The coin
tumbled slowly across the backs of my knuckles before falling off my hand
altogether.
Rina shook
her head. "No, you're just going through the motions, thinking
mechanically. You need to feel it. It's an art, not a bunch of steps to go
through."
"Why
do I need to learn this?" I looked at her skeptically.
She
retrieved the coin. "You're a wizard, aren't you? You're supposed to be
able to magic things into and out of existence."
"I
think I'll stick to actual magic." I cast a minor spell, one even the
lowliest apprentice could cast, to lift the coin out of her hand and levitate
it towards me.
She
snatched it out of the air.
"That's
the cheating kind of magic, or maybe my kind is the cheating kind. Regardless,
mine is still magic when I can make this coin," she held it up, then made
a quick motion with her hands, "disappear."
"You
palmed the coin and slid it into your sleeve," I said drily.
"No,"
she smirked, "It's on your shoulder."
I looked at
my right shoulder, and it wasn't there.
"Your
other shoulder."
I checked
it to see a piece of silver sitting on my shoulder.
"That's
not so impressive. You just distracted me and put it on there."
She nodded.
"You're probably right. I did say it was the cheating kind of magic.
Anyway, we'll have a lot of coins to practice with." She started bouncing
my coin pouch in her palm.
I checked
my belt, verifying the pouch's disappearance.
"How
did you. . . ?"
"Check
your shoulders."
I looked to
see a shiny coin on each shoulder."
"So,
I need to feel it?" I started tumbling one of the coins over my knuckles
again.