For some reason no one else could ever see the castle. Whenever she looked at the sky Noel could see a castle riding high up on a cloud, but for some reason no one else could see it. Whenever she saw flashes in the sky she knew that the wizard in the castle was fighting a massive battle, but everyone else said it was just lightning. Whenever she saw pictures in the clouds she knew they were the wizards pets out for exercise and people thought that was a very clever thought, but they could never see what she saw.

Sometimes Noel took pictures of the cloud. She would wait impatiently for the pictures to be developed and then she tore open the envelope only to find there was nothing there. Sometimes she would draw pictures of the wizard and his dragon, but the lines never pointed just right to make people understand. And sometimes when no one saw Noel felt very much alone.

Now, I’ve made it sound as though the castle, the wizard and his pets occupied all of Noel’s life. That is simply not true. The castle was just one small part of an otherwise fairly normal life. She lived in a family that was kind in neighborhood that was close in a country at peace. Really her only complaint was that no one believed her when she told what she saw, but she eventually got used to that frustration. And so time passed.

When the time passed Noel grew up as children do. At time her mother seemed to think Noel’s growing up was a personal insult, but those times were few and everyone else seemed to approve of the changes. As she grew she began to see other castles and wizards where no one else could. She found gnomes in the garden and wild dryads in the forest. She stumbled on fairies dancing in the sunlight and fauns dancing in the moonlight. Sometimes she would be walking through her forest and something would brush past her skirt, but when she looked all she could see was a glimpse of something vanishing into the bushes. Noel had learned a long time ago not to tell anyone about these occasions or not to try to show someone the fairies and the castles, but she felt that if she didn’t express it somehow she would burst with the secrets she carried. So she started writing stories and she started telling tales. Her family thought the stories were fun and as they never suspected she was pulling her stories from real life they weren’t worried about her. And she felt the frustration in her ease with every word set to paper.

Noel was at the store when she met the woman who changed her life. She was choosing produce when she saw a strange woman an aisle away. The woman had a blaze of wild, red hair,she was wearing a dress that looked like a patchwork quilt and she was carrying a staff made of white wood and yet no one in the store seemed to notice her. She stood in the middle of the hustle and bustle and let it swirl around her, but it never seemed to touch her. Noel found herself staring at this odd looking person completely forgetting about the peppers in her hand. And then the woman looked at her. Their eyes locked and Noel felt herself falling into eyes as old as the sea and as tired as the sun.

“Hello, sister,” whispered a voice in her mind.

When Noel woke up she was sitting on a bench outside the store. The woman was sitting next to her watching the cars in the parking lot. She turned her disturbing eyes to Noel.

“Hello, child,” she said, “My name is Tarasen. Your name is Noel.”

Noel just nodded her head. There didn’t seem to be anything to say.

Tarasen whirled and pointed to a cloud. “What do you see there?”

It didn’t take much study for Noel to see her castle at the top of the cloud.

“I see a cloud,” she said, “With a mighty castle riding high on top. The wizard is in his tower and his dragon is asleep.”

The strange woman sitting next to her nodded and smiled.

“Walk with me a while,” she said.

They got up from the bench and began to walk through the forest the were suddenly in. They walked and Tarasen began to talk. She talked of fairies and gnomes and the creatures who dance in the starlight. She talked of a gift and the Sight and eyes that saw what was. She talked of weariness and blindness and of wonder fading from the world. She talked and Noel never for a moment doubted that what she said was truth. It was impossible to doubt someone with eye’s like Tarasen’s.

When they came to the edge of the forest by Noel’s house Tarasen stopped and looked her full in the face.

“Do you understand, child? Do you understand what must be done?”

Noel looked away from Tarasen’s searching gaze and looked her home. Yes, she did understand. She didn’t have to bring wonder to the whole world, just her little part of it. She understood that true wonder was fading from that place and that she was one of the few left who could See. She understood that this was a mission Tarasen was offering her. And she understood it could end up hurting her very much.

She turned back to tell Tarasen she would do what was asked of her, but the lady with old eyes was gone. But at Noel’s feet was a pen made of white wood. She picked it up and headed in to her home. Â