and a wolf will move among the lambs

[impetuous_force]

It's that afternoon after school when Bella next visits the Witchnook. (She already made another nighttime visit to pick up her powder, and it's safely stashed under the false bottom in the box full of notebooks under her bed.) This time she just needs beetle wings and a reasonably clear chunk of quartz. Her books and the goldvine bramble she ordered aren't in yet.

Comments

[impetuous_force]

"Yep," says Bella, "that's about the size of it."

[eversomuchfun]

"And do you have a lovely practical plan?"

[impetuous_force]

"Student loans will probably be involved."

[eversomuchfun]

"I imagine that of the two, witching is easier to get into without a formal education."

[impetuous_force]

"Yes. But probably harder to retain a decent relationship with my parents."

[alicornucopia]

"I'm sure you'd do wonderful things as a witch," says Angie, "and your parents would understand eventually, even if they worried. It's not as though Charlie's job is the safest."

[eversomuchfun]

"Do your parents disapprove of witching, then?"

[impetuous_force]

"Charlie more so than Renée," says Bella slowly, shifting in her seat. "Risk of draft, risk of botched spell, risk of addiction and magic accordingly taking over one's life."

[eversomuchfun]

"I suppose a career in medicine carries none of those risks."

[impetuous_force]

"They have better luck at enticing doctors into the USADI with mere large amounts of money," says Bella. "And the obsession symptom is a temporary feature of medical school, and if you botch something, that's what malpractice insurance is for."

[eversomuchfun]

He laughs.

[impetuous_force]

"But the scale and flexibility of a halfway decent witch are better." She shrugs.

[alicornucopia]

"I'd be scared to even try a spell. Some things are just - bigger than me," says Angie, shaking her head. "Bella's brave," she adds in a stage whisper to Sherlock.

[eversomuchfun]

"I noticed," he murmurs back.

[impetuous_force]

"I have confidence in my own - meticulousness, when things are important," says Bella. "I assess things and then follow through on trusting my assessments even if the thing I have to do still isn't great. I don't think that's the same thing."

[alicornucopia]

"It's a kind of brave. Maybe not the only kind."

[eversomuchfun]

"Better than some others," says Sherlock.

[impetuous_force]

"Such as?"

[eversomuchfun]

"Bravery is a complicated concept. Sometimes it can mean - a kind of recklessness. And recklessness is nobody's friend."

[alicornucopia]

"I wouldn't ever describe Bella as reckless," says Angie.

[eversomuchfun]

"Nor would I."

[impetuous_force]

"No, sometimes I do get in over my head," says Bella. "I just make sure I have a good reason to take the chance first. I don't think that's factored into the definition of recklessness."

[eversomuchfun]

"I think taking chances without making sure you have a good reason to is exactly the definition of recklessness."

[alicornucopia]

"I think Bella has a point, though. If somebody goes into a burning building to save somebody else and they're wrong about whether they can, and they die, they might get called reckless. But if they had a good chance of being right, then there was a good reason to take the chance."

[eversomuchfun]

"I wouldn't call them reckless, if I knew why they made the choice."