Story: The Treehouse - Village Witch #2

A little more setting & world building for my new writing endeavor with the solo TTRPG game Village Witch. I haven't really gotten started with the game mechanics yet, but there were several other good questions in the setup phase that I wanted to answer for my character's first season in a new town. 

This 2nd session was inspired by the prompt "New Home" and fills the "Free Space" square on my January Fresh Starts Bingo card. 588 words, this is a direct sequel to Spring at Llyne of Mossly Woods - Village Witch #1.

The Treehouse

Edwina woke early the next morning to begin preparations for a Home Blessing Ritual. The prior day's travel, followed by the welcoming banquet thrown in her honor by the council of Llyne of Mossly Woods, had left her energetically & physically depleted the night before and in no sound condition to attend her new home. She felt little lingering impressions from the prior inhabitant, so thought a simple sweep & salt would do the trick.

 

She smiled in pleasure as she stretched awake; the tree house she'd been led to after the party was incredibly charming. Just a short distance from the central terrace of the town, a solid rope bridge led to a modest cabin made of rough oak beams, cedar shingles, and a generous number of glass paned windows. Inside the walls were red pine paneling with white pine trim, giving the entire home a rosy warm glow. Her bed was handsomely decorated with a quilt in shades of sage, rust, goldenrod, & plum. The wood burning stove was incredibly small, only large enough for a single pot at a time, but Edwina figured she could manage. Bolted onto the North wall were open shelves from floor to ceiling, a catch-all place to serve as pantry, closet, and arcane supplies storage. She'd have to think carefully about how to economically use the limited space inside the cottage.

 

To begin her ritual she took a simple bath at the washstand. She admired the ewer and basin set, which was a surprising luxury, made of Eastborne porcelain. Once refreshed and dressed she swept from the corner furthest from the single door, vigorously spinning the handle of her crank broom (flying seat removed and stored in a handy drawer built right under the bed) and causing the paddle to flap briskly. Physical dirt and metaphysical remnants were pushed towards the open front door at a rapid pace. The sweep took very little time to complete in such a simple space and before she knew it Edwina had completed her salt lines in no time too. 

 

She clapped her hands together briskly and determined that she still had plenty of time to empty out her carry-all-case, and maybe even build a small altar, before she would need to adventure out into the town once more. Edwina dug into the bag she'd abandoned in the corner the night before and began settling in - homes for her clothes, toiletries, and books were found on the wall of practical shelves. She hung the beloved House Pennant Flag her father had gifted her years ago (salvaged from the first ship he'd tended as a stevedore with the Haemouth Trading Navy) in pride of place above the door. And a small shelf built into the wall between two southern facing windows, at about chest height, was transformed into her Home Altar. Her finishing touch was to place a polished Giant Black Pearl within a brass pedestal at the center of the altar. The fist sized pearl had been her maturation gift from the Arcane Order, and her favorite instructor had said, while bestowing it upon her, that it was being wasted in storage at the Arcane Repository but that he hoped it would be a great boon to Edwina's practice given her mineral affinity and knowledge of sea craft. She wasn't sure how that would play out here in the depths of Mossly Woods, but she was confident the path she'd set herself upon to become a Witch-In-Residence would unwind as fate saw fit.