The next morning, before dawn, she was awakened by a faint tug on her sheets, followed by a small form climbing into bed next to her under the blankets. Peeking under to see who or what it was, the girl couldn't help but giggle to see an already sleeping Lani, curled up at her side.
     Elura came into the room moments later and smiled at the two. She spoke softly so as not to wake the little girl. "I'm out again today, but now that you're here, Lani wants to stay. Make sure she eats with you, because she'll forget to eat at all if you don't. Get some more sleep, dearies, and I'll see you this evening, okay?"
     Chiami nodded and watched the woman leave their tent, quietly re-securing the tent flap so that the chill morning air wouldn't seep inside.
     Sleep they did, both girls curled up around each other for warmth, and only woke again when the tent brightened with the fully risen sun. The older girl woke first, but stayed still, unwilling to disturb the little one still pressed against her side. She felt truly happy for the first time she could remember, and wondered if she'd ever be a mother and have her own little girl to curl up with when the nights grew cold.
     Eventually, Lani woke up on her own, and the two got up and got fully dressed. As Chiami was just pulling on her boots over newly healed feet, the younger of the two girls inched over and held out a comb timidly. Chiami was confused for a moment as she took the comb, as it would do little to tame her own short mane, but when the little girl turned around and presented a long braid, she grinned.
     Unbraiding, combing, and re-braiding those long locks was a lot less of a chore than she had initially thought. Lani's hair was amazingly soft and workable, and it calmed Chiami into something of a trance to work with it. She was almost sorry when she finished and tied the end with the bit of string that the girl offered.
     "So, what shall we do today?" Chiami asked her new companion, who giggled and shrugged. "Well you're no help at all!" she said, tickling Lani. The girl squealed and giggled loudly, flailing about helplessly at the sudden tickle-attack, and soon both girls were rolling around on the bed, laughing merrily.
     Not much later, the two exited their tent and went in search of breakfast. Apparently, Chiami was still -just- under the age where the adults would put her to work to earn her keep, and so obviously was Lani. The whole group worked different lengths of time and ate at different hours, so there was food available almost constantly. Breakfast and lunch ran into each other, and you ate when you were hungry. Though the kitchen mother was a sweet soul who wouldn't have any starving people in her vicinity, she had a hawk's eye for children, as well as adults, that returned a little too often, and patrolled the area with a ladle. Needless to say, there weren't many who attempted to chance her retaliation if they took one too many lunch breaks.
     When the two girls arrived, breakfast was in the process of turning into lunch, so they got a little bit of cold, leftover breakfast, as well as some very fresh pastries and meat straight from the cooking fire.
     Lani then led the way out of the camp to some shady trees where they could sit and picnic. It was a very fine spot, where the grass seemed just a bit more lush, the temperature perfect, and there seemed to be no insects to come and steal their food, which Chiami was surprised and delighted that she remembered at all.
     "It's the Tree," Lani's soft voice came for the first time, explaining the perfection of the place. "It keeps things pretty." Her little innocent voice didn't continue, but that was alright. Chiami thought she understood. The tree's roots, or its bark, or it's leaves or flowers, or possibly a combination of all of them, kept the bugs away and fed the grass and shaded the area perfectly. It was as though this tree had been specially created just to provide a nice place to sit or nap the day away in peace.
     The little girl giggled, and Chiami looked over at her curiously, and then gazed in awe. A small creature had perched on her little hand and sat there licking the sugar of her fingers greedily with its long tongue.
     "It tickles," Lani said, and giggled some more, but was careful not to shake her hand too much and scare the creature away.
     The older girl watched and smiled, then, when the creature was finished with that hand, offered her own, with its sticky-sweet fingertips. It chirped happily and buzzed over, alighting and flashing it's tongue in and out, and indeed, it did tickle. Chiami sat there and tried her hardest not to giggle, until the little creature had finished it's inspection of all her fingers and buzzed away.
     Elura came back a little before dusk, earlier than last time, and smiled, putting down her basked of greens and sorting them just as before. About the only thing different today was dinner, which was a large beast that one of the hunters had brought in early in the morning and had been roasting all day. It looked very strange to Chiami, but then again, she may have seen hundreds of them before and just couldn't remember. Whatever it was, it was delicious.
