Great Balls of ...

“Fireball as a spell is a neat idea in fiction, but its practical application is tricky. Having fire as an element is a good start, but the evocative or force magic you need to make it more than a spell to roast marshmellows doesn't come naturally to fey.”

Michael sipped orange juice while lecturing. Magic consumes a lot of caloric energy and even demonstrating intuitive spells could leave one seriously depleted. “The magiir have the big booms necessary, but lack the essentia for elemental casting.”

“But that means Valerie...”

“Uncle Morgan did a blood transfusion with her to help cure her of a disease. A side effect of the transfusion is it granted her the ability to manipulate the element natural to him.”

“What if I try to make the fireball bigger?”

“It will be more voluminous, but no more dangerous.”

The youngster flexed his fingers frustratedly. “Part of being an adult,” Michael said patiently, “is accepting that everyone, including yourself, has shortcomings. I can't produce fire or electricity. And I never studied evocative magic. Your uncle may be able to teach you that, but be prepared for him to say no.”

Question Horizon

There comes a time when a non-human or demi-human is revealed for what he or she is. They catch you casting magic or they see your ears or you don't hide fast enough. And suddenly, this person is aware of a much larger world than just the physical one. So, suddenly, you're faced with a decision. Do you try to explain away what they've seen by using science fiction doublespeak? Or have you just taken on an acolyte? Sometimes you're lucky and they cobble together their own fantastic rationalization, but more likely they need an explanation, and not necessarily a rational one. Just something to keep them from thinking they're totally nuts.

Now, honestly, human minds run on emotion and logic. Most of their world runs this way, too. Magic is too chaotic to their way of thinking and violates most of their natural laws. Some of them can deal with its existence better than others. It's no big secret really that magic exists; we just don't discuss it openly because most humans would think we're crazy or worse. If someone point blank asked me if magic exists, I'd say yes. Whether they believed me is a separate question.