Farrah
Tough, brave, decisive, proud, blunt.
Mononoke grew up without a mother. With a father who, in wanting to prepare her for the real world, was very tough on her, she became very withdrawn and to the point, even though inside she wanted to reach out to others. Mononoke became a fierce warrior, too proud to ever share her need for approval with her father and too stubborn to ever stop trying. The childhood she had turned her into a wolf with a very large shield from the world and from her feelings. (The story has a little more on this.)
These two are done by me; they're meant to be a little bit abstract.
And this lovely piece was drawn by my good friend Snowleaper. Thank you so much, Snow!
“Again!” Mononoke lunged forward, tackling her enemy and rolling to an upright position over him; a flick of his foot had set her off balance, though, and she tumbled back to the ground. The she-wolf scrambled back up to a standing position ducking low to avoid a swing from her teacher, using the momentum to headbutt the wolf in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. She took the chance to claw at him, but brought it away from his face at the last minute. Her mercy was her mistake.
The male wolf pinned her down, fangs to her throat. Mononoke looked away from him, not wanting to see the disappointment in his eyes again. He let her go and then gave her a cold look.
“We’ll work on it again tomorrow.” He said curtly, and then headed back to their den. Mononoke felt the wave of shame wash over her again; the thousandth time, it seemed, she had let him down.
The young adult walked off bitterly into the dark teal grass.
Right now, he could care less where I’m going or when I’m coming back or if I’m ever coming back at all! He doesn't care…she stalked through the field, flattening the blades and wishing there was something to destroy, something to take her anger out on.
Why doesn't he care, though? I have promise; I know it and he knows it. Why would he rather I rake his face than show mercy? I don’t understand…the thought irritated her; she always knew what was going on. But suddenly, she saw something that she could have sworn wasn't there a minute ago.
A wolf.
He wasn't facing her, but rather the sun, which was beginning to set. Mononoke tensed and then crouched low, her face brushing the tough grasses. She was a sitting target if he turned; her red, yellow, and black markings would easily define her from the green grass. She crept slowly closer and closer until she noticed something strange. The wolf had brilliantly colorful, abstract like markings all over his body; she could see purple, bright sea green, a reddish pink, and then a quad of red, yellow, green and blue. But there was something that didn't make sense – the wolf had burns. She’d thought they were markings from a distance, but up close she saw the multitudes of burns that looked fairly recent. One of his feet seemed blackened with fire, and an ankle had suffered as well. It was remarkable that he stood so steady. She considered just letting him go, but her teacher’s disappointment surged through her again. No mercy. She looked up from the ground and found him gone. Where was he?...
“Hello-”
“Aah!” Mononoke yelped childishly, recovering and whirling to face her enemy in a fury of red and black. She felt bloodlust welling up within her, but when she turned to face her opponent, it just…disappeared.
His face bore burns as well, but his golden eyes seemed so strangely friendly and welcoming. Such genuine kindness was in his face that she wondered briefly if she were in a dream.
“You are not one of Isket.” She said quietly, dangerously. If it is possible for a wolf to shrug, that’s exactly what the other wolf did.
“No, I’m not. I wonder if this is a dream, perhaps.” He responded, looking around him as though the grasses might give him the answer. “If it is, it’s quite a lovely dream. At any rate, I believe I’m from Earth, or was once from Earth.” There was a kind of thoughtful wonder in his voice.
“Earth?” the question slipped out with unbridled curiosity.
“Yes, I was born there. I went on a grand journey, with two faithful friends…strange; I can’t seem to remember how we ended up. But now I’m here, it seems.” The male said to her, still strangely whimsical and pensive. Mononoke pondered his memory loss and Earth for a while as they walked through the grasses, the deep red mountains dwarfing them even from a distance. The clear evening air was so crisp, so fresh. It hadn’t seemed so nice when she battled her father…
“Do you live out here all alone?” The question jolted Mononoke out of her reverie, but alarms went off in her head and she hesitated to reply.
“Why do you ask?” her tone was suddenly guarded and concise, with winter air surrounding it like an ice fortress.
“Just curious.” Mononoke felt shameful all of a sudden at his submissive voice.
“I don’t live alone; I stay out here with my…father.” She acquiesced to his question, feeling the word ‘father’ roll off her tongue oddly. He was neither ‘father’ to her, nor she ‘daughter’ to him. They were teacher and student, companions and each ever the cause of the other’s troubles. The wolf nodded, his fur shining in a rainbow tinted orange by the setting sun. The two padded through the soft, dull earth in silence, content with each other’s presence.
For a while they were quiet. Mononoke felt a sense of peace she hadn’t felt for a very, very long time. Peace was something eradicated by her father on a daily basis, what with his nonstop way of life and training.
“You live in a beautiful place.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Mononoke said, gazing at the green grass turned orange, and the mountains, a deep crimson.
“Will you tell me about your father? I only knew mine as a pup, before he was taken away.” The wolf asked her awkwardly, looking at the ground.
“Uh...Well, my dad is…he’s…” She found herself at a loss for words. “He’s tough, and kind of blunt, and he trains me…”she trailed off. What else was there to say? It was all she knew about her father. He was brutal, and uncaring, and silent.
“I don’t know what else he is…” she whispered quietly, more to herself than to the Colored One, as she was beginning to think of him as.
“I’m sure he cares-” For whatever reason, those words just snapped her.
