Affinity Witch

Chapter 2: Workshop Wishes

Pressing her hand against the base of the damaged candle holder, Sabrina closed her eyes, connecting with the metal in preparation of repairing it.

Every witch accessed magic in a different way. In fact, the purpose of Affinity Testing during childhood was to discover each Hexen member's affinity, the way in which she could connect with and utilize the magic around her.

There were countless different affinities, each one vital to the continuation of the coven, and over time witches with the same affinity had naturally been drawn to working together. As a metallurgist, Sabrina trained and worked with other witches who possessed the ability to connect with metal, but over the years she'd learned that although there were similarities among the metalworkers, there were also differences.

The biggest difference lay in how the witches utilized their affinity to communicate with metal, a process that was unique for each and every individual. Bettina, for example, communicated with metal by sharing images of various colors, each color meaning something different and each shade within a color meaning something further still.

Tante Olga had once described communicating with metal using temperature, feeling her hands grow warmer or colder as information was exchanged in a way only she and the metal she worked with could understand. And Tante Ingrid had explained years ago that she had actual conversations with metal...to her, each metal had a distinct voice and personality, with some being shy while others were witty and still others were sarcastic to the point of being rude.

When Sabrina communicated with metal, it was purely visual. There was no sound, which was fine by her, as there were many days she wished she could go through life with cotton stuffed in her ears, dampening the loud, jarring, or simply annoying noises constantly intruding on her efforts at peace.

She wasn't certain if her propensity for silence contributed to the expression of her affinity, or if it was because she was a visual learner, grasping those concepts best she could see and study. Alternatively, it could simply be an aspect of her affinity that defied explanation, but regardless, she was grateful for a way to put her photographic memory to use, as she otherwise wasn't certain what she would have done with all the images stored in her mind.

Upon connecting with metal, it was as if an illustrated book opened before her, page after page of words and pictures coming to life. Sabrina could read about the metal's history, as well as watch scenes play out, depicting where it had been mined from the earth, how it had been transported from one place to another, and how long it had remained in any given location.

With metal that was still in its raw, unshaped form, she could see pictures and read descriptions of what the metal wished to become; for pieces of metal that had already been shaped into one object or another, she could watch and read about its history, as well as what it had looked like before being damaged, if it had been sent to her for repair.

Every metal was different...some shared only a picture or two, with the addition of perhaps a single word or sentence. Other metals were more forthcoming, sharing numerous pictures and more than one written paragraph. The most verbose metals were happy to share reams of pictures and pages of text, detailing everything they thought Sabrina needed to know.

In return, Sabrina could add to the pages in her mind, communicating with the metal by sharing scenes from her own life, memories she'd made, people or objects she'd seen, places she'd been, and images she'd formed while reading.

She could also shared her thoughts in the form of text. It never failed to impress her how the words appeared on the page in her mind in the style of her own handwriting, which slanted in inconsistent directions and typically appeared rushed, likely because she was always in a hurry to get her thoughts out before she forgot them.