Dance Magic, or The Littlest Wizard

Author’s Note: This story was originally composed as a custom story in 1986; Ballerina is based on a real person.  Alas, I have no record of her beyond what is documented here.  She has doubtless grown up to be a remarkable person, if not a dancing wizard.

Ballerina rode through the forest.  It was a sunny spring afternoon and she was enjoying the chance to be outside.  Ballerina was studying Dance Magic at Zenovia’s School for Wizards in the town of Ailurie.  She liked learning how dancing and Magic worked together, but she also liked to get outside, where she didn’t have to think about such grown-up things.

After all, Ballerina was just five and a half, by far the youngest person at the school.  Some people called her “the littlest wizard of all.”  Ballerina wasn’t sure if she liked that.

I’m not the littlest anyway, she thought, even if I am the youngest.  There were two halfling-folk at the school, and both of them were just a bit smaller than Ballerina was.  They had talked about their size once.

“We halfling-folk,” one of them told her with a smile, “are all very small.  It’s better for us, because it’s easy to hide from big people like you.  You scare us sometimes.”  Then they all laughed together.  Ballerina knew she would never scare anybody.  Not on purpose, anyway.

She just wasn’t a scary person. She was only three and a half feet tall.  Her hair was long and straight and brown, her eyes were very blue, and she had a lot of freckles on her nose.  There was nothing scary about any of that, at all.

Ballerina’s dog, who was walking ahead, suddenly began running up the path, barking.  “What is it, Chip?  Do you smell something?” She urged her pony into a trot.

Chip stopped where a little stream running through the forest made a small pool.  He ran in circles around an object by the water’s edge, sniffing and barking excitedly.  Ballerina got off her pony and looked at what Chip had found.

It was a shoe, made of soft white leather and decorated with fringe and white beads.  Ballerina held it to her own foot.  It looked as if it would fit perfectly.  The shoe had a tear down one side, and Ballerina wondered if someone had lost it while running away from something else.

She looked around carefully.  In addition to the wide, clear path she had been riding along, she could see another trail that followed the course of the stream.  It was very faint and overgrown with brush, which looked disturbed, as if someone had run through in a big hurry.

“Come on, Chip,” Ballerina said, “let’s find out what happened.  Follow the trail.” The dog sniffed the shoe she held out, sniffed around the ground a little, then set off down the brushy path by the stream, nose to the ground.  Ballerina followed.  She had to lead her pony because the trail was so narrow.

It wasn’t hard to follow whoever had lost the shoe.  The brush was broken sometimes, and other times Ballerina found a scrap of cloth caught in it.  The cloth, like the shoe, was white and very finely made.

Suddenly, the narrow trail opened up into a wide clearing.  The grass grew thick on the ground and the stream formed another deep, wide pool.  Near the pool, lying on the ground, was a girl.

She looked to be about Ballerina’s age, though she had a very slight, delicate figure.  Her white dress was torn in many places, and she had only one shoe.  Chip ran up to her, barked, and licked her nose, but the girl didn’t move.

Ballerina ran over to her.  When she got close, she could see the girl was breathing.  That was a good thing!  She also saw the tips of long, pointed ears poking from beneath the girl’s pale blonde hair.

Ballerina’s eyes opened wide.  This girl must be an elf!  For as long as Ballerina could remember, first her parents and then the wizards at her school had told her stories about the elves.  They were supposed to be very wise, and beautiful, and know everything there was to know about magic.  But she had never seen one before, because the elves also knew all there was to know about staying hidden in the forests.  They liked to guard their secrets.

Whether she’s an elf or not, she’s hurt and I have to help her, Ballerina thought.  She guessed that something in the forest had frightened the girl elf.  She had run fast and far, until she couldn’t run any more, and fell here. 

But what could Ballerina do?  She sat on the grass beside the girl elf and thought as hard as she could.  Could she put the girl elf onto her pony and take her back to her own people?  No, because Ballerina didn’t know where the elves lived.

Maybe she could take the girl elf back to the school.  The older wizards would certainly know how to help.  That was a good idea.  Ballerina got up and looked around.  Suddenly she realized she was lost.  She had followed Chip so closely that she hadn’t marked the trail that brought her here.  She wasn’t even sure where the main path that led back to the school was.

Ballerina sat down again and thought some more.  She wasn’t afraid for herself, or worried about being lost.  The girl elf needed help more than she did.  Then she had another idea.  She could use her magic to make the girl well!

