A Birth day

Aria walked with Ruby and paused at the porch step " eye, best to keep dem old ways" she said slipping into her creole " I got's de moneys, no sweatin." she said showing him what Michael had given her " not enough, can get more." she added " we need it badly and quickly" she told him. " you can check we tell the truth." she added pointing to the cards and bones.

Ruby let Aria do the talking as she knew this was Aria's home turf but she could not help worry about Beau and how quick he could get the root for them. She stood with Aria seeing burlap bags on the porch tucked to one side not far from the man who sat on the porch.

"That's not it," Jacobi said, seeing them looking at the burlap bags. "Them's just potatoes. Took my pickup and made a run to the farms to get potatoes for the swamp people. We do for each other, ya know. They need taters, and they bring me crab and shrimp and snapper. It works out. I got the roots inside. Not leaving my livelihood sittin' on the porch."  

He picked up a blue velvet bag and a flat round basket, and he threw the contents of the bag into the basket. To the undiscerning eye, it would have looked like junk, but to Jacobi, it was much more. 

"They don't lie. They never lie," he said. He glanced at Aria and Ruby. "Iya don't know. This time, she don't know what she up against. The witchy woman--she a killer. She been gettin' away with it for a long time. Long time. She need to do it--she need it.  Don't know why. but the bones say she gonna keep killin' until someone stop her. Bones say she gonna make a mistake this time, though, and it gonna cost her." He looked back up at Aria.

"You still ain't told me how much you want. Either tell me how much you want or show me your money. One or the other, unless you wanna sit here jawin' all night."

Ruby chuckled and nodded " makes sense " she said then they both watched as Jacobi went inside . They both watched as he started to gather the roots they needed when he asked Aria how much she wanted she looked up at him saying nothing for the moment then spoke " all of your stock" she said " they just asked for as much as you had" she told him " like I said I has the money, all of it, do you ave dem?" she asked him again.

Ruby looked around the room with out moving noting the jars and bottles of different herbs and roots all lined up on the walls or hung around drying in the room making it smell fragrant around her.

"What's wrong with your brain, Child?" he scowled deeply at Aria, angry with her. He did not like  her attitude nor how she did business. "You short circuited or something? I told you I had them. I just didn't have them on the porch. Nobody gets all my stock, not even Iya."  He set out two large glass five-pound jars. "Five pounds in each jar. You buy one, or you buy both but that's all you get. $400 a jar. Take it or leave it. If you weren't here for Iya, I'd charge you double that."

"You," he looked at Ruby. "If she needs more, you can come. Leave your friend here at home. You give Iya a message. It is not for her to battle the witchy woman. The bones are clear. The fight goes to another."

Aria sighed and folded her arms across her chest . Ruby looked to Jacobi and listened to him talk and nodded " I'll pass on the message." she said simply to him. Both watched as they could see him gathering the jars they needed " we agree and will pay what you ask" she added knowing they needed it quickly for Baeu's health and Iya. She turned and saw cards placed on a table and picked one up finding the high priestess in her hand, she placed it down and looked to Jacobi.

Jack walked with Joseph to the barn " clean each stall and feed the animals by lunch" he looked at him " this is your punishment for going where you shouldn't" he said simply as he then left him to it walking to the main house " hose the boy doing?" he asked knowing he'd possibly be the same if Aria and Ruby didn't get back soon"

Jacobi collected the money and then turned over the next two cards in the deck. They were the tower card and the five of swords.

"See? Not her fight. If she fights and blocks the path of justice, it will bring destruction. The warning is clear. Destruction and defeat for her." 

He turned over two more cards, revealing the warrior and the five of fire.

"The warrior will rise up because the five of fire forces the warrior to rise because there will be no other choice." He gathered up the cards and shuffled them, meaning the reading was over.

Ruby listened to him as Aria gathered the roots. Both listened as he explained and Ruby nodded " I understand , the warrior could be my husband Angus, i'm just saying its a possibility not that it is"3 she said softly then seeing Aria had the bottles she smiled to him " thank you and we will pass on the message to Iya." she said and they both walked back out side .

Both ported back to the main house Aria headed down to the med bay. " we have it" she said as Ruby followed behind her.

