"Excuse me," hails a youthful, feminine voice from the shade of an autumn willow. "Hi," she sings with a bounce, waving boisterously as she gets your attention. Under a long, obsidian stream of hair that flows in the breeze like a gently rolling wave, a soft, Chinese face brightly smiles from ear to ear, eyes closed in a childlike giggle as she slowly flapped her fingers.

Though she appeared to be but in her mid-teens, in the process of blooming into womanhood, the clothing she wore, or lack thereof, was wildly out of place--especially for the season. A string bikini and a light cloak, both as blue as a clear afternoon sky, was all she sported. Her skin was golden and her muscles were softly toned, athletic yet still supple and innocently attractive. And even while she bowed for further salutaion, her stance and posture was gracefully balance with the experience of a dancer.

"My name's Komiki," she chimed as she fluttered her brown, almond eyes. Suddenly looking curiously worried, she looks to her left and right, muttering, "This is kinda awkward. I'm not even sure where I am. The landscape doesn't have any depth yet...."

Lost in thought for a couple of seconds, she suddenly faces forward again and nevously chuckles, closing an eye, "Sorry, don't mind me." Eyes widening, she apprehensively takes a step back and waves her hands in denial, assuring, "No, no, I'm perfectly sane...."

"Here," she begins cheerfully again, holding out both hands, "I have something for you." She cups her hands together, palms up, and a trio of small, glowing white balls of light steadily rise into the air. She smiles gleefully as they coalesce into a much larger, flat disc and an image of DeVia appears.

"He's not really satisfied with the color," she shakes her head with a weary sigh, "but I think it looks okay."

Shrugging her shoulders and tilting her head to the side a bit, she declares with a hint of mockery, "It's only his first full portrait of DeVia Dirkdancer, so his next one should be better-looking... and better colored."

Facing forward, she casually adds, "he wasn't sure how old DeVia was, so he guessed she'd be in her early to mid thirties, assuming that she's well-traveled and well-experienced in adventuring to become so renouned--but that's just his mind at work." The last few words were spoken flatly and with subtle contempt.

Flopping her head to the other side, she continued thoughtfully, "He was thinking of doing a few portraits in a frame of motion, starting with that one. He really put some thought into the outfit, trying to make it alittle unique, flashy, and practical all at once."

"Personally," she chirped with a wink, "I think it's alitte sexy." Sighing heavily, she commented, "Too bad his art supplies just didn't want to work for him. He was very frustrated trying to color it."

She shook her head, then blew on the hovering image and the disc dispersed into its three wispy components. She lowered her hands, but the balls of light continued to hover, then she said, "You can keep them for a while. They'll find me when you don't need them anymore." The wisps of light blinked and chimed a few faint notes, then started dancing in the air like fireflies.

"Bye," Komiki waved as she headed back to the willow. When she reached it, she looked dubiously in all four directions. Then, seeming to have just picked a direction at random, she wandered away, calling, "Miko, where are you?"

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