A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping

by Sangu Mandanna

This one is for Past Me, for all those times she kept going. Future Me finally gets it.

“Marvellous work,” Clemmie said to Sera. “I was just thinking this morning that what we really needed in our lives was not a new fireplace or a nice car but, in fact, a resurrected fucking rooster.”

Meanwhile, across the country, a certain innkeeper was about to discover that when you hold tight to the little magic you find, when years go by and the world loses much of its colour and still you refuse to forget the magic, magic will go out of its way to show you that it remembers you too.

“I think we all deserve our favourite dinner when we’ve had a bit of a low day.” Jasmine smiled.

Can I get back to work now, or do you need something else first? A kidney, maybe? My firstborn?” “I mean, if you’re offering…” He sighed.

It seemed at first glance like ridiculous theatre, unnecessary and a bit silly, but at the heart of it, weren’t they just a handful of people trying to be good to one another?

“Your foot’s not ugly. It’s never been ugly. It’s held you up all your life, even when it hurt. Maybe it’s just me, but I think there’s so much strength and beauty in that.”