”Daggin, her brother,” She continued. ”He has short, light brown hair. He’s a little taller than I am. Intelligent, patient, outspoken, and… kind of opinionated. But, in a good way, I think. Tae and I met him before we met his sister. Lona was kind of a mystery to us back then – always going off places, we never knew where. Daggin, on the other hand, tended to stay near home. He was always getting into arguments with the elders though, sometimes about even minor things. But it was nice having someone who believed things so strongly, believed a lot of the same things I did.” She explained.

”And… Tae?” Anara asked, paying rapt attention as Kes spoke.

”Tae… I always thought she was the most beautiful person I’d ever met. She has dark hair, bright green eyes… her skin is darker than most of my people, almost the color of the sand… she and I used to talk, just… all the time. I never got tired of talking with her. I…” Her voice hitched a little and she had to stop herself because she was sure she might start crying if she kept talking like this. ”You know, I’d, um, would you mind very much if we talked about something else? Please?” She asked softly, looking down at her hands.

Anara reached out and covered one of her hands with one of hers. ”Of course.” She said. ”So… what happened?” She asked.

Kes smiled a little at that, feeling very relieved. ”In the water, you mean?” She’d almost forgotten she’d been telling a story.

Anara nodded ’yes’.

Kes giggled a little, remembering how the story ended. ”Lona wouldn’t go in very deep with the rest of us, but her brother was probably better in the water than I was. Tae said we should try to see who could get to the bottom of the water and back up to the surface the fastest. Daggin and I both said okay, so we tried it. Tae and I got down there and back up at about the same time, but Daggin didn’t surface at all. We waited a few moments, and Lona looked so nervous. Right as Tae was saying we should go down and look for him, Lona went running into the water and dove down after him. Tae and I were so stunned we didn’t move for a moment or two, then we looked at each other and went down after her.