It Only Takes One Day to Change a Life (Sisal)

[Primis Snowsong]

The whole pack was fed and sleeping, it was early dawn and they wouldn’t wake for a few more hours yet. Primis (though she wasn't known as Primis inside the pack, only referred to as pup) slept between an adult female wolf and another small pup. This female was her mother, or she thought of her as one. For as long as she could remember this wolf had been the one to take care of her. For as long as she could remember the pack had been there for her. She couldn’t remember a life before them, nor did she know one had ever existed for her. Primis was a worry free wolf, nothing in her life could have been better; nothing in her life could go wrong. The only thing she was worried about was the hairless pup they killed a few days ago. He had wandered into their territory and started harassing one of the wolf pups. The pack swiftly killed him before he did any harm. Primis was only worried about this because she could sense the worry coming from their pack leader. He was afraid something was going to happen because of the hairless pup. As she slept Primis silently twitched, remembering the rabbit she had killed the day before. She had brought it back to the den and the whole pack, even the pack leader, had eaten some of it. It was the happiest day of her life; little did she know that the next would be her worst. She was awoken by the warm, motherly body next to her being ripped away. She opened her eyes, still in a bit of a daze, and looked around. She saw that her whole pack was running around and snapping at more hairless pups, except these pups were larger, full grown. Human, the name of the creatures came to her, like a voice in her head. She yelped and looked around. Her whole pack was sending out distressing signals and was trying to fight off the invaders. She looked around for her mother, trying to find comfort in the chaos. About ten feet away she spotted the small brown wolf. She was fighting off a male that had a puff of brown hair on his head and a large scar running down his face. In the years coming she would never forget his face. Her mother managed to push the male down and ran towards Primis. She barked something that meant run and her mother ran past her, stopping to only pick up Primis’ baby brother in her teeth. Primis ran, like her mother told her, knowing it wasn’t safe. She followed her mom and, being lighter, soon passed her. She stopped and looked back when she heard a cry. Her mother was on the ground, her brother scrambling to get away, his small legs finding difficulty. Her mom was covered in red liquid. Blood, the voice came to her again. The male that had struck her down was holding a large shiny stick that looked sharp, and then he swiftly plunged it into her mother’s neck, more blood spewing from the wound. Sword, a third word was whispered into her mind and she turned and ran, forgetting about her little brother. She ran through the dense, snow covered forest. She didn’t know where she was going and didn’t care; all she knew was that she couldn’t go back. She ran for days on end, never stopping for food, water or rest. All this time words were whispered into her mind, hundreds of them. These words she never remembered hearing before, because the words were in a different language that she shouldn’t be able to understand. But she did, and with each word accompanied an image, telling Primis what is was. Soon she was going crazy with no food, water or rest, and the whispered words didn’t help at all. It had been maybe three days when the forest started to thin out into nothing, and on the fourth day she was worn out and she knew she couldn’t go on much longer. Almost as she was about to collapse she saw rising structures made of ice that formed buildings that she had never seen before, but the voice told her what they were. She ran up to one of the buildings and then ran away, scared of the largeness. She ended up in a large, clear space between them. That is where she collapsed and black out, but it was not where she woke up a day later.

[Sisal Snowsong]

Sisal looked out the window, gazing at each individual snowflake. They were beautiful, with such intricate designs not one was the same. I wonder what it would be like to be a snowflake she thought, just being free to float around everywhere would be nice. Sisal looked farther on at the giant pillars that marked the city gate. Giant pillars of icestone shot up into the sky and shimmered in the sunlight. The gates started to open, most likely to let in a trader. As the gates opened Sisal saw a large brown mound on the ground. What is that? She stuck her head further out the window, it looks like a wolf, she thought. Sisal, being to curious for her own good, decided to go and investigate. She pulled on her boots and her parka and headed out the door.
She ran out to the gate and snuck through the small opening. As she moved closer the mound started to take a shape. Two white ears stuck up from the brown head. It is a wolf! Sisal ran over to see if it was OK and realized that it had collapsed. She started panicking, I need to get mom, she'll know what to do!
Sisal skidded through the front door, panting like crazy. "Mom, there's a wolf out by the gates, I think it's hurt. Come, QUICK." Her mother was always calm in emergencies and Sisal saw her go into work mode. Her eyes were steady and she grabbed her medical kit. "Ok Sisal, show me where it is", her voice was steady. She led her mother past the gate and over to the wolf. Her mother went over and checked the wolf's vital signs. "OK, it's alive. Now Sisal listen to me very carefully, it's in a very severe stage of dehydration. We need to get it to the house, now. Grab it's shoulders and pick it up, I'll pick up the back.." Sisal did as she was told, she carefully placed her hands in a secure place in under the wolf and lifted. Wow, it's lighter than I thought, it must be starving too.
They finally were able to carry it to the house and her mother went to work. She drew blood and poured some water into it's mouth. "Sisal", her mother said in her calm voice, "You can leave now, there's nothing else you can do, it'll be fine, I promise." Her mother smiled at Sisal and then went back to work. Sisal left the the room and went to her bedroom. She looked out the window and watched the snowflakes fall again. She never had been good at being a healer even though her mother was one of the best. She always felt useless when her mother was taking care of a patient. Her sisters always helped, they were prodigies. They were out with Sisal's fiancé though, so they wouldn't be able to help at the moment. I hope it'll be OK, she thought.