“I’ve just learned this spell,” Ballerina said as she pulled the girl away from the edge of the pool.  “I don’t know if I can remember it all, and I don’t know if it works on elves. But I have to make you better so you can get home safe, and this the only thing I can think of that will do it.  By the way, my name is Ballerina.  I live at the School for Wizards in Ailurie.  I hope soon you can tell me your name.”

Ballerina danced her magic healing spell. She danced it slowly, so she could remember all the steps and get them just right.  Finally, when it was done, she fell onto the grass with a sigh.  “Oh, I’m so tired!” she said.

“So am I,” said a voice.

Ballerina looked around quickly.  The girl elf was sitting up!  She looked tired, but she was smiling.  “You’re better!” cried Ballerina.

“Yes I am, thanks to you,” said the girl elf.  “Please tell me your name, so I can thank you properly.”

Ballerina suddenly remembered her manners.  She stood up and bowed very deeply to the girl elf.  “I am Ballerina, at your service.”

The girl elf laughed.  It wasn’t a mean laugh, but a friendly one, and it sounded a little like the ringing of tiny bells.  “You’ve already done me a great service, Ballerina, for which I thank you very much!  My name is Janelle.  Now that we know who we are, let’s be friends!  Please sit down.”

“Thank you,” said Ballerina as she sat down.  “What happened to you?”

“I was wandering around in the forest, and went farther from home than I should have,” Janelle began.  “But I kept following the stream, so I knew I couldn’t get lost.  And it was a good day for walking.”

“That’s true,” Ballerina agreed.

“Anyway, I realized I’d gone a lot farther than I should.  I was just turning around, and came face to face with an enormous black fox!  I was so frightened, I forgot that black foxes don’t hurt people, and I just ran!  Once I started, I couldn’t stop.  I remember falling, and the next thing I remember is waking up with you next to me.  What did you do?”

“I used a magic spell,” Ballerina said, smiling.  She couldn’t help feeling very proud of herself.  “I study Dance Magic at the School for Wizards in Ailurie.”

“I thought I felt magic in the air,” said Janelle.  She was quiet for a minute, then said, “I have to be going home now.  My parents will be worried about me.  Would you like to come with me, Ballerina?  Or do you have to go home too?”

“I do have to go back to the school, but I’m not sure where it is.”

“Well, I’ll take you home with me, and I’m sure my parents will be able to show you the way home.”

After a few more minutes’ rest, that is what they did.  They rode together on Ballerina’s pony, with Janelle in front to guide.  She was as good a rider as Ballerina was, maybe even better.

Before long, the two girls entered another clearing, much larger than the one they had left.  It was ringed with large trees, in which houses had been built.  Huge lengths of fabric tied in lower branches made the space between some of the trees into tents.  And there were elves everywhere, elves of all ages.

Janelle quickly slid off the pony’s back, but Ballerina could only sit and look around her in wonder.  Janelle tugged at her skirt.  “What are you staring at, Ballerina?  This is my home.”

Ballerina got down, but she was still unable to say anything.  Then Janelle understood.  “It’s okay.  I guess if I went to your home, I’d be staring too.  I haven’t seen many humans, and never a human town.”

She might have said more, but then she saw her mother running toward her.  “Mother!” she cried, running into the tall elf woman’s outstretched arms.

Janelle’s mother caught her daughter up effortlessly, whirling her around and around.  “Janelle, where have you been?  We expected you back hours and hours ago!”

Janelle laughed.  “It’s a long story, Mother, and I’d like to tell everybody.  It has a heroine in it -- Ballerina here.  She saved my life!”

Other elves were beginning to gather around.  Janelle’s mother turned to them and said, “My daughter has come home safe and brings with her a tale of great heroism.  We must have a feast and celebration!”

The elves cheered in agreement and hurried off in many different directions to start preparing.  Janelle’s mother turned toward Ballerina, getting down on one knee so she could look the little girl in the eye.  “What’s the matter, Ballerina?  You look worried.”

“Yes, don’t you want to feast with us?  It will be very exciting,” said Janelle.

“I would like to very much,” said Ballerina.  “But the people at my school -- I’ve been gone too long already, and they will be worrying about me, just like your mother was worried about you.”

“Oh, I guess that’s so,” said Janelle sadly.  “It’s too bad, it would have been so much fun.”

