His Hybrid Archer

5 - Changes

Snow 

    It had been a few years since I let my mom give me a haircut, and it had grown so long it reached my hips.  Not only was it getting longer, it was also turning a darker shade of blonde.  

    I learned several different ways to keep the long hair out of my face.  My favorites were up in a bun or french braided down each side of my head.  Although, there were a lot of times when I left it flowing down my back.  

    If I needed to throw it up in an impromptu bun, I would just grab a stick to shove through the middle of it.  That always worked to keep the bun in place.  However, sometimes I had to use two sticks since it was so much longer and thicker.

    The older I got, the more time I spent in the forest, and the less time I spent at home with my parents.  When I did return, I always took an excessively long, hot shower.  Meanwhile, my mom would cook a nice meal for the three of us.  

    I spent a lot of my time in the forest up in the trees, where I found myself taking frequent naps.  I had always taken naps growing up, but I felt like it was all the time now.  Especially during the day.  

    In some ways, that did work to my advantage, because the rogues seemed to move a lot during the overnight hours.  I assumed they felt safer traveling when it was dark outside.  However, they didn't expect me to be waiting for them.

    Even at night, Dart would retrieve my arrows for me. I was even more grateful then, because I didn't have to search for the arrows in the dark.  Dart doing that saved me the stress and hassle of finding them.  Plus, it saved me the time I would have lost in the process.  That was time I could use for resting or killing other rogues.  

    I had only caught sight of the cubs hanging out by the border a few times over the past year.  However, I never saw the one cute werecat that always caught my eye.  I wasn't sure if something happened to him, but I hoped that he was okay.  I really wanted to see him again.

    My eighteenth birthday was just a few months away.  I was a little excited, but my parents were downright ecstatic.  They were planning something special for me.  However, I didn't want anything in particular from them specifically.

    What I wanted more than anything was to conquer my shyness and make a friend or two.  I wanted to do the things I saw the cubs doing.  Like chasing each other around and laughing.  I had been chased by my parents when I was younger, but it looked like more fun when there was a big group of people.

    It would have been nice to plan a birthday party with friends.  I had read about birthday parties in books, and it was something I always wished for.  My parents always celebrated my birthday with me.  It just wasn't the same when you didn't have friends to share your happy times with.

    Not only that, I wanted to experience the act of going out on a date with a guy.  I wanted to experience that first kiss I had read about in so many different romance novels.  Reading books and watching the cubs across the border were my only sources of information for what life was like outside of the free territory.

    Of course, I knew not everything in romance novels happened the same way in real life.  However, I imagined the first kiss would be pretty accurate.  I came to that conclusion, because the descriptions were always somewhat similar.  

    Since I could only imagine what it would be like, I always pictured that cute werecat in my mind.  I didn't understand why I was fixated on just the one cutie.  All of the werecats were smoking hot with muscular body frames.  

    The only logical explanation I could come up with was that it had something to do with his captivating tri-colored eyes.  They were definitely the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen.  They were eyes that I could look at every day of my life and still find them beautiful.

    I was at that point, where I craved to set my eyes on that cute werecat once again.  I would have killed a hundred rogues to get to him, if it meant I could see him and his eyes.

    I was working on building up the courage to approach the other cubs and ask about him.  It was just a case of catching them by the border.  Sightings of them there had dwindled a significant amount over the past year.  

    That only fueled my concern about not seeing the one cutie for so long.  It made me wonder if one of them got attacked by rogues when I wasn't around.

    Those few times that I saw cubs by the border, I still chickened out when it came to approaching them.  Each time, I would chastise myself for being so weak.  It didn't make sense how I could be so strong physically, but so weak socially.

    I had no problem talking to my parents about most things, and I talked to my fox Jazzy about everything.  She was a good little listener.  I could tell she was listening, because her ears would twitch while I was talking.

    When I finished what I was saying, she would either lick my hand or nuzzle her head against my ankles.  She was an affectionate little fox, and I found that to be adorable.

    However, she gave me a good scare about six months ago.  One of those disgusting rogues attacked her out of nowhere.  Luckily for Jazzy, I was close by and able to shoot one of my flame arrows within seconds of the rogue sinking his canines into her.  

    Unfortunately, he did a considerable amount of damage to her hip and hind legs.  I carried her back to my parents cabin right away.

    My mom and I created a few healing elixirs for her to make sure she didn't die, but the overall healing process took what felt like an eternity.  Jazzy was miserable during that time, and I found it hard to leave her side.

    The few times that I did leave, she would look at me with the saddest eyes and her ears lowered.  I would always give her a gentle pat on the head and assure her that I would be back soon.  However, it didn't stop me from feeling bad about leaving her behind.

    As soon as she was healed enough to join me on the hunt again, I kept her right at my side in fear of her being attacked again.  Whenever I climbed up a tree, I would put her in my extra cloth sac with her head poking out, and she would go with me up that tree.  That's how determined I was to keep one of my only friends safe when she was with me.