A Daughter of Aslan

IV : Aslan's Young Sorcerer

The first few trips were filled with stories and laughter between the two. Between all the fun they had Mr. Tumnus also taught Elizabeth the basic knowledge of magic. Where it was first created and how to use magic. At first, it was all book work and studying before she was actually able to use it. Elizabeth hated this part most of all because she desired to learn how to use it instead of reading about it. Mr. Tumnus would not give in however and insisted it was for the best if she read about it first to first be able to understand the background of magic before getting into the sorcery of it. Although she was stubborn, Mr. Tumnus found that she was also very patient and a quick learner, able to pick up on things very fast and more often than not efficiently too.

Elizabeth also only went to the faun's once every other week. Since it took about a day's trip flying, she would spend one week at the faun's and the next back at the camp.

When the time came for Elizabeth to actually begin conjuring magic it didn't occur as easily as one would think. As frustrating as it was, she never even so much as produced a spark until about eight months of trying. Just sitting on the armchair focusing inside her for the raw energy to produce the spark, nothing came just like the eight months prior and Elizabeth began losing hope. "This is pointless!" She cried out in frustration. "I'm not making any progress, let alone producing anything!" She rose up from the armchair disappointed in herself and upset that she still hadn't been able to charm a single spark.

Mr. Tumnus sighed and rubbed his face. As much as he wanted to quit and say Elizabeth was right something was holding him back. But what if she really wasn't meant to produce magic as much as Aslan thought she could? Although, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but he had a feeling that this wasn't all Elizabeth was holding out to be. "Elizabeth, come back you have to keep trying."

"Why? We've been at this for hours, actually months even!" Elizabeth yelled from the far corner of the room as she sat in the corner with her knees up against her chest. "No matter what I seem to do it's not working anyways," she sighed as she placed her head on her knees looking at the ground.

She felt horrible. They had been at this for ages and she hasn't been able to show any progress. Aside from feeling like a failure, she felt like she was letting everyone down. Everyone back at the camp was counting on her, Aslan was counting on her to learn this magic, and it seemed like no matter what she did it just wasn't going to happen.

The faun felt almost as bad as she did. Unable to know if it was his teaching skills that were lacking or her skills, he felt they might be both to blame. He stood up from his chair and began walking over to her. "Elizabeth," he probed. "I understand that this might seem impossible, but you just have to trust me when I say that Aslan wouldn't want you to learn this if he didn't think you could do it."

Not looking up at him, Elizabeth continued to look at her feet. Mr. Tumnus sighed and walked right next to her and squatted beside her. "Do you really think Aslan, the most powerful being in all of Narnia, would want you to learn something that you couldn't even do?"

Elizabeth stopped in her sulking for a moment to look up at her friend for a moment before slowly shaking her head no.

Mr. Tumnus smiled at her and motioned a hand towards her. "Then why don't we try this one more time and prove him right."

Elizabeth seemed to think it over before giving the faun a smile before taking his hand and standing up. "Let's do this."

Going back to the fireplace and sitting down again in the chairs Mr. Tumnus looked at Elizabeth. "Now when you try this again, search for the energy inside you, feel the energy flowing through you. Once you find it, harness that raw energy in you and conjure it only into a spark in your hands. You don't need to focus on making a ton of sparks explode through you; all you need to do is make one single spark appear."