Chapter 125 - 124. It's Not Broken

The two werewolves didn't take their eyes off the spirit which flew in a circle around them, leaving in its wake white runes surrounded by a luminous halo. Meanwhile, the old witch had all her attention fixed on her spirit named Caraid. The white eagle-like spirit had almost finished its circle above Glen and Eden when Gabrielle's voice rang out.

"What? Like that? Without any kind of explanation or whatever? They have come all this way for you to answer their questions and you put them through your little experiments without even a proper explanation?"

"Tch!" The light from the circle of runes dimmed and they disappeared. The spirit flew back to the witch's shoulder and Alicia crossed her arms over her chest, upset because of the interruption.

"What? That spell she cast wasn't supposed to help us?" Eden frowned while looking at the woman who pouted under the reproachful look of her granddaughter.

Gabriella sighed and motioned them into the next room. She opened the door and revealed a kitchen with every corner occupied by a dish. What the woman had said earlier wasn't a joke. The old witch had prepared all the food in her cupboards. At least, it was the impression given by the abundance of steaming dishes from which escaped the scents that made the stomachs of the two werewolves rumble.

"What if we sit down to eat? You have to go back as soon as possible you told me? Let's talk over a meal and then we'll answer your questions." She paused when she saw the hesitation in the two werewolves' eyes to accept her invitation and smiled. "I assure you that the answer will be faster than the explanation so you might as well enjoy the time you will lose with the latter."

She led them into the small kitchen where she asked them to help her bring the dishes. Glen entered the room and looked around. He guessed that the room must originally have been much less crowded, but with every inch taken up by food and dishes, there was barely enough room for more than one person to stand without bumping in something. They organized a chain and passed the dishes to each other to settle them on the table in the dining room.

Once the table was full with just enough room for the guests to sit down, the alpha took his place and Eden slipped by his side. The male omega had a hard time controlling his pupils to prevent them from scanning every dish and food container. The Dominant smiled as he saw his Adam's apple move as he swallowed, his eyes fixed on what looked like a roast, and the next moment Gabriella resumed her unfinished explanation.

"The spell that Grandma had started earlier would have forced you to manifest the gift your Goddess bestowed upon you but it wouldn't have helped you understand it. It's better if you have a clear idea of ​​who the Servants of Talamh are. You have no idea what our powers are, do you?" She started to pass the dishes so that everyone could help themselves.

"Silphie told us that you interact and use the vital force that exists in every living being whether human or animal," Glen recalled, not understanding how that could help him find the explanations they were looking for. He grabbed the dish that Gabriella passed to him and served a large portion of roast to Eden whose eyes were shining.

"Hpmf! What a crude and inaccurate way she use to describe her birth magic. What a shame! She can't be called a Servant of Talamh anymore I guess! She did well to marry a Skinwalker!"

"Pay no attention to my grandmother. She and my aunt, her daughter, haven't been on good terms since Aunt Silphie chose to become a Skinwalker."

"Aunt? Silphie is your aunt?" Eden asked. His face had just lit up when he tasted a spoonful of what was on his plate.

"Yes. Besides, I'm glad to know that the pack and the tribe are back together again. If you ask me, the Skinwalkers had made a terrible choice when they chose to part ways with Bloodhood. I can understand the reasons for their choice, but…"

"You know the history between the Skinwalkers and Bloodhood?" Glen questioned without hiding his astonishment.

"Sure. Witch clans don't mix often, but it's important to keep up to date with each other's history."

The smile that Gabriella displayed indeed showed that she was delighted to hear the news for Bloodhood and Blue Moon and the two werewolves didn't know if they should explain the whole situation.

For now, nothing had been decided. Alpha Silver had simply reached out to the tribe that was under the threat of Light's curse. Just like Silphie had reached out to the pack to lend a hand against the threat Wyatt posed. Truthfully, it looks more like an exchange of courtesy than a reconciliation.

They had no idea what was going to happen next because, for now, no one had a lead on how to get rid of either Wyatt or the curse. Bloodhood wanted to put some order in this situation before thinking about what to do with the tribe.

During their brief meeting at the hospital, when the Servant of Talamh confronted them after covering up Connor's magic healing, the two werewolves had mentioned their recent visit to the tribe. But they didn't go into details.

As they struggled to find out what to say, the old Servant of Talamh started the explanations.

"The Servants of Talamh are animist sorcerers whose magic is based on spirits or as my daughter so poorly explained, the vital energy that exists in all living beings but also any object or even any place in contact with Talamh.

Our magic is based on the contracts we make with spirits. To put it simply, we ask the spirit to lend us its strength until the contract is broken. There are, of course, terms and conditions for entering into a contract, but let's leave that for if you ever have more time.

