Taar-ah-may.
Second generation of her line, daughter of Ūlinpyr.
Second vessel of the Badger.
Taramé was born to Ūlinpyr during Aktani's reign. Out of all the litter, she resembled her mother most, but as if all of the dark shades of Ūlinpyr's pelt faded into white.
Her mother didn't expect her to be much. She didn't even get a name — she would be given one much later, during her Ritual of Circles. It was as if the odds had been stacked against Taramé from the moment she was born. Ūlinpyr was uncaring at best, entirely absent at worst, and the drab grays of her pelt seemed impossible for a god to notice. It was impossible for Taramé not to be angry at her situation. Her destiny sprawled out from her clear as day; she would be thrown into the Lesser Circle, she would be chased into the Wilds, and there she would die, unprepared for the harsh wilderness and forgotten completely by the entire Aeskīr.
Or so she thought.
The Ritual of Circles came, and Taramé watched as Aktani saw her siblings and, one after the other, gestured for them to be thrown into the Lesser Circle group. She didn't care. It was hard to grow attached to siblings who had given up on life from the day it began. Soon she would be the same.
But Aktani gestured for her to walk forward. The crowd around them froze, watching her intently. Even an induction into the Greater Circle was rare; it was a spectacle they would not see again for months. Aktani's mottled paw came down on Taramé's forehead — and everything went white.
A howl of pain ripped out of her mouth as her body twisted and reformed, struggling against the invader clawing at its insides. The crowd cheered their congratulations. A feeling of insurmountable power swelled up inside Taramé's chest, and the pain turned to exhilaration, and then to a realization: she was no longer alone within herself.
Her terror winked out quicker than a candle-flame as the Badger took hold, pushing her consciousness down. Her body straightened, the god within no longer caring about the agony still wracking her bones. It raised its head in triumph as Taramé fell into an endless, incomprehensible darkness.
