Ghostling · Wanderers Gallery
On the morning Wanderers Gallery reopened after repairs, an apprentice caretaker named Nessa heard a second set of footsteps behind her. Each time she stopped, the sound ended a moment later. She turned twice and found the passage empty. Rather than leave the mystery alone, she invited the older caretaker, Rowan, to walk the corridor with her.
Rowan listened while Nessa crossed the wooden floor. A single step made two faint sounds: the tap beneath her shoe and a softer answer from somewhere beyond the hanging frames. The Gallery’s narrow turns carried sound strangely, he explained. Nessa decided to discover which part of the passage returned it.
They moved slowly from one doorway to the next, stopping to listen at each turn. Near a low frame, Nessa noticed a little figure watching them. Its black and white marbling made a quiet contrast against the wall; a rounded head and recessed eyes gave it an attentive expression. The small floating silhouette held its place without touching the boards.
This was Orynth, a Ghostling who seemed curious about the visitors’ smallest movements. It did not make the echo or lead Nessa to its source. Whenever she looked away to count another footstep, the figure slipped from view, only to appear farther along the corridor as if listening with her.
Nessa marked the places where the answer sounded clearest on a sketch of the Gallery. She found that a step beside one frame reached the far corner more distinctly than a louder stamp near the entrance. Rowan helped her test the route again, and the two laughed when their careful walking sounded like a very slow parade.
When the first visitors arrived, Nessa offered them a choice: follow the usual route, or take the quieter path and listen. A little boy counted each returning tap. His grandmother noticed how footsteps became softer by the final frame. No one heard exactly the same pattern, because no two people crossed the Gallery in quite the same way.
The experiment became a favourite part of the afternoon, though Nessa took care not to call it a haunting. Wanderers Gallery was full of ordinary sounds that travelled farther than expected. Its shifting frames and passing presence gave the little echoes a different meaning for each person who listened.
Near closing time, Nessa glimpsed Orynth once more, hovering at a bend where the footsteps seemed to wander. She called it the Wandering Echo, remembering not a noise the ghost had made, but the curious attention it brought to the passage. A Ghostling’s quiet interest suited the smallest mysteries of the House.
The following day, Nessa removed her temporary markers and left the floor clear. Visitors still walked the Gallery, and the faint answering steps still followed them. Orynth was not always visible. Sometimes the only reminder of its first appearance was a visitor stopping long enough to hear the room answer back.