Kabu Tokki

The towers of Thajnut dominated the skyline and horizon to the west, but Kabu was usually interested in the east: where the forests lay. Her instincts had always been to head toward cover, to seek the pleasant dappled darkness of the woods. Though she was clearly civilized enough to want to wear nice clothing (gotten on a trip or two to Thajnut) she spent much of her free time carving the soft woods near her home into small likenesses of wolves, rabbits and foxes. Her mother, before she died, complained about this activity because it left behind so much sawdust and so little tangible results.

But to Kabu, and her little sibling Noku, these totems were the keys to a whole different world. A world where their father the woodcutter could spend an afternoon with them as animal friends protected them from harm, where he didn't have to walk so far into town to sell his wares. He was bigger than most Usagi, his own father was considered huge for even a human. It was a wonder that he found such a delicate Usagi wife, delicate enough that she died along with what would have been a third sibling... The carved foxes and bears, they spoke volumes to Kabu, they told her where to hide and when to run, told her where the ice was thick and where it might break.

She didn't realize that her actions were forming rudamentary magic, this settlement didn't have time for much magic, if they had an adequate healer it would have been a miracle - they hadn't had one when Kabu's mother died. The spots on her face would lend nice camouflage, some whispering spirit told her once. She would fit right in with the autumn leaves...

Kabu woke, to thunder. Such storms had driven many from the hills or the surrounding valleys into the city and its area - Kabu had even heard of whole villages being wiped out: human and Usagi alike. Nature had no care for whether someone had fur or not. But nature did have a way with alerting Kabu to things in advance.

A number of wolves howled in the forest nearby, after the peal of thunder shook their small house. Rumblings of water in the distance told Kabu that the stream to the north was swollen, unpassable. But why did she know, why did she care?

She stood up and dressed warmly, as warmly as she could given that they had very little to wear anyway. The spring was on its way and Usagi grew and shed fur constantly, but right now Kabu was still considered more child than teenager and didn't have much in the way of fat to keep her warm. She snugly tied a robe around herself, flipped up the hood, and escaped outside during another loud thunderclap.

She followed the sounds of the wolf pack, she could hear their soft whines and quiet yuffing over the hill. Anyone else might think that she would make a quick meal for such beasts. But these beasts all but knew her, as much as she knew them. They would not attack her, though they perhaps would not welcome her eagerly either. Wild, they were still part of the natural order.

"It's okay," she said to the wolf she first met two summers before, a massive grey and brown male. "They won't think to look for me until morning, I'll be back by then." The wolf chuffed gently, turned and walked into the more sheltered area below three thick trees.

The other wolves sat under a variety of shelters - they'd denned here for generations, there were hollows in the trees and those were well-used to having cubs in them. The only people who hunted these wolves were the aristocratic leaders of Thajnut, and they didn't really care if the wolves lived near the city or not. No one had ever thought of running off the animals, it would be like cutting one's own hand off - the wolves kept demons at bay, or so it was said.

These wolves, Kabu thought, kept many things at bay, demons not the least of them. She'd seen demons too, rising out of the battleground to the south. That king from the other big city, she forgot his name but knew he was the reason she had human blood in her veins, he'd chased the demons from his lands, and had helped other kings do the same. But the demons would come back time and again, erratically chasing after glories only they could imagine.

The wolves this night were warm, and since it was raining they let Kabu sit near them. The alpha, the big grey, gazed at her with stunning yellow eyes and tilted his head. In a lull of the storm, he rose, and pushed a small piece of bark toward the girl. She smiled, picking it up, and began breaking small bits off of its edges. It wasn't a whittled wedge, but it would do. She made the outline of a running wolf with it, it wasn't so hard because it was halfway that shape already.

"You see?" She said, holding it out to the male, "it's you, I've seen how you race with the wind... Are you chasing food when you run? Or do you just like doing it?"

The wolf blinked at her and spoke in a strange, gruff voice. "I like to run, it keeps us healthy and strong, and shows us our territory."

Though a small part of Kabu's mind balked at the wolf actually speaking to her, the rest of her was thrilled. "I see!" She said, "your territory must be very large, then," she said looking around the treetrunk, "I remember seeing you by the lake and that's miles away."

"The lake, the top of that hill, this wood, and the grove where your sire breaks the trees down, those are all our land to hunt." He said.

"All that way?" She said, trying to remember where the top of the hill might be, and realizing it was more than twelve miles to the north-west. "But your family is small, isn't it hard to defend?"

"My family is very strong," the wolf said, sitting down and putting his head on his paws. "Your family is small and strong too."