“No, he doesn’t!” Anger exploded out from Mononoke, anger she’d been holding back her whole life. “He’s never cared! I’m nothing but his training dummy! That’s all he ever seems to care about, anyway. And I’m never good enough for him…” Tears ran unexpectedly from her eyes, and just like that, her anger was gone. She was uncontrollably sad, and angry at herself for it. She looked at the sunset again, trying to keep from just crying in front of someone else. The Colored One watched her in a compassionate but benign manner, somehow knowing that she didn’t like to be comforted. He let her cry quietly, without shame, until she had nothing left to cry and felt better.
“I’m sorry.” They were the only words to leave his lips after she was finished. She felt raw, like she had just worn her whole being out. Mononoke looked at him, and found his eyes were the only things begging to comfort her, with a kind of sad compassion for her filling them to the brim. But she looked away, feeling choked up again.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be pouring out all my woes to you.” She said brusquely.
“What else are strangers for?” The Colored One asked her with a small smile. She chuckled softly, trying to just get over the mound of emotion she had just thrown out. The sun had set, and the night was cool, with diamonds dripping from the skies and a cool wind caressing the grass. Mononoke looked to see the moon coming up, and let her thoughts wander away, though they never fully left her father or her feelings. The Colored One let her drift to sleep.
* * *
“There is something nearby.” A voice said into Mononoke’s ear, and she woke to find the Colored One sitting, his ears up and attentive. He seemed very relaxed, despite what he just said. She got to her feet, looking at the light colored wolf in the dark blue haze of night.
“What is it? I can’t hear a thing.” She said after a minute or two of listening to the grass sway.
“I heard faint scuffling a while ago; they have hooves, it sounded like. Horses?”
“We have no ‘horses’ on Isket; those were Kronadors!” Mononoke said, her red fur ruffled by the breeze. She stood tense, trying to make them out, but heard nothing. The moonlight illuminated the Colored One’s marking as he turned to face her.
“Find your father.” He said, as though he knew she would go. She left without a second glance.
The Colored One, she decided, had incredibly good hearing. She had been expecting Kronadors a couple of feet into the forest, but encountered none on her way to the den where she and her father lived. Still, she kept on alert and vigilant.
Her awareness saved her life a minute later.
She had frozen just as she heard a twig snap, close to her but not too close. She was at the den, not inside but behind it, and she caught a glance of blues and greens. Kronador! She stayed completely still, keeping her breathing slow and quiet. The Kronador didn’t seem to be paying much attention to its surroundings, and instead bestial yellow eyes were searching the ground for anything that lived. It seemed that every living creature froze where the creature looked and stood. There was not a sound besides the Kronador’s breathing and moving. Mononoke knew what she had to do. The beast had no horns, luckily, but its claws and teeth would still cut through her like a knife through butter. Still, she had the element of surprise, and hopefully the Colored One was on his way.
She tensed, and like a coiled spring, leapt at the Kronador.
Her smaller claws made impact on the female’s shoulder, and she brought it down, fighting to reach its neck. But a Kronador is not so easy to defeat. It threw her off, kicking her soundly in the head. Yelping, she stumbled backward, dizzy and already feeling her head pound. She bolted out of the way as it lunged her way, dancing around its turn and right at the Kronador’s side. The tactic worked and she was not scratched by the claws, but she was already jerking out of the way again, more focused now that she’d had a minute to recover. But now that she had, Mononoke realized that she had no plan. The Kronador’s eyes were filled with nothing but the angry joy of fighting, and she knew that if she attempted to kill it, she would die. She had no armor. Struggling to remember what her father had taught her, she dodged another attempt to claw her – but barely. And yet, the movement had given her a plan. She needed only to scare it away. With newfound confidence, Mononoke charged, exchanging a swipe of the beast’s claws for one of her own. It landed on the Kronador’s side, and it looked at her in a wave of shock. It was caught off guard that an unarmored wolf of Isket had attacked with such confidence, and without any armor. It growled at her, but the growl was weak and its face filled with uneasiness. She snarled back at it, and something carried through that wasn’t her voice – it was a deeper tone, and the Kronador looked upon it only once and ran. The Colored One, she thought. He must have done something. She looked around, feeling soreness in her head. Incredible…other than her pounding skull, she had no injuries but bruises. She had survived her first encounter with her biggest enemy practically unscathed. She relished her escape, rare as a blue moon, and searched for her father.
She found him, dead by the den that she had once called home.
His leather armor was shredded – likely it had only protected him from the first few swipes. The vicious creatures had let him bleed out, and death filled his expression with a defeat Mononoke had never seen in life’s face for him. And even as she tried to feel sad, tried to cry, she knew it was an act of futility. She had hardly known this wolf, only known his training and his fighting. She felt only sorrow for who he had been in her lifetime. The male she had understood had been angry and unsatisfied, and he had been making her the same way. Would she change? Mononoke didn’t know yet. She dragged him into their small den and then spent time destroying it, letting the dirt that had surrounded them at night surround him forever. And then she walked away, a breeze ruffling the grasses as she headed back to the place she’d left the Colored One at. He was gone, but somehow she wasn’t surprised. The sun was starting to come up, a burst of yellows, pinks, and oranges, and with the brilliant light peeking out onto the fields, Mononoke felt her exhausted soul filled with a determined calmness.
There’s only one thing left to do now, she thought to herself.
Time to find the Warriors of Isket.She turned away from the sun and trotted off toward the mountains.
Warrior is the word I feel describes everything about her, from her outer shell to her inner personality. She is brave, fierce, shielded, and loyal.
