Why do magicians need wands?

Peter stood. He had pushed himself to return earlier than required. The journey from New Vacilia to Tanna was two full days of walking. He was physically tired and mentally drained from the long session with David. The last thing he wanted to do was to go through more magical training like he did in the valley with the elves.

David closed his eyes for a moment, and both of them rose off the ground. “You are feeling tired out of habit. Your mind is trained to be fatigued after a certain period of alertness. I cannot blame you, your mind’s accustomed to relying on your physical body for energy.” They continued to rise higher and higher into the air. The field below them shrank away revealing a bifurcated landscape of grass on one half and endless variation of undulating barren rocks on the other. “Close your eyes, Peter. You can use magic to move objects. Now I want you to use magic to move the energy around you. Pull the energy into your body. I am sure you experienced the feeling with any food or water you consumed in the pocket world.”

Peter had to force himself to look away from the ground dropping away beneath his feet. He closed his eyes and thought about what David said. Peter, Sam, and Rodger had entered and exited the pocket world through a fountain, and when they consumed the water from the fountain, they were rejuvenated mentally and physically. He reached out to the energy around him, but the energy he felt was separate from him. Trying to pull at the energy had no effect. “This isn’t working. I can’t do it.”

“You can, you simply need to focus. When you escaped from the Karoo, you used your magic to reach out across a great physical distance and manipulate objects. This is the same thing, except instead of moving an object with magical energy, you are going to pull energy to you.”

Peter tried again, but nothing happened. His mind drifted to thoughts of his brother and his parents. He opened his eyes. “Can we go back to the ground so I can focus?”

David rolled his eyes and shook his head at Peter. A second passed and the scene changed. They were back on the ground, standing in the meadow. “Go on then.”

“It’s not the energy, it’s my ability to focus. Floating was too distracting.”

“You think you’re standing on ground now do you? Cute. You are in a special place for learning. Here, you will never run out of magical energy. Quit making up excuses. If you like, I could find you a stick or a hammer that you could wave about in front of you. Perhaps some type of crutch to help you focus. Personally, I have never comprehended why someone capable of performing magic would need to dillydally with a piece of wood, recite silly words, or make extravagant hand motions? I mean it’s not like the source cares if you call it names, what species of tree you wave around, and the source certainly doesn’t care about secret handshakes.”

“Well, what if waving my hands about makes me feel better? You move your wings when you do magic!”

David laughed. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Yes, I move my wings about, I’m a wing talker and doing so helps me focus. I was only being halfway serious. Wave your arms if you like or grab a stick to wave about. These things can help, but my point is that motions, words, and trinkets are totally irrelevant to doing magic.”

Peter clenched his teeth together in frustration. The circular discussion with David was starting to annoy him and he just wanted to move past the issue. He spread his arms, closed his eyes, and stopped breathing. He repeatedly made a swishing motion toward his chest. A white hue of light glowed around his body, and he floated off the ground.

David flapped his wings and circled Peter. “There you go, well done. By the way, healing yourself from injury is done the same way.”

Peter opened his eyes as David circled him. His mental clarity and physical energy were improved. “What’s next?”