Hayuko
Legacy Name: Hayuko

"Finally." I muttered under my breath. This was it. The event that I waited a whole year to experience: the first breaths of Spring.

Well, maybe not experience first hand, but at least witness with my own eyes. Living high up on a mountain is not always fun. The Winters are bitter and worst of all, Spring never comes out to play. But the view makes my entire life up here tolerable. Every year I watch as Spring takes its first steps into the world. Stumbling around like any new born would. Weeks pass though, and Spring is finally able to run and jump around, teasing what's left of the harsh, cold Winter. It's easy for someone like me to be jealous of Spring; so carefree and warm. My parents always said that Spring was not something I needed in order to survive. That the brittle tufts of dead grass here and there around me was all I needed to survive. I believed them at the time, but now they're long gone, and with them their useless rules and "advice". They told me I was never to stray from my mountain cave-I can't even call it my home- lest hunters find me and make four meals out of me; lies, all of it. Yet here I remain, secluded on the mountain. Well that life ends here and now, I assert to no one in particular.

I slowly began my trek to the destination I pictured so vividly in my mind from an aerial view: a meadow in the middle of the forest that stood proudly at the base of my mountain. It was extremely hard, winding my way down the unfamiliar, rocky territory. Every time I stumbled, I got right back up though. If anyone had seen me struggling, they would have merely laughed and shouted, "Look at that clumsy newborn! Why don't you just stumble back home to mommy and daddy!" Luckily no one was there to taunt me as I progressed down the mountain side. It took a few days, but I reached my destination with a triumphant smile. "I did it!" I shouted to the meadow. To my surprise, someone replied.

"Just what have you done young one?" I searched for the source of the voice, eager to set my eyes on someone other that my reflection in cold, frozen lakes. My eyes finally settled on an old mountain goat resting in the shade of a clearly ancient tree. His eyes looked so welcoming to me, and I just could not hold back my excitement. So I told him everything. I told him about my parents, their strict rules, my life after their deaths, my recent resolution, and finally about my clumsy trek to this exact meadow. He listened patiently; never interrupting, and always nodding his head. When I finished I noticed I had a whole eclectic audience of animals from what seemed like all corners of the meadow. They were drinking my story up; hanging on to every last drop. It was obvious they wanted to hear more about life in the roof of the world. I guess it's not everyday that some stranger comes down from the harsh, seemingly uninhabited mountain to entertain them with strange stories. I smiled sheepishly as everyone continued to stare at me.

The old mountain goat just smiled back and, breaking the gnawing silence, whispered, "Welcome, Spring."