“You are in danger.”
The words come from a shadow; one that has followed behind her since her birth. She has nicknamed it imp and delights in its presence. This sound is not an invitation of play and she feels—
“Please, you must hide.”
Hide and seek is a common enough game. She is quite good at finding places that others are too big to fit in. This place, however, is barren and she will be too bright in this landscape.
“Change, the way I showed you before.”
She has only done it once, become a shadow. It is not so easy as one would think. She closes her eyes and concentrates.
It is only the shadow that sees the gold flash, the bird colored blue like sea and sky appearing to fetch the child’s disguise in its beak. The child is changed, hidden within the body of another. And the shadow dissipates.
The child’s eyes open and she knows she must seek to hide her brightness.