An example of my rules of magic, with Wyla Prenward

My this year's summer project is a story about magic, and wizards, and witchcraft, and a whole lot of such things. It ended up spawning all those dry long blog posts about magical rules and how I thought things should be done - I just had to get the assorted ideas down somewhere, I guess. So I think it'd be just appropriate to carry on with the theme and also fish a practical example out of the story.



Wyla Prenward, aged fourteen, lives on a farm in Hightower with her brothers and sisters, six of them older than her, and then aunts and uncles, six of them from her mother's side. This is probably why she can talk to birds - with a bit of awkward consequences, on account of a lot of that stuff being unsuitable for a toddler's ears. Then over the coming years she picks up more witchcraft, almost entirely related to farm work - on the insistence of her mother, who isn't very happy about this stuff in general. It was neither from books, like with Melker, nor by selling her soul or making deals with evil things, like with Rime: she just lives her life, tries to figure things out, and the world around her will give her the answers. She's got talent: magic is in her blood.

So she knows how to plant and harvest stuff, how to fix broken things, how to tell weather, how to take care of animals, how to butcher them for meat, cooking, sewing, milling, and all other such things. She actually has absolutely no idea how to do most of these without magic: she just casts the spells, sings the songs and does the handiwork, and her heart will tell her what to do. It's basically shortcuts, and the very subtle sort: if you're not paying attention, you could well imagine that no magic is used at all, and that she's just really good at this stuff. But she's yet unsatisfied, and always on the lookout for more magic, more power, more fame.

That's rules one and four, in case you weren't counting.

Rule two - she's the only witch anyone around the area knows about, and the only fantastic fairytale element for that matter. She's discontent because her family - according to her at least - takes her skill for granted and aren't showering her in enough praise; and the folk of a nearby village just think she's the child of a demon or some shit and would be happy to see her gone forever. None of them really understand her, she feels. As such she is driven to step beyond the borders, to the fantastic and the unknown, where she discovers a whole new world of magic and adventure. That's when it gets weird for her.

And the rule three? Oh, that doesn't seem like much for her: all she thinks it does, the magic, is make her a little tired. She basically equates it to a quick jog around the woods or something else exhausting but satisfying. And for that matter, she's firmly on the opinion that there's no reason to not use magic to solve a problem if you can: why do something the boring and inadequate mundane way, when a little bit of sorcery will deal with it faster and more convenient?
She will know better by the end of this.

Oh, and Peal is there too. You can see him in the picture above as well, after all. This entire adventure takes place a good thirty years after The Straggler's Mask: by this time he's fully become a part of the land of adventure, the very opposite of mundane. He's basically there to make sure Wyla doesn't get into too much trouble.
He will fail.

Also, a couple talking bird buddies. The fowl in her hands is named Acapon. Think about that for a moment.

On the whole, I have a fairly good feeling about this story. There's a girl with too much magic and too little maturity, a realm of adventure and fantasy outside the world of the known, a mentor, and a whole bucketful of harsh lessons to come. We'll see if she can keep up with that cheerful smile of hers.

(Picture credit: Rebecca Tasic)