2 A strange new friend

He was so amazed he forgot about the old lady, that was until she cleared her throat. Birch looked back at her. "Thank you! I can finally be free!" The lady nodded then spoke. "Yes, yes… but I have a requirement. Birch looked confused as the lady continued. "Because I gave you the power to be free you must help me with my potions and chores.

Birch had so much he wanted to do, but it was only right to help the one that freed him… fight? He nodded. "O-Of course." The lady dipped her head and started walking through the snow. Birch followed.

The lady had lead birch to a small cabin, deeper into the woods. The cabin was rough looking, but it seemed to do the lady well. Birch could just barely slip into the door, being as tall as he was, but he made it. The roof had a hold or two and the floor was quite dusty.

The lady walked farther into the house. Straight ahead was a potion room. The room has a wide entrance and in the middle was a cauldron, surrounded by shelves with jars on them. To the right of the potion room, there was a big opening, which should have been a living room. The wide space was empty. Towards the back of the room, there was a door. Overall the house had an interesting layout.

The lady walked into the open living room and gestured to the door in the back. "This is your room, where you will be staying." as she spoke Birch took a few steps forward, but the witch stopped him by putting her hand up.

She pointed to the potion room. "There is a door in the back of the potion room." Birch turned his attention to it. The witch smacked him with a broom and Birch quickly turned his attention back. "You must never go in there," she said in a cold tone, handing Birch the broom.

Birch looked at the broom in amazement. "Witch isn't this-" The witch looked up and interrupted him. "Don't call me witch… my name is Gwendolyn Vossin, but you may call me Gwen." Birch nodded. "And my name is Birch," he said with a smile. He quickly turned his attention back to the broom. "Isn't this the broom you ride with?" he asked.

Gwendolyn cackled. "Don't give in to stereotypes so easily seedling, those are just for cleaning" after she answered the question, Birch only had more things to ask. "But then what do witches use to get around?"

Gwendolyn looked at him like he was crazy. "We use small creatures, by using a spell to turn them bigger of course." she thought for a moment. "Or horses, but those are expensive."

Birch looked away and nodded silently, gripping the broom in his hands tighter. He opened his mouth to ask another question but before he could Gwendolyn interrupted him again. "Now, I handed that broom to you for a reason. Get to work." with that, she flew into the brewing room and disappeared behind the dark-colored oak door.

Birch huffed. She sure changed emotions quickly. He thought as he began running the broom over the ground. Slowly over time, the dust began to break free from its resting place.