A little knowledge 2/5

Jennifer Jane arrived back at the Witches' Home early in the afternoon. She explained to the witch on guard duty that she intended to return to the village and stay the night, then she went off to the Library to find the spell section.

The Librarian showed her how to use the index and then left her to familiarise herself with the contents.

It was a rather daunting task. Even with the aid of the index she found dozens of enlarging spells but at last managed to find one, which specified an increase in growth rates. The index gave a number for each spell and now she had to find the file containing the sheet she wanted. The Librarian asked if she needed any help but at just that moment she spotted the file she was looking for, on one of the lower shelves.
The whole spell was written on three sheets of paper. There seemed to be an awful lot of writing describing the effects of the spell, which she didn't bother to read. The actual fingering to be used was shown on the third sheet. She copied this onto a pad, that was available for just that purpose and started to leave the room.

"Wait a moment," called the Librarian, "you're an apprentice aren't you! You can't just walk out of here with any old spell you want. Show me what you've got and I'll let you know if it's alright for you to use."

She looked carefully at the paper which showed the fingering. Jennifer Jane had written, 'Quick growing spell,' at the top of the sheet.

"Looks accurate enough," said the Librarian "but if you don't want everything in range to get bigger, you'll have to have a boundary spell as well. I'll show you where to find it."

She very quickly found the sheet she wanted and explained that if a boundary was indicated by magic, then only the things inside would grow faster. Jennifer Jane thanked her and flew back to the village as quickly as she could.

When she arrived, there was still enough daylight left for her to see the papers showing her spells. The last of the farm workers had just crossed the drawbridge and was pulling it up behind him. She flew round the boundary of the village fields, using the correct spell at every corner and then hovered over the middle and used the 'Growing Spell', pointing directly downwards.

Job done, she flew over to the 'Plough' for an evening meal and a good rest. She'd been flying at high speed for about four and a half hours and was feeling pretty tired.

The next morning she popped out before breakfast to look at the fields. Returning to the 'Plough', she told the landlord that the spell seemed to be working already.

"Everything looks a lot greener and I'm sure the plants are taller than they were yesterday."

When she'd finished her meal, she walked over to the spot where the finishing posts for her race with Tony had been placed. The paint marks were still quite fresh on the ground and she felt tempted to have them re-erected, so that she could go and visit him. However she'd promised Abigail that she wouldn't go through any more doors and turned away a bit disappointedly. She returned to the Inn and fetched her broom.

"I'll come back in a weeks time to make sure everything is going all right," then she waved her goodbyes to the landlord and those of his customers having an early morning drink before starting work and flew off towards the Witches' Home. She was still feeling tired when she arrived and parked her broom in the guardroom.

"I'm off home to have a good rest," she told the Duty Witch, "I think four trips to that village are enough to last me for a day or two."