A friendship starts
Caelin was panicking. It was a strange feeling, being afraid of dying. He was one of the Gifted, which ment he couldn't die. That is, the philosophers and thinkers still discussed whether the Gifted actually died and returned to life, or never really died. The fact was that they experienced all the pain associated with their 'death' before being brought back to the shrine where they last prayed. Since he was young, Caelin had been Gifted, and had never been afraid of dying. Until now that is.
He splashed wildly in the cold water, feeling his life drain away, and wondered if he was still immortal if he drowned. What if his body lay here, on the bottom of the river for all eternity? His mother and father had died this way, and perhaps his family was doomed and he was destined to suffer the same fate?
He cursed his own error, that got him into this. He had been hunting wolfes, when an enraged wisp had shown up. He had no way of fighting that thing together with the wolfes and had run away, trying to reach the bridge to get to the other side of the river. He didnt know why, but wisps stayed away from bridges, and he planned to use that to his advantage. Unfortunately he now lay in the cold water, having tripped and fallen into the water. The wisps and wolfs did not follow him...
Just when Caelin felt the familiar feeling of life slipping away, he heard a little voice calling out. "Grab this log, and you will be fine.", and then he felt a big log hitting him in the back. He turned rapidly in the water, and with his dwindling strength, he held on the log, feeling reliefed that if he could only hold on to this, he would not drown.
A few seconds later, he felt secure enough to look for the person, that had thrown the log out to him. What he saw was a little dryad, standing on the shore fighting the wolfes with magic spells. He had frozen the wisp in place, and only had to concentrate on the two wolfes before him. When they were both dead, he turned to the wisp while shouting "Just hold on a minute longer, I will be right there and help you up".
And then the dryad hurled a big firebolt at the wisp and started to run away with the wisp following him close. Caelin felt the panick return. Would he just leave him here? A few nerve-wrecking minutes went by, and then Caelin saw the dryad flying towards him with a big grin on his face.
"I said I would be back. Just needed to get rid of that wisp first. What are you doing in the water, if you cant swim? Isn't that a little silly?"
Caelin didnt know what to answer. Here he was, feeling panicked and afraid and then the dryad smiled and made fun of it?
"I'm..it...I mean...I didn't..it's".
"Well no need to hide anymore, elf. The wisp is gone. You can come up now. Just stand up, the water isn't that deep. I am Marak, byt he way...a pleasure to meet you."
Caelins face reddened...not deep? He put his feet down and instantly felt his feet hitting the bottom. When he stood up, the water barely reached his stomach.
"I'm....eehh...Thanks, for the help, Marak. I am Caelin. I...eeh...its just I cant swim, and I really hate water. I wasnt trying to hide."
"That's okay, Caelin. I know lots of people that can't swim. It's nothing to be ashamed about. Please take the log with you when you come up...its my lucky log today, and I would really like it back."
Caelin couldnt hide a big grin of relief and amusement as he picked up the log and wandered out of the water.
"So, what brings you to these parts, Marak?"...
)