First to Dance by Sonya Writes Page A

this point, she had numbed her disappointment with curiosity. She ’d become so busy learning about this new place, and there was so much to learn, but she still desperately longed to visit Earth.
    “ Well, now that you’re here, what do you think?” he asked, interrupting her thoughts.
    “ It’s okay, I guess. I don’t feel quite as alone here as I did at home.”
    He leaned up against the trunk of the tree and stretched his arms. “In a couple of weeks,” he said, “people will have forgotten about the crash entirely.  Those who continue to recognize you will think that you’ve lived here with us your entire life.  That they don’t have any early memories of you won’t confuse them.”
    “Does no one have memories of their childhood?”
    “Oh, they do, but very few of them.  Sometimes it takes the right word, or the right sound or place to bring their memories back.  Then they’re forgotten again.”  He leaned back his head and sighed.  “What I’m saying is: you’re bound to feel very alone anyway.”
    “Is that how you feel?”
    “Sometimes, yes.”
    “Would you leave, given the chance?”
    Ziyad ignored her question, and asked her, “Did you sleep here last night?”
    “Yes.”
    He smiled.  “This is where I used to sleep.  But it was only for one summer.  I found myself feeling more alone here than usual.  It was easier for everyone to forget me when I wasn’t around them all the time, and easier for me to forget them as well.”
    Ayita pondered this for a while and wondered about Dakarai.  She felt drawn to him in a way that she couldn’t explain. Maybe it was his music, or that look in his eyes when he spoke to her. “Does Dakarai forget because he spends so much time alone?” she asked eagerly. “If I spend enough time with him, would he start to remember me?”
    Ziyad didn’t want to talk about Dakarai, but he reluctantly nodded his head.  “If you spend enough time with him,” he said, “he’ll start to recognize you. But I wouldn’t get your hopes up for much more than that to happen.”
    Ayita nodded, and she turned the conversation back to the wintertime. “Are there any very large buildings?” she asked. “Several times bigger than the ones you just described to me?”
    He gave a weak smile. “Yes, there is one.”
    Ayita’s heart raced. Maybe it was the space center. “What’s inside it?” she asked.
    His answer disappointed. “Nothing much. It’s just another place to sleep when it’s cold.”
     
    The forest was silent this time as Ayita walked through it to find Dakarai.  It seemed such a longer walk without the music playing to distract her.  When she got to the clearing, she saw that Dakarai was in the lake, facing away from her.  Ayita smiled and yelled his name.  When he turned and looked at her, she added, “It’s me, Ayita.”
    Dakarai looked at her for a moment before nodding his head back and saying, “Jump in; the water’s great.”
    Ayita laughed.  “I can’t!  I don’t know how to swim.”   She walked closer.
    “Oh. ” He stared at her for a while, trying to recognize her, but he couldn’t. Still, something told him that he wanted her to stay.   “That’s okay,” he said. “If you don’t know how to swim, I’ll teach you.”
    “I don’t want my clothes to get wet.”
    “As if they’ve never gotten wet before.  Come on.”
    Ayita considered awhile before stepping closer to the lake.
    “Over here,” Dakarai said, pointing.  “The drop isn’t as deep, or as sudden.”
    She nodded and went to where he was pointing, staring at the water.  The rocks below the surface were visible for about an arm’s length in front of her before the water went dark and she couldn’t see anything.  These rocks were smooth and not jagged like the ones she’d hurt her hands on.  Ayita dipped her foot into the water, then quickly pulled it out.  “The water’s so cold.”
    Dakarai smiled.  “Just hop in,” he