I know, this is taking awhile, but so is life. On to it.

Life Happens chapter four: New Discoveries

Five more years had come and gone with many visits from Grey Wolf and Rippling Water. Though she had practiced some on her own, Earth was grateful to Water for training her. Ravenhold had grown strong just like her, and the two had gotten quite close. She had been successful in her riding and impressed Grey Wolf once when she mountedr the not so small stallion at a lite trot. Wolf had commented about her to Fawn and had joked that she could talk to the animal.

It wasn't until one day, while she and Water were training, that she came upon a small fox kit. The kit's paw had been mangled by what Water had called a white man's trap. It had somehow managed to get the foot out without chewing it off. Water had wanted to give the creature to Fawn to take care of while they finished training, but she insisted that, being the one to find it, she would be the one to take care of it.

That said, she gathered some healing herbs and headed to her favorite spot a few feet from the meadow. When she reached the small clearing near the waterfall, she laid down the herbs, settling herself. With the fox laying in her lap, she laid her hand over the injured foot. Feeling a kind of tickle, she raised her hand and noticed the wound healing. When it had completely closed, the kit jumped off her lap and ran away like nothing had happened.

Confused by this, she crawled to a nearby tree sapling that had a mold she had been taught was bad for trees. Hovering her hand over it, the mold vanished and the little sapling grew to a tree as tall as her. "Wow!" She eyed the once little tree. Hoping she hadn't been fooled, she ran to another sapling, held her hand out, and it grew, too. "This is awesome! The Great Spirit has blessed me greatly." She smiled, looking around. "I wonder what else I can do." She thought just as a large hawk swooped and hit her, cutting a place on her check.

"Ouch!" she screamed, "Watch where you're flying, bird!"

"Sorry, little human child. Stay out of the way."

"Wait. Did you just understand me? Did I just understand you?"

"That's the way it seems, human child." About that time a porcupine padded through. "A human who can understand us. Finally!" Then it left.

"I can understand and talk to animals!" She was screaming for joy when she remembered the cut. It didn't hurt. She felt to where it was, then ran to the creek, not believing what she felt. "It's gone. The cut's gone. How?" Then, experimentally, she drew the small hunting knife Wolf had given her and made a small slice on her arm. If it made a scar, she could explain it happened while hunting one day. But there was no scar. The place had healed up and disappeared. Not knowing how Water would take this, she decided to wait and put off telling her mother until Water had left. She returned with no question about the fox kit.

That night after Water left to return to the village, Earth pulled her mother aside. "Mom, we need to talk," she sounded so serious for someone so young.

"What about, dearling?" her mom asked sitting down beside her at the creek.

"Mom, today in the woods, when I took the fox kit, I discovered something."

"What, dear?"

"I was checking the wound when I felt a tingling in my hand." She held it up, "When I lifted my hand off, I watched the wound heal."

Her mom had an astonished look on her face, "What do you mean 'it healed'?" her mom, now confused, asked.

"It healed up. Then he ran away like nothing had happened. We both saw the foot. It had to have been broken, mom. But when I lifted my hand, it was gone."

"I don't understand."

"I didn't even. Then I went to a sapling and held my hand over it. It grew, mom it grew. I went to another and tried it again, and it grew too. Then a hawk flew down and cut my check and it spoke to me."

"They always speak..." Fawn was cut short.

"No, it spoke and I understood. Then I noticed the cut was gone." He mother looked and found no marks. "I was surprised, too, and so I took my knife and cut my arm. It healed too. Look," her mom looked to the indicated spot. "Watch," Earth went to a small sapling and held her hand above it. It started to grow. Her mom watched in amazement. The Earth ran back and withdrew her knife. She made a small incision on her arm. The little red line disappeared a few seconds later. "She is great like her father." Fawn thought to her self. "Mom, are you okay?"

"Yes, dearling. I think it's time I told you. You're old enough now."

"Tell me what, mom?"

"About your father," She paused only momentarily. "Your father was a great man. He was an outsider. I ran into him when I was seventeen, I was eighteen when you came around." Earth smiled at that. "I ran into him when I nearly fell a cliff. He caught me and pulled me back up. From that moment on, I was fallen for him. We spent much time together, he and I. We would me in the meadow almost every night. And though he was much older than me, he taught me many things. Opened my world to new things, new beliefs. He showed me the world outside though I never left the woods." She paused again, checking her daughter's expression. It was wanting, wanting to know more. She went on. "Your father told me very little about his life, except that it was dangerous. That I shouldn't get caught up in it. What he did tell was that he had special...abilities."

"What special abilities?" Earth asked, speaking for the first time since her mom had begun.

"He has unbreakable bones, animal-like senses, and he could heal himself if her got hurt." She laughed, "He also has these three claws that come out of the backs of his hands." They both laughed. "When everyone, including myself, found out I was pregnant, I was exiled because I knew the father was an outsider."

"Is that why we don't lice with Wolf and Water?"

"Yes, dear. That's why. Before I rode off, I told my mom and the tribe that I was going to raise you and you were going to be great like your father."

"And I am, aren't?"

"Yes, dear. You are. Let's keep this little secret, okay? No one knows your father's name or about his powers."

"Do you, mom, know his name?" They had walked back to their lean-to and were settling in for bed.

"Yes, dearling, I do, but I made him a promise to never tell anyone his name. And I've never broken that promise. Now, good night, my deerling. Sleep tight." With that, both went to bed, both with much to think about.

The next morning, Fawn woke to a strange sight. Greywolf was bent over the fire cooking. Earth, she noticed, was not in the lean-to. She looked around.

"She's off riding Ravenhold. Come and have breakfast," he said from the fire. She did so, sitting down beside him.

"Good morning. We didn't expect you today."

"I thought I'd surprise you." He said handing her the breakfast he had just made. "What's wrong?" he asked when he noticed her not smiling.

"Last night I told he about her father. I felt she was old enough and mature enough to know." She looked up at him.

"How did she take it?"

"Just fine. Even about being exiled. Grey Wolf, there's something different about her. Something I don't think the tribe would ever except even if we made it back to them."

End chapter four. Five coming.