Eseth sat up and stretched, and turning to find Kaza's bed empty, as usual. They had been on the island for five weeks, and Kaza had regained her strength. They had settled into a routine, Kaza getting up early to shape their new tree-shelter, as Eseth tidied up their current shelter and got breakfast and water.

Fortunately, she had gotten enough food from yesterday's hunt to last them another day. She had been lucky, and gotten four rabbits in one day. She was a good cook, and had managed to make the rabbits last the whole of yesterday and still have some left over for today.

She fetched water from the now-familiar stream and began heating it over a quickly-created fire.
---
Kaza had taken at least a week to regain her strength, and had taken at least two days after that without doing any magic. After this, however, she had leaped out of bed and she and Eseth had walked down to the stream.

They had found a small grove of young trees that Kaza could influence to make a new shelter. Since the trees were relatively young, as trees go, she could meld all their bark and branches together to make one huge tree without damaging the trees as a whole.

A lot of the magic was experimental, as her teacher had only taught her the most basic of tree shaping, and she had made quite a few mistakes, that, while not costing the trees/tree its life, didn't make it the most attractive home around, but Kaza hoped to fix that when she learned more.

Today, the tree was an enourmous, many-branched but single beech, with twisted branches and warped bark. It was seamless, though hollow, and today Kaza decided she was going to make a doorway in it. Pulling a knife out of her bag, she stabbed a deep hole in the tree, and, when she felt the knife go through to the hollow inside, dragged it down about two inches before pulling it out. Sap dripped from the open gash, and Kaza gritted her teeth. She hated having to do this to the tree.

She placed the knife back in its sheath and put it on the ground. She placed her hands on either side of the gash, forcing it to heal without closing. Then, slowly spreading her hands out on the trunk, she tore the gash open, but no longer damaging the tree. When the gap was about a foot wide, she dragged her hands down, spreading her arms out even farther as she brought the gash to the bottom of the tree trunk. When she was done, she had a somewhat narrow door, about three feet wide at the bottom and about four feet tall.

Kaza surveyed her work without taking her hands off the bark, and then pulled her hands up over her head, stretching the door to about six feet tall. She now had a door that someone even as tall as Eseth could walk through. She finally took her hands off the tree trunk, and sank down to the ground, breathing heavily. Doing a magic like that was easily tiring, as it required much concentration and power to make it exactly the way she wanted it.

She took a drink of water from her water skin, and walked into the interior of the tree. It was beautiful, in its own way. There was only one small chamber, and it closed at the top, forming a watertight ceiling. Unfortunately, the only light in the room shone from the door. Kaza pursed her lips. She could possibly ask Eseth to make some torches(it was actually harder than shoving a stick in the fire, at least if you wanted a long-burning one), but they were smoky and flickery. Their best bet for light would be the glass-ball lanterns that Eseth had brought with her until Kaza could make windows that wouldn't leak when it rained.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. She quickly made a single window on the same fashion she had made the door, but this time, she didn't take her hands off the bark when she was done. She closed her eyes and kept her hands on the bark for about ten minutes, until branches started to creep over the open gap.

Kaza opened her eyes and looked out of the window, and straight into several vines which, while letting light in, would keep insects and rain out, hopefully. She looked at the branches, and took a bunch of them, melding the as she had done with the original grove of trees. Now she had one square, thick branch, she moved it so it was right over the window. Then she melded the branch to either side of the window, and, at the same time, fit the window to fit the branches, effectively shutting out all light from the window.

Then she took her knife, cut a straight, slightly jagged hole in the shutter branch(as she thought of it), and then placed her hands on it, making a seam down the middle of it, splitting the shutter into two parts. Then, experimentally, Kaza teased the shutters open and shut and found it took very little energy to do so.

She grinned, white teeth flashing in her pale face. She couldn't wait to tell Eseth.
---
Eseth had eaten her breakfast, and still Kaza hadn't come back. She wasn't worried, as this happened often when Kaza was working on the tree, most often in the first few weeks when she was melding the grove of trees together.

