Orbing
Aurora's P.O.V
After my story telling, I suddenly found myself able to sleep that night and I was just getting into my dream when I get that niggly feeling in the back of my mind. Someone's calling for me.
"My Lady."
A breathy voice whispers to me, pulling my subconsciousness to another realm, the feeling of falling jolts me awake but the thud of my body hitting the ground, has me gasping for air. "Oww." I groan out as my lungs begin to work normally.
"My Lady?" The breathy voice whispers again and I open my eyes not before cringing as they adjust to the brightness of the sun beaming down upon me. "Take a moment for yourself." The voice tells me as I raise myself up, after a couple of seconds my vision clears so that I may take in my surroundings. I don't register the voice at first but somewhere in the back of my mind, I know this voice therefore my body hasn't automatically dropped into defensive mode.
"How?" I whisper in disbelief as my brain finally catches up with the rest of my body. Taking in the landscape, I remember this field from my many dreams as a child when I used to play with the Spirits. And when I was old enough, to be taught by them of how to harness my powers. It feels different now, I feel different here now.
"It's alright My Lady, take your time, we'll explain in a moment." A different voice disrupts my thoughts and I turn to that voice in question.
I am in awe as once again, as I witness to mighty power of the Spirits as each of their respective elements surrounds their respective caller in a whirlpool of magic, creating a shield of fire, air, earth and water around them before disappearing, leaving 4 full bodied Spirit's in front of me.
"Lord Fire." I say in acknowledgement as he smirks at my nickname for him. His shoulders shake in silent laughter as he walks towards me, where I'm still laying in the long grass, before extending a hand to me. "Thank you." I say as I take his extended hand and he pulls me up as if I weigh nothing.
"My Lady's, My Lord." I say to the others, ever the politeful lass that I am, I know my place. Else my mother, Belladonna, will rise from her grave just to give me a reprimand on manners. And that is a lesson I wish to avoid going through again, I fight back a shiver at that thought. I raise my head to Lord Fire in question again. "I don't understand, why am I here, how did I get here, am I really here?" I say confusedly, even going as far as patting my hands against my body as if it will reassure me that my body is whole and truly here, in the Spirit realm.
"Your powers are growing dear one, we called for you, expecting you to appear here like you usually do, as a projection of you subconsciousness, instead, to our surprise and pride, you've teleported yourself here." Lady Earth or Spring as she prefers, comes skipping over to me with a wide grin on her face before grabbing me into a side hug.
"Teleported?" I say, not quite catching the meaning of the word.
"Teleported yes, it is a way of travelling from one place to another in the blink of an eye. Including realms. You would usually do this through your subconsciousness, asleep wise, as you were never able to truly make your whole body teleport, you were only able to just project on image of yourself to us through your dreams. But alas you have been successful this time." Lady Water explains, pride beaming on her face as well.
"But, I don't even remember doing it! What does this mean? Is this a bad thing or a good thing?"
"It's an extremely, impressively, good thing. We have anticipated you being able to do this, perhaps when you're much older but alas you are able to do it now, which means you're coming into your powers a lot quicker than we thought. We will need to consult with Gandalf on this." Lord Air or as he prefers, Lord Sky because as he says, he's the Lord of the Skies answers, humming to himself as he ponders more on his last words.
"But I don't believe that Gandalf can teleport, how will he be able to teach me."
"He does not need to teach you, he just needs to be aware of you powers growing and evolving, you are capable of teleporting now, who knows of what you will be able to do next. But this is a brilliant thing, now you just need to know how to control teleporting, so that you don't unexpectedly teleport out somewhere or land somewhere you shouldn't."
I nod and ponder too but chuckle to myself as I feel the glee coming off of Lady Spring. I look to her as she lets out a small 'eep' of excitement.
"And Wizards cannot teleport either, so how can he teach something that he does not know himself, only those who can harness the Elements on a greater scale can, so us 4 and now you." Lady Spring confirms for me, wow, that is an achievement. I can do something that Gandalf cannot. HA!
"But why me?" I ask.
