It was late into the night in the Vale of the Emerald Bloom as the child read by candle light. The scroll was one of her favorites, and while she couldn’t actually read the symbols that covered it, her father and sister had read it to her so many times that she knew it by heart. She especially enjoyed the pictures that interspersed the work, each one showing the heroes various triumphs with her spirit companions at her side.

  Like always, as she stared at these stories of heroism and adventure she imagined herself in the place of the hero. Like always, these flights of fancy caused her spiritual energy, her qi, to run wild in a small area around her. Unlike always, the nearby candle’s flame absorbed just enough of her emotionally charged qi to become a nascent spirit.

  As the candle's flame started to drift away from its wick it startled the young girl from her dreams of heroism.

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  She stared at the flame.

  The flame stared back.

  The flame started to slowly flicker, as if it was going out.

  Acting on instinct the child extended a small thread of her qi to the flickering fire and asked an important question.

  “Would you like to be my friend?”

  The flame considered.

  The flame agreed.

  A bond was formed.

  The girl gently placed her new companion in the space next to her heart.