2

2


When I was younger, I used to read a lot. I remember reading a book about this guy who rescued orphans, and taught them to take care of themselves. When I think of Shadow, that’s what comes to mind, always. I don’t think of him as Dee’s brother, or the strongest person I know, or the oldest and biggest one, or even as my leader. I think of that book, almost immediately. He’s similar in the way that he has a magical mystical level that none of us, even him, has yet to dig deep enough to unearth.
Shadow caught me looking at him, sometimes. When he asked what I was thinking, I told him. I told him that I was thinking that he was the person I trusted most in the whole world. He always grinned at that, and told me that I shouldn’t trust him so much, that he was a good liar. I said that liars always say they don’t lie. He would laugh then, full out, deep and darkly, like he couldn’t quite believe that I thought he was honest. But Shadow is one of those people who, for some inexplicable reason, you just trust, even if you’ve never seen him before. You just know he’ll help you.
“Kay,” Dee whispered, her slight accent there, but not quite obvious. She poked me in the ribs, pulling me out of my reverie. I started, and realized that I’d been staring at Shadow absentmindedly. Dee giggled.
“I’m going,” I told her, and veered of the trail into the thick forest.
None of my friends batted an eye. They were used to me melting into the shadows. They knew that I had my secrets, just as they undoubtedly did. I liked to be in the forest, off the trail. It just felt right. It was cool and clean looking. The knobby bark always held my attention at first, but then as I let my human nature drain away, I started to notice other things. The multi colored flowers, the long stems of some perfect for weaving into hair, others, though, had shorter stems, but the sweet sprays were still beautiful. The darkness a few feet up, where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The millions of birds, so loud when you wanted to hear them, when you were looking for the noise, quieter when you thought they weren’t there. The wolves and deer and other wild animals that knew you were there, and could smell you a mile off. I loved just existing there, living, and being. It felt kind of good, like giving back to the Earth. I liked it. I wove in and out through the trees, keeping a stone’s throw away from my friends. I always kept a tendril of my thoughts concentrated on my human life, because I was afraid that I might lose them, and myself, altogether if I detached entirely from humanity. I could hear my friends, too, so sometimes I closed my eyes and just took breaths in and out, in and out. I did that now, thinking to myself that I was strong and lively, and a part of the Earth. I snapped open my eyes, and a smile lit my face. I trotted out of the trees a quarter hour later, having seen three does, a buck, a fawn, and a wolf cub. I quickly avoided the wolf. I was afraid of mamma wolf, and mamma wolf could smell that. I saw more animals than most people would, I guess because I have a stronger connection with the animals than most humans do. As I came out of the dark leaves of the forest, Karma wheeled around, her blonde hair whirling through the air. Karma was newest to our group, and had yet to learn the sound of the others’ footsteps. Jay knew right off though, for some reason. That made me nervous. Dee and Shadow didn’t break stride as I appeared. I came up next to Dee. I walked in silence for a while. Then a smile lifted my mouth again, changing my face so you could no longer see the scar that started above my eyebrow, and stretched straight across my eye, down to my cheekbone. It was long and pale, contrasting to my tanned skin. I couldn’t remember where it had come from, only that I’d had it forever. “You want to spar tonight? At camp?” I asked eagerly. Dee turned her face towards me. She studied me for a moment, and then a smile broke out on her own face. “You’re on,” She said.
We all had weapons that we trusted, and liked more than others. My weapon of choice was a long bow. I always had it on my back, with a full quiver at the ready. I could also use a knife sword for hand to hand combat. The knife to divert one sword, the long blade to attack with. The bow I still liked better, though.
Dee could use long swords; they were always sheathed on her back. She could have them out and at the ready within seconds, the left slightly lower than the right. So tonight we would go one on one.
Dee and I were evenly matched, despite our size differences. She was small and nimble, flitting in and aiming a heavy blow at me, always stopping just short of contact if I couldn’t block it. But I usually could block. I was fast enough to block her blow, and throw one of my own within seconds, but they always missed her, by centimeters, sometimes.
Sparring was fun to watch, and usually everyone was game to join in. You could learn things about your best friend, things that you never would have unearthed otherwise. We were all good with our weapons of choice. I was the best with the bow; I could hit anything I aimed at. Dee was the only one who even knew how to use long swords.
I liked sparring with Shadow the best; we were most evenly matched, about the same size, and could go on the longest. It had nothing to do with endurance; it was more like neither of us was going to give in to the other. Neither of us would back down.
So when Shadow heard my question, and slowed down enough to ask me if I wanted to go one on one with him, too, my night became doubly interesting.


Quote of the day:

When life hands you a lemon, say "I like lemons. What else ya got?"


-Some guy who's name I can't remember,
-The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

-DarkHawk09