Written in the Stars

Ralla · 12-06-2010, 08:56 PM

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Alright, so I was officially a sloth in a past life >< Had work and slept for 18 hours straight after >.> And so I apologize as this is backdated to Dec. 3 :3

Star-charting had become increasingly harder as the ground became the same. With the cold winds and lack of rain, mud and loamy earth was disappearing, and so the ability to easily write in soft earth was gone with it. What I wouldn't give for the sand pit, Ralla thought, referring to the cave back in the Moon Tribe where the Shamans had stayed. Within had been an indentation in the floor where the others had found sand nearby and filled the indent in with it. The Shamans had then used the easily changeable earth to draw in so that whenever the stars changed, they may track it easily. Memorized as well as the star charts were in Ralla's mind, deciphering the exact movements and what patterns they made was important, and visualizing the patterns was easier said than done.

What she wouldn't have given for an abundance of paper than she could use, however much she could only write in pictographs. Books and writings were for those who would make use of the content, and Ralla did not know if those in her tribe would look back on her writings for reference or not. The moon will know. She was devoted, reverently, to the moon, and in its waning crescent was the time of wishes and miracles. All around the tribe there had been news of a ceremony taking place on the morrow, and however much rest she thought she needed, the white wolfess was restless. Recently she had begun to thread colorful beads in her flowing mane that was tied back in a loose, low ponytail. She had not found any sort of material to fashion crude ear-hooks, but she would find them when she found them; plain and simple. Her tooth and claw necklaces were her pride--her single accesories that she wore no matter what--that symbolized that she had once held a place of honor in her family and old tribe; more specifically, one of the two claw necklaces symbolized the honor. No...No longer... With resolve Ralla clutched that one necklace and took it off, rolling it around in her paw as she contemplated the crude drawing in the earth at her feet. Illuminated by her makeshift fire near the great red oak and by the stars and moon, it looked ugly; chicken-scratch, a stick torn through the earth to try and shamefully imitate the graceful patterns of the stars.

Like the balance of light and darkness, Ralla felt fragile. Her moods had been shifting like the moon, although when it had been full, Ralla had had much more persistance in bottling up her fears and concerns. Now, as it was slowly retreating its light, she felt as if...it was retreating from her very heart. The practical side of her--that slim part of her, mind--chided her in sounding so sappy. But she couldn't help it. At one point, she had almost convinced herself that the moon and stars would be her only friends in company for the rest of her life. And then she had decided to pave her own way, to make her own decisions, and to become a self-assertive wolf. Where's that me now?

Moon walks. "Moon talks." Moon thinks.

Dawali Amara · 12-11-2010, 08:10 PM

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I assumed she was somewhere in the village, near her own hut?

Often enough did he patrol his village in the evenings, or even at night, but as winter crept closer the stars appeared on the skies earlier and earlier in the day-time, and what was previously evening appeared to him as the middle of the night. Dawali trotted along village paths and sometimes gazed upwards at the shining dots, remembering his elders' teachings about them only vaguely. The only thing he knew was that the clearest one was north, and he needed only that star to know where he was in this world, and where to go in the night to find fellow wolves. It had always amazed him that they did not all move, when some of them clearly did, as did everything else that lived in that higher half of their world. So absorbed in thoughts of the old tribe could he be that he almost strayed from the path at times, or walked right into others or items along the way. Most were not present so late, but one scent made him look away from the starts and try to find its source instead, for it was so strong that he knew it was very close nearby, unlike the remnants of the others' scents that revealed that they were indoors or still elsewhere. It did not take the Chief long to locate Ralla, and he moved up to her calmly, confident that she had smelled his scent approaching before she undoubtedly heard him, for he had always seen himself as one completely lacking the ability to walk silently. "Evening, Ralla." He spoke silently, befitting the lack of sound around them.

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Ralla · 12-15-2010, 01:12 PM

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Yep Tongue Ralla's hut's up in that red oak tree (she has a thing for trees >.>)

She had smelled her Chief approaching, and she turned to bow her head respectfully as he greeted her. "Good evening, Chief Dawali." She had not expected her Chief to be up and about when so many of the tribe were indoors, but then thought; where was her excuse? "How've you been faring?" Behind her were those messy drawings, and Ralla felt her cheeks go almost red with the thought that her Chief might see them illuminated by her personal fire.

Turning her head skywards, the white wolfess tried to distract her Chief from them. "They're beautiful, aren't they? The stars." It wasn't an empty compliment. Each and every star held its place amongst the constellations, holding special meaning, its own fire. "Have you ever wondered, Chief Dawali, if they liked to play tricks?" She asked without thought that he might not know what she talked about, so often did she relapse into familiar talking that she forgot that AniWaya did not have the same beliefs as what she was raised with. Still... I wonder if they aren't so tricky? How else could all that has happened happen without their or the moon's power? But there was comfort in the way the she became calm with her Chief and tribesmembers; it signaled that she was allowing herself to become more a part of them. Allowing for one to join does not make them a part of the people. One must feel a part for it to be true. Ages had gone by since she had seen a vision, although signs were frequent. No warnings had come for the tribe, although Ralla always kept on her toes about her own future. Perhaps that was the reason that Shamans were always kept apart from the rest of the pack... Theirs was unpredictable...

Moon walks. "Moon talks." Moon thinks.

Dawali Amara · 12-18-2010, 10:10 AM

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:3

She greeted him back, and he maintained his smile as she did so. "Thank you, the winter has treated me well so far. More than can be said of my hut," he joked. The poor excuse for a hut desperately needed repairs; where was Hemming when you needed him? It was times like these that the Chief could truly feel how much he missed him. "And yourself?" he followed up politely.

