Chapter Fourteen, In Plain Sight

It was daytime in the forest, with several shadows about, so I immediately looked around me in a full circle, waiting for him to appear out of one of them.

I know he didn't cast a spell of invisibility, as I had been taught that already. He didn't even move! One second he was standing there, and the next, he was gone!

To my amazement, and much to my later frustration at attempting the maneuver, Ooro had just shown me how to hide in plain sight! For as I spun around in a complete circle, looking for him, I came back to the position I had been standing in, and he was still there!

After considering this for a moment, I began to understand, though I first accused him of using an illusion.

"No, Umbra, not an illusion. I merely wrapped myself in the nearby shadows, forcing your eyes to see nothing." Ooro explained. "For one who can already walk through the Shadows, though not yet dance or jump, I would have thought you would have figured it out by now. Of course, I have seen you do it before, without knowing, but now you have seen another do it, and in so learning, can actively attempt it on your own…" he explained.

"Yes", I said, "I shall attempt this method…", as I thought about what it feels like to try to hide from view. Pretending Ooro was the great forest cat I had so often tormented, I ran off, and began to circle him in a wide arch. All the while, Ooro stood in place, never moving, eyes closed.

When I had come full circle around him for the third time from the opposite direction in which I started, he opened his eyes, and said, "Congratulations, I cannot see you." Then, with a wide grin, he pointed his finger directly at what I thought was my unseen nose. "However, I can still hear you breathing, and you still smell like the deer you ate for breakfast." he said with a chuckle.

At that, I lost my concentration and popped back into view, based on the knowing look Ooro gave me. "Well then," I said, with a sniff at my jerkin and a chuckle, "I guess I'll just have to work on that." at this, Ooro couldn't help but smile.