Jennifer Wilson
Period 3
9-12-02
Fiction Journal
Magic Steps: by Tamora Pierce
Setting:
Pasco blinked at her for a moment, dazed. It was such a pretty name, as pretty as she was -- then his mind began to work again. Sandrilene fa Toren. Any resident of Summersea over the last four years would know that name, and know it well. She was part of a quartet of young mages who had come to live in the temple city of Winding Circle, outside Summersea. First, they had managed to survive an earthquake while trapped underground. They came back to the coast in time to help end the blue pox plague of 1036. Everyone told stories about them, including tales of the girl who wove bandages with the power to heal and veils that made the wearer as good as invisible. In a world in which mages were as common as architects or jewelers, Lady Sandrilene and her three friends were on their way to becoming great mages, the very best of their kind.
In this passage, the setting for the course of the story, as well as the main character, are introduced. Sandrilene fa Toren, also known as Sandry, is the main character. Sandry lived in a temple city called Winding Circle within a house named Discipline. However, she receives news of mysterious murderers that are stalking a troupe of local merchants. The killers employ the strangest magic of all: the ability to reduce essence to “nothingness.” Sandry and her uncle, Duke Vedris, leave for Summersea, the harbor-town near the Winding Circle temple. This passage gives one the blueprint for the entire story and provides an insinuation as to what may come along next. Pasco, a boy who can dance magic, and Sandry herself are the only two people who can finish off these assassins. Throughout the story, Sandry must learn to be strong and have the fortitude to train Pasco, her student. As a result of teaching Pasco, Sandry progresses into the life of an adult, no longer just a student at Winding Circle.
Motivation:
Placed at regular intervals around the tent were round crystal globes that threw off both light and warmth. Seeing them was like feeling Rosethorn and Briar in the shower herbs. Those globes had been Tris’s and Daja’s work all last winter, as Tris supplied the light in the crystal and Daja the warmth. Someone had gone through a great deal of trouble to make this place homelike. On impulse, Sandry reached with her magic to touch the cloth of the tent and its floor. It had been woven by Lark; the signs and oils that coated the fabric and kept out the damp were hers. “Now comes the hard part,” she murmured, but the prospect wasn’t as scary as it had been earlier that day. Rosethorn, Briar, Tris, and Daja were all around her; Lark was in the tent and holding vigil outside with the duke. Winding Circle’s mages had done their best to shape this place for complex magics. In putting forth so much time, effort, and power, they had as much as told Sandy that they believed in her. Don’t make a muddle of this, she told herself now, picking up a bottle. There are fifteen children in the inner keep at Duke’s Citadel, Whatever their parents and uncles and second cousins have done, they don’t deserve to die for it, and you wont let them. You’ll do this right, that’s all there is to it.
Sandry realizes the power of friendship in this segment as she prepares to weave the “unmagic.” Without the vitality of her friends, teachers, and mages at Winding Circle, Sandry would presumably not be capable to bind the “unmagic” and keep it contained for any length of time. The author shows through the passage that motivation comes through the help of others, as well as one’s own willpower and certitude in themselves. Without the stimulus Sandry receives from her allies, she is near powerless. This is how one can genuinely begin to comprehend the unfeigned significance of friendship and how it plays a big role in stimulating one’s spirit.
Theme:
The unmagic wanted her. It tested her skin and the cracks under her nails. It tried to creep out of her hands and up her chest, seeking her face. As the night wore on she thought, or the nothingness made her think, of letting go, lying back and resting without a thought for tomorrow. It offered no more worries about her uncle, about teaching Pasco, about distant friends. “What did people matter, when shadows would have them in the end?” it wanted her to think. All she had to do was give in… She caught herself drifting, and shook off the listlessness that had seeped into her bones. Whipping her magic to a white heat, she sent it coursing through her body, its fire driving the shadows back. She wondered in sudden panic. What if this stuff oozed through the rock, bleeding into the ground below? It would spread. The desperate poor of the Mire would give up and starve to death, not caring enough to feed themselves. She could almost see it: babies cried unattended in their cradles; old people called feebly, and no one came to help. Houses burned, no one came to put out the fires. And unmagic crept up to Winding Circle, trickling past the walls, seeping into the water… Oh, get serious, Duchess! She could hear Briar as clearly as if he stood before her. Is this Real, or is it just what the goo wants you to think? What it wants me to think, replied Sandry, and woke up. Her spindle dropped to the floor. She growled and thrust the dark smears that crawled up her arm back into the iron dish. Taking a few deep breaths, she pulled herself together and began again.
For the duration of the story, the theme is to never give up. Sandry ponders over the thought to just let go and allow the unmagic to consume everything. It takes all of her strength to snap out of her visions of disaster, tighten her grip on the nothingness, and use her inner strength to exile the shadows of darkness from her mind. It is difficult to press forward and never feel the need to just let go and forget everything. Sandry knows this, and this is why she can repudiate the chance for the unmagic to percolate her heart. She realizes that the future of the town of Summersea depends on her and her student, Pasco. If she does not control the unmagic, who will? When she hears the voice of Briar in her mind, she snaps out of her dark thoughts and puts her mind back onto what is really important. This was an important passage to select for theme because it accentuates the need to advance and never give up.
Character Development:
“You did a very hard thing, for reasons that everyone agreed were right,” Lark said firmly. “You acted as an adult, and you did it without hate. I’m not sure I could have done it without hating them, after seeing that poor maimed boy.”
“There’s blood on my hands,” whispered Sandry, looking at them.
“Good. As long as you feel that way, you won’t become like them, will you?” asked Lark.
Sandry shook her head. “You never did have sympathy for the glooms. Maybe I should have come back here to Discipline afterward.”
Lark put the teakettle on. “Should you?” she asked. “It seems to me it would have been like putting off you fine gowns and donning the dresses you wore when you were six.”
“You think so?” asked Sandry.
Lark laughed. “My dear, you’ve moved into the greater world, whether you wished to or not,” she said. “As a teacher, as a noble. You’ve outgrown Discipline. You’re getting ready to take your place on the adult stage. Pasco was just the beginning." Sandry grinned. She walked back to the stairs, and began to climb. There are other mage kids out there, she thought. Some get lucky and get found, like Pasco, or they get shipped to where they could get found. I must keep in mind to watch for other mage kids. And I’ll write Tris, Briar, and Daja, and tell them. We were lucky. It’s time we spread our luck to others, I think.
This is the final demonstration of how Sandry develops during the story. In this passage, Lark tells Sandry that she is too mature for the Discipline house and is ready to move into the adult world. The reader watches Sandry evolve into a brand new person throughout the story. This passage was imperative because it proves that Sandry has truly taken on an unsullied, newfound, pristine character and is no longer the person she used to be. She venerates how lucky she was to have been given the chance to share her magic with others and teach them about the ways of their magic. Even though Sandry still feels guilty about having terminated the murderers, Lark knows that it was the best thing that Sandry could have done. In killing the murderers, Sandry will realize that crime does not pay and she will not fall into the same trap that they fell into.