At the first touches of dawn, even before the sun's rays had completely broken across the rim of the horizon, Shadow Runner awoke from her light sleep, refreshed, but anxious for the coming day's events. Rising quietly, as to not disturb the others, she began her morning grooming, and quickly smoothed out the sleep-worn patterns in her sleek coat of solid-black fur.

As Shadow Runner was donning her buckskin tunic, her mother awoke with a contented yawn. Licking the last vestiges of sleep from her gray-furred, lupine muzzle, she turned and warmly regarded her daughter. "I see you're up early for your big day child," she said softly, sitting up on her sleeping pallet, a gentle smile forming on her lips.

"Yes mother," the girl replied, her hushed voice still showing her anticipation. "I hope it won't take too long for nightfall to come."

Her smile widening, her mother's reply came with a soft chuckle. "You remind me of myself child, on the day of my first night song... I am so happy for you, the first of my cubs to reach adulthood."

At that, Shadow Runner reached out to hold her mother, bringing them close in a loving embrace. The two stayed like that, hugging each other silently for several moments. There was no need for words to express the bonds between them, bonds which would change with the girl's passage into adulthood, but remain just as strong.

Easing up on their embrace, the older lupine looked at her daughter momentarily with glistening eyes, before tenderly scratching behind one of the girl's ears. Then dissolving the moment, she said "the sun is rising and you've got a full day ahead of you. You need to finish your morning duties and be off as soon as you can;" a quick smile shared between them before the girl was up and out of the family's dwelling.

Just after breakfast, as expected, Night Singer, the tribe's seer met with Shadow Runner. "How are you this morning child?" was his greeting, a slight gleam evident on his knowledgeable and serious visage.

"Very excited, wise one" was her reply, a shy smile playing across her muzzle.

"As would be expected," his warm voice echoing a hint of laughter. "Tell me Shadow Runner, do you know the full significance of this day?"

"Yes, tonight's moon marks my passage to adulthood, the time of my first night song," her eyes aglow with excitement.

Regarding her carefully, as if picking up on deepest feelings, the seer then asked "so are you ready for the journey before you?"

Her gaze furtive for a moment, her voice slightly hushed, she replied "I think I am..."

His face softening, the older lupine placed his paw on her shoulder, and gently reassured her. "I know of your doubts child, we all have them at this time of transition. I remember long time ago when as I cub I was in your place, and just as nervous about it... perhaps even a little more so."

Smiling slightly at her look of surprise, he continued. "We all feel uneasy before this big night, but while it marks the journey into adulthood and is very important to our people, it is something that is deeply a part of us, and is woven into the hearts and minds of every cub, and becomes known as they near their time. You will do fine... besides, I've heard your singing before, and you have a wonderful voice."

"But that isn't the same as the song tonight... I was just singing to myself while working."

"Yes but you still sang with the happiness you felt, letting it flow out of you, and tonight you will simply expand that, singing with the deeper feelings of the power around you... and I've managed to hear you practice a couple of short notes of the deeper kind while you thought you were along out in the woods these past few weeks..."

He was quick to offer a reassuring wink, his eyes gleaming, to offset her guilty expression, as her eyes widened at being discovered. "Don't worry my child, again it's something that almost every cub does, sneaking off just before nightfall and practicing their voices; trying to echo the faint notes they've heard from the adults, carried some nights down from our communal circle to the village."

"Besides, as you will soon learn, it isn't the notes themselves, but the power you feel, drawing from everything around you, losing yourself in the song called up from that power. After tonight's song you will have joined with the song of the night and all of nature, and when you return you will be ready to take your place with the other adults in our circle."

After her talk with Night Singer, she was ready to make her way through the wilderness, beginning her journey into adulthood. She left, like all cubs before her, with little ceremony, saying warm good-byes to her family, and happily greeting others in the village who saw her leave, wishing her well. That day was to be hers alone, as was the night, and when she returned to the village the following afternoon, she would be welcomed back enthusiastically, as an adult.

