Trust in Magic

Chapter 4- the First Lesson

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Half an hour later, Leigh, Allan and Caitlyn were assembled again in the living room. Zafrir was already waiting for them and, to Caitlyn's relief, had put on a shirt. Alexia was nowhere to be seen. "We won't be holding the lessons in here," Zafrir said, looking at Leigh, who had just seated himself on the sofa. Leigh sighed and got to his feet again. "I'll take you to our classroom." The classroom was little more than a large shed, built just behind the main house. An old, dusty window filtered some light into the room, and a rickety chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling gave off a warm glow. On the far wall of the hut hung a blackboard, covered in chalky sketches. Alexia was in the process of wiping it clean, but stopped what she was doing as Zafrir and the Apprentices entered. "Please take a seat," Alexia said, waving at the worn chairs and sofas that had been arranged in a semi-circle around the blackboard. "I'm really sorry about all the dust- no one's been up here for several months. I was going to give this place a clean first, but Zafrir and I decided it would be for the best to start your training as soon as possible." While the others sat down, Alexia turned back to the blackboard and continued to wipe at it with a damp cloth. When she was satisfied with her work, she put down the cloth and wrote the words "The Elements" with a piece of chalk.
    "To begin with, we're going to look at a bit of magic theory," Alexia announced. There was an silent, but entirely tangible groan at her words. Alexia smiled slightly at the collective reaction. "You may find it boring, but theory is very important," she explained. "How are you going to learn to control magic when you don't understand it?"
    "But we've managed to control our first element without theory," Caitlyn protested. She absolutely despised magic theory. Her parents had forced her to take classes, but it hadn't improved her abilities. It's a complete waste of time, Caitlyn huffed. Alexia seemed to be at a loss.
    "Good argument," Zafrir spoke up instead of Alexia. "But this is how we do things up here. First we look at the theory, then we put it into practice." Caitlyn humphed and leaned back in her chair. At least Zafrir's back to his old self, she thought.
    "Yes, thank you Zafrir," Alexia said, giving Zafrir a sharp look. "Anyways, let's begin: can anyone tell me what the elements are?" Leigh's hand shot up. "Leigh, I'll say it again: you really don't need to raise your hand when you want to say something."
    "Oh but I like this school theme you got going on here," Leigh grinned. "Takes me back to the good old days, 'ey Allan?"
    "I didn't even know you existed a week ago," Allan frowned. "I have no idea what kind of "good old days" you're talking about." Before Leigh could move further along a tangent, Alexia cleared her throat.
    "Would you mind answering the initial question, Leigh?" She asked. "I'm afraid we're a little short on time." She gave Zafrir a conspicuous look.
    "Oh right- the elements. Wasn't it fire, water, earth, air, ice and electricity?"
    "You're partly right," Alexia said, sounding triumphant. It was evident that she had been hoping someone would make this mistake. "There are many different opinions about which and how many elements exits. I like to think that there are five basic elements: water..." Alexia paused while she wrote it on the blackboard. "earth... air... fire and energy. You can combine several elements to create sub-elements. For example: you could make the sub-element mud with earth and water."
    "But then what about ice?" Allan asked, puzzled. "Ice is commonly used as a person's preferential element."
    "Yes, there are people who seem to have mastered the ice element before any of the other elements," Alexia agreed. "But in those cases, they're just using two elements simultaneously without knowing it."
    "So which of the basic elements would you use to make the element ice?" Allan asked. He had always wanted to master the ice element.
    "Well, water is the basic element needed to make ice, unless there is water already present." Alexia explained. "Your preferential element is water, isn't it?" Allan nodded. "So you have two options: the easier and more commonly used option is to combine water with wind. The wind can cool the water to such an extent that it freezes. A more difficult option is to combine water with fire."
    "What? No!" Leigh exclaimed. The rest of the room glared at him. "Oh, sorry. That wasn't supposed to sound sarcastic." Leigh grinned sheepishly.
    "Anyways..." Alexia continued. "The theory behind the using the fire element for making ice is quite easy to follow. Fire generates heat. When you have complete control over the fire element, you can create heat without fire. Heat, like ice and mud, is a sub-element. When using the fire element, you can dispel fire as well as generate it, so it is quite similar with heat- you can take the heat from an object and thus freeze it."
    Allan nodded. He understood the logic Alexia had used, but a small part of him was still doubtful. Whenever he wanted to use his water element, he would have to focus on a lake, a stream or a storm. Only by picturing something wet, was he able to transfer his magic into the water. He needed to feel the water around him to understand how he could make it do what he wanted. How could you feel the heat of fire and use it to freeze?
    "Can you freeze water using the fire element?" Allan asked. Alexia looked surprised at the question.
    "Well..." she began carefully. "I said the theory was easy to follow, but... in practice, it is a lot harder. So in short: no. I can't freeze using the fire element."
    "Has anyone actually managed to freeze something using the fire element?" Caitlyn asked. She was as doubtful as Allan was. Alexia hesitated, then glanced at Zafrir.
    "No way..." Leigh muttered. "Zafrir can freeze with fire?"