"Magick happens when you step into who you truly are and embrace that which fulfills your soul."

― Dacha Avelin, Embracing Your Inner Witch: The Maiden's Guide to Old World Witchcraft

☽★☾

Brynn was woken bright and early the next morning by someone vigorously shaking her by the shoulders. She groaned as she sat up, arms already blocking her face in case whoever was shaking her tried to attack again.

"I'm up, I'm up," she muttered, feeling exhaustion from the previous day still clinging to every one of her limbs. Apparently time travel took a lot more energy than one would expect.

Brynn rubbed the sleep from her eyes, finally recognizing the face in front of her. It wasn't Joan, as she may have expected, but Elise. The young woman was grinning at her playfully from where she stood at the side of the bed. Her dirty blonde hair was so long that it practically hung into Brynn's face. 

"About time! Anyway, I was sent to wake you up. Moonfall wants to train you herself, and she wants to get going with it as soon as possible. She took a real risk when it came to defending you last night, you know," Elise continued to chatter as Brynn got out of bed ― which was an actual single bed that was in fairly good shape, though there were a few suspicious lumps here and there ― and slipped back into the clothes she had been given. Brynn only paid some attention to what Elise was saying; she was too busy making sure her pants were put on properly to think too much of it. "It was definitely a little... strange seeing her get so protective over a stranger like you."

Brynn straightened up as she heard the words, feeling something similar to paranoia strangling her stomach. "Strange? What do you mean by that? It's not anything I've done, right?"

Elise shook her head. "No. It's not your fault. Moonfall just never does this with new members. She usually lets them wait it out and join in on a mission when she feels they're ready. For her to immediately want you in on a rescue... it's just not like her, is all."

"I guess that makes sense. I'm not entirely sure why she'd want that." The auburn-haired girl replied, biting the inside of her cheek. But that wasn't entirely correct, was it? Brynn knew that, for whatever reason, she was meant to be here and help out. The tarot cards had told her that much. Joan was just taking the cards' advice and helping Brynn get into a position where she could be of help. That was all this was about. Right?

Elise shrugged, a polite smile on her lips once more. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't know. Not that it matters. I just wanted to let you know that it might not be smart to have Moonfall diving into battles for you again. If you want to gain respect of the rest of the members of our group, you're going to have to step up and defend yourself next time."

Brynn felt her cheeks growing hot. She felt embarrassed; she didn't want to be seen as someone who couldn't stand up for herself. "Of course. I didn't ask her to do that for me anyway." She took a breath to calm herself and forced a smile. "So where does Moonfall want to meet?"

☽★☾

"Took you long enough," Joan called from across the small courtyard. Brynn walked cautiously in her direction, confused as to why she would have wanted them to meet here of all places. Surely this place wasn't very hidden.

"I can promise you that it's only going to be us," the dark-haired young woman continued, seemingly sensing her confusion. "This is a closed courtyard, only entered from our group's hideout building and one other building that was abandoned years ago. We have frequent scouts always checking to confirm that no one else has moved in there. For now, we're all clear."

Brynn nodded; that explanation made sense. She tried her best not to trip over the uneven cobblestones as she made her way out of the shadows of the buildings and into the open square. It wasn't very big, since it wasn't made to be a main place of gathering. There was no evidence that any shops or houses had taken up the space in a long time. Except for a small canvas tent, which Joan had explained was set up specifically for them, the courtyard was completely empty.

"Now, then," Joan said, eyeing Brynn in a sideways gaze. "Let's begin with the basics. Do you know where magic comes from?"

"Um... I think it's something about recycling energy, right? Since energy can't be created or destroyed? Using the energy that can be found in the world around you."

Joan gave a single nod. "That's mostly correct. Magic is nothing more than manipulating the energy that can be found in the world around you. Most of the time, it's just about intention. If you intend for something to happen, and you're in the right mindset, it's most likely going to happen." A hint of a smile touched her lips. "And you've heard of witches having familiars? Well, those help with energy manipulation too, since their very presence seems to be connected to our energy. My familiar's an owl named Erebus. He's off sleeping right now, but I'm sure you'll see him around at some point."

She cleared her throat. "Anyway..." Joan shoved her hand into a hidden pocket of her pants and took a moment to fish around for something. Finally, she held up a small makeshift flag that had been made from a piece of cloth and a crooked stick.

"There's no breeze in this courtyard. It's pretty impossible, what with the buildings closing in on us on all four sides. But I want you to make this flag flap." She held the small flag out in front of her. It drooped pitifully down.

Brynn let out a laugh of disbelief. "Excuse me? That's it?"

