Disclaimer- I don't own any of the character. Unfortunately.

Chapter Four –Ghosts

"What?" Alanna asked in surprise. "But I'm...how can I help? I'm dead."

The goddess looked seriously at her. "I know, and usually we don't allow the spirits to mix with the living. But this is a very special circumstance."

"What?" Alanna asked.

"We've seen the future." The goddess said grimly. "It will be leak enough without you, but what your friends are planning to do is highly dangerous, and it's going to backfire. They will die."

Alanna gasped. That prospect was even worse than her death.

"Which is why we are allowing you to go to Tortall, as a spirit. They're guardian angel, if you will." The goddess sad, and Alanna smiled wryly at the thought of being a guardian angel.

"Will you go?" The goddess asked.

Alanna nodded. "Of course. I'm not going to let them die because of me."

"That is what I hoped to here." The goddess told her. "Now child, here are the conditions. You can inhabit people's bodies, but that is very energy consuming, so I would not recommend doing it unless it is an emergency." The goddess advised.

Alanna nodded. "Can they see me if I'm not in someone else's body?" Alanna asked.

The goddess nodded. "Yes, they can see and hear you if you wish for it to happen. However once you make yourself visible and audible, everyone can see and hear you. And it will be obvious that you are a ghost. So I also advise that you don't make yourself visible in public."

Alanna nodded understanding. She knew she should be concerned, but she was too excited. She would see them all again, Jon, George, Raoul, Gary. It was an exciting, even though she was going to save them from death.

"Can I touch objects?" Alanna asked.

The Goddess shook her head. "You can touch the ground, and stairs, but that's about it. If you put your will into it you could sit on chairs, open doors, all that. Otherwise you just go through objects."

Alanna nodded again, feeling a bit disappointed, but expected it.

"How do I get around, if I can't ride a horse or anything?" Alanna asked. "Can I fly?"

The Goddess laughed, which hurt Alanna's ears. "No child, but you will be a ghost. You only have to think hard about a place and you will be there. It is the same with a person. You think hard about them, and you will appear at their side."

"Okay. How do I get there?" Alanna asked. "Tortall, I mean."

"I will send you there." The goddess assured her. "Are you ready?"

Alanna nodded. She knew that she might not be able to help her friends, and it would be punishing going to Tortall and not being able to touch weapons, or have people see her. But she had to help her friends, and would try hard to do so.

"Goodbye Alanna." The Goddess said. "And good luck, Lioness."

Alanna smiled at that name. Thom had given it to her the knight of her ceremony into knighthood. The night she died.

The thoughts of her life came rushing to her, flying around her head almost like magic as the white disappeared and Alanna found herself back in Tortall.