Margaretta is so so excited about having a witch teacher! She does all of her chores as fast as she can again, then takes the broom she was just sweeping with and stands in the yard where her mother can see her and tries flying again. Can she push the magic down through the broom slowly and continuously instead of in a burst, and does that make the broom go up in a less startling manner?

That works! But it's really, really hard to balance! She'll probably fall over if she tries actually leaving the ground.

If she can get it to hover she will diligently practice balancing as long as it's a really short fall every time.

It's really quite difficult. Sort of like standing one foot, except worse. The broom just doesn't seem to want to balance.

Real witches who know what they're doing have got to be doing something different from this. Is the problem that the broom moves on a way that dumps her off it, or that the broom holds still and her body goes sideways?

The first thing, feels like.

She tries pushing two smaller streams of magic through the broom at once, hoping this will stabilize it the way holding something with two hands would.

That is even harder to control. Like trying to pick something up with a foot.

One of the neighborhood boys sees her and asks, "You trying to fly?"

Well, forget that, then. 

"Yes, I am! It's tricky but it's fun!" (Her clothes are probably covered in dirt by this point, but she's smiling.)

"It is? You're falling a lot. And that broom's all broken."

Well, it's a bit old and ratty, but not broken. 

"It isn't any worse than it was this morning, I've been being careful. Did you hear that another witch is going to come to town to teach me things? I heard it, I hope it's true!"

"That would be really fun! I wonder if she's fought any demon monsters."

"Oooh, maybe! I don't know if I want to fight demon monsters. I want to do whatever is useful but I don't know if I can fight well at all. And I don't want to get hurt."

"Me neither. You can get hurt not fighting too. You could get kicked by a horse. Or get the pox." He pokes the ground with a stick idly.

"Yeah. And getting rid of the demons is important." She tries holding the broom vertically, gripping it between her knees, and pushing the magic down along its axis.

She can get off the ground this way! But the balance issues remain and she falls over backwards and flops onto her back.

"You almost flew! I always thought witches could fly really easy, but maybe not."

"I did! I got so close! Maybe I need to get stronger so I can hold on better. Or tie myself to the broom."

"I don't think witches tie themselves to their brooms."

"Probably not. Just to practice until I get better at holding on, maybe." Hmm, how tired is she? She wants to work on flying more, but she doesn't want to be all worn out when the teacher gets here and not be able to do any exercises she sets, that would be awful.

Not too tired, but more than a little bit, as she also rushed through her chores before trying to fly. A little sore from taking tumbles.

That's not ideal, but not surprising either. She'll go help her mother in the house for a while.

She's feeling just fine by the time shouts of excitement come from the street.

Just outside is a witch! Presumably, anyway, since she's floating down on a large broom that looks like it wouldn't actually be very good for sweeping. She has dark skin, like the Moors from the south, and is dressed in a hijab and loose pants of some kind.

Margaretta runs outside and stares at the witch like everyone else.

"Hello everyone! Can someone tell me where the new witch in this place lives?"

"I'm the new witch! Hello!" calls Margaretta, stepping forward. She makes a light to prove it.