• The fire was like a beacon at the center of the dark landscape, the boy remembers. The sun on earth, he remembered staring deep into its bright core and watching as its tendrils flicked wildly up at the sky. He spent many nights like that, blissfully unaware of the dazzling lights all around him, blinking in and out of the vast night. That is, until the girl reached out her hand.
    Every night, the boy's tribe would raise the fire so they could dance like shadows under the sky, but he could not bring himself to join them. The wise men and women would spend hours staring into the depths of the night, but the boy only knew the earth, the trees, the fire. The girl would call out to his spirit then, giving her hand and he would take it, lured by her own spirit and the light in her eyes.
    She would take him among the other shadows, his family and tribe, and together they would dance. She would smile, laugh, sing, and shine just like the moonlight. The boy would be drawn like so many others into her purity and charm. Then, she would point to the sky and her eyes would glow with inner joy, and when he followed her gaze he looked upon an endless tapestry of stars.
    For the first time in his life, the boy's spirit soared beyond his flesh and he found himself among the great ocean of the night sky. When he finally returned, he noticed the tears that had fallen upon his face like the rain and he turned to see the girl smiling brightly before taking his hand and returning them both to the light of the fire. The boy smiled too then, and danced with the shadows beneath the stars.
    He would never forget that night or the girl who called out to him. She was Jaci, "Moon", his sister by blood and spirit, and she was the one who gave him his name: Namid, "Star Dancer."