The trouble with elves 8/10

Once she’d made up her mind that it was the only sensible way to carry on, she settled down once again to the routine that she’d become used to during the last two weeks. It was still the same, whatever time this was in the past.

She also got on well with all the other apprentices, telling them stories about the future that they sometimes found very hard to believe. She sometimes felt rather as Sir George must have done, when he was telling tales of his adventures in her world.

As she’d been promised, the class teacher drew a diagram on the blackboard one day, which showed how time worked. It appeared quite simple; wavy lines showed how a person normally saw time, while the same wavy lines were spaced directly underneath each other, but not touching, to show how time passed in parallel worlds.

Elf time was the only line that wasn’t the same as the others. The waves went up when the other lines went down and crossed over the ordinary lines as well. The picture even showed how the wishing fog system worked. Jennifer Jane was most impressed.

All went well for a couple of months, before she began to feel a bit homesick. It was all very well being a witch apprentice and everyone was very kind to her, but she did miss her parents and was getting worried about how they must feel about losing their daughter.

Then one day she remembered the occasion when she had walked round the Witches’ Home. When she’d walked in a clockwise direction, she had gone forward in time.

It had been quite easy going in that direction and if she stopped every time she got round to the lawn, she could pop home and see if her parents’ house had been built. Eventually she ought to get back to where she belonged.

Fortunately she had learned from her previous experience and went to see the class teacher before she decided to give it a try.

The teacher listened until she’d finished and then smiled. “I’m afraid it could prove very dangerous,” she said, “do you know how many years you travelled in one trip round the Home?”

Jennifer Jane shook her head. “I’m afraid not Ma’am, I only know that the journey-woman who teaches me, had become a young apprentice when I walked once round the building.”

“Right then, at a guess I would think you went about twenty years or so for one turn. Let’s assume that each journey gives the same length of time and that you’ve gone forward say one hundred years and found your parents.”

The witch pause in her explanation for a moment, while Jennifer Jane tried to take in what she’d already been told

“What happens if you’re already there with them? Or maybe you could go forward too far and find that you have some grown up brothers and sisters and yet be younger than any of them!”

The teacher stopped talking for a moment as she saw the look on Jennifer Jane’s face.

“I really think it’s far safer to stay here and wait for the elf to turn up,” she continued, “at least you’ll get back to your proper time and won’t find any nasty surprises when you get there.”

Rather sadly Jennifer Jane had to agree and went back to her studies. However, the time she spent at her lessons did have some compensation. Of course she’d already done a lot of work with Abigail, studying for her apprenticeship, so after six months full time study, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when the class teacher gave her a test and said that she was now fully qualified as a first year apprentice.

She was given a second year stripe to sew on her cloak and moved up a class to join the next group. It was about two weeks later that one of the senior witches opened the classroom door and asked the teacher to let her off the rest of her lessons for the day.

“The witch on guard duty has just let three people into the Home. There’s a witch who we’ve never met before, a human lady who shouldn’t really be here at all,” she paused for a moment with a smile, watching Jennifer Jane’s face, “and an elf,” she finished happily. “They’re all in the Refectory,” she called, as Jennifer Jane rushed off.