It had been 21 years now, to this day, that Kuma had lived within the Magical Forest of Faeorin. She cannot remember how or why she was in this place, but she has just known the forest itself for her life. She had learned many skills of survival within it's trees and beasts, having to have killed many to live and eat everyday. Unknowingly splattering her body with Magical Residue from these creatures and masking her presence from the Gods and Goddesses of the Revaliir. Though, Kuma had no way of knowing this, her only goals for now were to move from one part of the forest to another in hopes of food and shelter.

As Kuma grew up, she was able to make 'friends' with a few of the Faeries of the forest, unable to remember why this occurred. But, the faeries were able to keep Kuma safe until she was of age to be able to hunt for herself and strong enough to live in the forest on her own and without the guidance of those that watched over her growing body.

Now, Kuma knew her body was 'different' from others…but she wouldn't tell those she never knew her secret…not that she 'had' anyone to talk to of course, so her speech pattern was rather 'different' than most. As she grew with them, she was also able to pick up on the Fae language, though her Common was rather bad since she barely learns anything about it. 

Today Kuma would head deeper into the forest, to see what kinds of things she found, she clutched her hatchet with a nice grip and ready for anything that would come out.

Nyssa’s death only stymied her curiosity for a few weeks. It wasn’t long until she was reading a book about Parvpora that her interest began to be piqued by some of the things she was reading. Zephyra had come across a most interesting chapter in the book on a forest named Feeorin that was all blue and purple with effervescent glowing and all kinds of mythical creatures such as Fae and Chimeras. It did not take her long to hastily stow her book in a bag she kept packed with rations, water, a tent, bedroll, and a few odds and ends and head out.
 
It didn’t matter that the dagger on her belt was probably of very little use against any ill-meaning Fae creatures or Chimeras or Quilin. It didn’t matter that her horse spooked when she tried to ride him into the forest so she would have to continue the journey on foot. None of that mattered because the adventure was like fire in her blood and a child of Angela’s was a spitfire for certain. They were always known for their bold personalities just like their mother.
 
The first thing she saw when she walked in were the purple berries she read about. They glowed much like everything else in the forest. Thankfully she had done her research and knew not to eat or drink anything of this cursed forest. Instead she picked a branch of them and stuck them in her pack. When she got back home she wanted to study them and play around with her mother’s potions things to see what types of things these seemingly magical berries could do.
 
Zephyra walked a little further inward and ran into a beautiful and haunting looking Fae. Even she seemed to glow. She tried to entice her with wine and dancing and food but, her luck again, she had read that taking any such offer from a Fae would be a bad idea indeed. “Sorry, I really must be going.” The Fae seemed angry that she did not ensnare the human she wanted, but she did nothing to her as she could have.
 
Walking still further in she saw ahead what looked like a wild woman dressed in furs and leathers that were clearly handcrafted likely from some of her own kills. The woman’s skin was like caramel and her tools were also fashioned of the forest. Zephyra’s smile grew wide and, fearless as she was, she decided to make herself known. “Hello there. Do you know your way around these woods? I was just exploring them myself. I read about them and they sounded so interesting I just had to come see myself.” Then, with a laugh, she remarked, “It really is blue.”

Kuma had just been moving around, sniffing the area for any potential meats or new furs to replace some older ones of her outfit. She had been in the middle of hunting a rather large bear when she heard movement coming up behind her! Quickly pulling her hatchet out and facing the strange…tall fae? She sniffed the air around the woman slowly and shook her head, "No….Fae…." She said in rather broken Common language.

She stared at the woman with a small growl, "Forest…..is…..home….home….being….trampled….by weird…..girl….." She said in words she barely remembered using before she came to this forest, still unsure why she was here in the first place or who took/put her in here. Though the problem for now would be the weird woman in front of her, she can think later.

So as she stared at the woman she growled at the sight of the woman just having a branch of berries! Glaring at the woman, "Steal….you steal….from forest….home…." She said with a growl as she slowly came closer to the woman, hatchet gripped in her right hand while watching the thief.

Zephyra had never encountered a wild woman before. It did not occur to her that it was possible that this woman was not educated, that she did not normally ever deal with the outside world, or that she may not even speak the common tongue. But she was young, very young by the standards of her race, and did not have the worldly experience that many of her Rosenite kin could boast. Certainly she had nothing on her mother. Her mother was the earth and if this wild woman knew anything or cared anything of the Gods then certainly she revered her.
 
The wild woman came closer to sniff the air around her. This was likely her way of figuring out what kind of person she was just the same as her mental magics allowed her to know what kind of person she was dealing with. For a moment Zephyra wondered what her smell would tell the woman about her. Certainly she smelled of the earth and was once told she smelled of flowers. This smell she inherited from her mother, the Goddess of nature and fertility and other things. It was hard to keep up these days with such elongated titles.
 
