Late the following morning Ravenessa had told one of her servants to bring a cup of coffee to wake her guest. Twenty minutes, later Veronia was up  and exploring the castle looking for her friend. After looking around the magnificent castle she had  found her way to the grand hall, where Ravenessa was waiting for her.

"Good morning, I trust you slept well here?" She asked Veronia.

"Yes, I slept very well, how about you?"

"I slept just fine. I have to run a few errands in the village, would you like to join me?" Ravenessa invited.

"I'd love to, it sounds like fun." She accepted with enthusiasm.

"Why don't we have a little more coffee first?" Ravenessa offered.

"That sounds great to me." She replied.

Ravenessa walked the hallway to the kitchen and Veronia followed her. As they entered the kitchen, one of her servants offered to be of service, Rae asked her for a pot of coffee, her servant obliged with a nod and a smile. When it was ready she carried it herself and Veronia went with her.

 When the two witches stopped walking, Veronia saw they were in the courtyard directly behind the castle. It was more than huge; it looked as if she had her very own forest all to herself. There was a seven foot tall quartz crystal fountain in the middle of the castle grounds and a black and red marble bench near it. Veronia fell in love with the courtyard.

"Is it okay if we have coffee out here?" Ravenessa teased as her friends' mouth was hanging open,

"Are you kidding me? This place is fantastic. You have the most well designed and beautiful fountain I've ever seen" Veronia gushed.

"Your brother likes it out here under the stars, full moon phases." She told her to be sister.

"That doesn't surprise me; we used to do that in the summer when we were children." Veronia told her.

"Oh really? That must be a nice memory to have." Ravenessa commented as she took a large gulp of coffee.

The two of them talked about their past and their dreams of the future until the coffee pot had been drained. They got their things together and headed to the village within the hour.

As the witches were looking forward to an outing, the three warlocks were meeting together after resting in a different village. Daniel and Richard were waiting by the old elm tree when they saw Stergis hiking up the hill to meet them.

"Hey guys, I trust you had a good rest?" Stergis asked making conversation.

"Yes we did. How about you?"

"Yes it was a nice break, but I really miss Ravenessa." He admitted, lowering his gaze just slightly.

"I miss my dear Zeta, I'm eager to see her when this is over." Daniel admitted with a brute honest glare.

Then Richard chimed in too. "I miss Veronia as well. It's so weird not seeing her for days at a time. I must be in love with her." He admitted to his friends.

"I am pleased for you and my sister, she appears happy with you." Stergis told him with a blank stare.

Richard smiled at his newest friend, he began to understand and bond with Stergis a moment at a time. He was glad to have her brother as a good friend.

"Well guys now what do we do?" Daniel asked the other two.

"It gets dark earlier on this side of the land, I think we should make camp out here and then start fresh in the morning." Stergis suggested.

Richard and Daniel agreed with him, they found a nice place to camp a few miles closer to their destination. The three of them spent the night under the stars hanging out and keeping their minds off the mission and their homes.

The Grigori sat there in his cave rearranging the crystals once more to check on the progress and location of the three fools hunting the staff. He saw that they hadn't reached the mountain , but he also saw that the warlocks hadn't given up yet either. What is wrong with these immortal idiots?" He shouted and his words had echoed back to him.

He thought about this entire mess, what to do about these guys? He wasn't vengeful or cruel but he needed to find a way to at least delay them. The Grigori looked through his things trying to find a way to stall but not harm them. He had to be creative and very careful about how he would handle these guys. He still had to protect the dark staff at all cost, be it his own life or another's. 

He didn't believe in taking a life, but if he were forced to then so be it. It was going to take deep thought, he didn't want to start off too drastic, just slow them down a bit. Grigori looked around and thought of using animal manipulation like a cougar or hawk, but those were far too dangerous, the behavior a little too unpredictable. After hours of deep thought he knew what he would do in the morning. He needed to rest, finally with a plan of action ready to go he would sleep better.

That night Veronia stayed in the castle with her new best friend. They were beginning to not just act but feel like sisters. The two of them were sitting down by the fire place, Ravenessa had offered to help her to be sister brush up on her magical abilities while the males were gone, there weren't distractions. Veronia had been trapped in the asylum far longer than Rae, so her magic was bound to be rusty.

"We should start off with a vision quest." She stated to Veronia.

"I remember hearing it, but I don't exactly remember what it is." Veronia explained to her.

"How about the third eye?" She asked hoping to jolt her memory a little.

"Oh yes, your mental vision, sixth sense." Veronia blurted out.

" Now this is a good place to start." She told her, ringing the  silver bell for a servant.

                     Before they had started a crash course in meditation, one of the servants had brought a bottle of wine and two glasses. She had been there long enough to anticipate the misstress's request like clockwork. She passed a glass f wine to Veronia and then herself. She took a long sip of the drink, before continuing to help her friend.

"I like to use the fireplace as a good focal point. Glare at the flames, let your mind wander. Lose yourself in the rhythm of the flames." She instructed, keeping an eye on Veronia's progress. She was doing pretty well for being out of practice for so long.

"Good, now use your instincts, just follow them." She spoke in a half whisper hoping to stir the magic awake that lay dormant in her soul. Ravenessa could see it and sense it, this witch was powerful, but needed a little guidance. She was happy to help, they would be family soon.

"Now tell me where you are, spiritually speaking." She sipped at the glass as Veronia had a full on vision quest on the first try. That was pretty impressive.

"Water, I'm near a stream or small pond somewhere. It's a forest but not ours. I see a waterfall, there are different creatures playing in the water. I see a reddish brown baby dragon. It looks scared."

      Without being aware she was even speaking Veronia told her best friend everything she'd seen on the vision quest. Without any warning she jolted back into her own world, back to her reality. She took a sip of wine and noticed Ravenessa was staring at her with wide eyes.

"What's wrong, did I screw it up that bad?" She asked confused by the way Rae was looking at her in awe.

"On of course you didn't. I say we take a long over due break. You did pretty well." Then she handed her guest a fresh glass of wine.

"That sounds wonderful to me. The meditation has me completely warped."

Ravenessa giggled for a moment and then depleted her glass and poured more of the wine. The two of them sat out there in her massive courtyard, with their wine, talking and developing their deeply bonding friendship. They talked about spells, recipies, and of course the men in their lives. After another bottle of wine, Veronia began to really feel the full force of exhaustion.

              As the time began to slip away from them, Veronia explained to her almost sister that she didn't think she could stay awake much longer and excused herself to the guest room she had been occupying. Ravenessa was understanding. She too had felt the wave of fatigue but when she attempted sleep, it didn't come so easily for her. She kept thinking of her mate and his friends. She worried over their journey, as well as their lives. Tossing and turning for over an hour, finally her thoughts as well as her body gave into the call of a late night slumber.