14 years later…

Keita (No this is NOT a self-insertion fic. The name I use on myself just happens to be perfect for this character. Go to www.babynames.com or www.behindthename.com to see what the names that I use mean. Trust me, I picked them specially to fit who they are. So this Keita character is NOT me. She just has my name.) was walking in her beloved forest taking in the sights and sounds that surrounded her. She always felt some much closer to the trees and plants than she did any people. Even her parents. Sure she liked them and all… they just weren't her trees. She sighed as she plopped herself down at the base of an enormous pine. She really should be going back to do her chores, but she felt so peaceful here. She gazed longingly at the pine tree above her. She wondered what it was thinking? What did it know about the world it had seen so much of? As she scratched her odd little scar she jokingly called out a message to the tree.

What do you know? What can you tell me?

Much, little sapling…

Keita gasped. What was that voice? Why was it… in her head? The tree! Had the lonely pine really spoken to her? Keita shook her head and went to do her chores. Anything to keep her mind off of what had just happened.

In the river Drell, normally a river that swept away and killed anything that dared enter it's waters was a second home to Nerina. She had always remembered swimming in it. She could probably swim before she knew how to walk. Her parents always frowned upon that though, because, although they weren't nobles, they were still one of the richer merchant families in the area. She was supposed top be very dignified. And she usually was… unless she came near a body of water. She loved water, the raging rivers, little happy brooks, large serene lakes, or ponds brimming with life. She had seen them all in her parent's travels through the eastern parts of Tortall. How she wished she could see the ocean, just once…

 Quickly glancing around to see if anyone was near, she stripped off her clothes and hid them beneath the branches of a willow tree. Then she dove in. Nerina loved the feeling of water rushing past her. Tickling her. She dove to the bottom of the river and strangely enough, her ears didn't pop from the pressure. She had been there full five minutes enjoying the feeling and the way everything looked when she finally realized why everything looked more interesting now. She could SEE underwater. None of the blurry eyes. I must finally be getting used to water now she thought. She stayed down a couple more minutes until she realized something more important. She hadn't breathed for almost 10 minutes

Panicking she quickly kicked her way to the top ready to take the huge gasps of air she thought her lungs would need. Strange how they didn't seem to burn like they always did… She broke the surface of the water and found that, she honestly didn't need to breath. In fact, it felt more comfortable to be underwater not breathing than to be above it, forced to take gulps of air. Nerina dove down again. This time she stayed for a good 20 minutes before hearing some muffled noises on land. Wondering what they were she swam up, just far enough so she could see who it was. It was her mother panicking.

Quickly swimming up behind the overhanging branches of the willow she climbed out, her body screaming to be put back in the water. She quickly dressed and ran home avoiding her mother. With nay luck she could be home embroidering some pillow before her mother got back. She could then pretend that she hadn't gone anywhere.

Brilliant she thought as she ran, her hair drying itself quicker than ever.

Sakhr sat on the scorching hot sand, wiggling his brown toes. He picked up and rock that lay beside him and played with it, liking the way the sun struck it's surfaces, making it shimmer. His suddenly stopped and held it into palm. He lay down in the dirt, not caring if his clothes got dirty. Sakhr imagined himself burrowing through layers upon layers of rock and sand until he reached the molten core of the land. He smiled at the heat, it made him feel fuzzy inside, pity it was only in his head. The rock in his palm began to heat up. It was when he felt it rise to a temperature much higher that what his body could do that he opened his palm and gasped at what he saw. The rock was starting to glow and give off heat. Heat which should have burned him, but didn't. Heat like the kind he saw deep inside the earth when he was daydreaming. He quickly pocketed it and started off to see his tribe's shamman. (err shawoman?) She would know what it meant.

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Well, that's all I can come up with. If you have any idea please tell. Uck I just realized how (inadvertently) Keita and Sakhr's magic seems kind of Daja and Briar-y. Technically in my mind it's different, much more powerful, it involves shape shifting and all. I have the characters, but I don't have a plot. If you want to continue this story or use my characters, ask, and if I approve of what you want to do, I'll let you use them, although I don't know why anyone would want them… Or (even better) give me ideas for a possible plot)