"Yeah, he made it up and added to what he is. He's a fighter-guru.

No one has figured it out yet," replied Brian.

Amy looked a little confused. "Oh well, that's nice? I guess? I'm Amy, the heart of the circle, and these are Jasmine and Amber. This is, of course, Daniel, our spell caster. It's very nice to meet friends of Grace. Welcome."

Jason looked uncomfortable, and Brian beamed.

"Jennifer told me all about you," said Brian. "And now, seeing you, I fully understand. Glenda is going to love you guys."

Jason raised his eyebrows at Brian.

"It's okay, Jason. Trust me. Trust Jennifer. Actually, trust Grace.

These are good witches. We'll be fine."

Jason visibly relaxed and nodded his head. "I see. Reflect the annoyance into yourself, and work on becoming better in that area of your life. I will do better. Thank you, Brian."

"Come sit!" ordered Jasmine and sat on a couch and patted the seat beside her. "Grace, come sit beside me."

Quickly, they all sat, and Grace looked around at all of them.

“First, congratulations on passing your testing, despite how fucked up Quinten made it. You've already made quite the stir. The fact that a circle of witches and their spell caster have been allowed to live is remarkable all by itself. Whitehaven is all abuzz."

"ALL thanks to you, Grace," said Daniel, and the girls nodded their heads vigorously.

"And the King, I should add," said Grace. "I convinced him to keep you safe until after the testing and until Glenda could arrive and look at you."

"You know Glenda?" asked Daniel.

Brian laughed. "Do you mean in the godly way, or like, oh, hey, nice to meet you? Cause if you meant, have they fucked, the answer is often."

"Brian!" laughed Grace, and everyone's faces lit up to hear the sound.

“Enough of all that. Tell me everything that happened here. Leave nothing out."

“Okay, where to start?" started Daniel.

“Start with you freeing the gnomes," offered Jasmine.

“With the what now?" asked Grace incredulously. “Are you saying you had something to do with that?"

“Ah, yes?" replied Daniel, looking sheepish.

Grace lay back on the couch, looking absolutely stunned and staring off into nothing. Jasmine had crawled up in her lap and was nuzzling at one of her earlobes. Grace didn't seem to mind, and one of her hands absently stroked Jasmine's lower back. Grace had lain there for about half an hour already once Daniel and the ladies had finished recounting their tale.

Brian and Jason were passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth and staring at Daniel. Amy and Amber were out in the garden, letting Grace get her head back on straight, as she had put it.