New Magick
By: Toni Thiel (Moonfire) & Samantha Schacht (Vaia Nyera)

Chapter 1: A Daily Ride
The day was bright and promising when the two girls set out for their ride through the woods. The skies were a clear, sparkling aqua and the precious light of the sun was only shadowed by the passing trees, who were just budding with waxy, green leaves.
The seemingly younger of the two followed in her partner's wake, the gray dappled mare she was given earlier trotting playfully about, giving no regard to her rider's inexperience. The girl muttered gently at the mare's ears, somewhat amused as they cocked backward at her in reply.
The "elder" of the two flowed flawlessly with the almost pure white horse she was riding, admiring the ancient beauty of the woods. She stared in silence at the perfection of the beautiful flowers growing in the small patches of sunlight as they trotted down the path. It was her who broke the light and airy silence between them.
"Look there, Sophi." She gestured to the side of the path, along a bed of flowers. "Look at those snowdrops. I've never seen them here in America, before."
"Mm?" The other blinked and looked to where her friend was pointing. "Where have you seen them before then, Tanja?"
"Actually, I've never really seen them outside of where I lived in Europe," she responded in the lovely accent that Sophi so adored as she pulled her long, wavy locks of red hair out of the reach of a low-hanging branch.
Sophi simply passed under the branch, sighing a bit as she looked over her friend's long hair. Another thing she envied of her were her beautifully wavy locks of hair that were colored such a deep shade of red they seemed to be black, that is, if it wasn't for the dark red shine that the light reflected off it.
Tanja glanced back to Sophi as she passed easily under the branch, an attribute Tanja herself envied Sophi for at times like this. It wasn't always easy being a massive 5 foot 10 inches, compared to the small 5 foot 3 inches that Sophi had. Yet, where Sophi lacked in height she made up in energy, rather unfortunately at times.
"Hey, look over there!" Tanja called out behind her, slowing her fair-tempered ride to a halt. "There's a break in the trees," she paused and pointed to the side as Sophi brought the semi-unruly mare up beside her, every hair on end.
"Huh, isn't it usually there?" She responded, giving a poor attempt at lifting a brow. "I mean, clearings don't spring up overnight," she snickered a bit. "That is, unless--let's say, Vanyel has decided not only that he should come to life, but also give up the lovely Forest of Sorrows for tropical Minnesota!" She laughed, yelping once as her mare danced to the side, making her clutch the pommel with white knuckles and red-tipped fingers.
"Oh, would we be so lucky for such a miracle?" Tanja replied dramatically, putting more flair into her English accent. "We both know there are no heart-stopping beauties like Vanyel here. Not even an attractive man like 'Lendel-Stefen." She sighed in mock-despair at the harsh realization, Sophi following her example. "But, as far as this clearing, I've never seen it from the other side of the river," Tanja concluded, giving her white beauty a slight nudge, a gesture to move toward the clearing. Sophi struggled to follow behind her once again, in a zigzag sort of manner.
The full light of the noon sun shined down on the deep green grass (which the dappled mare tore at immediately, Sophi clutching the pommel in one hand, the reins in the other as she cursed under her breath). A sparrow trilled loudly across the clearing in some budding young oak's branched; bringing the two out of the trance the lovely surroundings had on them, only to stare, wide-eyed in Sophi's case, into the mouth of a cave.
"What do you suppose that is?" Sophi murmured, brushing rogue strands of dull, nondescript brown hair out of her eyes. "I mean, besides the fact that it's a cave," she shot a sidelong glance to Tanja, who edged her reluctant ride up near it, the very words of plain patronizm on the tip of her tongue.
"Well, if you mean 'Where does it lead', your guess is as good as mine is," Tanja half shouted back. "I believe I can see a light on the other side, though," She sat up straight now, throwing her hair behind one shoulder. "This is the only hill around here, all the other land is very flat. No harm in finding out where it goes."
Tanja's companion grinned and nodded once, "Oh no, of course not."
"I agree. Come on, the suspense is killing me!" Tanja exclaimed, nudging the horse ahead. "Who knows," she added with a light chuckle. "We might find Firesong or even Vanyel himself on the other side!"
Sophi struggled along with the dappled mare and giggled in her best girlish manner, "Alright, but I call Firesong!" They both erupted in laughter.