A Change in the Cards

Solstice sometimes got frustrated with the cards. She didn't always see the things in them that her grandmother seemed to be able to see. She was practicing with them, and today she found them to be rather nondescript. It simply said that there was a change approaching. It hadn't told her whether it was a good change, a bad change, a dangerous change, or whether she'd find romance. Change--that was it, really.

"Sometimes you're a load of rubbish," she said, wishing she really could talk to the cards. She gathered them up and put them back in the wooden box she kept them in and put the box back on the shelf. Ah, well, she decided, back to work. She made a fresh pot of tea and then went to check on her attempt to grow rock sugar crystals onto wooden coffee stirrers. She'd used raw turbinado sugar for these because she liked the flavor better, the subtle notes of brown sugar was not quite so common as an ordinary stick of sugar crystals. To her delight, they'd turned out well.

She slid the sugar sticks into individual cellophane bags and tied each with a bit of ribbon. She stuck them into an orphaned antique sugar bowl she'd found in a flea market. It didn't even have its lid anymore, but it had an embossing of hummingbirds sipping at some snapdragons. It seemed to have some sort of deserving character and seemed to need to belong somewhere. She'd had it sitting about in the shop for awhile, and this seemed to be the right use for it for now. She put the sugar sticks on the counter. Her patrons would like them. They were welcome in tea or as a treat for a child. She wasn't trying to rival Honeydukes, of course. There was nothing in the world like Honeydukes, but, she just thought it was a different taste and a nice thing.

She decided to start on her next task--unpacking and displaying a new shipment of mystical jewelry--pendants and rings and bracelets all set with various semiprecious stones that had been sufficiently cleansed and charged with positive energies. They were big sellers here. By the time she'd finished unpacking the jewelry, the tea would be ready, she figured.

By now, with the jewelry put out in the display case, Solstice had moved on to other responsibilities. She had been in the back room wrapping a broken wing on a tiny elf owl. What imbecile used an elf owl to fly messages and packages anyway? This one was even small by as elf owls went. Full grown, he hadn't made the 5" average height. He only stood just a wee bit over 4" tall, and his wingspan was just under 8". He was just too small for courier duties, and he'd paid for it by breaking his wing trying to carry a package that was entirely too heavy for him. When his owner had brought him in, he was thin, exhausted, ill, and injured.

Solstice had found the ditzy woman a proper owl and had made an outright trade for the tiny injured owl. She'd come to like him very much. The woman had even picked a ridiculous name for him that the owl hated. She'd called him Gertrude, and the owl had been rightfully insulted since he wasn't a she in the first place.

Solstice had asked the owl what he preferred to be called, and the owl had said he rather fancied Sinjin. He didn't remember where he'd heard it, but Solstice had agreed. If he liked Sinjin, then Sinjin it was. She had just been finishing taping up the wing when she heard the panicked cry for help.  Sinjin got ruffled immediately. Solstice just put the tiny owl on her shoulder.

She went out to the front of the shop and saw a panicked young girl and an adult with her. There was enough of a resemblance between the two that Solstice presumed the adult was the mother of the girl, and in the girl's hands was a rather limp looking firecrab. His jewels in his shell were dull and not glossy or shiny at all. There was a little puff of smoke around him that wasn't right for a firecrab. Firecrabs generally didn't smoke.

"The poor thing," Solstice said calmly. "Let me see." Sinjin peered wide eyed at the crab. "No, you can't eat him," Solstice said to the little owl as she examined the crab. "You wouldn't like him anyway. They're not tasty. I'll get you some food in a moment."

She turned the crab away from anything valuable and purposely irked it just a wee bit to get it to try to fire at her, but all she got was a puff of smoke.

"That's it? That's all you've got, Mate?" she said. "Well, that won't do, will it?" She looked a bit closer at him, at his skin and then she found it when she turned him over. "Ah ha. There it is." She looked at the girl. "See this business here? These tiny white flecks on these parts here? It's, basically, an infection of sorts. Those parts are his gills. Its how he breathes. You see how dry those are? They're not supposed to be that way. They're supposed to be moist so that they're moveable. When they're dry, they're nigh onto useless for him. That's why he's not active. He's having trouble breathing, and this infection also itches like crazy. I'd imagine its been frustrating the devil out of him.

