01-26-2010, 02:25 PM
WC: 474+
[html]
[html]
Tayui felt a wave of selfish sorrow wash over her and Jantus spoke. She understood that she probably never would have learned this much about Skoll if he were still alive and Shadowed Sun still a pack. He was too quiet and too set in his ways to be willing to tell her any of this. Even his reluctance was quiet and disconcerting, similar to the time when Ember had joined Shadowed Sun. A great fear had grown in her heart that Shadowed Sun was the wrong place for Ember, or perhaps that Ember would not like her new life in the pack. She had worried and Skoll had noticed, but only offered his silent disapproval. She knew it was Ember's choice, but perhaps Tayui had grown too old then — so many came and went, and it seemed as though few stayed. Few lived. They simply existed for a short time — days, weeks, months — and then vanished without a trace. She could say that the curse from Bleeding Souls seemed to have followed them to these lands. Or she could simply acknowledge that the nature of these abrupt disappearances was inherent in the hearts of luperci. If Jantus was correct and they had only gained their powers to shift recently — and humans had truly been a great society, ruling the world as some had implied — then perhaps it was borne from their newfound power. Perhaps it had something to do with Jantus's tale, too. How much of what he spoke about involved an innate ability? Or a characteristic or trait so ingrained in canines that they had failed to notice it now? Jantus's Snow-capped Pine revered war as a sacred act. Jantus did not seem to find fault in war-making as the wolves here might. But at the same time, he created a clear divide between his society and the religious zealots. They used fear, while Jantus's pack — and Skoll — used skill to combat their enemies. But why the divide? Tayui doubted she would ever know. Her insatiable curiosity would probably cause her to wonder for years to come, and as much as she'd like to learn why everyone worked, how it worked, and what the meaning of war, justice, and peace was, she knew she could never know. But she could still try. “He must have,” she agreed. Jantus's last point made her wonder who or whom Skoll had returned for. Was it for Storm? A wolf there? Or for his duty to the pack? “But I wouldn't know. He was exiled from Storm and was a lone wolf for some time. Then there was the fire and we all had to leave the previous lands, Bleeding Souls, and come here. He found me at Shadowed Sun's birth. But I don't know much more about him,” she concluded, offering Jantus a regretful smile. She wished she had more to say, or something about his story to expand upon. But she had only known Skoll for a fraction of her life, and before that, what had she known? Very little. As much as Jantus's story impressed her and made her realize what a great figure Skoll had been to Snow-capped Pine, as he had been to Shadowed Sun, she understood that she could not help him any more. Tayui had been his leader for a short time, and had been privy to information few else had known, but as a friend, she and Skoll had never been that close. She knew things would have been different if they had been. |