Witch Air

With a flick of his wrist, Kal sent a small sparkle of blue magic unlocking the door to the air traffic control tower. He quickly scaled the stairs going to the top of the tower, opening the door and stepping inside. He grinned at the two men that were sitting in the tower, both of which would be getting off their shift in a few minutes.

“Morning lads,” he greeted them.

One of them nodded, “Mornin’ Kal. How ya doing, mate?” The man was heavyset and spoke with a deep voice that reeked of where he was from.

Kal nodded, pulling out his chair and sitting at his station, “I’m good, slept well. How’re you, Conrad?” He turned the nob on his radio station, cursing when it sparked. “I see the pixies have been up here again.”

The other man, who was skinny and if you looked at him the wrong way, you could see through him, huffed, “Bloody creatures got in las’ nigh’. We called tha removal specialis’, he said he’d be ‘round a’ some poin’ today.”

Kal sighed, “Thanks Zey.” He snapped at the radio, sending a shower of blue sparks over the thing. The sparks hovered a minute while they wormed their way into the radio, finally disappearing inside of it. In another minute, the display lit up and Kal could hear the air traffic through his headset that was still laying on the counter. “That’ll do ya then, I reckon. Alright lads, what’s the brief for morning?”

Conrad grunted, handing Kal a clipboard, “Well, the pixies ya know about, a’course. Runway fifteen is down. A big ol’ cargo broom dropped a whole shipment of witches’ brew. Gunked up the whole bloody runway, they did.”

Kal chuckled, “Yeah, sounds about right. I thought they were done bringing that mess in through us?”

Zey shrugged, “Hey mate, we jus’ land the brooms and send ‘em ou’. We don’ worry abou’ why they’re comin’ in.”

“All I’m saying is that stuff is dangerous and we’re barely equipped to deal with the emergencies that come up on a normal day,” Kal added, trying to keep his voice from sounding defensive.

Conrad huffed again, trying to hurry the briefing up, “Speakin’ of dangerous, the fire brigade out of the port is doing drills today. They said not to worry if any stray sparks head this way. I put our fire patrol on alert, just in case.”

Kal chuckled, “Probably smart. Some a’ these brooms are probably so dry they’d burn like nobody’s business. Anything else?”

The door flew open and Kal’s partner in crime, Abe, came walking into the tower. He was tall and skinny, and had bright green eyes. “Morning,” he said in a higher voice than what you’d expect from a guy of his height.

“Morning Abe,” Kal grinned at him. “Just getting the morning briefing.”

“Ah,” Abe glanced at his watch. “Early bird catches the worm, I suppose.”

“Well lads,” Zey stood up, grabbing his coat from the rack. “You two are here, means us two are gone. Have a grea’ day, lads.”

Abe sat down in his chair, banging his radio to make it come on. Then he fixed his headphones on his ears, “Gooooodddddd morning fliers! It’s a beautiful day to dust off those brooms and get that straw in the air!”

Kal chuckled, put picked up his own headset and fixed it on his ears. “Good morning riders, this is Tower Seven-One-Seven at your service. Let’s have a great flight folks!”

Abe reached over, tapping Kal on the arm and pointing at a streak of black smoke that was in the air. Kal groaned, but grabbed the pair of charmed binoculars he kept in the case close by, putting them to his eyes. The magnification of the image adjusted and became clear on its own, revealing to his eyes the image of a broomstick that had fire coming from the straw on the back. The witch riding the broom was wearing brilliant orange robes that would have been hard to miss from any direction. Her flight information of “FR-779” was displayed on the handle of the broomstick, another advantage the binoculars offered.

Kal sighed, shaking his head, “I’ll notify the fire brigade. Her flight is F R seven-seven-nine.” Then he said over the loudspeaker in the airport, “Fire brigade needed on deck!” A buzzer sounded several times through the airport to alert the brigade.

“Thanks,” Abe nodded and flipped on his microphone, “Flight ferret seagull seven-seven-nine, your ass on fire.”