"The infection is from a little pest called a gill mite. They're parasitic, these annoying little buggars. However, he's a good lad, this one. He's a strong one. You obviously take excellent care of him, so we'll be able to make him feel better, I'm sure. I've got just the thing. I'll go make it up for him and then show you how to use it." She looked at the teen to soothe her. "He's going to be fine," she smiled reassuringly.

She put Sinjin on a perch she had at the counter. "This is Sinjin," she said. "You're welcome to visit with him while I'm gone. If he pesters you, the red tin on the counter has owl treats. You're welcome to give him some. I'll just be a moment. Oh, and there's tea over there," she pointed to the tea counter where she'd brewed a selection of teas--Earl Grey, an Apple Spice tea blend, and a lovely Chocolate Orange blend that her customers seemed to be favoring these days. Alongside the teas was a platter of shortbread cookies cut in the shape of autumn leaves and topped with appropriately colored sanding sugars. "Help yourself. It's on the house."

"Who? Me?" Solstice asked when the teen asked her the question. "No, Sinjin doesn't talk--not the way you mean, I think, not unless you speak owl. In that case, then, yes. I got the speaking to animals thing from my father, I think. He's always been able to do it, so far as I know.

"Sinjin's new here. I rescued him from someone who didn't understand the limits of using a tiny elf owl for mail delivery. Anyway, he'll be here until his wing heals, and then, he's welcome to stay if he wants, or until he picks a new owner."

She put a small bowl with 4 or 5 raisins on the counter and pulled two potions bottles out of her shop apron. "Now, then," she said, "About your crab. The fire crabs I've met like raisins, but if he likes something better, then by all means, use that. The idea is to soak about a teaspoon of the potion in the red bottle in some fruit so that he gets it. It'll taste sweet to him, so I can't imagine you'll have much difficulty with it when he stops being so itchy.

"The green bottle is for the itching. It will also moisturize the gills and that will make his breathing better. It doesn't take much. Like this." She took a cotton ball from her pocket, poured some of the green potion on it, and gently dabbed it on his gills. Try to get both potions to him twice a day, morning and night, and you should see him feeling better in two or three days. I would expect his fire will come back in, oh, perhaps another day or two after that. If it doesn't, or if he doesn't start eating again, bring him back. If you want to make his shell and his jewels shine, you can take the green potion and simply dab it on his shell. It won't hurt him, and it might make him feel better." She dabbed the potion on the rest of his shell and the gemstones started to shine again.

"Much better," she smiled. "Some gill mites come from certain plant growths. You might want to change his habitat and get some fresh water plants for it. There are some excellent water plants right now at the creek behind The Three Broomsticks. You know, the creek that leads into the woods? Check the water plants down by the wooden bridge there. You might find something you like there. I got some there a couple days ago, and the plants were lovely."

She put the crab back on the counter and looked at the teen. "Try to see if he'll eat those raisins for you. Let's see if he likes that flavor of antibiotic potion. I used a berry flavor because its a bit sweeter."

She wiped her hands on a towel she had hanging from the waist tie on her apron. "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Solstice--Solstice Cane. Its nice to meet you both. I'm fairly new to the area, but I think I'm going to like it."

"Maddie and Kathryn," Solstice repeated to get them fixed in her head. "Well, since we're all relatively new here, maybe we'll end up being friends. That would be nice." She was fascinated to hear that Maddie taught Herbology.

"Herbology? Awesome! I loved herbology," Solstice smiled. "Wasn't my top subject or anything but I really enjoyed it. It made more sense to me when I put it into practice in real life. My dad and his side of the family are Romani. My mom is British. I spent a lot of time with my dad's family in the country in Romania on my breaks.

"Don't fault yourself for the greens you gave him, really. I don't see a lot of gill mites on fire crabs, per se, and the mites are almost microscopic, so they're impossible hard to see them anyway, but I'm sure you know that. I just know that my herbivores seem to like the greens at the creek better than in other places I've tried.

"My dad and my grandfather were the animal healers back in their little community. I learned by doing, so I sort of grew up around it and helping my family with it. And since Romani can be collectors of all sorts of things--including feeling a need to nurture just about every sort of creature, I saw all sorts of animals as I grew up.