"We explained to you once before, when you were a child, that we foresaw a greatness in you, we still see that Aurora, but now, we see so much more. You're constantly surpassing everything we have ever thought you'd be capable of doing. Not to mention, expelling a great deal of pride from us too." Lord Fire looks down at me, so humbled and pleased by my newest ability.
"So this teleporting thingy, will I be able to take anyone else with me? I can't leave poor Cas stranded you know, especially if we're in a tight spot. And teleporting, the word itself seems foreign, like it doesn't sit right with me. It doesn't sound like it is what I can do now. If that makes sense."
"And that, is where we will begin, in time, you just may be able to transport a whole army with you, but for now, lets just focus on you going from one place to another, in one piece. And maybe we can come up with another way to describe your newest power, yeah?" I nod and Lady Spring somewhat shakes me in her excitement before skipping away from me, not far though, a good 30 feet from me in fact, before waving at me, her childlike enthusiasm never seizes to put a smile on my face.
"Let's start with a visual target. Then we can move on to a mental one. You have the ability now to sense where you are needed, because how else would you have known to come to this exact spot. Normally, you'd appear at our usual meeting place, in the sacred grounds but you sensed us here when we called for you and that is how you came to us, you've grown stronger with those abilities." I nod in understanding, smiling somewhat to myself as I consider this before realisation hits me.
"Wait, if I'm here, as in physically, then I'm not back at the campsite. I never had to worry about coming to you when you called for me, knowing that my body is still there but mentally, subconsciously wise, I am somewhere else, it's going to freak the others out that one minute I was there and then poof, I'm gone." Lord Sky chuckles and I give him a look that says I don't find the situation as amusing as he does, he holds his hands up in mock surrender as he continues to smile.
"All taken care of, you like to cocoon yourself in your sleep, burying yourself in your blanket even, arms and legs and all. I have merely filled your space with air, so that it looks like you are still there, under your blanket, fast as sleep." He looks at me, with a smug expression on his face, like he's proud of himself.
"I've notified Gandalf, merely told him where you are and that we are consulting you about your new powers, if anyone asks, he will reassure them." Lord Fire assures me and I snort indifferently.
"Good luck with that, this is my brother and a company of dwarves you're talking about." The 3 of them look at me before looking to each other with concern.
"Let's just see how quickly you can adjust to your powers, this changes things, you being able to fully transport yourself here wise. When you were asleep, it time passed here differently, not that you're truly here in our realm we're working against the clock." Lady Water quickly decides.
"I didn't know I could do this, don't blame that part on me, what do I need to do?" Nodding to the others, Lady Water takes over. She turns me, her hands supporting my shoulders as I face the direction of Lady Spring.
"When we called for you, you sensed us here. I want you to do just that, close your eyes for now. I will ask for Spring to call for you, through her mind. I want you to focus in on her position, don't just listen to her voice, push forward to see more, see the land form around her, feel for her presence. When you're able to do that, I want you to envisage yourself next to her. Just as you and I are now." I nod, but somewhat skeptical and close my eyes. Lady Water squeezes my shoulders gently and then backs away.
Third Person's P.O.V
Lady Water signals to Lady Spring with her hand. In turn Lady Spring waves back, she quickly moves her position, seeing as Aurora has already noted where she was last sighted and will more than likely assume she is still there. Lady Spring nods to herself at her new location before calling out to Aurora, through her mind.
"Rose? Can you find me." Aurora's head tilts the slightest, for those who aren't watching with rapt attention, they'd never notice this slight tick, it is something that Aurora does, when she is being called for through her mind.
"I hear you but I am having trouble locking onto you, I can sense your presence but I can't pin point your location, it's like there's too much of you. Your aura is taking up a wide area." She explains and Lady Spring looks startled for a moment, before she considers Aurora's words and concentrates herself by reigning her aura in, so that it only covers her body, like a shield. You cannot physically see this, only those gifted with the magical sight can.
"How about now?"
"I see you." Aurora smiles to herself. "You're next to the willow trees. I think, because of your element, your natural energy was tapped into by those around you, grass and trees and such, so instead of seeing you, I was seeing seeing them as well as a whole, not as individuals."