Kabu looked at the running-wolf totem, and brushed away her wet hair from her eyes. "I remember that you howled when my mother and little baby brother died," she sighed. "Did you just know?"

"You told us," he said. "Your magic told us, and we would come to your aid, if you were in danger. Such is the nature of your magic."

The rain gently swept down the hillside, and eventually the light of morning peeked through the cleft between the mountains. Kabu woke with a start, it was late, her father would be frantic!

She stood - cracking her back and shaking life into her chilled toes, and was about to start running back toward the house, when the wolves stood with her. They paced around, and Kabu wasn't sure why they were doing so. The smallest, the omega female, bristled with worry.

"What is it?" Kabu whispered, but the speech magic from the night before was lost now, or the male just didn't feel like talking any longer. But he did lead her out of the dense wood and into the glade nearby. There, they waited. Kabu heard her father yelling her name, and the girl shrilly called back that she was in the cutting grove.

They heard him crashing through the wet leaves and fallen sticks, with an axe in his hand and fire in his eyes. But when he saw a pack of seven fully grown wolves surrounding his daughter, he froze.

"Kabu, don't move, I'll get my bow."

"Oh no father," she laughed, "they're my friends. They were worried for me last night, didn't you hear them howling?"

A scowl moved across the tan-furred man's face, "I heard wolves, but...well, they haven't harmed you, anyway..." He shrugged. "Are they going to let you come to me?"

Kabu looked at the wolves, who were still nervous and agitated. Then, they looked up into the air, where the stormy sky was half-blue without clouds. A great shape moved through the gap between cloud and sky, and came to rest nearby on the other side of the glade. A dragon, with a human rider... Or .. was it? The dragon was small, white with red and green markings. And the person who came from its back was a Usagi!

She lit to the ground with ease, and removed her riding hood, displaying a huge mop of brilliant white hair, tipped with blood red color. Kabu's father took in a breath... he knew who this was. He knelt onto one knee, putting his head down so his ears touched the ground.

"Oh stop that, I don't like it when people do that, unless they're in the city," Sean said, "please do get up..." She looked at the wolves, who were remaining but at a bit of distance between them and the dragon. "She's safe, she doesn't eat demonguards." The alpha male chuffed and the pack turned to vanish into the depths of the woods yet again.

"Well that's interesting," Queen Sean of Gelgela said, "the wolves protecting you?" She looked at Kabu, "you're pretty powerful."

"Thank you ma'am," Kabu did her best curtsey, "What is that?" She pointed at the dragon, and Sean laughed.

"She's Ajandeykth, my dragon. I'm here to find you, I think. There is something you might be interested in, indeed," she looked at the dark path where the wolves had vanished, "definitely, if you're a totem-builder, you'll be interested."

"In what, ma'am?" Kabu asked. Her father was beside himself, the queen of Gelgela was here, and his daughter was chatting with her like nothing was amiss!

"Wolves seem to like you," the white Usagi said, "would you like to meet some different wolves? There is a wolfkeep with some many pups in need of homes. They're not quite like these," she waved her hand at the shadows, "but you would still find them good companions. If you wanted to, I could take you there and back."

"Wait, wait," Fandu said, finally, "my daughter belongs here!"

"And here she shall come back," Sean said with a pretty smile and a wink. "She can obviously fend for herself, and you might be surprised at what you'd find her able to do with her magic."

"I ... couldn't teach her, either of my children," Fandu said and his ears lowered, "I'm not very good with magic, myself."

"Then perhaps your village would do well with some of these wolves to help out," Sean said. "I give my word, woodsman, your daughter will return to you whole and sound, and with gifts. If there's one thing I've learned in my years of traveling about, you can't keep someone from their destiny, no matter where it is found."

"Daddy, I wish to go!" Kabu said, excitedly. "And I could come back and learn more and more! I could teach maybe," her ears tilted, "maybe if I'm good enough at it..."

"We'll teach you," Sean promised. Fandu turned and beckoned his daughter.

"Promise to be good, behave yourself," he said. "Don't you want to bring anything?"

"The wolves called me out and this is what I took," Kabu said, indicating herself, "but I would like my carving tools, can I have those?"

"Of course you can," Sean said. They went back to the humble house of log and mud, and Sean couldn't help but notice the headstones near the side of the place - one big, and one small. It was such a pity that life wasn't easier for her people, but such it was everywhere. Humans couldn't breed as fast as Usagi, didn't mature as quickly, but they died in childbirth just as often. Sean seemed to relish the warm, cozy interior of the house, and patiently waited looking at all the little whittled objects strewn about. Every flat surface, every jutting log had a little bear, or deer, the totems which Kabu made and brought to her with magic. The wolves, she knew, were the special bond she'd have.

