Chapter 4.5 Finding Their Way

The very next morning Lyric came down to breakfast with a list of activities that she was eager to try.  Hopefully something from the list will help Lyric unlock the mystery of her amazing talent. More important though, with that discovery comes the feeling of being someone special that she so desperately craved. 

And to their credit, Mira and Lincoln were supportive and willing to try almost anything. 

Lyric started out with trying various musical instruments.  Piano was the first instrument she attempted to master, but it wasn’t the last.  She also tried the guitar, the flute, even the thermin.  She would take a few lessons, but then move on to the next.  Because Lyric wasn’t naturally gifted in the same way that Lincoln was, she easily got discouraged and quickly gave up. 

Next, Lyric tried singing.  This had to be Harmony’s least favorite of all of her sister’s endeavors. Despite Lyric’s musical name, she was not musically talented.  Even though singing was not her strong suit, Lyric was more determined to not give up so easily.  She practiced her singing every where that she could; much to Harmony’s irritation. 

“She sounds like a banshee’s screeching remixed with someone scratching their nails down a chalkboard!” Harmony would complain to her father.

“We have to be encouraging.” was Lincoln’s only response, even though he too was starting to get tired of the constant racket.

To which Harmony would reply. “But, that is exactly what I am doing. I am encouraging her to do something else!”

So as it turns out, Lyric’s talent wasn’t musical.  That’s okay; there is no reason to be discouraged.  Lyric was content to continue making her way down the list.

The next set of activities on the list were various sports for Lyric to try.  This was more towards her liking.  She tried playing soccer and volleyball in the spring time, and snowboarding and ice hockey in the winter.  And she liked these sports, all the different ones.  Lyric enjoyed being part of a team, and made many new friends. 

However, much to Lyric’s dismay, she wasn’t exceptional at any of the sports.  She wasn’t the star athlete of the team; not even close.  It was nothing to say that this was Lyric’s special talent.  Honestly, Lyric’s favorite part of being on the team was standing on the sidelines and cheering for her teammates.

The problem was that Lyric had set the bar way too high for herself.  In her mind it was either perfection or failure. 

She wasn’t ready to give up; she really truly believed that there was something out there that made her special. 

But until she discovered her special talent, Lyric would have to be content with being mediocre. 

Then there was Harmony.  She didn’t feel the need to try different things.  She knew that she was so magically powerful that others were in awe of her talent.  However, at this moment she didn’t feel very special. 

She was training with Master Aberdeen, and it wasn’t going very well.  They had gone deep in the woods to a site that boasts very strong supernatural energy in the hopes that Harmony could learn to transform the world around them. 

Transforming objects was a fairly basic magical spell that any witch and wizard should know.  At her age, and with her exceptional power, Harmony should be able to transform virtually anything into anything else.  But because of her overly emotional state, none of her spells ever stuck.  Which is why they were in the woods; hopefully the added supernatural energy around them will help Harmony.

Master Aberdeen created a dome of protection around them (something he had learned was a must around a volatile spell caster such as Harmony).  Then Harmony began to cast spells to transform the forest into a world of fantasy.  She successfully changed the flowers into giant lollipops.  At this she started to get excited.  Next, the grass at her feet changed from green to red (her favorite color).  And she got even more excited.  This was taking a lot of energy, but Harmony was up for the task.  Harmony started to feel ambitious and attempted to change the lake water into a giant tub of cotton candy.  It was working, and again Harmony got excited.  A little too excited.  Her over emotional feelings were starting to cause the newly transformed items to shake.

“Steady yourself.” Master Aberdeen instructed. 

But it was too late.  Harmony’s over excitement caused the spell to falter.  And before either of them could do anything to stop it, the entire dome, plus everything around them, popped like a fragile bubble. 

“oops” was all Harmony could say.

“Harmony, why can’t you steady yourself?” Master Aberdeen came off sounding harsher than he had intended, but after years of instructing Harmony to keep her emotions in check and having the consequences blow up in his face (literally) he was at his wit’s end.  “You believe that you will be my successor?  Well, not if you can’t exhibit some self restraint!”

Harmony didn’t know what to say.  What could she say?  Saying sorry just seemed hollow, like the word had no meaning.  She was so ashamed that she couldn’t even look Master Aberdeen in the eyes.

“Why don’t you practice sitting in silence and get yourself in check.” Master Aberdeen instructed.  “Maybe if you can show me that you can relax, we can try this again tomorrow.”

Harmony used her magic to create a chair out of a patch of grassy moss.  She needed to be comfortable for her meditation.  She closed her eyes and tried to relax by focusing on her breathing. 

Although, it is really hard to concentrate when there is so much noise around her.  Birds were singing.  Crickets were chirping.  Leaves crunched under the hooves of a deer as it walked along. 

“Silence!”

In her frustration Harmony let a blast of supernatural energy escape her body.  She was a detonated bomb, and everything within a three mile radius felt the impact.  It was stronger than she had intended, but it still had the desired effect of silencing the critters around her.

But now it is too quiet.

Discouraged by yet another outburst Harmony gave up on tying to meditate.  Not that would have helped her anyway.  Harmony was at war within herself.

Harmony was at a loss for what to do now.  She had once again disappointed Master Aberdeen.  He was her mentor; the greatest, wisest, most powerful wizard that had ever lived.  What he said was the gospel truth.  Yet, on the other hand, holding back her emotions has always felt unnatural to Harmony. 

Was she unable to unlock her full potential because she was holding back?  

No, that very thought was ridiculous.  Everyone knows that powerful magic can only be achieved through feelings of Zen.  Too much emotion one way or the other forces the magic out of balance, causing chaos to erupt. 

Harmony was determined to learn to force herself to hold back!  But should she really have to force herself?  Was magic supposed to be this hard?  It didn’t seem like it was hard for others, like Master Aberdeen or Mira. 

Why did Harmony struggle so much?

Was she over thinking everything? 

Was that why she couldn’t be consistent with her magic? 

But how long could she ignore that gnawing feeling telling her to not hold back anymore?

All of these questions consumed Harmony’s thoughts until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“I need to go for a walk.  Maybe that will help me clear my mind.”

It didn’t take long before Harmony realized that she was hopelessly lost. She should have been paying attention to where she was walking, but instead was distracted by the tug-of-war raging within.  At a loss for where to go, she stopped to assess the situation and her surroundings. 

These woods are not unfamiliar to the were-animals of Moonlight Falls.  Unfortunately, since it was not a full moon night, the chances of Harmony coming across one of those were-animals to help her were slim to none. 

She could probably conjure up a compass to help her. But it would be useless since she didn’t know how to read one anyway.  The were-animals didn’t need a compass either.  They had a 6th sense of direction; they instinctively knew where to go.  Harmony closed her eyes and concentrated; maybe she could tap into some sort of supernatural instincts of her own.  Sure enough, a gut feeling was telling her which way to she needed to go. 

Harmony began to walk in the direction that her instincts were telling her to take. And before long, Harmony spotted a gypsy camp not too far off in the distance.

“Somehow,” she thought out loud, “I know that is where I need to go.”