It starts with a girl hunting in the storm.

The sky pours a torrential flood.
The air cackles with the smell of ozone.
Spirits dance and curse over distant pagodas
on rows of lone mountain peaks, scales of a great dragon.
She follows the cold flashes of light,
Until she is only shadow.

(In the distance, a woman’s voice wails)

It starts with a girl,
Arrow notched, string taunt,
Hands steady, and water on her hair, her face, her lips,
On the callouses of her fingertips.
She meets the glowing ember eyes-
Thunder booms,
A tail, a grin, splits in two,
A whistle and a deafening thud.

It starts with a girl,
Who lets a fox live.