Children in the industrial world often miss the simple pleasures of their childhood… for example, chasing fireflies. One mage, though, recalls her rural southern upbringing in the form of Flutterby: her name for the spirit that combines the fireflies she used to chase with the butterflies that still fascinate her now that’s supposedly too old and cool to care about such things.

Like its elusive namesake, Flutterby is a tiny, fleeting presence of great beauty and childlike allure. Bright cor­ uscating colors flow across its wings, while a firefly glow bathes the spirit in luminescent shine. Flutterby’s presence comforts the mage, evoking memories of a simpler time. Like the darker side of childhood, however, Flutterby’s appearance may presage abrupt disaster; the mage recalls how her father’s stormy temper could be predicted by a sudden surge of clouds across the sun. Flutterby, when it appears, sometimes warns its mage when there’s danger on the horizon; at such times, Flutterby’s glowing colors dark­ en and its happy flutter slows to an ominous pace. If the danger seems especially significant, Flutterby might freeze in place, pulsating in the air but otherwise motionless. Such warnings have taught the mage to remain watchful, not only of Flutterby’s motion but also of the currents of sound and stillness that surround her in the mortal world. Although her father died a long time ago, she can occasionally detect that darkening of the sun that used to warn her not to go home quite yet… or, if she was home, to go hide before the storm broke in her direction.

In Seekings, Flutterby tends to flit toward the direction of a potential test or the solution to a puzzle facing the mage. The Avatar won’t actually solve the puzzle for the mage, but by watching the spirit that mage might arrive at the correct con­ clusion. As far as that mage is concerned, Flutterby embodies youthful innocence mixed with caution. As she realized long ago, Flutterby teaches the mage to remain watchful, remember the wisdom of little things, and hang on to the essence of youth even in the face of despair.