"Where are you going?" Adanna yelled.
Egan ran through the brush of the forest, jumping over large tree roots and ducking under low-hanging branches faster than Adanna could keep up. The young girl pumped her little legs after him, keeping her eyes trained on the crude straw hat that sat on his wild head of brown hair.
The sun beat down on her body making beads of sweat collect on her forehead and at the nape of her neck. Her breath came out in harsh pants, and she so desperately wanted to stop running and rest under the delightful shade of one of the many ancient trees in the forest. However, Adanna knew that if she stopped, she would never catch up to the boy, losing not only him but her way out of the forest.
"We're almost there!" Egan shouted back. She could hear the amusement in his voice, and she wondered how he fared so much better under the wrath of the blistering sun. He moved like a rabbit, vivacious and buoyant, with a speed Adanna couldn't possibly hope to muster under the conditions.
The children continued to run until Egan suddenly froze next to a large yew tree. He turned around to face Adanna and watched in silence, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, as she caught up to him. She slowed down as she finally reached him, welcome to the sudden break but also curious as to the cause of it.
"What . . . what did you stop for?" she asked in-between pants. Adanna flopped down onto the ground under the tree, sitting on a moist bed of moss that wet the back of her simple linen dress. It felt cool on her bare legs, and she pressed a hand to the moss. It came away wet, and she studied it before gently touching it to her face.
"You couldn't keep up. I think I'm supposed to let you rest, so I'm letting you rest." Egan's face was shadowed by the wide brim of his hat, and he watched Adanna inquisitively. She busied herself with putting her hands to the moss and then pressing them to the hot skin of her face.
"What are you doing?"
"Aren't you hot?" she asked, eyeing Egan's long collared shirt and wool pants. "The sun is making me feel like I'm on fire."
Egan glanced up at the clear sky. He didn't squint as he stared up at the sun. "I think it feels nice."
Adanna sighed. "You're strange."
Egan didn't reply, almost as if he didn't hear her, and instead swung his head to the left of him. He stared into the vegetation and cocked his head to the side as if he was listening to something. Adanna looked up at him and strained her ears, but she heard nothing at all. In fact, this part of the forest was especially silent. There was no chirping of birds or swaying of leaves or skittering of little creatures. It was a silence unlike anything she was accustomed to, and it made her uneasy.
"Come on," Egan said. He looked down at Adanna expectantly, and when she didn't immediately stand up, he furrowed his brow in confusion. Then, a look came across his face as if he had just figured out the answer to a question he'd been mulling over for days. He confidently stretched a hand down towards her.
"Do you need help getting up?" he offered.
Adanna shook her head and pushed herself up on her own. "I'm fine."
They stood face-to-face, and for a moment neither of them said a word. Adanna stared at Egan, pondering at the luminosity of his pale brown eyes, a shade she'd never imagined could color the eyes of another person. Egan looked right back at her, and she saw that he was grinning again.
"What?" she asked. "Is there something on my face?"
His grin only grew as he answered, "A lot of things, actually. You look like a nymph."
