The dizziness and vertigo caused by having what amounted to an extra sense conflicting with her sight was crippling. While Amanda could manage with her eyes closed, keeping them shut at all times was not only unusual, but also a reversal of her natural instinct.

So it was that she kept opening them by accident while standing or turning her head. Before long she had learned to keep her eyes pinned shut at all times, but this wasn’t a solution, but instead avoiding the problem itself. She spent a surprisingly large amount of time the first week curled up in bed. Though her father watched over and helped her, the only way forward as he explained was to take it slowly.

So Amanda tried, and kept trying. Sitting in bed she would open her eyes, try to not immediately get sick, and when it was too much, close her eyes again. Slowly, she was able to keep them open longer and longer. By the second night she could mostly keep them open, as long as she didn’t move. The problem was that just standing still, she would sway one way, or lean another. Even that tiny bit of movement was enough to trigger her dizziness.

However the second hurdle was far greater than the first. Once she could simply have her eyes open it seemed like a huge step forward, yet any motion at all tended to make her feel like all of the world around her was spinning.

It was so bad that by the end of the week she had a bucket in her lap most of the time. It didn’t seem to be getting much better, at least not at any meaningful rate.

Amanda had tried at first to tough it out, she had wanted to prove that she was a brave girl and that she could do it. However it was fruitless, and after all the effort was expected, it left her feeling more hollow than hopeful. She was worn down considerably and unless her father came to encourage her to keep trying, she tended to simply lay in bed, either sleeping or trying too, after all it took some getting used to always sensing the world around you. But somehow even with everything swirling about and shifting, just having her eyes closed helped her drift off, the problem wasn’t so much sensing what was around her, it was being distracted by it.

So it was eight days after she had first seen the aura, that her father came into her room and with a gentle hand shook her awake.

Amanda had gotten used to keeping her eyes shut by now, and she regarded her father from below the soft fur blanket. Neither willing or wanting to use her eyes.

“Amanda, wake up.” Her father said jostling her with a hand.

Amanda shook her head. “No...” she replied from the refuge of her darkness. Safe in this small space between the blanket and slightly lumpy mass of furs below her.

Her father breathed out a long breath, but pressed on regardless. “I had an idea last night.”

“I don’t care…” Amanda whined in response.

“You’re sure?” He asked in response, his tone clearly worried.

Amanda nodded her reply, not wanting to hear any more of these ideas.

“It might help with the dizziness.” Her father added.

Amanda took pause at that, but after a moment her innate curiosity got the best of her, “How?” She was skeptical of course, after all this wasn’t the first tidbit of advice he had offered this week, yet anything that could help might make the difference, right?

“I remember back when I was at the academy that other students had similar problems.” He explained.

Amanda was pretty sure he was avoiding the part where he didn’t have this problem. He hadn’t outright said so, but deep down she knew that if he had gone through this himself, that he would. She couldn’t help but yearn for his usual way of comforting her, telling her all about how he too had once gone through such an experience, and how he had struggled through and managed. That was sorely lacking however, which was a widening rift between them.

“You see, they took some medicine to help with it.” her father continued, clearly optimistic.

“Medicine?” Amanda asked, recalling some rather foul powders and mixtures that old Anara had given her at one point or another when she had a fever, or cough.

She could make out her fathers nod in reply, “Yeah, you see they have a medicine that people take when they intend on sailing. Not everyone is cut out for long hours on a boat being tossed about by the waves.”

Amanda had never seen a boat, or the sea, the biggest river she had seen was when the streams near by the village overflowed in the spring. So she really couldn’t relate to such a description. But her father was trying to help, and in truth she didn’t want to stay in bed, she had already missed their trip down to the village when she usually played with the village children. She hadn’t been able to play at all, it was getting to the point where she even missed doing her letters. Though perhaps that was a bit of a stretch, the truth was that she wanted to do anything but continue to sit in the bed and feel sick.

“Can you get it?” Amanda asked after a moment, finally admitting that she would even drink some terrible syrup, as long as it helped get things back to normal.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I think so, but there's a problem you see.” He continued.

“A problem?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know how much to get, and it's quite a walk. That would leave you here for quite some time, likely more than a week for me to travel both ways. So long that I’d have to leave you in the village instead. With Anara.” She said clearly expecting her response.

“Old Anara?” Amanda whined, “But she smells funny...”

“That's because she's always working with plants.” Her father scolded her. But his tone lightened, “Or, if you perhaps want to get out of bed, we can go together, you’ll just have to keep your eyes closed for most of the trip.”

That made Amanda frown, she’d only be able to sense the little space around her? That wasn’t how she expected her first trip beyond the village would be. She had expected to see the world, to point and ask questions. Would a trip like this even be fun? In truth, while the world around her was dazzlingly beautiful in it's own way, it became frighteningly mundane when she was stuck in a rather stagnant room all day.

