A huge white wolf stalked through the forests, her steps quiet. The only sounds she could hear were the birds and her own breathing. She moved suddenly, chasing a halla as it sprinted for its life. Eventually, she had it exactly where she wanted it. Her pack charging in, and finishing it off. She let the wolves take what they wanted first, as they did most of the work. When they were done, they nudged the best part of the halla her way.
"Thank you, my friends.", Mya'fen said gratefully. She started a shifted back to human form, made a fire, grabbed the nearest stick, and roasted her portion.
"I can't believe it's been a year." she mournfully stated. One year since her whole world was turned upside down. Since she lost her clan and her parents. Suddenly, the temperature dropped drastically and little snowflakes started falling from the sky. The group of wolves whined at the sudden loss of heat.
"Ir ableas." she whispered apologetically. In the time she's been with her pack, she discovered her gift of magic. The shape shifting in particular was a huge surprise.
.
The day Mya discovered she had magic had not been a pleasant one. She had decided to wait for the humans to leave and with the help of her pack, traced her way back to the camp she had once called home. When she arrived, she almost passed out from the smell of her dead clan. She couldn't hold back the tears of grief for the child she had been, and the lives that were lost. She steeled herself for the next task. She gathered necessary supplies for a proper Dalish funeral and set to work burying her dead family. Mya'fen avoided her own aravel until she felt herself ready. She was not at all ready. The bodies that once comforted her when she was sick, punished her when she was out of line, and held her when she needed to be held, were in horrible condition. Her mother's once shining red hair was missing from her scalp, and her father's face was barely recognizable. She ran outside the aravel and vomited until she had nothing left in her stomach.
The wolves she had adopted as her own whined and nuzzled her until the sobs stopped coming. "They need a proper funeral. They deserve that much." She told them. It took her most of the day to dig the amount of graves necessary for the Dalish ceremony that she knew. As she said the words that would help her kin to find peace in the beyond, it started raining. Anger that the rain would ruin all of her hard work she screamed and slammed her palms on the ground. Suddenly, a crack of lightning hit the spot her palms met, startling little Mya. She looked at her hands in wonder and anger. Why couldn't she have had this power weeks ago when she needed it?! She screamed in anguish and grief before slamming her hands on the ground again. The same result. Revas, the wolf who had first approached her, nuzzled her white muzzle across Mya's hands in an attempt to comfort her. Hanin whined and growled softly, sensing her discomfort. Enalsalin and Atisha, the two wolves who chased her halla, barked in protest of her sadness. "Sometimes, I wish I could be like you, so I wouldn't have to be me." She had said. Looking back on it, years later, she laughed at the irony of what happened after that. She grabbed whatever supplies that were salvageable, and they headed out on their journey to find clan Levellan.
After the funeral, the pack moved from cave to cave until they had come across a cave that featured a unpolluted river, a forest filled with wildlife, and was human-free. This was where they had been for the past three months. The first time Fenel laid eyes on the cave filled with sparkling dawnstone, she was amazed at the beauty. This was the cave where she found out she could change her shape. She watched one day, as a bird flitted from branch to branch and found a sudden desire to do the same. She concentrated on the bird's shape and how she, herself would appear. She felt what she would later find out as the magical energy of shifting overtake her, and she changed!
She felt the strength of the birds' wings and the freedom of flying. I wonder if I could change into a wolf? She thought. She pictured a white wolf in her head as she shifted once more. Her size, however, was more the size of a hart than a wolf. She lifted a paw, testing. In the distance, she heard a familiar joyful howl. She lifted her head and howled in return.
Soon, Revas, Hanin, Enalsalin, and Atisha came home with the spoils of the hunt. They were not expecting their wayward elf to be replaced by the oversized white wolf that stood in her place. Revas was the first to approach her, having been the first one before, and sniffed. It was that same scent of elfroot and berries that had clung to their ward when they first met. It's her. Revas communicated to the others. Mya was surprised that she could understand the wolf. Are you sure? How is that possible? Atisha demanded. Atisha was always the most cautious of the group. It is me! I'm so happy I can finally understand what you're saying! Mya yipped in joy. Enalsalin sniffed her for confirmation. He barked back an affirmative to his younger brother, Hanin, who joined the group.
I have heard of one who knows how to change her shape, although she makes her home far away from here. Hanin said, tongue lolling out of his mouth. I'm pretty certain that I have the trick to this memorized. However, I am no fool and will only take the form of the wolf or others like it to prevent myself from being possessed, as untrained mages often are. They tilted their heads at that. We need to find this clan Levellan soon, Atisha said thoughtfully.
It had been two months since little Myafen discovered that her shape-shifting abilities. Since then, she has used the time to acclimate to the life of the wolf. In between the lessons that her family gave her, they discovered a human town with enough distance between the shem and the wolves that Myafen was no longer uneasy. Despite what the hunters had done to her clan and her family, she held no resentment towards other humans. She had seen their kindness first hand when a lonely woman offered her the only piece of bread that she had. And again when an old man knelt down to pet her ears when she was transformed as a mabari. She kept her ears covered, however, when she went to the markets in her elf form.
"I hear there's a clan of elves not far from here," One man muttered to another.
"Clan Levellan!" she exhaled excitedly. Mya quickly rushed out of the town to find her wolf family. "I found them!" she shouted. They wolves barked happily, glad she finally found her clan. "There were some shemlen that were talking about a clan outside of town, I'm sure all we have to do is find some hint of their presence." That was going to be difficult. Dalish elves tried not to leave any evidence of their homes, lest the fate clan Fenora befall them.
The next day, after hours of tracking, Myafen found the clan her mother pointed her to. Only to find the clan was not at all what she expected.