"he also sent a message to for you Iya he says not for you to battle the witchy woman. The bones are clear. The fight goes to another." she said then looked at her once more he also said " The warrior will rise up because the five of fire forces the warrior to rise because there will be no other choice, this was after a card reading" she looked to Iya and stepped back " I have to get home" she said leaving Aria who placed the two large jars on the table close by Iya.

" hope this is enough" she said then looked to Robert " he took 400 for each jar" she said handing him back what little was left.

"Thank you," Iya said. "Jacobi understands the bones probably better than anyone I know. He's only confirming what I've seen too. I was hoping I could find my way around it, but I know he's right."

"Iya," Robert said, "perhaps this time you're supposed to protect my fighters until the fight actually comes. It's my job to make sure my fighters are up to the task when it gets here."

"You might be right," she said. She looked at Aria and Ruby. "Thank you. This will help Beau. Might I use your workroom now, Robert?"

"Absolutely. Help yourself. If you need my help, let me know," Robert said. She nodded, picked up one of the jars and headed upstairs. "Good work, both of you," he told Aria and Ruby.  "We still have Beau on life support but he's headed for the same sort of long recovery as Angus had. I think this is exactly how Charlotte and Gideon were killed. Beau's injury looks exactly like the same sort of bodily damage that Charlotte and Gideon had. The only difference is that we were right here to intervene."

Back at the duplex, Angus and Abbey had made a juicy roasted chicken and then turned it into a beautiful chicken salad. Angus had had some fresh brioche rolls delivered, and he used them for the chicken salad. He had put a piece of butter lettuce on the sandwiches, thinly sliced tomato, some swiss cheese and some crispy bacon. They'd made a beautiful chicken noodles soup, and now Marcus and Abbey were taking the lunch over to the studio to Poppy and Kate, who were glad to get it.

Angus was setting out a platter of sandwiches and some individual bowls of soup, along with some glasses of lemonade.

"I hungee, Aggie," Abbey told him.

"I can fix that," he said, picking her up and putting her in a chair. He gave her a sandwich, a bowl of soup and a glass of lemonade. Then he set out the same for Marcus and got his own and then sat down with her to eat.

Ruby and Aria listened to Robert and it made sense that's what Jacobi meant in his message. Ruby nodded to Robert and looked at the duplex " I should get back " she said smiling " if you need me you know where I am" she said as Aria nodded to her .

"I'll be over soon" Aria told her and watched as Ruby headed back to the duplex .

Entering Ruby smiled " honey, I'm home" she said smiling a she smelt the wonderful aroma from the kitchen " oh and Abby too" she added smiling a she saw them well Abby eating a sandwich " we got what was needed and all's okay for the moment" she told him then sat down with them " that looks good Abby" she looked to the kitchen and took a deep breath in " food smells wonderful too"

"There's plenty," Angus said. "Come grab a sandwich and a bowl of soup. Abbey makes good chicken salad."

"Aggie helped," Abbey said. Marcus came in, picked up one of the bowls of soup and a sandwich and joined them at the table.

"How's Poppy doing?" Angus asked.

"She's loving every minute of it," Marcus said. "She's sorted out a big bin of yarns and macrame cord for Kate and organized it for her, and this afternoon, she's sorting a big basket of tubes of oil paints and putting them back in the drawers for her. Kate has set up and easel for Poppy and given her brushes and supplies so that when Poppy has down time, she can paint. I'll be lucky to get her home at all."

"I'm glad she's doing well," Angus said.

"This is great chicken salad. Well done, Abbey," Marcus said. "And Poppy told me that the boys are going over to the barn this afternoon to see the animals and to see if Jack can use any help."

"I'm sure he could. We have a lot of crops coming in right now, so if the regular grounds men are harvesting crops, then Jack will be short with help to feed the animals and muck out stalls and pens and cages. Ezra is too small to actually be paid, but Jack might let him help feed or something. And what about Daria?"

"She was going to go see if she could help Nicky in the kitchen for lunch and supper," Marcus said. "I think they like the idea of being able to earn their own money."

"You do realize they're going to want trips to go spend it, right?"

"Gee thanks. I hadn't thought of that yet," Marcus laughed. "I suppose I'll have to think about it, though. How'd your trip go to New Orleans, Ruby?"