• "How do you like it in Dagon so far, Damara?" Mark asked, looking back to her as she attempted to keep up.

    "Well, I haven't seen much yet--" She started quietly, and Mark nodded.

    "You will soon, don't worry about it." Mark smiled broadly and halted in place. Damara stopped a few feet after him, surprised by his sudden stop, and slowly made her way back to her trainer.

    "It's this way." Mark pointed at a wide hole in the side of the tunnel, lit only by a torch a ways down. Damara laughed with embarrassment and followed him in the new direction. There was enough room for both to walk side by side, but Damara just tagged behind, not brave enough to face whatever might be ahead.

    The small tunnel quickly opened up into a large forest, spherical treehouses dripping from the branches, connected by thick vines and ropes. Fireflies danced around the spheres, happily chasing each other. The dim daylight was let in from a huge hole in the ceiling, the walls curving upward in a dome shape into the hole. There were no walkways to be seen that reached up to the treehouses, yet people were still looking down from their little homes anyway.

    "The plant and air elements live together, since there are so few of us. Unlike the earth elements. It must be rough down there." Mark said with a laugh, then walked directly up to a person that was leaning against the thick trunk of the nearest tree. The boy had long brown pants that bunched together at the ankle, black boots, no shirt, and a hat that covered the curly brown hair that was collected in a ponytail at the back of his neck. The necklace that lay across his bare chest was a light green in the shape of a clover.

    "Hello, Mark. Damara. Nice to meet you." The boy said, nodding once at her.

    "You too?" Damara says with one eye narrowed.

    "This is Yulon, the head plant master. He's your sister's trainer." Mark explained with a hand in the boy's direction. The boy nodded again and saluted her lazily.

    "Leilani. She looks too much like me." Damara murmered, and Yulon smirked.

    "She's your twin, hun. You didn't realize this before?" Yulon answered, and Damara blinked in surprise.

    "I'm an only child." Damara insisted, and Yulon let out a loud chuckle.

    "That's what you were supposed to think, totally unaware of our existence. Apparantly it worked." Yulon said and closed his eyes, leisurely leaning against the tree.

    "Hey, are you calling me stupid?" Damara asked, narrowing both eyes angrily.

    "First of all, I never said anything of the sort. Second, if you're gonna pick a fight, don't do it with the most experienced plant element, especially in a place covered in his material." Yulon said, not moving from his spot on the trunk. Damara grunted quietly, then looked to Mark.

    "Can we see my dorm now?" She asked, refusing to look at Yulon again. Mark smiled and nodded, then walked down the long path leading through the center of about 20 of the trees. He finally stepped up to the fifth one on the right, then looked back at her.

    "You're gonna have to have me get you up for a while. I'm guessing you haven't used your element yet?" Mark asked, looking up at the light blue bob above him.

    "Baldor made me." Damara admitted, shivering at the memory of the sudden wind that had been produced from a slight movement. Mark grinned lightly at her expression, then held his arms out.

    "May I?" He asked.

    "What?" Damara raised an eyebrow, and he pointed upward.

    "Oh." She said, laughing as she entered his grasp. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pointed the other one to the ground. With one flick of his wrist, they shot upward toward the ledge of the large ball. They hovered for a moment while he gently let Damara off on the ledge, then stepped on himself. The ball swayed slowly after the wind was cut off, and both stepped into the large ball.

    The inside was a light silver, the floor was flat despite the curved nature of the house. Shelves stuck out from the wall that looked to serve as beds with long flowing sheets. Two dressers sat off to the side, both identical, scrolls stacked neatly on top of them. On a hook nearby hung a blue lantern, with fireflies swarming around inside. The movement gave a welcoming aura to the whole place.

    "You share a room with Lei, so you won't have a stranger as a roommate." Mark said, hesitating in the doorway.

    "So she's not a stranger just because she's my twin? I don't even know her!" Damara said and threw herself down on the bed with blue sheets.

    Mark fell silent, and they sat like that for a while, and finally Mark spoke up once more.

    "Baldor says it's time for lunch. Are you ready to meet the rest of the Halcyon?" He asked and held out his hand for her. She hesitated, then pulled herself off the bed and into his arms, and he lowered them back down to the ground. People everywhere were lowering out of their houses, whether by air or just lowering the branch their home was attached to.

    Damara avoided Yulon as they passed, her leading Mark out the tunnel, following the flow of people that entered the hole.