Sabine
Long ago, in a far away country where the people were traditionally expected to bow to their clan chiefs, there was a great clan of that time that was known for it's awesome kinds of powers.
The clan was known for it's beauty and strength, but also for it's strange secret behind it. Long ago, on the day of the full moon's eve, there was to be the annual land-wide clan festival; marking the anniversary of the peace treaty between the humans, wolves, foxes, horses, pigs, crows and the falcons. Each clan was known for something special. The humans hated the other clans with a deep grudge in their hearts and had often times tried to wipe out all of their kinds… The wolves; their fierceness in a fight. Foxes; their cunning. Horses; their strength. Pigs; their craft. Crows; their shamanism. Falcons; their hunt for their prey…. Our story begins with a young, tall girl who's hair holds the mark of the wolves. Long, shaggy and shiny, the girl's golden hair fell to her waist and swayed gently with every bare footed step she took. Her long and thin legs were nimble and muscles showed by nearly bursting through her small wool lavender dress. The dress went kindly down her legs and stopped at mid calf and the waist was adorned with hundreds of multicolored spring flowers all wound with ivy and tied off with a long navy blue cloth that had a wolf on one side with pearly white teeth snared and a lion on the other with long claws dangerously waiting…
The girl looked quite normal but the only thing other than her hair that gave her away as strange was her eyes; one was gold, one was bright neon green. This girl was known as Sabine, meaning in the language of wolves as rare. And Sabine was a one of a kind, as she always knew the exact place where a deer would stop, the exact time an enemy would attack, the cure to an unknown illness and many things of wonder. Sabine was the daughter of Dreywin; the wolf's clan leader and the second oldest child of Lieinder; the village's healing woman and midwife. Sabine had many brothers and sisters, but now in the spring, they have all left home to go through the annual coming of age ceremony. In the ceremony, it was required that the pup run into an enemy clan's territory and steal the cloth of the most beautiful man or woman there. Bringing the cloth back and by hanging the cloth above their bed at night would ensure that they receive lifelong good luck for their bravery at the ceremony. But Sabine would never take the ceremony, for she was the famed seventh daughter of seven children past; a legacy that was said that when the child was born he or she would lead all of the clans together and unite them under one single flag. The flag would be decorated with the symbols of gold, silver, storm, earth, fire, wind and water. Each one of the elements represents a clan that will master the element and become the shonin; or regional leaders by challenge only.
Sabine walked carefully down the small dirt trail between a long line of spring green trees and each side was lined with wild flowers from Plumeria to Jasmine grew side by side with beautiful Moon flowers. Moon flowers were flowers that were colored lilac white and silver, like a picture that decided to jump off an Pig artist's canvas and into the real world. "Sabine….Sabine….Are you there?" A feminine voice that resounded with echoes deep within her conscious. As if struck with a love struck fancy, Sabine smiled giddily to herself. The voice was no one other than her beloved Aria, a beautiful black crescent wolf that wore the mark of Archigan with sheer pride. The mark was only awarded to wolves who have passed the Trials of The Fayth. Every year, wolves who are hand picked from the pack by the Alpha will go through a series of trials to determined their faith to the pack. Aria passed at such a young age that now it has been three years since she did. Now, this spring, she hid at the spring's first full moon at the gates of a Crow's village and played as a wounded Falcon that was hit by a human's arrow. It worked. But, little did she know that all life would end as she knew it...