Once everyone had finished their lesson, there was a time for people to move to other groups before a repeat.  This allowed people to learn multiple specialized techniques in addition to the general ones.

 

While Dawn was busy, Niphru continued his practice of force magic, trying to minimize how much he used this time.  By the time the second set of lessons was over, he had managed to form a small plane of force less than half the size of his paw.

 

This surprised Dawn, as she had begun to head back towards their residence before realizing that Niphru hadn’t followed her.  Turning around, she saw he was still focused on the area just ahead of himself, seemingly doing nothing.

 

“Niphru, were you going to come back home or stay out here?” she asked.

 

Niphru’s head bolted up, looking around before noticing everyone else was already finished with the lessons and most had left.

 

Focusing back on Dawn, he responded, “Sorry, I was lost in my practice; I think I will be able to actually use this soon!  Can you help me find something to try to move when we get back?”

 

“Sure, what do you want to use?  We have pencils and my notebook, as well as the towels,” replied Dawn as she led them back to their residence.

 

Thinking for a moment, Niphru tilted his head before remarking, “I think a pencil would be best for now; I don’t think I can do anything but damage paper right now, and I’m focusing on smaller magic, so a towel would be too big.”

 

Nodding at this, Dawn opened the door to their home before going to retrieve a pencil from her supplies.  Placing it on the table, she waited as Niphru jumped up and laid down nearby.

 

After a few tries, Niphru managed to hold multiple platforms of force simultaneously before attempting to move them, succeeding quickly.  Now that he had the basics down, he attempted to push the pencil in opposite directions at each tip, managing to make it spin around.

 

Remembering how Dawn held the pencil, using three points of contact, Niphru attempted to do the same with force magic.  After several tries, he managed to throw the pencil into the air, but couldn’t quite manage to hold it.  Eventually, Dawn left to make dinner, leaving him to his practice.

 

By the time dinner was ready, Niphru had become discouraged from the repeated failures, which Dawn quickly picked up on.

 

Stroking his head, Dawn set his portion of food in front of him while explaining, “You may not have managed exactly what you wanted, but look at how much progress you made today.  Throwing things is a good step towards holding them.  I’m sure you will manage it soon!”

 

Feeling happier, Niphru nodded and began to eat, trying to focus on what he had succeeded in accomplishing.

 

Dawn then suggested, “How about we just go to bed early, then practice together tomorrow morning?  That should hopefully help you feel better and clear your mind a bit.”

 

“Sure, I didn’t notice it before, but I am rather exhausted,” Niphru replied, jumping off the table and heading toward the bedroom.

 

After jumping up on the bed, Niphru waited as he heard Dawn doing the dishes before she came to bed.  Once she arrived and got into bed, he curled up beside her and quickly fell asleep.

 

Waking up, Niphru found that Dawn had already gotten out of bed.  As he exited the bedroom, he heard water running from the bathing room and headed inside to join Dawn in the shower.  She happily picked him up and helped him get cleaned up.

 

While they showered, Niphru had an idea and asked, “Have you considered trying to use water magic in the shower?  I think I’ll try it out sometime.”

 

Dawn nodded, replying, “I’ve thought about it, but the shower already takes care of everything I can think of needing, so I haven’t bothered.  It is a good plan though; I’ll see what I can manage next time.”

 

Following this exchange, they stopped the shower and dried off before heading to the balcony, being sure to bring the pencil with them.  While it was risking dropping it, that also gave them incentive to be ready to act quickly to bounce it back, either with force or wind.

 

This time, however, Niphru was much more careful, using four small planes of force to lift the pencil into the air before rotating it and grabbing it near the bottom.  Surprisingly, he found himself succeeding on the first attempt today.

 

Unfortunately, it appeared he was still too inexperienced to make any use of it, the pencil falling to the table when he tried to move it, having fallen between the moving planes of force, which had spread apart somewhat.

 

Despite this setback, Niphru was hopeful he could manage it soon.  After all, he had found it relatively easy to manage focusing on multiple things at a time, which he assumed was due to his experience with the foxfire and illusions.

 

Focusing on Dawn for a moment, he saw her trying what he had been before, pushing her hand down at the table, with it slowing for a moment on the way down.  Grinning, he turned back to his practice, having realized something that may be causing a problem.

 

So far, all of his attempts to use force magic had created smooth surfaces, but he knew smooth things were poor at grabbing or holding things.  With this in mind, he spent a significant amount of time trying to shape something with many tiny ridges, succeeding a good while later.  To see if it worked, he rested it atop the pencil and slid it to the side.

 

When the pencil rolled to follow, he couldn’t help but yip in happiness, drawing a curious glance from Dawn.  Having done it once already, it was much easier to repeat, and just a moment later, he was holding the pencil steady, even when he moved it around.

 

Seeing this, Dawn smiled and congratulated him on his success, getting halfway through saying she could teach him to write now before he interrupted, “I think I can also handle books and paper now!”

 

He then turned and raced back inside, jumping up to where Dawn’s notebook sat.  Tilting his head as he considered it, he decided on a course of action.  One gripping plane behind the notebook to try to hold it in place, then a second smaller one to slide across the front.  As he proceeded, he found it going exactly as planned, bending the cover up slightly, which allowed him to shift a third plane of force under it, and then flip it over while removing the grip on top.

 

Dawn walked in and saw him flipping the pages, then waited for him to stop before trying to speak again, “Now that you can do that, I can help you learn how to write, and you can apparently read on your own now since you can flip pages.  Are there any kinds of books you want that we don’t have yet?”

 

Bouncing in excitement, Niphru exclaimed, “I noticed we only have an explanation of wind magic, nothing detailed, so could we get that?  And maybe something about water magic, too?  We both need to get better with that.  I don’t know if there is anything about force magic, but you should look for that, as well!”