21/01/2006
Rainbow Lake
Veronica is in homid, eating a strip of meat at the edge of the lake. She's looking a little moody today, mixed in with some contemplativeness. Her hair is braided into a thick, heavy braid, tied at the end with a shoelace.
Jacinta climbs up the hill toward the lake from the south, neither along the trail from the bluff, nor in lupus, as is more common for her. "Waqaa!" she calls, whe she spots the cub, raising her hand in a wave. "Cangacit?" The Ahroun, if she notices the difference in Veronica's mood, makes no outward sign.
"Waqaa," Veronica calls back, pulling on a smile as she starts to get to her feet. She pulls her braid forward over her shoulder and starts to walk towards the elder. "I'm okay. I have been practising." The cub scratches at her neck. "How are you, elder?"
"Assirtua," Jacinta replies, not necessarily clear as to whether she is responding to the question or the information that the girl has been practicing. "And have you learned to feel yourself within the Crinos form?"
Veronica nods sharply. "I can walk, and jog, and even run a bit. On all fours and on two legs." She frowns to herself and tugs her braid. "I can't dance yet." She looks a bit disappointed with herself.
Jacinta's lips part in a grin. "It will come." As she moves closer, she sticks her hands in the pockets of her jeans and the grin fades. "My packmate spoke to me."
Veronica's eyes drop and she wraps her arms around her body. "Oh...Circle Keeper." She chews her lip and tries to keep from going red. "What did he say?"
Jacinta brings herself up alongside the cub and drops into a low crouch, slowly settling onto her bottom. "He says he thinks that the Ancestor Spirits speak to you. That you are close to one." Her gaze remains steady on Veronica's face, curious.
Veronica brightens considerably when the elder brings this up. "Yes, a Wendigo from before. I don't know who he is, or anything else, but I think he's a Galliard, like me!" She grins and follows the elder to the ground. "I have dreams."
Jacinta nods slowly, expressing her understanding. Pride is in her eyes as she says, "This is an important thing, when an Ancestor has chosen you. But there are things you must know, as well. Some Ancestors feel that they were taken too soon, and would like to live your life for you. You must remember that by being chosen, you are special, and may learn many things. But you must also remember that you are the one living this life. Do you understand?"
"Circle Keeper said not to call them when you're alone. That must be why, right? So they don't take me over..." Veronica trails off. "They probably would want to change what I do, too. Um..." The distracting train of thought temporarily derails the cub, and she tugs on her braid. "I will be respectful to them, elder, but I will not call them unless you think I'm ready. I don't even know how."
Jacinta's prideful gaze remains on the girl for a moment, and then she looks out over the lake. "That is good. Perhaps we can find an Angalkuq who can help when you are ready to learn of your connection." She is silent for a moment, finally turning back to Veronica. "I also spoke with Walks the Middle Road, another of my pack. She will perform the dedication, so that your clothes may become part of you."
Veronica gives a sigh of relief at that news. "When? What should I do for her? I'm supposed to thank her, right?" She wraps her arms around her knees. "Maybe I could give her some of my stuff. Circle Keeper says I smell funny." Her chin thumps onto her knees and she sticks her tongue out in the general direction of the lake.
Jacinta laughs out loud, a short, amused sound. "My brother thinks everyone smells funny. Do not be concenerned." There is a very slight pause before she continues. "Walks the Middle Road does this as a favor to me. You should say Quyana to her, and behave nicely. But you do not need to give her a gift for this."
Veronica's pout turns into a grin when Jacinta laughs, and the teenager nods quickly at the instructions to be good, straighten up and fly right. "I will behave. I will be good. I promise not to mess up or ask too many questions or talk too much." She tosses her braid back over her shoulder, looking sideways at the elder.
Jacinta's smile returns. "Ii. I am certain you will do well." She glances upward at the sun and says, "Soon, before it grows dark, I will take you to the caern. When the sun sets, we will journey to the spirit world." Without pausing enough to let Veronica speak, she turns her gaze to the girl and continues. "Before we go, tell me each of the laws, in the right words, and one reason it is important." She rises up onto her knees, back straight and posture formal.