When Servants of Talamh are born, they are blessed by Talamh who grants them a lifetime contract with a spirit. This contract is the only one that Servants can never break because it shelters their blessing. It can be an elementary spirit like fire, wind, water, earth, or a much stronger spirit.

With this first contract spirit, the servant will work on his gift, his magic, his willpower, and his knowledge of runes. Thanks to this, he will be able to make more contracts with stronger spirits. All of this will help him grow as a Servant of Talamh." Alicia detailed.

"I suppose you have been blessed with a mighty spirit if you are the most powerful Servant of Talamh to date?"

"No, not at all. I was blessed with a mere elementary spirit. My Caraid," She uttered its name, and the eagle-shaped spirit immediately manifested and appeared on her shoulder. "Caraid is a wind spirit who over years and hard work together has become as powerful as any superior spirit. I've become powerful because I'm just the least stuck up and most relentless of them all," Alicia said proudly.

"Here we go again," Gabriella retorted, rolling her eyes. "Don't listen to her. Grandma is a shameless boastful."

Eden decided to follow her advice even though the omega wanted to understand how the old Servant of Talamh had done to become the strongest of her clan.

"And so, that spell you started casting earlier, what was its purpose?" Glen asked.

"These runes that Caraid traced above you were supposed to create a space where the air present would force all magics to become visible."

"A space where all magics become visible? But I don't understand what it has to do with wind?"

Alicia sneered and looked at her granddaughter to respond.

"That's a funny answer. It's because too many young people here think like you that they are no longer progressing in magic. They forget that the most important thing is not the blessing they received. The most important is how you use your gift. Our magic has other aspects that shouldn't be neglected to become an accomplished Servant. I mean learning runes."

"Ugh!" Gabriella flinch has her words and her fork paused before diving into the plate for some artichoke puree. Her reaction made Alicia smirk and Gabriella made a point of not looking in her direction because she didn't want to feed her satisfaction.

"When it flew in a circle around you, Caraid was creating a very small air movement. The purpose was to build a space inside a wind boundary. Thanks to the runes that he materialized, he gave this space the characteristics that I wanted."

"Making magic appear?" Eden said with a hint of hesitation.

"Yes!" Alicia said with a broad smile when she saw that he understood immediately. "If my dear granddaughter had let me finish. Inside the circle formed by Caraid, the runes would have formed a space where all magic, therefore your gift, would have been forced to materialized and we would have been down to business. She looked at Gabriella. "With something as trivial as some air movement as a basis to respect my blessing's spirit, I've created a spell which purpose has nothing to do with my original blessing."

"Even I can cast such a spell!" Gabriella grumbled, playing with the vegetables on her plate.

"Yes because it is part of the spells listed in the registers. Your generation is unable to make new spells because you refuse to learn your runes properly."

"There are hundreds of thousands of runes! How can you expect a human being to remember all that?"

"I did it!" Alicia stated and Eden shoved a piece of sweet potato pie in his mouth watching Gabriella bite her lower lips. He could see that she was questioning her grandmother's humanity for storing so many runes in her memory without liquefying her brain.

The young woman was right about one thing. After hearing their explanation of how the Servants of Talamh's magic works, Glen and Eden were more than confident that they would have answers to their questions.

The meal continued and ended with magic as the centerpiece of the conversation. The old woman was a veritable encyclopedia and not just of her clan. The male omega couldn't help but find similarities between the way she spoke so passionately and the enthusiasm Silphie showed them when she told them everything she knew about the Skinwalkers and their history.

The two werewolves helped their hosts clean after their early dinner and the four of them soon were back in the dining room, ready to finally get their question answered.

Standing in the middle of the room, Glen and Eden were standing perfectly still as the eagle-shaped spirit flew overhead to form a circle of white glowing runes. Once the circle was complete, the halo intensified, and all the space inside the circle of runes filled with white light.

Alicia who was staring at the two werewolves frowned. Inside the circle, nothing had appeared and that wasn't the outcome she was expecting at all. Her granddaughter had told her that she had seen something when she met the two werewolves at the hospital, even if it had only lasted for a split second. She knew Gabriella wouldn't have talked about them if it wasn't worth her attention.

The Servant of Talamh walked around the circle, her chin supported by her hand and her other arm and across her abdomen in a pose betraying her intense thought. Her eyes scanned every inch between the werewolves and the edges of the rune circles. Eden let out an awkward chuckle.

"Maybe it's broken?" The slight movement of his torso caught Alicia's attention, and her eyes lit up immediately.

Right on the young man's pectoral, where his heart was, a golden light shone through the threads of the fabric of his sweater.

"No, it's not broken."