Alyshia

Bonding

Brooke Lyon waited in line with the other village children in the predawn cold. Her parents had left her to stand alone hours before, wanting to find seats where they could watch the testing taken place and have a chance to see first hand if their daughter would be the first from their line bonded to an animal. Every other family in their small village had at least one bonded pair, but not Brooke's family. For as far back as anyone could remember the Lyon clan had not produced an acceptable human for bonding. There was hope that Brooke would break this curse upon the family but she herself didn't believe it was possible. There was nutting special about her in any way, dull brown hair, dull brown eyes, and she was a terrible cook. No, nothing was very special about Brooke Lyon.

The massive oak doors to the walled off town square were slowly opened. Brooke wasn't the only one to give a gasp of surprise at the display before them. Before the village children lay the town square as they had never seen it before. Where they had so offer run and played their childhood games on the soft grass were pens of different animals. Clustered around the edge of the wide grass field were the adults and older children of the village waiting to see who would be chosen to be bonded and who would be doomed to walk alone forever.

The children ran into the square, shrieking and jumping with joy and excitement. Brooke stopped at the gates and watched as the other children ran from pen to pen, trying to touch as many of the animals as they could to see if they felt 'the change' in their minds. One by one children were being lead off with an animal following or leading them to a separate area where the link could be fully formed and tested.

Walking slowly Brooke approached the closest pen which held a group of animals she had never seen before. They had long legs with huge feet, each with three long toes with razor sharp talons at the ends. Their chests were covered with white feathers, while their stubby arms and backs were dark black. They had necks as long as their legs were with small heads equipped with wicked looking breaks and black beady eyes. After carefully looking over all the animals in the pen Brooke walked to the next, containing the largest lizards she had ever seen.

Each lizard was at least eight feet long, four feet in body length and four feet of tail. The giant lizards hissed and snarled at each other, saliva dripping from their open mouths. Appalled at the lizards constant fighting Brooke quickly walked to the next pen where a more familiar kind of animal was kept. Horses the size of a medium dog trotted in circles around their pen. There were horses of every coat color imaginable but they all had the same shockingly green manes and tails. As Brooke walked around the pen three of the tiny horses came over to her and nickered softly. Brooke gently touched each velvety soft muzzle before turning to the fourth pen.

In the fourth pen were animals that looked like a cross between a small monkey, a raccoon, and a long haired house cat. The whole group of these animals would sit together and comb through their neighbors fun, picking out grass and twigs, then suddenly they would all jump up and start running around and pouncing upon each other, only to stop and go back to grooming their new neighbors. Shaking her head and giggling in amusement Brooke turned to the last pen and stopped cold.

Standing alone at the edge of the fifth pen looking directly at Brooke was a wolf almost as big as she was. The wolf had dark fur, so dark it must be black and golden eyes that shone with light from inside as well as outside. The wolfs liquid eyes seamed to be drilling into her very soul. She stood frozen in place staring into the eyes that stared at her with equal intensity. Then another child touched the wolf and it shook its giant head and took a step back. Once out of the reach of children the wolf sat down and wrapped its tail around its paws like a cat would. Brooke ran towards the pen with the wolves in it and was amazed to see that all of the wolves were looking at her expectantly. Slowly the wolf who had so entranced her stood up and padded towards her, head low and tail waging. Brooke was close enough to see that the wolf was not black but a dark brown and dark grey brindle. She knelt down in the grass next to the pen and put her fingers through the fence. The dark wold raised its muzzle and touched Brooke's fingers, and suddenly she knew.

She knew what people meant by feeling 'the change' when you are chosen for bonding. She knew the wolf before her was the strongest female in her pack. Brooke knew her new partners name was DeathByWind. Brooke could feel DeathByWind's emotions and primal hunting urges and the contentment she felt at being bonded with Brooke. DeathByWind jumped over the fence and lead Brooke away from the town square and away from town. After half a mile DeathByWind stopped and sat down, looking towards the forest covered hills that lay to the south of the village. Brooke sat next to DeathByWind and asked out loud, not expecting an answer, "what are we doing here? Isn't there something we have to do to prove our bond?"

She revived an answer in her mind 'We wait. We talk. We share. How else will we pass the test and prove our knowledge of each other if we do not? Our test will come all to quickly and we must be ready or they will separate us and you will fail to live up to your promise. You of all people have a chance to do great things, you can bring peace to the world that has needed it for far to long. Here you are left alone, because this village is sheltered and protected, but once outside its boarders the world is a different place.'

"So how do we do that? Share, I mean. I don't think I'm the person you seam to think I am. I can't bring peace to anyone, but I'll share my life with you if you'll show me how."

'Like this' DeathByWind whispered into Brooke's mind. There was sudden blinding pain behind Brooke's eyes and then she passed out.