Balance: Birch Hearts

By Elva Birch

All things require balance

As a garden witch of Five Forks Forest, Margaret has been granting the requests of supplicants in service to the Goddess for many seasons. She thinks her life is in perfect balance...until an unexpected visitor makes her question her own contentment.

Robin was born to a body that he never fit, and his struggle with body dysphoria brings him to Margaret's magic garden, where he is presented with an unexpected connection...and a tantalizing choice.

A short, gentle transgender romance with earth magic, originally published in Once Upon an Enchanted Forest anthology, later re-printed in Shape Shifters Vol 1; both are now out of print.

Birch Hearts is a collection of short stories and novellas by Elva Birch, full of romance, adventure, and magic.

Shifters, witches, spaceships, and swords...these tales aren't always straight, but they are always straight up fun. They don't share a setting, but they all celebrate diversity and growth, and you know you'll get a satisfying conclusion in a bite-sized book.

And always? A touch of the impossible and irresistible.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elva Birch
• Release date: Apr 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798224985753

Book preview

Balance

BALANCE

ELVA BIRCH

CONTENTS

Balance

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Epilogue

A Note from Elva

More by Elva Birch

Writing as Zoe Chant

Behind the Scenes

BALANCE

The call for this anthology piece requested magic, romance, and autumn equinox. I knew I wanted to write about a witch in a Northeastern forest, but Robin surprised even me. This story was originally published in Once Upon an Enchanted Forest, 2019. It was later included in Shape Shifters, a collection of my own stories, in 2020. Both are out of print now.

1

Margaret was working in the garden when the car came into view. The vehicle crept around the bend of the driveway, flanked by aspens that were just beginning their colorful autumn display. She sighed and reminded herself not to feel resentful.

She knew that someone was coming, of course. The wards at the end of the long drive always gave a curious little wiggle when someone passed them, at least when the visitor was benevolent. If they came with mischief in mind, the wards would sing in warning.

She tried to be outside whenever anyone arrived; her house was her sanctuary, and even well-meaning people filled it with all the wrong kinds of energy. If she opened her door to them, she felt obligated to invite them in, but if she was already outside, it was simple enough to direct them to the gazebo to sit and ask their questions and make their requests.

They all had requests, of course.

No one, not even the most dedicated leaf-chasers in glorious autumn, ever came down her forest drive by accident.

This car was a small sedan, and the person who stepped out gave Margaret a moment of pause.

There was something odd in the way she walked, like she was trying to deny the connections in her hips, something in the way she rolled her shoulders forward as if it would minimize her breasts. Her blonde hair was in a short, tidy bob. And she looked away just a little too swiftly when she caught her reflection in the car door window as she closed it.

Margaret put the last clump of weeds into the bucket beside her and rose to her feet, brushing the dirt from her hands. Hello! she called.

The woman looked around and spotted Margaret, started to shyly wave and thought better of it. Hi. Gruff and brief.

No, not she. Not her. A glimpse of his eyes explained everything.

Margaret knew what he was going