DISCLAIMER: This is a fanfiction, so naturally I own nothing save the storyline and all the people with the ridiculously weird names (they're my lovely OCs).

So, I've had this idea in my head for a while, and I've finally decided to write it down. I don't know if anyone'll bother to read this story, but that sure as heck won't keep me from writing - I've actually got a plot this time! Well, at least I'll be able to say I tried. Anyway, if you do feel interested in reading this humble fanfic, then I shan't keep you any longer! :)

- Marinne

"But Nakka; I still don't understand what a Soul Sharer is!" Teva exclaimed, her young face creasing up into a severely confused expression.

The wind be heard singing outside of the tree house which Old Mother Nakka inhabited. She was a short woman, fragile in appearance and the palest out of the entire clan - although, perhaps that was because she was usually always cooped up in here. Her hair was black, with one single streak of vibrant white that she wore proudly; as it represented wisdom. Nakka's eyes were a dark mix of the golden jewelry women were so accustomed to wearing and the brown of the barks of the dense jungle's trees. Her face was weathered with age, but the strong dark colour of her skin was still prominent above all else. In all truth, they all looked pretty alike in the clan; dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin.

Except for Teva.

She was the same in hair and skin tone, but her eyes were the beautiful and rich silver that her kind was so well known for. Nakka's eyes had been silver too, until Teva was born. After all, the spirits only wished to talk to one person at a time. Before, and for many years, it had been Nakka; now, and likewise for as many years to come, it was her.

Nakka smiled at her. She knew it would be far too difficult to explain this to the little girl, she was far too young still; she herself hadn't been told about Soul Sharers until the age of thirteen, that was the way things worked around here. But Teva had gotten very insistent. Who would think that a small little seven year old would care so much about whom her soul-mate was to be? That was where Teva and Nakka and all the other Spirit Speakers differed from the ordinary people in the clan; they could actually learn who other's Soul Sharer was meant to be, just never their own. Nakka said that the spirits were playful, and didn't like any cheating of their will.

"It doesn't surprise me, Teva. You're still a young girl, you will understand it with time." Obviously, Nakka was about to call today's tutelage time to a close. There was no way Teva was going to let the subject die. For a child, she was very curious, and very stubborn to match. "No Nakka! Just explain it one more time. Just once, and I'll leave to try and spin the silly shawl with Mother." She promised seriously. Oh, how she hated spinning. Most women of the clan found it calming and a useful way to build the patience of their children - as much boys as girls -. Teva had long ago decided that it was just one more of their twisted ways of keeping the young occupied.

Nakka sensed what she was thinking - or, rather, she probably guessed it from the evident grimace upon the child's face - and laughed, though not exactly unkindly. Teva didn't understand why though. It was a very not-funny matter. Spinning was awful - Nakka had even admitted it herself, Teva remembered that well enough.

"Alright, Teva. Just one more time, and then you run along to do whatever it is that your mother wants you to do. Remember, it is very important to keep a mother happy; because she is the one in control of how much spinning you have to do." Nakka's dark eyes twinkled with amusement, and Teva just pressed her lips together tightly in a silent scowl. The woman before her stood up, grabbing some of the black shiny powder and sprinkling a little bit over the hearth at the back of her treehouse. Obediently, Teva crawled over and knelt down next to her, sitting back on her feet.

"Listen, Teva, a Soul Sharer is the person that you are destined to meet and spend your life with. It's a soul-mate; a true and real love. You won't feel comfortable with anyone else. Here, we have the Sun Festival, in which Soul Sharers will finally meet."

Seeing that she wasn't quite following, Nakka slowed down a little, her eyes fixed firmly on the smoke couple before her. In Teva's eyes, the figures weren't very clear, and as they were made of nothing more than bleary smoke, she couldn't see any distinguishable features at all.

"You will be stronger when you are with this person - just the presence will do, although you will have to acknowledge them as your Soul Sharer first. It's a very strong bond, Teva, stronger than iron, stronger than stone, stronger than death."

"But Nakka, nothing is stronger than death!" Teva called out disbelievingly.

All of this was starting to sound like a big little made up story to appease her curiosity. Surely nothing could be stronger than death. It was simply impossible. Even she, in her young and inexperienced mind, knew that much.

Nakka smiled gently again, knowingly. Her slim, dark hand reached out and ruffled Teva's black hair affectionately. "This bond is stronger than anything, Teva. You and your Soul Sharer won't meet at a Sun Festival, you know. He will be a white man -"

"A white man? But that's impossible!" "You are beginning to sound like your mother, Teva. Nothing is impossible, not when it regards a Spirit Speaker. Anyway, I cannot tell you more about him, but let me tell you that he will be someone that you will find...bizarre, at best. Now, off to spin you go, I don't want your mother on my poor old back again for keeping you here so long. Shoo!"

With that, the smoke was put out, and before she knew it, Teva was walking down the mountain; climbing and jumping from tree to tree; crossing and splashing along the clear streams before arriving back in the main village of the clan, all those tents put up, with the washing lines for the clothes to dry zigzagging this way and that.

Yet, even as she endured her mother's sermon and she was set with the task of spinning until sundown, her mind was elsewhere. With thoughts of a white man, different to all she had ever known, to be precise.