Sharna watched Myra, Eliza, Gabby and Gogo all take their turns with the image-manifestation. They all used very similar movements and melodies. She followed their basic movements with her hands and found them to be satisfactory but clunky, awkward.
She compared the finished work and noted that they seemed identical and flawless.
“Did you and Myra teach all the others their movements?” she asked softly, leaning in towards Anna who was standing beside her.
“Yes, they all came to us with much less training than you have had,” Anna replied quietly, “Eliza’s training was the furthest along, but they had rushed her so we had to work with her to correct a couple of her techniques that she had been having trouble with.”
Gogo had been listening in, and now asked Sharna intensely, “have you already had training? Or was it just your grandma? Do you do it differently to us?”
Sharna almost stepped backwards from the effect of everyone’s attention suddenly focusing on her. She could feel herself immediately going red again, she wasn’t used to being the centre of attention.
Myra looked at Sharna with amusement, then took pity on her and answered instead, “Sharna’s grandmother was Evelyn Erikson.”
Eliza gasped audibly and looked at Sharna with shock, “but your surname isn’t Erikson, it’s Aabirah, Myra told us.”
Sharna looked down, twisting her hands together, “my mother was not very impressed with the way that my grandfather treated her when she wouldn’t tell him who my father was. So she changed her surname, and mine, to my grandmother’s maiden name.” Her grandmother had told her that her mother had almost died to her grandfather’s rage. He only repented when her mother died, but it was too late to reconcile. He passed away not long after, unable to rid himself of his lingering regret.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Eliza’s mouth was still open but Gabby and Gogo looked even more confused.
“My grandmother was the one who taught me how to use my magic, but she was an expert in the area of image-manifestation. My specialisation came from her line.” Sharna paused, Eliza had obviously heard of her grandmother so she felt she should expand a little for the others’ benefit.
“My grandmother was an extraordinary woman as I said, and was quite well-known. She was one of the founding members of The Pillars,” both Gogo and Gabby’s eyes widened in understanding, everyone in the kingdom knew of The Pillars. There were no corners that their work hadn’t reached and positively impacted, “and she was also instrumental in the promotion of equality and the individual’s rights in our kingdom. She was recently.. As I told you all last night, she recently died..” Sharna trailed off, unsure what else to say.
“So you’re like super good at this then?” Gogo asked, understanding. “Can we watch you try one?” she looked to Anna and Myra, “I know you said tomorrow but can’t she just have a go now?”
Myra and Anna exchanged a look. Myra turned to Sharna, “would you like to have a try today? No pressure, we’re happy for you to take your time to settle in.”
“Come on Sharna, please?” begged Gogo, batting her eyelashes at Sharna.
Sharna wasn’t sure what the best response was but “sure,” she said, smiling at Gogo, “I’ve been watching to learn the way you all work, so I’ll try that first.”
Gogo looked slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see something new, but still full of anticipation for Sharna’s attempt.
Sharna laid out another napkin piece and concentrated on the detailed drawings. She had no trouble flawlessly copying the movements and melody that the others had used. The same faint light formed under her hands, and the grape and vine border printed onto the napkin.
She had created a perfect replica of the other napkins, but she found the experience rather flat. Sharna could see Myra whispering something into Anna’s ear and thought it was probably related to her lack of interaction with the house’s wards.
Gogo and Eliza crowded her to pick up and inspect her work, while Gabby watched from a little further away. Sharna smiled and nodded absently as they chattered excitedly about her perfect execution on her initial effort. But Sharna felt herself disassociating. She wasn’t surprised that it had turned out well, but the magic felt like.. nothing.
Sharna looked down at her hands blankly, what a peculiar way to perform magic. Was this how people normally performed magic? There had been no warmth, or expansion of her mind to include everything around her, no depth. But she zeroed back in on her image, she had definitely performed some magic because the image was directly in front of her. But it was such an emotionless process.
Sharna felt overwhelmed with all the new information. She had a lot to think about, but she would have to wait to process until she had a quiet minute again and could discuss this further with Quinn.