Steel Wolf

Sometime in the Past

As a young child in the hamlet of Dunston Greave, people mistook Tanaya for being older, based on her height. Her brothers had set up a makeshift dummy with a wide base in the backyard, taking turns to see who could knock it over with one powerful kick or shoulder punch. As she grew, she practiced punches and kicks on the dummy for hours at a time. Of course, her brothers thought it was cute that a girl was working on her muscles. At first, it barely moved at all, just wriggling on its pedestal. Hour after hour, day after day, year after year, passersby could hear the thumps as Tanaya's hands and feet impacted the canvas covering.

She began wrestling with her brothers, or kicked a hard cotton ball into the street, running after it, racing them to be the first to kick it farther down the street. Sure, she'd played dress-up, or hosted imaginary tea parties with her sisters, but she'd always been drawn to the physicality of sports.

Being six feet, three inches tall at age fourteen had its difficulties. She was the tallest person in her class, with only one male student in the entire school being taller. Taunts and jeers were the norms as she tried to fit in. Not possible. A couple of bookish kids befriended her, being outcasts themselves.

One evening at age fourteen, her eldest brother, Tarnell, had brushed aside her hand at the dinner table and quickly seized the last berry roll. Storming out of the house into the backyard, she attacked the dummy with a vengeance. Her fists and feet were lightning as she struck over and over.

"That's right, you whelp! Take it out on the dummy! That'll show me!" he laughed.

Glaring daggers at him, her right hand shot out as if launched from a ballista. The canvas covering made a different sort of smacking sound. The canvas had split. She pulled out a fistful of the hard cotton stuffing which had been packed tightly inside. Stomping across the yard to her brother, Tanaya jammed the rags into his mouth.

"If you want me to take it out on you," she said menacingly, "just say the slag-damn word..."

His eyes went wide as he pulled the rags from his mouth, his jaw remaining slack.

Word circulated at school very quickly that Tanaya had broken a canvas bag. The taunts and jeers stopped.

-o0o-

At sixteen, now marking six feet five inches, she had taken a job in the only bakery in town, learning how to mix ingredients and sprinkle them with sugar to make the perfect taste treat. This day, as she was removing a bag of confectioner's sugar from a top shelf, the bag split open, dumping its contents on her, creating a huge cloud in the backroom. It had taken her almost two backbreaking hours to clean it all up, wet mopping the floor several times so it wouldn't be sticky, and wiping every surface. Missus Brashear, the owner, had told her that these things happen; the sugar making facility didn't always sew the bags properly.

Tanaya put the mop in its rightful spot, threw the dirty water out the back door, removed her apron, and made her way to the front. She helped Pastor Robards bag his purchase for the sermon tomorrow. Stepping onto the dirt road, she spent a few moments dusting the extra sugar from her blonde shoulder length hair. Turning left, she walked next to the buildings to avoid the horse traffic in the street.

Reaching the intersection, she was about to cross when she spied Renton Bask, professional asshole, attempting to kiss a girl with short brown hair. He was leaned forward, both hands against the wall on either side of the girl's head. She moved her head from side to side to avoid his lips.

Tanaya's feet were in motion before her brain could warn her against it. Sprinting down the street, dropping a shoulder, she slammed into Renton full force, knocking him to the ground. He rolled onto his feet with catlike grace, crouched low, widening his stance. Although he easily outweighed Tanaya by fifty pounds or more, his shorter stature made him more nimble. His fingers clenched and unclenched as he sought an opening.