The little creature growled and thrust its minuscule spear, although a better description would be a almost straight, almost pointy stick. The weapon, for lack of a better word, hit Bodin straight in the shin and broke harmlessly.

“It’s going to be one of those days.” He sighed as more of the little people surrounded him weapon at the ready. They were armed with swords(short sticks), spears (longer sticks), clubs (larger sticks), shields (he’d have to say, it was probably bark) and quite obviously: sticks.

The creatures were harmless, and it was seen as a source of bad luck to harm them. “What got you so bothered littles ones?”

They snarled and shouted menacingly... As menacingly as a frail two-feet humanoid could get at least.

Bodin couldn’t help himself anymore, he laughed and laughed until he spotted the totem. “Varisa?” His own daughter made into a god. He suddenly felt like vomiting, not because he found the idea repulsive but because of the way they’d treated her as a monster.

From the little one’s point of view, the very thing that had made her own people fear her, made them revere her: she was incomprehensible both in strength and mind.

He gripped the pouch at his side, it contained his daughter last letter, and the reason why he’d went on this long patrol by himself. “Shit!” He headed back, Elder Bura should be gone by now, and she wasn’t...

When he reached home, the elder was in the Yurt, talking with his wife. He cursed, “It’s definitely is one of those day.”

“Bodin,” She exclaimed, “just the man I was waiting for.”

“Salutation, Elder, I didn’t expect you.” Not after he’d done everything in his power to avoid her.

“So, it seems. You know, I’ve had to delay my departure by days waiting for you, but we’ve finally met.” The old woman’s eyes were boring holes in his skull.

“How auspicious.” What else could he say? She was a very influential elder among the tribes, and a force to recon with despite her age. He wasn’t sur he’d win a fight against, heck, he wasn’t sure his son could.

“Let use get on to business then. Did your daughter answer my request, will she come home?” There was a book on her lap, a spell book of sort written by Varisa.

“I see my wife already gave you the book...”

She interrupted him. “Will she?”

Shit! He took the letter from his pooch and handed it to her. There was a reason why he hadn’t shown it to anyone, not even his wife.

The elder’s eyes grew more and more severe as she read.

Dear father,

I thought I’d notify you that despite some complications at childbirth, my son and I are both healthy.

As for your actual inquiry: fuck you. I have a life, stop trying to ruin my life.

Lovingly (and one-sidedly),

Your daughter Varisa.

“I’m so sorry for the disrespect.”

“Yes, you should. Not for the disrespect, but for what you and your people did to her.” She’d wanted the girl to inherit her position, but the was no way it was going to happen.

Easy to say, for an outsider but they’d been the one who had lived with the impossible monster.

**********************************

Varisa sat to meditate, partly for training, partly to calm herself. She couldn’t believe those stupid elders still denied her the right of passage when even her moron of a brother had been allowed to.

She muttered. “There’s no way this idiot succeeded on his own.” Fighting was one thing since it was the one thing, he was good at, but tracking a prey AND finding his way back? On his own? There was no way.

She was objectively stronger than anyone else, but she wasn’t allowed out there because ‘women are precious’ and ‘they should stay and protect the village as the last line of defense.’ Liar, if it were true then the safest sending her alone would be the safest bet; she was the strongest after all, probably stronger than everyone combined.

But she couldn’t lose herself in anger, she started meditating and conjured vision of a tiger in her mind for image training. She’d never saw the lords of the forest, but since they were quadruped of the feline family, she could predict their movement based on their morphology alone.

To some extent at least. With monster, strange quirks and abnormalities had to be expected. Like, using their tail as a weapon or a fifth appendage for movement. The image looked quite ridiculous, but she knew better than to laugh.

She continued her training for some time, but no matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t see herself win. She was still in the middle of training when the screams came. The village wasn’t far, barely a few hundred paces away, but it felt like thousands.

She was greeted by men, recently bloodied hunters who ought to be out on patrol, and woman running away from the carnage. There were corpses strewn everywhere, human and animal and in the middle of them was a stone ape, beating on a teenage girl blocking his path.

“Bojana!” The girl was only a few steps away, but there was no saving her; she was already too far gone.

With tears in her eyes, Varisa charged. Gone were her techniques and training, she was only driven by primal rage and her desire to pummel the beast into the ground and to oblivion.

A Stone Ape driven by bloodlust could not be stopped, it would kill and beat on the corpse of its victim for beats on end... But it stopped to let out a cry of abject terror and raise it arm in a meager act of defense.

It wasn’t enough. Nothing short of a giant could have stopped Varisa as she was now. She broke its arm, slammed its face into ground and started on punching. The cries soon stopped, replaced only by the rhythmic sounds of pounding and the occasional gasps of the onlookers.

There was a groan. The beating stopped. Then another groan. Varisa, covered in bits of blood, flesh and bones rushed at its source. It was Nadia, badly hurt but still alive under the bodies of her friends.

“Thank the spirits.” Cried Varisa as she extracted the older girl from under the pile and carried her away to examine her. There were some tears, broken bones but nothing immediately fatal, at least not with her knowledge of anatomy.

The adults stared helplessly, too afraid to move, until an irate elder Nemanja screamed she stops whatever she was doing. “Let go of my granddaughter who accursed monster child!”

She didn’t. She couldn’t, not until her situation was stabilized. “Shut up, you damn fool. I'm saving her life!”

He raised a hand to hit her but was stopped by the people around him. Between a mere elder and the monstrous child in front of them, they were much more afraid of the latter.

