"Wake up, Friu!" Someone yells at me.
"What is it?" I ask.
"The village elders are sending out this years' teenagers to find their spirit animals today!" My friend, Nio, calls from the door of my treehouse. I get out of bed hurriedly to follow her to the great weeping willow tree in the middle of the village, where the Counsel of the Elders meet once every year to send out kids who are fifteen years old.
"Hurry, or we'll be late!" I say, running down the vine platforms that connect the aboveground part of the village to the part on the ground. When we got to the base of the huge tree, half of the elders had already taken their pick for the team. Three still had to choose their pick. Our council has ten elders - it's a prestigious job.
"We have to be near the front." Nio says, finding a path through the crowd.
"Only three elders remain to choose who goes now." The Grand Elder, Sumato, said.
"Quickly." I whispered.
Soon, we were in the front of the crowd. "Hmm, I will choose... You." Norama said, pointing to Nio.
"Thank you, Norama." She said excitedly, hopping up on the vine platform. Well, at least Nio will get to go. I thought.
"Hmm, Ren. get up here." Orenji called. A relatively androgynous kid walked up onto the stage, eagerly taking a spot a few feet away from Nio.
"Kodai, it is your turn now." Sumato said.
"Yes, Grand Elder." Kodai responds, looking around at the gathered crowd. "Let's see... you there, near the front." He pointed to me as he said this.
"Thank you, Kodai, thank you." I say, practically jumping out of my sandals as I climb onto the platform, taking a spot in between Nio and Ren.
"We have our choices. Now go, off into the great woods,where you will find your spirit animals, and only then can you truly join the village. But remember, you may only come back when the entire group has found their spirit animals. Now, go get what you need, and then be off." Sumato said, motioning for us to go back home and pack. After that, we went to the edge of the woods and walked in, disappearing into the wilderness surrounding the village.
Well, what are everybody's names?" Nio asked as one group split off to go a different direction.
"Well, I'm Kazumi, and this is Ren and Charlie. Who are you?" One girl said as she pointed to herself, a shorter girl, and Ren, who I remembered from earlier. Kazumi had curly blonde hair down to her shoulders, and strikingly blue eyes. Ren had straight dirty blond hair around the middle of their back, they had deep brown eyes with rounded glasses. Charlie was shorter than the rest of the group, with chestnut brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"I'm Nio, and this is Friu." Nio responds.
"Where should we go first? My parents told me that a plan is necessary so we don't get lost, or killed by the many dangers out here." Ren said.
"Well, we should look around here first, just in case." I offered.
"Ok, well. Apparently our favorite animals could be a nod to which animals we need to find..." Kazumi started.
"Well, I've always liked cats." Ren said.
"Cats can be found most places, from the mountains to the savannah, around here, the taiga near the mountain, and even in the jungle." Charlie noted.
"That's a lot of places. Let's start looking around here first." Nio said, heading off into a thicket to our left.
"Wait! We can't lose each other!" I called after her.
YOU ARE READING
Animal Tails
Fantasy(one of Aspen's stories btw) In the ancient Enan forest, there was a place called Inoumli village, home to the mysterious animal people. Nobody quite knows how it works, but they have the mysterious ability to bond with their spirit animal to a poi...
