Everything you recognize belongs to the brilliant SM on temporary loan per prior imaginary agreement
Will you see the cleansing rain
Will you dance in the pouring pain
Will you sing in the mourning rain
Will you laugh as I give you pain
Will you die in the calming rain
"No one seems to know what's wrong with me and I've never wanted to drag another person into that. The Spirits seem to have a different plan. They may even know what they're doing. Right now, this is the right choice for me."
Amy Song looked at her daughter and at the wolf-boy Paul Lahote, at their hands clasped tightly together, fingers woven as tightly as their destinies now were.
She had grown up with the histories of the tribes warning her of cold ones and monsters, telling her the Spirit Warriors would protect her and that the great spirits would forever be her guides.
She hadn't believed the stories, not really.
Not until her daughter was born.
When she'd held her newborn child in her arms, seen the ghost eyes that so frightened people, she had remembered her father telling her the history of her people.
She had remembered the stories of the great spirits and those who could walk among them, the spirit warriors, and those who had become the wolf warriors.
She had recalled the stories of the greatest of the spirit warriors, the guides and shamans of her people, marked with eyes like the spirits they spoke with, who would guide those spirits home to their bodies and their families.
She had named her child Amaya: Spirit Song.
When Amaya had first shown signs of losing her memory Amy had been so afraid that something terrible was wrong. She sought out every medical professional with an opinion to give. No one gave any satisfactory answer.
In desperation she had turned to home. Billy Black had met her and her husband and their little girl and interacted with her briefly. It didn't take him long.
"Amaya is touched by the Great Spirits. She is a great shaman, or will be when she is grown." "What are you talking about" even then Amaya's dad had not been interested in stories. "She is not seated entirely in this world. She walks between, as our ancestors did. She hears the call of the spirits and she goes to them when her guard is down and the veil is weakest. When she is grown she will learn to control it." Amy had been terrified and desperate to protect her child. "How do I protect her? How do we keep this from happening?" "You don't." "But she is untrained. She doesn't know how to come back. Every time she leaves this realm she leaves parts of herself behind. She can't control the voyage." "You have great faith, in the legends and in your history. Have faith in your daughter. She was chosen for a reason." "She's a child. She isn't ready for this." "She will be."
Amy sighed, looking at her strong-willed daughter now.
She wasn't the little girl that needed protecting any more. She never really had been.
"You imprinted on her two years ago?" Paul looked sheepish as he replied, "When you first got here, actually. I think you'd been here about a week when we went to pick Claire up at school before a bonfire. I knew then and there what she was to me but I fought it. They convinced her to show up that night and hear the stories. She asked me to stay away so I did."
Amy wasn't sure she believed that and the blush on Paul's face gave away the lie.
"You did? I was led to believe that an imprinted wolf was rather more securely bound to the subject of his imprint. If that's not true then I don't see why you need to be here." "I..." "He watched me from a distance." "He can speak for himself, Amaya."
The teenage girl didn't like being told what to do but she realized this battle needed to be fought between Paul and her mother. He had to win the right to stay for himself.
"I just wanted to make sure she was safe. She likes to hike along the cliffs and run on the beach. She's sort of clumsy and doesn't pay much attention to her surroundings. I followed her as a wolf, at a distance, like she said. Just in case she needed help. She made it clear that she didn't want me around her and I didn't force my company on her. I won't lie, I don't have the best reputation as a suitor. But that all stopped when I met Amaya. I work and I protect the reservation and I keep an eye on her. That's all. I'm whatever she wants me to be. No matter what anyone else says."
He looked almost sick as he spoke to Amy Song, not an overly-intimidating woman by herself, but absolutely ferocious when it came to protecting her daughter. Even against a 6'4" monstrosity like Paul.
But when he got to the end of his speech, Amaya's hand tightened around his and it gave him strength. His shoulder's and back straightened and he looked like he had found the ground he was to stand firm on. No matter what Amy said, he would do as his imprint wished. He would break any rule for her.
"Amaya, I am still your mother and I still want you to be responsible and considerate. I don't want you jumping into things and being reckless just because you think you know where this is going. You take your time and take things slow. Do you understand me?" "Yes mom. I'm not in any hurry. I don't want to make a mistake here. I don't want to regret anything and I don't want to miss out anything either. When I make my choices it will be because they're mine and for the right reasons, my reasons. Don't worry." "It's my job to worry about you Baby."
Amy hugged her daughter, who let go of a reluctant Paul to return the embrace.
Claire poked her head out of the kitchen, "They're finished now we can stop hiding!" "Claire!" "What? I got bored. Am, you need to sit down now. Emily made cookies. I know you like cookies."