“Let me go, you damn oafs.” He tried to it them, but he was but a feeble old man whose glory days where long gone... Not that they were ever that glorious to begin with.

Varisa extracted the last bone fragment from her thoracic cavity, with this there should be no more risk a piercing a lung. Sadly, she was no healer: the rest would be up to Nadia and to luck. “Make sure she’s well cared for.”

She walked down the river to clean herself up; she stunk like a rotten corpse. By the time she was done, the runaways who had turned tail were looking for survivors and answer.

She should have waited more... Watching the grief-stricken parents gather what was left of their progeny was too much to bear.

“This is all your fault.” Screamed a broken-hearted father at her, “if you’d be there rather than sleeping on the job as you always do...”

“I’d be just as incompetent as you and dead. The better question is: where were you?’” No matter how many times she explained, they refused to understand what she did was training.

She saw elder Branimir, a vile brute much unlike what his name suggested, berating the trio of hunter she had seen earlier. “Worthless, useless, pieces of trash, why were you not fighting the beast. You should be out hunting, why are you here at all?”

As Varisa had expected, they were supposed to been on patrol, and why were they missing half their number?

The elder shifted his focus to her. “Damn bitch, sleeping on the job again, were you? My (great) granddaughter is dead because of you. I should kill you here and now!”

She absolutely hated the useless old brute, “You’re welcome to try, if you think can do better than the ape.”

He was taken aback by her answer. “You’d raise your hands against me, and elder?”

“If you raise yours against me, why wouldn’t I answer in kind?” As far as she was concerned, the elders were worthless fools.

Her brother intervened with the most (In)opportune timing. “Sister, watch your tone. Sorry elder, let me speak to her in private.”

“I’ll allow it.” Said the old coot regally.

“Sister, I know things have been hard on you lately, but you need to listen to the elders, they know what’s good for the tribe.”

“Bojan, shut up and do what you do best; get lost. I do not want to see you right now; your very name is an insult to my diseased friend.” Why did she have to die? Why not those useless moronic pieces of trash?

“Varisa, you can’t speak to people like that and expect them to listen...”

She went away, anything out of his mouth was not worth listening anyway and stopped on a hill to meditate. She needed it, she was still immature and at the rate things were going, there was little doubt she would murder someone in anger before long.

“Varisa.” Called her father’s voice.

She turned to face him, strangely calm considering the recent. “Yes, father?”

He gulped. “The elders want to speak with you.”

“You mean, make accusations, and shift the blame?” She had calmed a little. Only a little.

Bodin laughed nervously, he and his son had been requested to participate, but it was doubtful whether she could be soothed at all.

When the trio entered the large Yurt, they were greeted by five old grumpy men and two irate ones: elder Branimir and Nemanja.

“Girl,” stated, the former. “You have been summoned to answer for your crimes. For years, you’ve been known for sleeping and the job and shirking your chores. This dereliction of duty has caused the death of many of ours precious youth, what say you?”

Varisa growled. “It’s called training, you people should try someday.”

Bojan chastised her. “Sister, please. Listen to your elders for once.”

“Brother, you are mistaking sage for age. Being old did not change them, they are the same cowardly idiots they have always been.” There way the tribe elected their leaders favored the meek and the cowardly since they were the most likely to survive.

“Silence,” Raged Branimir “if it weren’t for you putting strange ideas into her head, my granddaughter would still live.”

“Decrepit old fool, if it weren’t for her slowing down the beast, many more would have died.” Tears started to trickle on Varisa’s face. Her friend was stronger, and kinder than anyone; not the type to leave others to die. “How dare you make light of Bojana’s sacrifice!

“You might have well killed her yourself.” Shouted the old man.

“You cowards did! Where were the hunters, today? Aways from danger! Like the cowards you have raised them to be!” As always, the brave had died so the cravens could live on.

“I'd have preferred to see you exiled, but there are so few of us right now...”

Varisa closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she was a totally different person. “You people aren’t fit to rule, I demand a change of elders.”

“It’s the will of the people.” Explained Bojan, and it was true. They were terrified of her, but even more terrified of what she’d do if exiled. Reining her in with a husband what the solution they came up with.

“You people aren’t fit to rule, I request a change of elders.” Six out of the seven elders backed away from her with fear in their eyes.

Branimir alone stood his ground, mostly because he was deaf to all criticism. He scoffed. “Only a bloodied can ask for change of Edler.”

“What of the Stone Ape?” It was a solo kill most of the tribe could confirm.

“By your own admission, you didn’t do it alone.” Technically true, yet entirely wrong.

“Sophistry.” Since there was no point in arguing with fools, and they would never allow her the rite of passage, she’d have to do it on her own term.

Outside waited a boy, one of the many idiots who followed her brother around.

He looked at her from head to toe with a disappointed look. “So, you are my wife. Your looks are bad, but you are strong, and I am strong; you will bear me some strong children.”

“I know he’s coming a bit strong, but he really is a good guy; I’m sure you’ll be happy together.” Explained her brother.

Well, considering the limited vocabulary, he was indeed fit to be her brother’s friend. She kicked him in the balls, and he fell on the floor moaning and groaning in both pain and pleasure. The sight was so revolting it kicked her out of first form.

That was what they chose to be her husband: a weakling and a buffoon? “Bodin, if this foul creature is your friend, then hurry and remove it from my sight before I smash it.” Compared to that, even her brother seemed like a vast improvement, and already it pained her to admit they were the same species, much less family. “If anyone ask, I will be in the forest. Hunting.”