“Thanks for the update, tower!” Her voice came through the headsets, dripping with sarcasm. “I feel that, thank you very much! It’s rather warm on my arse!”

Abe chuckled and then into the microphone, “Roger, seven-seven-nine. Set ‘er down on runway eight. We’ve got the fire brigade already on alert.”

Kal watched as several witches came shooting out of the hangar directly to the south of the tower, which is where their emergency services lived. Each of them were dressed in black robes that had yellow reflective strips on them and wore a yellow hard hat on their heads. Their brooms were painted with bright red and had a yellow stripe that wrapped around it. On the front of it and on the back, just behind where you sat on it, they had flashing red lights. Two of them climbed into the air, heading towards the broom that was on fire to escort it to the ground. The others headed towards runway eight so they could handle any fire that broke out on the ground.

“I’m starting to lose control of this bloody thing!” The witch called over the radio.

“Hang in there, seven-seven-nine,” Abe said in a steady voice. “Fire brigade is almost there.”

The two witches that had broken away from the rest of the fire brigade approached the burning broom from underneath. Both of them pulled out their wands from inside of their robes, pointing upwards at the flaming broomstick. Kal grinned as the two of them helped to correct the flight of the flaming broomstick, helping to guide it gently to a stop on the asphalt of runway eight. She jumped off the broom, desperately patting the glowing embers that had attached themselves to the tails of her robes. The witches from the fire brigade shot magical fire suppressant from their brooms, quickly getting it under control. One of them noticed she was struggling with embers, summoning a fire extinguisher that promptly unloaded on her robes, putting out the embers.

“Tower, gonna need a tow down here,” the leader from the brigade said over the radio. “This thing is extra dark toasty.”

Kal laughed, “Roger flamer.” He chuckled again, switching the channels on the radio, “Recovery, need a tow on eight.”

The older voice of the recovery witch answered, “Roger, tower, I’m on the way. Lemme fire up the ol’ girl,” the man’s voice was dry, and he sounded tired.

From the same hangar, the older man with long white hair rode out on a broomstick that was probably older than Kal was. He rode on the broom side-saddled, both of his legs hanging down on one side. The man gripped the broom firmly in one hand, the other holding what Kal knew to be a rope with basically a hook on one end to grab the ruined broomstick. He made his way over to runway eight, Kal watching with the binoculars. The older man threw the rope, which wrapped itself around the charred broom, the hook securing to the rope. He then dragged the broom off the runway, one of the fire brigade witches following behind to make sure it didn’t spark back up.

Abe chuckled, “I am so glad they regulated flying. Do you remember all the wildfires and mess that got started out west because of, well,” he motioned towards the ruined broom, “Stuff like that?”

“Oh yeah,” Kal laughed. “Everyone flyin’ around all willy-nilly was a bloody nightmare. I wonder how many hard-headed witches had to burn until they decided to do something about it.”

“A lot,” Abe said with a shrug. “Oh, heads up, Gretchen’s trainees are going to be heading out soonish.”

Kal groaned, “Not Gretchen’s class!”

Abe laughed, “What’s wrong with her class?”

“C’mon mate, Gretchen was considered old when she was teaching the Wright Brothers how to fly!”

“That’s true,” Abe laughed again.

“Tower, come in tower,” an unfamiliar voice came over the radio.

“This is Tower, go ahead,” Kal answered.

“Tower, this is Witch Civil Patrol Ninety-One, requesting clearance.”

“Stand by, Ninety-One,” Kal answered, grabbing the clipboard and flipping through the pages. He found the page he was looking for, glancing over the information before he answered. “Ninety-One, you are clear for priority one take off. You’ve got a brief window, so you’d better get those boots off the ground quickly.”

“Roger tower, we’re walking out now.”

Kal watched with the binoculars at a hangar that was on the far side of the airport. Seven broom-carrying witches stepped out of the hangar, carrying the brooms in their left hands. They adjusted their googles over their faces, then one by one put their broom in the flying position, throwing their left leg over the broom and sitting firmly on the seat. Then, starting from the left of their formation, they kicked into the air and started climbing. They headed towards one end of the airport, forming a V pattern, before turning to circle back over the airport. They zipped past the tower, Kal and Abe able to see them plainly with their naked eyes as they zoomed past.

