The Wild One

Read to find out. No spoilers, sweetie.

I found her in the forest. One day I was out collecting herbs for my father. I had set my satchel down at the base of a tree to climb up and collect some of the glowing purple flowers that I have only seen in this forest. As I neared the top of the tree, I heard a rustling noise down below. I looked down and saw a girl crouched over my satchel, rummaging through it. She had flowing white hair. She was wearing clothing made out of animal hides. I quietly began climbing down the tree. As I neared the bottom, she stood up to leave. I quickly dropped out of the tree in front of her and she dropped back into a defensive position. I quickly realized this girl could not be much older than I was. I also noticed a purple streak in her bangs that I had not noticed from above. She was dirty and had a wild look about her. I began to ask her what she was doing, but the puzzled look on her face stopped me mid-sentence. I realized she didn't speak our language. I began to talk in my most comforting voice to keep her calm. I approached very slowly with my palms facing her so she could see I didn't mean any harm. I grabbed my bag and pulled out some more food and offered it to her. She was wary at first but then she grabbed and greedily began eating it. I wrapped my jacket around her shoulders and started to lead her back towards my home. When I got home I explained to my father what had happened and I gave him some of the herbs I had collected. I took her into the house and helped her get cleaned up some. After cleaning off her face and hands, I realized how pale she was. She wouldn't let me roll up her sleeves to wash her arms for some reason. I let her sleep in my bed and I slept on the floor. I also let her keep the food she had taken out of my bag. In the morning, I waited in the room until she woke up. Once she woke up, I took her out to the sitting area and began to teach her our language. After a teaching her a few words I had to go do my job. I had to bring home some food and some more herbs for my father. My father was the local shaman, so he agreed to help this girl. As I began to leave, she grabbed my arm and just looked at me. I realized she wanted to go with, so i grabbed our extra bow and some arrows and a quiver. I handed them to her and she put the bow and quiver on like she had been doing it forever. We headed out into the forest and she took the lead. I followed her since she obviously knew exactly where to go to hunt. We neared the spot that I had found her and continued on through the forest. We finally reached a huge clearing. It had a fire ring in the middle and one shelter off to the side. I decided that this was where she was staying before I found her. Then a wolf, bigger than I had ever seen, walked out of her shelter, ready to pounce. I rolled back and pulled out my bow and an arrow and was just about to let it fly when she jumped between us. I realized this had to be her pet. As she jumped in front of him, her sleeve ripped, and I could see what appeared to be black tattoos on her arm. She quickly covered it up and turned and began to speak to the wolf. The language sounded oddly familiar yet completely foreign. It was beautiful and flowing, yet dark as a cloudy night. The wolf calmed down and headed back into the shelter. She turned back to me and said one word, father.