The woman, who was staring at her and making her a bit uncomfortable, finally spoke and unfortunately it was a broken form of common. Words were piecemealed together to make a semblance of a sentence. What she got from it was that the forest was this woman’s home and that she felt it was being trampled by her… and she thought she was weird. Zephyra shrugged. There were a good deal of people who found her weird or odd. It was simply part of being who she was and with the powers she possessed. Psionic powers, from what she had seen, were not too common in the lands.
 
But before she had much time to think, the wild woman took on a more hostile approach, gripping her hatchet and staring down the poor sixteen years young Rosenite. The wild woman accused her of stealing the berries. Zephyra didn’t know how one stole berries that were perfectly wild and simply grew wild, but this woman sure meant business. She hastily reached into her pack and pulled out the branch of purple glowing berries from it and extended it out towards the wild woman. Perhaps if she returned them she would not be so hostile. “Here, here. You can have them back. My name is Zephyra. Do you have a name?”

Kuma growled while watching the woman, unsure if she should just attack the woman for stealing from the forest…her home. Looking around slowly as she blinked when the branch was handed to her. Kuma slowly nodded as she took the branch of shining berries and walked a few feet to the right to begin burying the branch into the ground, allowing them to grow into another tree over time, learning of the small seeds within the berries that allow them to grow more everytime the berries are swept away by the wind.

After she was done, Kuma slowly stood and stared at the strange woman, "Name…Kuma…Bear…" She said, seemingly saying her name first, then what she meant by the meaning of the name. Cracking her back, and Zephyra would definitely see the rather nice looking muscle on the woman, not super muscle but toned and definitely quick with the hatchet, which she still had out and ready for almost anything that may occur in the forest.

Now, Kuma quickly moved at the girl and instead of hurt Zephyra, the young girl found herself pushed out of the way as a rather large Dire Wolf jumped from the brush nearby as Kuma put her Hatchet away for now and gripped the wrists of the pouncing claws and threw the beast into a nearby tree before pulling her spear out and gripping it with both hands as the beast came back at her to swipe, quickly blocked with the hard wood of the spear, it seemed the sharp end was made of a kind of hard bone!

As the fight went on, it would go for a few minutes until the edge of the spear was impaled into the Wolf's chest to blow out the hear quickly and to not force the creature to suffer in the throes of death. Kuma breathed heavily as a few cuts were on her body before pulling the spear out and just began to clean it, ignoring her own injuries and glancing back at the girl for a second.

The growling of the wild woman made her uneasy. Was she really going to attack her for just taking a branch full of berries? She didn’t mean to be stealing from anyone’s home but she did not think anyone could lay claim to a forest. At least when she gave her the branch of berries back it seemed to calm the woman down quite a bit. Instead the woman nodded at her and then began to go off to a patch of ground and bury them there under the dirt. Zephyra got the idea. They would grow into a new plant there.
 
Once again the woman was staring at her and Zephyra, for once, felt very out of place. Then she mentioned her name was Kuma and followed it up with bear. Was that the meaning of her name? She was not good with foreign dialects but she had to guess that the way she said it, such as the order and the combination, that it had to have been the meaning of her name, Kuma. “Kuma is a pretty name…  a strong name,” she said with a smile. “My name is Zephyra. It means strong wind.” Named thusly for her stubbornness.
 
Suddenly the girl moved quickly at her and for a moment she was frightened she was being attacked by this wild woman for some unknown slight. Red chaos energy glowed around her fingertips as Kuma leapt by her and wrestled with a dire wolf that had snuck up on the pair in the bushes. The strong a hearty wild woman easily wrestled down the dire wolf and slung it into a tree. Zephyra figured such would send it running but it came back and Kuma was ready with a spear. She stood paralyzed. If she struck the wolf with her magic he would disintegrate and she didn’t want to get stabbed with a hatchet over a wolf.
 
The fight ended ultimately with the spear driving through the wolf’s chest and impaling its heart. It was a true strike and a very impressive one when faced with such a large yet elusive enemy as a dire wolf. Though the woman was littered with cuts, all she did was pull out the spear and start to clean it as if nothing had happened. “Are you ok? That was great fighting. Thanks.” Then suddenly she remembered the jar in her pack.
 
Out of her pack she pulled a small jar of green salve made with some of her mother’s herbs and things. It was a healing salve and it sure would help those cuts. “Healing balm. For cuts,” she said simply and opened the jar and then smeared some on her finger and motioned towards some of her cuts to let her know her intentions before she tried to put any of it on her.

Kuma had soon finished her cleaning of the spear when the strange woman…Zephyra? Came over and had that weird green stuff on her fingers, telling Kuma it was safe and it could heal her quickly. Kuma was very skeptical about this idea at first…though as her wounds bled a bit, she sighed and stood up to go over and take a seat in front of the strange woman.

