Vedui' to you villagers.
Have you seen a magic in your area recently? Think about it - under the hydrangea bush where one or two used to be? Down near the stream, in the old tunnel that once belonged to the water-voles? In fact - what happened to the water voles come to that? If you are young, most probably you have never seen a magic at all.
You may only have read about them in books, or in the diary blogs of your great grandmothers.
Magics were more plentiful then that's for sure, but even then they had the sense to keep out of the way.
Now, I am talking about the United Kingdom.
I can't speak for other countries, but thinking about the way the great forests of the world are being cut down to make way for agriculture, and how more and more air is being polluted by emissions from the power stations and plastic factories, then I have my suspicions.
The dragons disappeared years ago in Britain, even the Welsh ones.
It is probably too late to try and re-introduce them - they need such huge spaces free from any kind of pollution - but what of the other magics? It isn't so many decades ago that there were fairies, elves (both High and Lowly) and gnomes if you knew the right places and the right way to scary for them.
I should know, I am one myself.
A Wood Warden fae to be exact.
So, what has happened to them? They are fast becoming an endangered species.
I know you have villager societies to save endangered species - even though it was you who endangered them in the first place - but I have never heard of the WMF or anything like that.
WWF yes - even places like "Welcome to WWF's global network" - global! But WMF - never.
It isn't money we need - not at all - we wouldn't know what to do with that - it is trees and clear air.
I live in a small wood in the south east of England.
I am lucky that it is still here.
Look about - you see all those housing estates, those shining new regimented rows of bricks? Tiny patches of garden - or worse still concrete yards.
They were once woods and trees and fields.
Those huge tranches overrun with factories and suburban shopping malls and supermarkets with their never ending car parks? They were once woods and trees and fields.
As the villager population grows, so the magics fade and retreat and not in an equal proportion.
We do not fade in equal proportion because we cannot live with some of the changes you have made.
I mean that in a literal sense too.
You can it seems - but for just how long? You see - magics are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions - far more so than you villagers.
Radiation is one of the worst culprits - living near any nuclear installation makes us ill with the possibility of fading altogether.
The worst thing about the nuclear stations is the waste you see - it cannot be got rid of - simply can't - it is a forever thing.
You send it across parts of the country on trains.
They are old trains - and you think they are safe - they have waste 'flasks' on board.
These containers emanate minute amounts of radiation - and it hurts us - gradually but surely - all magics in these areas have faded or are leaving.
I know of a nuclear place - not so very far from me - across a marsh and by the sea.
The Marsh Whisps who lived and worked there on the wide marshes, cleaning, lighting, looking after the bees, have all faded.
Some moved out in time - but most have simply travelled on - faded - extinct.
Another marsh species gone.
Tiny lives with huge souls snuffed out like candle flames.
And that hydrangea bush - the one where the magics lived when you were just a sprig? Is it still there? Didn't you dig up that patch of garden and lay it with concrete to 'get your car off the road'? If you haven't done it yet - then please stop and think.
Support wind and solar energy - think about all the beautiful places of fresh air and shelter around you and treasure them.
We do! Vanya sulie Muddypond Green