Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

28. Candle Lighting

The next day it was back to work for the Wibberly siblings. They had decided to sort through the massive pile of junk in the manor's attic for anything useful. The search had actually yielded results, to their surprise. Emma found a few rusted but serviceable daggers, Michael found a dusty but intact lantern and some candles to work it with, and Wilamena found a trunk of old clothes which she and Kate were going through.

"Why does the Countess own so many ball gowns but no winter coats?" Emma asked as her sister threw another dress to the side, looking for actually useful items like gloves.

"I don't know, but they're all so gaudy. She has terrible taste!" Wilamena declared.

"It's the Countess, she likes her finery," Kate grumbled, "that much is obvious."

The witch herself was not helping and instead had gone to find where the old portraits of herself had been put. Because if nothing else, the Countess was consistently vain.

"Oh, Kate, here we go! I found a pair of fur gloves. They're worn, but if we brush the dust off, they could be usable!" The elf princess exclaimed in delight.

Kate sighed, "great work, Wilamena. I think that's the only useful thing we're gonna find in this trunk."

"I think we've found everything useful that we could in the entire pile," Michael said, "the rest of it seems to be broken furniture and dust bunnies."

"Well what else are we gonna do? We can't just sit around! We have a world to protect and we have to be prepared," Emma declared.

Michael smiled, "glad to see someone is taking an interest in preparedness."

"Shut up," Emma snapped at him.

"Kids..." Kate warned them both, sounding more like an exhausted parent than an older sister.

"I have an idea," Rafe said, as he moved a chair back into the junk pile and out of the way.

"Which is?" Emma questioned.

"I could try and teach you all a bit of control. Over your magic I mean. I taught a lot of kids back before- back when I was with the savages. Maybe I can help teach you all," Rafe explained.

Michael and Emma exchanged glances. While they were both coming lo like Rafe (not that Emma would ever admit it) they still weren't quite sure about him. But they both really wanted to learn magic, and they saw the way Kate looked at Rafe trustingly, so they decided to give it a shot.

"That sounds like a good idea," Michael said. 

Emma grinned, "I wanna learn magic too."

Rafe smiled, "alright then. Michael, grab a few of those candles. I'll haul over a table so you can set them up on there."

Michael did as instructed and soon several candles were lined up on the sturdiest table-like piece of furniture (which was really a large wood chest) that Rafe could find. Rafe stood in front of the makeshift table, Michael and Emma on either side. Kate watched from behind them, and Wilamena took a seat on the floor to watch the lesson.

"Lighting a candle is one of the most basic things you can do with your magic, but it's a good indicator of the focus required to use the power within," Rafe said, "I'll demonstrate."

He pointed his finger at the candle and took a deep breath. A second later, a flame flickered to life, strong and bright. 

"You see? It's a quick burst of magic but magic nonetheless."

"How do you make it happen though?" Michael asked, getting excited, "what makes your magic light the candle."

"Well, you need to keep the thought of what you want to happen loosely in your mind so your magic can use said thought as a blueprint to shape the rules around you. But you don't want to focus too hard or get too in your head, otherwise you can lose the connection to your magic. Emotions, heart and soul, fuel your power. When using magic, you must keep them from getting too out of hand but cannot shut them out entirely. There's a line that must be walked, a balance that must be kept," Rafe explained.