I take my time to return to the boat, looking around and enjoying the environment, while focussing my intent on finding food and interesting things. Every time I feel a gentle tug on my mind, I go to investigate. I find food both delicious and horrible, but I force myself to eat a little bit of everything. I should make sure to have a balanced diet, and since I have no clue about the nutritional values of any of these plants, I decide to just follow my intuition.

When I arrive back at the boat, I decide that even though I love the night. It’ll probably be better for me if I make some effort to go to sleep early, so that I can be awake when it’s actually light out. As I walk up to the cabin, I think about the elderly woman I saw briefly last night. Would I see her again tonight? With excitement, I quietly knock on the door, and wait. However, even after quite some time, there is no reply. So I open the door gently, and peek my head inside. I sigh silently in disappointment, nothing has changed from when I woke up. This time, I go to sleep with my back against the door. The lock that seemed strong the first time I entered, is completely rusted. So I don’t trust it to keep out any predators, however this way, I’ll at least get jolted awake if anything tries to open the door. I close my eyes, and it doesn’t take me long to fall asleep.

I’m not sure how long I’ve slept, but I wake up when I feel a presence nearby. I look around, and see her standing near the window, looking out into the forest. This time, the room hasn’t changed, and I can slightly see through her. I feel happy that she’s here again, and want to speak to her, but I hold back. She wanted not to be disturbed, so I’ll hold off till she speaks to me. I sit down in a comfortable position, and just enjoy the silence. While she’s staring outside, her face looking like she’s thinking about something very deeply.

After a while, she turns to face me, but doesn’t speak yet. She just observes me with a look in her eyes that I cannot quite place, but doesn’t feel bad. I look back at her, and smile, but hold my tongue. After a while, she sighs, and says: you’re a very strange little girl. I nod with an even bigger smile. How come you’re afraid to speak to a weak ghost, who couldn’t harm you if she wanted to. While you mouth off to a divinity who could erase you from this world as easily as you would crush an ant.

What? I almost yell, why would I be afraid of talking to you? I was actually looking forward to seeing you again. She raises an eyebrow, you didn’t even say a word till I addressed you first. Well, yes, I say, you asked me not to disturb you. She looks taken aback by that, do you just do everything anyone tells you to? Hell no, I reply, I will respect others wishes, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just obey them blindly. If something doesn’t feel good, I won’t do it. So, she says while squinting, if you wouldn’t have felt like being quiet, you just would have talked all the time just like you do outside to your pendant? NO, I say firmly, goddess, I mean, divinity, have you never heard of consent and respecting boundaries? If I wouldn’t have felt like being quiet inside your cabin, I just would have gone outside if I wanted to make noise. I wouldn’t have disrespected your wishes like that, especially as a guest in your own home. I talk freely with Big Blue because she told me she was fine with it, and as long as she doesn’t retract that statement, I’m going to enjoy doing just that.

She falls quiet after that, and I see that she’s doubting my words. For some reason, I really care about her believing me on this. So I lower my mental barriers, and let my feelings flow out freely into the world. Hoping that as a ghost, she will be able to pick up on them. Her eyes widen at that, don’t do that, she yells. What are you thinking, opening yourself up to a ghost, I could possess you and take your body for my own this way. But you won’t, will you? I ask her solemnly. Please, close your soul off again, she says quietly, I don’t want to, but the temptation is very strong, I’m not sure I will be able to resist it if you keep this up. I nod, and raise my mental shielding again. Thank you, she whispers, clearly shaken herself.

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Do you believe me now, I ask. She looks at me with sadness in her eyes. Yes, you naive, silly goose. I believe you, how could you…Her voice trails off as I start to laugh. What’s so funny, she questions me. It takes a little while for me to control myself, before I can reply. My sister also calls me that. I won’t deny it, but I also won’t feel bad for it. I’d rather live the life of a silly goose and risk being taken advantage of, than close myself off from the world, and never truly feel alive.

I see, she simply replies, and turns back towards the window. Can I ask you a question, I ask. She turns around again, and nods, you can. Would it be ok if I clean up your cabin? She frowns at this, there’s no need for that. I’m fine with how things are. Could I do it just because I like doing it, I say softly? I loved the way it looked when we first met, and I have some ideas on how I might restore it to that state. I’m pretty sure I can even do it without bothering you, it’ll just take some time if my intuition is right. I can practice my magic control with something else too. But I think doing it this way will give me more satisfaction. She thinks about it a bit before replying. As long as you can truly do it without bothering me, then I won’t mind. Was there anything else? No madam, I reply. And she turns back towards the window, as I lay down to go to sleep again.

When I wake up, the sun is shining through the window, and I feel well rested. Amazed once again by my new body’s ability to not be sore all over even after sleeping on a wooden floor, I start my day with a spring in my step. After I quietly close the cabin door behind me, I start humming a joyful tune. I feel elated, happy I could see the old woman again and have a nice talk with her, and looking forward to what this new day will bring me. I start my day off by gathering breakfast, after which I decide to do some intense yoga. While it’s amazing to be given a body that is in great shape, I feel that I shouldn’t just rely on magic to keep it that way. Besides, the exercises also help me to focus, which I feel will help me with my magic as well. So I plan to preserve this part of my old morning routine. After that, I decide it’s time to see if my plan for restoring the boat to its original state is feasible.

I go back inside the cabin quietly, and carefully open the closets, till I find what I’m looking for. A very old, completely withered broom. I pick it up with the utmost care, so I do not damage it even more. And take it back with me outside, to sit down in a spot cleared beforehand, in view of the cabin’s window. The old lady can clearly perceive much more than just what is visible out of the window, as she overheard my conversation with Big Blue. However, for some reason, I want to make an effort to show her that I’m considerate of her. I file that thought away for a later date, for now, it’s time for another magic experiment.

Last night's experiments with fire were successful. However I must admit that after the initial rush of actually being able to manipulate energy faded away. I found it quite underwhelming that I had to focus so hard, just to create a tiny spark. Considering that I was able to fully heal my wounded body with far less effort then it took me to warm a bit of water by a few degrees. I got the idea that maybe my affinity with fire was just that bad. Since there aren’t many chances to heal around here, and I don’t plan to deliberately injure myself to try it out without being sure there are no side effects or hidden costs, I decided to try something close to healing, repairing.

I sit up with a straight back and crossed legs, and find stillness inside, before starting to channel my energy through the old broom, and focussing my intent by chanting quietly:

Reverse the flow of time.

Change the fate’s design.

Restore what has been broken.

By my will, so mote it be.

While I keep channeling my energy, I see the broom slowly becoming stronger. I keep up my focus, till it looks as pristine, as a new broom. I whistle, as I look at my magic’s result with great satisfaction. I probably won’t be throwing fireballs around anytime soon, but divinity, I’m so much happier with this talent. I hum a happy tune, as I take the broom for a test drive, sweeping the leaves from the deck of the boat