01-09-2009, 12:54 AM
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WC 420 The youngster flinched a bit when the elder snapped at him. Well, he supposed he deserved the rebuke about staring. He hadn’t meant to, he’d just been surprised. He flinched again, inwardly this time, when it seemed that he wasn’t going to be able to avoid telling his story. Still, storytelling was about the only talent he’d been able to think of when he’d been asked what he could offer the pack. Wrapping his blanket-coat a bit tighter around himself, Kasch sat down on the edge of the porch. He hoped this wouldn’t irritate the female further. He stared intently at his mother’s beads while he spoke, trying to draw courage and inspiration from the little blue orbs. "Well, alright. I guess I’ll have to tell it to someone eventually. My parents had to move to a place close to here before I was born because of a clan dispute. They never told me the details. They came from a much warmer place, almost a desert really, which might be why I was the only pup of my litter to survive. ...It’s also why my mother got sick, I guess. Kasch paused a moment and cleared his throat, holding back the grief that still threatened to overwhelm him when he remembered his mother’s passing. ”She got really sick. Father tried everything he knew, but nothing helped. In the end she just... faded away. Father didn’t go out for days afterwards. I tried to be helpful because Mother had told me to be brave and help Father when she was gone. I wasn’t very good at hunting yet though, so I got really hungry. I left a part of whatever I got for Father, but he never touched it. When I finally tried to talk to him, he turned on me and started yelling. “Before long, he went from yelling, to hitting. It got worse and worse until I had to choose between staying home and getting beaten to death by father, or try to find a pack. Mother told me as much as she knew about the packs closest to where we lived. Phonix Valley sounded like my best chance. So, here I am.” He told the whole story in a tone he hoped sounded adult and not whiney. He wasn’t looking for sympathy; he just wanted to do his best to make a new life here. With a sigh, he adjusted the blanket again and looked back up from the beads to the elder. ”I hope that wasn’t too boring, M’am.” |