Okay, here's the scoop:

Tam was born the daughter of the chieftain of the tribe.  As such, she was
trained with the warriors for ceremonial purposes.  It is tradition that all
members of the leading family understand the use of bow and spear and knife.
It was for this reason that she was trained.  No one ever expected her to
actually **use** any of this skill.  

She was born on the night of the new moon before midsummer eighteen winters
ago.  It is claimed that on the night she was born, the first cooling winds
from over the north lake began.  These winds promised cool weather for the
upcoming summer, and therefore a better harvest as the land would not be
parched and the tribe not want for water.

In the summer of her fifteenth year, she set out for the mountain.  This was
contrary to the wishes of her father.  Only a true warrior could experience a
warrior vision.  She insisted that according to tradition, you weren't a true
warrior until you had had a warrior vision, therefore, his objections were
groundless.  He wouldn't dare tell her that he believed only a man could have
them.  She went anyway, braving the disapproval of her father.  

On the mountain, she fasted and sat in the sun near the lake of dreams.  At
dusk of the tenth day, she saw a woman rise in the mist over the lake.  The
woman smiled and opened to Tam.  Tam had a vision of great heat and a terrible
horseman.  The horseman rode over the land, killing them with his great
spear.  Those that tried to escape were killed with his bow.  As each man
died, his body would crumble and wither.  Only her own people seemed spared.
But then the emaciated bodies of the dead rose to attack her people, seeking
to drive them to similar fates.  Then the vision faded and she was left
standing before the woman at the lake.  The woman handed her a spear and faded
into the night.

She returned home to tell the shaman of her vision.  The shaman said that it
foretold famine and war.  He urged the chief to prepare for war.  The chief
didn't believe his daughter claiming that she couldn't have a warrior vision
as she was not a warrior.  Tam claimed that she now was, having survived the
ritual and experience a vision.  Her father asked her for proof.  Of course,
she had none.  

In the following year, the war started.  A tribe from the west came out of a
famine to claim new fertile land---that of her people.  The chief claimed it
was coincidence.  Tam was not allowed to fight the wars, although many of the
tribe warriors came to her for comfort and advice before battle.   

(okay, let's wrap this up quickly now...)
Then she was kidnapped.  The others believed that by stealing the daughter of
the chief, they could ask for whatever they wanted.  The chief refused.  Tam
escaped, earned the respect of her father, was named Tamaranth Firstwind, and,
no, they didn't live happily ever after.  They are still at war.  War seems to
have become the way of life now.  

One day she was sitting on a rock somewhere, watching a storm and bamf...

(Okay, there's lots more detail that I need to add here.  Most of it exists in
my head, but I don't feel like putting it on paper quite yet.  :-} ) 
