Shadow looked around at the kids. She tried to work out how she should ask after their names without being able to spell out her question. Being able to write her questions had been spoiling her recently.

It was so weird they couldn’t read. Wasn't that something all humans should know? Annie and Jonas certainly did. Maybe they only learned it when they were older? That seemed so silly if it was true.

For now, she just shook her head and waved off their concerns. She would just have to deal with their reading issues.

She looked down at her writing equipment. She supposed she should put it away, no real reason for it now.

She started to pack up her stuff, gesturing to Maggie to put the cork back in the ink bottle. The girl looked at her gesture between the two, and figured it out in a moment.

“Oh, yea I can do that!” Maggie recorked the bottle with ease, and Shadow put it away before giving her a quick nuzzle in thanks, getting a short laugh out of her.

“Yer really cute for bein’ so scary lookin’,” the other girl whispered, giving her a shy smile.

Shadow just shrugged and grinned a little. She was happy to be cute despite her scariness. She wished she wasn’t scary at all, at least when she didn't want to be, but she'd settle for being cute despite it.

She really wanted to know everybody's names, though. She racked her brain for ideas, and came up with a relatively simple plan. The kids, for their parts, seemed content just admiring her for now. They seemed to be somewhat amazed she was actually here with them. Waving a paw, she got their attention, and then sat back.

She used one paw to block some light from her collar and then pointed at the shadow it cast.

The kids took a bit trying to figure out what she meant.

“Umm, shadow puppets? Ye wanna play shadow puppets?” The boy said he eyes scrunched in thought.

She paused. She didn’t know what that was and was curious to learn, but it wasn’t what she was trying to get across. Maybe later.

She shook her head, and just pointed at the shadow again and then herself.

“Shadow! It’s your name!” Maggie clapping a hand over her mouth. That hadn’t been a whisper.

They all spent a moment looking around but didn’t notice anything. No voices or footsteps. It seemed like they were okay. They came back to the topic at hand. Shadow nodded in affirmation at Maggie, but made another shushing motion afterward.

No more yelling, please.

She really didn't want to get caught.

Maggie blushed a little and looked down.

“Sorry about that…” she whispered, extra quiet this time.

Shadow nodded and waved it off, and then pointed back at her shadow puppet(?), and then herself. She quickly moved on to point at the new girl and then quirked her head questioningly.

The girl looked at her with wide eyes, before looking at Maggie.

“Umm, what—"

“Oh! She wants to know yer names!” Maggie broke in, in a still-quiet yet very excited tone.

Shadow pointed back at Maggie, nodding, a grin back on her face.

“Right! I’m Maggie, but I told you that already. “ She gestured at the girl. “This is Ara! She’s a half-elf!”

Ara’s face became a little redder and she looked down again.

“Y-You don’ have to tell everybody…” she said nervously.

Shadow quirked her head at that.

What’s a half-elf?

"It's not like Shadow'll care!" Maggie asserted.

She pressed on and introduced her other friend.

“This is Roy! His Ma works for the headman!”

Shadow wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I’ma be a blacksmith when I grow up!” Roy piped in.

Maggie give him a small shove and giggled.

“How're you gonna be a blacksmith? No way old man Kimmel lets you!”

“I’m gonna… move away to a town or somethin’ when I git bigger. Pa already let me ax some logs and said‘m good at it! Hammer ain’t much different, I figure.”

Shadow really wished she could ask about any of these things, she listened intently regardless, she would need to ask Annie about them later.

A wave of guilt washed over her. Could she really ask Annie? She might wonder where she heard the terms. Would she have to keep these questions to herself?

She didn’t really like that idea. She could probably lie about where she heard them? Or maybe it wouldn’t come up?

Was that for the ‘greater good’? It would probably keep everyone happier.

She made a small huffing noise. This was ruining her mood. Why did this need to be so complicated?

She shook her head again, trying to clear her thoughts.

Forget about Annie for now. She was outside the room (She would have to figure out how to get back into the room at some point, she remembered), and it was too late to worry about it now.

“Are you ok?” Maggie asked looking at her face with concern.

She guessed her troubled thoughts were showing.

She brightened her expression again and gave Maggie a nod.

Maggie nodded back and then addressed the group.

“So, uhh… What should we do?”

