Of Fire and Fang

•CHAPTER ONE•

Aurora crouched in the underbrush, remaining hidden as she stalked her prey. Silently, she made her way through the greenery, flanking her quarry for better positioning. Once in position, Aurora coiled and pounced from the shadows, colliding with her mark and sending them both rolling down the incline into the meadow below.

Finally, coming to a dizzying stop at the bottom, one giggled as the other cursed.

"Damn it, RORY! Mom JUST made this tunic, you get to tell her why it's already stained." Amari shouted, visibly upset about the grass stains on her new garment.

"Oh, live a little Amari! you're no fun anymore. I remember when we were younger, we would both run around the river all day collecting shells and digging in the dirt, then come home absolutely covered in mud. Do you remember what Mom would say to us then?"

Amari rolled her eyes and stifled a grin.

"A messy Child is a Happy Child!" they quoted their Mother in unison as they looked back fondly at the childhood memory.

Both sat in contemplative silence for a while, drifting off in thought and admiring the passing clouds. Amari was the first to break the silence.

"So, are you ready for next week?" She asked as she eyed Aurora cautiously.

Rightly so, as Aurora jumped to her feet and attempted to kick Amari in the shin in retaliation.

"You know I don't care for my birthday, Ri. Why do you have to bring it up?" Aurora said, grumbling as she plucked twigs from her tawny hair and flicked them away.

"Geez! no need to break shins Bruiser! you know Birthdays come around every year whether you want them to or not. Why not embrace it and "live a little"?" Amari mocked as she sat on her shins for protection.

Aurora sighed dejectedly and plopped down onto the grass, plucking a few blades and twirling them in her fingers absentmindedly as she stared into the distance.

"Nobody knows where I come from Amari, or if my birthday is even actually my birthday. I was brought to this Meadow and dumped seventeen years ago, with nothing but the blankets I was wrapped in at that! Amari, I'm an outsider. You and Mom may have raised me, but we will never truly be related. I mean, we don't even know if I'm an Elf! My ears are half the size of a normal elf's, and I don't have your crazy super senses." Amari self-consciously grabbed one of her long, pointed ears as Aurora compared their features.

"I don't even know who I am.." Aurora muttered as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Amari tossed her arm around her sister as they lay back on the pillowy grass and stared into the expansive sky.

"You are Aurora Silvermoon! Shin breaker. Scalper. Daughter of the beautiful Melody Silvermoon, and Sister to the one and only Amari Silvermoon." She said with feigned vanity.

"THAT is who you are, Rori; Our family."

Amari spoke softly to her little Sister, tears stung her emerald eyes as she held Aurora closely. Aurora's unexpected arrival caused quite the uproar in their little mountain home, Amari remembered: But she wouldn't have had it any other way. That day had become one of the days of her life; the day her sister joined their family.

Amari had hiked over the falls and back home through the winding mountain paths with the infant tucked away in her hunting pack; Taking her previously marked routes when the way became hazardous from the early winter ice. Amari listened as the Child blubbered and cooed, occasionally releasing a cheerful screech as she sat snuggled against Amari's back. Amari felt lighthearted when listening to the babe, though she was carrying the little one up a frozen mountainside, she felt warm and full of energy. Suddenly, Amari caught an enticing and familiar aroma as it floated from ahead.

"YES! Mom is making Venison Stew again!" Amari said excitedly as she sped toward food and home.

Nearing her family's cottage, the landscape began to level off allowing Amari to catch her breath and rest her legs a bit after the steep hike. The Child began to babble curiously from behind her.

"We are just about home Little One! Wait 'till you meet my Mom and Dad!" Amari spoke excitedly to the Child.

The Family Home was tucked away in the back of the valley; Where they lived hidden from the world thanks to her mother's ability to perform cloaking and illusion spells. Amari's Parents were unusually vague about what lay outside the Mountain range and constantly showed her how to strengthen the illusions around the valley to protect them from prying eyes.

"NEVER wander past the meadow!" Her parents would demand as she began exploring the mountains around her. "Always watch for weak spots!" Her mother would repeat every time they walked the perimeter.

She made a mental note to hound her Mother again about what lies outside of the Mountains, and why they were never allowed to leave. She had a feeling it had something to do with whatever rampaged through the clearing earlier that day.

Amari walked along the cobblestone path that led up to the cottage; pulling the knapsack in front of her and holding it so that the Child could see out.

"This is our home! It's not very big, You can share it with me! Mom and Dad share the other room, though Dad is out on hunting trips a lot so mom usually sleeps alone. I slept in her bed a lot when I was younger but I'm a grown-up now, so I don't do that anymore." Amari spoke to the infant excitedly, scarcely taking the time for a breath.

"Oh! Over here is where we get our water, this is called a well!" Amari gestured to the circular stone structure nestled a few yards from the home.

"Sometimes when you bring the bucket up, there's a frog or a snake in it! don't drink the water if that happens cause they may have peed in it.." Amari said as she made a face in disgust.

"Oh, look here!" Amari shouted as she approached a small pile of things lying against the home.

