intro to Anna

Anna took handfuls of her long, black hair and viciously cut it short with a knife. Her hair would grow back in a short amount of time, but for now, cutting her hair was telling her mother that her decision was final. She would take the test and become a warrior. Few people from her village ever became warriors, but when they did, they got to travel and war in other, faraway places. Nothing much was said about the whole thing since that life was against the peaceful code of her people. Of course, when King Fedgmont said it must be allowed or he would come in to recruit, well, the warrior profession was allowed.

For now, the hair draped across her dirt stained hands looked like a sort of camouflage. The test would take about a month to complete and by then her hair should be well on the way toward growing back. Anyway, she might take on the warrior tradition of keeping the hair cut short! Really, she wasn’t sure about the tradition. A group of warriors passed through the village one day and every one of them had short hair. Imagining the tradition was simple to put together. The warriors didn’t stay long and didn’t socialize. It seemed they were on a mission and Anna never found out what. The fact that they had words with her mother only made not knowing worse, but that was a long time ago. Inside, she knew she shouldn’t mad over something that happened so long ago, but the memory still seethed within her mind.
Friendship never lasted with anyone her age. Anna would put in a lot of time planning how playtime would be spent and at first, it was fun. But the fun never lasted. Sometimes, it seemed the other kids didn’t appreciate being told what to do. Other times, the seemed a bit scared of her. It didn’t matter. They weren’t very bright anyway. At least, that is what Anna kept telling herself.
Her mother often performed rituals to help keep the village safe. In many ways, her mother was the chiefs equal. Whatever her mother’s power within the village that power didn’t mean Anna was free to do as she pleased. Others had more freedom than she did. She would spend her days with special tutors made up mostly from aunts and uncles from outside her village and learn the ways of the craft. It was said she had a special gift for the craft and she did. This was why she carried the tattoos of the craft written along the inside of her arms near her armpit. Gift or not, she couldn’t stay here any longer. Her only way out was to accept the warrior trade and join King Fedgmont. First, she would have to survive the month in the dark forest. This was the one thing the village chief was allowed to do in order to discourage those from entering the warrior’s profession. Then, if she survived and still was willing, she could take the chiefs blessing off to the King and hope to join the Warriors guild.

Stepping from her clothes and into the street where she would meet with the village elders, she began the first part of her journey. Nothing could be taken with her to help her survive. Her only hope for help lay in her ability to return from the forest on her own, because no one was allowed to enter the forest or interfere with a warrior’s chosen path. A snow flake landed on Anna’s bare skin and she couldn’t help but shiver the tiniest of bits. She didn’t figure anyone would notice. It was supposed to be warming up now, but spring just didn’t seem to want to come.

Today, all she had to do was to face the elders and re-affirm her intentions on becoming a warrior. It was all much easier than expected. “I wish to be a Warrior.” Anna made the simple statement without being to very cocky, but that cockiness was found again when she didn’t wait for the chief to give his prayer for Anna, but strode off into the forest with nothing but a grim determination to keep her focused. Perhaps she should have waited for that prayer.