Sepdet mumbles, again without much strength or fire behind her voice, ~So /that's/ what Bluefur meant about all the trash cans in the city getting tipped in one night.~
Quiet tilts her head. We discussed. Raccoon seemed to fit our pack, since nothing united us except that were were all ones from the fringes, unlike the normals for our tribes that others expected us to be. We had each survived much and would fight to survive again. We were Crossing, those that met on the crossroads, from many paths that became one.
Quiet says, in conclusion. We agreed.
Soulcatcher nods at this, absorbed in the telling.
Quiet chuffs, amused, at Sepdet, but merely continues. Branch-Splitter told us our task: to bring back an object for him, one per pack member. To gift it, and explain its importance.
Quiet looks amused again, deep in memory. We withdrew a bit, to discuss. The racoons pouted at us.
Soulcatcherchufs a lupine laugh.
Bitter-Water chuffles.
Quiet continues. We separated, for those that needed to go elsewhere to retrieve a gift. Finally, we all gathered back at the racoons, which waited eagerly to see what we brought.
Quiet tilts her head. We took turns, giving our gifts. Thorn was a shaped piece of wood, that sat easy in the paw. He had spent many nights shaping it, and explained how its craft showed beauty hidden that was uncovered and how it celebrated the Mother.
You sense Soulcatcher's presence is warm, and the Wendigo shifts again, nuzzles affectionately.
Quiet shifts her weight a little. The raccoons passed it from paw to paw, finally setting it on the ground.
Quiet continues with the next gift. Anubis's was a ring of silver and other, which he was gifted in the land of sand far away. He explained what each part meant, in the thoughts of those that gifted him, but it has been long. I cannot remember. Her ears splay again. I think the raccoons were more impressed with the way it glittered, anyway.
Bitter-Water pages to Quiet, Soulcatcher, Waters, and Sepdet: Shiney!
Sepdet smiles a little at that.
Soulcatcher pages to Quiet, Waters, Sepdet, and Bitter-Water: Oooooooooooh, a /sparkly/. I gotta have it. Mrs. B!
From afar, to Quiet, Soulcatcher, Waters, and Sepdet, Bitter-Water gets the reference, Rabbit. :)
Quiet chuffs, then says, The ring made its way to join the wood. Chaser gave hers next, a silver bracelet which she said showed the unity of pack. Again, the wayit shone was at least as much interest as the story. All these gifts went around the raccoon moot, until each had the chance to touch and know.
Quiet tilts her head. Jumps-Fences's gift confused Branch-Splitter, as well it might. She struggles for a moment, then says finally, It was a symbol of the human worship. Her true father had given it to her. Though his promises to who he knew as Gaia forbid him to breed, he had done it. Since he could not claim her, he had given her this thing to remember him.
Quiet looks around, especially to the two metis and the lupus, to see if they understand.
Bitter-Water chuffs. I know about that, yeah.
Quiet chuffles, satisfied. She goes on with the tale. Whitestreak's gift was next. Again lupine words fail her. She finally says, It was a thing like a talen, that his mother had taught him to make, but its only power was in the hands of the creator, not in a bound spirit. It was made to catch troubling dreams, and let the good ones through. Whitestreak spoke of how this affirmed his tie with his family, a tie similiar to the one that bound Crossing.
Waters doesn't understand much, save the part about it being something her sire had given to her.
Quiet nudges Waters with her nose. That is enough for the story. Human beliefs are strange things.
Waters seems amused. I already knew that.
Bitter-Water chuffles again, amused.
Sepdet stirs from where she has been still. ~Hail raccoon.~
Quiet finishes. My gifting was last. It was two of the stones I carry, the ones that change from yellow to brown in the light. She pauses, then says, I carry those stones to remind myself of the different human religion that loves Gaia. How those humans have nothing but their hearts to give. I had wanted to be able to shape the world with my mind, but Gaia's gift to me was my claws and my spirit. Yet I have so much more than those humans, that still love Her. And therefore I must do more, since She has given me more to begin with.
