The shaman girl had been living in the forest along time... it was her traveling companion every day from the break of dawn to the deepest ends of twilight as she took as little time as she could getting from village to village, and village to home. Her role as a teacher to those whom lived in this place, and in exchange for many nights where she could grow closer to the spirits through faithful persistance to help all she could, and through love to see her own fellow man blossom into knowdedge of what was around them through the spirits of the things around them, and not by her hand in manipulation either: They did these things in honest desire to know what she knew, to understand what she understood.
She helped all she could, and was not alone in it of course... this was a big, and dangerous country she cared for. Bandits, monsters made long ago to ravage and destroy, yet have been bred into the circles of lesser animals to become something horrifyingly commonplace, and the natural hazards, all of it was definately worth the harrows... for in growing closer to the spirits that were around everything for growing closer to her fellow man, that was the real reward.
Just the same... the spirits are merely nurturing to strengthen us... The spirits have desires. Here, she realized, is where it got creepy, all this talk of duty to your homeland, to your people to gain some kind of enlightenment... after all, it was rather outlandish, especially when one considers the kinds of dangers inherent in that forest... why would she take the risk if she were anything less than a Zealot of the shamanistic faith? No... not quite. She never would accept such a high title for herself... for her motivation was something deeply perosnal: It made her feel like she was doing something, that she feel safe, and strong, and able to protect those she kept in her care as well as simply teach them. The spirits, through her walks with the animal spirits and learned what she could from them, everything they would teach her. She developed friendships with them, and each, for its recognition of her true devotion to making personal ties with them, granted her a form... one like theirs, to call her own in the astral world, so she might walk among them, as they do, so they might know her for what she is: An ambassador, to all of the spirit world on behalf of her land... she was one of them, and listened to their cries of pain when one among them would grow sick, just as she would to humanity... so when she slept, that was when she became as a medicine woman should be... a walker between worlds, a strider of both worlds, ours and the world of the spirits.
So now, when she needed healing from the taxes of the day, in meeting perhaps a new companion on her, admittedly, lonely lifestyle... She'd only been at it for a few years now... and was perhaps all too eager to grow as quickly as she could, and did too much, pethaps... that was open to discussion in her opinon... she did what she loved, after all... she still needed to be with people... she was still human. She needed rest, too, for her body was fragile, and if nothing else, this Mephael creature, whom had a soul like her own, had given her an honest want to have him follow, be with her... also kinda creepy. Something just drew her to him, so naturally, tonight, she would not be able to help herself, while her friends would tend over her body with their energies unseen, she would follow him in spirit, and not one would judge her greater than a loving smile and a nod of understanding here or there. She was as much their child as she was the child of humans... she was their beloved intermediary, and more than that, like their younger sister, innocent and sweet in their eyes, like a child willing to learn and mimic the ways of their parents; a pup, a cub,and what have you... point being she was adorable to them.
Peeking around a tree and blinking a little, the spiritual form of the medicine girl, clad as she was in her physical form in her still human shape, as she appeared in real life, she smiled and tried to be quiet.. even if he'd never hear a spirit stalk him if he had ears three times that size... though she forgot that pretty easily. Still, she felt as if she was in the real world,and had to hide... just seemed right to her. She felt a presence near her... and blushed, giving a little shudder as she knew he was there.
It was brother Coyote, ever mysterious in his silence. She looked across the path on which Mephael strode, to the other half of the treeline, and about twenty feet from her was the female manifestation of brother coyote, his curiosity aspect... appearantly cooincidental of course... she'd met this 'sister' coyote a couple times before... she wore a humanlike form, with the featuring of a coyote, as the younger generations of these spirits tended to do. She herself did that from time to time, the medicine girl and him.
Coyote was of course there to see her, because she was worried when her kid sister got hurt like that... coyote always had to hang back in concerns like this... Coyote, you see, was an outsider, not trusted for her... his... whatever, all-changing nature. he was too chaotic.
"What is it, you like him?" she said, excited as Luna shot Mephael a glance over the trees, smiling at her sister.
"Oh-ho... thats unlike you..." Coyote said, grinning and slouching against the tree, staring at her human sister. Even if Coyote was an outsider... he was rejected, as this human, so young, would wiggle her way into their social circles so easily, so very quickly... it was frustrating, and a part of her wanted to hate this human child... but she herself could not help but seriously feel like an older sister towards her... in every way she could get away with, from tormenting her playfully to being whatever else she needed that the more serious spirits could be, a true sister, even if she wanted to actually take her time teaching Luna the path of the Coyote... It was Luna who stood her greatest chance as acceptance. It had to be right, so she would take all the time in teaching this human girl all her path had to offer gradually. The boon of her devotions would be well earned by that point.
Luna stuck her tongue out at Coyote, and blushed. "Shuddup..." she whined, and coyote stuck her tongue out about the human. "Bleeeah you know you're a pervert... you're wondering about the size of his branches and you know it."
That made the girl's physical body blush even more. "Stopiiiit....!" Luna whined, flailing a little bit, and Coyote chuckled to herself, shaking her head. "Go on, go on, pup, go watch crunk scratch himself." Coyote continued to tease, and without waiting, Luna did just that, punching coyote in the arm playfully as she went, eliciting a feign "Argh, you've broken my will to liiive..." and a raspberry and a shove. "G'wan little one, go on..." she joshed, and followed after a few moments.
Luna walked close to the Chinnimase as she felt comfortable as she came upon the spirit of a very traumatized squirrel. She chuckled, and knew what happened... so she scooped the little creature up and held it close, doing her best to calm it down and let it know that even though it had gone through a.... harrowing experience... to say the least... everything would be allright, damnit. This one would take some time to see that again, rather comically. Her fierce hunter was her real interest.
He was good... knew certainly what he was doing. She had to strain as he bolted through the forest, and Brother Wolf called her to her wolf form as his healing hands worked on her body. She complied, becoming a blonde shewolf, bouncing as she ran in paralell to him in the field to the curiosity of all creatures there who saw her. She bolted as fast as she could, through the trees' bodies and over mounds of the living stone, which she could not penetrate so easily. When he caught his kill, she was waiting, a squirrel on her head, for the deer to wiggle out of its husk and free itself from the dead flesh, and drop there, dazed and in a bit of shock from the pain of it. This one was much more reasonable... he got to die after trying to outrun him, evade him. He lost, fair and square. He was much more reasonable and would be a much better influence over the squirrel than she in helping the smaller creature cope with the shock of it, so she left the squirrel there for him to help along, for he understood better than she, even as the deer heard his predator's roar that made the tree spirits themselves shiver in response to the excitement in his voice.
She smiled at him and clapped a couple times, bouncing up and down a little. She saw first hand that he was strong, and clever, and was kinda rooting for him, glad he's not a softie of any kind.Her real body was asleep peacely then as she bounded after her victorious hunter.
(as a post-note, I looked over this part carefully today, for I had written it deep into the night... I was certainly delerious when I wrote it, so... Heh sorry about all that. It looks fine and everything... buuutt... its got some errors and goes off on tangents.)
