"I don't think that the warriors in my tribe can throw spears at things over a mile away," said Boh as they walked to retrieve Suel's new spear. Or rather, as Suel walked to retrieve it, as Boh was busy riding on xhir shoulders.
"Do not try hard enough," said Suel as xhe loped onward towards the boulder xhir spear had split open.
"They also throw it overhand," she added when they arrived at the spear.
Suel reached out to pluck xhir spear from the split remains of the boulder. It was stuck in a little more than xhe'd realized and xhe had to give the spear a good yank before it came free. The boulder crumbled to dust after it came out.
"I don't think rocks are supposed to do that when you pull thing out of them," said Boh.
"Throw," said Suel. Xhe plucked Boh off of xhir shoulders and placed xhir spear in her arms. She staggered under the weight and bearing of it before she was able to get a grip on it and heft it up onto her shoulder. Even then she tried to keep as far from the spear as she could, as the fear that made the spear had fermented and was now a vibrant, hateful thing that snarled at any attempt Boh made to control it.
"Cease," said Suel to the spear and the spear's violent shuddering stopped, although there was still a dark hum about it.
"Throw," said Suel to Boh again, gesturing out at a large, nearby tree.
Boh took a deep breath, gripped the spear by the middle of the shift, and hurled it. It began to flop down to the ground but at the last minute the spear gave out a loud, angry howl. It then changed directions, racing along the ground until it slammed into the tree.
The tree burst into thousands of little splitters.
Boh looked on in silence, eyes wide and her face pale. "Most of the spears that I've seen don't seem to have minds of their own. The hunters just throw them and then fetch them up afterward. They don't throw them and watch them change direction and make things explode."
Suel looked at the tree, then back to Boh; then xhe shrugged. "Hits targets," said Suel as xhe ambled over to the remains of the tree to fetch the spear once again.
Boh opened xher mouth, then closed it again and gave xhir a curt nod. "It does do that," she said.
Suel picked up the spear and plucked a few pieces of wood off of it. Xhe tossed the spear into the air and caught it a couple times before turning to go back to Boh.
"Hungry?" xhe asked. Boh gave xhir a little nod. Suel gripped the spear in the same way that xhe'd seen Boh do it and then hurled it far up into the air.
The spear went up a long way, much further than when Boh had done it, although xhir technique was only just better than hers. It lazed about through the air as it looked for something to attack. It spun a little as it searched until it twisted and changed direction, hammering downwards towards whatever target it had spied.
There was a rush of air that rocked Boh back onto the ground when it hit what it was aiming at. Suel plucked her up and set her atop xhir shoulders and began to stride towards the impact crater.
"Spears don't do that, either," said Boh after she was settled in on xhir shoulders.
"What, then?' asked Suel as xhe strode forward. A pale white pillar of smoke began to steam up from where xhe'd thought the spear hit down.
"What what?" replied Boh in a sing song voice, leaning forward onto Suel's head to get a better view of the smoke ahead of them.
"What do they do?" asked Suel, sounding out each word in xhir mind before xhe said it aloud.
"What do what do?" asked Boh in the same sing song voice as she used before.
"Spears. What do they do?" asked Suel again, a slight growl entering into xhir voice as xhe asked.
"Spears get food and they defend us," said Boh. She did not use the sing song voice this time.
Suel frowned. "From what?" xhe asked as xhe stopped to look down into the pit that had formed when the spear hit the beast it had targeted. The pit had a gradual slope that went down about five feet and was covered with a thin layer of ceramics from where the clay and loam of the soil had been turned by the fire. At the bottom of the pit was the beast the spear had slain, an elk. Its meat had been blackened and burned where the spear hit it. The meat beyond that ring of burning was cooked to varying degrees of brownness. The fur was flaking off as the steam rose from its body.
Suel lifted Boh from xhir shoulders and set her on the ground beside xhir and then xhe knelt down in front of the dead elk and began to strip it of its meat. Xhe made the mistake of making the attempt to do this with human fingers, having forgotten that this form didn't have the sharp claws most of xhir other bodies did. Xhe focused and reshaped xhir hand into something more suited for rending and tearing and then stripped off a few pieces of reasonably well done meat for Boh and xhirself.
Xhe didn't think that xhe needed the meat, but every so often it was good to give xhir body sustenance that would add to its physical prowess as opposed to just relying on xhir well of emotional energy.
Boh, on the other hand, tore into the meat, ripping off large chunks with her teeth and not chewing it for the most part. Suel was only halfway through xhir own piece when Boh asked for another piece. Suel stared at her in astonishment.
