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Thali was supposed to be practicing a spell her nephew had insisted she learn. Supposed to didn't mean she was succeeding; in fact, the elf had the suspicion that Howl had intentionally given her an impossible spell. She just didn't understand it. Being an elf, she had natural magic abilities; not nearly to the level of Howl's, him being a wizard, but enough that she could teach classes. Maybe she was having an off day; she had seen students who had struggled with those. Perhaps she was tapping into the wrong kind of energy. No, no, she had never made this kind of mistake before.

Frusterated, she turned the spell over to see if Howl had left any hints on how to do it. No; but there was something. Messily written in the corner of the page was 'for Royal Wizard use only'. So that was it, then? Howl had given her a spell he knew she would be unable to do. Turning the spell over once more, she decided to give it another try. She didn't want to give her nephew a bad impression--nor did she want to believe that her powers were so limited.

The spell was clear enough, and appeared simple. The words were written in a clear, bold script that was quite obviously not Howl's. She paused half-way through the spell, a black pool that seemed to be solidifying to the point of jello. It formed a more humanoid shape, and the elf was able to recognize it. A shadow. She looked back at the spell; was there something she'd missed? Was it supposed to summon a shadow? No, the title clearly said 'A spell to know thine enemy'.

Had she done the spell for summoning shadows on accident? No, she didn't think so. Then she remembered something; she had seen this kind of thing before. Where? Oh yes. 'Zuba's spiritual class. The elf had attempted to teach the girl how to summon temporary companions--Nini had been the result. At the time she had thought that 'Zuba had done the spell so well that she had created a permenant one--now she saw that she'd been wrong. Shadows were clearly the result of a misused spell. She set the spell down, and went to greet the shadow.

"Hello," she said, bending down to its level. "I'm--" she didn't get to finish her sentence. The shadow had reached out his hand and taken hold of the necklace she'd been wearing. The chain came undone easily, and soon the shadow was dangling it in front of her.

"Oooooh..."

"...That's mine."

"Ooooh..."

Thali sighed. It looked like she would be struggling with teaching her new shadow manners just as much as 'Zuba was. "Hello, Oliver."

Thali had never dreamed she'd end up buying an entire set up for Leyla's (yes, it seemed Zee had already picked out a name for the baby, reluctant as he was to admit she would soon be joining them in the land of the living) nursery. Not that she wasn't flattered--okay, so she hadn't exactly been asked to do so. Zee was unable to leave the house at that point and so she had taken it upon herself to make sure the baby felt welcome when she arrived. This meant that the elf was trekking back and forth from her car, carrying cans of paint, furniture, toys, rolls of wall paper, crib sized sheets and blankets; one might have thought she was being paid for the task.

No such luck; not that she expected or even desired to be paid. Rather she felt as if she owed the poor elf lying in bed something. The poor man, really. She had only just gotten him to the hospital a few nights ago; and they had prescribed bed rest--as well as many other things that she had forgotten in her haste. Something about using old remedies and sticking to elvish tradition. Clearly the doctors hadn't been well educated in elven lore, but that was another story. Through her treks from the car to the living room, she never noticed that a certain supposedly sleeping elf was smirking.

Once in the room Zee had indicated as the nursery, Thali frowned. Someone had already decorated it; to the extremes, even. A fairytale themed painted mural adorned the walls. A freshly painted crib sat in the corner. It had a canopy over it, which had spots of glow-in-the-dark paint. The ceiling itself was light blue, and had white fluffy clouds that looked like they had been painted with a sponge. There was even a rocking chair--the window seat had been covered in stuffed animals; and everything, everything, had the neatness and telltale signs of an elf at work.

Instead of being awed by the fact that Zee had done all this himself, while pregnant, terribly ill, and hardly able to pull himself out of bed, Thali found herself rather annoyed. He was supposed to be taking it easy! Why did he insist on doing things himself? "Zee!" she started, making her way to the living room. It was then that she heard a familar, dreaded sound.

"Ooooh... Oli! Olili!"

She sighed. Oliver seemed to follow her everywhere, whether she liked it or not. At times it was almost adorable--others, like this time, it tended to be rather annoying. "Oli? Lililili!" It seemed Oliver had found someone to talk to--wait. Zee! Thali closed the gap between herself and the living room before glancing around.

"Hey Thali, is this yours?" Zee had the unmistakable sound of someone who was half asleep; and somehow managed to sound amused as well. "No idea what he's saying, but he's cute."

"Ver? Liliver?" Oliver was moving closer to Zee with every sound he made. "Ooooh..." Soon the shadow was climbing onto the makeshift bed. A concerned sound came from him, and he tilted his head. "Liiii...." What was wrong with Zee? He was hurting!

"He'll be alright," Thali muttered, glancing at Oliver. Zee's eyes widened as he looked to his friend.

"You understand him?"

"Not at all," she replied. "It's all in the tone--you just have to hope you haven't promised he can have something expensive." She paused, and put a hand to Zee's forehead. "No fever," she said. "Still, don't get out of bed. I saw what you did to Leyla's room."

"Thought you would," Zee said with a smirk. "I wanted to fix up her room myself."