Quiet pauses, then says, Eventually all the gifts made it to the pile. Branch-Splitter gave us his blessing and the jagglings began to test each other, to see which would get the pack and its gifts.
Quiet puts stress on the word 'gifts.'
Bitter-Water perks her ears foreward.
Sepdet smiles faintly at the image of a passle of raccoons scuffling over the gifts of her friends.
Quiet chuffles again, in amusement. Like cubs, some were able to fake each other out by looking fierce. Others gave up easily when they saw the amount of competition. Finally, only two were left: a grizzled fighter, and a young rangy male.
Quiet says simply, They fought fiercely over the pile.
Tilting her head again, Quiet concludes. But in the end, the older buck did not wish to push the issue enough to defeat his younger opponent. The young buck won and gathered the pile to his chest.
Quiet chuffles. And then it happened. As each gift was absorbed into his being, each member of Crossing could hear the thoughts of the other. So Raccoon, who we soon called Mask, gave us his greatest gift, to unite us as best he could.
Bitter-Water exhales softly. Wow.
Sepdet lifts her head from its pillow to look over at Quiet, eyes sad. ~It still holds, although I helped lay Annie to grave when I first took my post here, and though the rest of you are now elders, pulled in many directions. I saw Thorn-rhya run from the Wheel not many nights ago... and I have no doubt from the way he ran that it was one of you he was hearing, though far away. You /are/ Crossing. Several very strong spokes of the Wheel.~
Soulcatcher's ears come forward, eyes darkly thoughtful on these words.
Quiet looks pensive, suddenly. She says, softly, It is hard, to have a pack that is often gone, as Anubis must be on his travels, and Thorn on his Umbral quests. But we are still pack, and strong when together. And we love Mask, hoping to bring him other children when we can.
Sepdet is quiet at that, her expression drawing more wistful. ~Family.~
Quiet glances at Sepdet with good-natured humor. Not many can be family to the Tricksters.
Sepdet is quiet at that for a while, unable to give answer. Finally she stammers, ~I think...I think I have to tell a story too. A story that many of you have heard. It is not so honorable as Raccoon's finding.~
Bitter-Water chuffs quietly, a repeat to her answer to Quiet's offering earlier. I like stories.
From afar, to Soulcatcher, Waters, Sepdet, and Bitter-Water, Quiet . o 0 (You want honorable. I should tell you the hoops that Falcon made me jump through, in Texas. ;).
Quiet turns her head slightly to nuzzle Sepdet. Tell, moon sister.
Sepdet's fingers tangle again in Joseph's pelt, which seems to give her strength. ~Many years ago, there were two very hurt packmates, who had lived through a long hard war in the Strider's old home--a war, as you know, that was lost a long time ago, but some of my people will never believe that.~
Soulcatcher leans back, lying almost across Sepdet now, instead of the other way around. His eyes are slitted, but it's clear the Wendigo listens carefully.
Sepdet searches for how to describe something that seems to be a thing known well to her. ~They will scuffle and struggle and die one by one in the sand and the dark, as long as one old story is still kept secret, one painting of the old magic is still crisp and bright, one of the w'neshu--the black jackals, a dying race--still run in the high desert. Such is the folly of desperate hope, when all is lost. The Phoenix prophecy has always been close to my people.~
Sepdet says, ~Prophecy. You wonder why I am so drawn to it? There were three prophecies in this tale.~ Unconsciously, one hand lifts away from Quiet's back to trace odd signs in the air which seem to echo and add nuances to her words. ~These two battered Garou I tell you about were the last two of a well-known pack. Once, the guardian pack of a place I cannot speak of, even lost as it is now. It was said, when that pack ran strong, that its cubs would be hope for the tribe. Not just there, but elsewhere.~
Soulcatcher emits a soft whine, faint on the air of the cave.
