As the class eases into reflection and discussion, the soft, mingled harmonies of the banjo, harp, and violin began to dim. What had briefly bloomed into a surprisingly joyful symphony now gently unraveles. The trio of auroras, once weaving color and sound like ribbon in water, fade one by one, their luminous wisps retreating like sunlight at dusk. First the harp’s warm glow blinks out, then the banjo’s crisp sparkle wanes, and finally the violin’s tender thread dissolves into silence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
PhoenixRising 
Nothing happened. She was a failure. Hearing the hums swirling around her, Kara tried to fixate on what she might have been doing wrong. It was Burbage's words that she fixated on as well - memory and emotion. She'd forgotten to concentrate on any particular memory. Which should have made sense to think about a memory considering it was literally RIGHT THERE IN THE incantation.
How had she forgotten that crucial step was a wonder. With the memory of her mother pointing out the big dipper still fresh in her mind, she fixated and concentrated on that memory of when she was maybe 6 or 7 years old ... "Meh-mor-eye loo-sen-tee-ah," and another strum of the ukulele string.
Hopefully something would happen this time to at least give an inkling if she was on the right track. Unless she'd gone completely astray with her pronunciation.
There IS a flicker this time.
Not much—barely a glimmer, really—but something delicate and brief stirs at the edge of your ukulele's string. It isn’t quite light and it isn’t exactly sound. It’s more like the shape of a thought you haven’t fully finished having. The memory you hold has been recalled factually, like a note scribbled in the margin of an old textbook.
Magic like this doesn’t respond to fact alone. It asks for memory, yes, but more than that, it needs emotion. Awe. Warmth. Fear. Delight. Longing. Without that pulse of feeling, the spell only stirs faintly before dissolving like breath against glass.
Still, faint or not, something answers you... and that means you’re on the right path.