Kal chuckled then over the radio, “Happy flying, Ninety-One.”

Abe had already cleared the trainee flight, who were walking out of a hangar close to the one the civil patrol had come out of. Kal swept the binoculars over towards them, their youthful faces filling his view. A couple of them looked confident holding their brooms, but most of them looked quite nervous. Their instructor stepped out in front of the group of mostly teenagers, giving some last instructions that Kal couldn’t make out through the binoculars. She was using her fingers to point and give directions, which Kal assumed was what to do once they got into the air.

“Remember when you got your flight license?” Kal asked.

Abe nodded, “Oh yeah, I remember how nervous I was. Is this their final exam?”

“Uh,” Kal said and flipped through the pages on the clipboard, “Yeah, looks like it. Explains the nerves.”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Abe nodded again. “Hopefully, everything goes smoothly. What about you?”

Kal chuckled nervously, “Oh yeah, I remember. I was so nervous I almost pissed myself. The landing was horridly unsmooth, and I broke my wrist doing it, but at least I passed.” Then as an afterthought he added, “Barely.”

Abe’s stomach growled loud enough for both of them to hear, “Sheesh, what’s for lunch? Clearly, I’m starving!”

Kal laughed, “Hang on,” he grabbed the binoculars and looked out over the airport in the distance. “Cargo broom coming in,” he checked the clipboard, “Odd.” He grabbed the microphone, “Unknown cargo broom on vector to Brewha Airport, identify yourself.”

“Tower, this is Echo Union five-five-three, the unknown cargo broom on approach. I’m not routed through this airport, but I need to make an emergency stop.”

Kal looked at Abe, who shrugged, then over the radio, “Echo Union five-five-three, what’s the nature of the emergency and your cargo?”

“Uh Tower, I’d rather not disclose the emergency over the radio. I’m carrying a shipment of cauldrons, nothing dangerous,” the voice came back.

Kal cocked his head, “Negative five-five-three, we need to know what’s going on. Switch to channel seven, it’s a secure channel.” Kal reached over and flipped a switch on the radio, switching the channel.

There was a click as the witch flying the cargo broom flipped onto the channel, “Uh Tower, this is five-five-three.”

“Please advise the nature of the emergency,” Kal said in a matter-of-fact way.

“Tower, I’m about to soil my underwear! My destination is a couple hundred kilometers north of here, but I ain’t gonna make it. So unless you want me to become an unauthorized crop duster, I got to sit this thing down.”

Kal laughed but forced his serious voice to return, “Roger, five-five-three. Sit ‘er down on Runway Three. It’s the closest to the, erm, facilities.”

“Thank you Tower! Much appreciated!”

“No problem, switching back to the main channel.” Kal put the microphone back before bursting out laughing.

“What’s up?” Abe asked.

When he had gotten his laughter under control, he answered, “Dude’s got to go to the head. Said he was going to soil himself if we didn’t let him land.”

Abe laughed, “Oh man, that sucks for him! Well, hopefully he doesn’t destroy the loo because I am not cleaning that mess up.”

“Neither am I,” Kal said with more laughter. “Okay, lunch, lunch, what’re we doing for lunch?”

There was another growl from Abe’s stomach, “I dunno, but I hope it’s good.”

“Uh,” Kal grabbed a menu from the magic food delivery service, “Chinese?”

Abe shook his head, “No, we had that yesterday.”

“Uh, toad soup?”

Abe shook his head again, “Ugh, no, I can’t stand toad soup.”

“Meatball sub?”

Another shake of the head, “Nah mate, only one kind of sub I like, and that ain’t it.”

Kal laughed, “Okay, what do you want?”

“Sushi?”

Kal made a crunched face, “Nah, sushi is gross. What about steak and taters?”

