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From WikiWatch

There were two things that mattered this day; the warmth of the sun as its rays flowed delicately down between the gently bowing tree branches, dappling the ground with a speckled gold tint, and how good that chicken sandwich just was. Neither detracted from the other – without the sunlight, the sandwich would not have been made, nor without the sandwich would the sunlight have been noticed, because Kairra would not have stopped to eat.

Perched on the giant trunk of a fallen oak tree, legs crossed, she watched the sunlight dance on the leaf strewn ground and absently swallowed the last piece of chicken. Delicately brushing away the crumbs from her lap she sat, arms lying limpy across her thighs, and let the woodland speak to her, closing her eyes to take in a full image of the world around her.

Somewhere in the distance a cuckoo chimed. Voles scuttled between the ivy and blackberry bushes, chasing crickets across the clearing below her. A fox mother lay a little way from her, her three small cubs emerging into their new world; she heard their squeaks as their eyes, so used to a dark den, adjusted to the light, and the smells of a thousand unknown things filled their nostrils. There was a water pool - dragonflies flitted from lily pad to lily pad, and bullfrogs croaked ancient songs, hopping lethargically along the muddy banks. Somewhere above the tree canopy a falcon circled; turning her attention upward Kairra could hear its feathers as they caught the wind with every dip, and smiled at the way the air became silent as it dived for a kill, as though it were holding its breath in anticipation. Bees pollinated flowers and gathered nectar for their honey from a carpet of bluebells and snapdragons, butterflies gliding effortlessly around waving fronds of long grass.

With a gentle exhalation Kairra extended her awareness further, outside of the woodland, and probed as far as she could with her hearing and senses. Hunters were hauling a fresh kill to the village nearby. Somewhere just beyond the trees someone chopped wood and small children giggled and screamed as they played on the banks of the river, flowing with a timeless energy. Fish flipped out of the water to catch the mottled blue midges that swarmed above, unaware of the young men and women positioned above them with forked spears. Beyond them still a fire crackled in a hearth. Kairra smiled as she recognised the familiar sound of her mother’s singing as she prepared the herbs for her medicines. Her words drifted on the soft breeze like smoke; they spoke of a mother content in her role, a wife in love with her mate, a warrior in days past. Her voice was light and soft, the song dancing from her tongue and floating along into the wild; there was a feminine magic laced between every note that only a woman could know.

Kairra admired her mother and her glorious past, full of great tribal battles against heroic foes and the endless times she spent speaking to spirits in the SummerLand. This and her knowledge of the herbs and her ability to prepare them well meant she was highly respected in the village, along with her father, the head huntsman. It was him and his troop she could hear now, laughing with each other as they returned home with their kill, he calling to her mother and her mother answering pleasantly, her voice full of love for him. She heard them purr together as they greeted one another, and she smiled, pulling her attention back to herself and sitting up a little, stretching her stiff spine. The sun was dipping lower in the sky – time for dinner. As if reading her mind she heard her mother’s call, a rumbling but gentle roar, and answered in her own young voice. Being twelve had its advantages, like playing all day instead of working or hunting, but she couldn’t help but wish she didn’t sound like a rusty door when she roared.