01-01-2011, 09:48 PM
[html]
WC: 782
Aw man, I had written up a reply to this but it's gone
lame.
Also wow this was long. I actually didn't try to make it this long, believe it or not XD
The femme seemed quite confident as she replied, and Dawali responded with a warm smile. He was happy when his tribe was happy, and it seemed that whomever he asked lately gave him that very answer. He had to be doing something right, he thought, when this was the response he got from everywhere. And, naturally, some of them would be giving the reply some extra umph even if they weren't feeling as good as they said they were, but he would not be nosy and inquire further. Dawali was a wolf who trusted people, and that included trusting them to come to him for a talk whenever things got so rough that they could not maintain the polite lie of "I'm fine, thank you". Ralla seemed to be sincere, however, and it pleased the old red wolf. He glanced up at the stars as well for a moment, find it an odd subject for conversation, though far from unpleasant. Mysteries had always fascinated him deeply.
The next question she posed, however, was unexpected. He looked at her briefly with an arched eyebrow, before it lowered itself and became even with the other. It was a very good question, and he could easily understand why she asked it. Problem was, it was only another myth, and a myth at that which had so many shapes. "Well... truth is, nobody really knows." he started. The Elders never could agree on this question, and would bicker from time to time, especially in winter-time when the pups grew bored and asked a lot of questions. "When the earth and water and sky and living things had been created, some say that at first, nobody was anything. Everyone lived together, and the wolves knew nothing. Then, at some point, wolves acquired the ability to stand on two legs and found fire, and that is when AniWaya started." The Chief halted. He had always thought, himself, that this story was all fine, but it explained nothing of the humans, and why they knew so little of them. He had never trusted this story, and if it was the truth, it had to be a partial one. "Others claim that the wolves could always stand on two feet, and that before that there was nothing. The only thing they seem to agree on was that when AniWaya came to be, seven great families combined their bloodlines into one tribe, and combined their seven fires into one. That is how the Great Fire was born, and AniWayans have cared for it ever since. It is a piece of our ancestry, I suppose, though the AniWayans have far more than seven bloodlines nowadays. Some claim to be of one of the seven bloodlines, but the truth is that nobody knows anymore. It's all mixed up, so all we have is the story." It was a good thing; had they been able to know who was of whose blood, the power hierarchy in the Great Tribe could have been vastly different from what it was now. He glanced at the fire in the distance, easily visible as it glared against the horizon. Wherever you were in the village, you could see it.
Another spontaneous question left the femme's lips, and Dawali very nearly chuckled at her youthful curiosity. He took his knowledge for granted, often, and forgot that there were many who still knew little of the things he had been so lucky to have been taught. That, and he was old, and didn't care as much for learning new things as he did for maintaining old knowledge. He was about to answer when she elaborated on her question, and he nodded as she did so, interested in her thoughts. She was a fresh perspective for the male, and that was always interesting. "Ah, Ralla.. I don't know. We take in many strangers here, do we not? I would like to think they have as much right to call themselves AniWayan as I do, even if I was born with the bond to the tribe." He glanced at the fire again, thinking of how it shed its light equally around itself in a perfect circle. It did not discriminate. "I daresay that you are an AniWayan if you can open your heart to what it means. What it means is; is this where you feel truly at home? If your heart says yes, then you are AniWayan." Loyalty and belonging were so many things, but if you truly felt that the place you were at was somewhere you could be calm and happy, and would fight to defend, then you had as much right to call it home as anyone else.
[/html]
Aw man, I had written up a reply to this but it's gone
lame.Also wow this was long. I actually didn't try to make it this long, believe it or not XD
The femme seemed quite confident as she replied, and Dawali responded with a warm smile. He was happy when his tribe was happy, and it seemed that whomever he asked lately gave him that very answer. He had to be doing something right, he thought, when this was the response he got from everywhere. And, naturally, some of them would be giving the reply some extra umph even if they weren't feeling as good as they said they were, but he would not be nosy and inquire further. Dawali was a wolf who trusted people, and that included trusting them to come to him for a talk whenever things got so rough that they could not maintain the polite lie of "I'm fine, thank you". Ralla seemed to be sincere, however, and it pleased the old red wolf. He glanced up at the stars as well for a moment, find it an odd subject for conversation, though far from unpleasant. Mysteries had always fascinated him deeply.
The next question she posed, however, was unexpected. He looked at her briefly with an arched eyebrow, before it lowered itself and became even with the other. It was a very good question, and he could easily understand why she asked it. Problem was, it was only another myth, and a myth at that which had so many shapes. "Well... truth is, nobody really knows." he started. The Elders never could agree on this question, and would bicker from time to time, especially in winter-time when the pups grew bored and asked a lot of questions. "When the earth and water and sky and living things had been created, some say that at first, nobody was anything. Everyone lived together, and the wolves knew nothing. Then, at some point, wolves acquired the ability to stand on two legs and found fire, and that is when AniWaya started." The Chief halted. He had always thought, himself, that this story was all fine, but it explained nothing of the humans, and why they knew so little of them. He had never trusted this story, and if it was the truth, it had to be a partial one. "Others claim that the wolves could always stand on two feet, and that before that there was nothing. The only thing they seem to agree on was that when AniWaya came to be, seven great families combined their bloodlines into one tribe, and combined their seven fires into one. That is how the Great Fire was born, and AniWayans have cared for it ever since. It is a piece of our ancestry, I suppose, though the AniWayans have far more than seven bloodlines nowadays. Some claim to be of one of the seven bloodlines, but the truth is that nobody knows anymore. It's all mixed up, so all we have is the story." It was a good thing; had they been able to know who was of whose blood, the power hierarchy in the Great Tribe could have been vastly different from what it was now. He glanced at the fire in the distance, easily visible as it glared against the horizon. Wherever you were in the village, you could see it.
Another spontaneous question left the femme's lips, and Dawali very nearly chuckled at her youthful curiosity. He took his knowledge for granted, often, and forgot that there were many who still knew little of the things he had been so lucky to have been taught. That, and he was old, and didn't care as much for learning new things as he did for maintaining old knowledge. He was about to answer when she elaborated on her question, and he nodded as she did so, interested in her thoughts. She was a fresh perspective for the male, and that was always interesting. "Ah, Ralla.. I don't know. We take in many strangers here, do we not? I would like to think they have as much right to call themselves AniWayan as I do, even if I was born with the bond to the tribe." He glanced at the fire again, thinking of how it shed its light equally around itself in a perfect circle. It did not discriminate. "I daresay that you are an AniWayan if you can open your heart to what it means. What it means is; is this where you feel truly at home? If your heart says yes, then you are AniWayan." Loyalty and belonging were so many things, but if you truly felt that the place you were at was somewhere you could be calm and happy, and would fight to defend, then you had as much right to call it home as anyone else.