Amara Stark's Story

Amara

Amara slowly blinked awake, eyes rolling for a moment as she tried to find balance in the world. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the sky through the black shapes of the tree leaves above her. As she was coming to, she heard the roar of Koda and felt the ground tremble under his weight as he hit all fours. What was he doing? She slowly rolled her head over to the side and saw him getting ready to charge at Shard. "Koda." Her voice was soft, and she slowly struggled to sit up. "Koda!" Regaining her balance and bearings, Amara's eyes grew wide and she forced her voice louder.

She used the tree behind her to help come to her feet, and reached out a shaky hand. "Koda, it's okay. I'm okay." She leaned most of her weight against the bark of the tree, hoping the bear would not rip the little panther to shreds after she just got done healing him. Her sight was waning in and out, but with each passing minute she could see more clearly. Reaching up she wiped the blood from her upper lip, and smeared it against her scrubs. "It was just a nosebleed. I'm fine. See?"

At first the beast didn't seem to respond, and only charged forward at the panther in front of it. But as Amara stepped in front of the beast's path. Even a little after that, he didn't realize that what was standing in front of him was Amara. "Koda!" He could hear, but it took him a long moment to understand where it was coming from. It was coming from Amara, she was begging for him to stop. But stop wasn't something the beast was going to do. Still gaining speed, Koda's jaws opened up as he was about 20 feet from the 3. Even though Koda had been taken over by the beast, he was going to fight it until the end.

Suddenly the beast threw the brakes on, and went into full stop. Crushing his paws into the ground, and digging his hind paws into the dirt, Koda started to slow down till he stopped a mere few feet from the 3, standing in front of them on all fores..

After a long moment of closing his eyes, Koda looked up at Amara from the ground with a look of happyness, delight, sorrow, and pain. Koda suddenly reached forward, standing up on both legs again, and scooped the girl up into his arms, holding her in his still bloody and mangled fur.

Kai

Kai sighed in relief. Amara had managed to calm the enraged bear down. With a slight sway she realized how tired she was and how tired the others must be. Time to get to the village.

"Now I think we should head for the village, I can give you food and rest and you can all get cleaned up and then tomorrow when we're refreshed we can figure out what you want to do, whether you want to stay or leave is up to you." She would need to speak with Gordon immediately but that was the easy part.

Without waiting for a response she motioned for them to follow her and headed out into the forest, finding the nearly hidden path easily. It was a short trip if they followed this path and would only take them about two hours to walk. Good thing too because the sun was starting to set by the time they arrived.

Two guards were lounging around when she arrived and they stood to blink in surprise at her and the group she had found. The taller one spoke first.

"Miss Kai... I admit we thought you would surely end up dead or worse... seeing you alive is... a relief. I imagine you wish for the leader to be informed right away?"

"Yes Peter. But I need these guys to be taken to my residence now. Gordon will want to meet them but that will have to wait until tomorrow. We are all very tired."

She shorter one was eying them cautiously before speaking. "Hey. Why hasn't that bear turned back to human yet Kai?"

She bit her lip. "He doesn't seem to be able to. But he's still....he still thinks and understands perfectly. Anyway guys I'm going to have my friend Peter escort you to the place you'll be staying. The woman there will provide you with as much food and clothes as you'll need. Is everyone all right with that?"

Amara giggled as the bear hugged her, covering her in even more blood. "Now I think we should head for the village, I can give you food and rest and you can all get cleaned up and then tomorrow when we're refreshed we can figure out what you want to do, whether you want to stay or leave is up to you." came from Kai, the panther. Amara glanced nervously to Koda, then crawled up him and onto his shoulders, sitting there for the remainder of their walk. The trees didn't look so tall from Amara's 9 foot tall view (Koda's 7 foot height, plus the two feet of her own torso). Something about this village just didn't sit right with Amara. She felt like she was trading in one cage for another, and the feeling only grew as she saw the two guards keeping post outside of the village.

"Hey. Why hasn't that bear turned back to human yet Kai?" Amara tensed up. What if they wouldn't let Koda in? She gripped him a little tighter, and huddled close to him. "..guys I'm going to have my friend Peter escort you to the place you'll be staying. The woman there will provide you with as much food and clothes as you'll need. Is everyone all right with that?" No... "Okay.." she said. "As long as Koda gets to stay with me."

Amara had Koda follow Peter, and they were led to a nice looking residence. A very charming woman met them, and made Amara feel a lot better. She reminded Amara of her own mother. The lady led them through an archway outside, around the side of the residence where doors could be seen. "I'm not leaving him." Amara's words were strong, and blunt. The woman seemed amused, and told her she could, of course, stay with her friend. The woman also told Amara where she could find a place to bathe Koda, and a place inside to wash herself. Amara almost died of happiness. A bath! Oh, how wonderful that would be!

The room that was given to Koda and Amara was rather large, as to be spacious enough for the bear. A nice bed in one corner, and a dresser. The sweet housekeeper informed Amara that if she would go out and wash Koda, that when she returned, there would be clothes for Amara and a bed made on the floor for Koda. Amara thanked her and climbed down from Koda, so as to led him to the water. "I hope you don't mind baths!" Amara called up to him, taking the soap and two large towels from the lady. Amara walked out in front of Koda. "C'mon, Koda!"