She merely picked up a bowl of rabbit stew for Kaza and walked to the stream. She found that Kaza wasn't outside the tree, but when she had walked around the whole thing, she found about three windows and a door less door-frame.

Eseth was slightly surprised, but went inside the tree anyway. She instantly noticed that the hollow inside was considerably smaller than the outside.

She found Kaza with her hands placed against the wood of the tree, making the wood move back from the hollow and making it bigger, and making the excess wood into chairs and a table shaped right from the wall. Eseth waited until Kaza was done, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Wh-oh, hi there, Eseth." said Kaza. "What do you think?"

"It's very nice." said Eseth. "But you should make that doorway have a door. Here," she said, thrusting the rabbit stew at her. "I got you breakfast."

Kaza gratefully accepted the food and sank down onto the freshly-made chair. After smoothing out some of the bumps in it, she began to eat, and explain her plan for the house to Eseth.

"Well, I think I'll make a door, but, unfortunately, it can only be opened with Hydromancy, which you might not have available all the time. So, I figured I'd make a door in the roof," she said, and pointed to the ceiling, which had a perfectly circular door in it and stairs seemingly carved out of the very wood. "See, the way it works is I pulled the wood out of the ceiling, made a handle on both sides, and stuck it back in the hole. I made sure you could take it in and out, and made stairs on the outside of the tree as well."

Eseth shook her head. "I can't believe you're not fainted after doing all that magic. Do you know how tree shaping works, exactly?"

Kaza replied "No. Sorry."

"Oh well. Hey, do you want to explore the island? I think we're near the coast, so we might be able to walk around the island."

"Maybe..."

---
Kaza and Eseth had been walking along the beach for a few hours(for Eseth had been right, and they were near the coast) when they saw it.

"My sweet Zana!" cried Eseth. "What is that?"

They were looking at a bridge, secured to the island by means of steady metal pegs, thrust deep into two rocks, deeply embedded in the shore. The bridge was a rickety, old thing, still usable by the looks of it, but leading straight out into the ocean. On the other and was a miniature island less than a mile in any direction, with thick stone walls and a high stone tower rising out of it.

"It's exactly what it looks like, Eseth. A tower on the ocean with a bridge leading to it."

"Yes, but why?"

"Maybe it's a watchtower. Or an abandoned lighthouse."

"But don't you think it would have been mentioned on the map?"

"Maybe they forgot to put it on. Or they didn't want people to know. Either way, maybe we should go look at it."

Eseth cringed. "Are you kidding? That bridge looks like it's about to collapse any minute!"

Kaza smiled. "I can fix that."

About a half-hour later, most of the bridge was secured by sturdy ice that rose right out of the ocean, and Kaza and Eseth were almost all the way across. Kaza had to keep pulling water out of the ocean and freezing it, which tired her greatly. Eseth kept her hands on on her shoulders so Kaza wouldn't fall in if she happened to faint.

Eseth scowled. "You shouldn't be doing this. I think that the tree must have tired you out more than you think."

Kaza shook her head wearily. "No, I'm fine." she panted. Eseth sighed. "Look, we only have to go a few more feet. Stop now, before you wear yourself out like you did with the ice-raft."

Kaza nodded. "All right." she sighed, clearly wanting to keep going. They made the last few feet without the aid of Hydromancy, and entered the walls that surrounded the edge of the island.

"Ooh..."sighed Kaza as she sank in a sitting position on the ground. "I guess you were right. I'm a whole lot more tired than I thought.

"Okay, just sit down for a bit...jeeze, you'd think you'd learn that you can't keep big magic like that up unless you're a serious master." said Eseth, sinking down next to Kaza. They were both silent for a long time until Eseth broke the silence by saying "This island gives me the creeps. It's like...I don't know, mystical or something. As if something weird is going to happen at any minute."

"You're right. It feels kind of wierd here." replied Kaza. "By the way, what in the world does 'jeeze' mean, anyway?"

Eseth flapped a hand at Kaza and didn't reply. They sat quietly for a while, until Kaza stood up, dragging Eseth up with her with some difficulty.

"Ugh, what'd you eat this morning, rocks?" asked Kaza. Eseth scowled at her. "No, I'm just bigger than you are. Anyway, what is it?"

