Through his link with Oberon, Ceroill could see Anwyn's aura shining. To someone more thoroughly versed and trained in Laran it might still be dim, but compared to what he could usually see, or feel, it was intense. He hoped he knew enough to not ruin what was beginning here. He kept his voice soft and low.
"Anwyn, this isn't something you can just command, call it to come to you. It's already there, you just have to open yourself to it. It's not from outside, Anwyn, it's from inside. Concentrate on that point in your belly, the one that is so fierce now. Breathe slow, and let the rhythm of your breath calm it and gather it. Feel it spreading through you, like a light. Gradually. Don't try to rush this, Anwyn."
Questions whirled through her mind, like individual snowflakes in a storm. The voice seemed oddly familiar in some sort of way, but it seemed to be distorted by wind and distance. But it had answered her, and seemed to know what to do. Perhaps this was her guide. So she tried her best to follow its instructions.
If she listened very, very hard, then she could actually HEAR the blowing of the wind as separate from the voice. Evetually, it dawned on her that the wind was actually the sound of her own breathing. *Wow*, she thought to herself, *this is kinda cool*.
When she next concentrated on the spot in her middle (it still felt somewhat like a fierce itch, and somewhat like the ache of an empty stomach), she could feel it growing larger and larger as it spread through her. Everywhere it touched, there was a light tingle. Maybe THIS was that "energy field" thing that Lady Danette had mentioned. Idly, Anwyn wondered what she'd see if she dared to open her eyes, but decided not to see for sure.
*SO the answer IS in ME somewhere*, she thought to herself, *Like a word on the tip of my tongue*. Maybe calling up a vision was like trying to catch your breath after a too-vigourous workout.
"And what do I do with it after I gather it ?", she inquired, her previous impatient frustration giving way to curious fascination. While waiting for an answer, she started thinking about her grandmother's favourite mirror again.
Ceroill nodded to himself. She's doing remarkably well. "You'll probably find it very...slippery, very hard to see or hold clearly. Once you do gather it, don't try to force anything, just let it....take root." He sat and watched her a while longer. "You'll probably find your senses....growing....expanding. Let it happen." He didn't know what else to tell her yet. Aside from some of what the Terranan called bio-feedback, his knowledge of what to do with it was limited. He had no training with Laran, and only the vaguest ideas of how to use it.
*THAT'S easier said than done*, Anwyn thought impatiently to herself, wondering how the Hell she was suppossed to gather up something which felt as insubstantial as FOG. Now she was beginning to understand why her grandmother had simply let the Sight come as it wished, rather than trying to make it come on demand.
It reminded her of her relationship with Oberon. She had no control over HIM either. He came and went as he pleased, and he did what he pleased.
*Show me something NOW*, Anwyn demanded, unsure whether she was talking to herself, the voice, the tingly feeling inside her or the mirror that she was still picturing, *I'm NOT asking for MYSELF, I just want to help my FRIEND*. Yes, this was kinda cool in a freaky sort of way, and she didn't WANT to stop before she found what she was looking for. But she was starting to feeling tired and hungry and a bit cold too.
For lack of any better idea, she pictured the tingly feeling as being fog wrapped around her. Her grandmother hadn't been the only one to talk about dreaming about mirrors. There had also been a tale that Kay had told her -- about the Sidhe and how (in their Otherworld of Tir na nOg), mirrors could act as if they were windows. So she pictured herself and the mirror being THERE, but she still didn't dare to open her eyes. And when it started to feel almost as if it could be REAL, she pictured the fog clearing away and revealing what she was seeking.
At first, nothing seemed to be happenning, except that she could feel the air around her growing colder. Still she persisted, *Show me! Show me! Show me!* she insisted over and over, the words beginning to run all together until she could hardly tell what she was saying anyone.
Then all of a sudden, there was a bright blue flash that seemed to pop up from nowhere and shone right through her closed eyelids. For the first fraction of a second, Anwyn thought it seemed to illuminate something inside the dark, foggy depths of the mirror. Then the light grew so bright that the sensation became one of something burning its way through her eyes and into her head.
Panic rose up in Anwyn's mind. What if she was blind and dying ? Too frightened even to scream, her eyes suddenly flew open ...