Introduction - Beneath the Starry Sky (PILOT STORY)
#1 of (unamed story)
A pilot chapter for a currently unnamed story that I may or may not continue
Though I have promised myself that I will keep it clean
"Why can't you guys just stay put?" Strelka sighs overlooking a vast body of water stretching far into the horizon from the sandy earth where she stands. "Goodness I'm never gonna' catch enough at this rate" Strelka is fishing. Wooden spear in hand, a slant, glaring eye watches the shadows in the water. Traditionally Strelka Is very good with a spear as her aim is second to none in the village where she lives though the fish today seem particularly riled up, not to be outdone however her spear finds it's mark and there's a loud splash. The fish flails around on the end as Strelka looks at it victoriously. "A fish, will never beat me" *she blow raspberries at the dying fish before tossing it into a pile of fish inside a woven basket beside her. "Though time can always beat me..." She sighs wistfully A warm breeze blows by Strelkas fur as the last vestige of the day slowly fades with the setting of the sun over the glistening oceanic horizon.
Strelka was not like the rest of her village, her keen eyes and strength being two of her more important assets but unlike most her fur was completely black, where the rest had fur white as snow to compensate for the heat of the sun. A skirt covers her waist, a light white skirt that moves freely with her. Across her chest is a single large roll of white cloth wrapped around many times to protect modesty, ending tied in a bow at the back. She wears the odd ring with a jewel as good luck charms but is happy to dress light enough for the heat. Turning from the beach she enters into a forest, the canopy gleaming as the last light of the day streams through the tiny gaps in the leaves and on the ground the dirt path Strelka walks is lined with braziers giving the path warmth and light against the darkness from the rest of the forest
Day turns to night as the black furred wolf morph reaches clearing in the forest, her digitigrade legs coming to a halt, bare foot-paws resting on the grass. Looking forward Strelka looks out across the small village, a low fence showing the boarder. The houses are nothing too fancy, raised off the forest floor by support pillars, they're constructed from logs of wood with a woven roof consisting of lush greenery, a few of the roofs even have flowers of different colours blooming on the top. Others however preferred to build their homes into the trees by hollowing out the centre and going from there, Strelka is one of them and has a set of wooden steps leading up to the tree where a curtain of loose vines covers the entrance. Near the top of the tree on a night like tonight Strelka could see far and wide from a balcony near the top of the thick tree trunk, this was most important as not only does she take it upon herself to hunt for food and gather supplies, she takes charge of village security and remains vigilante as far as possible on duty. Tonight however is a night for relaxing after hunting for fish, the stars gleaming in her blue eyes she smiles as she takes her haul to her house, walking up the smooth wooden steps to the sounds of the small but bustling village, children play in the moonlight as the older residents sit at communal tables discussing life over a drink
"Home sweet home." Strelka with a small smile and great sense of pride strides into her home. She walks to a hole in the wall of her tree house that's made of stone. She throws a bundle of sticks in and places a large strip of tree bark among it "it'll be cold tonight, better get a fire going." The elders never approved of Strelka lighting fires in her wooden home even if the pit is encased in stone but as far as resources and foraging go she was the main bread winner so a lot of people tolerated her oddities without much fuss. She takes a sturdy stick with a point and presses it to the bark in the fire place, she rubs the point and bark together until it heats up and smoke rises. A few gentle breathes later and the fire begins to crackle into life lighting up her home. "I don't know what I'd do without that fire place, it gets so cold at night.... I have no idea where the idea for this enclosed fire came from but it made sense to me" She muses to herself before dismissing the thought and heading up a flight of stairs, panels of wood bashed into the side of the wall.
The bedroom is at the very top. A canopy of leaves makes the ceiling with a woven net underneath to stop animals getting in. The room like all others in the village is simple. There are some shelves to the back of the room and some hooks besides with which Strelka has some armour like clothes hung up, the bed is a hollowed out slab of tree trunk filled with straw covered with a hand-made patchwork quilt of many colours covering it. Strelka reaches behind and her and tugs on the ribbon at her back which causes the cloth covering her to fall, she takes off her skirt too and hangs both on a hook before wondering over to a large mirror propped up against the wall "Hmm... I need to make sure to keep up my training... there's lots and lots of weird stuff in the forest..." She strokes the mirrors surface "Nobody in the village knows what this thing is... everyone is scared of it but me, the elders say it's unnatural and doesn't belong here. There's something about it though that feels very homely to me, like it does belong.... I just wish I knew what it was that reflects our world like the brilliant blue ocean" She smiles to herself before laying down in the straw bed and pulling over her quilt.
Strelka laying down for the night looks outside the window from her bed to the night sky. Hundreds of thousands of stars fill the night sky, twinkling peacefully and silently all about the universe both far and near, purples, oranges, reds and greens break up the dark of the night sky. With a breathless sigh Strelka reaches up to the sky and closes her paw pretending to grab a star
"Someday... I want to go to space"