"You're supposed to be resting--the doctor said--"

"Thali, when have I ever listened to what a healer says? I'm still here, aren't I?"

Where does your shadow go between 3:15 and 4:15?

No, no! Don't eat that!

Aww, what's wrong? Don't cry!

"Oli? What's wrong?" Thali knelt down to study her shadow. Oliver had been behaving strangely all afternoon. He'd been quiet, which was especially strange, seeing as he was always making some sort of noise. Was he sick? Did shadows even get sick? The elf put a hand on his forehead, giving him a comforting smile. Unfortunately, it didn't have the effect she expected.

"Ver..." Oli ver sniffed, looking down at his nondescript feet. "Li ver..." His host didn't have time to ask what was troubling him a second time. He threw his head back, and started to bawl. He resembled a cartoon character; and it might have looked even comic, if the noise hadn't been overwhelming, and the shadow's upset so obvious.

"Oli, look! Cookies!" Thali said, when Sammi offered her a plate of cookies. Sweets always calmed the shadow down. "Want one?"

Oliver shook his head. "Ver!" He sniffled.

"Cheesy poofs?" Ben suggested, poking his head in from his study.

"Ver!"

"Want to watch tv?" Thali asked. "We can watch Spongebob." Even if the cartoon wasn't on, it had become a favorite of Oliver's--and so Thali had gone out and bought him some episodes on dvd.

"Ver..." Oliver sniffed and shook his head. He rubbed at one yellow eye with a nondescript hand. When Thali pulled him into a hug, he did nothing to resist. "Ver..."

"Oli, silly. What's bugging you? Did the static on the tv scare you earlier? Ben said the cable came loose."

The shadow instantly stopped sniffling. "Oli?" he asked.

"The cable came loose," Thali repeated with a smile. "He fixed it." Was the tv really what had upset Oliver so much? The shadow threw his arms around her neck.

"Oli!"

Oooh, moon and stars!

June had always been a good time for seeing stars with elves; even stories spoke of it. It was the month when the skies seemed most alive. At least, in Ben's opinion. So he had drug his wife, children, and residential shadow out into the backyard around nine forty-five. Just as it was beginning to get dark.

Oliver was clinging to Thali's hand for dear life. "Scared of the dark," she explained, grinning at Ben as her husband passed carrying the telescope out for Joshua's benefit.

"Do you really think we'll be able to see Mars, Josh?" Vinny asked, looking up at the sky.

Joshua adjusted the telescope once their father set it down. He looked through it, before grinning at his brother. "Maybe!"

"And Neptune?" Sammi asked hopefully.

Joshua hesitated, but this time it was Thali who answered. "Maybe we'll get lucky," she said from her place on the grass. She lifted Oliver into her lap. "Oli, look," she said, pointing up at the sky. "The moon's half full, there won't be any werewolves out tonight," she joked. The moon being only half full meant the stars would be brighter.

"Ver?" Oliver sounded concerned. Werewolves? What were those? Where they scary? Were they mean? Did they like eating little shadows for dinner? He decided he didn't like the sound of werewolves at all. "Ver..."

Thali patted his head. He didn't have enough hair to ruffle, or she would have done so. "Don't worry, Oli," she said. "Nothing will bother us tonight. Not with me here."

"Oli?"

"Really," the elf assured him. She had gotten good at guessing what her shadow was saying, just by focusing on the tone. "Oh look, it's Lupus!" she pointed to the North. "It's a wolf constellation," she explained. "I don't know how they got a wolf out of that shape, though..." She paused, and turned to grin at her husband before returning her attention to the sky. "Oh, and the little dipper!" she pointed to Ursa Minor. "The North star's always the brightest. Can you see it, Oli?"

"Ooooh... Oli!" Oliver looked at his host, clearly waiting for her to tell him more about the stars. This was interesting! And the stars were so pretty! He wondered if he could steal one. He thought a star would make a very nice night light--if only he could plug it into the wall.

"And Libra!" Thali said, pointing to the constellation. "The scales. They're known for being a symbol of balance and harmony."

"Oooh... Oli?"

Thali hesitated. It was clear that for a moment, the elf was puzzled. Her eyes traveled along the vast sky. She looked to Ben for help.

"And the Crown," Ben said, sitting down next to his wife, and pointing to a U shape in the sky. "It was supposed to be the crown of Athena in Greek mythology."

"And Hercules!" Thali pointed up above her. "Hercules was a hero in Greek mythology. He fought the hydra, and the Nemean lion, and--"

"Oli? Li?"

"Let's just say he fought pretty much every monster in Greek mythology," Ben finished, putting an arm around his wife's waist, and smiling down at Oliver. "You find Mars yet, Josh?" He glanced back at Joshua, Vincent, and Kaleb, who were taking turns looking through the telescope.

"No," Josh replied, looking slightly disappointed. "We found something, though. We just don't know what it is."

"Think we found some unidentified planet," Kaleb added.

"I've never seen it before," Vinny agreed.

Thali kissed Ben on the cheek, placed Oliver in his lap, and stood. She made her way over to the three boys and bent to look in through the telescope. "Guys? That's the moon."