章 29: Ritual and getting to know Cliodna

As I was ecstatic about the information of the ritual I looked at Cliodna and raised a question in a cheerful voice.

"Okay great! Where can we do it?"

Cliodna chucking at my giddiness responded " you can use my place, I have the ingredients as well"

"Thank you so much!" I must have been really happy because I just wrapped her in a hug, she didn't seem to care if the smile on her face was anything to go by.

"Okay calm down, let's go it's that way" pointing to the street across from where we were stood, I let go reluctantly, she was soft and comfortable in my arms.

"Okay! Ratatoskr are you ready?" I asked the little critter on my shoulder, he was pulling at me pointing to say hurry-up I laughed at his antics.

So as we walked down the road I spoke with Cliodna about her training, she was taught by a woman known as Queen Maeve she taught a lot of young orphaned witches and wizards that didn't learn in the family home and then went to a coven of witches in Munster. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it so I went on to tell her about how I learned magic, and she was surprised to find out I learnt everything from scratch, making my own discoveries but wasn't when I told her about the druids of the stones apparently they were a famous bunch and has been there for hundreds of years.

We broke off the talk when she approached a small building with plants hanging from the windows and pots out by the door, it was a myriad of smells both fruity and spicy that told me it was a potioneers house when she opened the door I could see shelves lined with phials of a bunch of vibrant colours inside, some glistening in the sunlight that peaked through the door frame, others looked murky.

"Welcome to my home, I'll set up the ritual just make yourself comfortable" she announced with a welcoming gesture.

I said my thanks as I entered and took a better look around at everything, it wasn't as packed with stuff as I had thought it would be, everything was arranged and labelled neatly on shelves or in boxes, there was a single desk with a low bench to sit at and some plants in a corner arranged by height, they were all healthy and well maintained it went to show how well she cared for her craft. The walls were plain wood, not a single decoration hanging on them, a stone base surrounded the walls of the room, windows slightly open that let in a breeze that fluttered the petals on the flowers.

All in all, it was plain and simple, nothing too fancy but it was clean and had a fresh feel to it. Cliodna was drawing a circle on the floor in blue ink and again drew a smaller one inside it when they were finished she began to draw curved lines connecting them together in a spiral-like a pattern that overlapped with the next one drawn. I went and sat at the desk and looked at a book that was laying on it closed, the cover had a 4 leaf clover and was Titled "The gardener's Grimoire" I picked it up and began to flick through the pages. It was an encyclopedia of plants and their properties, I knew almost all of the knowledge inside apart from the handwritten scribbles around the pressed species of each plant, only because I couldn't read what was jotted down.

So I put the book back on the tabletop and looked at Cliodna's progress, the sigil was a web of lines intersecting into a spiral in the innermost circle at the centre was a symbol I didn't know, it looked like a knot of some kind. She began to gather herbs in a bowl from the shelves around the room and placed it in the centre of the magic sigil.

"Okay I'm finished you just need to sit inside and put a drop of blood into the bowl and set it on fire, then both of you need to push your magic into the sigil where they will combine and form a link between both of you," Cliodna explained as she walked towards me and Ratatoskr. Who got off my shoulder and hopped into the circle earning a chuckle from both of us.

When I sat in the circle with the bowl of herbs between me and Ratatoskr I pulled out my seax from my belt sheath on my back and pricked the tip of my finger over the bowl, a single drop of blood flowed and landed on the herbs coating them in a deep red, I held the knife out for Ratatoskr but he just bit his little paw and held it over the bowl and a drop of orange-red blood coated over the top of my own, sending a weak natural flame to set it aflame. We both looked at each other and nodded, I began pushing my magic energy into the sigil from the outer edge and watched as the blue ink turned dark purple around the ring and met up with a paler purple and began to mix together into a lavender colour as it made its way down to the inner circle through the web-like pattern, when the web was filled lavender, the inner circle went a paler shade almost lilac and filled up the same way, when it began to flow into the knot symbol the colours throughout the sigil darkened and streamed together towards the centre and the end result was a bright shade of violet almost red.

