-~- CHAPTER ONE -~-
There was a time before the great wars that ravaged the lands and did all it could to destroy old lore and tradition. This was when the world was new and so too were the tribes of taurs that lived within it. There was yet no need for heroes and no call for fighting, since there was so much in the world to eat and many, many places in which to live that tribes would never ever see one another or cross another's path. But there were many beings and dieties of legend that all knew of and one of them was Fangpohpo, the Keeper of the Winds.
There was no denying she chose the form of an old, wisened cattaur. Her body was all covered in autumn orange and her holy markings were dark brown stripes upon all of her skin, even her hair was striped and her eyes were like two golden suns. Slung across her back was a great patchwork sack, within it she carried the sacred bottles of the wind. She had bottles for all manner of winds... west wind, east wind, burning desert wind, and even the chilling wind of the frozen wastes. All of them only listened and answered to her.
Fangpohpo was bringing a wind one spring that allowed the plants to pollenate and marked the time for the birds to return to nest and mate. This was the place where every tribe would have to go to gather their foods to harvest, game to hunt, and save for the long coming winters. But on this year, the wicked trickster demon Kehtsun-ye took a great sack of his own and captured Fangpohpo. On this year the Fertile Spring Wind did not come and the winter stayed for far longer than it should have. The tribes were running out of food and the spring had not yet arrived.
Kehtsun-ye was a strange demon with an elongated head and a pointed nose tipped with mischievious whiskers, almost like a rat or a ferret. His body was covered in black and dark red fur. He sometimes walked on all fours and sometimes on two hind feet, even though his fore and hind limbs were all the same length. He had a tail for each natural element of the world and with them he could wield terrible, destructive power. His fingers were long and raccoon-like, though he had thumbs on his forelegs with which he could cause mischief.
In a little village near the sea, the wolftaurs still had plenty to eat. They ate the fish and the plants of the sea when the winter brought no game. But the other tribes were suffering, there was no spring and no new food growing or new game being born. The village elders were all gathered around speaking of this as their many grandchildren played around and at their feet. Among the children playing was a very small little boy named Zhou and a very little girl named Zhen who were twins. Zhou had pure white fur while Zhen was nut brown and they were inseparable. Zhou loved to fish and Zhen loved to cook, together they never went hungry. They both heard of the shortage of food going on in the rest of the world and felt pity for the other tribes, even though they were not wolftaur.
"We should help them," Zhou said to Zhen. "Even though we are not yet grown, no doubt we can bring back Fangpohpo."
"How will we do that?" Zhen asked, eager to adventure. Already she was thinking of what to pack for them.
"I'll go and catch four of the Yu, and we will make them into four large dumplings," Zhen said, confident that he was a skilled enough fisherman to capture four of the most rare and mystical jade fish in all the world.
That very evening, by the light of the moon he was so confident and sure he would catch the fish called Yu that surely he did! Four great wiggling fish, fat with life and looking like living green jade. They were the fish of the gods, that the only the gods were permitted to catch, cook, and eat. Zhou had no knowledge other then that they were magical and so he was totally unaware when the angered sea goddess rose from the depths and came down upon him.
"Who has caught my sacred fish!? Speak now! Explain yourself or I will drag you down into the depths!" she exclaimed.
"I am Zhou, who are you?" Zhou was so unafraid of her that she calmed and looked very puzzled at him. "It was I who caught your fish, but I need them to bring back Fangpohpo so the rest of the world will not die."
"How can a mere child stop Kehtsun-ye when even the gods cannot!?" she exclaimed.
"I need four dumplings, which my sister Zhen will prepare for me with these four fish that I have caught!" Zhou said. "Come here and I shall whisper my plan."
When Zhou whispered into her ear the plan, she bagan to laugh. She was so delighted by the child and his sister that she gave him two gifts. To Zhou she gave a fishing spear made for his size whose point would never dull, to Zhen she gave a fisherman's net made of ropes so strong that they could never be broken, and then she disappeared. The sea goddess granted them permission to prepare and cook her sacred fish to save the world and so they did.
