Kaza dashed through the trees, her long silver braid trailing out behind her. Her elder sister, Nahzeem, darted furiously after her, and she giggled as Nahzeem tripped over her skirt and fell into the brambles.

Kaza ran faster still, snickering as Nahzeem fell yet again, right after picking herself up. She slowed, and screeched as Nahzeem caught ahold of her braid.

"Kaza, give it back!"
"Give what back?" replied Kaza, holding a dark pink book to her chest.

"My diary, you rotten little beast!" snarled Nahzeem.

"You mean this?" giggled Kaza, holding out the book.

"Yes!" snapped Nahzeem, snatching it out of her hand. Kaza giggled and dashed off through the trees, leaving Nahzeem to stalk back towards their home.

Kaza ran to her place in the woods, walking the paths only a child could know.

The place in question was a grove of trees which had grown together to form a kind of roof. This type of place was ideal for people(namely children) to play in.

She clambered over to a hollow below one of the trees, where she kept a few dolls and toys.

She had just sat down to play with her favorite doll, Gavi, when she heard a noise. Kaza peered out, and stared as a dark skinned girl stumbled into the grove. Kaza gasped and felt for her waterskin, which her mother had told her to always carry.

"Hello?" called the other girl.

Kaza placed Gavi down in the hollow and clambered out.
"Hi." she said. "Who are you?"

"My name's Eseth. What's yours?"

"I'm Kaza. Where're you from?"

Eseth grinned. "I'm from the Fire-Fields."

"How'd you get here then? The Fire-Fields are a long way away."

"Well, My mama and father decided to stay here for a while, because my baby brother isn't well and my mama decided that the water people could help, and she said that I'm to little to stay by myself there."

Kaza's eyes widened in surprise and she said "Wow! I live in the village. I'm one of the water people, but my papa says that we're the Vissa tribe."

"Really? I've never met a water person before! Can you do any magic?"

"Um.. A bit, I think." Kaza pulled the top off her waterskin and waved her hand over it. Some of the water came out and floated in the air. She made it swirl around for a few moments before it splashed on the ground. She waved her hand again, and it seeped out of the soil and floated back to her waterskin.

"That's all I can do. Can you do any magic? Are you a fire person?" Eseth nodded, grinned, and held her hand out. A tiny fire flickered to life for a few minutes before going out.

Kaza smiled and said "Do you want to see something?" Eseth nodded again. Kaza darted back into the hollow, and Eseth followed.

Those few steps were enough.

END

Author's Notes: So that's how Eseth and Kaza meet. In the next story, I'm planning to make them a bit older. Some of you might notice the similarity between this story and the Tale of Eseth on Lakefire(that's a link in case you want to look at the site). Yes, it's similar, but much, much better.