Ostara bent over a redwood wand being held up on a stand, rotating it with her fingers and examining every crevice for damage. Her mother, Linaya, did the same with a birchwood wand, but it was obvious that she was distracted.
"You've probably heard, but Frig is training with Irenaeus this week, so you'll have to take over for the gathering."
"Nothing new." Ostara said, noticing that she was neglecting to mention that this happened every time it was Frig's job to do a "girly" task. "Since we're on the topic, do you need any plants for tonight's meal?"
Linaya began rattling off a list of plants from her head as she picked up the birchwood wand and tested it on a vine, making it grow in length before she shrank it and placed the wand on the stand again.
"Are you done with that?" Ostara asked, interrupting her speech. "It seems well enough to hand back to the sirs. I can hear their feet shuffling outside. They're getting restless."
"Are you done with the redwood?" Linaya asked as she passed it to her.
"Yes, it's good enough," Ostara said as she swung open the door and called the sirs to the main counter, where her little sister, Kalliroi, was taking two wands for examination.
"Here are your wands, sirs." she said as Kalliroi called their mother towards them. "Mr. Felton, I noticed this groove in yours that's deeper than expected. I suggest loosening the grip on your wand by a small amount when spellcasting, and-"
"Thank you, miss," he said, taking his wand and patting her hand affectionately. "You're always very thorough with these…tasks."
Ostara forced herself not to notice as his eyes found her exposed chest against her dress. She'd always had thoughts of it being too big and acting like a target tacked onto her. Unfortunately, only married women could hide their chests with neck-high collars.
Ostara whipped her hand away and subconsciously wiped away his touch. "Come back if you have more problems with your wand, sir. Next!"
As his friend pulled him out of the shop, Ostara turned to look at the next customer, only to see a father drag him and his son to the front of the line to the annoyance of the customers behind him.
"You make wands, don't you?" The father asked, gripping his son's shoulders tight.
"We do," Linaya said from Ostara's right as she took a wand from a customer for examination. "But you'll have to wait in line."
"I don't have fucking time to wait in this damn line. My son needs a wand. Now. I want to see his powers."
"Of course, sir. My daughter will escort you to the back room to match your son with a wand."
"Linaya-"
Her mother's glare hushed her and she nodded, beckoning the father and son to follow her to the back room. Linaya shoved a sheet of parchment into her apron pocket before she walked out of arm's reach and she only tucked it in, wiping away her touch before opening the door.
"Sit there," She pointed at the chair in the middle of the room for the boy as she shut the door behind the father. "Would you like to sit as well, sir?"
"No." The father leaned against the wall and glared down at Ostara. "When will we start?"
"Soon, sir. Don't worry. This shouldn't take long."
"What's going to happen?" the boy asked, shivering in the chair.
"I'm going to make a wand for you. Is that alright?"
"How does that work?"
"I will take a sample of your blood and place it into a wand. Which type of wood do you like?"
"Birch is really pretty-"
"No son of mine is going to have a birchwood wand." the father snapped. "Birch is for female magic users only."
Ostara glanced at the darkwood wand strapped to her thigh and shrugged. "Which wood do you want him to use, sir?"
"Darkwood or oakwood. I won't settle for anything less."
"Of course," Ostara said as she took two empty wands from their respective piles on the shelves. "Do you mind if the boy chooses which type?"
"From your options?"
"Yes, sir."
"...Alright, then."
Ostara held up the two empty wands in front of the boy and she could see the sadness on his face from neither being made of birchwood, but he reached for the oakwood wand. She nodded at the option, offered him a nice smile, and placed the darkwood wand back in its pile, putting the oakwood on the stand before she walked back to the boy.
"Give me your hand," Ostara said calmly. "This might hurt."
"What's happening?" the boy screamed as she took a knife from her thigh and he whipped his hand back before she could break the skin. "W-w-why do you have a knife? Dad??"
Ostara looked back at the father, who stared at her crouched form with hunger in his eyes. It seemed this skirt was too thin – again. "Sir? What shall I do?"
"You're the wandmaker. You should know."
"Shall I explain the procedure again?"
The father forced himself to look into her eyes as he spoke. "I assumed he had studied this before."
"He'll be too scared when I approach him with a knife again. Shall I explain in detail?"
"Fine. Make it quick. We don't have all day."
Ostara sheathed the knife and grabbed a piece of paper with a diagram drawn on it before she crouched next to the boy again. His eyes were filled with fear, but he calmed when he saw the diagram was of the heart.
"Magic is something nearly everyone has. It's quite interesting, and it's also hereditary, as in it can be passed through blood." She pointed to the valves in the heart.
"Our hearts pump magic out of these valves and into our blood. But unlike Giants or some Elves, we can't use magic with a flick of our wrists. We have to use wands that contain a few drops of our blood in them to access our magic. For example…"
Ostara set the page on the ground and pulled out her wand, holding up her left hand to his eyes. "My ability is Shapeshifting. Now, you see this hand?"
The boy nodded, curious.
Ostara tapped her wand on her hand and performed a disappearing spell, muttering the incantation under her breath. Her fingers vanished off her hand and the boy stared, too shocked to speak. He reached out to touch where her fingers used to be and found them completely gone. Another tap and they reappeared. The boy stared, a mix of emotions flashing across his face.
"Wow," he mumbled.
"Incredible, right? Now this is the procedure. I'm going to make a little cut on your hand, just until I get blood. You can hold your dad's hand if-"
"No." the father interrupted from across the room. "He needs to prove he's a man."
Sir, he's five years old. "Okay, then." She looked up at the boy and pulled out her knife again, pulling a vial from her belt pocket. "I'll just cut your finger. Is that okay?"
The boy's eyes were wide at the sight of the knife, but he nodded and shut his eyes as she traced the teeth of the knife against the skin of his finger. The boy yelled in pain and kicked the chair, but she held his hand down and had the blood drop into the vial, only half a drop landing on the floor.
"Is that all?" the father said, making no motion to help his son. Now that she noticed, he was quite stiff against the wall…
"Nearly. Hold your son still, won't you? I'm just going to transfer this."
The father didn't move to his offspring until Ostara was on the other side of the room. She split open the wand with her own to transfer the drops of blood into the crevice before she sealed it again. She tested it by growing a vine across the table and nodded to herself before she walked over. The father finished his lecture on being a man as fast as he could when Ostara came back with the wand and bent down to give it to the boy, who touched it carefully.
"All done. That wasn't so horrible, was it?" She looked at the father, who wasn't meeting her eyes. This stupid dress. "Sir, I recommend that you-"
"We're done here." The father grabbed his son by the arm and dragged him out of the room. "I know my way out." he snapped, holding up a hand immediately when he noticed her mouth open.
"I was going to say that you needed to pay," she said as she followed them out, closing the door behind her.
He muttered a swear under his breath as he stopped to pour some coins into his hand and onto the counter. He glared at Linaya and dropped his voice, but Ostara still heard everything.
"You better control your damn daughter. Looking at her made me want to do…unspeakable things to that body. I swear, she was ready to drag me into bed at a moment's notice."
"I understand. I'll talk to her." Linaya said as the father pulled his son out of the shop, slamming the door behind him.
"Is that true?" Linaya whispered as Ostara arrived behind the counter again.
"Of course not. I'm just unmarried." she hissed as Kalliroi called for the next customer.