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BY CORA OF FAIRENDALE
Unofficial Leader of the People
Being a shape shifter is a lonely occupation. I have always been a loner, however, so this was never a worry for me. I never took much interest in the goings-on or the people in the village of Fairendale. I learned early that there was a reason I did not feel a connection with any other person. Or most other people. One excepted.
I was a shape shifter. One of the chosen.
I still do not know entirely what it means. I know that I have been given a powerful gift. I know that many do not understand shape shifters, which means that many do not understand me. It does not bother me so much, though I would very much like to know why I have been given this gift.
But the purpose of this writing is not to air my wonderings; it is to help you know if you might be a shape shifter.
Here are some clues that shape shifting might be a gift you carry:
1. You have very vivid dreams.
There were many nights before I fully developed my ability to shape shift when I thought that I was flying in the sky. They were the most wonderful dreams, for what child does not want to fly? These dreams were different from other dreams in their vivid reality. I could not tell that they were dreams at all.
2. You lose moments of time.
Sometimes, when I was a young girl, I would find that I had been lost to the world for whole hours at a time. I could not remember a single thing that had happened during that time. I later learned that this was because my animal skin had crept up on me unexpectedly, and I had spent the last several hours as a blackbird, unbeknownst to me.
3. Your limbs turn into random animal parts.
There were strange and disturbing instances when I would be sweeping my father’s cottage and my fingers would suddenly become feathers. Sometimes my legs would shorten unexplainably. Other times my mouth would become a sharp and pointed beak. Sometimes, instead of singing while I completed all the chores, my voice would emerge as the squawk of a blackbird.
I did not tell my father, for fear that he might believe me mad.
The skill of shifting your skin must be meticulously developed over a number of years, so it is worthwhile to know if you are a shape shifter earlier rather than later. Perhaps these tips will help you determine whether you have this ability.
And if you are a shape shifter, here is how to shift into your unique shape:
Close your eyes and imagine that you are the animal you have been dreaming about. Open your eyes and enjoy.