Preciouz's Heroic Odyssey

The first time I met Kazi, he was fleeing a warlord.

Kazi and I had a lot in common, in retrospect. We both lost our families to the cruelty of warlords looking for easy pickings. We both narrowly escaped death at their hands. And we both found ourselves trying to survive on the fringes of society.

But back then, I was just an angry young woman who wanted revenge against the world that took away her parents and her peace of mind. Kazi only wanted one thing: to find his sister.

"I can help you find your sister," I told him, sitting across from him at a small table in my favorite tavern. "But it will cost you."

It was the same offer I made to any lowlife or scumbag who needed my services. You see, unlike most people, I had my priorities straight. An adventure life wasn't all that exciting when you didn't have a penny to your name and no family left to support you.

Kazi looked like he would be up for it as well; his eyes glinted with determination as he raised an eyebrow at me and asked, "How much is it gonna cost me?"

I pretended to mull over the price for a bit before answering, "Two hundred gold pieces." My lie wasn't convincing enough; Kazi's eyebrow shot up higher than before. It was obvious from his expression that he would've been happy to pay any amount if it meant finding his sister again. But two hundred gold pieces was way above his means; from what I could tell, he wasn't even carrying anything valuable with him except for a few rusted daggers that looked like they were about to fall off anytime soon.

"Look," I said, sensing that this conversation might end very quickly if we continued down this path, "you look like you're in need of some help right now." (Well, duh.) "So why don't you let me help you out? In return," I added with a smirk, "you'll do whatever I say once we find your sister." With those words, I laid down my cards on the table - or rather, placed them into Kazi's hand while shouting at him to grab them before they blew away into nothingness.

And so it began: the start of our journey together - or rather, mine and Kazi's journey together. He didn't really seem too keen on following my instructions if it meant getting close to danger again; after all, he did run away from a warlord without any weapons or allies just because he wasn't willing to stay and fight against him anymore. But after several days of walking together through the scorching deserts and dry plains of Africa - during which I managed somehow not to die from heat exhaustion despite being a terrible heat-management expert - Kazi finally gave in and agreed to follow my lead if it meant we could save his sister together.

Our journey turned out pretty well; we saved Kazi's sister from an abusive husband who didn't take kindly to her running away from home back then (or so she claimed), and eventually formed an unlikely friendship along the way that led us both closer to each other's hearts than either of us expected. And by the time we reached our destination - a small town called Umuzi where Kazi's sister lived - Kazi had already given up trying to convince me that he didn't need my help after all. Of course, that didn't stop him from complaining occasionally that I was pushing myself too hard just because we were friends now and there was no point in making things difficult for myself just because we weren't willing to give up on each other yet. But more often than not, he would stop himself midway through his rant before giving me an apologetic smile and ruffling my hair like some sort of older brother figure trying desperately not to acknowledge that there was something between us more than just friendship anymore...