Veronica continues staring out at the lake, her brow furrowing for a moment, then unfurls her body and searches the ground for a few moments. She comes up with a stick, locates a clear patch, and smooths it with one hand. "Garou shall not mate with Garou," she begins, concentrating as she duplicates the glyph she learned, stroke for stroke. "Grandmother needs healthy children from wolves and humans." Leaving the glyph completed for a moment, she wipes it away, then begins the second glyph. "Combat the Horned Serpent wherever it dwells and wherever it breeds. Horned Serpent hurts Grandmother in many ways, and she asked us to fight it. Fighting it keeps Wendigo happy." She repeats the process for the next law, hesitating over the glyph for a moment before continuing. "Respect the territory of another. Not respecting territory means hurt feelings and war. Accept an honorable surrender. Honor is important, and so are Garou, so we don't want to waste either one." She glances at Jacinta to gauge how she's doing as she wipes away the glyph she learned from Touch Deer.
Jacinta nods slowly at each law, seeming pleased with what she hears. For a moment it looks as though she might speak, but she doesn't, simply waiting for the girl to continue.
"Submission to those Higher," the pup continues, another glyph going into the soil. "Elders are stronger, more experienced, and they know what they are doing. They deserve respect. The First of the Kill to the Highest in Station. Elders know how to use the kill or whatever, so they should have it first. They will make sure we don't go hungry." Veronica has trouble with the next glyph, for whatever reason, and has to write it a few times. "Do not eat the flesh of humans. They're our kin and it's just _wrong_. It makes us corrupt. Respect those beneath you, all are of Gaia. Elders should...um..." She falters and stares at the glyph. "Um. Elders shouldn't go power crazy and hurt people just because they can. Because Gaia wants us all to be strong, not just elders. Do not suffer your people to tend your sickness. Cause...ummm...it's hard enough for our kin to support us when we're healthy, but if we're sick, we're not protecting them back. The leader may be challenged anytime during peace, because then everyone has time to think about stuff and it's a good challenge. The leader may not be challenged during wartime. It's like submission to elders. The leader's supposed to know what they're doing, so you shouldn't bug them when they're doing something important, right? And the veil shall not be lifted, because if it was, people would freak out and try to kill us all." She hesitates over the last glyph, drawing it with special care, using her fingertip rather than her stick. "The caern. You shall take no action that causes a caern to be violated. It's Grandmother's sacred heart," she whispers. "No other laws are more important than this one. You die for violating it, because...because we need a connection to Grandmother so she knows we're still trying to help her, and we know she's still alive."
There are a few points at which Jacinta's eyes narrow, but she does not interrupt. When Veronica finishes she nods. "Ii. It is good. As you grow, there is more you will learn. But this is enough to begin, enough to build atop." She pushes to her feet, wiping her damp hands on the sides of her jeans. "Are you ready to journey to the Caern?"
Veronica follows the elder up, not bothering to dust herself off. "Uh huh. Do I need anything other than me?" She tugs her hair out of the braid, letting it hang wetly against her back.
Jacinta shakes her head. "Yourself alone." A single glance toward the longhouse and she adds, "It is important that never do we bring things of the Weaver to the caern. Ii?"
"Yes, the last law. So...leave the iPod in the longhouse?" Veronica stretches out her legs, reaquainting herself with wandering in homid after so long with a different orientation of hips. "And the rest of my purse?"
"Ii," The Elder agrees. "It is not needed. Never on the Bawn, never in the caern. Only yourself. Only those things for Grandmother." That said, she turns to the trail and begins the long hike.
Veronica nods dutifully, and moves to follow the elder. She's quiet, though her feet betray her nerves. Every so often, she starts doing shuffle-steps or adding a 'tap' before each regular footstep.
Jacinta pages to the room: So. On we go and cut to the caern?
You paged Jacinta with 'Yup. :) Man, that was a refreshing walk/Rite of Talisman Dedication. :D'.
From afar, to the room, Jacinta laughs.
