She sits hidden in the tall grass waiting impatiently.  She is alternating between reading her book and staring down the hill to the road.  She’s only sort of seeing the words on the page.  The sun is so warm on her back and the wind smells so fresh and clean.  And she’s back to watching the road again.  She is waiting for someone to come down that road, she’s so excited thinking about the special trip.  She doesn’t quite know where they are going yet, but she doesn’t really care.  She loves going on outings, especially with friends. She is even dressed in her special tunic with the red and purple swirls.  She looks down at her book again, fingering the pressed flower bookmark she had received as a gift from her twin brother.  It has one of her favorite flowers, purple of course.  It has five petals, with a magenta center.  The center matches her eyes, the petals match the color of the jewel set in her forehead.  She smiles, remembering their birthday, their tenth.  She had made him a bracelet.  It was green and black string, and she had woven it into a cuff all by herself.  She had been so proud to present it to him.  She wasn’t sure where he was at the moment.  He was probably by the stream, either fishing or reading.  Probably reading, as he’d lost quite a few rods that way, not paying attention to anything but the words on the page.  Though, even if he caught something, he never kept it.  He just liked to look at the fish, at the gleaming scales, to study them.  He didn’t like to eat fish, he just liked how they looked and moved.  He had a book where he kept track of all the fish he caught.  
Her eyes stray back to the road.  She gasps as she sees the mop of brilliant blonde hair come bouncing up the road.  A tall, thin boy of about twelve is coming towards her, shielding his eyes against the sun as he scans the top of the hill, looking for her.  She stands up and starts waving at him enthusiastically.  He sees her, and smiles and waves back, continuing in her direction.  He seems to have more purpose behind his steps now.  He is wearing a beautiful green and gold lined tunic that gleams in the sun.  The whole day just seems to shine brighter when he is around.  
She can’t stand the slow progress that he is making towards her, so she runs to meet him halfway.  Her bare feet slap against the stones in the road, but she doesn’t care.  She doesn’t really feel it at all.  When she finally reaches him, he draws her up in a big bear hug, and kisses her lightly on the cheek, his sea green eyes sparkling.  Oh, she almost can’t breathe with happiness!  He sets her gently back down on her feet and she could almost cry with delight as he hands her another book!
“I read this one, and just knew you would like it,” he tells her.  She runs her hand over the smooth cover.  It is dark maroon leather, the title and author etched in silver.  As she studies it, she notices that it smells faintly.  Good, as if it had kept traces of every where it had been opened and read, like old paper and lots of love and adventure.  She is delighted to notice it smelled the strongest of sunshine, and his smell.  She laughs with delight to see that it is a fairly thick book, thicker than her small wrist.  Oh, she’ll have so much fun reading it!
“Thank you! Thank you!  Oh, you are so grand!”  She shouts at him in her excitement.  He doesn’t cringe, his smile only gets wider.  She teleports it right into her bedroom, under the mattress so that her brother won’t find it and read it first.  She hates when he spoils the ending for her, as he takes such delight when he does.
“Are you ready for the trip?” he asks, and catches sight of her feet.  “You are going to want to put shoes on, if just this once.   We have a fairly long way to go.”
She sighs and quickly runs up to the house to tie her shoes on.  She hates wearing them, but she knows that if he says she’ll need them, he means it.  She trusts his word.  She also grabs her traveling cloak just in case.  Usually when the wind blew so cool early in the morning, it was going to rain by mid-afternoon.
When she comes back out, she sees his small smile at the cloak, and knows she has made a good choice.  Besides, the cloak would help to keep some of the hot sun off of her.  She feels a momentary surge of pride.  He holds his hand out to her, and she steps down and takes it.  Together they set off down the road for what she knows will be a great adventure.


After a few hours of trekking, the stop by the roadside.  He removes his heavy pack, and starts pulling things out of it.  There is bread, and meat, and cheese, along with a big gallon of iced tea.  She is amazed to realize that the tea is still cold.  As they dine, they stare around them, taking in the extra tall trees.  To the left, they hear a series of bird calls, then an answering call from the right side.  She sees a small foxtail dart into the brush in front of her.  She sighs and draws in a long breath.  She pulls into herself the scent of the leaves on the ground, the soil underneath, the age of the forest, and the health and vitality of the spot.  She feels peace radiating from here, and she is happy and calm.  After awhile, he starts to pack up the remainders of their small picnic, and she knows it is time to go.  She is a little sad, but knows that there must be more in store ahead for them, and the sadness melts.  Plus, she knows that she can come back here any time she wishes, as the trees know her and welcome her presence.  He swings the pack back onto his back.
“Ready?” is all he says.  When she nods, the two of them continue their journey deeper and deeper through the woods.  They walk for what seems like a few more hours.  Suddenly, she sees a place up ahead where the tree line ends.  She is curious for a moment or two before she realizes that they have come upon a beach.  She almost can’t breathe!  He couldn’t have brought her here!  How did he know her deepest birthday wish!  They must be somewhere else.
Sure enough, a few moments later, they break through the trees.  She stops dead, and stares around her in wonder and amazement.  They are, in fact, standing in front of the legendary Silver Lake.  Not fifteen feet from where she stood, over the gleaming white sand, was the clear, pure water of the lake.  From this distance, the water was so clear that she could see the sand continuing down from the edge of the water.   But she knew how the lake had got its name.  If you looked down at the lake from any distance other than right where she stood, the surface of the lake became a mirror.  It became a silver so bright, and so opaque, that it reflected the very sun.  Not to mention everything else, the trees, the birds, even the moon.  The water was so still, it was if it stood apart from the very land around it, like not even the breeze could ripple the water.
He walked up to the very edge of the lake, and let out a very high, very long, and very sweet sounding whistle.  She almost wanted to shush him, to tell him not to spoil the perfect silence.  He turned and winked at her as if hearing her thoughts.  He brought his finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet, and to trust what he did.  The next thing she knew, she was looking into the face surrounded by a mop of bright blue hair.  She startled and would have fell backwards if he hadn’t caught her.  She couldn’t help but stare at this fifteen year old boy.  If only for the fact that all she could see of him was his top half.  The rest was hidden under the water.  
“Is that…?” she stuttered.  He smiled and nodded.
“You have just met your very first fishman.”  He laughed.  She stared into the silver eyes of the stranger as he watched warily to see what she would do.  She grinned and bowed to him.
“I am honored to meet you.  Sorry for my initial reaction.  I have never met anyone like you before.”  She smiled.  “I hope we can be friends.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.  Don’t feel bad for your reaction, as I was startled myself the first time I met this land dweller.”  He nods at her companion.  And with that, the trio sat down to discuss any and everything under the sun.

The End.  For now.