" This is my collection of cool stuff I found on the Mountainside! Here's a rock I found in the shape of a butt, oh and this stick that looks like a snake! Or, what about this awesome ram skull I found when I hiked to the top of the Boreals with mom! I bet that one's your favorite too, huh?"

The child looked up at Amari quizzically, as if trying to decipher what she was saying.

"Oh.. that's right, babies don't do a lot of talking, do they?" Amari mumbled to herself, disappointed.

Almost in response, the Child yanked on a handful of Amari's hair.

Amari proudly gave the Child a tour of her Parent's cottage, pointing out every detail her father put into the home. After a fairly long-winded explanation of how the structure was built, Amari's stomach let loose a ravenous growl.

"Woah... I think we need to go inside now, I'm starving! Wait until you taste Mom's stew!" She said as she hurried to the cottage door.

Amari pushed the heavy wooden door open and was met with the wonderful aroma of her mother's cooking. Hints of rosemary and garlic tickled Amari's nose as the savory flavors of the stew permeated the air, making Amari salivate with anticipation. The warmth of the hearth kissed her cheeks as she entered the living space, heaving the door closed and hanging her bow on the hook by the entryway.

"Mom, I'm Home!!" Amari exclaimed as she kicked off her boots and gently sat her hunting sack down on the bench.

"Hey, Hun! I'm just finishing up dinner. Could you get and fetch your father? He's out back chopping firewood." Melody called from the kitchen as she seasoned and tasted the broth.

Amari shoved her boots back on and gave a nervous look back at her knapsack before bolting out the door to the back of the cottage. Following the sound of whistling, thuds, and wood cracking; Amari found her father swinging a wood ax with practiced ease as he whistled one of the same cadences he always did. Amari's father was an Elf with two and a half centuries behind him; Streaks of gray had begun appearing in his raven black hair as faint wrinkles began to form on his forehead; Mom says he has entered the last phase of his life, called the twilight years. Despite his age, her father was a strong, able-bodied man who did the workday in and day out to provide for Amari and her mother. She saw her father as stoick and reclusive; never talking and always distanced from Amari and her mother, but she loved him all the same.

"Dad? I'm home! Mom says it's time to eat, she made Venison Stew!" she informed her father with optimism.

Her father looked at her with haunted golden eyes for a moment, then grunted and turned to the shed to put away his things. Amari didn't know why, but she always saw a hollowed sadness when she looked into her father's eyes.

Amari ran back to the front of the house, contemplating what bite of stew she would take first when she burst through the door. Her mother, Melody was standing in the doorway with the child perched on one hip as she stared daggers into Amari.

" ..Mom, I can explain.."

"WHERE did she come from? Did you go beyond the meadow?!"

"NO, Mom!! I know I'm not supposed to go that far.." Amari stammered.

"I went down to the Meadow today to pick flowers, and found her all alone, crying in an abandoned den. I swear!"

Amari's mother looked at her with speculation and confusion, then to the child in her arms, studying the infant's face. After a few moments, her mother's eyes grew wide as she seemed to come to some realization; she leaned down to press her face against the child's hair and took in the scent of it.

"Amari, did she have anything with her?" her mother asked, barely audible.

Amari thought back to when she had found the child.

"The only things with her were a few children's blankets." She shrugged.

"There was a patch of burned earth just west of the valley entrance, and what looked and smelled like a LOT of old blood just to the south, a few meters from the tree line."

her mother's face blanched as she continued to take in the child's scent.

"Nasuna..?" melody murmured under her breath.

After a few moments, Amari's mother snatched her hunter's pack from the bench and emptied its contents. Two children's blankets came tumbling out in a crumpled ball, one light green fleece blanket, and a gold blanket lined with shiny fabric. As Melody straightened the crumpled mess of cloth, a note was revealed tucked between them. Amari watched curiously as her mother plucked the letter from the table, unfolded it, and stared at the parchment with tears welling in her eyes.

"Mom, are you alright? What does the note say?" Amari asked with alarm, never having seen her mother shed tears before.

"Oh, I'm fine Dear!" Melody spoke as she patted her eyes dry with her apron.

"The note says the child's name is Aurora," she said as she stuffed the paper into her apron pocket.

Melody turned her attention back to the blankets and laid them out neatly across the table. The green blanket seemed fairly travel-worn, with tufts of wool springing from the surface as if to escape, and patches sewn in different spots where tearing had occurred. The gold blanket looked to be finely crafted, with a material Amari had never seen before. The blanket had a beautiful trim that Amari was immediately drawn to, it caught the light as it rippled making the fabric look metallic. Amari gently brushed her fingers along the cloth, noting the smoothness of it and how it was cool to the touch.

"That's silk Amari, our kind was once very well known for making some of the finest silks man had ever seen. I bet this was elven made.." her mother trailed off, a blank expression on her face as she stared at the fabric.

Amari's father came through the front door, pulling her and her mother from their thoughts with a start.

"Warlo! Come in and wash up, the stew is ready!" Melody practically sang as Warlo eyed the babe on her hip.

"Where did that come from?" Warlo asked, slightly irritated by the sight of the slobbering infant.