"Impressive, I'll note that for next time. It will be something that we can work on in future, work on separating different beings, as in the likes of a human, elf, dwarf and so on." Aurora's nods but not without furrowing her brows.
"I can see her but I don't know how to get to her." She says out loud, eyes still closed but maneuvers her head as if to look over her shoulders to the others.
"Good, if you can see her, focus solely on her. Envisage yourself next to her. Side by side. Will yourself to be there. Want it with all your might." Lady Water praises me but I can hear the firmness in her voice as she teaches me. And as ever the willing student.
Aurora's P.O.V
I do as I'm told, willing myself to go to Lady Spring, not just through my mind, but body and soul as well. I stand there for a few minutes, willing and wanting this more than ever before something clicks in the back of my mind, like a door being unlocked and flung right open for me. Then a feeling washes over me, the feeling is strange, like the giddy feeling you get when jumping off a pier into the water, the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, it spreads from my there all the way to my head and limbs. I feel it in my fingertips, my toes and hell my ears, nose and lips too. It tingles over my whole body, like a cool wind on a hot summers day tickling my skin and playing with my hair. I can feel the minute my body has moved, actually not even a minute, a couple of seconds really. I can feel the change in the Earth beneath the soles of my boots, no longer standing on trodden grass, but soft dirt with small pebbles and leaves.
I don't even get the chance to open my eyes to confirm whether I actually did teleport myself before I am ambushed by squeals and giggles from Lady Spring.
"You did it!" She squeals as I look at her in shock, she holds me back at arms length before laughing and waving to the others.
"I did it?" I question myself, before looking down to make sure everything is still intact.
"You did! I knew you could do it!" She says wholesomely, grasping my face with both of her hands, her eyes full of pride.
"Yeah." I say offhandedly, still in a state of shock. She steps back and I turn as I watch the others teleport over. It's fascinating to watch, each of them appears in the form of their elements, subtle at first it starts and I watch, taking it all in properly.
I feel as if time slows around me as I focus all of my attention onto what I am seeing. Lady Water appears first, just at about the height of where her heart should be, a small blue orb of sorts appears the size of a pearl, glowing a bright blue before growing the size of an apple, it glows in a sequence, like the beating of a heart. This encourages little streams of water to escape from the orb, each coming out at a different angle before spreading out and going in different directions, creating circular motion, like a whirlpool or tornado, I am so focused on the patterns they are creating that I just see the faint outline of her body, like looking through frosted glass and then eventually she just appears. The others follow suit with their element, a small pearl of silver, swirls of air lift up leaves and other debris that can float, before the faint outline of Lord Sky and then suddenly the orb glows bright and he becomes whole.
Lord Fire is the same, though I can somewhat feel the heat from his flame, nothing hurtful of course, but you can feel a slight warmth to the air.
"Orbs." I say to myself.
"Pardon?" Lady Spring says, not really hearing what I'd said.
"Orbs, when you's teleport, your respective element appears via a small orb of energy."
"Orbs, huh, never saw it that way, say that can be it, instead of teleporting or transporting, we'll call it orbing?" Lord Sky says, opening his arms in a gesture as if to say, why not.
The others look at him funnily for a moment before realizing that what he says, makes sense.
"Orbing, I like it, it gives mystery and says I'm magical at the same time." Lady Spring dramatically says before posing and I giggle.
"Can you show me yours? Show me what it looks like when you orb?" I ask her and she nods with a grin. Her body becomes a faint image, leading to a green orb that decreases to the size a pearl before disappearing completely. It reappears in the same place and just like the others, it glows brighter and bigger to the size of an apple, before brightly coloured flower petals and Earth particles swirl out from the orb, allowing her to take form. Once she fully appeared, she twirls around before giving me a grin. The others chuckle.
"Is it always this slow, don't you think that it kind of gives you up to the enemy?"
"It's slower here as it's our realm, it is a mere second or two, blink of an eye really, in yours."
"And what does it look like for me, when I orb?"
"It's different with you, I think because you have the ability to harness all of the elements, all that energy converges into one, your orb appears, so bright before literally exploding into several smaller orbs before you appear full bodied, it's quite beautiful actually, like thousands of stars. You also stir up a bit of wind, just a light breeze."