"I guess I was a little hungrier than I thought I was, since I just don't feel very full yet," said Boh as she eyed the elk meat.
Suel reached to tear off another, larger piece of meat and then stopped. "Answer first," xhe said to her, sitting back as xhe did so.
Boh stared at xhir with wide eyes before recognition crossed her face. "Oh! Yes. Spears defend us from raiders, witches and demons like you," she said with a bright smile.
"Raiders, witches and demons," said Suel, xhir voice flat and xhir eyes narrowed.
Boh nodded enthusiastically. "Uh huh! Well, not all witches, I guess, since they didn't drive away my mother and me," said Boh, adding it almost as an afterthought.
"What are witches?" asked Suel. Xhe took a large bite of xhir elk meat and took time to enjoy it while xhe waited for Boh to respond.
Boh didn't say anything right away. She slowed her eating, chewing on her meat in little bites instead of ripping off the big chunks that she'd been doing. Sometimes she would wipe off the grease from her chin, often succeeding in just spreading it out over her face.
Xhe'd begun to reach for xhir second piece of meat when Boh responded; squirreling her eyes shut and speaking very slow as she did so. "Witches are servants of demons. They curse our clan, our hunts, our land and all the things we love. They are raised up by demons and monsters and sent to plague the world while in their service."
"Really," said Suel, xhir expression unchanging.
Boh wilted. "Well, that's what the shaman says, at least," she said, slumping down as she began to munch on her meat again. "Mummy said that if that was all true we wouldn't be outsiders."
"Smart," said Suel before xhe ripped off a chunk of meat and slurped it down. Xhe choked for only a moment before xhe shifted xhir throat so that xhir breathing and eating pipes wouldn't interfere with each other again.
Boh stared down at the meat in her hand, not picking at it at all. "I wish mummy was still here," she said, more to herself than to Suel.
"Is here," said Suel as xhe took another chunk out of xhir elk meat.
"Do you mean this?" said Boh as she fingered the little ball of light that contained her mother's memories. "I mean really here," she said, dropping it back down against her neck and going back to her meat.
Suel frowned. "Still here," said Suel as xhe reached out to tap her mother's memory sphere.
"No, she's not. She's not here and it's all your fault!" said Boh, throwing the meat at Suel and storming out of the little pit they were in.
Suel watched her leave and didn't go after her. Xhe assumed that she'd figure out that her mother was still with her soon enough and then she would return. Xhe turned xhir eyes back to xhir meat and continued to eat. When the chunk of meat xhe'd been working on was done, xhe tore off another piece and began to eat it as well.
It wasn't until xhir forth piece of meat that xhe began to become concerned. Suel was sure that Boh wasn't in any danger, but a little voice inside xhir said that this wasn't acceptable behavior, so xhe sighed and pulled xhirself to xhir feet and left the pit to retrieve Boh.
It wasn't hard to find her once xhe'd set xhirself to the task. She'd left a trail behind her, covered with little wet specks of sadness and anger. Those little specks, in turn, led to the base of the tree that Boh had thrown her spear at before.
Boh sat on the ground, leaning up against the little stump that was all that remained of it. She'd pulled her knees up to her chin and clutched her arms around her legs to keep them close. She sniffled as she sat and stared out into the distance. Suel looked up and tried to spy what it was she was looking at, but soon found that the only thing she was looking at was the distant horizon.
"Boh," xhe said as xhe approached her.
She didn't respond, continuing to just look out into the distance.
"Boh," xhe called again, a little louder this time.
"Go away!" she said to xhir, stifling a loud snirk with her hand as she sniffled again.
"Why?" asked Suel, settling into a crouch behind the tree.
"Because you're a big ol' monster and don't know anything at all," said Boh.
Suel sighed and stretched out xhir arm until it was next to Boh. "Sphere," xhe said, hand flat and palm open.
Boh looked at xhir hand like she'd never seen it before. "What?" she asked.
"Demonstration needed. Sphere," xhe said to her, opening and closing xhir fingers a few times to emphasis xhir request.
Boh bit her lip and took off the necklace with her mother's memories in it and then dropped it into Suel's outstretched hand, arm quivering all the while.
Suel pulled xhir hand back and set to work the moment xhe felt the memories hit it. Suel reshaped one of xhir fingers into a dagger and slit xhir wrist open to let xhir gathered fear essence flow out once again. Xhe then shifted the wound shut and began to prune out the fear from the raw emotional essence. Xhe didn't cast the fear aside, but rather ate it. It wasn't much, but it did something to replenish what xhe'd just given up.
