Wolf Tamer

Chapter Six: Words of Wisdom

They spoke for hours about everything, ranging from the wolf she had encountered, to Dai and his conquests, to the different ways they play in each other's lives and the responsibilities of being who they were. Rowan understood everything. He knew of the responsibilities, having had to take the position of shaman at a very young age. He didn't judge her for her anger, or even the fear she had felt when facing the wolf. Most in her village wouldn't have understood the terror of being ripped apart by the beast. And Anya wanted to cry from his understanding words, his kind touches, and the way he encouraged her to keep talking when she would let her words trail off when she felt like they didn't matter.

"So you're saying that this wolf talked to you inside your head?" Rowan murmured, sitting a little closer to Anya than he had been when they first started talking hours ago.

Anya nodded, rubbing the back of her neck as she leaned against the wall behind her, "It was very... eerie... It was like it could read everything I was thinking and then place the words it wanted me to hear directly into me." She breathed, trembling at the thought of it. But she was relieved she got to talk about it. Each day of not even acknowledging it had happened had threatened to eat her alive, and now it was all flooding out as if she had opened a gate inside of her and everything was rushing to escape.

The shaman didn't respond right away. He let the words sink in and he tapped his fingers against his leg, "I remember back when Monyack was alive and he would tell me stories of our ancestors being able to hold bonds strong enough between human and wolf that the two could communicate, though he had, of course, never personally saw the bond in place, so it could have all just been tales spun from Tale Weavers." A strand of his black hair fell into his eyes, the clipped cut brushing the tops of his ears though it was shaved in a star pattern on the neck. Anya had always liked his natural hair, and was horrified that he had to cover it with the old, dusty pelt he had to wear on a daily basis.

"So you're telling me this bonding stuff between me and wolves is an actual thing?" Anya gasped, staring at him with large, silver eyes. She tucked a strand of her platinum hair behind her head, not really enjoying the thought of the snarky wolf being in her head at all times.

Rowan rolled his eyes and stated, "Visions of one's title isn't an every day thing that just happens because it would make a good performance, Wolf Tamer. They are actual things that represent something of that person's abilities in the future." He tapped his fingers against her forehead, "How can you be friends with a shaman and not even believe in what we represent?" He muttered.

Brushing away his fingers, Anya rolled her eyes right back, "Okay okay, stop casting me disappointed side-looks, you pesty Sight Holder. But why did it suddenly resurface in me? Our tribes have gone without a Wolf Tamer for generations. Nobody even remembers who those people were and how everything vaguely works. We only have stories from the elders... What changed?" She sighed, letting her head tilt a little as she thought of any connections she could have in common with other Wolf Tamers, despite the obvious.

Rowan gazed up at the roof as a short breath left his chest, "I can go around and ask the different elders what their thought on the subject is. See how much they remember from their times as children and what their elders told them about the Wolf Tamer line. Though most of them are angry with me at the moment for blowing their aching bone treatments to converse with you." He pouted, looking over at Anya like she was the reason he was going to receive nothing but complaining and a few slaps to the back of the head next time he had to see the grumpy bunch of elders.

Anya laughed and winked at him, "Can't help you there. You wanted the job of seeing the future, prophecies, and taking care of the elder's achy bones." She cooed, leaning into him.

A sigh heaved out from him, "If I would have known I would be taking care of those grouchy mammoths I would have reconsidered being born a Sight Holder." He rolled his eyes, hiding his smirk as he stood.

"Oh stop being a baby." She cooed, pinching his cheeks after she stood up. He was taller than her, unnervingly so, her head coming to just in the middle of his chest. She was pretty short though, so most people were taller than her. Rowan was only a little bit shorter than the Fire Wielder who always seemed to be plaguing her thoughts.

Rowan smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him, "You're the baby here." He chuckled, knowing it pissed her off when he mentioned the twenty-eight seasons seperating them in age. He grunted from a punch to his gut, backing up with his hands held up in surrender, "Alright, alright." He smiled, his white eyes glittering in the sunlight that streamed in between the cracks in the straw above them and the wood planks making up the walls, "Don't you have a meeting with your father today?" He asked, looking at his fingernails as if she wouldn't be slaughtered if she were late.

And those words were what shook her from the haze she had been in the past few hours. "Fuck!" She wailed, scrambling out of the hut and pretending to ignore the laughs behind her so she wasn't tempted to go back and give him something to laugh at.