     To Chiami, this was the perfect life.
     The next few days to follow were much of the same, until one early morning before dawn, she had another dream. It was dark. Completely dark. And cold. Chiami shivered in her dream and tried to cry out for help, but there was no sound either. Then, a soft, flickering light appeared and grew brighter, until it was a spark of fire, like a small candle. It warmed her straight to her soul, and she reached out for it, wanting to cradle it's heat the way she cradled Lani's small form when she slept.
     However, just as her fingers would have reached it, the flame retreated and went out, to be replaced by a form. She knew it instantly, even though she'd only ever saw it once that she could remember. The healer from her first day in the human came stood before her and smiled. His hand reached out to her and drew her up, and it was warm, like the flame. She stood, though she didn't remember being seated, and looked into his wine-red eyes. They too held his smile, and she smiled back.
     His smile faded and he became serious as he spoke, his voice soft and compelling. "I know you," he said then, "I know who you are and where you belong."
     That startled her, though his next words would surprise her even more, for he revealed a fact about her that she hadn't even realized herself. "I know why you are drawn to fire, why it calls you. I know why so many things seem completely foreign to you, why the other humans are uneasy around you."
     Chiami blinked. How could he know all that? But this was just a dream, wasn't it? It had to be.
     The man smiled again and continued speaking, but this time something in his voice was a little more ominous, belying his kindly smile and gentle question. "Would you like to know?"
     A chill flooded her senses again, leeching what warmth she had had out of her body, and darkness returned, the man fading away as though he were being dissolved in the sudden chill void that threatened to take her as well.
     Would you like to know?
     Chiami woke with a start and shivered. She had thrown the blankets off of herself sometime during the night, and now lay exposed to the early morning air with nothing between her and the chill but her nightclothes. That dream was just as strange as the one she'd had when she first arrived. What did it mean? If it meant anything at all, that is. She sighed and pulled the blankets back onto the bed and curled up under them until she was warm. She slept again, but no dreams returned to haunt her rest, and she didn't wake until it was fully light and there was a sleeping Lani curled up at her side again.
     She mostly forgot the dream during the day, but something about it remained; the feeling that someone knew who she was and where she came from. She also remembered the little flame clearly, and wondered what would have happened if the dream had gone differently and she had actually touched it.
     That night, there was another dream, much like the first. She was suspended in that void again, curled up in a ball to conserve what little heat she could, cold and alone and afraid.
     The flame appeared again, and this time the man was there at the same time. He held the fire in the palm of his hand and it danced invitingly. This time he said nothing, but the two of them stood and watched the fire for what seemed a long time, until the man held it out to her. She paused a moment, taking her eyes from the bright spark and looking up at his face. He was smiling again, and something in his eyes seemed hopeful.
     Or hungry.
     She shivered at the chill beyond the small circle of light and returned her gaze to the flame in his palm. He offered it to her again, and this time she reached out a tentative hand, leaning forward to tough the fire with one finger.
     Warmth spread throughout her whole body. Chiami was relieved, enjoying the heat. The cold void didn't reach her anymore, had no more power over her. She looked down at one hand and was startled to see flamelets dancing along her skin. She was a beacon of light in the void, like a miniature sun.
     When she looked back at the man, the expression on his face was one that she didn't recognize, though the way his eyes shone red, reflecting her light, reminded her of something else, something she couldn't place.
     He reached out a hand to her, and she moved to take it, but suddenly, the gentle warmth turned into a raging heat. She tried to cry out, but there was no sound other than the crackling of flames. Her eyes closed, and rather than seeing darkness, there was a bright red-orange light beneath her eyelids. She screamed, and this time there was sound, though it sounded more like the cry of a hunting bird rather than her own voice.
     She opened her eyes again when a rough hand was shaking her shoulder urgently, shattering the dream, and she and Lani were rushed out of bed into the cold night, wearing only their undergarments and carrying their clothing.
     The dream of fire had turned into reality. The whole camp was ablaze.