01-20-2010, 10:12 PM
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 Jantus turned his head slightly to face Jefferson with his good eye, and offered a thin smile before nodding. Indeed, funerals served both purposes. Honoring what a person had done, but also recounting it and marking the impact they'd had on those that still lived. He had spoken for too many of his packmates who had been committed to the earth, and generally those ceremonies were to honor their sacrifice and grant everyone closure or strength to move on. In this case, though, there were many here who knew nothing of Skoll, or not as much as they should, in the case of his brother. It was only sensible to speak his praises here, in their last send-off. Jantus didn't think that his Pine wolves would come back to this place...he didn't intend to. He was glad it had worked out and they had made it. "He was a special case. He led us through a war on a different scale than what we'd known. Enemies were more monstrous, our reasons were fueled more by ideals than personal defense. People who go to war with you leave an impression...it's something about knowing you can trust your back with them, I think. I wouldn't expect most people to go to the trouble we have for something as sentimental as a funeral...it just wouldn't sit right not to see old gold off." He was standing behind the main assembly with Jefferson, reflecting on this whole situation...they two were a bit alike in personality, it seemed, and he was glad of it. It was always awkward when he rebounded from emotional situations faster than others...Jefferson gave him someone to talk to, where he doubted the others would have very much to say. It took a moment for anyone to fill the empty space Jantus had left, but eventually Tanya stepped forward, and began speaking. She was a tough woman, though she didn't like this entire business at all, and was more careful with her words than usual, more thoughtful. The war had been terrible, but she'd ridden it out, and given that both she and her mate had lived through it, she had no regrets. She didn't have a speech to recite, she only knew that she'd been more leery of wolves before meeting Skoll and his companions, and that she supposed it was good that Nik had convinced her to go with them. She thought he was brave and would do what others were afraid to do, because at the end of the day he felt that people were responsible for one another, and that his example had led them to do a thing which they would never have tried without him. Many people who'd heard about the war remembered him for the things that he could do that others could not: the power of his form and the skills he possessed, but Tanya maintained that it was not these which made Skoll stand out; it was not what he could do, but what he would do for people he had never met, and the fact that his example had led others to decide they would do what they could to help him. As quickly as she left the stone, the gray and tan wolf walked up to it, and faced the rest. He was Skirnir, Skoll's brother, the one least known to the rest of them, and short of the children, the one who had least known the Skoll that had lived here. His voice wasn't heavy when he began...indeed, he had been close to his brother when they were young, but many years had separated them, and it was difficult to summon tears or remorse for a man he had never met, even if the man had been his best friend and brother as a child. "I didn't know Skoll as any of you have described him. I never met the man who led the War of Shadows, or did any of the other things Aivyr has told me about. It's still hard to believe that my rambunctious yearling brother could go on to become the wolf from your stories. The Skoll that I knew liked competitions, he liked playing and talking about all the big game he'd bring down once he got older. He liked hearing our mother tell stories, and learning things from our dad so that he'd be ready to meet the world head-on when he grew up." To Jantus, he looked very much like his brother as he stood over the grave-site, speaking with the authority and strength that alphas so often picked up through their duties. He had an air about him that Skoll hadn't, and was not wholly less for having stayed up north. Their paths had diverged long ago, but they were both of the same stock; both had done what they could to improve the worlds that surrounded them. Jantus regretted that he would never have the time nor the will to go and see Skirnir's pack...he did not think he would have to look very hard before seeing something of his friend in there. "The Skoll I knew was full of energy and hope for his bright future. I have always regretted that my father sent him away. I do not know what life would have held for the two of us had he stayed at home. Somewhere along the way, he learned the hard lessons of life, and hearing what I have, I believe that even in knowing them intimately, he chose to fight them where he could. Hearing about the foes he battled and the hopeless odds he faced, I have to think that despite taking the path that he did, and seeing the horrible things that he did, some part of the Skoll I knew survived all that. The exile and the wars, the killings and the thankless tasks...some part of my child brother must have been alive through it all to give him the energy to keep going. I wish that his path could have taken him back up north...but it might be that his southern home needed him more. By all accounts, Skoll, you lived well. I am sorry that you could not do so in your old home." With that, he left the stone and left way for the next speaker. Jantus's solitary eye widened. He had expected the estranged brother to say a few words, though having been part of the family which exiled him (though at a time when Skirnir was too young to have any say), the Pine wolf expected far more awkwardness from the older wolf. He regarded Jefferson in his periphery. "Whoa." He certainly had been expecting a speech. Aivyr had yet to speak, as did Nikolov. Once those two were finished, they would probably linger for a time, say their last goodbyes, and then be on their way. |