Feathers of the Hawk Prologue

Prologue


'Kahu landed close to the gates, shaking her feathers before changing back into a human. She walked up to the guards.
"Hiya, Kahu."
"Hi." Kahu was tired. She'd love it if she had been able to go straight to bed, but Are had told her to report to him as soon as she had returned. She also wished she could use the speed of one of her animals, but shapeshifting wasn't allowed within the gates of the Shapeshifter Academy, the place most shapeshifters called 'home'. 
"Who are you and what do you want?" Her feet had brought her to the guard that was standing on watch in front of Are's corridor.
"It's Kahu. Are told me to report to him as soon as I was back from my mission."
"Prove it." The only exceptions to the 'no shapeshifting' rule were this checkpoint and the training areas, to make sure there wouldn't be any fights where one of the fighters could be a predator while the other one was stuck with a kind of prey. Kahu changed again, becoming the animal she was named after. The hawk. She, just like any other shapeshifter, had gotten a new name, so no one would be able to track her family down for revenge on her. Her hawk form was easily recognizable for anyone who knew who she was, so the guard let her go on, of course only after she had changed back.
"Enter," a male voice said after she'd knocked.
"Kahu."
"Are." Only one shapeshifter of all there were could change into an eagle. This shapeshifter was the lord of the sky, but also the lord of the shapeshifters. The boss of the Academy. The only one who could send you out on missions.
"How was your mission?"
"Duysante did not have anything new to tell us. She accepted your job." 
Duysante was a wolf-shapeshifter, who was one of the few shapeshifters to live on her own. The only person Duysante talked to was Kahu, because both girls had the free spirit of a predator. Both girls' primary animals were wild. A wolf and a hawk. Most girls changed into a mouse or a singing bird. A dog, if they were lucky. Calm or obedient animals. But not Kahu and Duysante. They changed into predators. They were wild. That was why Duysante lived on her own. She could not live at the Academy, where everyone stared at her. Kahu just ignored the stares. Duysante hated not being able to shapeshift every time she wanted to, but Kahu usually was in her room, where she could shapeshift whenever she wanted to, or in a training area, where the sole purpose was shapeshifting.  But the girls had always been friends, they had lived in the same village. And of course, it was very useful that Kahu could fly, that way it was a lot easier for her to give Duysante her new assignment. All shapeshifters had to do as much as they could for their country, but Duysante had made it known early on that she was not planning on accepting any assignment when Kahu was not te one to tell her about it.
"You may go now. Sleep well."
"Thank you."
Kahu went to her room, which was in the girls' wing of the Academy, but looked like the rooms of most boys. The walls were made white with chalk, and there were only a few pieces of furniture in the room: a bed, a desk with a chair and a wardrobe, which was in an alcove, just like her fireplace and a perch for birds. The stone floor was covered in straw. She threw her clothes over the chair and lay down in her bed.