Authored on: 2007-10-04 21:46:10

Prompt: Use the title of a book in the first line of a piece.
Book: Strands of Sunlight by Gael Baudino

Strands of sunlight sparkled through the canopy of leaves. Golden threads draped across the limbs of the trees, flickering in and out with an occasional breeze. A small girl with mahogany skin and hazel-green eyes danced among the rays. Wild raven tresses bounced and splayed out, shifting left, then right as she twirled in circles, humming slightly off-key.

A giggle from behind halted Gida's dance with the sunlight and she turned to peer curiously at a set of bushes. She smiled and stalked the giggle, parting the bushes to see the shadowed face of another girl just inside. "Hello."

Gida took a few steps back as the other girl came forward out of the bushes, untangling branches that clung to her thick, silvery-platinum braid. A sprig of leaves caught on one of her ears, tearing apart from the bush to sit decoratively. The dark green of the leafy earring contrasted beautifully with her pale skin and hair. Her silver eyes sparkled with mischief, her lips curling into a smile as her long and pointed ears perked toward Gida, one tilting back again to catch sound behind her. "Hello."

The two girls, elf and human, smiled at each other before the elf began to giggle again and Gida found the sound contagious. The two laughed and picked up the dance among the threads of sunlight together without any other words between them.