Ralph and the Pixie

She swallowed, audibly.

‘Now?’

‘If you like.’

Deborah was glad she was sharing a tent with Rani and Zuic. She did not want to be alone, and her body was not yet resilient enough to exert herself without some assistance. She was thinner than she had been, and was pale with dark circles under her eyes. But she was on the mend, though she felt a bit strange.

Instead of being on some great adventure, however, she was camping out with a bunch of refugees away from where the fate of the land was being decided, or so she thought.

But she had finally seen some truly magical beings! She was entranced at the sight of the tiny lights, and was made even more curious by Malina’s assertion that she had been one of them. As the wagon finally came to a halt, Malina had told her that she had once been able to change her form, and was able to imitate other living things. But, she said, there was a constant . . . the form she chose was limited to how she would look if she really was that form. For example, if she chose to look like Deborah, anyone who knew Deborah would know something was off. And anyone who knew Malina as well would soon figure out that it was Malina imitating Deborah. As Malina told her, it was like someone imitating your voice.