Chapter 62 - By harming none ...

Chapter 62 - By harming none ...

Beverly

The high priestess took us to the library, and I was ready to take on any challenge they threw my way. I knew I probably wouldn’t get it right the first time, but I was going to give it my all to get it right the second time! As she pulled books from the shelves, I didn’t think anything strange. I mean, they probably had spell books that you had to work from.

“You can sit at this desk and your chaperon can join in if she likes, or she can wait in that waiting area.” The high priestess pointed at a small sitting area in one of the corners. I frowned, not sure why I would sit down when doing a spell, but I did as she asked. As she pulled the first book from the pile she packed on my desk, my eyes grew wider.

“You can start with this one first.” She smiled kindly and I frowned.

“Introduction to magic?” I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on and she sighed, crossing her arms.

“Yes, you have to understand what magic is and the effects of doing it before going out into the world and casting spells. You will have to read through all of these before even thinking about attempting a spell.” She frowned. I wasn’t happy about it. I had hoped to try out whatever magic lived inside of me right away, but I was there to learn, and I would do what I had to. If that meant reading the entire library, I would do that.

I dug into the books in front of me. After a while, I went in search of a notepad and I started to make notes of everything I wanted to make sure I would remember. If the high priestess could throw a curveball like this, she could very well decide to test my knowledge after I finished reading all of it. We joined the witches for lunch and I found it interesting that literally all of them stopped working and just took an hour to talk and eat and relax.

The pack would do the same, but not everyone was there. We always had people on patrol, and the omegas didn’t always eat at the same time as the rest. If they were serving that day, they had lunch after the pack finished. The witches, however, took turns at doing certain jobs. It was amazing. The food was served and everyone waited for the servers to take a seat before they all dug into lunch at the same time.

After lunch, we returned to the library, and I was so full that I had a hard time focussing. My chaperon appeared with a cup of coffee, which I really appreciated. She had stopped complaining and seemed happy to sit in the small waiting area. She had found a book somewhere and looked happy to just sit there and read. I still found it funny that my father insisted on a chaperon when there were clearly no men around there, but before I got more distracted, I focussed on the reading.

It wasn’t all that boring. I quickly learned that magic flowed through everything. Everything was made up of energy. It was all very scientific, which was surprising, but I was sure that some scientists wouldn’t agree with some of what the witches believed. In all of that, however, they made sure whoever read this understood their one ultimate law. Do no harm.

I started wondering about the war and when the witches attacked. Wasn’t that breaking their own laws? I made a note to ask the high priestess. I wanted to understand how that law fit in. I needed to know how they could wage war when they believed that all life mattered. I needed to understand. We were sitting around the dinner table when I finally scraped together the courage to ask.

“I have a question, but I need you to understand that I’m purely asking, so I can learn.” I was worried and felt my heart rate picking up. If they took this wrong, they could send me home.

“You want to know how we could declare war and still live according to our laws?” The high priestess smiled and I was shocked.

“Yes! How did you know?” I gaped.

“Do you think I gave you those books just to keep you busy?” She laughed and I smiled, feeling really stupid. “I wanted you to first learn why we did what we did before teaching you everything else we knew. You see, your mother’s spell caused huge harm to our people. We lost a lot of good witches. When we declared war, we were simply setting it right. We were bringing balance back.”

“But you killed people. My people.” I frowned. “The law clearly states to harm NONE.” I frowned, feeling a little more at ease about asking. She didn’t look upset when I asked. In fact, she looked happy that I did. “Okay, let me put it this way. There is a spider in my room, and it is poisonous. According to your law, I’m not allowed to kill it. I have to take the chance that it might bite me while I set if free.” She nodded as I tried to figure it out.

“But if it bit you, it would have to go through a painful process so that antivenom could be created to save you. In other words, it pays back the bad karma with the pain.” She shrugged. I nodded, but I still wasn’t entirely sure I understood.

“But why not make an addendum to the law then? Something that allows you to avenge the wrong that has been done to you?” I found I actually enjoyed the conversation. It was interesting to see how they saw their own laws.

“The thing is, if you give people too much rope, chances are they will hang themselves, right?” She sat back and I nodded. It was an old saying, but it was pretty much true. “If you force them to think about the rope and what they want to do with it before they do something stupid, then you could save that life. Isn’t it better to save a life?” She had given me a lot to think about after dinner.