Summer at the Roos-family - 69 A.E

Him and his mother had never been close, but it still pained Diref to see his mother like this. For as long as he could remember his mother suffered from something that meant she sometimes had days where she would wander around outside their potion shop, mumbling strange things until she burst into tears and collapsed to the ground. She was crazy, evil tongues whispered. If only it had been that, Diref soon found himself wishing.

One day when his mother was tending her beloved garden he, for some strange reason beyond his understanding, went into the little room where his mother kept her cauldron, the one she used to brew the potions they sold at the shop. He did not come in here often because she got angry with him if he did, telling him she could not focus with him disturbing her. Even though he did not know much about potions and brews, he knew something was not right with what he saw in front of him. A strange, orange cloud of smoke from the cauldron was starting to fill up the room, and it had a smell that made him feel dizzy and sick when he got too close.

Father Ortis had often told them about this. About witchcraft and sorcery, and how dangerous it was, but he was not sure what to do. Could his little, helpless mother be an evil witch, he wondered. He decided he would need some more proof to be sure, and so he spent many nights thinking and wondering, trying to come up with ways to make sure that his mother was not a witch. His sleepless nights were soon rewarded, however, because one night his mother got up and tiptoed out of their shared room, already murmuring under her breath. And Diref, making up his mind to find out once and for all, followed her.

His mother was so absorbed in her murmuring that she did not even notice him cracking the door open and peeking in, so he saw it all. He saw how she got a heavy, old, black book from behind crates and boxes of herbs and other ingredients, saw her turn the pages slowly, one by one, until she seemed to find what she was looking for. And then he heard her speak:

Flame of love, burn so bright
Aid me in my spell tonight
Unite my true love to me
As I will it, so mote it be.

And then he ran as fast as he could, far away from the witch his mother had turned out to be.