Fairy Tail: Dawn of Change by Melissa Nichols (books to read for self improvement txt) 📕

Mirajane smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. With nothing else to do, Roxanne watched the stairs and the door, hoping someone would enter the room. Her wish was granted five minutes later as Lucy came downstairs, dressed in a very familiar outfit.

"Morning, Lucy." Roxanne called as Mira produced Roxanne's breakfast. "Oh! Thanks, Mira." To her surprise and vast relief, it was normal. Eggs on toast, cottage cheese with pineapple slices, and a cup of orange juice. Maybe it was just that one restaurant that had weird food? Come to think of it, she hadn't really noticed the food much when watching the anime. Maybe the food here wasn't so strange after all.

"You're welcome. Now, eat up. Master wants all of this gone by seven o'clock. Good morning, Lucy. Can I get you anything?"

"Morning, Mirajane. Just some water, please?"

"Sure!" She replied before she disappeared again. Roxanne started eating, tearing into the eggs on toast first since that was her least favorite item.

"So, you excited for today, Roxanne?" Lucy asked.

Roxanne just nodded in response, holding her hand up flat, and then wobbling it back and forth in a teeter-totter motion. She was very excited, but also nervous.

"You're nervous?" Lucy guessed, and then smiled when Roxanne nodded again. "That's understandable, since it's a pretty big step. You're training with the Master of Fairy Tail, and you might discover your magic today. That's plenty of reason to be nervous. But I'm sure you've got nothing to worry about. Makarov seems like a fair guy. I'm sure he won't give you more than you can handle."

Roxanne nodded again in agreement, smiling in thanks, then she pointed at Lucy, palm upward, and she raised her eyebrows questioningly. She learned this from one of her classes at school, an American Sign Language basics class. In ASL, asking a question was accompanied with raising of the eyebrows, not lowering as most people do when they verbally ask a question. And it was more polite to turn your hand palm-up if you’re pointing to someone in a non-offensive manner. Realizing this wasn't home so Lucy might not understand the eyebrows thing, she almost panicked until she heard Lucy's response.

"Me? What do you mean?"

Sighing in silent relief, Roxanne teetered her hand again.

"Oh! Am I nervous? I dunno; I guess so." Lucy prupped her chin on her hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do today, but I'll probably stay here and socialize. So, yeah, I guess I am. It's my first day in the greatest guild in the country and I'm meeting new people. What could possibly go wrong?"

Roxanne tried to reassure Lucy by patting her shoulder—after she had wiped that hand on a napkin of course. Crumbs were gross, and it'd be rude to get any on Lucy's clothes.

"Thanks, Roxanne. You're right!" Lucy agreed emphatically, a determined look settling on her face. "Everything will be alright, and I'm not going to worry until there's something to worry about."

Roxanne agreed with her friend, throwing her fist into the air as well. She also quite enjoyed the fact that Lucy did most of the pep-talking herself.

So they talked like that, Roxanne gesturing while she ate while Lucy did most of the actual talking, until Roxanne finished eating. After that, they carried on a more diverse and verbal conversation for another ten minutes or so, until the clock chimed seven times and Makarov entered the guild hall. Roxanne turned to face him and showed him her cleared plate. She'd made a point to finish quickly, so there would be no delay. He nodded.

"Good morning, Roxanne, and good job. Let's get started on that training, hm?" He offered her a broad grin.

"Yes, sir!" she chirped and bolted towards him, waving goodbye to Lucy. She left the guild hall with Makarov, and the two made their way deeper into the city, to a park that Roxanne remembered from the anime. She could almost see Natsu, Lisanna and Happy there, Lisanna telling the boys to stop fighting because they were family. Roxanne smiled at that; she loved the idea of Natsu, Lisanna and Happy being a family. That was primarily why Rox shipped NaLi just as much as she shipped NaLu.

No, don't do that! She reprimanded herself. I'm here to train, not to reminisce about the anime. Focus!

She followed Makarov as he made his way down the steps and to the tree at the center of the park, sitting down in its shade.

"There are two ways that a person can become a mage," Makarov began, patting the ground for her to join him. "For most, the magic reveals itself to a person when that person is in a state of high emotion and desperation. This is what happened to many of your guildmates."

That's what happened to Erza. She felt powerless in the Tower of Heaven, a child-leader of the rebels who wanted only their freedom, and her mentor and defender had just been killed. She wanted to defend those she was fighting for, and just like that she became a wizard. Roxanne remembered the scene from the anime well. She'd never forget young Erza holding her dead friend close, facing the enemy, glowing with a light as if she were lit from within.

"The second way is for the person to search for the energies resting within themselves," Makarov continued solemnly, holding her eyes with his to make sure she was paying attention. "This method takes longer to accomplish, but the person will come away from the experience not only with magic, but also being more sure of themselves. This is the method you will use, discovering the magic for yourself."

Roxanne nodded. She didn't think things would be so convenient as to make learning magic easy or instantaneous. No, she'd have to work for it, just like everyone else. If she didn't work for it, then she wouldn't treasure her magic because she hadn't earned it.