Her father continued, “The good thing is that once we get there we can buy some medicine and get you used to aura sight before we head back. Maybe even spend a few days down by the port. You want to see the harbor don’t you? They have huge fish.” He said indicating a size with his hands that was almost as big as she was.

Amanda almost said no, she was just going to keep feeling sick, and it was only going to get worse. She was sure of it. Yet, she really did want to see the sea, the fish, and the idea of getting out of bed, even if it was with her eyes closed did call to her to a degree.

“Just think of everything you’d be missing out on, laying around in Anara’s cottage all day.” Her father said with a shrug, “You’d be there until you smelled of plants too.”

Amanda groaned, “Does it have to be old Anara?”

“It would.” Her father said with a note of finality. “So, What will it be? I’ll be getting ready to leave regardless of if you are staying or going. It's up to you, you can either come with me and see new things, or sit around and smell like plants all week.”

That finally did it, “Fine…” Amanda said without an ounce of enthusiasm.

With that her father removed her blanket with a flourish, and gestured, “Then wash up and get a fresh change of clothes on. I’ve already got some warm water in the kitchen, use the bucket and the cloth I set out.”

Amanda, now committed to her course, pulled herself from bed and did as bidden. She could see roughly to the edges of her room, which was around the same size as the cellar. The common room was larger, which gave her a strange sense of being lost in the darkness. Unable to sense the walls around her, it was like standing in the middle of a cave. Only a tiny candle to light the space around you, the light never quite reaching to the walls. Alone in the vast expanse, just thinking about it made her feel lost, even in such a familiar space that should have been welcoming.

She found the bucket filled with water that glowed beautifully in swirling patterns to her senses. Stripping her clothing, and dunking the cloth into it created patterns, swirls and gradients of warmth in the space around her, filling her for a moment with that initial awe she had when she had first witnessed the drab cellar on that first day.

Her fathers voice however broke her from that reverence, “I’ll be half gone by the time you finish at that pace!” She couldn’t see him, but she could hear him all the same.

So she pulled herself together, and continued cleaning. She was glad to be rid of some of the sticky bits that had clung to her skin that her father had missed wiping away previously. And after that she pulled on the simple tunic and pants that she usually wore when they visited the village. Once done her father offered her a leather cloak that was a bit too large for her, but she pulled it over her head, pulling it snug.

Her father inspected her, “I’d gotten this for when you had grown a bit more, but I suppose it will have to do for now.”

Amanda sort of liked it, it was like a big blanket that hung around her, though it was a bit heavy. The hood on top covered her face too, which was kinda funny. She even opened her eyes a bit to see if she could see anything. She could, and had to quickly close her eyes again, the last thing she wanted to do was to feel sick again.

While her father finished his own preparations she spent the time shuffling around in her new cloak. Throwing out the part that hung around her, whirling really fast to watch it spin out, and trying to adjust the hood to see if she could get it to completely cover her face. Her father had loaded up a bag with all sorts of things. Something that stood out to Amanda was the usual gemstones contained within. Much like the crystal lamps they used in their home, they had a unique glow all their own. Her father strapped the bag to his back, and then threw his own cloak over himself.

“How come you have one too?” Amanda asked, not used to seeing her father wear a cloak before.

“It's easy to stay warm, but staying dry is easier this way.” He noted as he pushed open the door. “You ready?” he asked.

Amanda nodded, rushing after him.

Outside was strange, the air felt so much more empty than the air inside their home. Or at least it did until her fathers shape changed, stretching out around them both, pushing out, further, and continuing out even more. Then pulling in tighter, the air’s chill going away even as the air seemed to thicken to her senses. She didn’t quite understand what he was doing, but In a way it sort of felt like a hug to her. Even with how she felt, it was always interesting and exciting to see what was happening as her father used his magus abilities.

She observed how the snow around them on the ground was wasting no time in melting. While the snow beyond the wall that was her father’s invisible form remained untouched. She could see the layers in it. Outside and inside were similar, but the inside was more intense to her senses. Then between the two was the shimmering wall that belonged to her father; the way it shimmered with her fathers unique color, the way it hung around them protectively, it all seemed important, even as Amanda tried to wrap her head around how it worked.

“Let's go.” Her father said, starting off towards the village.

Amanda quickly came up alongside him, careful to stay inside the shimmering bubble that surrounded them. She could tell now, that was what was keeping them warm, it moved with them as they went, and the air inside stayed warm, while the air beyond remained cold.

In fact, she realized she could tell that just by sensing it, she didn’t even need to stick her hand outside of the bubble. Though she did that anyway, after all how else could she be sure?

Strangely seeing her father’s skill at work was perhaps the thing she needed to urge her forward, one day she knew she would be just like her father, and people would look to her to keep them warm or keep them safe.