Sin felt a rush as he ran through the forest chasing after the wapiti with his bow and arrow in hand ready to be drawn at any moment. The wapiti quickly scampered around a large tree to escape Sin’s line of fire, but Sin decided to use that to his advantage and quickly made his way up the tree and stood on a branch.

He readied his bow and arrow and as soon as the creature was in his sight again he released and watched as the arrow shot straight through the creature’s front leg and sent it toppling over. Sin jumped from the branch and landed on the forest floor with a loud thud, he drew his bow just as the wapiti began to rise and released it sending his second arrow into the creature’s head.

Fen and the other men who had been trailing behind Sin had stopped to watch as he brought down the great beast and a small smile graced his lips when he saw how skillful the child was in hunting. The only thing the boy had done up to now was watch them hunt and he hadn’t expected the boy to actually kill the beast when he sent him after it, but none the less it was a good surprise.

He and the other men made their way over to Sin who was trying to unsuccessfully remove his arrow from the wapiti’s skull. He placed his hand on his shoulder and shook his head when Sin looked up at him. “That arrow is lost boy, it is stuck firmly in the creatures skull but if you wish I will make a new one for you, or you can use this as your chance to make your own.”

Sin looked at the arrow and stepped back releasing it just as one of the other men leaned down and hefted the beast onto his shoulder. With how far Sin had chased after the Wapiti they were close to home so they would reach by night fall and there Sin and Fen would clean his first kill.

**

Bai watched on with a smile on her face as she saw her husband and the other men returning to the village. Sin walked along next to him with his hood on his head and his face covered halfway, she could still see the deep frown on his face. But his spirit felt lighter to her, she knew letting her husband take him out to hunt would be a good idea.

Bai was quick to pull her husband into a hug and place a deep kiss on his lips, ignoring the grime on his clothes; they would both take a bath later. She stepped away from her husband and looked to Sin who just stood awkwardly as he watched everyone being greeted. Bai would not allow him to feel left out so she pulled him into a tight hug and placed a kiss on his head, noting the scent of blood on his clothes.

She looked to her husband who nodded to his brother who was still holding onto the wapiti as he hugged his wife and placed a hand on her swollen stomach. A large smile spread across her face and she pulled Sin into another hug and let him know how proud she was of him, for someone so young to make such a kill was something for their tribe to be proud of.

Sin was startled by the second hug, for it was much tighter, he was about to drop his guard until he heard the messages that the woman let slip into his mind. Proud, was a word she had not yet thought him, but the way she spoke told him that it was something good, something he shouldn’t feel guarded against.

But what brought confusion was when she said she was proud that he had killed the creature. He pulled back and looked at her with his brows furrowed, the last time he had killed a butterfly just to see what it’s wings were like she said that it was a bad thing and that he should never do it again. And he could feel the disappointment she felt towards him for the rest of the day.

But now that he had killed a much bigger creature she was proud, so was it okay for him to kill something as long as it was bigger than him, or should he only kill things that don’t have wings? This was something he had to think about but he couldn’t think about it now because Fen was calling him.

Sin went over to where Fen sat by the fire and took a seat next to him, the older male had already set out the tools they would need to clean the beast and put it out to dry. Fen decided that when the fur was cleaned he would help the boy make his first coat and boots, if he wanted to survive in the wilderness he had to know a lot of things.

Everything was finished in a little over an hour and Fen lead Sin away so they could go and wash themselves and change into clothes that were suitable for sleep. It still made Fen’s blood boil every time he saw the child’s scarred skin, so he had learned to look at his face, but even that had angered him at times.

All the people over the years that had laid a hand on the child were careful not to injure his face; there was just one scar on his whole face. Fen could tell that when Sin got older he would be quite the looker and it seems that the people that hit him knew he would fetch quite the price if they were looking to sell him to certain people and his face was undamaged.

When they were clean and their clothes had been changed they made their way back to the camp and sat at the fire to eat their dinner. When they were finished Fen helped Sin to wash his hands after he had done his and then lead him to the tent so they could call it a night.

**

The next day Sin was awoken by Bai who had found him sleeping in a pool of his own sweat, he was soaked from head to toe and his fists were curled tightly. Bai had never seen him like that before and what made her try to wake him up faster was the blood she saw leaking from his hands.

She had tried to just uncurl his hands but he released a whimper when she did, so she decided it would be best to just wake him. When Sin opened his eyes she nearly screamed from fright but decided to hold it back. His eyes that normally swirled with green and gold had now swirled blood red, but with a blink they were back to normal.

She brushed his hair from his face and watched as the scales that sat there a second ago vanished. She helped him to sit up and sat with him until he was able to catch himself. She slowly uncurled his hands and was holding her breath in preparation for what she would find, but when she did all she found was the blood falling from his uncut hands.

Sin too looked down at his hands, before looking back at Bai, he furrowed his brows in wonder at why she had awoken him and why she was acting so strangely. He felt a tickle ij his head and quickly pulled away, moving to his feet as he did. He wiped his bloody hands on his pants and gave Bai no chance to explain herself as he stormed out of the tent pushing Fen out of his way.

Bai moved to go after him but Fen shook his head. “The boy is upset, you should give him some time by himself and when he is calmed then you can try and speak with him.”Bai nodded and Fen walked over to his wife and led her to their cot so she could tell him what had happened.

Fen listened carefully and thought about everything she had told him before nodding along. “I think it’s a bit too early, but with the way the boy looks and acts I would agree that he is awakening to his inner beast. Our children don’t awaken to theirs until they are fifteen, those descended from wolves at eighteen and other species much later.

But for Sin it might be natural seeing that we don’t know which beast he is descended from and since he has scales it could be any number of things, but hopefully he is not of a viper. “

Bai shook her head “Vipers have cold blood and often they do not sweat and if their body is over heated they just sleep. But Sin’s blood is very hot, almost as if he has lava flowing in his veins and when Vipers show their beast their eyes turn white, whereas Sin’s were blood red.”

“Maybe it will do us some good to try and find out which beast he is descended from so that we could help him get through it. I don’t want him accidentally hurting himself or anyone else and I don’t want him to feel as if we fear or hate him because we don’t know what he is.”

**

After their talk Bai headed out to look for Sin, carrying along clean clothes and a cloth for him to dry his skin. She was hoping he hadn’t gone far and was pleased when she found him sitting on the highest branch on a nearby tree. She watched in silence as he observed everything around him as his ears flicked back and forth and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Sin, you should come and take a bath now.”

Sin looked down from his perch when he heard Bai’s voice in his head and looked down to see her watching him with a smile on her face. She was no longer acting strangely with him; she was acting the way she normally did. Sin nodded to himself and then jumped from the branch and this time Bai couldn’t help the loud scream that she released.

The whole tribe was on alert in a second and Fen and his brothers were quick to run to where they had heard the loud scream come from. When he reached he was met with the sight of his wife panicking as she checked Sin’s body for any bruises, while Sin looked down at her with furrowed brows.

Fen walked over to his wife and turned her to him so he could ask her what was wrong but before he could get a word out she started rambling. What he could understand from the whole thing was that Sin ju8mped out of the tree and Bai thought he was trying to hurt himself because of what happened earlier.

Fen pulled Bai to him and looked up at Sin who was giving him a puzzled look, he knew right then that the boy had no interest in hurting himself. He jumped from the tree because he knew it was something that would be safe for him to do and that left one question in Fen’s mind.

Was Sin aware of whom he was?