Welcome to Gaia! ::

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Earendil opened the door for them once more and let them out into the ten-doored circular room.

"Well then," he said, "why don't we get started? Here, let me see the flower for a second again."

He reached down to Lin and waited for her to hand the flower back to him.

Earendil took the electric-looking flower from Lin and cupped it in his hands, then brought it close to his face and blew on it gently. Its glow brightened slightly for a moment, then returned to its original state.

"Here," he smiled, holding it out to Lin once again. "It will last for about an hour more. I challenge you to find me in the labyrinth before that time is up. If you don't, I'll come find you - but I think you just might be able to."

He was planning on leaving little hints for her anyways, clues that would only be visible in the light of the flower's magic.

Earendil couldn't help but wonder at the look on Lin's face. It seemed to him that she enjoyed the whole stalking idea a little too much ... he dreaded the day she found out how serious the whole idea was.

"All right then," he grinned. "Give me a few minutes' head start - when the time is up, the flower will flash red for a second, so pay attention to it. Then you can come find me."

Or try.

"Ready?"

Earendil stepped back and started humming softly - but the hum wasn't audible, even to sharp elven ears. It was the hum of the wishsong, that was manifested as magic only.

He felt himself being surrounded by his magic, and knew that he had vanished completely from the child's sight. He slipped out one of the doors, leaving it open so that the child would at least start in the right direction, and headed down the hall.

Every once in a while, he would touch something - the wall, the floor - with his magic, leaving an invisible mark that only the magic of the flower he had given could reveal, and even then, only when it was held close to it.

She would indeed have to look hard to find him.

When Earendil felt himself safely distant, he reached out with his mind and activated the flower.

In the child's hand, the electric blue flower turned red and flashed brightly once, then faded back into its glowing blue.

The white walls stretched out in many different directions, even just outside the door. Torches hung on the walls, lighting the corridors, but there were no markings anywhere to differentiate between the different directions. There was no air movement, no smell, no sound but those that the child and kirin were making themselves.

However, when the flower was held up, a partial footprint was visible on the floor just in front of the two, glowing blue, pointing in the direction of the central corridor.

Earendil heard the two starting out after him, though he was quite a distance away, and nodded to himself. He had stopped his magic for the moment, and was now hiding purely with his skill rather than being invisible.

Well, he would give them a few more minutes and then move on to another hiding place.

On the bottom of one torch, a small partial fingerprint glowed in the flower's aura. It was barely visible, even to someone who might have known it was there or was searching for it - but it was indeed there.

Severall rooms down, Earendil heard the kirin's hooves clicking against the floor and decided that it was time to move again. Once more cloaking himself in magic, he moved through a maze of doors, leaving fewer and fewer trails of magic as he went.

As he passed through one doorway, he tripped slightly but caught himself against the wall with one hand, but it made a loud slapping sound.

He froze, then moved on to get away from the noise.