"Gives added flare." Lord Sky winks and I chuckle.
"Safe to say that I can only get it from you." The others chuckle as he narrows his eyes playfully at me. Thousands of years old they may be, but children at heart they are.
"Do you know how to do it now, orbing wise." Lord Fire asks.
"I think so, it felt like something was officially unlocked inside of me, I felt this rush of energy, power that I'd never felt before and it was like, I knew what to do."
"Lets see if you can do it at will. Try going back to where you started and then back here." I nod, giddy with excitement before envisioning my location from before, I close my eyes and take a deep breath and that feeling washes over me. Opening my eyes, I laugh in disbelief as I realise I've orbed on my own free will, without assistance. I hear cheering in the distance and giggle before orbing away again and appearing back in front of the others.
"I think it's safe to say she's mastered that power, you've always been a quick study." Lord Fire pats me on the back, with a little too much force by accident and I stumble a little, he grabs and rights me before muttering an apology.
"Let's see if you can orb yourself and someone else?" I pause at that, suddenly skeptical again, I wouldn't say that I've mastered my new power but somewhat gotten the hang of how it works.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine. Here." Lady Water takes my hand and ushers the others to step back to give me some space. "Try taking us to the Sacred Grounds. Spring, meet us there darling, you two follow us, just in case, it'll put Rose's mind at ease." The others nod, Spring orbs away whereas the Lord's merely partially orb, as in they fade away into their respective orbs but go no further. Lady Water looks at me and my heart skips a beat for a moment, my stomach fills with butterflies and I'm sure I'm ready to be sick but I hold the feeling back.
"Okay." I say shakily before concentrating on my destination in my mind, I grasp her hand a little tighter to make sure I've truly got her and take a deep breath, the giddy sensation washes over me and in extension, I feel it reach out and wash over her too, like a barrier, protecting and keeping her in place as we travel.
"YOU DID IT!" Lady Spring squeals and my eyes shoot open in joyous disbelief. Lady Water joins in with her merriment too. They both bundle me up into there arms before jumping us around in circle. I barely notice the Lord's appear until they give their own shouts of joy.
"This is wonderful, truly amazing." I laugh and spin myself around in disbelief, I go to say something, still spinning, before a niggle in the back of mind alerts me to someone calling me.
"Aurora?" I stumble a little in my last spin before righting myself.
"Gandalf. He's calling for me." The others nod in understanding.
"We'll be in touch little one, no doubt to see what else this new power of yours can do, can you get back to them alright?"
"I think so. Will you-" I say timidly but don't get to finish.
"Of course we will." Already knowing my question, they each begin orbing, staying as an orb, waiting for me to do so to.
"Just calm yourself and focus, it'll be different this time as you'll be travelling between realms. Focus on the company, focus on Gandalf, or Cas or your brother." I nod and take another shaky breath to calm my nerves before focusing on Bilbo, my mind wanders through the barrier that separates my realm and the Spirit's realm, across all of the lands that I have traveled across until eventually the company, I'm surprised to find that it's early morning, everyone has packed up and then I realise the panic or what has caused the panic. Bilbo is pacing, running his hands through his hair as he looks back to my bedroll, he looks up and I follow his gaze, starting with my blanket, now clutched in Kili's hands and then at his own panicked face and with a lurch, as if I've been shoved, I feel myself orb unintentionally.
"Ooof." I both hear and feel the gasp of air come from my body and the person of whom I've just landed on. Opening my eyes in horror, I find myself nose to nose with, of all people, Kili. His brown eyes stare into mine. A mixture of emotions, mainly confusion filter back to me as I stare at my reflection through his eyes. He grasps my arms, giving a short squeeze before patting up to my shoulders. "Aurora?" It dawns on me that I am still on top of him and I wrench myself up.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry Kili, I didn't mean to." His arms are still in the air, hands resting where my shoulders once were and I use his confusion as a distraction and haul him up, barely noticing my blanket falling off of him in the process.
"Where did you-, how did you-, what?!" He gestures with his arms, left and right before spreading them out widely and then dropping them back to his sides.
