Favor

The winds were warm on her face.
The sunlight felt gentle on her wings.
She took a deep breath, and cocked the bow string.

Favor still remembers her first hunt, the thrill, the suspense, the determination to prove that she could be an asset to the clan - to prove that she was more than just a curiosity. When her arrow hit the boar, straight and true to the heart, she could see that Mahvo was impressed. Finally, someone saw her beyond the magic dancing over her skin.
From there she was to be taken into the ranks of the hunters, as long as she could prove herself successful in a solo hunt. Mahvo took great care to warn her of the dangers of hunting alone, she was not to stray too far from the lair nor was she to get in over her head - it was better to come back defeated than to never come back at all. Favor listened diligently, but in the back of her mind she knew he was wrong - it was far worse to come back empty-handed and a failure. She would not let her clanmates go back to thinking she needed protection and pampering.
It took her only moments to find prey to track, and soon she found herself on the edge of a meadow, watching a herd of crimson emperors and deaths head stags trot about peacefully. She carefully loaded her bow, knowing that if she timed this right she could have at least four down before the rest of the herd knew what was happening. Her firefly buzzed to her claws and fluttered at the edge of her field of vision - guiding her as she prepared to strike. She huffed in annoyance, wishing as she always did that the magical annoyances would let her do something on her own for once, but never the less she adjusted herself accordingly to their movements (they had never steered her wrong before). She was finally ready when suddenly, from the sky, a huge swarm of raptorik descended on the herd and, in her surprise, Favor accidentally loosed her arrow. No, she whispered as her arrow flew, true and straight, into the swarm of raptorik. There was a scream, a raptorik fell from the sky, and everything began to happen very quickly.
Favor ran, faster than she had ever had to before, but the furious swarm was catching up. They were impossible to hide from, and she knew she would never be able to fight them all off - not to mention she would run out of arrows well before she even made a dent in the flock. She dared a glance behind her and that was when she ran into the tree. No, not a tree, a dragon. The imperial looked at the approaching swarm, then down at the panting wildclaw, and he sighed. Next thing Favor knew she was thrown into the entrance to a cave and, when she tried to protest, the larger dragon snarled "shut up and stay inside". What happened next was a bloodbath.
This imperial is a beast, she thought as she watched him finish off the swarm. A beast dressed up like a handsome, chivalrous.. oh no he's coming back!. She quickly tried to hide her emotions, like she had once been able to do so easily as a fae, but her fireflies refused to cooperate - instead, they decided to zoom around erratically, to the beat of her racing heart.
He looked at her curiously for a moment, and when she said nothing he sighed again.
"Your welcome."
Favor looked at him in astonishment, finally, she managed to speak.
"I didnt ask for your help."
He laughed. "Oh, my bad. Let me guess, you meant to have a swarm of bloodthirsty talanok chasing you? Next time I'll just you fight them all off yourself."
"Next time?" She asked.
He looked away, "Er- I mean, next time I see you around... you know, in the woods. I'm pretty busy, lots of, friends, and, family, and, stuff."
She looked at him again, seeing how dirty he was. Her fireflies fluttered at the corner of her eyes, guiding her to look at his face, he looked...lonely.
"You know" She scuffed her claws on the ground, "I could use some help carrying all this meat back to my clan, if you dont plan on eating it all. I could totally do it on my own, but, company would be sort of nice."
He looked at her suspiciously, but there was hope there too.
"Sure, I mean, just to make sure you don't die on the way back. Plus, I don't eat anyway!"
"Um, ok, thanks." That was a weird thing to say, but, then again, she had magic bugs living on her body. A huge imperial that didn't eat and could kill a swarm of raptorik in seconds without a getting a single scratch was hardly out of the norm in her life.
As they entered the Windswept Crossing, Favor found herself smiling - at least she hadnt come home empty handed.