Abe shrugged, “That sounds okay, I guess. But make sure I get some sour cream and ranch dressing. You know I cannot eat potatoes without ranch, sour cream, and cheese. Need lots of cheese.”

Kal laughed, “Yeah, yeah, sure.” He swirled one finger in the air, touching it to the steak and taters options on the menu, which sent several blue sparks into the air that surrounded the menu.

There was a puff of smoke in the tower before a witch appeared in front of them. She was dressed in a pale pink dress, white and well-worn shoes, and a blue ruffled apron. The server had a tight bun on top of her head with a couple of pencils stuck inside of it. She grabbed one pencil out of her hair, then grabbed an order pad out of her apron.

“Hey sug,” she spoke with a sweet but slightly annoyed voice, “What’ll it be?”

“Two orders of the steak and potatoes, please,” Kal ordered.

She wrote it down on the order pad, then asked, “How you want your steaks cooked?”

“Medium-rare.”

She checked a box on the pad, “Watchya want for fixin’s for your potatoes?”

“Uh,” Kal scratched his head, “Extra sour cream, cheese, ranch dressing, bacon bits, and some mushrooms, please.”

“Okay,” she wrote the information down, “What about sides?”

“Can we get some Mac and cheese and some green beans, uh, enough for us to share?”

She nodded, writing everything down, “Sure, honey, that’s fine. Anything else?”

Abe interrupted, “Apple pie?”

Kal nodded, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hear Abe’s interruption, “Two slices of apple pie, please.”

She nodded again, “Sure, honey. Anything else for ya?”

Kal shook his head, “No, thank you.”

“Sounds good,” she stuffed the pencil back into her hair then ripped the paper off the pad, which disappeared with a puff. Then she shoved the pad back into her apron, “Give us about fifteen minutes, okay?”

Kal nodded, “Sure.”

The time ticked by slowly, mostly filled with the sound of Abe’s stomach growling and some radio chatter from brooms nearby. Lunch time was usually a slow time for the airport, and today’s lunch was no different. While they were waiting for their food, Kal eventually took out a puzzle book and a pencil, working a crossword puzzle. In another few minutes, there was a tap on the glass of the tower. Kal looked up from his puzzle and there was a delivery witch floating on a broom outside of the window. She had red saddlebags on the broom with the delivery service’s logo on them, which Kal knew were carrying hot food. He grinned and opening the window with a greeting to the witch. She rolled her eyes at him, but opened the saddlebag that was closest to them and started passing him plates of food. He checked the plates as they were handed to him, then handed a plate to Abe. He opened the plates of sides, putting them on the counter so they can share them.

Abe immediately dug into the food, then between bites, “So, Kallus, that cute fella you’ve had your eyes on in maintenance. When ya askin’ him out?”

Kal stopped eating and let his mouth gap open, “Wh-what? H-how’d you know about that?” He stumbled over his words a bit.

Abe laughed, then rolled his eyes at Kal’s face, “Are you serious? Everyone knows, mate. Everyone. Even what’s his face.”

Kal’s face turned bright red, “Wh-what? That, uh, I, what?”

“Wait, wait,” Abe held up a hand, “Do you think we don’t know? Mate,” he paused a minute, “It’s so obvious that you two have the hots for each other, it’s not even funny.”

“Oh my god,” Kal blushed again, “We are not discussing this here and now! It’s not the time nor the place!”

Abe’s tone went extremely serious, “Yeah, you’re right, we got bigger issues,” he put his food down and pointed out the window. “That’s a big fucker.”

Kal grabbed the binoculars and pointing them out to where Abe was pointing. In his view, he saw several witches in military brooms flying in a nice uniform formation. Then, behind them, there was a witch riding an extremely large dragon. The dragon was a shimmering blue color that Kal couldn’t help but enjoy looking at. The military formation looked like it was on a direct approach to the airport, and Kal grabbed the microphone.

“Unknown military flight, this is Tower Seven-One-Seven, you’re on a direct approach to Brewha Airport. Please identify.”

“Tower, we’re a military flight out of Fort Salem, F S Three-Three-Eight. We ran into a rough storm and took some severe damage on our brooms. We need to land to make repairs.”

