Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Yeah ..."

He concentrated hard on finding his way through the maze of hedges, and after a while he couldn't refrain from shouting out: "Alassëa! Are you here?"

"Very near," came the amused reply.

Amalirahc honed in on her voice. "Don't you move again!" he told her.

"Good," Alassëa quipped, laughing. "And did you find it easier to find your way outside than in?"

"Nope," Amalirahc replied succinctly. "Luk helped us find our way to your room, but then he left us and we had to find our way back outside again all by ourselves!"

Alassëa giggled. "At least tell me it's easier now to get around without hitting anything than it was at the beginning."

"Good for you," Alassëa said proudly. Amalirahc was pleased to discover that her voice was growing closer as they went forward. "Then it seems this lesson has indeed been effective. I'm glad."

She seemed very close now, and Amalirahc was eager to finish the exercise. He picked up the pace ever so slightly to get to her more quickly.

"Sorry," Amalirahc apologized, slowing down again.

"So Amalirahc, how much do you think you've learned about sensing what's around you?" Alassëa asked, and it seemed as if she had something on her mind, by the tone of her voice.

Amalirahc missed it completely. "I think I leaned a lot," he beamed. "I can feel it when there's a wall in front of me or beside me even without a staff or without my hands!"

There was a brief pause. "You're sure about that?"

"Yup!"

There was a soft, almost inaudible whoosh followed by the crack of a staff meeting a skull, which was followed immediately by a yowl of pain.

"HEY!"

Alassëa smiled to herself, both at Amalirahc's reaction (when would he learn?) and at Miyuki's implied question.

"If you continue with what I am teaching you about knowing your surroundings when you can see nothing, you will also learn about sensing people," she told Miyuki. "It is also possible to focus on that, if you wish, but to me it is no different than sensing what is around you. If anything, it's easier to sense people because they're alive."

Alassëa nodded slowly to herself.

"Keep your eyes closed, it's going to be bright," she cautioned the children as she reached to remove their blindfolds.

Amalirahc made sure to keep his eyes closed for several seconds after his blindfold was off, and then opened his eyes very slowly so that the light would not be such a shock.

"We'll leave it at this for today," Alassëa went on. "Perhaps tomorrow we can have another lesson."

She took off Miyuki's blindfold as well, then tucked the two blindfolds into the small bag she always had with her.

Alassëa smiled at Miyuki. "Well, I'll have to take your word for it," she quipped. "Though I did warn you. But come, it will be lunch time. Think you can find your way back up to the rooms to wash up for lunch?"

Amalirahc thought about it seriously. "Maybe?" he ventured hesitantly. "I ... think so ..."

After all, they had found their way out blindfolded, it couldn't be that much more difficult to go in without a blindfold, could it?