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“Your magic is incredible, I really admire your power,” I said to the Wind, hoping to get some kind of response out of them.
“Yes, it is,” they said.
“Are you the only one of your kind?”
“There are many conduits of nature. I have never met any of the others, but I know they are out there.”
“Do you know how many conduits there are?”
“Not precisely, no. There is the Wind, the Sun, the Stars, the Moon, the Earth, and the Sea. These are the primordial forces of nature, of which there are many conduits.”
“How does one become a conduit? Are you simply born gifted with divine power?”
“One does not choose the path of the conduit. Nor is it a divine gift. I was made by nature to serve it.”
“When were you made?”
At this question, the Wind thought a long time before answering, and I had almost thought they might not respond at all, before they simply said, “A long time ago.” Struggling to get a straight answer out of them, I had decided to change my line of inquiry, hoping to learn more about the ancient being.
“Is it possible for normal people to harness the same powers you do?”
“What do you mean normal?” Their response was frustratingly earnest.
“Well, non-conduits, I mean. Can they learn to send messages like you can?”
“No. They are all far too attuned with themselves to become attuned to the natural world.”
“So you wouldn’t be able to teach me how to harness your magic?”
“It is not really magic in the way you are thinking. It simply is. It is in the world all around us. I have been chosen to listen.”
Fine, keep your secrets to yourself, I thought. I ended my questioning there. We were still travelling across the steppe, and were probably lost again, knowing the Wind’s navigational skills. It was night, but we kept riding, for the plains ahead of us were illuminated quite graciously in shades of grey by the full moon. As the full moon shone it reflected strangely from my golden skin in a way it never had before, and it made the area around us quite bright despite it being night. As we made our way, we passed a mountain range to the north, a looming umbral beast, and the more I looked at it the more I felt it might consume me, as though its darkness would reach across the landscape and pull me into its shadowy depths. The Wind seemed wholly unperturbed. But as I stared at those grasping fingers of doom my face suddenly lit up even brighter than before, the moonlight bouncing off of me and towards the mountains, and I became a bright beacon, undoubtedly visible for leagues in the black night.
“The moon elves are coming,” the Wind said, “we must make haste. Cover your skin.”
“How do you know it’s them?” I asked, and started unravelling my bedroll so that I could wrap it around myself as the Wind forced my horse into a gallop.
“In those mountains lie their homes. From there, they can control the moonlight, and feel what it feels. Their priests use it to detect threats, or prey.”
“I thought you knew about them? Why did you take us so close to the mountains?” I was struggling to get my bedroll loose, and my body was still a huge beam of light.
“In my time, their homes were only a small cluster on the other end of the mountain range. I thought we had passed them already, during the day, but it seems they have expanded over the ages.”
Far above, descending from the distant mountains, great wings beat through the air as five shadowy monstrosities swooped down towards the steppe towards us, each with a small, grey figure atop it, and in that moment my bedroll finally came loose, and I wrapped it around myself, and the light finally dimmed. But the hunt was on, and it would surely only be a matter of time before the moon elves found us.