Free The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth

flame leaped from the candle to the tip of her finger, and then played with the flame, until she was juggling three tiny balls of fire. Before she could do anything more, Meghan said sternly, "Ye have shown us the flame, now show us the void."
Obediently, Isabeau winked the candle flame out, feeling a little resentful. The challenge o' the flame and the void's an elementary exercise — any novice could do it, she thought. Nonetheless she waited for the praise she thought inevitable.
"Humility and self-control are necessary attributes o' any witch," the Sorceress Seychella said sternly. "If a witch misuses the One Power, or grows to enjoy the use o' it too much, only evil can follow." Isabeau felt her heart sink.
She had heard the same words many times from Meghan, but had never paid much heed, being too eager to exercise her will upon the One Power. "Nonetheless, she has succeeded in the challenge o' the flame and the void and so passes the Trial o' Fire. Draw close to the good fire, lassie, warm yourself and bask in its light. Goodwish the fire o' the world, for without warmth and light in the darkness we should die."
Isabeau crouched by the fire until her cheeks were red and her limbs warm, before returning expectantly to her spot.
"Now for the final challenge, the Trial o' Spirit," Jorge said.
Isabeau waited but nothing happened, no one moved or spoke. She glanced at them all, meeting the silver-haired witch's sad blue gaze, Jorge's glazed eyeballs, Seychella's impatient glance. Only Meghan did not meet her eyes, staring sullenly at the ground.
"Tell us what ye see," Seychella said, and Isabeau looked about in some perplexity. She saw nothing that she had not seen for the past four hours—loch, waterfall, forest, sky.
"In your mind's eye, lassie," the unknown witch prompted.
In desperation Isabeau shut her eyes but saw nothing but fizzling darkness. She thought back to the morning of her eighth birthday, when she had been tested in this way before. She remembered how Meghan had drawn something on a piece of paper and had made her guess. "A star in a circle," Isabeau said, and heard them sigh in relief. Involuntarily she looked at Meghan and saw her guardian was staring at her with her piercing black eyes. The stare made her blush and stammer, "I remember the game. I see nothing now."
"Odd," Seychella said. "Do we pass her or fail her? She has given the right response."
"Surely she must see it. It is the challenge o' clear seeing," the stranger said. Isabeau looked appealingly at Meghan but it was Jorge who answered, saying, "She gave the right answer. Who are we to understand the ways o' the Power? How she came to the right answer is surely a matter for Eà."
Relief flooded her. She tried to remember if she and Meghan had ever played that game again, but she did not think they had. Surely her teacher should have prepared her for that Trial? And why had she not seen anything, when they all expected she would?
"Isabeau has given the right answer to the Trial o' Spirit," Jorge intoned. "Feel the blood pumping through your veins, my bairn, feel the forces o' life animate ye. Give thanks to Eà, mother and father o' us all, for the eternal spark, and goodwish the forces o' Spirit which guide and teach us, and give us life."
Isabeau was not allowed to rest for long, though they gave her more water and congratulated her on her Passing. Seychella was openly puzzled about the final Trial, but bowed to Jorge's judgment. Isabeau crouched by the fire again, for the sun was obscured by rising clouds and the wind was sharp, then rose and found a flat patch of rock to do her ahdayeh exercises.
"Snow Lion Goes to Drink," Seychella snapped, and immediately Isabeau felt her body swing into the loose, arrogant walk that she had been taught.
"Snow Lion Sniffs the Air," and Isabeau turned to face the witches, every nerve alert, her back straight and her head raised.
"Snow Lion Leaps the Rock."
Isabeau lightly bounded into the air, her arms