ANN-MARIE, a young native girl, stood at the bottom of the small waterfall, her arms out-stretched, her eyes closed as the spray from the cascading water showered her face. It was one of those natural places in the jungle she loved so much that she could let herself loose in its amazing wonder, her mind flowing freely, like the cool water streamed past her bare feet. “Ann-Marie.” She opened her eyes, wiped the water from her face and turned towards the voice but there was no-one there. She looked around, a little puzzled because she was sure she had heard someone call her name. The silent shrubs, the birds and animals were the only ones there as always and, shrugging her shoulders, she sat down on a rock pulling back the thick tresses of long hair from her shoulders, shaking loose the petals of wildflowers she usually wore in its braid.

Then she heard, a little closer, the voice calling her again.
Ann-Marie spun around and caught a fleeting glimpse of someone in white disappearing through the thick shrubs, someone with long black hair like hers. She ran following the mysterious figure, her bare feet barely touching the jungle floor, the adventurous spirit in her always ready to spread its wings and fly. The jungle was more her home than her village since she was a little girl so she always knew where she was, but the figure in white had vanished. Ann-Marie looked around, not afraid because the guardian spirits of the jungle always watched over her and she wondered why someone was playing a game. Her eyes and senses were sharp like a hawk and as she looked around she spotted a rock structure almost obscured by the creepers and shrubs, and making a small opening, she squeezed through. There was a small entrance, almost like a cave and Ann-Marie hesitated before entering, not sure what awaited within. The cave was dim and eerie. Night creatures hung from the top, slithering on the rock walls, which were cut narrow, jagged steps that led to what seemed bottomless.
“What is this place?” she whispered to herself. “It’s where I’ve been all these years,” a voice said behind her.

Ann-Marie spun around and gasped in astonishment at the young woman who stood before her. “It can’t be,” she said unbelievingly. “You can’t be alive.” “I’m not,” she said calmly, “I left this earthly life a long time ago but my spirit has been lingering, waiting for the right one and you’re here now.”
Ann-Marie knew she should be afraid, but she was too stunned, for the spirit figure was part of a legend – the Legend of the Diamond of Fire.

Long before Ann-Marie was born, the Toshao’s daughter, Annalisa, whose native beauty charmed many a strange heart made an unexpected choice. One dark night when the village was asleep, she took the mythical diamond stone from its sacred place on the altar and ran away with a white explorer. It had left her father devastated and a village stunned by her betrayal. The power of the stone was such that once touched by the wrong hands, it would become red and hot like fire. All the searches for her turned up empty, she was never heard of again and the stone was never found. As the years passed, the story related over and over was that she had sailed away with her companion on the high seas to an unknown place.

It was all so strange and astonishing that she had been here in the jungle all the time.
How could anyone not known and why did she not come home? “You did not leave with the white man?” Ann-Marie asked. “No,” Annalisa said, “I took the stone that night because I believed the sweet words he spoke and the wonderful promises he made to me. I wanted so much to sail the seas, to see the world, to have all the beautiful things in life, but when the stone turned to fire in his hand, I knew then how untrue his words were and he did not want me without the stone.”

She paused and bent her head, for even in her spirit form, the emotions were too much for her. “You could have come back home,” Ann-Marie said after a while, touched by the deep, sad look in Annalisa’s eyes.
“No,” she shook her head, “I betrayed my father’s trust. No one would have looked at me the same way again, I would have been an outcast. I saw the search party, but I hid in the cave for days and nights, I don’t know how long, growing weaker and weaker until my eyes closed and it all became dark. But even though I entered the spirit world, I couldn’t leave because the stone had to be returned. I waited and waited until I saw you, the one like me, only stronger and braver.”

Ann Marie felt tears gather in her eyes for the beautiful native girl whose story and end were indeed sad. Annalisa smiled and said to Ann Marie, “Take back the stone and be everything of a woman I wasn’t so I can leave. My father is waiting for me. I have to tell him how sorry I am for the grief I caused him.”
“What about you?” Anne Marie asked, “The stone will be returned and so should you so everyone can know what really happened.”
“How do I do that?”
“Your body can still be returned home, where it belongs so every girl can look at your resting place and learn from your story, to help them understand life, love and trust as they grow into young women.”
“You think so?”
“Yes.”
“Then follow me.”

Annalisa disappeared to the bottom of the dark cave and Anne Marie climbed down cautiously. The damp smell and eerie silence were somewhat unnerving. It was hard to understand how she could have stayed there so long with no one and nothing, just hiding away, not wanting to be found. In a little enclave, Anne Marie saw the skeletal remains of the Toshao’s daughter lying, her head rested on a pillow of dry leaves, the diamond of fire in her hand, a sad ending.

Annalisa took the stone and handed it to Anne Marie. “I knew you were special from the moment I saw you and I know you will do what’s right to cover my wrongs.
Anne Marie watched sadly as Annalisa’s spirit form left – the stone and the Toshao’s daughter’s body were returned home and that legend with the right story lived on.