In the tracks of a

WOLF

in the tracks of a wolf

by

laura schmeitz

Chapter 1

Recognision

It was a freezing morning when Kachina first stepped out of her tent. The snow that had fallen last night was soft under her shoes. She stretched out and sighed as she looked at the stunning scenery in front of her.

She had set up camp on a cliff last night after a long day of travelling by foot. It was too dark to see much and the snow had started to fall, but now that it was morning, she wasn't disappointed at the vieuw.

Mountains white of snow stood sturdy in front of her, a frozen lake beneath them layed still as a soft breeze had the powderish snow be carried away from the branches of the trees. Today the sky was clear and cold, the sun rising above the mountains.

Kachina took a deep breath and went back inside her tent. She brushed her black hair with her fingers and got dressed. Her warm clothes were made from leather, her mother had sewn themfor her before she had left on her journey. With the fur on the inside it was hard to freeze. She was once again thankful for all her mother had done for her as well as for the deer that had died last winter for the sake of her clothing.

She put on her boots and took down the tent and packed it into its bag. The tent was made from modern materials, so it was strong against weather, easy to carry and light. It was one of the few modern things she had brought with her for her journey. Most of her tools were from natural materials that were made in her tribe.

Once she had packed her belongings, she looked once more over the beautiful mountains before she walked away, continueing on her path.

Around the middle of the day she came across a small river in the forest that wasn't frozen so Kachina took the oppurtunity to drink and refill her waterbag. Before long she was on her way again, looking at the tracks of animals in he snow.

She saw tracks of mostly squirrels and a few hares and mice, but also a fox. She kept walking, taking a rest every now and then. The further she walked, the narrower the forest became. When the evening arrived, the trees were tight, closing off the vieuw of the night sky. Only a little light from the moon slipped through, which Kachina took advantage of to search for firewood. Usually she would not light a fire, but tonight was only getting colder by the minute so she decided to make a small fire this once. When she had her arms full of wood and a bit of birch bark she put it down on a somewhat open space and unpacked her tent. As it was up, she sat down and started to light the fire just outside of the tent. She sat back and thought about the time that she had been travelling.

She had been born in a tribe in what the people called "North America", but for her it was nothing else than home. They were the native people of the land, born and raised there for as long as humans had existed. With their typical black hair, light brown skin, almond shaped eyes and short bodies they were often called "indians" by the other people not from their tribe.

Those people had lighter skin and often lighter hair as well and were taller and thinner. At first, when Katchina was younger, those people had attacked their tribe and killed many of her people, but later on they wanted to trade products instead and peace came to the tribe and the new people. They did not understand eachothers language, but

had still managed to communicate by using their body.

When Kachina had turned 20 years old last spring, she had become a fully grown woman. She had always been her mother's little child, and as such she called her that. It was tradition in their tribe that when a woman becomes 20 years old, she recieves her real name given to her by her mother. Kachinas mother had done just that at the ceremony. The name had come to her mothers mind as she led her mind to the Great Spirit. In their language, Kachina meant "dancing spirit", which was very fitting for her. After the ceremony, it is tradition that the now adult woman has to prove herself to be able to choose a man to have a family with. To prove that,

she had to live on her own in nature, completely isolated from human contact, for one whole year. If she could make it, and came back to the tribe, she was proven worthy and strong. If she didn't, she would never be allowed to have her own child.

But the most important lesson of this travel in nature was to find herself, learn to communicate with nature, learn about the animals, feel the surrounding spirits in every living thing. Only if she could do that, she would be able to survive for a whole year.

It was now the beginning of winter, so the hardest time had yet to come. She had learned to feel stronger spirits around her, but the weaker ones were harder to find. They were usually in slumbering old trees, dug deep into the very deepest of roots.

She had still a lot to learn from the Great Spirit and Mother Nature.

Kachina returned her thoughts back to the fire as it was dying out. She put a few more dried twigs on it and watched the fire regain life. "For one thing to live, the other must die..." she said to herself. Her mother had often told her that to teach her about life. She was a wize woman and Kachina had always wanted to become just like her. Her mother had a phrase that she had told Kachina many times as well;

"Everything on earth has a purpose. For every disease, there is a herb to cure it. Every human has their own mission in life. But your first one is to find it." Kachina remembered well, all

the times her mother had told her and she had not understood its meaning. But now she did. She knew that she was out here mostly for her own sake. She had to find herself and who she was, at heart, with the help of Nature and the Great Spirit. She had still much to learn.

The dark night crept up on her as she yawned, feeling tired. She decided to go to sleep and changed into her sleeping wear, crawled into her sleeping bag and before long, Kachina was soundly asleep.

Chapter 2

Encounter

Kachina awoke early the next morning. The sun had barely reached over the tops of the trees yet, but the forest birds were already singing, giving it their all. She listened to the beautiful sounds for a little while before getting ready to continue her journey.

Once she had packed all her belongings again and set off to continue, she watched the tracks in the snow again. The usual were visible- fox, rabbit, squirrel... But this time larger deer as well, a moose Kachina assumed. It was a bit warmer today than yesterday so the snow had started to melt a little. It got slippery in some places so Kachina stepped carefully further,

into the mountains. The terrain had become much more uneven than before. Kachina looked up to see where to go, but as she set her foot down she slipped and fell on her left side. She made a face and searched with her feet for grip, then she slowly got up. The rocks underneath the snow were slippery, hard and sharp at the edges. She checked her clothing to see if anything was ripped but didn't find anything. Sighing she pulled up her bag and continued. As she got further, the forest was slowly being left behind her, and she left the forest. Now she was out in the open, unprotected, with a bright white landscape in front of her. The sun shone on the snow which became blindingly white, so Kachina squinted her eyes to protect them. Still, it was so bright that she didn't see much.

Struggling to stay on her feet she carefully continued, holding her hands above her eyes to try to see better. A hard wind started to blow up and it got colder. The wind made the snow on the ground fly around like small sharp pieces of ice. She looked up but as soon as she did, the snow got in her eyes and it felt as if they got cut open before the snow melted.

She kept walking until she got to a deep ravine. It went straight down. It was way too far to the other side to jump. She looked around and saw that she had come from the only possible way, like a road, but it ended where she was standing. To her left there was a high straight cliff of rock and ice, impossible to climb. In front of her, the ravine. Down in the ravine she saw that it was flat, it had barely been touched by the harsh weather up here. She

stood at the side of the ravine, looking down. As she looked at the side of the ravine that she was standing on, she could see a very small path that went down to the bottom of it. But it was very small, she would maybe be able to walk it if she faced the wall and moved sideways. Kachina shook her head, thinking it was too dangerous to try. She decided to go back the way she came from and find another way to go.

Just as she turned around, her foot slipped, and she fell with a screetch. Her body slided down towards the ravine but stopped right before she would have fallen down. Her heart almost jumping out of her chest, she quickly found grip and crawled away from the ravine before getting up. Suddenly she heard a strange noise. It almost sounded like snow moving, like when she fell, but louder. Louder and louder, as if it gained more speed... Quickly she looked up at the rocky cliff, and saw the rushing