. “What was that?”

“I said what I said. Your water magic is boring. Besides, you’re only a Level Two witch. You can only do boring, basic water magic because you’re not putting in effort to move up your rank. All you do is just put on water shows and hope that it’ll increase your rank.”

Nadine pouted as she pointed at her. “Then, what about you? You use outdated word magic. All you do is use words to manifest magic, which is only useful for a few places! That’s the reason why you got burned out and quit your previous job.”

Lucille gripped Ange’s leash tightly. This caused Ange and Noir to bark excessively, causing Nadine to take a few steps back out of fear. She shrieked. “Dogs! I hate them!”

Thomas, who was standing next to Lucille, handed Noir’s leash back to his owner as he marched towards the water witch. “Excuse me, hag.”

His language caused Nadine to be baffled. “What did you call me, you brat?”

“Hag, Lucille’s magic isn’t outdated at all! It’s very beautiful! You wouldn’t know because there’s way too much water in your brain for you to process all that!”

Thomas turned to Lucille. “You’ll show her how beautiful word magic is, right?”

His eyes were glued to hers. If he had been a stranger or a kid she wasn’t familiar with, she’d be nervous, but she wasn’t. Thomas’s gaze gave her confidence. He was expecting a show to show Nadine up and that was what she was going to do. She gave the dogs’ leashes to Thomas as she got out her book from her hand. She opened it and threw it flat onto the ground.

“Staff to Lucille!” Her silver ring glowed as her metal staff manifested into her hand.

People were staring at her, but she did not notice their gazes. Her main priority was to recite what was in the book. She was going to show off word magic to Nadine, Thomas, her dogs and to the people around her. She knew that while she stuttered and feared attention, when push came to shove, she could be a loquacious sorceress.