"Sorry," she says, not sounding it.

You are not sorry at all, he doesn't say. He just hmpfs, instead. "I will wait for Sadde to return, then."

"You can come in if you want, it's not sunset yet." She opens the door.

In he flap-hops.

She packs a little bag full of various herbs and such and is ready to go when Metis is. They're back at about eight.

Sadde has returned by then, and is fiddling with the alethiometer and a dictionary, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

And on the kitchen table there's a bottle of wine.

And since Sadde is too engrossed with the magic truth-telling device to... notice... the witches' arrival, it falls to his daemon to hop over to them and say, "Welcome back. Metis, we hope you like wine; it felt right to get you something for allowing us to stay here, and it seemed traditional."

The sound of Luca's voice wakes Sadde up from his reverie. "Oh, hi."

"Sometimes I like wine," allows Metis. "Isabella, make something that'll go with this -"

"I don't know wine pairing."

"Just don't make macaroni and cheese, all right?"

"Venison and roast potatoes and mustard greens?"

"Sure."

Isabella sets about that.

"Want some help?" he offers the younger witch.

"You have earned yourself potato scrubbing duty." She hands him a sack of potatoes. "Like six of those."

"Yes, ma'am."

Scrubbing commences.

She defrosts frozen meat by magic. "When those are clean dry them off and put them in here." "Here" is a sort of vegetable roasting cage.

He is a dutiful minion.

"How'd the magic thing go?"

"Went fine. Not especially interesting but we sometimes have to do stuff like that to keep things like the clan subscription to Denny's."

"Makes sense. What's witch apprenticeship like? What do you, like, apprent?"

"...magic. She teaches me magic. More than most witches bother with."

"But—okay that's two things—she just teaches you spells, or the components, or both things, and how's design fit, and when, and what do you mean more than most witches bother with that's what witches do!"

"Dude, witches are people, we do not have all the same profession and hobbies. Some witches just know enough magic to make their life as a gardener or a knife fighting instructor or a housewife a little easier. Metis teaches me broader principles of magic and how to extrapolate to build new spells."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry, it's just," and he shakes his head. "So cool."

"Yup!" She totes all the food out to the backyard fire pit. She starts the fire by magic.

Her minion follows after her.

Presently she's got everything cooking away.

Does she need any more help?

He can mince garlic.