First Magic by Jenny Schwartz

Author:Jenny Schwartz
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The evening following Rory’s departure to Alaska, Istvan translocated in and gave me a lesson in magic before dinner. It was a multi-purpose visit. He was checking in on how I was holding together, teaching me as promised, and demonstrating for anyone who was interested—and had somehow missed his previous indulgent care—that he was invested in my well-being. His clerks also had verbal reports for him and he requested a meeting with Bataar.

But first, my magic lesson.

Mage lamps lit his office as he began. “Magic is the collective ‘What if…?’ of all the unused possibilities in the universe.” He held up a glossy black paw. “Which I know sounds like gibberish, but consider gravity. You don’t need to understand how gravity works for you to remain safely on the ground and not float away. Magic is the same. You don’t need to understand the theory of it to use it, not in the beginning.”

“All right.”

Once he had my agreement, he continued. “People with a small amount of magic mostly expend it instinctively to reinforce a shield around themselves. This is similar to the shield around worlds. It reinforces who a person—or a world—is. It bars outside influences from reshaping the person.”

“You can do that? You can turn someone into a toad?”

He clacked his beak, disgusted. “Why would anyone want to do that?”

“I don’t know. It’s what witches did in the old human fairy tales.”

He shook out his wings. “Technically, it is possible. There is a spectrum for how people can change, from different thoughts to different emotions, and finally, to different bodies. A person’s shield tends to be strongest over the mind and heart.”

“So, it’s like an aura?”

“My understanding is that the human idea of an aura is an inwardly generated outward sign of their state of being.”

“Ye-es? I never believed in hocus pocus things before the apocalypse.”

Istvan nodded. “Forget auras. The important—”

Another thought struck me, one urgent enough that I interrupted. “You said it’s a shield! If the other human familiars vowed their magic to magicians who failed to leave them enough to maintain…their…shields…” I slowed down at his patient, pitying regard. “You’ve already considered the possibility?”

“Indeed. Nora.” He coughed. “Nora double-checked the human familiars’ shields. They were all in place, as robust as any other human’s.”

My eyes widened. “All humans have shields?”

“Yes.”

“So we all have magic!”

He shuffled his paws. “Animals have shields. Trees have shields. They are a naturally occurring magical construct.”

“Oh. Sorry. Go on.”

Amusement lightened his voice. “You are as curious as any fledgling. I prefer that you question me than hug onto false conclusions.”

“I will.”

“Once magic users have strengthened their shield, their next instinctive step is to channel magic into acquiring what they most desire. If I was teaching griffin fledglings, at this point they would attempt to summon food, breathe fire or otherwise test my patience.”

I grinned. “Which is why you refused to teach them. I promise not to breathe fire.”

A harrumph greeted my humor. “The small magics of goblins are a good example of this stage of magic use.

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