Chapter Thirteen, Shadow Brothers
Up until now, Ooro had simply watched my training from afar. Kooraw would alert me whenever he was in the area, which was often, and would mentally "say", "The Wild One is Watching…"
"Wild One" indeed! For though his brethren are all the most unique people I've ever met, both in mentality and dress, such wild colors and paints!, Ooro was by far the strangest of the lot.
His chosen color of war paint matched his deep, forest green eyes. This day, a green hand-print covered his face. It looked as if someone had grabbed his face with their left hand and left a green mark! His wild long brown hair was braided into small braids that all ended in one larger braid, going down to the middle of his back. His mad capped, mismatched hide clothes, sewn from a variety of skins into odd shapes and patches, weaved their way across his lean form. His boots were of soft doeskin, and I noticed that whenever and wherever he walked, he never made a sound.
Oddly, it wasn't until this day that I noticed that he too had a tattoo upon his arm. Probably because this was the first day he wasn't dressed in his long sleeved jerkin, but instead a hide vest.
It was a pure black tattoo of a snake! And it wound it's way from his right wrist around his arm, ending at the shoulder. It was completely different than my tattoo, of course, which is small and full-color, the golden serpent scales glittering in the sun, but I got the feeling that he and I made a sort of strange pair standing there.
For I had grown over the last few years during my training, both in height and weight, but also in my outlook on life. I had gone completely from "Man-child to Two-leg", as Kooraw put it. I had now seen seventeen winters, and could sense that I was nearing the completion of my training with these wild elves of the forest, though no one had said as much yet.
"Dae'fara, today you will begin your training with me. It will last for three winters, and should you live through it, you and I will be "Dae'tororim", Shadow Brothers." Ooro said, looking in my eyes for a reaction. I feel I masked my surprise well, and covered it with a contemplative arched eyebrow, one I had seen him use on the council before. This solicited a smile from him, a sort of half-grin on the right side of his mouth.
"But first, I must teach you to dance rather than to merely walk." he stated, matter of fact. At this, I smiled, and waited in tense anticipation for the lesson. Then, as if I wasn't even there to watch, Ooro vanished into thin air!