Prepared now with a pack and bedroll just in case, Kabu kissed her father good bye, and snuggled with Noku before bidding them a temporary farewell.

As they got to the glade again, and Sean helped the girl onto the back of the small dragon, Kabu asked, "where is it we're going?"

"To Alair WolfKeep," she replied, "where a number of ... well, they're winged wolves, not regular ones, have had a festival of sorts - they've too many pups to take care of, and they want to make sure they all find the right home..."

"Winged!" Kabu exclaimed, she would have clapped her hands had they not already been clutching Sean's strong waist. They lurched into the air, and Kabu wondered just how this little dragon would suppor them both... But she did, and shortly - through time and the Nexus - they arrived on another world, in another era...

***

Kabu looked at the Queen with a broad smile. "I can handle this, I ... I can almost feel them, from here. So many of them. I wonder if my magic works here?"

"Of course it will," Sean promised Kabu, "I will know if you need aid getting home. If you require more... space on a dragon's back, I shall send my husband and his dragon - Birth is much larger than Aja' here." She waved her pale hand at the white dragon, who huffed. "Well he is, he's even big for one his color, and you know it... Fit for a king you know," she added slyly to Kabu, and then hefted herself back onto the white dragon's back.

Kabu was left at Alair Wolfkeep with that same broad smile on her face. The sound of yipping and little immature howls came but also a kind of hum of speech. They spoke, properly, Kabu thought. With words, not like in her half-dreams, where she knew she could understand the wolves speech but her father and sister could not.

She brought her pack and herself into the Keep's grounds, where she was welcomed and showed around by one of those winged wolves. She wasn't sure which one - there were many here, bustling with activity.

And there were dragons, too, of all sorts. Some blipped in and vanished shortly, the way that the Queen and hers had, while others cruised in and landed, settling in for the day. Kabu watched all this for several afternoons, but also began to ask around.

Where could she learn to control her magic?

She did learn of a place that was not near the Wolfkeep - but a place where she knew the wolves may be accepted as well. She knew that her magic was focused, knew there might not be anyone to be able to teach her the specifics she needed. She decided to wait for the pups to be brought around to find their caretakers, before trotting off to locate this Treval school of theirs. Maybe she wouldn't even need it.

***

The Usagi Kabu had befriend her three early. Not long after she had gotten to Alair. Finding them was hard even after they began to drift into groups. Eshah Aller kept enticing Miola Asonyad into a bit of play fighting while they followed Kabu around trying to find the last one. Ayhan Alynn was happily crawling over his mother, Segarra Sintann, rather then going out to do what he was suppose to. Of course, his other siblings were also keeping close to their mother. When Kabu came up to the High Alpha of Rerir, she placed her hands on her hips and sighed. “Ayhan! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come on!”

The puppy looked up, slipped and fell to the other side with a muffled yelp. Segarra muttered something in Marl but made no move to help Kabu get her son away from her. In truth, Segarra didn’t want any of them to leave and had quickly rounded her children up from the group so prevent them from leaving. Some, however, had already managed to escape her so she sent Alynn to find them. “There are others you can take,” Segarra suddenly said lazily. “I decided to keep mine and bring them back to Rerir.”

Kabu didn’t know what to say and started to leave, annoyed and wondering what she should do – and if Segarra could really do that. Miola suddenly yelped and Kabu looked down to find that Ayhan had pounced on her. Baby snarls came from the scuffle. “You escaped your mother?”

A white paw suddenly came down between the pups and Ayhan came face to face with his father who said nothing, only stared. With a guilty giggle, the young male shook out his coat and turned to follow Kabu. Alynn didn’t say anything to the Usagi but he did nod and walked back to a sulking Segarra.

***

"I didn't know she'd be so... angry to see you leave," Kabu said to little Ayhan. He gave a little whine and fluffed his still-growing wings. He wasn't remarkably talkative, but he was so vocal at the same time. Giggling, yipping, howling and growling were commonly heard from him. On the other hand, Eshah gave off lots of helpful hints and talked most of their way to a dragon staging area.

"Are we really going to Treval? It'd be a shame if Ayhan didn't learn some magic, because his mom's like the strongest of everyone, and I think his dad is pretty good at something too but I've never seen what he does." (What a surprise, Kabu thought, since the cub was still less than three months old and there had been little in the way of need for anyone to bring out their big magical powers!) "But I think Miola's going to be better than me at stuff because he's just like that, he always gets away when I try to chase him, maybe there's something making him fast or turning him invisible - because you know I can never find him when we're playing hide and seek! Never! Well there was that one time but that was because he fell asleep!"