Once the emotional essence was separated out, xhe took the memory sphere and began to weave the essence into it. The sphere began to grow and change shape as soon as the essence touched it. It expanded and transformed, becoming more and more humanoid with each drop of essence Suel wove into it.
Boh, meanwhile, had turned around on the stump and watched in silence with bright, wide eyes as the sphere took on a more intimate form.
The body had a bit of trouble choosing a firm shape the more human it became. It would warp from an emancipated, tiny thing to full and rich body with each once of essence Suel wove into it, so xhe wove a few of xhir own memories to shore it up. Nothing large or world shattering, just xhir memories of what she looked like as Boh sat over her and grieved so that the body would have a base from which to grow.
It was enough, and the moment they found their place in its new structure the various conflicting shapes coalesced into one shape. It wasn't the one from xhir memory, but rather it seemed to be a compilation of all the various things she had ever been, young, old, healthy, sick, as well the things she might have been.
It was a true shape, a real shape, a shifter's shape. But at the same time, it was very, fundamentally, human.
Suel began to turn back to Boh to show her that this was indeed her mother before withdrawing what power xhe'd poured in, but then something occurred to xhe. This form contained its own shape and a core of memories, the most basic start of any shifter. The memories needed a guiding hand to give them stability and more power to drive them, but that was all.
Suel wondered if it was possible to turn these memories into a new shifter? Boh had already shown xhir that men could shift, if shown the way. Did that mean that the memories of a man spun out into the body of a shifter would also become a shifter? It would have a different perspective than most, but how different would it be? To Suel's knowledge, it had never been done. Then again, there had never been reason to do it before.
Boh was reaching out to touch the wisp of her mother's memories when Suel decided and snatched her back away.
"What are you doing?" cried Boh, rushing up to xhir to wrench free her mother.
Suel turned from her. "Birthing," xhe said as xhe on the process at hand.
Suel laid her mother on the ground in front of xhir and ripped open a wound again. Xhe spun out the emotional essence of power, as xhe had done before, but now xhe also spun out xhir blood, bones and physical nature as well. Xhe didn't have much of it, but it was there and it hurt to remove it, but it was a needed pain. New shifters needed physical bodies more than grown shifters, for they had little to work with beyond themselves.
Xhe was glad that the body was a full grown one, even if was a man's body. This meant that although xhe didn't know how it was structured, it knew, so the blood and bones flowed into their proper spots along with the essence that provided the backbone of any shifter's nature. Soon enough the body began to look less wispy and was almost as solid as xhir.
The only thing missing was the outer flesh that all men had, and that was an easy enough fix. Suel just used xhir sharpened fingers to rip out chunks of skin and plastered them on her, smoothing them out along the lines the body had taken. Once incorporated into the body, the skin reformed how it liked until it was a perfect match from before.
A final thought occurred to Suel and so xhe tore off a chunk of xhir new beard and attached it to the body's head. It shimmered and the near black hair became less bristled and boar like and became auburn in color, and wavy and bouncy in texture.
Suel stepped back, near exhaustion from xhir efforts, and watched the body make its own finishing touches now that xhe'd pour enough power and drive into it to allow it to protect itself.
It became a small thing, light and lithe compared to other man females xhe'd seen. Its face was pointed and its eyes narrow. Its skin was, of course, smooth and unblemished and its body was very well proportioned for a man female.
As xhe watched the body make the final, finishing touches of what it wanted to be, xhe saw the final change come over it as memories and body merged into one being. In that moment xhe saw xhir name painted across xhir body.
Iamae. It was a name unlike any xhe had ever heard. But xhe was a new thing, a different thing, a beautiful thing in some ways, so the name fit. As it should.
"Still here," said Suel, panting from the effort of what xhe'd done.
Iamae open xhir eyes and gasped as xhe took in xhir first breath of air. Xhe looked around wild eyed as xhe took in xhir surroundings until xhir eyes found Boh, who had been sitting away from xhir this entire time, hesitant to approach, fear and longing and hope pouring out of her.
"Dear one," said Iamae as xhe reached for xhir daughter and all the fear vanished from Boh.
"Mummy!" cried Boh as she leapt over the stump into her mother's waiting arms and nuzzled into them, crying all the while.
Suel grinned at her happiness and then leaned back and watched the world fade into darkness.