Chapter 25

Ralph poured the coffee and they sat back in silence for a minute or two, enjoying the rich taste of the coffee, then Flora's brow furrowed and she took a quick sidelong glance at Ralph. Which he noticed.

‘Go on' he said in resignation. ‘What do you want to know?'

‘I suppose I wanted to ask you... Well, we haven't talked about the ‘witch thing' yet. What are your thoughts about it? Do you agree with it?'

‘The ‘witch thing?'' he smiled. ‘ If you mean do I believe in, understand and champion past present and future witches, especially our homegrown ones, then I can assure you I do. How can I not? My whole family including my direct ancestors, Matty - and now yourself, practised their craft and had a strong belief in the power of healing, faith, divination and many other forms of witchcraft. There were also the men in my family -and that means me too - who found they had a talent for healing and empathy. I have put it to good use in my work abroad. I think that's why you have that skill so strongly in yourself, as it's something that your mother and I shared.'

‘I'm so glad you feel like that' said Flora ‘and I didn't realise you had the skills too. I'm so happy that I came here, for many reasons of course, but it has proved to me that I am doing exactly the right thing with my life' said Flora emphatically, then pulled a wry face. ‘Actually, I was a bit worried you were going to denounce all witches and say something about evil crones, poisoned apples and the devil.'

‘There are no evil witches. They do a lot of good in the world. There are evil people who will be evil whatever label you put on them – including witch, but that isn't what witches do.'

‘You seem more expert on them than Peggy or even Sybil' Flora said in surprise.

‘You must let me show you the library up at the Hall the next time I'm over, which won't be too long now' he assured her, ‘it has a wicce section of its own, from Hilde and before. I have all the written accounts of the history of Farstone and Farstone Moor since the Hall was just a large farmhouse.'

Flora remembered something else she needed to ask.

‘Farstone Moor you said? What about the Fae then? Do you believe they exist?'

Ralph's eyes flickered to glance at a young man he had seen striding down the road from the entrance opposite the inn. He quickly pulled his gaze back so that Flora didn't notice.

‘I believe they did exist in these parts. I believe they exist somewhere now but not always in this realm. There are still places they can trust but they are few and far between now – yet I believe they visit' he said, leaving it at that.

‘If I'm honest, I'm struggling with the belief in their existence' said Flora. Her father replied unhurriedly.

‘I have lived and worked in parts of Africa for many years. They have believed in their own form of witches, fairies, spirits and demons since time began and they still believe in them. What the modern world, especially the western world, has done is not prove that these things don't exist but has taken away the gift of free thinking from ordinary people. Statistics provide proof of this, that and the other not being possible, not existing. Many of us believe this without question. We believe that yes, these were all old stories from ignorant people - but were they?

‘I remember our class being taught about the Christian religion, how it took over a good portion of the world and how it replaced the old pagan beliefs. Then, we were taught in schools to laugh at prehistoric man worshipping natural things like the sun, water, stars, stone trees and earth. Did we question that? Did we ever think that perhaps prehistoric man had the right ideas because they worshipped things that kept them warm, kept them alive, gave them shelter and light?

‘That was the world the Fae were happiest in. A natural world. Not one that was so densely populated that there was nowhere within nature for them to exist safely any more. They didn't want to stay in a world that condemned them to storybooks as creatures who were either not real or as malevolent beings who snatched babies and unwary travellers.

‘Again. I'm sure that there were bad Fae, as there are bad humans but they would be in the minority. Give this some thought…' he said to an entranced Flora. ‘Just as other races have done since time immemorial, the Fae would occasionally have interbred with our own race. Not a regular occurrence as they were a proud race, keeping themselves to themselves. Yet, there may still be people walking around today with Fae blood in them, however diluted.'

He looked up again as he saw the same young man was now walking past the window, towards the shop door.

This time Flora noticed his glance and saw Cal open the door. He stood there, looking brooding, edgy, … gorgeous. Her heart skipped a beat. However lovely he was in reality, his looks still pegged him as a Byronic hero.

‘Cal' she cried.

‘Mary said you were here. I came to see if– but it doesn't matter' His eyes strayed to Ralph who was sitting back, studying him.

‘What doesn't matter? Tell me?''

‘I can see you're with Sir Ralph so I'll leave it for now.'

Flora sat there scowling. Ralph noticed this and tried to keep the smile off his face. Cal noticed the scowl too.

‘Okay, okay. I know you hate not being told things. I wondered if I could borrow you for a couple of hours sometime. There's one or two things I want your opinion on up at the farmhouse.'

Flora was ready to say, of course, before she realised she was up to her eyes in work.

‘I can't come up until after the weekend' she started to explain, ‘It's the shop opening on Saturday and Ralph's coming around in ten minutes to have a look at how the cottage and meadow looks now'

‘Of course. Yes. No problem. I understand. I should have thought before…' said Cal with politeness overkill.

‘Perhaps' said Ralph speaking for the first time since Cal entered the shop, ‘you could find an hour or two to go up in the morning. You probably need a break.'

Cal and Flora both looked surprised but Flora replied straight away.

‘You're right, it would do me good to get away from the shop for a while.'

‘That's great' smiled Cal. ‘Shall I pick you up in the four-track about 9:30 tomorrow then?'

‘Yes, that would work out fine.'

Just then, Steve came through carrying a newly cleaned table smelling of floral disinfectant.

‘Ah, can I give you a hand with those?' Ralph asked and Jen pointed him through to a door at the back of the shop.

‘They're through there' she said.

‘Come on Cal, we've got to take them into Flora's garden.'

He disappeared through the door with a nervous-looking Cal following him, leaving a surprised Flora to exchange a bemused glance with Jen.