An Understanding
Prologue
Ever since he could remember, Kinara had hated humans. They had murdered his entire family and caused him to live on his own. Now, he had been living alone for the past five years fending for himself. He got along fine, alright, but there were times when the hunters came that he wished he could have his parents back.
The day had dawned bright and clear. Kinara woke up famished, so he headed down to the Salmon Run to get something to eat. He had gotten there early, so no other bears were around. That was good. He hated the sympathetic stares he got from the other bears. He had caught a couple salmon and was heading back to his cave for some more sleep when a noise, the sound of a tree twig breaking, alerted him to a presence. Looking behind him, he saw a shadow creeping through the trees. It was then that he bolted, and the shadow behind him broke into a run.
The chase was on. Kinara ran as hard as he could, but the hunter was always right there behind him. Kinara would hide in a hollow log, but, just when he thought it was clear, the hunter would emerge seemingly from thin air and start pursuing him again.
The sky was starting to darken when Kinara reached the top of the mountain where the lights touch the earth, and he knew there was no avoiding the hunter now. Only one of them would ever come down from the mountainside alive. It was then that he heard the hunter reach the top and saw him start to circle menacingly around Kinara, spear in hand. Suddenly, the hunter leaped up into the air towards Kinara, and Kinara did the only logical thing—he swiped the air in front of him with his paw. The hunter was knocked out of the air, and with a grunt he landed on his side, his spear clattering out of his hand and down the side of the mountain. Now unable to reach his weapon, the hunter finally started to feel afraid.
Of course, this didn't register with Kinara. All he knew was that he was going to either kill or be killed by this monstrous hunter, and he had to make sure he didn't die. Now defenseless, the hunter started to crawl away as Kinara advanced on him, and it was with rising terror that he realized that he was beaten. The hunter could only toss up his hands in defeat as Kinara pushed him off the side of the mountain, sending him to his death in the rocks below.
Kinara let out a breath of relief. He wasn't dead. He was safe. Just when he was about to head back down the mountain, a great light filled the sky. Looking up, he saw it was the lights of the Great Spirit that touched the earth every night. However, something was wrong. He was being lifted up into the air, and he heard a whispering all around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the image of the beast he hated most, that of the hunter, blazing in the night sky. He passed out before he could see what else would happen though.
When he came to, the first thing he noticed was that the colors around him seemed more vibrant. He rubbed his eyes, hoping to get some of the tiredness out of his eyes. Something felt wrong with his paw. Not his paw…his hand. A human hand. Kinara had been transformed into the most terrible of beasts, and he did not know how to reverse it.
