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Shadow-posted. :B This occurs before Leon's post.
So many spoke up, but Claudius was too afraid to do anything. He had been too afraid to protect his sister from the terrifying Cow and he was too afraid to protect his almost-father from these horrible, horrible intruders. He was surprised to hear how many truly enjoyed being led by Dawali. Clearly, Dawali was a good leader, for look at how many protested this unjust treatment! Claudius desperately wanted to say something, to accompany Nayati's heartfelt defense with something of his own, but he knew he would only stutter and mumble and make things worse. He was no public speaker. He still couldn't believe one of them actually spat on the ground and walked away. He didn't get far though, since after Nayati finished speaking, the guardian pounced on the one brown wolf and hauled him to the ground. Claudius stared, wide-eyed and speechless at the scene which was unfolding before him. They used fear and violence to manipulate the tribe members. Soon, they would begin enacting increasingly archaic laws and forcing compliance. Claudius didn't like where this was headed: he had read about these things so many times in his books, but he never thought it would happen here in his own home.
The worst was when Maska pointed at Dawali and demanded further explanation. Claudius stared, wondering how Dawali could say such things. He was their leader! Claudius didn't care about Achoo Achoo or what their stupid spirits said. The members of AniWaya had chosen their leader and Gerenuk didn't seem to mind Dawali either. If there was some hocus-pocus disturbance in the spirits, it seemed as though it was a fallacy. Another wolf spoke and then another. Claudius disliked them both immediately. He knew he probably brought more shame to himself by not defending Dawali's honour, despite what Dawali claimed, but it was better than pretending that he agreed. While these wolves explicitly agreed, Claudius' tacit agreement was out of necessity only. He hoped he could rationalize this as the better option.
The one question that remained was such: who was in fact the rightful leader? If Achoo Achoo was the real leader, why did it matter that Dawali led this tribe? They were different: one new and one old. And the new could not exist without a leader. If the issue was one of naming conventions, could Dawali not have simply taken a different name? As long as he did not claim the name 'Kalona,' but continued to lead, Claudius didn't understand what the difference was. These intruders were too steeped in their own traditions to see the real world and that was one thing that Claudius detested about those faithful to any beliefs.