"Eshah, darling?" Said the young Usagi, "we're going to need to be quiet now. I have to listen to the man about flying to Treval. We don't want to miss that flight, do we?"

Silenced, her muzzle clamped shut by Miola's paws in fact, Eshah blinked and shook her head a bit- in as much as Miola allowed her to. The time they would be spending at the magic school at Treval was going to be well spent, Kabu hoped.

She and her pups, along with a couple from other litters and their wolfen caretaker Allain, showed up for flights off to Treval on big dragons. The trip was even faster than that which brought her to this world - probably these dragons were used to going between the two places.

Nervously she signed herself up, and introduced Ayhan to the locals. The reaction that he got was strange - and oddly familiar. When they were bedded down in their dorm after the big arrival Kabu realized what it was. They knew who his lineage was, they treated him with expectations like she'd never thought of. Would anyone ever treat her that way?

***

Though it was an odd magic to train, the mages at Treval managed to find someone who could help with Kabu's totemic magic. She was never going to be a true Mage, but now after almost a year she had such control over not only the magic forces within her hands and heart, but she could carve that much better. She could now summon specific wolves by sight, and she was sure that with a little more practice she'd conquer the more abbreviated 'shortcut' carvings so she could carry around just images of the heads of these wolves she knew so well. She wondered if any of the wolves back home would resent her for doing these things - but realized that no, they were a part of her as much as the land itself was, she was part of their 'territory'.

How would they respond to these winged wolves, though... That would be something else. Ayhan was quick to learn, though he was still, even into his first year of life, rather more giggly and noissome than a proper Mage ought to act. He had become a water Mage, able to manipulate the element with ease. Almost anything from protecting from rains and hail, to causing storms, purifying water by the pond-full, sensing and casting his mind through it. He could walk over it, breathe it, shape it. Water bent to his will, which was good...

Because when they were brought home (in fact, by the King, Sapadt, on his huge copper colored Birth) it had been a very dry year. Sean had explained before sending Sapadt, in letters, that if she so desired the dragons could take her to just a few days after she'd gone away. But that seemed unnatural to Kabu, she'd rather know that her family had learned to get by without her, to hopefully grow hopeful of her return.

She dearly wanted to see them again, of course. When they arrived into the same clearing where she'd left from, it was brittle and there was a snap of static in the air. As though any moment a fire might break out - so Ayhan went to work immediately, summoning water from deep below the ground to nourish the woods and grasses nearby. It would be a disaster to Kabu's family, being woodsmen and carvers, to have a fire here.

The pack of normal wolves came at once, their number increased by two young cubs who looked a little lean due to the drought. It was so different from when she'd left, after a huge rainstorm. The wolves smelled the water on the ground and carefully went up to the trio of young magic-bearing winged wolves.

It didn't surprise Kabu in the slightest when they spoke to her, "you've brought some ... interesting new friends," said the alpha. "And as long as they work for their share of the meat, I will welcome them into the pack... unless they would have their own."

"We will want to talk about it," answered Miola boldly. "We are not governed by the land, our parents lived in keeps of stone and glass, instead of hillocks and tree trunks."

"Neither of those things are bad," said Ayhan softly, somber for a moment. "We will be staying close to Kabu, I will not take any of your kills from you," he announced to the Alpha. "But if you need us, we will be here, as you were here for Kabu."

"That sounds like a good idea," Eshah started, but Miola used a bit of telekinesis he'd developed just for the occasion, to shut her muzzle again. The pack wolves gave off chuckles of their own at that.

"We welcome you to run with us, let us show you the pack land, and where our borders are." The Alpha said, "you do not want to pass some of our borders, we keep demons away you know."

The trio of winged wolves sped after the pack, leaving Kabu with the twin grey-colored grounded wolf cubs, who happily snuggled down with her to wait their return.

This is a youthful female Usagi.

Fur: mousey shaded.
Marking color: coffee tipped pointed long ears.
Her face markings in above color are small dots on whole face.
Hair is medium length and tied back, taupe with marking-color tips.
Eyes: burnt umber.

The magic she specializes in is animal-totem (Wolf) manipulation/defense.

Genetic History: grandfather (father's side) Human.
Her mother has died, leaving the father, and she has a younger bigendered sibling.
Raised in the shadow of a big town (Thajnut).

She has a Boisterous disposition.