Well that's only to be expected. It's good that Cerberus was right; there seems to be no mention of a huge bird, and you'd think that'd get a mention if anyone had seen it.

Cerberus frowns. "There's something... like someone else has used a card."

"... Someone else? How common is it for people to be able to use cards?"

"Not common at all. For someone else to have caught a card without the wand..."

"Is there anything else you can tell about it? What direction or how far it is, maybe what card it is?"

"No. It's not active right now, I can only feel traces of magic that's different than yours."

Aagh.

"Well I guess there's nothing we can do at this stage," he says, looking a bit worried at the idea of another confrontation.

"Not about the cards, no. But you could meditate!"

"Uh... Okay...? How do I do that? Sit cross-legged on the floor? Maybe start focusing on 'the magic within me'?"

"Exactly! It helps if your staff is on your lap and your cards are around you."

"Really? ... Okay," he says, moving to grab the cards from his bag, and pulling out his key. "The Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true powers before me. I, Theo, command you under our contract. Release!"

It seems he has a new catch phrase.

"What does that even mean? 'Hides the powers of the Dark'?" he asks Cerberus, then sits on the floor, putting the cards on either side of him, and his staff across his legs, closing his eyes and trying to "focus on the magic" within him.

"Sun and Moon, Light and Dark, Western and Eastern magic," he explains. "All magic is under one or the other. Clow was under the Moon, so his staff has the power of the Dark."

"Oh, right," he says, and then continues to try to focus on the magic.

Is there some sort of feeling he should get? Or is he just going to be sitting here for 20 minutes, getting more and more bored?

It apparently starts out as the latter. "You're not doing it right. You need to empty your thoughts, focus on your breathing. Think about the feeling you got when you noticed the Fly was around."

"What, the surprise at seeing the huge bird?"

"No. The other feeling. Snark doesn't help with meditation, you know."

"Okay, okay. So I just... focus on my breathing, and try to think about nothing but the weird feeling. Got it."

He closes his eyes again and tries really hard to empty his mind. It's pretty difficult when his reaction to each thought is 'No, empty,' which is... making his mind still not empty. Eventually, though, he succeeds, and he then tries to focus on the feeling.

And unlike regular meditation, magical meditation has feedback. His eyes are still quite closed, but he can see:

There's nothing there, his room is gone. The magical circle is under him, where the ground should be, glowing white against the black void. Not even Cerberus is there, but his cards are, floating to either side of him.

Theo jerks a little, rather surprised that he's seeing things with his eyes shut.

Well, he's not anymore.

"You need to keep focused."

"Yeah, I was trying, but I didn't expect to see things."

He tries to focus again, this time prepared for seeing things. It takes him much less time to clear his mind, this time, and again he focuses on his magic.

The scene soon appears before his non-eyes again.

And as he spends more time in there, more details can be made out. The two cards aren't just cards, it's obvious they're not. He can see the cards, and he can see their true forms, Windy smiling softly at him and Fly perched regally on an unseen object, both occupying non-spaces both larger and smaller than anything else.

And they're not just that, either. They're so much more—magic, pure and shaped, potential and power. There are... emotions, feelings, beliefs, there...

That's... inspiring. Theo manages to keep focusing on the magic, just about, but is somewhat overwhelmed by the experience.

Fly... it's subdued, yes, but not by Theo. It respects Windy. And it's slightly hurt, emotionally.

Windy doesn't see Theo as her master either, but is willing to help. Her feelings for him are an alien, almost incomprehensible version of grandmotherly; she is the wind itself, powerful, big, all-encompassing, and she's bowing to him out of—pity? love?

Well, Theo feels a little guilty about Fly, but not enough to use it for a winged broomstick. And as before, Theo feels a bit sad about Windy, but doesn't linger on that too much.

He decides to wake out of the trance, focusing back on his breathing instead of the magic, then opening his eyes.