A Shadow Tribe Story
Part One
by: Yuuki Miyaka
"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am." -GooGoo Dolls
"Hah! Look, Shadowwalker. See that?" Ebony's triumphant words made the chief hunter grimace. He slowly pulled out a pouch of dreamberries and handed them over to the storyteller. Ebony simply took them and continued. "I *told* you that Winterleaf could finally catch fish with a spear." Ebony's proud grin was as wide as the sky overhead, and just as bright. Shadowwalker just smiled and shook his head.
"But can she do anything else with it, Ebony?" The hunter spoke for a reason. Game in the area had been scarce, and the tribe needed every hunter they could possibly get. It was fortunate that so many of them already were hunters and travellers. The first was obvious, and the second had Ebony worried. If they weren't able to catch enough soon, they would have to pack up and find a way to follow their game.
"She's still a cub, Shadowwalker, and she's still learning. But now we know that she can hit a quick target." Shadowwalker nodded again, this time smiling.
"Yes, I know. She'll come with me on my next hunt. Just be sure she knows to be quiet. Fish can't hear us. Branchhorns can." Ebony nodded again, and moved away, planning to go off and celebrate her victory.
Windrunner stepped out of his den, smiling softly. He and Ebony had stayed up late talking again, something which was happening with increasing frequency. They weren't lovemates, but it more or less seemed that they were planning to become so. Sometimes the talks became so personal, Windrunner wondered what was going through that dark head of hers. As he surveyed the area, he noticed three peculiar things. First and foremost was Winterleaf, who was still proudly displaying her three fish. He could tell by the holes in them that she had not used her boot, so obviously, she must have finally succeeded in what Ebony asked of her. He shook his head, unable to understand the request.
And then there was Shadowwalker, who was actually grinning. Windrunner had yet to see the chief hunter grin. He had seen him smile before, but the smile had never reached his eyes fully, whereas now, Shadowwalker seemed completely free of pain. The older elf often wondered what had hurt Shadowwalker so badly that the hunter could not be happy without sadness. Perhaps one day he would know.
The final surprise for Windrunner was Ebony. She was moving toward her den, and it was obvious that the path was hard for her, because she stumbled every few steps. To Windrunner, Ebony had always seemed supremely graceful, and now, it was like watching a puppet. He decided he needed to help her. And he also wanted to make sure that she was not ill.
Ebony looked up blearily, gazing into the face of a very fuzzy Windrunner. "Whad're you doin' here?" she asked. Or at least, she thought she did. He just grimaced and picked her up. That gave her insides as much movement as they would allow, and she struggled away, running into the bushes.
A couple of days later, Ebony sighed as she thought about what had happened. She had been avoiding Windrunner ever since the night she had eaten too many dreamberries. She was too embarrassed to face him, and to see what he thought of her. And it occurred to her that if she was too nervous to face him, then something must be happening to her. She couldn't be falling in love with him, could she? Was it really that possible? She shook her head again, trying to clear it, and only succeeded in making her headache worse.
"I *hate* this," she said aloud, then gasped as a familiar voice quietly asked what it was she hated. Ebony slowly turned, her face bright red as she realized that she was, indeed, talking with Windrunner. She lowered her eyes, but looked back to see his reaction, and was pleased to note that he seemed happy.
"I hate not knowing things."
Windrunner smiled at the simple statement. But instead of speaking, he simply nodded. He stared out at the trees, enjoying being around her. It had been two days since they had been in each other's company, and he had missed their daily chats. In only a few weeks, it had become a very big part of his life, and he had missed it these last two days. That amazed him. He had not expected to care for her so much so quickly.
"I guess it's because I didn't know anything for so long. It always scared me, not knowing whether I was going to live or die, whether I was going to find my tribe or be alone for the rest of my life. I've never liked not knowing what the future is going to hold."
As Windrunner opened his mouth to speak, a noise interrupted him. He turned to look, only to feel a sharp pain in his shoulder. And he gazed into the angry eyes of a human just past his manhood rites. For Windrunner, time seemed to slow. He heard a cry, and as he turned, Ebony shot past him, knife out and face contorted with hate.
He stared as he saw Ebony's knife bite into the human's skin. He thought that would be the end of it, but he had misjudged the huntress. Or rather, he had misjudged the years of hate she had stored up. She kept fighting the human, even as he tried to run away. And the only time that Windrunner really looked inside her eyes, he couldn't find anything there but hatred. He backed away from that hatred, staring in shock.
Ebony's knife kept cutting into the human's skin, until the body was no longer recognizable. And even then, Windrunner could find nothing of the dark huntress in her eyes. Instead, he saw a stranger, and one who was dead on the inside. Ebony seemed to notice him about then. But there was still no recognition in her eyes. She had no clue who he was, and didn't seem to want to know. But as he surveyed the surrounding area, as he saw the bits of flesh and blood that had once made up the murdered human, he realized that he didn't know this elf at all.
Ebony came to herself about then, feral but panicked. She ran off, heading into the woods in fear and terror. And Windrunner just couldn't bring himself to go after her.