The fog sisters rolled across cold fields, and sat on the banks of frog ponds. They spent their time listening to the gulp and splash beneath the soft glow of the moon. The smoke brothers liked to billow and blow, and climb up mountain sides and shame the sun. But most of the time they smoldered in the dry tinder, waiting for a spark.

One night, the smoke brothers came out of the forest with fiery eyes and hot breath, and came upon the fog sisters sitting quietly beside a pond. “Look what we have here,” said the fog sisters, not the least bit startled. They spoke with the same tongue.

The smoke brothers slowed to a curious crawl. They had heard tales of the fog sisters. Stories of their cool, seductive ways were legendary. They take away your heat, / they’ll put out your fire. / Beware the fog sisters, / they’ll blind you with desire. But the smoke brothers believed such rumors to be nothing more than smoke blown to mask the failure of those who came before. “We’re from the forest,” the smoke brothers said. The two spoke with one voice. “Would you like to dance?”

The fog sisters giggled. Eddies formed at their feet at the edge of the pond. The smoke brothers circled, but when they pressed in close the fog sisters just seemed to squeeze out of their grasp. The smoke brothers spun, the fog sisters swirled. The smoke brothers rose, the fog sisters dipped. Warm air over cool air, their densities spoiled their dance moves. “This will never work,” the smoke brothers said, at last. “We know,” said the fog sisters. “We could dance all night and never once be as one.”

The sun began to rise and a slight breeze moved the air. The smoke brothers hovered as long as they could. “See you again sometime?” they said, before being swept away, the sound of their twin voices dissipating like a flock of geese heading south for the winter. The fog sisters sat on the bank of the pond listening to the life awaken around them. By mid-morning the sisters had all but vanished, reduced to droplets of moisture on the sawgrass and cat-o’-nine tails.