After a few minutes, the flow of our magic seemed to link at a spiritual level and I could feel Ratatoskr sitting across from me, it was like I could sense his whereabouts and his state of being and mind, he was happy and very healthy. I could feel his energy growing alongside my own, closing my eyes I focused on my core and noticed it had expanded slightly and the moonlight liquid energy had a hint of periwinkle to it, it still looked like moonlight but a subtle tone of purple within its glow.

I could also feel Ratatoskrs core and noticed it was different to mine, his was an Orange mist in a crystalline ball about the size of a fist-shaped pine cone, the edges wouldn't expand even if he tried to. Without researching further, I had only a theory that it would end up a full crystalline core later on in life. Speaking of life, I could feel his life force being empowered by my own which was infinite and he was approaching a similar situation, it kept refining and evolving becoming something more. I was wondering if the link had made him somewhat immortal, or if his lifespan had just been extended, it was hard to tell life force wasn't really readable energy it fluctuated with the state of someone's health, someone could have a strong life force but it would dwindle with sickness to then grow again after beating it.

Cliodna broke me out of my contemplation when she opened the window, I hadn't even realised she had shut, I was too focused on the process of the ritual as the smoke began to seep from the room I noticed Ratatoskr again and he seemed nervous.

"S-so Ratatoskr how do you feel?" I must have been nervous as well cause I stuttered that out.

"Well, Fen I feel grand!" I heard it! A voice completely new but seemed so familiar to me and it came from the Blue striped red squirrel in front of me that stood up straight with pride as his chest swelled.

"Hahaha, it worked! It worked! Rat we can talk now!" I shouted jumping to my feet.

"Don't you dare call me that again! I'm not vermin! I'm Ratatoskr a noble creature! Not some floor dweller that would eat its own shit!" Ratatoskr shouted at the nickname I said with a blazing fury in his eyes.

"Alright, I'm sorry I was just excited is all, I'll call you Toskr instead? Or maybe Tato?" I laughed

"Toskr is fine Fen! I'm happy that we can finally talk to each other after 10 years together" he replied as he jumped to my shoulder and took his usual position. Cliodna laughing had us both looking at her with confusion.

"What's so funny Cliodna?" I inquired with a head tilt.

"You sound hilarious talking to each other in that baby bark and chirp sound!" She was holding her ribs, trying and failing to stop laughing. That's when I remembered the sound a squirrel made, they bark or chirp and like a failing whistle as well. Now I was embarrassed but I wouldn't let it get to me I was too happy.

"At least I don't tweet and warble" I mumbled but she must have heard me and sent me a glare that said that I better watch my back. After joking around I help her clean up the room and we got talking more about her potions, she eventually brought up the animagus potion and asked me if I knew what one was.

"Yeah I know what an animagus is, it's a form taken by Transfiguration of yourself into your spirit animal, in some places they're called skinwalkers, but those are thought to be able to take on other peoples shapes as well, a bit like metamorphmagus' " I answered as we sat on her bench together she asked me a question I didn't know if I wanted to answer.

"Are you an animagus? If not do you want to be one?" She said studying my reaction with her gem-like green gaze trained on me, I think she noticed when I stiffened slightly, werewolves can't become animagus as the wolf is already our spirit animal.

"No I'm not an animagus and I can't become one either" I whispered while avoiding looking at her, I was worried about how she would see me, I know I told Ollivander but that was because I could just kill him if I wanted to, and Uli was a druid and they had a connection to werewolves. But Cliodna was different I wanted her approval for some reason, at times like this I wish I had my past life experiences with women to understand what was going on with me, but this was completely new to anything id experienced in this life.

"Oh, why is that? Are you a Faoladh?" She asked still staring at me if the burning I felt at the side of my face was her glare I could feel. I didn't know what a 'Faoladh' was but I'm guessing it meant werewolf because there weren't any other human species that couldn't be an animagus that I could recall at the moment.

"What's a Faoladh?" I asked finally looking at her gorgeous face, she looked relaxed so I sighed softly.

"Oh a Faoladh is also known as a Conroict is a lycanthrope or werewolf, they're guardians and protectors of children, wounded men and lost people, some kings recruit them in wars here in Ireland," she explained with a soft look as her lips curled upwards slightly.

