Vaalea stood at the edge of a steep cliff, naked. She smiled as she felt the cold wind swirling around her warm skin. She listened to the tales of the wind, inhaling it deeply through her nostrils, her arms laying calmly at her both sides. It was dark, but she could see the silhouette of the cliffs at the opposing side of the river. The day before she had sat there with Mauri, a fellow Lossoth, and noticed the cliff upon which she stood now. It was a cliff she had seen many times in her dreams, tall and steep. She had been startled when she first saw it, frightened to find out that the cliff of her dreams actually existed in the physical realm. In her dream, she had always jumped down from the cliff naked and she had always woken up anxious before she hit the water.
She had told Mauri about her dream and wondered out loud, ”What if it’s the will of The Great Spirits, a sign.. What if… I need to jump…Hmm…Though one thing is clear, if one jumps down from that cliff, Kuolo (Death) will claim them and Kalmansitoja (The Binder of the Fallen) will drag them away. I mean the fall is many heights of a Mammoth,” Mauri had replied, ”No one will survive a fall like that. Don’t ever jump from that cliff. Even if it’s a sign from The Great Spirits… I will stop you from jumping, no matter what. ” She had lowered her voice, replying in a serious tone, ”I’m not afraid.” He had repeated his words in a calm and firm tone, ”You will not jump.” She had looked at him stubbornly, ”That is no concern of yours, it’s between me and The Great Spirits.”
”And between you and The Great Spirits there stands one Mauri.”, he had said and she had laughed, promising that she wouldn’t jump. But Mauri had gone his ways and Vaalea had seen the same dream again the next night. The dream haunted her and she had convinced herself to not trust Mauri’s advice. After all, in her mind, Mauri was as forsaken by the Great Spirits as the entire population of Bree.
Shallow or deep, I will die, She thought while she stood atop the cliff, gazing down into the abyss. She could only see some gleaming stripes of starlight waltzing on the river’s ever moving black surface far far below. She drew a deep breath and listened to the beating of her fearful heart. She smiled.
Eventually she took many long and calm steps backward downhill, before halting. Then out of a sudden she sprinted toward the cliff’s edge with a speed of an agile hunter. She screamed while she ran, but it was not a scream of a fearful girl, but a battle cry of a brave woman ready to die and meet her forefathers. When her foot hit the very edge of the cliff, she leaped toward the stars and for a moment she felt as if wings grew out of her arms and she was flying. The moon smiled at her kindly and she returned it's smile.
But she had no wings and the stars turned quickly into stripes of light as she fell, fast. By reflex she pressed her legs together and her arms against her torso, piercing the air like a dagger. After a stomach turning fall her toes met the water and the dark river swallowed her whole. All was silent.
She sank, holding her breath, struggling not to cough or gasp. She didn’t know if the ground was above her or below her, until her hand touched something solid. She grasped it and it bit her. She wanted to scream, but instead she adjusted her grip and grasped the thing tighter, closing part of it into her palm. Her another hand found a second solid surface, a rock, and she started to pull herself quickly along the river's bottom, her feet flailing to find something solid as well. Whenever her toes met a stone or sand she pushed herself forth with all of her strength and when she thought she would finally die, her nose pierced the surface of the water and she found herself next to a river’s bank, gasping and coughing. After steadying her breath she climbed up along a large root of an old tree, which had grown through the bank. She stubbornly carried the object that had bit her, even though the climbing would’ve been easier if she would’ve let go of it. But she was certain she was meant to have it, so letting go of it was not an option.
Finally she stood upon the bank, feeling the grass under her toes. Her wet blonde hair hanged heavy, some loose strands struck to her forehead. She started to laugh, relieved for that she was still alive and amused by the fact that she had actually leaped down from the cliff. She turned to smile at the old tree next to her as if it was a person and stepped to touch it’s bark, trailing her hand lovingly up along it’s surface, ”Thank you friend, for offering a helping hand.” The tree hummed kindly in return, it was indeed a friend.
Vaalea glanced down at the item clutched in her bloody palm. It was an old rotten piece of wood, with something carved in it and a bent rusty nail, pointing out. Her forefinger trailed the symbols but she couldn’t understand the runes. Yet one thing was certain, they were important. A sign.
Vaalea returned atop the cliff from which she had leaped into the darkness, panting for the steep climb. Suddenly she halted at the sight of a large silhouette. Upon the cliff there stood an enormous wolf and the wolf held her furs and the precious wolf-tooth pendant of her tribe clenched between it’s jaws. The beasts eyes were gleaming in the moonlight and for a moment they simply stood there, a naked woman and a wolf, staring at each other in perfect silence. She knew it was not a regular wolf but a High Servant of Siimes, the Great Spirit of hunting. Eventually she dropped down on one knee and lowered her head, paying her respect to the wolf. Yet when she slowly raised her gaze, the wolf was gone as were her furs and the pendant. She closed her eyes and sighed, her heart falling as fast as she had fell after her leap. This was a sign she could read.
