Lucille – or Lucy – Jenkins Pendragon sat in the flower meadow her mother and father so dearly loved and remembered the first time she had learnt how to wield magic. It had been in this very meadow. Her mother Sophie had stood at a distance, watching as Howl and Lucy practiced their magic together. Lucy had been dying for years to learn the practical side of magic, since she had spent years reading and writing about magic. Howl had finally given in and had accepted Lucy as an apprentice.
"Now Lucy, I want you to look inside yourself, just like you've read. We'll start with a simple shield spell. Calm your mind, slow down your breathing. Can you see that ball of floating mist? " Howl had paused to watch Lucy, and then resumed speaking when he saw her nod. "Good, reach into it and grasp a bit of the mist. Just a bit, though, too much or you'll exhaust yourself."
Lucy had timidly grabbed a thin line of the blue coloured mist and dragged it out. When she opened her eyes, she saw that her hands were holding a blue fire. She looked up at her father and saw him watching her proudly. Seeing a slight movement off to her side, Lucy had noticed Markl join her mother and saw he was watching her with the same pride her father had on his face.
Markl was eight years older than Lucy and by then was very far along in his magical studies. He'd been with the Pendragon family Lucy's whole life and Lucy had loved him dearly. When she was little she would follow him along like a little duckling, copying his every move, wanting to be just like him. All her mother would have to say was, "Markl eats his vegetables like a good boy so he can get big and strong. Don't you want to as well?" and straight away Lucy was digging into her vegetables, determined to be just like him.
Turning back to Howl Lucy watched as her father demonstrated how to form a shield. The fire had spread from his hands until it formed a barrier between him and Lucy. Once it was fully formed he had gestured for Lucy to try. Lucy had determinedly looked back down at her hands and concentrated, slowly making the fire grow, pushing it outwards from herself until she too had a shield surrounding her.
Lucy had whooped for joy, losing concentration immediately but not caring. "Did you see that Markl? I did it, I made a shield! Soon I'll be as good as you or daddy!" Lucy had shouted, jumping around the meadow. Howl, Sophie and Markl had laughed at her outburst.
"It was excellent, but you've got to keep trying to better than us!" Markl said.
"All right darling, that was great, but let's keep going," Howl said, and Lucy had nodded and moved back to stand in front of her father.