Kal looked at Abe, who shrugged, then over the microphone, “Three Three Eight, we don’t have a large maintenance crew, nor do we have a large facility. Not sure what help we’d be able to offer other than a warm meal and dry robes.”

“Tower, that’s all we ask. We’ve got everything we need to fix everything, just need a safe place to touch down.”

Kal shrugged, “Three Three Eight, our biggest hangar is close to runway four. Touch down there.”

“Thank you kindly, Tower.”

Abe finished chewing what was in his mouth, “So Kallus, back to Carter. Ask him out when you get off your shift.”

Kal rolled his eyes, “Abe. Stop.”

“Why should I? You badgered me for a week, an entire week, to ask out Claire. And now I’m not allowed to interfere in your love life? C’mon, that’s so hypocritical, mate,” Abe huffed.

“That’s not fair,” Kas took a bite from his food. “She sent you a valentine, it was guaranteed.”

Abe rolled his eyes, “Bull, mate. The only difference is that we’re a hetero couple, and you and Carter would be a homo couple. You’re worried about how people would perceive you. Worried your reputation or something would be ruined. Nobody cares,” he took a swig from his bottle of water, “And if they do, they can take their grievances up with me.”

Kal stood up, “You’re wrong. You think they won’t put charmed graffiti on the bathroom walls calling me all sorts of slurs and disgusting things?” He threw his hands up, “You think they won’t snicker? Talk about us behind our backs? You’re wrong and you know it,” Kal was yelling by this point. “They’ve done it all my life! What’s going to stop them? You?” He shook his head.

Abe shook his head and said in a calm voice, “Nah, mate. You’re wrong. You’re my best mate, but not only that, most of the people in this airport love you. You’re an essential part of the crew. I don’t care if you’re gay, it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter to them either.”

Kal rolled his eyes, “It’s not the people on the airport crew I’m worried about. It’s everyone else. Face it, Abe, you can’t be with me everywhere I go to protect me. People are awful, and you know it. A person can care and be loving, but not people. And you know it.”

“Maybe, and no, I can’t promise everybody in the World will be amazing. But I can promise you, as long as I’m alive, you’ll always have a safe place. Somewhere you won’t have to worry about putting on a brave face or an act.”

“Fine,” Kal threw his hands up, “I’ll ask him out.”

“Great,” Abe grinned, “But don’t bother. He’s picking you up later and you’re going on a date. So dress nicely before you leave.”

Kal cocked his head, “You’re unbelievable. But,” he sighed, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Abe grinned, grabbing the clipboard. “Second shift will be here soon.”

Kal chuckled, sitting back in his chair, “Thank god, I’m tired of smelling your feet.”

Abe laughed, “Nah, mate, I’m tired of smelling whatever it is you use for deodorant. It’s powerfully strong.”

The door to the tower swung open and the two guys from second shift walked in, one of them carrying a bag in his hands. “Afternoon, mates,” the man holding the bag said.

“Evenin’, folks,” the other one said.

“Hey Dylan, Colin,” Kal greeted the two.

“Hey boys,” Abe followed up.

“What’s the good word?” Dylan asked, putting his bag down in his chair, pulling his head set out of his bag.

Kal handed him the updated clipboard, “Not much, just another day workin’ Witch Air.”

Dylan flipped through the clipboard, muttering a couple of things to himself. “Sounds good to me,” he nodded. “Colin?”

Meanwhile, Colin had been reviewing Abe’s clipboard, he nodded his head, “Looks good. You guys have a good rest of your day,” he nodded again.

A few hours later…

Kal fixed the collar of his robes, zapping away a couple of moths that had appeared inside of them. He snapped his fingers over his hair, causing a few blue sparks to land in his hair and fix it into place. A knock came from his door, which caused him to grin and go to the door.

He opened the door and grinned at the green dress robes that Carter was wearing, “Hey.”

“Hey, you,” Carter answered with a grin. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Kal answered, stepping out and closing the door behind him. “Let’s go.”