Makarov nodded, seeing that she understood. "Every morning, we will begin the day by meditating. It's very crucial to becoming a mage and unlocking your magic, Roxanne. Do you know why?"

"Um…" Roxanne thought about it, brows furrowing as she searched for a plausible explanation. "Because meditation regulates your heartbeat and helps you clear your mind," she began slowly, recalling the information from a project she had done in class "…which is beneficial when matching your inner energies to the natural ones?" she guessed the second part, unsure if it was the right answer. It made sense, right?

"Very good," Makarov said, obviously pleased. "That's precisely right." Roxanne heaved a sigh of relief. Jeez, had she gotten lucky!"Now, sit down beside me and I'll teach you how to meditate. First, pick a stance. Something that's comfortable for you and that you can maintain for a long period of time."

She did as she was told, sitting down beside him. She even copied his pose, cross-legged with her hands on her knees. When that turned out to not be as comfortable as she'd been hoping, she shifted, leaning back against the tree's trunk and stretching one leg out in front of her, leaving the other bent. Then her arms felt awkward, so she rested one on her bent knee and cradled the other in her lap. At last she was comfortable, so she glanced at Makarov one more time, and then closed her eyes the way he had. "I'm ready, Master," she said.

"Good," he murmured. "Now, clear your mind and focus on your heart. Feel it beating in your chest, feel the rhythm, hear the blood pulsing in your ears."

He paused, and Roxanne did her best to do as he instructed. She focused on her heartbeat, on the rhythm of it, using that to block out other thoughts until her conscious mind quieted. Her heart beat quickly at first, a result of the recent movement, but it soon slowed to a much more relaxed tempo.

"Now pace your breathing," Makarov continued a few moments later, once Roxanne had gotten the hang of the first part. "Breathe slowly and deeply, but effortlessly. In, hold, out."

Roxanne did so, breathing in on an upbeat, holding the breath for a moment and ending the exhale on a downbeat a few seconds later. She didn't pant or hyperventilate, and she didn't try to beat her personal breath-holding record. Her breathing was smooth, clean, and languid. She endeavored to perfectly copy the process with the next cycle, all while keeping her conscious mind quiet.

"Good." Makarov praised her quietly, and Roxanne could hear from his voice that he had also achieved the state that she was in. "This is the basis for meditation. Breathing at a slow but sustainable rhythm, getting so used to it that you don't have to concentrate on it, all while keeping your mind quiet. If your thoughts are too loud, you cannot hear the whisper of magic within you. This is what we will do for this next hour, breathing and practicing."

After that, all was quiet for the next hour. Roxanne practiced her breathing, getting used to the rhythm she had set, while she learned how to keep her mind quiet. She was a fast learner, so she had figured out how to quiet her mind quickly, but keeping it quiet was another matter. Throwing aside or shutting down active thoughts was nearly impossible. An ant crawled over her ankle, making it itch. Birds chirped and twittered in the trees, distracting her. Her mouth dried out a little, making her thirsty. She battled boredom, and bittersweet memories of the park tried to intrude on her thoughts, as did anticipation for the magic she would hopefully discover soon, and some silent fangirl squealing over the situation and the fact that Makarov—Master Makarov himself!—was teaching her.

She'd finally managed to keep her mind quiet for three whole minutes when Makarov interrupted the silence with a simple command: "Wake up."

Immediately, Roxanne stirred and straightened, heart rate picking up speed again as she slowly drained the… the zen from her body. That's all she could think to call it, the zen. It was difficult for her to explain the phenomenon, even to herself, but zen was the word that first came to mind and it seemed the most appropriate. She did all of this slowly, feeling as though waking up too quickly would hurt her somehow. She couldn't explain it any more than she could explain the zen, but it was a warning she felt in her soul, so she listened to it.

"All right, up we get," Makarov instructed as he rose to his feet. "Now it's time to train our bodies. After all, your magic isn't at its full potential if your body isn't. Besides, if you only depend on magic, you won't have anything else to rely on."

Nodding, Roxanne stood and faced her mentor. Fairy Tail mages were full-contact mages, most of them supplementing their magic with some kind of fighting ability. It made them much more versatile than enemies thought. That underestimation is often what tipped the scales so they favored the Fairy Tail mage.

For twenty minutes, Makarov gave her simple stretches to do, which served to 'wake up' her muscles after all that sitting still, and prepare them for the real training. Roxanne touched her toes, twisted her waist, did back-bends and overhead bends until she was limbered up, and then started on the actual warm-ups. First came a light jog around the park, followed by a short break to regain her breath. Makarov used that to gauge her basic endurance. Then came three sets of stair runs, which started at the bottom of the stairs, extended to the top, and then ran back to the bottom to complete one set. There were twenty stairs, so Roxanne's breathing was labored after one set, but her leg muscles burned once all three sets were done.

Once she'd caught her breath again, she had to do ten sit ups, followed by ten push-ups, followed by three more laps around the park. All of this, from the