She raised one eyebrow slightly at the crab when it produced a puff of blue smoke.

"Well, now, that's just rude," she said to the crab. "That, Kathryn, would be just gas. Without a flame, that's what you're going to get for awhile instead of those flames he's supposed to have. He'll be fine." She couldn't repress a slight giggle at the crab. "You know, you're welcome to leave him with me for a day or so. Its perfectly fine. I have a clinic in the back of the shop. Its up to you. You're also welcome to see the clinic before you decide if you like."

"You should go, you know," Solstice said. "Charlie Weasley's still doing some splendid work with dragons there. My family has a summer home in that region, just close enough to hear the roars of the dragons and see their flames at night. I hear Charlie has done some apprentices in the summer for older students who do well with Caring for Magical Creatures. It's not for the faint of heart, though."

Well, the truth was, it was a lovely property that her grandfather had gotten for almost nothing because, she'd been told, muggles that lived there,could hear the dragons,were scared out of their wits, and refused to live there. Her grandfather was fine with letting them think he was a dotty old man. Still, it was a lovely place in the mountains, and it was a place that Solstice loved.

She led the way to the back of the clinic where almost the entire back storage area had been changed into a spotlessly clean animal clinic. She had an area almost right inside the door for making potions, and another for tending to the animals directly, with surgical instruments, an old hospital surgical table pressed into service now for animals, a whole cabinet full of bandages, splints and other supplies, and a well stocked inventory of all sorts of large animal tack, blankets, bedding, hay, straw, and food. She had a couple of small aquariums that stood empty, and a large terrarium that had a couple of newts, a large toad, and three turtles. The newts were swimming in the little pond, and the turtles were sunning under the warming light.

She glanced up to the top of the file cabinet and eyed a sad little bowtruckle still sitting by himself atop of a medical file cabinet near her potions table. He'd been with her for awhile now. He was sitting on a stack of books, with his face in his hands. The little fellow didn't need a cage. He just hung out in the clinic since she'd rescued him.

"Oh, come on, Mate," she said affectionately to the shy bowtruckle. "Cheer up. I'll find you another cherry tree. I promise. Look what I found for you." She opened a basket on the worktable and produced a perfectly ripe cherry for him. His eyes lit up a little and she handed it to him. He took a tentative bite and decided it was tasty. He looked at her like she might be an exception to his rule on humans and went back to eating the cherry. She smiled, glad he was finally eating something. "I knew you'd like them. They're good and sweet. There are more where those came from."

"He likes cherry trees, but some woodman cut his down for furniture," Solstice said. "He's been very depressed. I need to find him a decent sized, healthy cherry tree before the trees lose all their leaves or he'll be with me all winter, I fear."  

She had a small cage of doxys that were dealing with various wounds from fighting with each other. She had a couple of blast ended skrewts, a golden snidget with a foot injury, a couple of hinkypunks, a youthful hippogriff and an elegant Abraxan--all amongst some nonmagical creatures and familiars.

"Feel free to look around. Just don't put your fingers in any of the cages," she said.

"I'd be careful about getting that crup if I were you," Solstice said. "He'll eat your jumpers, your trainers, your wellies, and anything else he can get his hands on--including your crab and your pygmy puffs. Crups sometimes have an issue with needing to eat everything that isn't nailed to the floor or the walls. They need bloody good training, those do. They're lovely pets--if you can honestly make them listen to you. Its one of the issues that Hogwarts don't let them in, I suspect. Cats, toads, rats, they're relatively much better behaved. Owls can be not just postal agents but also fierce companions if they're trained right."  

She opened a pair of large wooden carriage house doors at the back of the room to reveal a large outdoor corral where the Abraxan and the hippogriff were outside enjoying the sunshine.

"Everyone gets a chance for some sunshine--unless its just too bloody cold to go out," she said.

A huge horned own flew in the carriage doors with a bundle of mail and dropped it on the potions worktable before landing on a perch nearby.

"Thank you, Jal," she said. "That boy's my owl. Had him since I was in school. He's brilliant, and he's definitely a fierce hunter. He's also a good friend."