I picked myself up before Anna could rush over. I giggled to reassure her that I wasn't hurt. I needed the exercise, but my family's constant worry about me was hampering my development. I held my arms to Anna in the universal ‘pick me up’ gesture.

“Anna pway?” I said when she picked me up. In my excitement, I almost pointed to where my toys were.

“You’ve gotten so much more talkative,” she said with a smile. “I was against this room, but it seems to be helping. Yes, it is,” she added in her ‘mommy’ voice.

She carried me over to my corner playpen. After setting me down, she gathered some scattered toys around me. I glanced at Auntie and noticed her smiling. I waved to her, and she waved back once she wasn’t looking at her. Auntie told me that no one should be able to notice the magic, but I waited until Anna returned to her seat before activating it.

“Tani ooo are a genus,” I told her once the spell took effect. It was like a curtain made of ether.

“I know,” she replied with a smug smile. “But please praise me more.”

Tani told me her spell array was designed to make anyone outside see me playing with my toys. I didn't tell her this spell would only work for me since I doubted anyone else had enough ether to cast such a complex array. Even Auntie, one of the greatest mages of the time, had trouble understanding it.

“Flower,” Tani said, using her pet name for me, “tell me the advantages and disadvantages of an overlapping array.”

I wrote it to avoid tripling up on such a long, complicated sentence. An overlapping array can create more complex spells and efficiently use its ether. The disadvantage is the increased precision required to ensure the spells properly layer and doesn't cause a dud or worse.

“That's right,” she smiled. “You are such a quick learner. I wish my sister were as bright as you.”

“Ooo, have a sista?”

“Yes, she isn't as magically gifted as I am.”

“Wen I meet hur?”

“My, aren’t we forward?” she winked. “Truthfully, I wanted to bring her here, but she's afraid to leave the forest.”

“Why?”

“Long ago, there were people who possessed magic eyes. And with those eyes, they could see what was usually unseen.”

“Wike si-pits?”

“Yes, among other things,” she said, booping my nose. “Some people in history thought catching a spirit would make them stronger. So they would seek us out and capture us. The king at the time made it a severe crime to capture spirits.’

“Is dat why Auntie was worried?”

“Yes, when we talked, she ensured I was here of my own will.”

“Nebbar, I wuv Tani,” I blurted out like the toddler I am.

“Awww, I love you too,” she smiled and hugged me. I felt my face grow warm, and I knew Tani was blushing, too, even though I couldn't see it.

We snuggled for a while, and I napped. When I woke up, Anna was still sitting with Auntie. Tani was resting on my chest. I stroked her hair. Without realizing it, I began to fall for her at some point. It wasn’t quite a feeling of lovers but more than familial. I was still asexual. I did know that for sure. And from the sounds of it, so was she.

“Hmm?” she stirred.

“Nothin, just enjoyin this,” I smiled at her.

She fidgeted slightly before asking, “Do you want to learn more Sigils.”

“Yus,” I said excitedly.

Tani had taught me the sigils for the base elements. Today she was teaching me the sigils for the other energies. They are plant, nature, spirit, and divine. It wasn't too hard, and I memorized the sigils instantly. I would like to know where my newfound eidetic memory came from.

“Ok, how do you think your hair dryer works?”

“Fire and wind sigil?”

“Usually, yes. However, some makers will also add a water sigil to make the air less harsh.”

She spent a few hours teaching me. I noticed she only taught me sigils used in household-type spells. And when I commented on it, she said that most magic is just that household.

“Very few people need to use magic for attacking or defending. And for those people, they prefer magic items or raw casting.”

“What’s raw casting?”

“It fell out of fashion because of its difficulty. It’s quicker and more versatile but its also dangerous. Essentially you feel the flow of your Ether within your body and convert that into the energy needed to cast magic.”

“How’s it dangerous?”

“If your focus slips or your intent isn't clear, then you may do something terrible. Say, for instance, you want to burn down a door. You focus your Ether and convert it to fire to cast the spell, but then you see me, and your focus switches to me. You may end up setting me on fire.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

My body went cold as I imagined that. “I don’t want that…” I must have paled or something because Tani hugged me.

“That's why I'm teaching you how to use magic correctly. Sigils take more time and require memorization, but they are safer.”

We spent the rest of the day snuggling as Tani told me more about the world. I learned more about my family as well as our kingdom at large. Just as I started to get hungry, Anna came over and collected me.

“Lilli, did you have fun?”

“Yus!” I said excitedly and giggled.

I knew my “growing maturity” in their eyes would make them less likely to talk about things in front of me. But if I need to, I can ask Auntie or Tani.

“How is she?” Auntie asked.

“Much happier. This was the right call,” Anna replied begrudgingly. “I was afraid she’d hurt herself.”

“I’m sure she's stronger than we think she is,” she said knowingly.

“Hopefully… she’ll need to be to survive with the silver eyes,” she mused quietly.

Anna picked up a plate of food and began to feed me. I haven't had to deal with teething pains. It could be magic. Or my Ether? Either way, I was starting to eat solid foods, one checkmark down on the list of growing up.

“You look pretty content,” Tani said as she nibbled on my food.

I was just thinking about how growing up is weird. Like, I'm excited to grow up again, but also sad.

“We aren't babies like humans. When a spirit is born, we are already fully formed. Though we do ‘grow up.’”

