“You don’t look anything like your usual self right now, so there’s no danger of anyone realizing who you are. Why not come along with me to a witches’ get-together?”
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“‘A witches’ get-together’?” I repeated skeptically. That sounded like a pain, as far as I was concerned.
“Ah! I can tell by the look on your face that you’re thinking it’s going to be a bother, aren’t you?” said Eno, calling me out without wasting a beat. Honestly, that made this easier than if she had been completely oblivious. “That’s exactly why I’ve never invited you to one of these up until now. Plenty of witches are like you and have no interest in getting involved in the social scene of your trade.”
Maybe I shouldn’t say this, considering it’s my own profession and all, but I had the impression that being a witch meant there was an above-average chance you were a bit of a weirdo. That, or the sort of person who quietly lives in your own little corner of the world, perfecting your craft all by your lonesome—there were quite a few witches who fell into that category as well, I was pretty sure.
“I only made a name for myself and my medicines a little a while ago, so I’ve just started attending the gatherings recently,” Eno continued. “It’s kind of intimidating for a complete no-name to stroll on in to one of those, after all.”
“I can really tell you’re speaking from experience there… Though I can understand where you’re coming from, too.”
I didn’t much care for the idea of strolling into a social gathering all alone, either. That sort of thing was always hard, unless you had a friend there to go with you—otherwise, there was a serious risk you’d end up standing around awkwardly with no one to talk to and stick out like a sore thumb. Unless you were the sort of person who could strike up a conversation with anyone, I guess. Those people would probably be just fine.
When you could count on people knowing who you were at events like that, the odds of someone talking to you proactively shot up. By the same logic, however, when you were a total unknown mystery person, the odds were good nobody would come near you. You probably wouldn’t know what sort of topics people would be interested in discussing, either… That’s why I could understand why Eno had waited until she’d gained a degree of fame as the Witch of the Grotto before she set forth into the witchy social scene.
Come to think of it, I didn’t even realize there were official witch get-togethers… I’m so far out of the social scene I didn’t even know those were a thing, period.
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Around that time, Sandra made her way inside from the garden. The moment she laid eyes on Eno, she let out a little “Ugh!” of distaste. She was on guard and not afraid to show it.
“Oh. You’re still afraid of me, huh?” said Eno. “Don’t worry, though! I’d never lay a finger on one of Miss Azusa’s housemates.”
“Sandra’s pretty shy around people she doesn’t know well, too. I think that’s half of your problem,” I added.
Sandra raised a hand in what more or less functioned as a greeting, then went off down the hallway. I had a feeling she was on her way to Falfa and Shalsha’s room. Seeing her pass by, however, had brought an old incident to mind for me.
“You worked with a bunch of different witches back when you were trying to catch Sandra, didn’t you? Did you end up keeping in touch with any of them?” I asked.
“I have, yes! They’re the ones I’m planning on meeting at the gathering,” Eno confirmed. “So what do you think? There’s no chance any of them will realize who you are, considering how you look right now, so why not take the chance to come see what it’s like? Think of it as a scouting run!”
I had no idea what she thought I’d be “scouting” at a social gathering, but I could more or less understand what Eno was going for. She was trying to give me an excuse to agree to come along, essentially. Most likely, she was hoping I’d decide there was no harm in going just once, so I might as well at least give it a shot.
I was very proactive about getting out and about when my daughters had somewhere they wanted to go, but I hadn’t attended a gathering of witches for my own purposes even once so far. Once a witch like me had an understanding of the fundamentals of our work, we could do our jobs alone, no problem. There weren’t any aspects of the job that required us to make connections to get work leads or anything like that.
In that sense, a social event like this didn’t offer any real benefits that would convince me to go. It did, however, offer plenty of advantages to make me stay away. For one thing, I’d never associated with other witches in any real capacity, and I was afraid my long years of running solo would make me come across as a depressing loner.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, being the Witch of the Highlands meant I also had to worry about becoming the center of attention. My reputation had gotten way too overinflated for my own good lately, after all, and I didn’t like the idea of a bunch of witches using my presence at a social gathering as an excuse to invite themselves over to the house in the highlands…
Eno certainly understood me well, in that respect. She knew I’d be concerned about my reputation, and so she’d waited until I looked like someone completely different before inviting me to go give the event a look.
“It’s a gathering of witches, so you don’t have to worry about anyone being an overly cheery extrovert that’s impossible to deal with. People in our line of work tend to prefer to keep things a bit gloomy, after all. How about it? Just one quick scouting run!” Eno said, laying on the peer pressure.