The Beltane Shadow Tale

I was told this a while back, by an Ytene traveller. Sat quiet, like it weren’t meant for everyone. They said around the cross quarter days, the fire festivals, and Beltane. You don’t just watch the fires, you watch the people around them. There’s something about shadows.

Most folk cast them ordinarily enough. Firelight catches them, throws them long across the ground, same as it should. That’s how it’s meant to be. A body in the light leaves its mark.

But not all do.

They said those with ill intent, or a darkened soul, don’t carry a proper shadow. Some have one that’s faint, barely holding. Others… nothing at all, if the stories to be believed.

The way it was put to me, if a person spends too long hiding in the dark, living by it, using it, the light stops recognising them. Slips past. Doesn’t take hold the way it should. And on a night like Beltane, when the fires are high and the edge between things feels thinner, that’s when it shows. Not something you’d notice straight away. You have to look properly. Not just at the flames, but at what they leave behind.

“Watch the shadows,” they said.

“That’ll tell you more than the man.”

I’ve never forgotten that.

-Woodlarking