Roy spoke up.

“Umm, would… would Shadow mind if we... asked her stuff? About her?” He asked Maggie, looking a little nervous about the question.

“Ye can jus’ ask her ya know,” Maggie said, rolling her eyes at him.

“Right.” He answered with a sheepish look, shifting his gaze back to Shadow. “Well, can I?”

Shadow let out some chuffing laughter. It was the best she could do with her vocal situation. She nodded at the boy. She was happy to answer some questions about herself.

“Okay, well, is tha’ collar really fake? Howsit glow like that? It looks all kinds'a magical.” He asked.

She nodded to him, it was ‘fake’ in that it didn’t do what they said it did. She did her best to gesture out the fact that it just made light rather than doing anything special. She gave up after a couple of minutes. Despite her best efforts, it didn’t seem like any of the kids were getting the point she was trying to make.

This is so annoying. Why can’t they read?

It put the whole ‘make letters with shadows’ plan in danger of being useless. If people couldn’t read them then what was the point? She really needed to ask if this was a normal thing or if it was just kids. Maybe just these kids?

She was starting to think she would need an alternative regardless. She liked her hopefully-new-friends and wanted to be able to talk to them. They were leaving tomorrow though… she might not get a chance. It didn't really matter, though. If there was one group of kids that couldn't read there would probably be another.

At this point, she was just sorta staring at Roy, lost in thought. She was out of ideas to try to explain the collar. Roy seemed to sense that she was stumped.

“So… why can’t ya just tell us? Yer smart right, why not talk?” Roy asked, the other two kids nodding along.

Oh, how I wish it was that easy.

She sighed, and then pointed at her throat, making a huffing sound, and shook her head.

“Ya can’t make any sounds?” Maggie chimed in.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. She just couldn’t make the right sounds. She waggled her paw at them in a ‘sort of’ motion.

“Ye... um... can make some sounds, but ya can't talk?” Ara said, looking at Shadow for confirmation.

Shadow pointed at her and nodded with a grin.

Ara beamed, happy she was the one to figure it out.

Maggie started giggling.

“Well… Heh… Can ya try to talk?” Maggie said with a big smirk on her face.

"Yea!" Roy agreed, a smile on his face as well.

Ara didn't say anything, but she did look interested.

Shadow quirked her head.

Well… it had been a while… why not?

She took a breath to give it a shot but remembered something. Generally, most of the noises she could make weren’t exactly… quiet. Her screeches in particular seemed to have a minimum volume to them. If she wanted to give it her best shot, then it would probably be a bad idea to try here.

She shook her head, and then gestured at a couple of the houses, before gesturing for quiet.

Maggie understood immediately.

“Oh! I know where we can go! Follow me!” Maggie whispered, before pausing.

“Oh umm, maybe we should take off yer collar? Might get us spotted. Yer pretty lit up.” Maggie asked.

Ara shot Shadow a worried look. “Is tha’ really safe? She might... be dangerous?”

She looked a little guilty.

Shadow gave her a hurt look. She’d already said it was fake. Did Ara not believe her?

Guess I need to prove it…

She sat back and used her paws to shift the crystal out of place again. The alleyway was plunged into darkness.

Ara gave a sharp inhale of breath, staring at her with wide eyes and scrambling back a bit, while the other two started blinking and looking around.

“Wow, it’s all kinda dark back here.” Maggie said.

Shadow for her part just rolled herself over on her back and started lazily flopping her paws around in the air. She looked over at Ara, giving her a grin and sticking out her tongue a little.

Ara for her part had stopped retreating and seemed to be trapped between fear and laughter a moment before breaking into a giggling fit.

See? Safe as can be. No threat here. Shadow thought, though her heart weighed a little heavier from the exchange.

“How’re ye so different from the other shadies?” Ara wondered at her. Shadow walked to Ara and rubbed her with her head, before giving her a small shrug in response. Maggie and Roy finally wandered their way over.

Ara seemed to be able to see a lot better in the dark than the other two. Shadow wondered why that was.

“Let’s go!” Maggie said, pushing them forward out of the alley, before taking the lead. The light was better out on the wider street.

“I’ve got the best place!” Maggie asserted, with a glint in her eye.

Shadow followed, keeping a sharp eye out as Maggie padded off down the street.