Sit down, child. We’ll begin your lesson with talk of the spirits.
The spirits have lots of names. Spirits, jinn, daebru, peria, and of course daimon. But each of them are very different forms of spirits.
All spirits live in another place, a world separate to ours. To them we are shadows flickering by, and sometimes this is how we see them also. There is some spark within each of us, and indeed within each of them, which moves them closer to the border between our worlds, which makes those shadows swirling on the edge of vision thicker.
You are a Witchblood. That spark is strong within you, as it is within me. You can see the jinna dancing within the fireplace, the perii perched upon my shoulder. Can you see the daebrui sitting up upon that high shelf, watching your lesson? Yes, we can see you little one.
Well, let us talk of the classifications, is that is what we shall call them.
All spirits, or daebru in the spirit tongue, live and dance and sing. You can often hear them even when you cannot see them, yes? Good. So.
The peri are the spirits most like mortals. They live in an elemental balance, though with a stronger bond to the natural world than we have. They are neither fire nor water, light nor dark, stone nor steel, but all of them in one. Perhaps we could say that they lean closer to wood, if that truly is an element, and I have heard that beyond the northern border of the Crown, this is how they are viewed.
They display as much variation in form and function as we mortals. Some look kin to the Wildfolk, flowers and thorns. Some others have the wings of a fly, moth or dragonfly, but otherwise look like tiny versions of you or me. Some have feathers, or scales, or great bulging eyes. You understand this, yes? Yes, you have seen them too. So.
As the balance of the elements within mortals sways, so too does it with spirits. Stronger fire, stronger earth, stronger dark, these are what makes a spirit a jinn. They have greater affinity with one of these things. They are also the most mysterious of the spirits, some with lifetimes incredibly short.
When you touch fire to a candle, this is the birth of a new spirit. If you take that fire from a hearth, it is a child of the hearth. If you are able to conjure the flame, it is a child of whatever realm it is we pull such power from. Yes, I believe in the other realms. Sometimes I see them in my dreams. But that is for another lesson.
Daimon are spirits like any other, but for whatever reason they are able to manifest in our world for a time. Under their own power or borrowing from many of their kin, they reach out and appear here, as they are in the spirit world, with all their magic. Sometimes a Witchblood like ourselves is able to help them along, but they are our spiritbonded friends in these things. You have seen my friend upon my shoulder sometimes help me mix the potions, or hunt the bothersome flies buzzing about the room? Yes. He enjoys this, he tells me they have sporting hunts like this in the spirit world, but I have rarely seen a spirit animal.
You have heard of Wights? Yes, they haunt the Barrowight hills, but do you know anything else of them? They are like us, and yet not. They are haunting shadows of those long dead. Maybe they are souls who have not gone to the Sea of Souls, this is what the stories tell us. But there is something different to them. They are limited, barely shadows of real mortals. Are they like the echoes of sound, some faint beat left of a life long gone? I do not know. Something to ponder, yes?
I have often wondered if a spiritbond was possible with a Wight. Maybe they are some other form of spirit that mimics us for some reason. These are my thoughts.
Forgive an old witch for rambling. That is enough for this lesson I think. Tomorrow you will try and learn some of the spirit tongue. And you will give me an answer to one question. You have heard the whispers of the jinn of darkness, yes? Yes, even without Witchblood mortals can feel them. But, why has no one ever once heard the song of a jinn of light? Yes, not once. Never.
Hush, no questions today. Tomorrow. Come, help me make the poultice for your uncle’s knee.
jot jot ïota 