Eseth fled the town, tears blurring her vision. She wished they hadn't forced her to do this, but they had. She wished Kaza were here. Kaza would know what to do.

Eseth knew she was unprepared, and though she knew how to hunt and cooked well, she couldn't tell a carrot from a dandelion, which was not good in case she ran out of meat. Worse, she had no sense of direction and would probably end up back at the town soon.

She decided to just keep going straight.

***

Kaza fled into the darkening woods, her dark blue cloak swishing behind her as she ran. She knew that sandals weren't exactly the best thing to wear while running around in the woods, but she had to get as far away from the town as she could, otherwise they would find her.

She wished Eseth were here. Kaza herself could mix poultices and medicines, she knew what plants were good to eat and which were not, but she cooked terribly and she had barely any idea which end of her bow to hold and would probably crash around so much while trying to hunt she would scare off all the game.

Eseth could hunt. It was utterly amazing to watch. She would move so silently, so slowly, but somehow she would almost always catch what she was after.

Kaza heard someone blundering through the woods, already. She knew it was one of her people by how loudly they walked. Most of the water elves weren't as good in the woods as fire and earth elves were.

Kaza kept running.

***
Eseth kept running, as fast as she possibly could. She decided, that if she could figure out which direction to go in, she would head for Kaza's village. It was about five weeks southeast, and it would probably take her longer to get there, but it was a direction.

Right now, she determined she was probably about three miles or so out of her town and its surrounding territory, so she was safe.

She sat down, pulled some bread and fruit out of her bag, and began to eat.

"""
Three weeks later-

Eseth was exhausted. She had run out of food after the first two weeks, but had managed to get by on things she hunted. She couldn't sleep for fear of being caught by someone, and she thought she might be sick with something. She coughed almost constantly, and her head hurt a lot.

She sank to the forest floor. She knew she should really keep going and maybe hunt something, but she needed to sleep some...

It began to rain...

***
Kaza had wandered through the woods, mostly aimless but intending to go towards Eseth's village. She hadn't had any meat for about three weeks, but she didn't really mind. She had almost run out of food a few times, but managed to find something edible.

She had been traveling along a river for a few days, when, at noon on about the third day, it began to rain. She scowled, because even though she liked rain, it would hamper her ability to travel.

After a few minutes of walking, keeping the worst of the rain off with her cloak, she saw what looked like a person lying next to the river bank. She darted over, her progress slowed by the fact that she had charged straight onto a muddy river bank. She reached the person, who was covered in mud and seemed to be out cold.

Kaza thought there was something familiar about the dark face, but she couldn't tell. The figure moaned and rolled over onto their side. Kaza furrowed her brow and attempted to pick the girl up, and almost fell over. In spite of the bag on her back, she managed to sling the girl over her shoulders.

She wasn't quite sure where to go, so she left the riverside and walked into the forest. It didn't take that long to find a relatively large tree that sheltered them, at least partially, from the rain. Kaza was delighted to find the tree was hollow, and could fit both herself and the other girl inside it.

Kaza placed the girl down in the interior of the tree, and then got in herself. Kaza sighed as she noticed the state the other girl was in. The best she could do was keep her warm and possibly heal her illness if it turned to fever.

The girl groaned suddenly, and attempted to sit up. Kaza, who had pulled her hood down and was now rummaging through her bag for medicines, put a hand on the girl's shoulder and said "No, don't get up, it's probably not good for--" Kaza, finally having had the chance to examine her face up close, now knew exactly who she was.

"Sweet Nui, is that you, Eseth?" she cried. Eseth blinked, then her face burst into a shaky grin. "Kaza!" Eseth threw her arms around Kaza's thin shoulders and hugged her tightly. Kaza returned the hug with equal enthusiasm.

When Kaza had convinced Eseth to lie back down, given her some water, and was now looking through her bag to see if she could find any medicines for Eseth's cough, when Eseth asked "How'd you get to be here, anyway?"

"I ran away. My mother and father wanted me to marry someone, and I wanted to leave. He wasn't all that bad, really, but I just...wasn't ready. So I left.

