Mrs.Ashley

**Mrs. Ashley** is a Gurahl.

## Biography

Your early life was simple. Born a grizzly bear cub, you and your siblings spent your first year exploring the world under the watchful eye (and paw) of your mother. You learned useful skills like chasing flopping fish along the riverbank, digging for honeycombs hidden in hollow logs, shaking trees and smelling the wind for interesting scents. As you grew older, your mother and brother started keeping their distance from you. They weren't hostile to you, just wary.

Then the two-legs came, smelly creatures that stood upright (just like you sometimes did) and carried long tree branches that make loud noises. your mother stood tall to challenge the two-legs, then fell to the ground smelling like blood and pain. You knew she would never get up again and that the two- legs were the cause. Instinctively, you rose on your hind feet and growled defiantly at the stick-pointers.

Roaring your fury, you felt your body growing and transforming. Suddenly, you towered above the intruders, who screamed and ran away, stinking of terror. From behind you, you heard a panicked whimper from your brother. You turned to see what was threatening him so you could scare it away, and discovered that he was staring at you-- or what you had become. You felt yourself changing again in response to your brother's fear, but instead of returning to your half-grown cub form, your body shaped itself to  resemble one of the stinking stick pointers. Your brother ran from you, leaving you naked and alone, huddled in confusion next to the dead body of your mother.

Finally you figured out how to revert to original form, and you went off to search of your brother. Although you found him, he shied from you. It took you some time to convince him that you were still his familiar-smelling sibling. Over the next few days, you felt your mind become different, as strange thoughts shaped themselves in your head. Vivid dreams called you to leave your home in the high mountains.

Followed at distance by your sibling, you traveled across many valleys until you came to a cabin. A tall female human came out of the cabin and greeted you in a language that you understood, even though you had never heard it before. She told you that you and your brother were both welcome to stay with her, and she said that she was your Buri-Jaan, or teacher.

Your Buri-Jaan taught you many things, not just about your heritage as Gurahl but above living life as a human. Most importantly, she stressed the need to prepare for the impending Apocalypse. Because you needed to learn so much, you stayed with your Buri-Jaan for two years. During that time, you developed an understanding of the ways of a teacher. You decided to enter the world of humans and focus on teaching the children of the two-legs the ways of healing and protecting. If you could teach the human cubs properly, perhaps they would not grow into the horrid monsters that killed your mother. You fear that you may not have enough time to accomplish your goal, but you have to try.

Your nurturing instincts have led you to become a teacher of young children. You work as a kindergarten teacher, trying your best to train human cubs in the same fashion as your mother and your Buri-Jaan taught you. You emphasize respect for the land and its creatures, and you encourage your young charges to learn through play and exploration. Sometimes you treat your friends and companions as if they were your students.

Speak in simple terms, explaining things as you go along. Since you were born a bear, your language does not have the sophisticated polish of your homid cousins. Life and learning cannot be separated. Turn even the most mundane activities into learning experiences for yourself and those in your company.