Ah, vacation. How I have missed it.

Stands up and stretches

What should I do next. Go fishing? Or maybe a little hiking through the countryside. It's a lovely day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. The grass looks so green and soft. The trees are sighing with the breeze. Everything seems so inviting.

Lets himself into the cottage, lights a candle on the hearth with the help of his magic, begins to tidy up. Crunching sounds off stage simulate coach wheels on gravel.

Now who could that be.

Looks off stage.

Now, why would she bring herself here? And why now, for that matter?

From off stage

Jahari! I have need for your assistance, brother!

Go home Beatrice, I have nothing to offer you. Go bother someone else! I am on vacation damn it!

Closes the door just as she steps up on the porch.

Jarahi! Get your skinny butt out here this instant!

Jahari busies himself and ignores her.

Jahari! Damn it, let me in this moment. Father would be most displeased if he were to find out that you have locked me out to freeze in the outdoors!

Father would commend me for having the sense to not do anything that is scheming inside that little brain of yours. And besides, it's the middle of summer.

Go home, Beatrice. I have nothing for you here.

But father said I could.

Sighs and opens the door, Beatrice bursts into the room.

I knew you would come to your senses

What do you want of me now, Beatrice

Pulls out a chair for her

I want. . .

I want to learn the magic!

You know I can't tea. . .

Yes you can! Father has said so! He has seen people who don't have the Talent do tricks, and. . .

No.

But can't you just. . .

No.

Oh. Then I guess I shall find it some other way then.

You can try all you want, Beatrice. There isn't an ounce of Talent in you. I know, I've searched for a long time. But when your blood-time came and nothing manifested. . .

Begins to cry

It isn't fair. You have the Talent. Why couldn't I have it, too?

Fetches a blanket and wraps her in it.

We don't have the same mothers. You know that I got my Talent from my mother.

What of it? Father said. . .

Yeah, I know. He's still trying to convince himself that it was he who gave the Talent to me to begin with. You do know that he had my mother flogged to death for not teaching him, don't you?

Damn it Bee! Why the hell you think he married again? Huh?

Um...

Because he was in love with my mother?

He was looking for another woman with the Talent. And your mother had a talent all right! To lie! She let my father believe that she was Gifted. She told him of the wonders that she was going to teach him. Why do you think she keeps herself locked up in that little tower of hers? Our father has seen fit to let her survive, although I don't know why. He pities her like some would a wounded bird.

I was old enough to remember when she told him. I remember the pain that crossed his face when he finally confronted her. He asked her outright, and she told him outright. He was a fool for having believed her to begin with. Of course you hadnít been born yet, and I think that is why he didn't thrash your mother as he should h. . .

Slaps him.

Stop speaking of her as though she were some kind of street trash!

Bee. . .

No! I have heard all the lies! She was no trollop that any man could have a bit of good time with, so long as they had the cash.

She was a noble woman, with a noble lineage.

Beatrice. You know that I can't teach you. You have been asking to learn since you were 8 years old. I tried to teach you then, and thought that I was just to young, that I didn't have what it took to be a mentor. But as we grew and you didn't develop the Talent, I knew that the fault wasn't mine. Believe you me, I really hoped that you would have the Talent. I wanted to teach you so much! I wanted you to be there with me when I found new spells to try. I wanted someone else to learn with, someone else that father could moon over. But it just isn't there. You have as much of the Talent in you as that mug there. I'm sorry.

But father said that anyone can learn tricks.

Father doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't understand that the Talent comes in varying degrees of power. Some with the Talent will never be able to do more then lift a feather, while others can shake and crumble whole cities to the ground. I am good at the little parlor tricks. I can light a candle with a snap of my fingers, but I still have to be able to see the candle. I can make bugs vacate a mattress, very useful but not terribly showy.

Bee, you have your own talents. Why are you so bent on this one, it really isn't all that special.

Well, it's only not special to you because you already have it, now don't you? But to those of us left out in the cold, it is special! To those. . .

Bee, I just don't know what to tell you. You have a wonderful magic that I can never duplicate.

And what, pray tell, is this wonderful magic?

You can give birth!

Oh! Right! And that is supposed to make everything better? Being able to pop out babies is supposed to be magic? What kind of magic is that? It's nothing more then a physical function! There is nothing magical about babies! I want to be able to make fire! Or be able to move things with just a whim. That is real magic.

I'm sorry, Bee, that you feel that way.

No, it's not your fault. You have the same thought as all men. That because we can do something you can't, you think it's special. . .

Oh, Jahari! I think I understand what you mean now. I just never thought of it that way! I should just be content with who and what I am. Oh, I've been a miserable pisspot haven't I?

Yes, you have, for eleven whole years. But you are still my sister. And although I can't give you the magic that you want, I can still try to give you the world.

Crying

Am I a horrible sister? Do you think that my ambitions ruled my life? Tried to make me into something I just couldn't be?

You are not a horrible sister. At least, not all of the time. But I have heard tell that we are supposed to make each other's lives hell. And as for being too ambitious? Well, everyone needs goals, and most people will kill themselves to achieve them. At least you know someone who could turn you aside before you became a real bitch!

Here, let me show you some real magic!