Ghostwalking

She arrived in Alnus's class around the same time the others started showing up. As usual, the topic of conversation was the various dreams and Dreamwalking the Faelyn her age had experienced the night before. For once, though, she was able to join in.

Her description of the forest and its small pond left the others in awe, chattering about how they wished such a place was real. She had decided not to even mention that it had at first felt like a Dreamwalking dream and her classmates seemed to confirm it wasn't.

Some of them had parents that travelled around the Faelyn's Forest but none of them had knowledge of trees that were obviously trees yet also crystals. Part of her was, of course, disappointed. It would have been amazing to learn that such a place was actually real. Then again, it would have made no sense, no other Faelyn had approached her.

With Alnus's arrival, the chatter died down, the young Faelyn eager to learn the day's lesson.

"Today," he said calmly as he looked around at his class, "We are going to be practicing one of the innate magical abilities of our kind, Ghostwalking."

He went on to explain that the clothes they wore from day to day were made from special plant fibers that reacted to the magic used in Ghostwalking, which meant their clothes would be affected as well. Successful use of the ability would make them appear to blend with their background from any angle and allow them to move while it was in use.

While the magic itself was not exactly simple, he explained that getting the knack of moving soundlessly would likely be the hard part for them. He admitted it was because they were one of his most magically gifted classes yet, all coming from parents with particularly strong abilities in using non-elemental magic.

Magic, as far as the Faelyn viewed it, fell into two categories, elemental and non-elemental. Non-elemental magic consisted of things every Faelyn could do, even those with low elemental affinities, such as Dreamwalking, reinforcement, and Ghostwalking. Elemental magic was similar, and yet different, making use of the elements around a Faelyn instead of the magic within them.

While some places may have more of one element than another, it was possible for the magically gifted Faelyn to change the elements to suit their needs temporarily. Long ago, such abilities had made them feared, but the world was more or less peaceful in the current era.

Alnus led them from the classroom and down to the floor of the settlement. Towards the center, in the area where they had their diving test the day prior, were market stalls and other such things. The traders of the Faelyn often kept their feet firmly on the ground and while each settlement was essentially self-sufficient, it was always nice to buy some luxuries occasionally, or so her mother told her.

Farther from the center the surroundings became more natural and lusher, less lived in. Larger harmless wild animals were even allowed passage into the city to keep its ecosystem balanced, though they were also hunted from time to time to continue said balance as well as feed the Faelyn.

Alnus explained that the goal was to remain moving and hidden while a few of the adults searched for them. Among the volunteer searchers was her father, who acknowledged her with a small nod. Alnus would be using an advanced wind-based search magic to keep track of their whereabouts, also making sure they were moving in the process.

If they stopped moving for more than a minute or so at a time, he would assume they were in trouble and come straight to them with one of the city guardians. Assuming they were not in trouble, it would mean failing the lesson for the day. There were no negative repercussions towards failure, it merely meant more practice for the ability.

Young Faelyn, though, were easily bored. More practice at something they already understood was equated with torture. The only exception was for things they individually considered complex such as diving in Silaira's case where it was seen as always welcome for their safety.

Before he allowed them out into the wilder areas of the settlement, he explained how Ghostwalking worked and had each of them try it. As magic coated her fur and moved along her skin, Silara disappeared from sight the same as the other young Faelyn. The negative, though, was that they could not see each other either.

"As you can see," he informed them, "We Faelyn cannot generally see each other while Ghostwalking, it's why most that use it work alone," he drew some stones out of a pouch at his side and held out his hand, "Each of you, take one of these," he kept count as they did so to make sure no one missed theirs or took two, "If you insert a bit of magic into the link stone you have, the others with the stone will appear to you, though they will not look as normal. I have one as well, so that I can find you easily in the event of a problem arising."

Silaira did as instructed and jumped slightly as ghostly figures appeared around her. She was not the only one to react as such and several of the young Faelyn even fell into each other in their surprise. She glanced at Alnus, noting that he too had a slight glow around him.

Alnus waited for everyone to settle down once more, "What the link stones are allowing you to see is the raw magical aura of everyone holding a linked stone. Your individual level of control over your magic is what is determining just how much like a Faelyn you still appear. Those of you with lower control will appear blurred around the edges of your person, increasingly so until you are a just a mass of magic for those with little control. Those with finer control will hold more of their original features while seen with a link stone."

He did not point out anyone, but several students looked at Silaira and a few others in class well known to be magically gifted. Silaira could not see herself, but the other magically gifted Faelyn in the class were well defined, almost to the point she could recognize them.

"As you have no doubt figured out by now, none of you can tell who the others are, and as this is a silent exercise, I expect each of you to work alone. None of your little tricks where you group up to shield each other," he spoke in particular of the one set of triplets among them, who tittered a bit at being pointed out, "Now, go and do your best to be silent and remain uncaught."

The others dashed off, causing a bit of a mess as they dodged and weaved around each other. Not wanting her tail stepped on or anything else inconvenient, Silaira waited a moment before pacing gently into the forest.

The sound of sticks cracking and leaves rustling reached her ears as her classmates dashed around in hopes of not being caught. The sounds ceased shortly after the first of them was discovered.

Her father, the one to locate the young Faelyn, spoke loudly to no one in general, "Slower movement is advised for young ones such as yourself. If we hear noises, we will follow them. Sometimes we will find wildlife, more likely we will find you."

It went quiet after that, and Silaira spent a little while strolling on her own until a hand on her shoulder made her jump. Her father had found her, though he did not call out her name as he did so, instead leaning down to speak to her quietly.

"My dear, stop walking the paths we always walk when we go looking for herbs and berries. You are far too easy to find here," with that said, he disappeared back into the forest and Silaira, following his instructions, wandered into the forest in the opposite direction.

Despite following her father's advice, it seemed as if it was not too long before she made a mistake, snapping a twig and drawing attention to herself. She was discovered and escorted back to the others, no longer cloaked by Ghostwalking.

She was somewhat disappointed that she was not the last of her class, but still satisfied to have lasted as long as she did. Ghostwalking seemed a fun thing, though she wondered if there were other Faelyn out Ghostwalking in the forest as they hunted the night's meal.

It was a strange feeling; the idea that just walking around the settlement she could bump into a person she could not see. If not for the sense of community and trust in all the Faelyn aloud into their settlement, the idea might have caused her some discomfort. Instead, she just hoped that anyone that did Ghostwalk around the settlement kept their wits about them so they did not get injured.