As she began to put the cool slime on her wounds, they would instantly begin closing up and healing as if nothing happend in the first place! First Kuma was unsure what to think and quickly checked the areas that the wounds were to ensure it wasn't a trick of magic or the Fae, that she was used to. Her eyes quickly moving back to the smaller girl and moved to get up and strapped her spear back onto her back. Thinking it over, Kuma sighed and moved to pull the girl over and close, wrapping arms around her waist, "Kuma…protect…healing woman…" She said, seemingly doing the same thing animals do with people that help them.

Kuma would soon let her go, though Zephyra would've definitely smelled many kinds of scent on Kuma some being honey, grass, magic, etc. She stared at the magic woman and looked around, seemed nightfall was approaching, so after a second of thinking, Kuma grabbed the girl's wrist and the corpse of the Dire Wolf over her shoulder before leading her to a nearby cave. Dropping the corpse and letting go of the wrist, Kuma began to make a fire and cook the meat of the wolf, making a bed from it's pelt.

With fingers covered in green salve, she was grateful that it would not have to go to waste. While the woman held her skepticism, she could tell that she had physically relented to letting her put it on her wounds, of which there were quite a few. She started from the top and worked her way down, careful that she got every inch of every open cut covered in the green goop before proceeding to the next one. As soon as they were covered, the cuts began healing from the inside out. First the bleeding stopped and then the skin melded itself together and left nothing but a few red marks behind. “Those will be gone by tomorrow. It is a lot to ask of the body to full get rid of an injury in one day.” Though she wasn’t sure how much Kuma understood.
 
Kuma was strapping her spear on her back and then, without warning, she was pulled close by the wild woman and had arms wrapped around her protectively as if she were something precious to protect. Zephyra tenses up beneath the grasp of the woman who seemed all too happy to kill her earlier. Then she said that she would protect the ‘healing woman’. She guessed that meant her.
 
When Kuma let her go a sense of relief flooded Zephyra. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this whole situation. Originally this woman wanted to kill her over berries and now she was wanting to protect her because she used some of her mother’s salve on her to heal some minor little gashes? At least the woman smelled more pleasant than one would have expected. She smelled of grass and honey and magic. She was once told she smelled of flowers.
 
Once again she was taken by surprise when Kuma grabbed her wrist and tossed the corpse of the dire wolf over her shoulder. When she looked up she saw that nightfall was quickly creeping upon them. Zephyra had no other ideas for shelter and so she followed Kuma until they got to a cave. As soon as they got there Kuma made a fire and started skinning the wolf and cooking the meat, working in between on the pelt for what she assumed was bedding. She sat on the ground next to the fire, warming her hands. “Is this home?” She looked around, though, and wasn’t sure this was the makings of home every night.

Kuma slowly cooked a few pieces of meat with three sticks leaned up against the stones of the warm and inviting fire. Looking over at the girl before shrugging, "Home….for now…" she said, seemingly she was a nomadic woman within this forest. That is why she was so quick to make the camp and set everything up in record time. When the meat was finished cooking, a rather nice scent would be going through the air as Kuma handed one of the sticks to the woman and took one for herself before taking a large bite of the meat, ripping it right from the stick!

As she ate, her eyes moved to stare at the younger woman, "Why…you here…" She asked, seemingly curious as to why the woman was here in the first place, it was the first time Kuma had seen someone…almost as tall as her in this forest. Whenever the woman answered, Kuma just continued to eat the Dire Wolf meat and relax.

Zephyra watched the strange woman cook. It was a lot of meat piled up on three separate sticks that she had leaning up against the fire to roast slowly. As she watched, she considered. Had she ever eaten wolf? Did she want to eat wolf? She had plenty of rations in her pack. Would it offend a wild woman if she rejected her offer of food? And if she offended her what would she do? It felt like a lot of questions, and she wondered exactly how she had gotten in this situation. For a breath she considered meddling with her mind and getting out of this mess and on her way back home. But there might be more of those wolves and they might be looking for their friend.
 
‘Home for now’ was all the woman said about her home. She was handed a stick when the meat looked as though it had cooked through. Zephyra took it tentatively and examined and smelled it before deciding on eating it. It didn’t smell half bad so it couldn’t taste half bad. She took a chunk out of the meat strung on the steak and chewed. It wasn’t as tender as she hoped but it was actually pretty decent in taste on its own.
 
“Home for me is far from here, the Sundered Gardens. My mother is Angela, Goddess of Earth and many other things.” She didn’t know whether the woman would understand her or not. If she was a wild woman, how much could she possibly know about the outside world? Then again how could a woman of the wild not know about the Goddess of the very earth they tread on and used so frequently. Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise to her to find out that this woman had no idea who she was.
 
Then she asked her why she was here. Zephyra shrugged at first as if she didn’t really know. She took another bite of meat and as she was chewing said, “Explore.” When she swallowed the meat down, she took a bit more time to explain herself other than a word, for she wasn’t a wild woman who need only speak in broken sentences. “I get sick of staying at home in safety. I want to see places like this. Places that are unusual and strange and full of interesting things. I just want to know more about them.”