"Hello!" She lands gracefully, holding the long broom sideways. "I am Amat. I am here on behalf of the Flying Messengers Guild. We wish to welcome every new witch. So, welcome. What is your name, little one?"

"Margaretta Perez. Being a messenger sounds amazing."

She smiles. "Well, we usually wait until you're a bit older and then show you what it's like." She looks around at the crowd of gawkers. One of them asks if she's seen the King. "Yes, I have." 

She pointedly turns to Margaretta. "Well, I am here to talk to you. Would your parents mind if we talked somewhere less crowded?"

Margaretta turns back toward her house and yells, "Mama, Papa, I'm going to go talk to the witch!" Her mother answers, "Be back by dinnertime!"

"It shouldn't take that long. Very good. I take it you'd rather fly somewhere than walk?"

"Yes! I want to learn to fly, please! I've tried but I don't know how to stay on the broom."

She laughs. "I'll help you practice. For now, leave that old thing here and sit in front of me on my broom."

She hops aboard and holds on.

They lift gently into the air.

She can - sort of feel Amat's magic. She's doing something similar, pushing magic through the broom. It seems a lot more controlled.

Amat leans forward slightly and the shape of the magic changes. They start soaring down the street, far smoother than a horse ride.

"Actual brooms aren't really great for flying, you know. This one would be terrible for sweeping, but it is much easier to fly with. We still call them brooms, for some reason, of course."

"What makes a broom better for flying?"

"It must be neat and tidy. The bristles must be stiff and wide. The body should not be a simple thin stick but longer and wider. There are many factors, and I do not understand them all, but there are craftsmen who make better brooms for witches for a living. It's not impossible to fly with a regular kitchen broom, of course, but it is harder, especially if you're just starting out."

"May I--may I try flying your broom later, please?"

"Certainly. Flying is one of the basic skills for any witch and something I hope to teach you before I depart."

She picks up a bit of speed as they approach the edge of the little village.

"That's wonderful, thank you!" She bounces a little on the broom, but not enough to unbalance herself.

Zoooom. She's clearly faster than a horse. She goes above the rooftops but not super high up.

"We are going to a clearing I saw. Witches should also learn navigation, especially messengers and couriers. And do feel free to ask me questions."

"What sort of things do you need to know for navigation? Do you have a compass? What's the difference between a courier and a messenger? What makes someone good at being one?"

(Giving Margaretta blanket permission to ask questions is a rather risky decision.)

"Many things better explained while we are not flying. Yes! Messengers go as fast as possible carrying little. Couriers go slower carrying more. You can do both jobs. You must be fast and good at not getting lost."

"I haven't been enough places to know if I'm good at not getting lost, but I'll study hard."

"Navigation is something you can study and practice like anything else. I have a book, I can read it to you. Ah, there's the clearing."

"I can read it myself, if it doesn't have any really long words in it." She looks around the clearing.

"Oh, really?" Probably not, but of course the kid wants to impress her new tutor.

The clearing is just a clearing in the woods with nothing particularly special about it. Amat slows down and gently lands.

"Well, to start with, please tell me what happened when you tried to fly, before."

"I learned to read from the monks. When I tried to fly I pushed the magic down through the broom and that made it go up, but I couldn't do it steadily enough so the broom kept moving around and I kept falling off it."

"Hmm... So you're pushing your magic? That's good for trying to figure it out on your own, but pushing like that is difficult to control. You should be able to gently guide the magic down, and let it balance itself with the way the broom and you sitting on it changes the way it wants to flow. I want you to pay attention as I take off and land. You should be able to feel something and see what I mean."

She does that. Nudge off the ground gently, float up, land. Nudge off, up, land. There's definitely something there.

"And here's what it sounds like you were doing..."

Amat wraps one arm around Margaretta and then with a push and a sudden, gut-wrenching jerk the wind is blowing past their ears. They shoot high into the air very quickly. That felt more like what Margaretta was trying. Amat makes to land again.

She nods. "Yes, that was what I was doing. I see how it was wrong, I think. I'll try to do the thing you showed me." She matches action to words, or tries to, moving her magic through the broom as softly and fluidly as she can.

This is much more stable! Amat, still sitting with her, catches them when she starts to go off balance, but she was definitely flying the pair for a moment there.