"Well, princess," Puck said, leaning back against a tree, "you have two powers inside you right now, Summer and Iron. And, simply put, theyre not getting along."

She frowns, "Then how do I make them get along?"

"Youll have to learn to use them both," Ash said calmly. "There has to be a way to wield both glamours separately, without one tainting the other."

"Maybe itll get easier with practice," Puck added, and that irritating smirk came creeping back. "I could teach you. How to use Summer glamour at least. If you want me to."

She nods reluctantly.

So, there they were again, the three of them: Claire, Ash, and Puck, together once more but not really the same. She continued to practice drills with Ash in the morning, and Summer magic with Puck in the afternoon, usually around the hottest part of the day. The evenings were still hers.

During the evening she continues to explore outside, climbing trees and what not.

Every day, when the sun was at its zenith, Puck waited for her. He showed her how to call glamour from plants, how to make them grow faster, how to weave illusions from nothing, and how to call on the forest for help. Summer magic was the magic of life, heat, and passion, he explained. The new growth of Spring, the lethal beauty of fire, the violent destruction of a summer storm--all were examples of Summer magic in the everyday world. He demonstrated small miracles--making a dead flower come back to life, calling a squirrel right into his lap--and then instructed her to do the same.

She did just that, bringing life back into a dead flower and calling a nearby squirrel to her.

Calling the glamour was easy, but she couldn't use it without getting sick. One afternoon, Puck was sitting cross-legged on a flat rock by the stream, chin in his hands. Between them, a mop handle stood upright in the grass like a naked tree. Puck had "borrowed" it from the broom closet earlier that morning, and would probably incur the wrath of the brownies when they discovered one of their sacred tools missing.

She frowns at the handle, "What's this for?"