Kathy was 13 years old in a small, rural town in Alabama. She silently crept out of her house early one morning following her elder brother and father as they left on their usual hunting trip. She followed them into the woods unnoticed and stayed miraculously quiet and watched them.
All of a sudden she heard a gun go off and a very pregnant squirrel fell out of a tree. She ran forward with tears in her eyes shouting"No!", startling her father and brother who screamed like little girls! The squirrel had just gone into labor it was injured and it shock. At Kathy's pleading her father rushed the squirrel to the vet, the mother squirrel didn't survive, but one of her babies did. They brought the baby squirrel home, and named her Vivian.
Kathy raised Vivian and vowed to never eat squirrel again. One sad day Vivian was grown enough to survive on her own and her family made Kathy set her free. Soon after setting Vivian free Kathy became an advocate for animal welfare(treating animals fairly and kindly).
Kathy's mother was a Rodeo Queen, barrel racer, pole bender, breakaway rope, and lower level dressage rider so Kathy wasn't against bits or riding horses.
Vivian occasionally came and visited Kathy, on Kathy's 18th birthday Vivian came over to say hi and Kathy realized she could understand her! She then tried to talk to other animals, but she couldn't understand them. Vivian then explained to Kathy that Vivians father was a wizard- squirrel and her mom was a normal squirrel therefore she was a half-blood witch- squirrel and when you save a wizard/witch squirrel you earn the ability to speak to them.