"Well, Amari here was just telling me how she found this little one in the meadow while she was out picking flowers. Said there was not a soul in sight, so she brought the Babe home, and here we are." Melody gestured to the air around them as she spread the green blanket on the floor of the gathering area, and put Aurora on it.

"Are these her belongings?" Warlo asked as he scooped up the gold fabric and inspected the silk, completely ignoring the other blanket Aurora now lay upon kicking and blowing spit bubbles as she watched them all intently. Warlo turned the fabric in his calloused hands, inspecting the intricate stitch work done in a gold string when Amari noticed a few colors on the corner of the blanket. Reaching out, Amari flipped the corner of fabric over to reveal a small emblem woven in colored thread. The emblem was beautiful, a crown with a rose through the center both ablaze like the sun and adorned with outstretched wings. These wings were shaped as a Bat's, but larger and with pointed claws protruding from the end of each finger bone.

"what's this?" Amari asked, turning the emblem to face the light.

Melody gasped as Warlo snatched the blanket from Amari's grasp and inspected the emblem.

"OUT. GET IT OUT OF HERE." Warlo exclaimed as he jabbed a finger at Aurora.

"Warlo, she's just a Babe! Are we to leave her to the wolves?!" Melody cried.

"I don't care what you do with it, just get it away from here!"

Warlo growled as he clutched the child's blanket in his hands, tearing it in half and throwing it into the hearth. Amari cried out as she shot forward, snatching the pieces of cloth from the embers and patting out the fabric.

" why father?! I don't understand! what's wrong with her??" Amari stammered through frightened tears as she held the ripped blanket to her chest.

Her father turned to her, his eyes haunted and manic as a menacing scowl spread across his face.

"YOU. You brought this destruction upon us!" Warlo exclaimed feverishly as he lunged for Amari's throat.

"ENOUGH!" her mother bellowed as her fist connected with Warlo's jaw.

Warlo fell to the ground as Amari ran to Aurora and hid with her in the other room.

" You can disrespect me in my home if you must, but don't you EVER try to put your hands on my children. Due to your actions, you are now a danger, and I will NOT stand for it. Remove yourself from my sight, I have hungry mouths to feed." Melody sneered through her tears as she stalked to the entryway; removing a bag from the rack, Melody threw it at the man sitting on the ground before her.

"Melody, you need to tell her the truth, she needs to know that thing is a monster!" Warlo said as he pointed to Amari's room.

"DON'T." Melody barked definitively, readying herself to physically remove him from her home.

Warlo stood from the ground in silence, packed his sack full of provisions, and grabbed his traveling gear; disappearing out the front door without a word. That was the last time Amari or her mother saw him again.

Amari felt a sharp jab to her ribs and was immediately on her feet, ready for the attack. Standing in front of her was Aurora, looking amused and annoyed simultaneously.

"What the hell Aurora. You're mean, do you know that?" Amari blinked the sleep from her eyes as she gently rubbed her sore ribs. "You cause me more bruising than anything else. One of these days you're gonna break something, you know?"

"Aw come on, I gotta toughen you up somehow," Aurora said as she landed a solid punch to Amari's shoulder, grinning mischievously.

"come on. Momma Mel needs us to go find the goats, they broke out again." Rori said as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. Having been the 3rd time this Moon they'd gotten out, Rori was over goat rangling and wanted nothing to do with it.

With a huff, the girls made their way back up the hill and into the valley opening. Aurora never got tired of the beauty of this place; the craggy walls of the valley housed an endless array of creatures who sought safety within the Boreal's many hiding spots. The river to their right became increasingly larger as they walked up the uneven terrain of the valley floor, nearing the waterfall that separated them from home. As they approached the base of the waterfall, Rori smiled; of all the beautiful places on this mountain, this valley had to be the best. The blue water cascaded down the cliffside and crashed into the rocks below, causing a mist that shimmered and refracted light like millions of rainbows around the crystal clear pools directly below the falls. Rori spent a good deal of her childhood here, swimming in the pools and admiring the dancing colors.

They approached the cliffside to the left of the falls, where a few years prior Amari had meticulously dug ramps and placed stone steps for safer passage up the rock face. The two wound their way up the cliffside path, hands resting on the wall for stability. Once at the top, the pair paused to soak in the scenery.

Just beyond the Boreals lay an ever-expansive forest that blanketed the earth like a sea of green. Mother would tell them stories of monsters and evil beings that roamed that forest, searching for little children to feast upon. When they grew older, those stories became warnings as their mother cautioned them of the dangers lurking in the forest's shadows. Melody was reluctant to tell the girls anything about the outside world, Aurora speculated that was due to some past trauma that her mother had experienced within that shadowy place; So she never pushed the subject for fear of upsetting her.

Now, they stared out into this most mysterious of places, silently contemplating what might be staring back at them. With a huff, Aurora began stomping towards home.

"I'm not hunting down those stupid goats today, it's almost nightfall and I'm hungry"

"When are you not hungry, Rori?" Amari laughed as Aurora scoffed. They arrived home, ate their supper, and bedded down for the night; resting for the morning's goat rescue.