Faleen

San had run, no, scampered, back to the forest. Its ominous boughs seemed safer to her than out there in the open with… what had happened? Ashitaka had been saying something to her, but the words seemed all wrong. They sounded like some sort of gibberish she had known long ago, but had forgotten along with the faces of her human parents. Was this because of the changes in the forest? She looked around when she had passed into the shadows of the trees. The strange new flowers, the foreign creatures… everything had changed, including herself.
Her heart was still racing; Ashitaka had been the last person she felt she trusted and he had scared her. "Wolves aren't scared," she reprimanded herself before realizing that she was a wolf now. Her skin was still human and she didn't have paws or anything, but something had changed. Her mentality had shifted. She knew that and had known that and now there was no going back. San was panting now with surprise and overwhelming confusion. She backed up against a tree and tried to get a grip on herself. The finality of her decision had struck her, already her choice was having repercussions, and she was almost sorry for what she was. San's head was overflowing with swirling thoughts- all of her confusion twisting inside her mind and leaving no room for any sense or logic. She suddenly sprang up and howled so fiercely that the tree above her quaked in its branches and shook with fear. Having drowned out her thoughts for a mere second, San took advantage of her freedom and leaped away, trying to leave her thoughts behind - back with Ashitaka kneeling in the grass.
San ran and ran through the forest, slipping past the sight of beast and blurring into shadow to hide from the outside world that haunted her. Over bush, loom, and flower, through one river, two rivers, three, four, she lost count and didn't care. The wolf smelled the blood of lame rabbit but sped past, stopping for nothing, always running, always fleeing. San's mind raced with her, between two trees, over a stump, leaping and clearing a rock, through the tree, past the flowers and SMACK! 130 pounds of wolf rammed straight into a large and fearsome Rowan which San had passed a hundred times before, but not today. Her mind raced no more and San's body fell limp to the ground.
*
When San woke up she was staring into a pair of eyes. At least that's what she thought they were although they were bigger than most and an odd shade of golden green. The color reminded her of leaves in the morning sun and the eyes were deep and reflective and kind. Never the less, San growled and sprang up. Her head hurt worse than anything, but the wolf didn't let it get to her.
"Who are you?!" she snarled, "What am I doing here? What happened? What's going on?!" her confusion, surprise, and naivete were apparent, but the eyes pulled back and shone with silent laughter. The eyes belonged to a large beast that looked like… well, San didn't know what he looked like, she had never seen one before. He smelled strangely and San guessed that he was one of the new animals which had crept into the forest over the last few days.
"I'm Faleen, what are you?" His voice was as thick and strong as the rest of him. In fact, it was the rest of him that bewildered San. He stood upright and wore clothes like a human. They weren't clothes from around here, thought San, but still human-like. But he had the body of what looked like a fox or a wolf, with large muscular forearms, a snout, and an entire body covered in thick ruddy-looking fur. A mane, or maybe hair if he was human thought San, covered the back of his head and his neck and instead of paws Faleen had vicious looking claws. A humongous white tail flowed around the back of him, but the thing that surprised San the most were his eyes. She had never seen anything like them, or him before, and it caught her off guard.
"I'm… I'm San," she struggled, not sure if he had asked what species she was or just what her name was. "No," he said, "You're not San, you're very inconsiderate that's what you are. I basically saved your life out there and you don't even say thank you." Faleen put on a mock disappointment face but it looked so ridiculous that San laughed, immediately feeling badly and saying, "Thanks… you really saved my life? You must be pretty…uh.." she tried to think of something nice to say but wasn't very good at giving compliments, "… gentlemanly." She sounded so lame that they both laughed. "Where are you from? You must have come here during the…the changes. I've never seen anything like you before," San said and Faleen looked away and then he stood up and walked a little away. San noticed that they weren't in a cave like most of the animals lived in but a clearing in the forest. The branches of the trees bent over so low that the place seemed enclosed and private. "Neither have I… we felt the changes even where I was, you know. Up North. In the snow and ice and everything's changed," he turned and looked at her again as if trying to decide to tell her something, "I'm part bear, part fox, part human. Don't ask how it happened, I don't know." San tried to picture the mating between a bear, a fox, and a human, but we won't get into that. "But just call me Faleen. That's what I am. Just Faleen," he looked grim and looked out at the surrounding forest, "The ice began to melt five days ago and I had to come south. So did everyone else I guess. I figured there would be more humans down here I can sell to. I'm a merchant, but so far you're the first human I've met and you don't look like you'll be buying anything." San had listened in astonishment. Here was someone like her! Everything was changing, and although she knew that, San hadn't been able to see beyond the personal effects. She recoiled in shock at the last sentence, though.
"I'm not a human! I'm a wolf!" but even as she said it, San began to wonder again and she hated it. Feeling unsure. Faleen snapped around, "A wolf?" he sniffed the air, "You smell like a wolf, I guess." He cocked his head and looked at her from a different angle, "And you walked like a wolf. But you look like a human, to me. You talk like a human, think like a human, you know." San shook her head slowly, "No…" She sat for a while on the soft ground, with her knees pulled up to her chest and staring at nothing in particular. Faleen began talking again and his voice was calm and entrancing. It reminded San of the quiet that came on hot summer days and the sound of dry rivers and moving clouds. He talked about the ice and he told her how the snow looked when it fell in the mountains and how it felt to sit on a glacier and find nothing but white as far as you could see. He whispered sometimes about how he wished he knew what he was and San hung on every word. He told her about his parents and San was feeling risky. She felt like she had left something behind, become more fearless, more dangerous, more trusting maybe. So she replied, softly at first then getting more confident as if she was sure he wasn't going to betray her, with all she could remember about Morro. They confided to each other with the sounds of winter and summer and the smells of spring and the feeling of leaves fall. Finally the afternoon was gone and the clearing shone red with the setting of the sun. San raised her eyes from the ground and Faleen was there, sitting next to her and they leaned in close and kissed. Granted it was a very weird kiss seeing as he had a snout and she didn't, but they figured it out soon enough. The clearing flared golden red for a moment and then it was gone, devoured by the gray-purple shrouds of night. San pulled back, her eyes closed. "Ashitaka…" she breathed and her eyes opened. But it wasn't Ashitaka, it was Faleen and he looked rather confused.
"What?" he asked. San shook her head and ran her hands over her eyes. "Thank you for… for everything. But I have to go, I have to do something." She picked herself up and melted into the shadows without looking back.