"Your mother and I have different matters today, therefore, you will be in charge of your sister, Fairy." River Snake said.

"Father, I want to train with the other boys!" Mist said with a slight temper.

"Watch your sister or I"ll give you another red moon!" River Snake roared.

He was instantly intimidated. The beating from the other day was fresh in his memory. His mother, Mountain Sprite, came to his side and gave a stern look to his father River Snake.

"Little Mist, your father is really worried about you. Remember what we talked about the other day, about how hard it would be for me if you were to die?" she asked.

Nodding his head he was feeling bad again. He forgot about his talk with this mother. He forgot everyone was worried about him. It wasn"t just his mother who was worried. His father was extremely worried. As a hunter, he was the clearest about the dangers in the Forbidden Forest.

The problem was River Snake had trouble expressing his feelings to his son. He was young when his father died. He wasn"t much older than Mist when he became the head of his house. He and his wife, Mountain Sprite, were married at fourteen and thirteen. They lost all of their children except for their two youngest from several tragic events. Their story was pretty typical among the villagers. Even after having so many children, River Snake was only twenty-one and his wife just turned twenty. Out of nine children, with two pairs of twins, they were left with one boy and girl.

They were barely adults themselves and lacked the experience to know how to be good parents. They did their best. River Snake always kept his emotions to himself, but the fear his son gave him caused him to react with anger. He was still seething. It was only because of his wife, Mountain Sprite, he was able to hold back from yelling at his son.

"If you remember what we talked about then you should focus on being safe and keeping your sister safe. Can you do this?" she asked.

"Yes, mother," he said as he looked at the ground while nodding his head. He was on the verge of tears once more.

"Good, we"ll be back later, if you need anything you can go find the old woman," she said.

The old woman referred to a widowed woman named Mountain Breeze. She was forty and her only surviving child, River Clear, was married to a man from the Tree Clan, Tree Monkey. Mountain Breeze was alone in the River Village but she didn"t mind. She loved the River village it was where she had lived most of her life. Her husband pa.s.sed away just two years before and she wanted to be near his grave.

She worked with other women to weave clothes together for the villagers. As one of the oldest people in the village, she was the head of the weaver"s cottage and an honored elder. River Snake and Mountain Sprite treated her like a surrogate mother. She was the closest thing River Mist and River Fairy had to a grandmother.

After a few more hugs and kisses, River Snake and Mountain Sprite left their children. Mist took his little sister into the house and made some gruel to eat. After eating, he and his sister wandered around the village exploring every dark hole and mysterious nook and cranny they could find. River Fairy was only three years old. She had a pretty good balance when it came to walking but would still fall sometimes when she ran.

She would also get tired from too much walking. Mist and Fairy rested often. Mountain Breeze called the children to her house and prepared lunch for the siblings. She loved these lunches with the children. She loved the heroic spirit of Mist and the cute antics of Fairy.

After lunch, Mist and Fairy returned to their house. Mist made his sister lay down for her afternoon nap. While she was napping, Mist played with a stick. He was "practicing" his spearing technique. He and the other boys his age were already learning about the tools hunters used. He enjoyed twirling his "spear," the most.

He already knew the names of several kinds of plants and animals. Mountain Breeze knew some basic reading and writing and taught Mist his letters. Most of the villagers were illiterate. Knowing how to read and write increased Mountain Breeze"s prestige as an elder.

Being a restless boy and knowing Fairy would be sleeping for at least a couple of hours; he decided to play outside for a little while. Soon, Mist was having a hunting adventure. He took his "spear," and pretended to track the Red-Eyed Evil Wolf of the Forbidden Forest.

The Red-Eyed Evil Wolf was one of the most terrifying creatures in the forest. Whenever the hunters saw him they would immediately flee. It was a very big wolf as tall as a man. The most terrifying thing about it was its glowing red eyes!

It was said, if a man stared into those eyes he would be driven insane! It was only natural a young boy like Mist would fantasize about killing the great evil being.

After playing for a long time, Mist went in to check on his sister, Fairy. To his surprise, Fairy was nowhere to be found! He realized she had gotten up while he was playing.

"Where did she go?" he wondered.

After looking inside and then around the house, he began to worry. He called Mountain Breeze to help him find Fairy. Mist was already in tears as he desperately searched for his sister. He didn"t know what he would do if anything happened to his little sister.

Searching, he even began to search in some unusual places. Lifting his eyes towards the Forbidden Forest, Mist finally found his sister. To his horror, she was walking towards the Forbidden Forest!

He ran towards Fairy as fast as he could. As he ran he shouted back behind him. Coming to see what the yelling was about, Mountain Breeze saw Mist running towards the Forbidden Forest chasing after his sister.

In a panic, she called over a hunter who was resting up from an injury. He got up and ran as fast as he could. He injured his leg on his last hunt so his running speed wasn"t very fast. However, he was the only hunter currently in the village.

Mist was very close to catching up with his sister. He began to yell at her to stop, but when she heard him she looked at him, and with a big grin she started running toward the forest. She thought her brother was playing a game with her.

Getting more and more scared as he chased his sister the tears wouldn"t stop flowing. Just as he caught up to her, she turned and stumbled backward into the Forbidden Forest. Mist followed her in to pick her up, but as soon as he reached her, he heard growling. A large wolf nearly the size of his father, with glowing red eyes was staring at him.