Spirit Animals: The Keeper

Chapter One: Riza

Staying halfway hidden in the swaying grass and spreading shadows, Freya stalked through the tall grass, moving at a slow, steady pace. She was stepping carefully and quietly, just like her father had taught her, advancing quietly. Any sudden movements or sounds could send her prey running to the hills. She doesn't have time to hunt down another.
The stag lowered its antlered head to nibble at the grass. It was young, but she knew that it could outrun her by a mile.
Coming to a standstill, Freya eased an arrow to the string of her bow. The stag abruptly looked up as the arrow flew true, it had hit stag's chest on the side. The stag collapsed onto the ground and the stag's herd had stampeded as the ridden hunters came riding after the some of the stag's herd.
This stag would matter to Freya's tribe. According to her tribe's tradition, a child who comes of age must do their most greatest talent before the Bonding Ceremony. Freya's greatest talent both hunting and keen instincts, her family and friends approves of Freya's gift.
Freya knelt beside the fallen animal and whispered, "I'm sorry for taking your life, my friend. I need to prove my worth to my tribe. I had made a clean shot so you won't suffer. Please forgive me."
Freya whistled softly and her graceful mare had trotted towards her. Storm looked back at Freya, and she looked back at her. Her mane and tail were a dark brown, her white blaze zigged zagged like lightning, her eyes was a gentle brown, perfectly matching for her black fur. She has a noseband-less bridle, along with a saddle and a orange riding blanket. Freya had picked her fallen prey and tied up her stag to the saddle.
She mounted Storm and rode back to camp. She saw many tents down the hill as soon as she had arrived. Many of the tribe were getting ready for the Bonding Ceremony. Freya felt the extra pressure of proving herself, because her family were a mix of all of Erdas. But it soon ended up in Amaya after Freya's mixed father had married Freya's Amayan mother. Some of the tribe kids occasionally tease her of her mixed heritage, but it's quite rare for somebody to have such a mixed heritage. But unfortunately for Freya, she had been separated from her parents during an invasion back at the countryside of Oceanus and Freya had been sent back to the Jaguar Tribe.
That's when she saw her aunt and uncle. Her aunt has wavy dark brown hair, warm green eyes, pale complexion, she had inherited her aunt's feisty spirit. But her uncle is tall and muscular, he has a bald head with a dark brown beard and mustache, blue eyes, and fairly tanned skin. Freya had inherited most of her father's looks with her sandy-blonde hair, deep ocean blue eyes, and fairly tanned skin.
Her uncle was skinning a hare that one of her older cousins had caught earlier today for their lunch. While her aunt was sewing Freya's blue dress for the Bonding Ceremony.
"Aunt Megan! Uncle Josh!" called out Freya excitedly.
"Freya, you are the last one to return with your gift to the tribe," Uncle Josh stated with a proud smile.
"Let's get you ready," said Aunt Megan with a smile.
While Uncle Josh was taking care of the stag and giving it to the tribe's Greencloak and soothsayer, her mother had started to help Freya get ready for the ceremony. After Freya had slipped on the simple, but beautiful light blue dress tied with a white rope, her aunt had helped her with her makeup and braided her sandy hair with four feathers that represents the elements of nature: a orange feather for fire, a blue feather for water, a white feather for wind, and a green feather for earth.
Freya took a deep breath, trying to calm down her racing heart. She never felt so nervous and excited before, but she felt a faint line of hope go through. **********************************
In the center of the village was an incredible amount of people. It didn't happen every day that the son of the tribe's chieftain would try to summon a spirit animal. Everybody had come to the event: the normal people, but also the real popular ones, young and old. Musicians played music, warriors stood by the chieftain and his family. There also was a chair for the chieftain and his family. It looked like there was a celebration. The chieftain and his family were great people and they always support the children's choices for their lives. Everybody was chanting the traditional chant of the Nectar Ceremony.
It was a warm, clear day. The hills, in which Freya would rather be now, lay in the background behind tent tops.
