"Don't be stupid, Kay." Fetu remarked as he examined a particularly long piece of sage.
"It's not stupid." she shot back. "Just because you're too stupid to use them doesn't make them worthless."
"At least I know them."
"Hey!" exclaimed Diego at Fetu's aside.
"He's right, you know." Ka'lani agreed. "Even if Fet' would rather fancy himself some kind of fighter, he at least knows the basic spells."
"I know most of them!" Diego whined in retort.
"Fine." she replied before pointing towards a few chocolate colored pods. "What are those."
"Carob."
"And its use?"
"You burn it?"
"Figure that out all by yourself?" Fetu commented with a growing grin.
"You're not wrong." Ka'lani agreed. "What else?"
"B...burn it?"
Many emotions were felt. Diego smiled. Ka'lani frowned. Fetu laughed. People were hit with sage.
"Carob is mostly used on the moonless nights to help protect us from the aka-akua but it's also promotes a healthy body. It's an integral part to more than a few of the feasts."
"I knew that!"
"Than why didn't you say it?"
"It...didn't seem important. I didn't think that's what you were asking for."
"Nah, you're right. She was asking about the rosemary." Fetu added quickly.
"Shut up!"
"You shut up."
"Both of you shut up!" Ka'lani shouted.
"He started it!" Diego shouted only to get smacked with a switch of sage again.
Behind him, Diego could hear someone clearing their throat. A very solid 'Ahem'. Glancing back, Samaria had stopped working and was watching them quietly. That eyebrow resting in a comfortable, threatening arch that promised nothing less than a painful death.
"Sorry." he muttered quickly and dipped his head only to Fetu's increased laughter.
"You should be." Ka'lani said, ignoring that his fear was directed at her mother and not actually her.
She quickly added. "Stupid."
Diego opened his mouth to respond but immediately thought better of it.
"Now what's this one?" Ka'lani continued, pointing to a large bundle of asafoetida.
They continued like that for nearly an hour, working to build the smudge sticks as they reviewed everything in them. They moved slower than some of their peers, and almost everyone else had stood up and moved to other projects, but Diego was able to identify the different herbs in the smudge sticks by the time they were done. He had already known the white sage, garlic, carob, rue, rosemary, and asafoetida, but the ones he had forgotten were the cinquefoil, juniper, and something called 'St. John's Wort'.
While Diego had no idea who St. John was, he couldn't help but think, 'at least the guy had a plant named after him'.
Through the entire process, Ka'lani explained the various properties of each plant, what they did, how they interacted with each other, and what other purposes they served. She even explained that, while what they were building were called 'smudge sticks', the sheer number of ingredients they used and how they were used was different than a more traditional version and, in reality, they shouldn't even be called a smudge at all. Diego wanted to know what they should be called. She had no idea.
And, all throughout the lesson, Fetu added his own snide commentary.
"And if you do it allll right, then no shadow monsters will eat us." he said with a sly smile.
"Fetu!"
"Ka'lani!" he shot back.
"Well, if I screw up, at least you will be the first one eaten." Diego snapped back.
"Why's that?" Fetu asked.
"Because you're dumb enough to think you can fight them."
Fetu glared at him with the first, real warning of the night, but Diego decided to change the subject as quick as he could.
"I do have one more question." Diego said, directing his attention towards Ka'lani and ignoring her brother's simmering wrath. "I know that you keep calling these spells...but why? I thought spells involved, I don't know, magic words and symbols? Runes and such. All we're doing is burning plants once a month to keep away the monsters."
"I don't know." Ka'lani confessed as she picked up a small handful of ground herbs. "That's just what mom has always called them."
Diego finished tying off the smudge stick he was working on as Ka'lani continued thoughtfully.
"I know Grammy Koula always said that spells were magic and that magic is power in any form. It's not so restrictive in its nature. A power over the world. Over the minds and the spirits of man and beast and monster alike. Even the aka-akua bend in the face of magic."
"In that case, why isn't a weapon considered magic?" Fetu asked in a surprisingly genuine tone.
"Why would it be?" Diego asked.
"I can change a man's mind with a threat. Break his spirit with a blow. I can even stop an aka-akua if I strike it right. They bend to my will and the will of a weapon, don't they?"
"You've been hanging around the warriors too long." Ka'lani remarked. "You can't kill an aka-akua."
"No." Diego retorted, ignoring the opportunity to mock Fetu. "That's a good question. Why can't a weapon be magic?"
Ka'lani sighed.
"I don't know. I guess maybe it is? Grammy Koula told me that magic wasn't limited to just mystic words and phrases. It's in everything and its power depends on how you're connected to it and how you use it. Just as the spirits are scared of the smell of our smudges, we can use those same ingredients to heal the sick. They have power that isn't limited to a single purpose..." she said, her eyes drifted towards her twin. "...so maybe you have a point?"
Fetu, who had apparently expected an argument, seemed taken aback. He stared at her for a moment before simply nodding and agreeing.
"You know," Diego added quickly, "wouldn't a wand count as both a weapon and magic?"
"Yea." Fetu agreed. "And by definition, wouldn't a club be a really big wand?"
Ka'lani grimaced playfully and then started laughing, joined quickly be Diego and Fetu. Fetu, as if to punctuate his point, hefted a nearby chunk of driftwood that one of the younger children had been using as a seat.
"I am the wizard of the seas!" declared Fetu. "Fear my wrath!"
The children laughed more and Fetu proceeded to point the chunk of wood at various things and make explosions sounds with his mouth.
Once they had calmed down, Diego glanced over at Ka'lani again.
"I guess you've picked up a lot from Grammy Koula." Diego considered.
"Yea...I suppose I've been spending more time with her than I realize." she agreed.
"Do you think you'll apprentice under her? I don't think she has had any under-studies."
Ka'lani said nothing but her eyes drifting down to the flute at her side for just the barest of moments.
Diego was going to ask what that look meant, however he was cut off.
BOOOOOOOM
The sound echoed through the center of the village and bounced offer the mountains and buildings. Several large rawhide drums had been set up around the Pyre while the children worked and many of the men, women, and children who had been working were beginning to gather in a circle around the massive fire.
"Come on." Ka'lani said with a soft touch on his arm.
The three of them quickly gathered closer to the fire with the rest of the villagers. He didn't often like to sit too close to the Pyre because of the heat and the smoke that got into his eyes and made them water. Still, in lieu of their recent conversation, he couldn't help but want to sit a little closer to the light. He was right next to Ka'lani and Fetu who sat between his and their mothers and right in plain few of the village elders as they entered the village circle.
Behind them, the slowly gathering fog creeped towards the edge of town like a murky soup that only added to the darkness of the world beyond the village's limits; cut only by the roaring blaze.