"I ran away as well." replied Eseth, her golden eyes glaring at the ground. "They were going to bind me to the land. I didn't want to stay there."

"Oh Eseth! Oh dear, dear Eseth!" sighed Kaza dramatically, throwing her head back, closing her eyes and placing a hand over her eyebrows like an over-enthusiastic actor. "It seem as if just yesterday we were frolicking through the forest as children. Do you remember that day we met? Oh how I wish those bygone days could be again."

Eseth scowled. "Uh--what was that?"

"That was me saying out parents aren't the brightest people ever. I just wish they wouldn't try to take advantage of our magic like that."

"Although getting married isn't the end of the world, you know."

"I know, but I think I have the right to know about my own marriage. They didn't actually tell me until after the ceremony thing."

"Ah."

"It just isn't fair that just because we have the art we should be binded to the land or married off to someone without even knowing it." sighed Kaza. "It just doesn't seem right."

"You're very perceptive, Kaza." said Eseth, rather sarcastically. "Now are we going to get out of this tree stump or what? I want to get going."

"There are two problems with that. One, is that I think you somehow sprained your ankle, and it takes a few days to heal a sprain without making it worse. Also we need somewhere we really want to go. And we need a lot more food. We can't rely on just plants, you know."

"Well, I packed some food before I ran away." replied Eseth. She took the tattered backpack off her back and rummaged through it until she found the food provisions she had hastily packed. Or rather, empty containers that had previously contained food. All she had was her mother's jewelry box and a few clothes.

Kaza had about enough food for a week. "I can get us some more plants, though, and I think there's an Earth city on the edge of the forest somehwere." said Kaza, gazing bemusedly at the contents of Eseth's bag. "What's this box for, anyway?"

"I don't really know...I took it from my mother because it had something she didn't want me to see in it."

Kaza rolled her eyes and said "Typical. Is there jewelry or something in it? We might be able to sell it if we get to a town."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." said Eseth in a practical tone. She pulled off the lid of the ornately carved jewlery box and gasped. There were many beautiful, costly-looking jewlels in it, but that wasn't what Eseth was gasping at.

Lying on top of the jewelry, was a tightly-furled piece of paper.

Kaza raised an eyebrow as Eseth took the paper from the box. "What's so interesting about it? I know actual paper's kind of strange, but-"

Eseth shook her head. "It's a map." she said. Kaza's eyes widened. "To where?" she asked, intrigued.

"Someplace called Ocean's Flame. I don't know what that is. It looks like it's a long, long way away." She gave the map to Kaza, who stared at it. It was a map of what looked like an island, covered mainly with forests but dotted with strangely-placed meadows and beaches. The island's shape in itself in it was strange. It was shaped like a teardrop, the northeastern part of it narrowing to a point that was labeled 'Soul's End."

"Well. I think we have a destination." said Kaza as she flipped the map over. "There are words on here, but I think they're in Lisili. Just a minute"

"Lisili?" asked Eseth, having not heard the word before.

"Lisil is a human country. It's western border ends at Burning Tree."

Eseth nodded in understanding. Burning Tree was far to the west of her village's border, and was a common place to find Fire and Earth Elves.

"I think the writing's...directions." said Kaza, who was staring at the paper intently.

"What do they say?"

"Well...how to get to this island from Tzuna."

"Isn't that a big city in the Terra Originis's territory?"

"Yes. I've been there before. It's built right on the coast. I think, if we get out of the woods, we'll be able to figure out how to get there."

Eseth smiled in triumph. "So now, we've found each other, we have a place to find, and we have a huge box of my mother's jewelry to boot-all we need now is more food and for my ankle to get better."

"Yeah, actually. Look, I'm going to get something to eat. Mushrooms or something. Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."

Kaza smiled, before donning her cloak, picking up her bag and crawling out of the hollow.

She looked up at the dark, barely-visible sky that shone through the trees. It was late afternoon. She was lucky that it was summer, she supposed.

But even if it was the dead of winter, she still would be happy. Eseth was with her, and they had an adventure to go on.

It had stopped raining.

END