Myra and Anna gave Sharna directions to Beau’s house, and Sharna headed straight out. She thought it was a good idea to give the others space to process everything before speaking with them again.
Quinn was back hiding in her pocket again. Sharna didn't have a pocket on her shirt today so she was hiding in her front pants pocket. She wondered idly if she could add patch pockets to all her tops, so Quinn would always have somewhere to hide when they were out in the world.
Sharna suddenly remembered something she had been meaning to ask, Quinn? She spoke telepathically in case anyone was watching her, how do you manage to stay in my pocket when you don’t have a solid form?
I’m not really sure, replied Quinn slowly, I just think about being in your pocket and that's where I stay, it just works.
Sharna nodded, there were a lot of things in magic that worked even when they didn't make any sense.
It was another beautiful day. The sun was shining and was warm on her skin, and she could smell something sweet flowering as she headed out of their garden and down the narrow road.
Sharna still felt the pressure of her situation but the knot of tension lessened as she made her way towards Beau's house.
Sharna had only been walking for a couple of minutes when she heard someone singing. It was truly terrible. Screechy and out of tune, the singer sang with obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment. She fought the urge to cover her ears with her hands.
As Sharna got closer, she could see a small girl swinging on her front gate, kicking back off the fence with her eyes closed, belting out her song. Sharna thought she was about 10 or 11 and her tail and ears indicated that she was definitely a Catkin.
As though she heard Sharna's approach, the little girl stopped singing and opened her eyes.
“Hi! Are you Sharna?” She asked excitedly, jumping down from the gate and running up to Sharna, “I'm Amarli, Beau said you were coming to visit, we’ve been waiting for you!”
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Up close, Amarli’s resemblance to her brother was very strong. They had similar colouring and features, although Amarli’s were more feminine and pointed, but, unlike Beau’s green eyes, Amarli’s were a startling topaz.
“Hi Amarli,” said Sharna, smiling down at the girl, “I am Sharna, it's so nice to meet you. Are you Beau's sister?”
Amarli nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Sharna's hand, dragging her through the garden, towards the house.
“Wait, shouldn't we let them know I'm here first?” Sharna asked, stopping herself before they went through the front door.
“Mum said to bring you in as soon as you arrived!” Amarli tugged on Sharna’s hand and she reluctantly allowed herself to be pulled through the entryway into a cosy, brightly lit kitchen.
As they entered, Beau jumped up from the table, “Sharna, hi!” The other occupant of the room also stood and turned, welcoming, towards Sharna.
“Hi Sharna,” she smiled warmly, “my name is Adelia. I'm so pleased to meet you. We’re practically neighbours now. Beau has told me so very little about you. Now that I can see how pretty you are, I'm not surprised.” She raised her eyebrows at Beau mockingly.
Beau looked away nonchalantly, trying to avoid his mother's gaze and Sharna blushed.
“It's nice to meet you too,” Sharna said, “thank you for having me, I hope it’s okay that I’m here”.
Adelia gestured for Sharna and Amarli to join them at the table. Amarli took the seat beside Beau, leaning into him comfortably, and Sharna took the empty seat between her and Adelia. “Of course. Beau told me that you would like to learn about ward creation. I'm assuming your specialisation is image-manifestation?” Adelia asked, getting straight to business.
Sharna nodded.
“So,” Adelia pursed her lips and looked at Sharna thoughtfully. “The way that you will create a barrier is going to be fundamentally different from how we create barriers. As you know, our affinity is cleansing magic, so all magic that we perform is based on that foundation.”
Sharna nodded again, this was all stuff that she knew.
Adelia looked at Beau and then turned back to Sharna, “I know that Beau told you that we could teach you how to create your own wards. But please be aware that I haven't taught anyone with your affinity before, so I'm not sure how well this will work. But I can show you how it works for us. Amarli is going to join us for this lesson too, as she also needs to learn how to set up wards.” Adelia smiled at Amarli as the girl straightened herself up in her chair to show her seriousness.
“Thank you,” Sharna said earnestly, “I'm very grateful for your help. I’ve done some work in adapting magic to work with my own affinity before so I'm hopeful that I can make this work too.”
Adelia smiled and clapped her hands together with resolution, “that is a great attitude. Well then, let's get started.”
Adelia first went through a thorough explanation of what wards were. Sharna listened intently, asking questions when she needed further clarification, she had never focused on this area of magic before so there was a lot that was new to her.
Wards could work in several different ways, that was how they could be created by such a variety of disciplines, but the basic concept was very simple, a ward was just a barrier.
Adelia explained that before preparing the barrier, the creator had to select exactly what they wanted the barrier to do. It was not something that could be added or changed later. Sharna wondered at this, while she didn’t doubt that Adelia believed what she said, she had previously come to distrust blanket statements when it came to magic. She elected to keep this to herself however, to think about later, and kept listening to Adelia’s explanation.