Freya had seen a few Nectar Ceremonies. She had never witnessed someone summoning a spirit animal, but she knew that the last eleven years it had happened more than once. The ceremonies she had witnessed hadn't been so spectacular. There where less people. There definitely weren't as many animals as now.
Many people believed that the change of summoning a spirit animal increased when there where lots of animals.
If that was really true, then Enapay (son of the chieftain) might be lucky. There weren't just animals you would have as a pet. There were birds with beautiful feathers, deers and moose, a few wildcats, three badgers and a snake. When Freya walked to the middle of the area, she wasn't really sure what to do.
While she scanned the enormous crowd, Freya tried to calm herself by saying that all the eyes would be on Enapay, not on her. Then Freya saw her aunt wave. Her cousins where next to her and her uncle.
They were all there. Seeing her family made part of the stress leave, but it was replaced by want to be home — to have fields to walk through, rivers to swim through, forests to wander through. At home, she had done fair work, in the fresh air: sharpen her arrowheads, track their prey, feed the dogs and horses. Their tent was small yet nice, Freya's cousins lives in the other tents with her other aunts and uncles.
Freya nodded to her mother as she joined them. Standing before them were two Greencloaks. Freya knew the man, Baishan, his shining graying hair was tied into a ponytail. His spirit animal — a snow leopard — Azar was by his side. Baishan had lead the Nectar Ceremonies for years. He had given the nectar to her older cousins too.
The other Greencloak was a strange man, tall and muscular, around his early teens, with broad shoulders, messy brown hair, and a face just as weary as she. His skin was lighter than that of the people around him, like he was from the northeast of Nilo or the southwest of Zhong; an uncommon sight here, in the middle of Amaya. His animal wasn't visible, but Freya's eyes fell on the edge of a tattoo, which was under the sleeve of the young man. A wave of curiosity rushed through her. It meant that the spirit animal of the stranger was momentary sleeping on his arm.
Baishan raised his hands to tell the people to be quiet. The unknown man took a step backwards so he got all the attention. Freya wondered why the man was here. It probably had something to do with Enapay his high status, just like all the other special things. Baishan started talking, "Hear all, people of the Jaguar Tribe! Today, we are here to do one of the most important things in the whole of Erdas, at the sight of human and animal. A bond between those two makes both stronger, and today we will find out if such a special bond will start its existence by one of these three children: Enapay, son of Achak, Luna, daughter of Diego, and Freya, daughter of Harak."
"Enapay, son of Chief Achak, step forth."
When Enapay's name was said, a loud applause started, which stopped when the other names where called. Freya just had to wait until it was all over with, but unfortunately she lacked in patience. Enapay would get to drink the nectar first, the special place.
Freya wondered how the animal would look. Baishan took a step back and a deep silence was thrown over the entire area as Enapay looked at the sky with closed eyes. A moment went on. Somebody coughed. Nothing special happened. Enapay looked around, surprised.
Freya had heard that a spirit animal would come straight after you drank the Nectar, and otherwise you hadn't summoned anything. Enapay stood and looked around. Nothing seemed to be coming. The crowd started murmuring.
Baishan looked at the chairs with hesitation and Freya followed his gaze. The chieftain was sitting on his throne, his jaguar sat next to his chair, his expression showed great disappointment. Even though he had a spirit animal, he was wearing his traditional green cloak made of green feathers instead of the clothed green cloak.
Baishan looked at the unknown Greencloak behind him, who gave him a curt nod.
"Thank you Enapay," he said. "Luna, daughter of Diego, come forth."
Enapay stared in front of him, but the way he stood, it had showed how ashamed and upset he was. He swiftly looked at his father and immediately looked towards the ground.
Luna drank the nectar, and just as Freya had expected, nothing happened. She tried her best to ignored the onlookers watching her and kept her eyes on Baishan.
"Freya, daughter of Harak, come forward."
Freya got up and ignored all of the people by simply looking only at Baishan.
It was however exciting to find out how the nectar tasted. However it tasted, by tasting the Nectar there would officially be an end to her childhood. Freya kneeled before Baishan. He was looking at her with a warm smile and there was curiosity in his eyes.
