Episode 1
There was a young woman among the Skarlings named Asta, and she despaired of her people rising up to protect themselves against the Kingdom, which sought to destroy their way of life. So one day when the first red and gold spread through the tops of the trees, she left her home in the Wet Wood and journeyed to find the Nami, whom she had heard were stout warriors.
"If she won't fight back I will!"
No sooner had she arrived at the Loud Earth clan in the height of the Water Gap than the clan flew into a frenzy of fear. Word had reached them that the Cold Oak clan at the foot of the Gap had been attacked by the Kingdom. The chief was nowhere to be seen, so his son told the brave warriors to go up onto Sunrise Ridge, where they could join with the Bent Horn clan and fall upon the flanks of the armies. Asta, seeing an opportunity to prove herself to these people, and earn their help, ran quickly to the top of the Ridge.
But when she got there, the Bent Horn clan refused to go to the attack. Only a handful of people from Loud Earth had come up to them, Cold Oak was already defeated and the Kingdom in possession of the Gap, and there was no word of what had become of Loud Earth.
Now among the people of Bent Horn at this time was a mysterious stranger, a woman of the Lion People who called herself "Shade." She was passing through on a journey northward, for reasons she had not identified. Also in Bent Horn was an elderly woman of Loud Earth whose husband had died in the flight out of the Gap. Sheno, for that was the woman's name, was looking for an old man named Uri, a kinsman, who had vanished in the confusion. Sheno went to Asta and Shade and asked them to give her service, in helping her get reunited with Uri.
Shade asked why Sheno was seeking another man when her husband was not yet cold in the earth, so Sheno told her the tale. Asta and Shade agreed to help.