The water was just inside the woods, and looked like it was where the villagers washed their clothes. A small waterfall and a large pool of water with a few rocks for drying or scrubbing clothes. It looked nice. "Okay, Koda, in the water. In the water, Koda, c'mon!" She let out a high pitched squeal as the bear went into the water, throwing waves up onto her due to his size. Giggling, she wadded into the water with the soap. "I'm going to wash you, okay, Koda? Just to get the blood off... cause... well... YOU STINK!" she giggled and hugged his paw. "I'm only joking..." then, mumbled "sorta." She used an abandoned washer bucket to scoop the water up and pour over his flanks, then used the bar of soap to scrub the blood from his fur. His fur was a bubbly, soapy foam within minutes.Cleaning Koda allowed Amara to forget about all the horrible things that had happened in the past couple days, and she began to relax, and even sing.

"Oh please ne'er forget me though waves now lie o'er me
I was once young and pretty and my spirit ran free
But destiny tore me from country and loved ones
And from the new land I was never to see.
A poor emigrant's daughter too frightened to know
I was leaving forever the land of my soul
Amid struggle and fear my parents did pray
To place courage to leave o'er the longing to stay."

She sang, her voice much like a child's but melodic all the same. She sang as she scrubbed, watching the blood from his fur melt away into the water and float down the stream. Tossing the soap onto the shore, she scooped up more water from the bucket and began to rinse him off.

She crawled out of the water first, and then called him after her, grabbing the two large towels and drying him off. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight of him. His fur poofed out and standing on end, he looked a little funny. "All clean." She smiled. "Let's get you something to eat, and me a shower. I must smell awful. You're such a gentleman for not saying anything about it. I know you could probably smell from from eight miles away with that nose of yours." She walked them back to the residence and opened the sliding door for him to follow her in. Luckily the ceiling was pretty high, high enough for him to only have to crouch a little when standing.

Amara smiled at the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor. "That's your bed, Koda" she told him. "I don't think they could find one big enough... I hope it's okay?" She then turned to the door the lady had showed her. The bathroom. "I'm going to get a bath, you don't... kill anyone. Okay? I mean it!" she eyed him for a moment to make sure he knew how serious she was, and then she slipped into the bathroom. She peeled off her bloody clothes and slipped into the hot bath water. She couldn't help but smile; it felt great! She bathed quickly, and dried herself off. On the back of the bathroom door was a navy blue nightgown that went to her ankles. She slipped it on over her wet hair and smiled. The cotton was soft and warm, like it had been dried in the sun that day. It smelled wonderful, too.

She pushed the door back open and looked to see if Koda was still there. What she saw made her stumbled back into the bathroom door laughing. Koda, the seven foot tall bear, was sitting in his pile of blankets with a large white sheet over his head, pawing at it from the inside. "Oh, Koda!" Amara giggled. You silly bear...

After watching Koda for a while, Amara heard her stomach growl a little. A bowl of fruit and meat lay on the floor for Koda, and on the door was a note. ' Dear little one, if you are hungry feel free to help yourself to food in the kitchen. Turn left out of your room, go down three doors, take the stair case on your right, then it's two doors on the left.' Just the thought of food made her stomach mumble a little louder, demanding to be fed. It has been a while since I ate anything.. she thought to herself. "I'll be back, Koda. I'm going to get something to eat..." She slipped out of the room, and closed the door behind her. The hallway was longer than she expected. Gingerly, she began to walk through the house, nervously toying with her still damp hair.

Now let's see... take a left out of the room.. was it two doors? Or three? Stairs? She stopped in the middle of the hall. She had been so excited to eat that she didn't think to really pay that close of attention to the letter on her door. Looking around, she spotted a door just ahead of her. Biting her lower lip, she decided to try it. Maybe this led to the stairs? Cautiously she knocked and then slowly opened the door. It wasn't the staircase.

Redge was a sleep on his bed. "Oh, I'm sorry, Redge," she whispered. She blushed a little and took her hand off the door knob. Redge's room looked a lot like hers. The same small bed, dresser, and window, only Amara had a huge sliding door attached to the courtyard and Redge didn't. I guess the door was more for Koda than for me.. she thought to herself. Koda. She had left him alone in the room. Glancing over her shoulder she hoped that the room would still be in one piece when she got back to it. Seeing as the panther was asleep, she gently closed the door to his room and proceeded to try and find the kitchen.

When she did, she fixed herself some soup. Once she was finished she noticed a brown bag with a strap on it. Thinking of her idea, and of Koda, made her stomach twist. But she didn't belong here. She took the bag and filled it with some cans of soup, rice, beef jerky, and a jug of water. It was heavier now, of course, but the bear in her said it weighed nothing. She made her way back to her room, quiet as a mouse. She wasn't stealing. The female panther had said to make herself at home.

She found the dresser in her room, being careful not to wake Koda, and slowly began to slip the multiple changes of clothes into the bag. Luckily, most of it fit. She took the blanket from the bed and rolled it up, tucking it under her arm. She recalled matches and a candle in the bathroom, so she went and added them to her loot. She gently closed the sliding door that she had left open earlier behind her after one last sad look at Koda. She just couldn't stay here. It wasn't the place for her. With a heavy heart, she took off at a light sprint. Sure, she was still tired, but the soup had restored some of her strength.

She ran and ran until she was far, very far, from the village lights.