Freya drank the Nectar. It was a thick, and very sweet, like fruit dipped in chocolate. It became solid in her mouth. It was delicious. She had never tasted something so good.
The ground started shaking. The birds screeched. Deers brayed. The bear roared. The moose bellowed. The wildcats yowled.
The ground started shaking. The sky turned darker, like there was a cloud blocking the sun. A bright flash ran through the air, but closer then Freya had ever seen. The people gasped and started murmuring. Freya was blinded by the flash and blinked desperately to try and see something again. Warm feelings spread through her chest towards her arms and legs like fire. It was strange, but she felt unusually excited.
This light didn't have anything soft. Suddenly, a flaming firewall appeared, brighter than a campfire. It cast long shadows over the village. Some people shouted, shocked. When the light dissolved, a tigress had remained.
Freya's entire body shook and she watched with amazement.
The tigress was big and strong, twice the size of the chief's jaguar, with a beautiful, shining pelt. Her pelt was in the stunning mix of shimmering amber and gold, streaked with black stripes, along with a pure white underbelly and neck. There were white patches around her green eyes like white eyeshadow.
Nobody said a thing and continued watching her with the tigress. With fluid movements, her muscles churned underneath her pelt, the majestic animal walked towards Freya with such elegance and strength with a hint of pride and cheekiness, her fur seemed to radiate with power. She nuzzled her leg and they both met each other's eyes, Freya somehow knew that they were confirmed as equals. As soon as Freya was touched, the feeling that she was being electrified disappeared. Suddenly, Freya lowered herself down to the tigress's level. The village suddenly seemed very strange and cramped. She wanted to leave. She wanted to run really fast over the fields, and creep, hunt, climb, and swim.
The tigress nuzzled her again and made an end to the stream of instincts which made her feel dizzy. Freya stood straight again and still barely understood what was going on. The animal that was standing next to her could eat her with one bite.
The tigress looked up to her with a confident, but calm and determined expression. The animal was big and wild, but she seemed perfectly capable of controlling herself. Freya found it rather impressive that such a predator treated her with so much respect. Behind these green eyes seemed to hide more respect than seemed possible for an animal.
"A tigress?" commented a child.
The remark started a lot of whispering. The tigress stepped back a few steps away from Freya, feeling curious, and looked at the tigress. She has gorgeously beautiful green eyes, shining like emeralds. But that was impossible.
But Freya knew she had to name her spirit animal. A great name that matches the greatness, the beautifulness, and fierceness that her tigress was carrying within her. Freya lowered herself again and nervously started petting the beautiful tigress. Freya closed her thoughtfully, thinking up a good name for her tigress that will suit her perfectly.
"Riza," whispered Freya as reopened her eyes, she looked up and met the wildcat's eyes. "Is it okay I'll name you Riza?"
The tigress had let out a rumbling purr. She started sniffed Freya's face, her whiskers tickled her face. Freya could smell the scent of fresh wildflowers and the forest from her spirit animal.
She ran a hand through the tigress's coat with a smile before she said, "Riza it is then."
Tigresses were hardly ever summoned. Male tigers maybe, but almost never tigresses.
But it had happened. It was clear and unexplainable. A full-grown tigress gently rubbed her head against Freya's hand as she petted the wildcat's head. The chieftain leaned forward with a thoughtful expression. Enapay boiled with jealousy, and his younger brother named Koda grinned, amazed though. Her family had awestruck expressions and her younger cousin, Chase, was grinning with amazement.
The strange man in the green cloak stepped forward, towards Freya.
"I'm Keith," he said softly. "I have traveled far to find you. If you stay with me nothing will hurt you. I don't want to force you to make our vow if you're not ready yet, but you have to listen to me. There's a lot depends on you now."
Freya nodded without saying anything. It was all too much right now. Keith raised Freya's hand high in the air and said. "People of Jaguar Tribe! The news of today will go through Erdas. The Keeper has returned!"