"Oh, I didn't know that, but erm, yeah I guess I am, but I prefer werewolf or just Lycan, some wizard kind treat it like a disease but I was born like this, the Norse revere wolves as it's said Odin is the God of wolves, he has them in his halls and chasing the sun and moon, the only wolf he feared was Fenris who was prophesied to kill him in Ragnarok but would be avenged by his son Víðarr" I was glad the Irish didn't hate werewolves and perked up and responded spiritedly.

"Oh that's amazing, there aren't a lot of stories of them here in Ireland and I have never met a werewolf before, can you show me or do we have to wait for the full moon?" Her spirit was infectious as I seemed to beam with happiness at her blunt use of the term I preferred.

"You want to be with me till the full moon? It's about 9 days away?" I couldn't help tease and the blush that continued to grow itself up her face made it even more satisfying.

"What? Ah, erm, I wouldn't mind, we do get along and I have many questions I want to ask you" her whispering would be hard to hear if I didn't have super senses, but I was delighted at her reply, spending time with a beautiful witch just seemed right at the moment, I had forgotten everything else and just wanted to talk to Cliodna more.

"Okay! I'll stay close by and we can meet up every day" I announced with a euphoric sensation running through me.

Even though I could show her my transformation right now I decided to wait till the full moon, it was just an excuse to see her bright smile and enchanting eyes a lot more.

"You sly wolf" was all I heard by my ear but I could tell Toskr was proud of me for some reason. After a few more hours of idle chatter and getting to know each other, I left Cliodnas home and went towards the edge of town when I got there I set down my snail house and manipulated the earth to grow grassy bankings around it, just leaving a hole for the window and door. it looked like a hobbit shire house now and I went inside to sleep.

For the next week or so I walked around Dublin with Cliodna and helped her treat the injured and went for meals together just spending time getting to know one another, she asked me why I came to Ireland, and I realised I completely forgot what I came here for.

"Ah, that's right! I came looking for a group of dark wizards that had imprisoned house-elves and to find out anything I could about a man named Orlando the sly!" I shouted luckily we were in her home because I would have probably been looked at funny for announcing that. Cliodna looked at me warily for the first time and it caused me pain.

"Ah I'm not going to join them or anything but I want the help of the elves for something, they can find things better than I ever could, and I duelled Orlando until he ran away" I attempted to justify my reasoning and it seemed to work as her shoulders sagged from her tense posture.

"Why what do you want them to find?" She asked looking a lot more comfortable now and I sighed as a feeling of relief washed over me.

"I want to find the goblins and employ them for a project I'm working on, but I don't have and idea where these dark wizards are or where to even begin looking" I explained while keeping my eye on her reaction, she seemed interested and inquired.

"What's this project? Can I help? And I can probably help find some dark wizards "

"No! I don't want you involved in anything to do with dark wizards! And my project is going to take years but if I can get the goblins to help, it would speed up the process a lot, I found a dimension that is a mirror of this one but the countries are all closer together and it's full of magic and magical creatures, it's called Pangaea and I want to make it the home of magical beings, the non-magicals are beginning to fear our kind and I wouldn't put it past them to start hunting us down" I explained as best as I could without telling her it was a wish I had before I was reincarnated.

"Not me silly ill have my familiars to fly around and find some information, and I agree it won't be long before we're all being burned at the stake for being magical, a magic dimension for all magic kind sounds amazing" she was quite upset but cheered up at the thought of a home.

"Oh that's a great idea saves me running around the island for who knows how long searching and I can spend more time with you!" I tried cheering her up and it seemed to work as she started smiling again but I continued on saying.

"It's dangerous over there though, there are dragons and all sorts of magic beasts running around the forests, that's why I need the goblins they're warriors and craftsmen they can start building for when other beings start to transfer over, then we can build a magical community away from non-magical people"

"That's a very honourable goal Fenris I would love to be a part of" she had a look of eagerness in her eyes as she listened to me, I still haven't asked her about her coven and wouldn't, if she wanted to tell me I would listen though.

Over the next few days, we spent it in each others company just talking about ideas of what Pangaea should be like and on out research into magic. When the day of the full moon came we strolled out of Dublin I to the wilderness so I could show her my transformation.