She blinks at it, momentarily stunned, before making a high pitched noise of delight.

She – she produced a manalight! She's a witch, she – she's going to go to war, but she's going to get to meet so many people –

The noise stops in favour of a grin.

A neighbor - a weaver, she thinks - peers out of his front door onto the street. "Who's - what's going on? It's late."

"I – manalight!" Evelyn gets up from the ground, brings the burnt-out candle with her. "I just – sorry I don't mean to disturb, just –!"

"You're- You got magic! You're a Witch! Here in our own village. That's great! You seem too old for it, though?"

"I'm thirteen! I'd almost given up – it doesn't really matter, does it, because I am!" She looks around at the darkness, then back at where the light was. "I should, uh, tell someone –"

"It's well past sunset. Father Clemens might still be awake, but..." Yawn. "Maybe you should just find him in the morning."

She opens her mouth, looking like she might start to protest, and then pauses. "– I guess… that makes sense…"

"I mean, it's very exciting, but he'll probably just send out a rider to the army post in Cataille and ask you to pray thankfulness? Maybe you should talk to Old Man Hammond, he knew another Witch from this village... Can I see the light again?"

"I – I can try, if you don't mind just waiting a moment."

She tries to remember the feeling, when she made the manalight.

...There it is, almost like moving her hand. Twitch, and there's a mote of blue glow.

She tries to prevent the high pitch noise again. Definitely grins though.

"It's pretty, isn't it? Like a little star..."

"It really is," she agrees, grinning. A moment later, she frowns, and the light goes out. "I should really – Maman, she'd want to know –" She nods towards her front door.

"Goodnight then. I'll tell everyone in the morning..." He yawns again.

"Goodnight!" she responds with a smile, and then she heads for her door.

Her mother did indeed want to know. It prompts some happiness and some worry, a hug and a bit of a discussion – Evelyn can write, she always was curious about things in the wider world and her mother obliged, so maybe they'll be able to exchange letters, see each other from time to time.

And a bit later, Evelyn claiming not to feel tired despite the late hour, she's outside under the stars trying to practice and get a better feel for the manalights.

They take a constant effort to maintain. She can flare them up quite a bit if she wants to put that effort in. Lighting up the area enough to ruin her night vision. They're pretty warm and create puffs of force if she goes far enough in that direction, too.

She tries figuring out how much power they're using, how long she'll be able to hold them up – if it's hard to hold them steady. Can she move them around?

'Feeling' her well of power is something Evelyn has absolutely no experience doing. So when the lights just - stop working for a few minutes and only small ones work after that - it's a surprise.

She can move them around. It's clumsy, like the first time holding a writing quill.

(Hee.)

She decides to stop with the lights, for now – and goes to look for a tree branch.

Well, there are trees around. There's a grove with long, straight lengths that a couple of families tend. They're nice and straight, usually used for fences.

Or she could just go onto the Lord's hunting lands and find a fallen branch.

She doesn't really want to upset the families tending the grove, and the hunting lands are… not that much of a bad idea…

So she goes to look for a fallen branch there.

This is still a much neater place than a wild forest. Makes it easier to hunt in. There is good firewood and tinder here. The Baron forbids collecting it, but if she puts the branch back after trying to fly it should be fine right?

… It should be, because she's not, technically, collecting it. If he's nice.

… Also she's a witch.

She goes to look for a piece to try flying.

There's plenty! 

It's not exactly clear how she would try flying. Reaching for a different invisible limb-type-feeling doesn't seem to do much.

… Does anything weird happen if she tries doing a manalight, one of the smaller ones, near the stick?