The white one.
Darkness cannot exist without light. "When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow."
― Ursula K. Le Guin
Chapter 1.
A light existed in the enchanted forest like no other. It was a light that could not be hidden or put out. It was the very existence of The White One. The White One excised because The Dark One did. The one could not exist without the other.
When the darkness fell onto Rumplestiltskin, light shuddered. And as all things fall into patterns and equal and opposite ways, Light had to find the strongest purest heart to balance out.
Light found a seventeen-year-old girl. She had the purest loving incorruptible heart that existed in the realm. Her name was Ezaria. With the power, came the knowledge. She knew what she was and what she could do. She understood the sacrifice and selflessness that came with it. She saw the life she could have had and hid it away.
She lived off of the land. Ezaria's very presence in the forest made things bloom, made the soil richer and everything more fruitful.
She was helping a sprout grow out of a patch of hard ground when she heard the pain from across the forest. She heard the child cry out for his mother. She heard his desperation.
She was there even before she thought about it. It was a small house in the middle of the forest. The boy was clutching his dead mother like his life depended on it. She heard the running footsteps of the thieves who had been here mere minutes ago. She sent wolves after them. As a warning. Not to harm.
Ezaria walked over to the child and gently pulled him away from his mother. She held him tight and told him everything would be okay. She knew the house was empty of life. She turned around and walked away with him in her arms.
She carried him to a spring and cleaned the blood off him. He remained quiet as she cleaned him, merely staring at her. She jumped when she looked up at him and saw his eyes trained on her.
"What's your name, little one?" She asked.
"Humbert." He mumbled. "What's yours?"
"I'm Ezaria" she answered. She wondered what her intensions where. What her plan was with this orphan. When she was answered by the bark of a wolf.
The white wolf stood on the rock and stared at them. She called him closer and hugged him close. Humpert watched close as she held her forehead to that of the wolf and sat in silence for several minutes.
"Humbert. This is your family now. They will take care of you." She said. Humbert frowned.
"You're leaving me?" He asked, panic in his voice.
"They will love you and take care of you. They will never harm you. And I will watch out for you through them. Don't be afraid."
From that day, little Humbert became the Huntsman.