[Primis Snowsong]

Her dreams were vivid, a mixture of everything that had happened to her, plus thing she didn't remember. Her pack and their hunts, and her mother and when she gave birth to baby brother. So many things she remembered but didn't have anymore. They were dead, for all she knew they all died, even baby brother. Btu there were other dreams... they felt like memories. A blonde women smiling down at her with white teeth and yellow eyes. In the years to come Primis would look in the mirror and wonder if the woman she saw was her, but there was something different about her, her eyes didn't quite match up. Then she had images of a man with deep brown hair and golden eyes. The eyes the man possessed were almost exactly like her own. She wondered if these were her parents when she looked in the mirror later on in her life. But endlessly she saw the man with the scar, his angry faced showed everywhere, interrupting her good dreams into nightmares. She would howl at the man, but he never came closer to her than he did in the forest, and she always ran from him. She woke up, her eyes slowly opening, it was dim inside the room and her senses her automatically alert. She smelled water, everywhere, frozen water, she smelled blood and something else, something she only smelled in her darkest dreams--human. Her wolf body lay on a soft cushion of sort, she remembered the feel of a bed the voice whispered to her. When her eyesight fully came to her she saw a human girl sitting across the room, looking at her. Yelping she tried to run, but she was too weak. She was scared and then something happened. The room filled with light and it blocked her vision for the split second it existed. Then it dissapeared as quickly as it came. She girl was not longer sitting, she had jumped up a very shocked look on her face. Thats when Primis noticed something different, her hearing, she could no longer hear the footsteps of something walking outside, to the breeze that blew across the snow. Her vision too, it was somewhat blurred and less clear than it had been her whole life. She as cold too, she wasn't a second ago, her warm fur blocking the cold ice, but now it was as if she didn't have fur. She tried to look at her paw, but it its place was a bald hand. She sat up startled and looked at the rest of her body, she was a naked human female, she wasn't a wolf. She sat stunned, then she howled. It didn't come out as a howl though, it came out as a high pitched scream, she covered her ears with her bald hands. A new word was whispered to her then, a word she hadn't heard in her escape or in her dreams. It was a word that was accompanied by many images and sounds and smells, Kelvic. She understood then, but didn't work well with the information, she screamed again and stared at the girl. All she could think was, I am one of the murderers who killed my family.

[Sisal Snowsong]

The wolf opened it's eyes. They were a beautiful molten gold color. The wolf glanced around the room and stopped at Sisal. Wow, it's beautiful, she thought. Suddenly the wolf yelped and attempted to jump off the operating table but was too weak. It's legs gave out from under it before it even took a step. Sisal jumped up from her seat to try and help it but a flash of golden light stopped her. The light faded and in the wolf's place was a human girl. She had blonde hair but the same golden eyes. Sisal gasped, th-th-there's a naked girl on the operating table, what happened to the wolf! She was shell shocked, and then she remembered. Her mother had told her stories of animals that could transform into humans. They were called Kelvics. This girl is a Kelvic, she knew what happened now. The girl had fazed and now she was a human.
The girl screamed and suddenly covered her ears with her hands as if she had scared herself. She looks so scared, I need to calm her down. The girl screamed again and then just stared at Sisal. Sisal took a step forward, "It's OK, I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here. Do you understand?" Then Sisal realized the girl was completely naked, oh no she must be freezing. Sisal turned around, "I'll be right back, I'm just going to get you some clothes, OK."
She ran to her room and dragged out the first things she could find from her drawers. She ran back to the room and held the clothes out to the girl. "Put these on," she said trying to sound calm, "they'll keep you warm."
The girl just stared at Sisal and pressed up against the wall. Sisal felt useless, again. She's completely terrified, I don't know what to do. Mother's out working so I can't get her and it's the middle of the night so no one will be up. She thought maybe she should start slow, maybe that would calm the girl down. She gently placed the clothes down on the table. "Hello, my name's Sisal. What's yours?"

[Primis Snowsong]

"It's OK, I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here. Do you understand?" She understood and thats what confused her.Primis realized that the voice had been preparing her for this. To speak with others who knew the language she heard in her head. The other thing the girl said, that she was safe here? How was she safe? She was among killers, murderers, and she had turned into one of them. The girl then ran out of the room, getting clothes. Why? When the girl came back in she approached Primis, handing her some clothes. Primis flinched away from the girl and scooted away till she hit the wall. The girl set the clothes beside her. She said the clothes would keep her warm. she was cold...but her fur was supposed to keep her warm, not man made fabric! She looked over at the clothes. There was a pair of cotton pants and a light brown fur parka. Primis stared--light brown fur--mother she thought in her new language. That startled her. She always thought in wolf, but now she thought in common? She looked back at the girl, this time she truly looked at her, looking to see if she had any resemblance to the man that killed her mother. She had black hair, not brown, her eyes were wrong, her skin darker than the mans. And when she spoke it sounded nothing like the angry cry of the scarred man. The girl introduced herself then, Sisal. The name flowed off the girls tongue. Whats yours? Name? Her name was pup. But the voice informed her that pup wasn't a proper name... She opened her mouth to say she didn't have a name, but then closed it again, not wanting to talk to a murderer. Then her stomach growled and she looked down, clasping her hands on her stomach.