"Want to explore the island now?"

Eseth shrugged. "Sure. By the way, did you bring any sun sweetener? You know how easily you burn."

Sun sweetener was the herbal equivelant of sunscreen. The people who used it most often were usually rather pale, like Kaza. Eseth's dark skin ensured that she didn't need it.

"Yes, actually," Kaza replied, patting a small pouch hung on her belt. "In here. I also have insect repellant, but I don't think I need either."

Eseth shrugged again. "Suit yourself. Just don't ask me for a flame-healing for a sunburn."

Kaza grinned. "I'd never. Anyway, let's get going."

They walked into the wall through a large, open arch near the end of the icy bridge. On the inside were planted enormous trees whose roots and sometimes branches worked through the crumbling stone of the wall. The tower, however, seemed to be in near-perfect condition, at least, from what they could see. It was encompassed in thick vines, some of which were flowering. Eseth turned to Kaza. "Why don't we go inside? Not on the upper levels, but the lower ones should be stable enough."

Kaza nodded eagerly. She would love to see the inside of this place.

To their surprise, the wooden door swung open easily. It made Kaza nervous, though she didn't tell Eseth so. The inside of the tower was one chamber, with a single staircase winding around the wall, and up the next floor. It looked like a small, well-kept sitting room, with an iron coatrack bolted onto the wall next to the door and a somewhat ragged couch on the other side of the room. Kaza trembled slightly. The coatrack had a decent-looking fur coat hanging from one of the hooks, and a bookshelf next to the couch was half-filled with both handmade and printed books.

"Eseth?" she whispered. "I think we just found someone's house." Eseth nodded slowly. "Let's...look upstairs."

Unbeknownest to Kaza and Eseth, someone had hear them come in. He'd known they were inside the house the moment the door had opened. They didn't bother to keep quiet, so he'd heard all their footsteps. He was waiting from them at the top of the stairs, hammer in hand, poised to strike.

He hadn't noticed that they spoke with the harsh accents of those that came from the elven lands. He'd hardly noticed they were female. To him, their soft voices were as colorless and vile as those of the Swan Angels, the leading, vicious caste in Angel society.

So no, he wasn't thinking all that clearly. But, then again, who was he to think clearly about the unknown?

Kaza went first up the stairs. She had no idea what hit her across the back of the head, only registered something like a study before she felt a terrible pain in her head and all turned dark.

"Kaza!" cried Eseth when she saw her friend fall. Hands blazing with fire, she raced up the stairs, almost running into Kaza's assulter.

He jumped back and dropped his hammer. He attempted to speak, and managed only to stutter out "Pyromancer!"

She nodded slowly and said "Who are you?" while kneeling next to Kaza. The fire dimmed in her hands as she placed them across the back of Kaza's neck, performing what was known as a flame healing, unique to Pyromancers and also a basic skill of Pyromancy in general.

"I'm terribly, terribly sorry," the man stammered. "I thought you...I had to make sure you weren't..."

Eseth cut him off. "That's not what I asked." she said. "Who are you?" she said, not taking her eyes off Kaza.

"Redwing Androson, Hawk Angel." he spat out automatically. Eseth stole a glance at him before going back to work on Kaza. He had shoulder-length, dark hair pulled back in tail, and badly stitched together clothes, made of both cured hides and patched cloth. He was tall, but thin, looking almost underfed and much unhealthier than the elves in front of him. Large, red-brown wings extended from his back, and his skin was a light tan.

"Okay then, mister Redwing," said Eseth. "Do you have a bed or something I can put her on? That's a nasty bump to the head you gave her." she said, completely forgetting about the couch downstairs. He nodded, and led her upstairs. Eseth picked up Kaza and followed. Redwing pointed to a bed on the far side of the chamber. Eseth placed Kaza down and turned to Redwing.

"Now," she said. "Could you please explain to me why you hit my friend with a hammer?"

Redwing rubbed his face with his hands. "It's...kind of a long story."

Eseth crossed her arms. "We have all the time in the world." she said. Redwing raised an eyebrow. "Let me get some chairs." he said.

END