Amanda slowly, carefully put one foot forward in front of the other. It was difficult as there was so much snow in the way. She wished she was tall like her daddy, if she was she could just walk through it and it wouldn’t be a problem. At that thought she found herself watching her father. He was tall enough to do just as she had thought. Yet the snow was just melting all around him like it did when they put snow in the cauldron.

She hadn’t ever thought about it before, but it seemed particularly unfair, as unfair as her father was when he told her it was time to go to bed, but he stayed up. Or when he tickled her and wouldn’t stop. He turned then, and noticed her eyes on him.

Her father was a reasonably tall man, around six feet. His silver hair was always short, Amanda had no idea how he managed that, it was like it didn’t even grow. His blue eyes found her, and met her gaze. “Something wrong?” He asked with a smile.

Amanda took another step, and half climbed, and half swam in the snow. “How come it's not melting like it does for you?” She asked, voicing her thought out loud, her tone reflecting her own opinion on the matter.

“Hmm… Well that's fairly obvious, because I’m a magus, and you’re just a little girl.” He replied in good humor.

“I’ll be a magus then!” She proclaimed, forcing her foot into the depths of the snow once again. This time the snow went up her pants leg, and it was quite chilly. But she bared with it, forcing her way out further.

“I’m afraid it's not that easy.” Her father replied.

“How come?” Amanda asked, it was easy to walk, it was easy to fill up a bucket, why wasn’t this so easy?

“You know how you don’t like to practice your letters?” He asked.

Amanda frowned back at him, “What's that gotta do with a magus?”

“It's like that, you have to study, and learn lots of things, you don’t just announce that you're a magus, and that's it.” He explained.

Amanda considered that, she really didn’t like the letters, but she couldn’t quite accept that whatever a magus was anything like that, even if her father said so. So she replied, “I don’t believe you!”

“How come?” Her father asked easily.

“Cause, you don’t do anything with chalk slates.” Amanda stated, pointing out the clear difference.

“True, but I know my letters too.” He rebuked.

Amanda opened her mouth to deny it. Yet there was no obvious thing to say back. He did know his letters, or else how could he teach her? She took a few more steps through the snow as her father watched, while she did she tried to come up with some way to prove he was lying. Coming to a stop, she spoke, the words coming to her as she went, “But you're not doing anything like letters! You are just walking.” She said, though it mostly sounded like a complaint.

“While it's not quite like letters, I am doing something you just can’t see.” Her father explained.

“How come?” Amanda demanded, “That's not fair!” she complained.

“Well, it's because you don’t know how to.” He offered.

“How come?” She continued to demand.

He chuckled, “Pretty simple really, I haven't taught you how.”

“Then teach me.” Amanda said trying to stand tall, awkwardly, and giving him her best determined face.

He considered, “I’m not sure that's a good idea, you are still a little girl, and this sort of thing can be somewhat dangerous.”

“How can seeing be dangerous?” Amanda asked, halfway curious, and half demanding an explanation. Going off into the woods was dangerous, but staring at the woods, that was just silly.

Once more, he considered his answer, this time even scratching at the stubble on his chin. “Well, the seeing part isn’t really the problem… exactly.” He said looking back at their house.

“Seeing can’t be dangerous.” Amanda said, pretty sure she was right. The way he was avoiding the answer basically confirmed it in her eyes. “So you should teach me. Then I can see what you’re doing, and I can do it too. Then I’ll be a magus.” She said nodding her head along at her perfect explanation, it was simple undeniable facts.

Her father laughed, “Honestly, when you put it like that it sounds easy, huh?”

Amanda nodded vigorously. Exactly, it was easy. She climbed through the snow until she reached the melted path her father had made. She tripped in the process of climbing free of the dense powder, her hands catching on the brown grass and dirt. But finally free of the snow, she stood proud of her effort.

“It's pretty deep huh?” He asked.

Amanda nodded, but continued watching him intently not wanting him to distract her like he often did.

Moments trickled past, but Amanda kept staring at him, she wanted to know what he was doing, and if she kept on staring he would eventually tell her, or show her. It's what he did, she usually got to stay up way later if she asked lots of questions. So she liked asking questions, cause she didn’t like going to bed. Maybe she would have even more questions to ask now when it was bedtime, if he would just start talking.

Her father sighed, “You really want to give it a try, eh? Well I suppose teaching you aura sight wouldn’t technically hurt.”

“What's a ‘technically’?” Amanda asked before she could stop herself.

To her surprise however her father replied, “I’m just saying you’re right, in a sense.”

“I’m just right. Not in scents, what's my nose got to do with it?” Amanda asked, getting caught up on the words.

He just shook his head, “Forget all that. I’ll teach you, but it's gonna take a while.”

“How come?” Amanda asked.

“Cause it does. But you asked to learn it, so no complaining, alright?” Her father asked, now using his stern voice.

Amanda looked everywhere but her father, shifting back and forth. She didn’t like when he used that voice, it was the voice that told her she wasn’t going to like it. But yet she really wanted to see what he was doing. She was stuck, not sure if she should just forget the whole thing. Yet she couldn’t help but stare at the melted snow. Besides it was cold, and she was all bundled up in fur, her daddy never wore fur, he just went out like the cold didn’t bother him. “You don’t wear fur cause you are a magus?” She asked.

