Once I found out the Viking might be leaving, I knew I would have to find someone new to carry the charm. Naturally, this stressed me out. However, it being solstice weekend, and with things going all too well on other fronts (such as my love life, which turned out to be a handful of mashed up dead leaves aka faerie gold 😕), I whispered my need to the spirit of the store and knew it would be taken care of. (The masks are great for things like this, ya know?)

For the sake of privacy, we'll go with the names I created for the people helping me carry the energy of the ward = The Warrior, The Viking, BB Witch, and now The Guardian of Produce, who I'll call GP, for the sake of brevity. 
 

Oh snap. Not two hours later, one of my friends pulled me aside. "He said he put a love spell on me, that was the day I met Boyfriend! He just confessed he practices magick... I think GP is the one to carry Viking's charm! You should ask him..." 
 

Skip ahead. I made GP a new charm, from dragon's blood ink and charcoal. The first tip off was when he got really excited, wanting to know every way he could help. I told him who the other people were, and walked him around the store to know the locations of the charms for the ward. He said he would connect with the Viking and find out the deets on the center charm. 
 

That night, I was awoken twice to hear his true name in my head. The first thought in my brain? Oh what? It isn't a fluke? -- Previously to this, I had only energetically connected to the Warrior in a similar manner. The Warrior is the only one who doesn't want to be involved beyond lending his energy, and that's valid, so I never mentioned it to him. 
 

Over the course of conversation with GP last night, I realized why I never connected with Viking and BB Witch, and why their connections seem so "dead". It's because they not only lied about wanting to be involved, but they also don't believe in the ward, and are just playing around with things they don't understand. They were placeholders, until their charms could be passed on to people who weren't ready yet. 
 

My spirits confirmed that BB Witch is a liar, and GP's conversation with Viking came out, proving that the Viking simply does not care and just pays lip service (and is a bit afraid of me, which is sad). 
 

Nevertheless, even with their lack of connection, the ward has held. No one at the store has gotten the virus. For a shop right next to the airport, where everyone from the Lower 48 comes (they don't enforce quarantine here, and customers hardly wear masks), that's pretty amazing. 
 

As for what to do with BB Witch and the Viking's charms, GP suggested my friend(BB Bat) take BB Witch's. She knows about the ward and has started her Path recently. He's also in love with her which may or may not have influenced his suggestion, so I asked my ancestors and they said "she must be ready. It must happen soon."
 

They also suggested someone else to carry the Viking's charm, but as for that one... I don't know. I ask him for protection when I have to check on the ward, through our shared psychic connection, but we hardly ever speak to one another. Yet he hears me, for on those days he always is around me, as though by his presence he is protecting me from unseen dangers (that's his mundane job, to top it off, lol). 
 

Where to go from here? Well, who can say? All I know is that this is the reason I was meant to stay at the store, and that since leaving my ex the unseen has come to my aid more times than I can count. And I have paid it back, by becoming the witch I was always supposed to be. 
 

Somewhere in the past, time loops. The me that came before, she did a ward like this one. But I don't think she had enough help. I think she died, trying to hold back the dark all alone.