𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐒 {spirit animals}

1. Antlered Hare and Golden Bear

~~~Part 1: The Antlered Hare~~~

Talona wished the rabbits would leave her alone.

       Sure, it was considerate of the dozen or so wild rodents to surround her house and offer their company and all, but by the third day, it was getting just a little bit annoying.

       She wasn't exactly sure what was up with the rabbits. In this area of Amaya, the wild hares usually strayed far away from the villages. Either these were some particularly brave ones, or they just really enjoyed making Talona paranoid.

       Talona sat at the base of a tree trunk, quietly enjoying the calm atmosphere. The warm breeze blew against her, as she started to hum a familiar tune, one that her mother taught her a very long time ago.

       A grey coated hare padded up towards Talona, tilting its head as the animal sat down next to her. This was the third day the whole rabbit thing had been going on. When Talona confided in Chaska and Ashkii about it, they both dismissed it, saying that all animals were naturally more out and about during this time of the year.

       Chaska and Ashkii were Talona's adoptive family, taking her in when she was five years old, after the deaths of her parents. It was a shock to their entire village, especially seeing as no one knew how they had died, to this day.

       Adilsa and Gahlus, her mother and father were both kind souls, very loved among everyone who knew them. There couldn't possibly have been anyone they'd been enemies with, much less anyone who had hated them enough to kill them.

Yet somehow, Talona survived. It may have been her juvenile imagination at the time playing tricks on her, but she caught a single glimpse of the murderer that night, and somehow escaped. She remembered running straight into the woods, stopping at this exact tree to catch her breath.

       She never told anyone about what she saw that night, not even Chaska. Part of her didn't think anyone would believe the words that came out of a scared five-year-old, but mostly it was that Talona really didn't want to relive it. It has been 9 years since it all happened anyway, and by now, it really was all history.

       Talona got up and picked up the crossbow resting next to her. It was days like this where she liked to get out in the Amayan woods, climb trees and practice her precision with the bow. It was a good distraction tactic, and something to fill her vast amount of alone time.

       It was then when Talona realized there was a loud commotion from the area she just left. She turned around, frowning, and saw two hares, in some sort of brawl. Jumping on top of each other as the rest of the rabbits joined the fight.

       Those have got to be the most aggressive rabbits that Talona had ever seen, growing at each other and almost hissing. From a distance, it appeared as if the two that started the fight were brawling over an apple that fell from the tree.

       With an amused smile of the cute creature's attempts of being scary, Talona brushed a lock of raven black hair out of her face and drew her bow. She nocked an arrow and focused on her aim, trying to not sway herself with the constantly moving animals. She drew the bowstring taut, and fired the arrow, watching it fly straight at the bright red fruit, splitting it exactly in half through the center.

       The fighting eased. Strangely, no one took either pieces of the apple she had neatly cut for them. A little ungrateful, if you asked Talona.

       "What's with you guys now?" She asked, lowering her crossbow and returning to the rabbits. "You guys were ripping each other apart for the tiny piece of fruit, you're not even gonna eat it now?" She knelt next to the gathered group, picked up a piece and offered it to one of them.