Sepdet's hand shakes slightly, a star obviously the sign for "hope" in her telling. ~The second was not really a prophecy, but a curse. Strong packs make strong enemies. And the last surviving life-bearer of the pack, she was cursed with a bad, bad magic. ~ Sepdet looks up for a moment, across at Quiet, expression distant. ~A warper's curse. She would never bear cub by jackal or by human. And she was wolf. She was /very/ proud. She was the speaker of truth, the talesinger. So that should have been that.
Sepdet says, ~But of course, it wasn't. Her youngest packmate found a bad answer to the first two prophecies. He said that /her/ cub was the one to be hope. There were no other bitches left in the pack, and she was, after all, the strongest and its alpha. I will not tell you the lies by which he convinced her of this. It was done-- though in secret, he doubted.~
Sepdet says, ~And what he did not say was his other doubt, the prophecy's second half. Hope, as any Strider who lived in that land, walked side by side with Despair. You have heard me speak of this. But here I tell you the reason behind the Twins. For twins there were.~
Bitter-Water becomes quite still and quiet and solemn. Her head remains between her clawless forepaws, but her eyes remain on the Strider.
Sepdet shoves her face in Soulcatcher's fur for a moment before continuing. ~Father thought he could tell the difference between the two, when they were born." She tries to keep the bitterness from her voice. ~So he could kill the bad one. But of course, he couldn't. They were born under one crescent moon, at dawn, in the umbra, under the same bright star that my people call the Herald, and other names you know me by. Twins. They had the same fire in both of them, and at birth, I think, they were not so different.~
Sepdet's voice goes harsh, not nostalgic, as she tears into this. Her hands stammer and come back to rest against the name-sign at her throat as she continues, the tears silent and held behind her dark eyes. ~Perhaps together, they would have grown up strong, so that when the mule-cubs were discovered, and mother cast out, and cubs cast out, they might have had each other to lean on during those strange years. Think of nine years living with jackal-kind, and then trying to live in the human places. Rat's people would've taken in two Owl-castaways, not just one. The uncle that found the Twins years later would have scowled and snarled twice as much, but taught two pupils. And the Wheel Renewed would have had two small seers, trying to put things together as best they could, though of course they were but mules. ~
Sepdet pleads softly, ~Remember this, for me? Remember a boy who might have been named Hope too. His father condemned him merely because of a prophecy, and defended only one cub, not both, from the Dancers that came hunting. The boy was taken into a hive. He eventually grew up and made his own pack, with what he knew as truth--that the world was evil and cruel. But the least he could do is rescue his sister from the people who had 'corrupted' her, and take her to his side. For he was horrible. But he did love her.~
Sepdet drops her eyes. ~Remember, when prophecies speak doom, that there is always a way behind them. Someone should have whispered in my Father's ear: This is as it will be, but not as it should. Someone shoud have made him think twice, before he told my mother: "It is a stillborn cub; leave it be!" and gave his last strength to get me and Mother away, before he fell. Remember Sebek, a little boy like me, who was lost when I was born. And that he, not I, might just has well have been telling you this tale. For the brother I love--who held me and sang to me...please remember. I will never write a stone for him. I will always hate what he became. But I cannot forget him.~
Sepdet's tears have stopped. She looks across at Quiet for understanding, already having it from the Wendigo her closest friend.
Quiet drops her eyes in mourning for Sepdet's loss. I will remember that which could have been, moon sister. There are none so strong in the light that the dark does not threaten. I sorrow for you, and hope death has set him free.
Bitter-Water lets out the breath she was holding, and says nothing. Probably wisely.
Waters, watching Sepdet throughout her story, looks away as she looks to Quiet, and also says nothing.
Sepdet rolls over. ~I was raised w'neshu, you know,~ she says with faint, tired pride. ~My den-mates are mostly old or dead. But here I am. Thank you.~ She nestles in among the light and dark fur, not bothering to drop back to lupus, but comforted.
