Azura woke early, finding herself curled up close to the big tiger. She lay there listening to the even breathing and taking in his clean dusty scent. How she had missed him came the thought unbidden. Tears filled her eyes, happy tears, tears of remembrance.  Once, when he had managed to shift into human form, that one time during ceremony, together they had honored the Mother with their pleasures, their union. She had to admit that he was a handsome man  when he was human, but if she was honest, she loved him dearly in his animal form.<br/><br/>In his animal form, he was companion, guardian, teasing wit, with none of the complications that men brought into a woman’s life. She enjoyed his human flesh for he was skilled in making a woman feel her oneness with the Mother, but if she had to choose between the man or the tiger, she knew she would choose the tiger. In his animal form, she could lie next to him and not have to take part of her soul to please him.<br/><br/>For a heartbeat, Azura was a little confused. She didn’t mean that she didn’t enjoy pleasures and she didn’t mean that she wished Black Stone to be cursed to animal form, but well, he was her friend and he was cuddly when he was a beast. She smiled faintly in the dim light of the banked hearth fire.<br/><br/>Rubbing her hand over his fine head and round ears, Azura closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation of touching another warm being. She was no longer alone. Great Mother, she was no longer alone.<br/><br/>In the distance, she could hear the calling of the seagulls and the roar of the ocean. Maybe soon, they would find the owners of those dark heads in the water. Soon, Black Stone promised to hunt an aurochs for her a new cloak. Today, he would hunt and they would feast. With a trembling hand, she clutched her amulet in prayer,<br/><br/>“Sheema, your tests are hard ones. This woman has lost everything and every one she has ever cared for. In her impatience, she longed to return to her people after she had taken her own life and in your wisdom, granted me life. As punishment, this woman had wandered, lost and so alone, sacrificing for others but  you have found this woman worthy and have restored Black Stone to me. When the hunt is successful and this woman had a new cloak to mark a new moon of life, this woman will search out the valley of singing stones to renew a vow to you.”