Cookbook for A Witch; The beginning

Present day

‘Serena Nova, is that correctly?’ The man behind the table wasn’t even looking to her. Said enough about his motivation in finding the right people for the job. And when he looked up his eyes hold on to that uninterested look. Measuring in the way how he looked at her and how he looked over to the food stall she could guess that a good plate of eggs and beacon would be more productive to his day then her.

‘Yes, that’s me.’ Serena added with a big positive smile.

‘Do you have experience with horses?’ He asked while scratching out a name.

‘I wouldn’t be standing here if I hadn’t.’ She answered him politely. Her eyes drifted to her best friend in the background, holding up her thumbs as Serena got on with her “sollicitation”. She gave her a fast smile before turning her attention back to the man in front of her.

‘Fine,’ he started, sorting his pile of papers together. ‘my regular staff will tell you what to do.’ He announced. That was it? Serena looked how he got up and went straight for the food stall.

‘You got the job!’ Karis yelled, running over as she threw her arms around Serena.

‘Don’t know if I want him as a boss.’ She smiled.

‘You got a vacation job, with me, on the best summer event ever! With me!’ Karis jumped on the spot and Serena couldn’t resist chuckling as she nodded. Yes, she had the job, with her best friend … on what was one of the nicest summer events ever. Serena never understood all of the publicity around it. In modern days like this a Medieval town was apparently good for business. Tourists came in, kids were happy, festivities kept going through the whole summer. It was the first time Serena stayed home so yes, maybe she was a little excited. And if she wanted that scooter so badly, she better earned the money.

‘Give me a tour, tell me what to do.’ Serena started, looking around to the little stalls, the big event tent with stables. The sun stood high, days became hotter, drier, not everybody was so happy with this weather as Serena was. She followed Karis outside, her friends strawberry blonde hair hopped on the energic steps she took, Serena had a hard time following.

‘We start always in the afternoon till somewhere around midnight, the events are always in the evening, it’s the busiest time for uss.’ Karis started to explain. The town was in his last moments before opening and people were running fort and back to get everything done for the public started pouring in. A man dressed up as a knight walked by and Serena followed him with her eyes, smiling as she recognized him as the baker his son.

‘What do we need to do?’

‘We work with the horses. So that means we clean stables, bring them outside to the pastures, make them ready for the events. Clean things like saddles and armours, polish and all kind of those things. It’s really fun.’ Karis promised.

‘I believe you.’ She smiled right back. Karis squeezed her in the arm before she walked into the stable tent. Around ten stables, all with a horse head out of it that curiously looked around. Serena followed Karis her finger to a big board.

‘This board shows which horse we need and what goes with it. It also tells which horse can go onto the pasture and for how long.’ Serena nodded on the explanation, looking towards the stables who all had a different name plate. Serena never did a vacation job before, normally she was with her aunt the whole summer. But since she passed away last year there wasn’t much for Serena to go to. Despite the loss, Serena was happy to be here, to earn a little extra.

‘Start working ladies, in about three hours this town will open and I need everything to be perfect.’ The boss announced, holding his burger as he walked by to the next group of people to command. Serena had a strong urge to salute him but she managed to keep that for herself as Karis pulled her towards a big riding area. She squeezed her eyes against the sunlight as she looked over the stands.

‘This is amazing.’ She whispered. Her eyes rested on a big white horse, the animal protested against his rider, rearing before walking backwards.

‘That’s Arian, he is the most stubborn horse we have around here.’ Karis explained as they both watched the horse and his rider. Serena bit her lip, thinking about how bad a plan it would be to interfere. But when the rider slapped his wip against the horse Serena lost her doubt and started concentrating herself on the animal. His whole aura was restless and tensed. She pushed her own calmness over to the horse, waiting until the horse stopped protesting and his vibe got a lot calmer. The horse lowered his head and complied to the rider who smiled almost proudly. Serena had the means to say something but she let it go, just as she always did in that kind of situations.

‘Serena.’ Karis waved her hand and Serena scared up out of her thoughts.

‘Sorry.’

‘These flags still need to get up.’ Karis instructed while pointing to the sides of the arena. Serena nodded in silence, grabbing the box as she started walking to one side. She threw Arian and his rider a last look as they left the arena. Serena could manipulate animal behavior like this for a while now. She didn’t knew where it came from and why it always worked, but she could do it … and nobody knew.