Chapter 45 - Strive For Grand-grandchildren

I was giddy with happiness. The only thing stopping me from hugging JJ here and now were the warnings given to me by witches earlier, and still my hands itched. I put them behind my back to stop myself and gave JJ my biggest, most grateful smile I could muster.

"Thank you so much, JJ! This was super-effective!"

He grinned right back at me. "Guess the wisdom of my age is worth something, ma chèrie. What does it feel like?"

I took deep, controlled breaths for several seconds, focusing on my well again. It seemed to move in sync with my breath, at least when I didn't control it, but never fully closed. It was weird as fuck, but I was sure that I will get used to it soon.

I tried to close the well, but found myself unable to. My brain didn't know what signals it should send to move this part of my body. It was like trying to lift my left eyebrow without moving the right one. Didn't work at all, even though I had no problem with lifting the right one without the left.

With a sigh, I lifted my eyes to JJ. "It's weird. Imagine suddenly getting a tail, or wings. I just don't know how to make it do what I want."

"You will get there, I have no doubt." JJ's eyes glinted. "I will await that moment with great impatience."

The unmistakable implication of his words sent a shiver down my spine. This was what I refused to think about. Knowing JJ… As soon as he will know he can, he will push at my boundaries with everything he has. And oh boy, he had a lot.

Oh, I knew he wouldn't do anything against my explicitly stated wishes, but I also knew I won't be able to push him a safe distance away. And after I learn to close my well, there won't be a safety net to stop me from falling into his arms if I lose my balance on that precarious line between friendship and something more.

The thought sucked some joy out of my discovery, but it wasn't enough to bring it out completely. I had fucking magic! Or at least a promise for it. It was miraculous, and I planned to use it the best I could.

"Just watch me," I said to JJ with a smile back on my face. "I'm gonna be the coolest witch ever!"

⠀⠀ ⠀

"Try, try, try and you will get it eventually," a witcher from Orion Coven had told me. I forgot his name, but dubbed him as Playboy for the vibe he exuded. This was the best piece of advice I had on making my well move as I wished—even the manual had no better advice written. 

Oh, it explained on how movements of the well were similar to breathing, how the channelling was akin to letting the air to flow through you, but I could feel it all myself even without reading it. For me it felt obvious from a simple way my well moved in sync with my lungs.

So trying again and again became my mantra. I followed JJ's wise advice to not try to force myself, and let myself try, and try, and try again sparingly, in the minutes I had between one mundane task and another.

I still had business to work on, after all. As well as my social life.

I met with Rita, who had been as ecstatic about my new abilities as I had been. Then there was a client that required my personal attention because he wanted to buy an expensive painting listed on the store's site that didn't have a price-tag on it. 

It was a great tactic for gaining some extra from your dealings, if you were sure about your haggle skills. My ones were well enough. Nothing as great as JJ's, of course…

Then I also had visited my grandparents, both to take some items from my grandmother's masterful hands and to just spend some time with them. 

I missed out on that lately, since I had been so busy and since most of the items I bought weren't so important that I had to rush to bring them to her for restoring, or were in perfect condition already. It was good to see them. They thought the same about seeing me.

Once again we all gathered in my grandparents' kitchen where smells of fresh food and paints mixed together. My grandpa fretted around the stove and the fridge, while my grandma sat at the table, watching us and, occasionally, nagging at him.

"Are you doing well, Diana? How's the store?" my grandpa asked me as he poured another ladle of soup into my bowl.

"Please, please, that's enough!" I reached over the table towards him in a hurry to stop him before he could pour the third. "Leave me some room for a dessert, eh?"

My grandpa grinned good-naturedly and with visible reluctance put the ladle down. He put the bowl in front of me and passed me a spoon. "It's just soup, Diana. All that water. You will have plenty of space in your stomach for sweets, I'm sure. Oh, we have biscuits, too, if you want some."

"Don't force Diana to eat as much as you do, old man." My grandma shook her head with reproach. "Do you want her to pop like a balloon?"

"Thanks, grandpa," I said, watching him opening a cupboard to get an unopened package of biscuits in chocolate frosting. Mmm, tasty stuff. "The store is doing nicely. I've got some amazing assistants, they will sell whatever I give them! Really, I just have to find new merch fast enough."

I dug into my soup with gusto. My grandpa always made amazing borscht, rich in meat and salted just right (which probably meant that it was a little over-salted for most people).

"This is great to hear, Diana," my grandma said. "Your classmate Svetlana and that French young man with such a strange name… Jean-Jacques, is it?"

I nodded.

"You have a good eye for people, I always knew it. That boy, Andrey, was such an unfortunate exception, but it was long in the past. I wonder, Diana, if anyone else had caught your eye.. Say, Jean-Jacques. You always speak of him so nicely…" my grandma grinned, a youthful expression making her appear ten years younger if only in spirit, "do you want to start an office romance?"