“Wait a moment, I think I have an answer,” Janelle’s mother said.  “It will be some time before our feast is ready.  I will take you back to the school, and explain that we want to have you as our guest.  If your teachers are willing, I’ll bring you back here, and you may stay as long as you like.  Does that seem like a good idea to you, Ballerina?”

“Very good.”

“Then that is what we will do.  Janelle, get yourself cleaned up, and see if you can find a gown for Ballerina.  It looks like your gowns will fit her.  Ballerina, come with me.”

As they walked in one direction, Janelle went off in another, calling, “See you soon, Ballerina!”

Ballerina took the reins of her pony, which had been standing patiently and nibbling at the grass in the elves’ clearing.  “Where is your stable?”

“We don’t need stables,” the elf lady said.  They had reached the edge of the clearing, and she whistled three notes, clear and loud.  They seemed to hang in the quiet air for several seconds, before she whistled again.  After half a minute, there was an answering neigh, and a beautiful gray mare trotted up through the trees.   The elf lady lifted Ballerina onto the horse’s back.  

She then turned to Ballerina’s pony, patted its head and spoke a few gentle words that Ballerina couldn’t understand.  The pony seemed to, though.  The elf lady looped the pony’s reins around its saddle, then vaulted up onto the gray mare’s back behind Ballerina.  It had no saddle or bridle.

The ride seemed very quick to Ballerina, as the gray mare slipped through the narrow forest paths, Chip and the pony following quietly behind.  Almost before she knew it, they were coming up to the gate of the school.  Ballerina led the way to her tutor’s rooms.  Many of the other students and teachers who passed by stopped and stared in wonder.  An elf, here!  It was something almost unheard of.

At last they came to the right door.  Ballerina knocked and said, “Master Rhamats?  It’s Ballerina.”

The door opened and a middle-aged man with long gray hair looked out.  “Ah, Ballerina, there you are.  I was beginning to wonder about you --” He stopped as he saw the tall elf woman beside the little girl.  He couldn’t say anything for a moment, then at last managed to ask, “Who -- who is this?”

“My name is Morala,” the elf woman said, bowing deeply.  “Your student saved my daughter’s life today, and we wish to show our gratitude by having her as our guest for a day or two.  She did not want to worry you, so I brought her here to ask your permission.  I promise you Ballerina will be perfectly safe with us, and we will return her here as soon as she -- or you -- wish.”

“Please, may I go, sir?”  asked Ballerina.

Master Rhamats thought for a moment, then said, “Very well, Ballerina, you may go.  If you decide to stay for more than three days, you must send word to us about when you will return.  Will you do that?”

“Yes!”  Ballerina grinned as her tutor patted her back and wished her well.  She smiled all the way back to the elves’ camp.  When they arrived, Janelle came running up.  “Everything’s ready,” she said.  “Come on, Ballerina, I have a beautiful dress for you!”  Janelle herself was wearing another dress now, very long, silvery-gray with white trim.

The dress she had for Ballerina was very similar, except it was sky blue.  It fit perfectly.  Ballerina spun around and around, watching the skirt fly out around her ankles.

Then Ballerina, with Janelle and Morala, went into the center of the clearing.  All the elves were coming there, in ones and twos.  Nearly everyone was carrying something:  bowls of fruits or nuts, trays of roast meats, steaming loaves of fresh bread, pitchers of water and juices.  Others carried musical instruments, and a few carried wrapped bundles that Ballerina couldn’t figure out.

It was growing dark, so some of the elves lit lamps and hung them in the trees.  A fire was built in the clearing’s center.

“Are we all together?” asked Morala.  “Then let the feast begin!”

Ballerina enjoyed herself more than she could have imagined in the days and nights that followed.  At the feast, she ate and drank until she couldn’t hold any more.  Then Janelle told the story of her scare and how Ballerina had saved her.

Several of the elves presented Ballerina with gifts.  She received a number of large cloths, useful for making tents or hammocks in the forest, or cloaks in cold weather, window hangings, or any number of other things.  Other elves gave her things like a beautifully carved wooden bowl and cup, a small flute which she was taught to play, and a small silver knife.  Later, several of the elves taught her how to improve her dance magic.

In all, Ballerina stayed with the elves for three days.  She and Janelle became great friends, and when they were older, visited one another many times.

Ballerina grew up to become a master of dance magic, and one of the greatest wizards of her generation.  But she never forgot the first time she used her spells -- to help a friend.