"I er, you see, er, well it's kind of hard to explain." I stumble on my words before several forms of laughter reaches my ears and I turn in the direction of them, true to their word, the Spirit's did follow me. Their orbs gone unnoticed by the company bar Gandalf, who has been leaning against his staff watching the whole show with a grin on his face. The others follow my gaze, each of them still in their own states of confusion and shock as they watch the orbs take form of the Spirit's, full bodied like I am used to seeing them in, except they are as tall as Gandalf. I pull a face at that.
"Rose has a new power. We called her away so that she could show us. We're sorry to have kept her." Lord Fire comes forward to stand in front of Thorin and holds out his hand. Thorin looks at the hand, looks up at Lord Fire and then looks to me, more like side glances as if to say, who the hell are they. My hand covers my mouth in disbelief, horror and embarrassment, like is he truly that damn blind?! I quickly introduce them.
"Everyone, these of the Spirits. My Lords, My Lady's this is everyone."
"By my beard!" Balin whispers before dropping to one knee, his brother, Dwalin, still stood in disbelief, gets pulled down with him, his yelp triggers the rest of them and they all follow suit. Thorin on the other hand, actually moves his head in my direction, his face showing me his expression of horror, I don't even notice Kili kneeling beside me because I'm too wrapped up in my internal panic and horror as well. I move my hand away from my mouth.
"Surprise?" I question myself before moving my hand back to stop any more words coming out of my mouth that I will regret later. Lady Spring giggles at me and I shoot her a narrowed look.
"I, er-" Thorin quickly looks back to Lord Fire before clearing his throat and shaking the offered hand, with a lot of vigor. "My Lords." He nods to Lord Sky as he releases Lord Fire's hand before turning to the Lady's. "My Lady's, Thorin, at your service." And quickly dips into a deep bow before righting himself. The Lady's giggle to each other before composing themselves. "It is an honour. If I'd have known to expect you." He discreetly brushes non existent dirt from his tunic and shamelessly gives me the side eye again. I feel myself pale under his gaze, not to mention feel myself shrink away.
"We merely wanted to make sure that our Dear Rose got back safely. Though the landing was a bit unexpected." Lady Water moves forward, pulling Thorin's gaze off of me, I close my eyes and exhale a sigh of relief before registering her words. My eyes shoot back open and aim one of my best death glares at her. I get a sly grin in return and I can't stop the flush that rushes up my neck to my cheeks as she winks down at Kili, I pull my glare from her to look down at Kili who's looking up at her with the biggest grin going on his face, I direct my glare to him instead and he has the good sense to duck his head back down to avoid my gaze, with the damn grin still in place. My lips rear back into a snarl. A chuckle reaches my ears and I snap my head in the direction of the sound and aim my glare to Lord Sky.
"Good Lord." He mutters before shrinking behind Lord Fire. Lord Fire looks at the ground, trying to hide his smile, he fails, so looks back up to me and smothers his smile with his hand, coughing to cover his laughter. Oh, that's it.
"Right, I'm back, good as new, no need to linger, you must be off now. Places to be, things to do. Bye now." I say quickly say as I usher them back to each other, like wayward children, running away from their parents. Lady Spring has taking a liking to the ponies, so I grab her and pull her with me, Lady Water had began walking around, politely asking each member of the company to rise from their positions, telling them there was no need for that. I grab her too. Height difference and all. Once I'd rounded the wayward Spirit's up, I made a shooing motion with my hands and they have the audacity to each do it back to me. Lord Sky even has the cheek to move forward to me with his shoo.
"Ha ha." A dark chuckle escapes my lips as I cock my head to the side before moving to roll my sleeves up. I move to point my finger at him but he's gone in a blink, the others too but not before I hear there chuckles, floating along the wind. "Just you wait until I see you again!" I promise darkly and I hear Lord Sky's nervous laughter follow.
"Aurora?" I quickly turn around, almost forgetting about the company, they all stand there, absolutely bewildered.
"Er-," I clear my throat, not being able to control my sheepish embarrassment anymore and say: "Did I miss breakfast?" Gandalf nearly falls over with laughter at that.
A/N: Alright, a little bit of insight regarding the Spirit's and Rose's powers. What do we think?