A Guardian's Gentle Nudge

"Rashka!!" the word floating over the fields carrying with it a tangible level of impatience.

I knew I was already in trouble, so I lingered a while, lying upon my back in the grass, watching the suns chase each other towards the horizon, the first, had already won the race and the second was just crossing the finish line. Dark violet hues rose into the sky from the other end of the small world bringing with it the cool night breezes and the heralds of cricket song.

"Rashka!!" the voice now has hit its limits straining in frustration from across the river.

I let out a soft sigh, and push myself up picking up the small wolf pup that had fallen asleep upon my chest. "we better go, she sounds cranky" I murmured in flawless human. I had been sneaking around with my little friend for the better part of a week now. He was hurt, poor thing, and hungry when I saw him shivering by the muddy bank, wet and miserable. Mother would simply lose her mind if she knew I had him, so I tucked him into my small backpack and began to make the trek through the darkening fields back to town.

I was only five or six summers old when I found that pup, but had the body of a human girl twice that age. It made me stand out, you could say, in the small town filled with Aartiran's, that and the fact my skin was azure blue. Yes, standing twice as tall as any my own age and blue as the sky to boot. This might have been why I spent endless days in the fields, driving my mother to an early sentence of grey hair.

I snuck him in and out of the small apartment at the back of the bakery that we called home, for almost two weeks, begging milk from the tavern owner to feed him. It was when he started to get stronger, and more curious and eating bits of ground meat, that we were discovered. He wandered out of my room and into the kitchen, and was found by my mother in the morning.

The screams were what woke me up, and the panicked yelps of Kinta. Kinta...mother said my father would call me that, when I was just an infant, it means 'little heart'. Bolting from my bed I burst into the kitchen to find my mother, chasing Kinta around the room with a broom, the pup in a frantic state of panic. "Kinta!" I cried out, my mother stopping her assault to glare at me, "oh Rashka...you didn't!" she groans, and with that the little pup flees towards me and the obvious sanctuary I provided. Plucking the mischievous furball off the floor, it was only then did I see the extent of the damage. The venison, the chicken, the pork...all pulled out of the coldroom, and chewed through and dragged about the floor.

"Rashka that is a weeks worth of meat pies wasted!" my mother scorned, "get that little beast OUT of my kitchen and see that he does not come back!". I was crestfallen, but I hurried my little friend out of the range of my mother's fury and took him towards the fields, walking with him clutched to me close, speaking in soft tones and earning a flurry of wolfish kisses.

I knew the grasslands well, even then, and understood it was time to set my little companion free again. I was aware that now that it had turned to morning, the wolves would be further north, so I stepped off the bridge and wandered the banks of the river until I turned west, and tried to pick up a sign of the pack.

It took a few hours, but eventually, I spotted them a short distance off, pausing to look at the little canine who had since fallen asleep in my arms. "I know I said I would always take care of you Kinta.." I murmured kissing the little pup upon its head, "trust me...this -is- taking care of you". With that, I boldly approached the wild pack, and held the little pup towards them as I gained their attention. "he belongs with you" I remember saying and then placed Kinta in the grass and turned around. I walked steadily away from the pack and the little pup, and only looked back once. Kinta was being thoroughly investigated by a pair of adult wolves, but he was watching me.

I still see him now and then, he is much bigger than he was back then. He is Alpha of the wild pack now, and none of the field wolves are a threat to me. Kinta was my first contact with Sykala I believe, my first deliberate nudge towards the life I lead. The Guardian's have always come to me when my need was great and lent their aide and comfort to still my mind and heart. I envy him, his link to his pack, his simple life, his place in the world. What I would not give to find the belonging he has, but that is not what the Storm Father has in mind for me it would seem.