She tilts her head. "You're welcome. Do you want to learn first or teach first?"

"The test to see if you have appreciable amounts of mana is fairly simple, though it involves sitting still for a time."

She grins. "Sounds like the hardest part," she says, teasingly, "But I think I can pull it off."

"Good. Find a comfortable spot and we can begin."

She drapes herself along a ledge on the mountainside, paws crossed primly, attention focused on Ellisaria. And actually sitting perfectly still, for once.

"You must focus your attention inward. I will create fluctuations in my mana, and you will try to detect a resonance within yourself."

She hums and... Tries to listen to her own body or something. Focus on her own body? Something like that.

Ellisaria casts her pulsing spell, and talks Brisingr through the sensations she's looking for softly so as not to disturb her concentration.

Brisingr has a rather extremely good sensitivity to magic native to her world -

It's not hard to figure out mana.

She manages to feel mana within herself, rather quickly.

Surprisingly fast. Good.

The next step is to cast a spell. This involves drawing one's inner mana out and shaping it into the proper form. Beginners often find associating the process with a mantra or incantation helpful as a concentration aid.

She's unsure if using songs - how she's used to manipulating magic - would be a good idea or not. Maybe humming, that doesn't tend to count as Song...

It could very well have unpredictable effects. They are charting new territory, here.

She nods - she'll stick to a mantra if she needs one.

What's a good beginner spell, then?

As a dragon, she should have a natural affinity for the school of Fire. Ellisaria will demonstrate a small fireball, one of the foundational spells of the school.

Brisingr seems to have a bit of trouble not breathing fire while doing this, but seems to get the basic concept relatively quickly once she sorts that out.

"Well done. You have a talent."

Heeeeee.

"I'm good at the Song too," she says, brightly. "This is fun."

"More complex spells take more mana, and often longer to learn and shape. Practice is key."

"Powerful Song is like that, though it isn't necessarily more exhausting. Still, I know how to practice."

"Let me demonstrate a few more elaborate spells, then."

"Okay!" she says, trying not to bounce. Too much, at least.

Ellisaria shows Brisingr how to cast a fire shield, a campfire spell, and then, for variety, a spell to conjure water.

"Is there an upper limit on how much water I can conjure?"

"It is proportional the amount of mana used to cast the spell, but the conversion is expensive."

She nods. "How do you tell how much mana you have?"