"What's it?" Joan asked, head tilting slightly to the side like a curious dog.

"That's all you're going to tell me? You're not actually going to tell me how I'm supposed to do this? It's impossible."

The dark-haired young woman raised an eyebrow, settling her weight onto one hip as if she could stand there waiting all day. "You just told me yourself how magic works. If it's that simple, why don't you try it? You might as well give it a shot."

"No, you can't just... I can't just make wind appear out of nowhere. No one can do that." Brynn sputtered. She waved her hands out in front of her, palms up, trying to explain how impossible this was.

Joan just blinked. "Wrong."

Brynn paused, hands dropping to her sides. "Huh?"

"You're wrong. There's no can and can't with magic. It's not that you can either do it or you can't. It's whether you can picture what you're trying to do in your mind. Like I was saying with magic being about intent and mindset. If you keep this negative mindset and go all 'can't do it because it's impossible,' then nothing's going to happen. Why don't you try it with a more positive outlook? Just picture the flag doing what you want it to. What do you need it to do?" Joan continued. She was watching Brynn so intently that the auburn-haired girl itched with discomfort; she felt like she was being judged.

"I need it to flap, like there's a breeze," Brynn answered slowly. When Joan nodded and didn't offer any more commentary, she let out a soft sigh and moved her focus to the flag that the dark-haired woman held. I need it to move. I can picture it moving. She tried her best to imagine the flag doing as she told it to: rustling in a breeze, moving this way and that. She pictured the cloth piece filling with wind like a sail on the open ocean. She focused on the object for so long that she felt as if she would go cross-eyed. And still... nothing happened.

Brynn finally shook her head, blinking a few times to clear her mind. She let out an exasperated groan. "It's not working. I can't do it."

She watched as Joan bit thoughtfully at her lip, gaze on the ground as she considered her next words. "Listen, Vixen," Joan murmured. Her eyes cautiously darted up to meet Brynn's. "I don't mean to put so much pressure on you about this. I just figured it would be a good idea if you learned at least some basic magic, so you could understand enough to be able to react properly if something were to go wrong. Maybe this was a mistake."

"I want to help you and your group, Moonfall," Brynn responded immediately. "I've told you this already. I just... I don't understand how to do this. You told me to do something and yet I have no idea how to actually do it." She let out a laugh that sounded awfully pitiful, voice dropping in pitch as she uttered her next sentence. "I... I don't want to let you down."

Joan stiffened slightly. Brynn noticed surprise flicker into her eyes for a moment; she must not have expected to hear that. "You won't let me down. Not everyone can do magic, you know. Half of our group has no clue how to. I just figured... It seems like you have so much potential for this kind of stuff. Don't ask me why, because I don't really know why I feel that. But I just do. I feel like, deep down, you can do this. You just need to get that in your mind. You don't have to be perfect. Accept your faults and believe in the good things. Sink into that feeling and just believe in yourself and what you're about to do."

Brynn let the words float around in her mind for a moment. "That... actually makes some sense, for whatever reason. I'll give it another go." She saw Joan smile out of the corner of her eye as she returned her gaze to the flag. The dark-haired girl held it up for her again, just below eye level. Brynn once more imagined the flag flapping as she wanted it to, but instead of leaving it at that, she pictured her own energy physically waving the flag around. She reluctantly acknowledged the parts of herself that weren't perfect -- like the fact that she could be rather petty at times -- and internally chanted positive affirmations to herself, taking pride in the things she admired about herself. As her mind fixed around these things that made up who she was, she tried to convince herself that there was a slight breeze coming through the courtyard and she built off of that, adding the buzzing she felt in her fingertips into the mix, as if stirring sugar into a cake mix. Brynn didn't let herself think of anything else other than that feeling.

After several long moments, the flag shifted. A couple of seconds later, it was flapping lightly from side to side. It wasn't nearly as smooth as the wind would have moved it, but it was moving. Brynn had just done that. Excitement spread through her at the thought.

"And that's how it's done," Joan whispered. The flag settled into stillness as Brynn lost focus. She expected to feel fatigued by what she had just done, and she was a little more tired than she had been before, but she felt surprisingly energized. Perhaps the adrenaline and triumph of her success had won out the exhaustion, at least for now.

Neither Brynn nor Joan spoke for a moment, and then the dark-haired young woman gave a nod of approval. She didn't move to hug her or shake or hand, or anything else that might have shown she was proud of Brynn, but the small movement was enough. She settled into that relaxed feeling of victory, savoring it for as long as it lasted.

"I think you're ready for tonight," Joan finally told her, after a few more minutes had passed in contented silence.

"I think I am, too," Brynn agreed.