“Hey!" the little elephant shouted happily.

The crow froze, then quickly hid behind the leaves. Maybe she had only imagined hearing him.

“Hey,” the elephant said again, “I see you.”

So he had seen her! How did he notice? She shouldn’t have watched him so much. She had to fly away right now and never come back.

“I saw that you want to play with me,” the elephant said. “So you can come. I have an idea for a really fun game.”

Did he just say she wanted to play with him? Be as careless as he was? Better to ignore him and fly away.

“Play with you? Ha!” the crow said at last, she just couldn’t stand being linked to such a silly idea.

“Sure, why not? Games are fun! I’m Rauni. That’s what my mom and dad named me. What’s your name?”

“Kadai. And games are dangerous.”

“Who gave you that name? And games aren’t dangerous, they’re fun.”

Kadai had heard the other crows from the World Below call her that, so she decided it must be her name. But there was no way she’d tell that to this elephant who called himself Rauni.

“I have to go,” Kadai decided. She had seen enough strange things for one day.

“All right,” said Rauni. “Just don’t forget to come play when you can. Tell your parents I’ll take care of you.”

Kadai flew away without answering. Rauni crouched down, lowered his trunk, then lifted it suddenly with a cheerful “Whooosh!”

Maybe next time, he thought.