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“Oh, Desmond’s going to love that,” Claire laughed and cupped Puck’s face, squishing his cheeks until he let out a squawk and batted her hands playfully.
“Why don’t you practice that now? Focus on your connection and form it into a net over your magic. Once that’s done, use your magic.”
“Use my magic to do what?”
Greta looked around the great room of the Elder Tree and then pointed at a brown couch. “I’ve been meaning to have Toan move that to the otherside of the room.” She pointed to a space about twenty feet away. “Use your air magic to move it once you have the net cast.”
Claire nodded and then focused on Puck. Even though she didn’t need to, she sank her fingers into the soft fur on his back and chest and dropped into her magic center, finding his magic easily and following it back to their bond. He felt light and playful in their connection but also had a warm trust in her which caused warmth to bloom in Claire’s chest. Her familiar had no doubts about who Claire was and what she could do. She wished she felt the same but pressed her forehead into his for a brief moment in thanks before returning to the task at hand.
She pulled on their connection, weaving it into a net with large loops over her magic. She layered each thread across the swirling mass. She could feel the bindings her mother had placed over her magic still. They looked like a fraying dome with brighter pockets as her magic struggled to burst free, beating against the bindings in frustration. As she weaved Puck’s connection over her magic, she tried to soothe it, letting it know she would use it soon. As soon as she knew she could control it.
Maybe she was crazy but it felt like her magic settled slightly at her soothing thoughts. When she was done, she opened her eyes, careful not to drop her hold on the net. Puck brushed his cheek against hers, letting her know he would help hold it. She drew the air rune carefully, pulling her magic up and sending it in as she formed the intention to move the couch to Greta’s designated spot.
The magic left her in a woosh before Clare realized something was wrong and she watched in horror as the couch slammed into the far wall of the tree snapping in half as the tree’s trunk stood firm under the assault.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried, feeling awful as her cheeks burned in mortification. She had broken the Elder’s couch! She couldn’t even manage that simple task. What in the Realm was wrong with her?
Greta let out a laugh, practically folding in half in her chair as she did so. “It’s okay, princess. I had a feeling this would happen on your first attempt and truthfully I’ve hated that couch for decades but the other Elders never let me get rid of it.” She practically wheezed with laughter, barely getting the words out.
Claire just stared at Greta, struggling to comprehend the Elder’s words as the mortification faded. “You’re not mad?” she asked dumbly.
“Oh no.” Greta wiped the tears away from under her eyes with her bony fingers. “You did me a favor. Toan will get rid of it.”
Now Claire was back to feeling bad that her uncle was going to have to clean up a mess she made. She shifted Puck out of her lap and scrambled to her feet, crossing over to where the couch laid in broken pieces. She knelt and began collecting the pieces of broken wood.
“Walk me through what you did?” Claire looked over her shoulder to see Greta had followed her over to this side of the tree, leaning against her walking stick as she asked the question.
Claire turned back to the mess and sighed. “I don’t understand what happened. I did exactly what you said. I focused on my connection with Puck. I made a net with the connection and then I used the magic. I thought everything was under control until it wasn’t.” She gestured despondently at the mess in front of her.
“Make the net smaller.” Greta’s response was simple. “Go ahead and do that now.”
Claire wanted to clean up the mess she made but she listened to Greta, placing the broken pieces she had gathered in front of her. Puck pressed up against her side again and Claire repeated her earlier process. This time she laid the threads of their connection over her magic even tighter, until the net over her center looked less like a net and more like a knitted hat.
“Okay. Now what?”
“Now to clean up the mess, burn the broken pieces.” Greta gestured with her walking stick towards the couch in front of Claire.
Claire was shocked Greta would even suggest such a thing. Hadn’t she seen what happened last time? She could ask for a spark and the whole tree could burn down around them.
“What if I burn the tree down instead?”
“Don’t do that.” Greta shrugged.
Claire’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.Don’t do that.That was her only advice?
When Claire hesitated longer, Greta smacked her on the back of her leg with her walking stick lightly. Claire still jumped anyway. “Go on, young princess. Get to it. Clean up the mess you made and don’t burn my tree down.”
Claire turned her wide eyes back to the broken couch. How in the Realm was she going to manage this? She wanted to refuse but she was going to get no mercy from Greta it seemed. She would just have to burn the broken couch and nothing else.
She took a breath and when that did nothing to calm her racing heart, she took another one. She breathed until her heart rate returned to a more normal level. No use letting her magic sense her panic and reacting off of that. Once she felt more level, she buried one hand into the soft fur on Puck’s back, feeling him purr under her touch. The vibration soothed her further and she focused intently on letting the smallest strand of magic she could pull from her center and feed into the fire rune she traced with her other hand.
She fed the rune slowly this time, keeping her eyes open so she could react faster if anything went wrong. Once the rune was ready, she pushed it into the broken couch slowly, keeping an intent focus on only burning the couch and nothing else around it.
The couch caught fire almost instantly and Claire jumped. Puck purred louder and tugged on their bond, providing a steady catch to her magic as it strained against the net. The fire flamed brighter for a second and Claire’s breath caught before it leveled out and burned steadily. Once the broken couch was nothing but ash, Claire called the magic back out of the rune and the fire extinguished.
“Nice job, young princess,” Greta said. “I think that’s enough for today.”
Claire sagged briefly, the effort it took to control her magic to that small burn had her muscles aching. She straightened and got to her feet, thanking Greta automatically as she headed for the door. Puck jumped and chirped in front of her and he leapt out the door as soon as Claire opened it.