What's that like? I ask as Anna continues to feed me. She's talking to Auntie about some school or something. I’m not paying attention.

“Well, we are born our full size, but our personalities are simple. Like children, we are taken in by whoever feels most connected to us. And act as a family.”

How are spirits born? I asked harmlessly, but the look on her face was anything but.

“There used to be a spirit queen, but she disappeared and hasn't been reborn.”

How long?

“About a thousand years. We are running out of the divine energy needed to make new spirits,” she said quietly.

How long?

“I don't know, but maybe a few hundred more years. Then there will be no new spirits. Without a spirit queen, we won't survive, and eventually, we’ll die.”

What can we do?

“I don’t know. I was hoping the answer would be in the repository.”

Tani, I believe I could get in there.

“What do you mean?”

“Falzigh,” I whisper so Anna can’t hear me. The spell flashes into being, the light appearing over my palm. No sigil appeared as I cast it.

“That's fairy light… but I've never heard it called that. What did you do?”

I figured out its name in the language of magic. It’s not perfect, but I'm close to deciphering the language.

“The language of magic?”

I’ve been going into my memory palace every night and working on deciphering it. Fairy Light was easy, and once I learned it, I began to work on a cipher.

“What exactly did you do?”

I compressed my ether and moved it to my palm. Then I converted it to spirit energy. After that, I called the name of the magic, and it appeared.

Tani’s face twisted into intense concentration before she said, “Falzight,” a tiny spark of light appeared but quickly vanished. “That took so much energy…” she huffed.

It's not very efficient. I'm still missing something.

“Lilli…” she looked at me intently, “You mustn't tell anyone you are doing this.”

Is it not allowed?

“It’s not that it isn't allowed, but more like no one has been able to figure it out.”

How come? It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. The sigils can be written down and compared.

“You started with Fairy Light?”

Yes, from there, I was able to start piecing together letters.

“That spell that doesn't exist to humans. They don’t remember the original spell names. Sigils don’t need them. So long as it’s correctly created, you can say anything related. Fairy Light was given to us by the spirit queen. It is the original name of that spell.”

So if I can figure out the original spell names, I can decipher more of the language?

“I believe so,” she said, growing more excited, “then we could find a way into the repository.”

I hope we find the answers there. But how will I go? Mommy won't let me leave like this. I need to be able to see.

“I don’t know, but I'm sure if you can decipher the Language, you can create a spell to give you sight.”I hadn’t considered that. It filled me with a renewed sense of determination.

I had finished my food without even realizing it, and now Auntie was carrying me back to her room for a bath. As we crossed the threshold of her room, Tani cast the spell to make her visible.

“So, what were you two talking about during dinner?”

“How Auntie know?” I asked.

“You were so preoccupied you didn't notice Anna talking to you,” she replied with a giggle and tickled my sides.

“We were talking about spirits and the declining divine energy,” Tani replied for us as Auntie sent me into a giggle fit.

“Declining?”

“Yes, as the energy runs out, our power dwindles, and we begin to die.”

“Humans have been experiencing a decline in spellcasters and Mana in dungeons.”

“Maybe dey are rewated?” I said once I stopped giggling.

“What do you mean?” Auntie asked.

Tani tell her this for me. Spirits make spirit energy but require divine, and dungeons gather Mana. What if ether is just Mana? Or, more specifically, what if ether is spirit energy that's taken in and converted to mana.

“But that would mean that what we understand of magic is wrong,” Auntie said when Tani relayed my words.

It makes sense, though. Spirits have to take divine energy from something, maybe the queen? Without her, the energy is in decline. As spirits decline, so do spell casters. And with spellcasters decreasing, so too does the mana in dungeons. It's a cycle. Nature always operates in cycles.

“That would mean that something caused an imbalance….” Tani began.

“And if we can fix that, then the problem will be fixed,” Auntie finished excitedly.

“But the question is how?”

“We need da qween,” I answered.

“She’s never disappeared before. I didn’t know it was possible,” Tani said.

“Is there anyone who may know?”

“Da repositowy,” I blurt out, causing Tani to look at me.

“What's that?”

“It's a place in the Fae woods. It is supposed to house knowledge lost to the world. But getting in requires someone who can see magic and create spells.”

“Who can do that.”

“I can,” I say.

“How,” she asked softly.

“She is deciphering the language of magic.”

Auntie was quiet before saying, “That's impossible.”

“Not for my flower, it isn’t.”

“Ok, that is something beyond even a gifted child. Who are you really?” Auntie said.

“I am Riri,” I replied automatically. She gave me a look that made me shiver. “But I awso Adrianna, I died and was reborn here.”

“Reborn?”

I nodded. “I wived in a diffwent world. It had no magic or monsters.” She put her hand to her chin, looking thoughtful for a few minutes. “Auntie hates me?” I asked quietly.

She scooped me up and hugged me tight. I don’t hate you. I'm glad you are my niece, even if you still have your old memories. That explains where your ideas came from.

“Mhmm dey were things from my old world.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell me more things. They are excellent ideas. Now let's get you in a bath.”

“Tani, do you have to eat?”

“When the Queen was around, we didn’t. But ever since she left, we’ve had to a little.”

“I haven’t seen you eat before.”

“I don't feel as hungry when I'm around you. I think it's your abundant ether.”

“Auntie? When I’m weady, can you help me get to the repositowy?”

“I’ll try my best Lilli,” she said as she slipped me into the bath.