And so she walked alone through the lush forest, her heart and mind on fire with thoughts of the night before her. As she walked, her thoughts calmed somewhat, and she contemplated the significance of the journey she was making. As the morning progressed, the quiet of her surroundings drew her thoughts even deeper, preparing her for the transition the night would bring.

In the early afternoon, she stopped for lunch, skillfully hunting a large rabbit, as she'd been doing for a few years. Then after washing up in a cool mountain stream, she napped in the warm sun, peacefully readying herself for the long and wondrous night ahead.

Coming awake slowly and peacefully a couple of hours before sundown, she smiled to herself, both content and excited, and started her journey once again. Just as the last rays of the sunset were fading in the darkening sky, she came upon the hill, her desired destination, and reaching its grassy crest, she was ready to embark on the final leg of her journey, this being a mystical one.

Kneeling down, feeling the soft, cool grass intermingle with the fur of her legs, she watched the sky, quietly waiting. As the minutes flowed by, the shades of the sky gradually deepened, blooming into brilliant shades of dark violet, then as the stars slowly appeared, falling into a beautiful, inky blackness. Watching the heavens come alive before her, her eyes gleamed in the darkness, mirroring the subtle spectacle before her.

Then with her breath deepening, and her tail wagging ever so slightly, she watched as a brightening of the horizon foretold of the moons' imminent arrival. For the next hour she waited and watched, as the twin moons made their appearances from their corners of the sky and gently rose above her; the excitement within her building, yet also tempered by the quiet peace of her solitude.

Then finally, with the larger of the moons shining down on her with all the brilliance of its fullness, she knew it was time, and that she was ready. Closing her eyes and deepening her breathing, she paused, then opening her mouth, let a single note, a small and tentative howl, escape her throat.

At first, the notes came a little forced, breaking the silence around her, the chords not sounding quite in place. Then, opening her eyes to look at the beauty around her, taking in the crystal points of light of the stars, and the soft glow of the moons bathing the wilderness in their luminance, the nature and feeling of her surroundings seeped in upon her.

Taking another breath, she let out a longer note, one single chord spilling forth from her open muzzle. This time the sound of her voice, a melodic howling, didn't disturb the beauty surrounding her, but instead echoed with it. Something clicked deep within her then, and she continued with another note, this one slightly lower, but just as beautiful.

Spurred on by the vision of the sacred night before her and the newfound effect of her voice, she continued to sing, the notes of her voice flowing together, complementing the mystery and power of the night around her. Her gaze moving around the heavens, the notes of her primal song reflected the essence of the wondrous views before her.

Then her eyes focusing on the primary moon, her gaze slowly narrowing on its white fullness, the intensity of her song began to grow. For as her senses were pulled to the moon, the silvery orb gently overwhelming her, her notes deepened in strength, taking on the moon's power.

As the essence of the moon poured over her, she transformed it with her voice, then echoing it across the wilderness. As her song continued, she became aware once again of the soft grass against her legs, the scope of her senses widening. Still echoing the beauty of the moon, she then felt the cool night air brushing against her, and closing her eyes, she could still see scene before her, its crystal clarity driving the notes of her song.

With the beauty and power of her voice increasing, her senses were widened even more, encompassing every detail of the world around her, the feelings growing until all of nature was flowing through her, to be radiated by the low peals of her wondrous song.

Finally, the last threshold of her journey was reached, as her newfound consciousness was expanded to take her across the wilderness to the sacred circle of the adults from her village; her mind's eye whirling about them, her voice joining with theirs as they too howled out the beautiful tones of nature. As their voices mixed, they became a single note, joining her with the other members of the circle.

Their songs all continued, becoming as one, linking all their minds together, each others spirit radiating through the voice of their neighbors, tying them all together in the spectacular echoes of the world around them. And so it continued like this, her voice for the first time melding with the others, singing long into the night, until she passed into a sound sleep, only to wake peacefully from her dewy bed the next morning, her journey into adulthood complete.

Copyright 1996, Will A. Sanborn - was1@shore.net