Her father grinned down at her, “That's right.”

She thought harder, what else did her father do that the people in the village didn’t do. “We don’t burn wood either.” She spouted as soon as it came to her.

Her father nodded, “Yep, That's right.”

“The lights?” She asked, recalling how the people in the village used candles, while they had crystal lamps.

Her father once again nodded, “You got it.”

Amanda kept trying to think of more things, but that was about all she could think of right then. She kept coming back to the same ideas and got stuck on them.

“So? Do you want to learn or not?” He asked, he was smiling at her like he already knew the answer.

Amanda started her feet, “It's not gonna be easy is it?” she asked, realizing she was snared in the trap, not unlike a babbit that had been lured in by fresh greens.

“Probably not, but it's pretty useful. You want to be like your daddy don’t you?” He asked with a big grin.

Amanda nodded, “Yeah...” but she didn’t want to accept it, if she did he’d make her do it even if she disliked it later, that's how she had gotten stuck learning letters. Now she was gonna do this? She looked back to her father, and she had to admit, the mystery of it excited her, she too wanted to be special like her father. So she admitted it, “I do...”

“You do what?” He asked.

“I want to learn...” Amanda clarified, she really did too, but she really hoped it wasn’t going to be as boring as her letters.

“Alright.” he said, standing tall, and glancing around the space outside their home. The trees thinned closer to the rock the home was set into. Then again around the house they were even thinner. Her father clearly decided something, and started to walk away, “Follow me.”

Amanda did so, her father leading the way through the snow leaving a path that she could follow without stumbling. For a few minutes she thought they might be going to the village, but she was pretty sure it was the wrong way. Instead they stopped after just a bit, as they did the snow around them started to melt further out. Amanda couldn’t help but rush over to it and watch the edge recede. The air was so warm around them now, it was no wonder why the snow was getting all slushy and melting.

Amanda was a bit disappointed when the snow didn’t keep going, instead it just reached out a distance around them, in a big circle, at the center of the circle was an old tree stump. There was steam rising up from the log. That caused Amanda to rush back towards the log to get a closer look, but her father snatched her up before she could see it.

“Not so fast.” he said, lifting her up with an arm around.

Yet from her new vantage she could still see the steam, so she just watched it, much as she had wanted too anyway.

After that her father moved to the stump, took a seat, and set her on his lap.

Amanda glanced up at him, “What are we doing?” She asked curiously.

“I’m gonna start teaching you how to see the aura.” He explained.

“What's an aura?” Amanda asked.

“The aura is what is all around us, but you can’t see.” He offered back.

Amanda however just frowned back at him, “If it's all around me how come I can’t see it?”

“Can you see the air?” Her father asked.

Amanda almost answered yes, but then she shook her head, “No… but I can feel it.”

“Right, well the Aura is part of the air, part of the trees, part of everything really. So you can’t see, or feel it, it's like it's hiding all around us.” He explained.

“Why doesn't it come out?” Amanda asked.

“It's crafty that way, so we have to practice to see it instead.” He replied.

“That's not nice!” Amanda proclaimed.

Her father just chuckled, “So here's what we are gonna do. You’re going to close your eyes, and sit still, then you're gonna concentrate really hard, and as soon as you think you can feel something different you’ll point at it.”

“How am I supposed to point at something I can’t see? With my eyes closed?” Amanda asked, confused. Her father was making no sense.

“Close your eyes.” he urged her.

Amanda did so, “Ok…” she said reluctantly.

“Can you point to me?” He asked.

Amanda raised a hand, and jabbed it right over her head. Which was promptly caught by her fathers hand.

“Right, just like that, but instead you’ll wait until you can see, or feel something you haven't before.” Her father explained.

Amanda wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about, but she sat there, and waited.

Lots of time started to go by, and at one point she was pretty sure she was just gonna fall asleep. It was just so warm next to her father, it was like being curled up by a fireplace in the village. But each time she thought she might fall asleep, her father would say something, or give her a little poke. It was like he knew when she was gonna fall asleep.

It wasn’t until much later that she finally spoke up on her own, “I… I think I… is it behind us?” She couldn’t describe it, it was half like she could see it, half like she could feel it. Yet it was neither. She opened her eyes and wanted to look.

“Nope. Eyes forward Amanda.” Her father said, gently holding her still. Then he put his hand over her eyes. “And no peeking.”

“But I can’t see it!” Amanda complained, not sure what looking would hurt.

“It doesn't matter, just stay there, and wait until you can feel it again, once you do point.” Her father said calmly, with his usual teaching voice.

This time he kept his hand over her eyes. After a while she tried peeking through the spaces in his fingers.

“Amanda, eyes shut.” Her father immediately called.

“How can you even tell?” Amanda complained, sure that there was no way that he could see her eyes behind his hand. Yet even as that was true she closed them again.

“Ever wondered how I know when you steal cookies from Anara’s pot?” Her father asked.

Amanda gasped at realizing it was like everything else, “The aura? The magus?”

“Right.” Her father agreed.

Strangely, of all the things that Amanda had considered before, this was now at the top of her list. Next time she went down to the village and played with the other kids she was gonna be the best at hide and seek ever. The kids would all tell stories about how she could find people with her magus power. Or at least that's what she told herself.