She turned her head upwards to gaze at the night sky, and took Dawali by surprise. Rarely did his conversations so boldly turn onto such philosophical subjects, but he was glad of it. He missed his little sister in that sense, Chitsa. She was always ready for a good talk on spirituality and philosophical questions. "Yes," he agreed softly. With a stretched neck, he oberved them and remembered lessons taken from the Elders when he was a child. "Played tricks?" he said, and chuckled. Certainly. "The People of the Sky are sacred, but I assume they are like us in some ways. Perhaps they like to play tricks, since they like to play hide-and-seek." He had been taught that it was the People of the Sky that had placed them here in this place. Old tales told of them visiting so and so often, but nobody had heard of anything for a long time. They were hiding from them, for reasons unknown, and to Dawali it only added to the great mystery that was the Stars. Just as Ralla, Dawali too forgot their cultural differences. But, perhaps this was also what Ralla had been taught. Dawali knew it for truth.

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Ralla · 12-18-2010, 04:12 PM

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Good grief, she sounds more like a troubled teenager than a young lady :S

"Better than ever," she replied with a smile. It wasn't a complete lie; Ralla had a principle that one was happy so long as they believed it. Why should outside things get me down? If I want to be happy, I will be. But did that always assuage fears? ...No... She giggled, then, at her Chief's analogy of the stars playing hide-and-seek, before stifling it, thinking it rude. "Chief Dawali, may I ask how AniWaya came to be?" Now that was a random question. Not often did packs question their origins, but Ralla wanted to know the story of the tribe she had found. The explanation she had been given for the Moon Tribe was that it was formed from four packs who had once stood beside the Long Gones, and had evolved with the gift of the moon to worship it and preserve the earth. But she was no longer in the Moon Tribe, and she was no longer of them. She was an AniWayan; she was so sure of it, so set in thinking that. At the same time, she was not of their blood.

"What exactly...makes a tribe member?" During their first meeting and meetings thereafter, Ralla had seen her Chief as wise and good; he was like her father, but not as set in the ways of strictness and battle. In that, she held immense respect for him. "I mean...I know that a lot of us aren't of the same kin, but... I don't know. I told you once about my visions, didn't I, Chief Dawali? They are a special gift of the moon given only to those of the ancient blood in the Moon Tribe. But I'm not a part of the Moon Tribe anymore." The guilt of leaving them all returned, although she kept her eyes locked on the stars. They twinkled as if they were winking, and Ralla thought just how true it was that they played hide-and-seek when the sun came to put them to rest.

That inner conflict was not comforted by her earlier self-counsel that one must feel the part to be true; it only made her doubt the definition of herself more. She had been taught since birth the ways to govern oneself and to give advice to others, but whatever advice she gave, she could never seem to believe it herself. Maybe that's why the moon sent me this way. Maybe it knew that I would've been a weak Shaman for the pack, and so it sent me here... I don't want to be weak for them... Amongst loneliness was the fear of disappointing her pack. Her psyche was not one easily run by self-confidence, although she was bold enough to do certain things. Did she try too hard to please the pack? Not enough?

Moon walks. "Moon talks." Moon thinks.

Dawali Amara · 01-01-2011, 09:48 PM

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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.

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Ralla · 01-02-2011, 04:54 PM

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But it's such a pretty post you made <3

The explanation her Chief gave for the creation of AniWaya satisfied her, if not only that it took the form of a story, and so she could let it mull around in her mind to ponder later; such was her memory and penchant for tales. Seven families makes sense... Seven colors of the rainbow; seven virtues and sins, as I was once told as some Jesuit practice... In truth, one would've thought that the copious amounts of stories and songs filling the white wolfess's mind would've left room for little else. And, in a way, it was true. But some things could never be forgotten or pushed out. Her last question had made her turn to her Chief, a look of belief filling her eyes as she looked for the answer to the one she believed much wiser than even the elders in her old pack.

His answer startled her, at first. She blinked in surprise when he gave no answer saying that blood was what mattered, or any answer that she would've expected from someone strictly traditional. But then she admonished herself for not giving Chief Dawali enough credit. He had freely taken her in, hadn't he? And it was true; the amount of newcomers had increased, and she had yet to hear of her Chief denying audience or entrance to any loners or wanderers. His eyes betrayed to the Great Fire, and Ralla followed his gaze; trying to see exactly what he saw, trying to read his complex mind. He delved further into his answer, and her eyes jerked back to his face, even though it was still turned to the fire. Where I feel truly at home...? ...Yes... Ralla thought of her four months in the tribe and everyone she had met. Where she had been limited to immediate family and quiet meetings in the Crescent Moon Pack--strict, cold relations--she had found warmth and companionship in AniWaya that couldn't compare. Loneliness had never seemed so far away as it had when she was with her tribe, and she had felt great bursts of pride in her work and relationships she had built. And did her heart respond as she hoped? The gentle thumping--steady, sure, and warm--that answered her assured it.

She smiled then, even if Chief Dawali didn't see it, she made a grin that she hoped could match the beating in her heart. "Thank you, Chief Dawali." His words had acted as tight bonds to secure the answer in her mind, so that she would never forget. "I feel...much better. I remember first coming here, looking for home. I remember feeling that this was home, the moment I stepped on the land. But somewhere along the way, I began to doubt myself. Hearing you, I see that I shouldn't have." She stepped forward then to stand next to her Chief, and bowed her head low. Chief Dawali could not be her true father, but she saw him as kin; she saw them all as kin. "Thank you for reminding me what makes a wolf a part of the pack and tribe." On the morrow, she would sever her ties to the pack that was...no longer home. In doing so, she would bind herself fully to AniWaya and her kin.

Moon walks. "Moon talks." Moon thinks.

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