Jacinta pages to the room: The rite can have happened at the Bone Arches (it's where the pack does a lot of stuff), so that your entry to the caern can be unmarred. (:
The walk was long, but the distance from the Bone Arches to the caern was much shorter. The sun has just begun to set, and the shadows play in the deep valley, giving the Caern an even more magical appearance. Jacinta leads the way down through the canyon and into the place where the wind swirls constantly. "This," she says as they arrive, "is the Caern of the Hidden Walk. We stand now in Winter. The Spirits of the Wind live here. This is where we feel most at home."
The cub breathes deeply as they reach the place of the wind, and a serene smile overtakes her face. She giggles happily and spreads her arms, heady with the sight, sound and feel of the place. "It's beautiful. Perfect. This is amazing." Her eyes close, and she tips her head back. "Wow..."
Jacinta tips her head back, eyes closing. "Ii," she agrees quietly. Then she opens her eyes and points to each of the four points of entry to the caern. "Whichever way you enter," she says, "you must always follow the Wheel of Seasons. Go forward around the Caern, never back. You understand?"
Veronica opens her eyes, slightly unwillingly, to see the places Jacinta indicates. "Yes. Walk the right way, and the Yua will not be offended," she recites, remembering what the elder told her previously. "No weaver things in the caern." She keeps her voice hushed in this holiest of places.
Jacinta nods and agrees with an equally hushed voice. Then she begins walking again, forward around the elements. "From Winter, we enter Spring."
In the Swirling Wind
The rugged walls of the canyon grow narrower to the northeast, forcing the gusts of winds that it catches to rush down into this small clearing. Here the breezes meet with the drifting mists off the waterfall's spray, becoming swirling bits of haze that dance and whirl like merry ghosts. Occasionally, the canyon's rim pushes swifter air into the caern, breaking up the dance and sending the mists, scattered, back to their source.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest. Scattered, centuries-old oaks stand majestically over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered comrades. This peculiarity seems to surround only the area just outside the caern.
Swirling in the area is some of the mist sprayed up by the waterfall to the south. To the west, a rock slab juts out of the ground at an angle. the caern's center is to the southwest; the rest of the valley extends northeast, toward the mountains.
By the Waterfall
The walls of the canyon surrounding the caern reach upwards to thirty feet here, their highest point. About two-thirds of the way up, a small underground spring exits the rock face. The water spills playfully down the cliff face, caressing the rocks and darting away, but always falling to gravity's inexorable pull. The flow, upon entering the shallow, chilled pool of water at the bottom, creates constant ripples in the puddle's surface. A light mist rises up from the ground near the pool, chilling to the bone.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest, with ferns and clumps of aspen taking the place of white pine and birch. Scattered, centuries-old cedar stand majestically over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered comrades. This peculiarity seems to surround only the area just outside the caern.
To the west, cool mist kicked up by the falls mingles with warmer steam from geothermal sources; these mists swirl around the caern to the north. The caern's center lies northwest of here. You can pick out what seems to be a hazardous trail over rock and up the wall, to the side of the waterfall.
Veronica follows the elder like the obedient pup she is, looking around her at everything she can. The cub goes wide eyed at every change, and is drawn to the waterfall when they come closer to it. Again, she whispers, "Wow."
Jacinta crouches and scoops water from the pool to her mouth. "When it is a little darker, we will return to this spot. This is where you will reach through to the Spirit World, the Umbra."
Veronica takes a mouthful as well. "Thank you, Grandmother," she murmurs before she drinks, then returns her attention to Jacinta. "Okay. Is it hard?"
Jacinta's face beams with pride as the girl verbally thanks Grandmother for the water. "It is different for each. It may be difficult your first time, as changing forms, or learning to walk. But it is part of who we are, and you will learn it." She gestures forward, beginning to walk toward the Steam Vents. "From Spring, we walk to Summer."
Among the Steam Vents
The ground here is rocky and barren. Small, narrow cracks network the area, and heated steam trickles out of many of them. The steam fills the air in this spot, warming those nearby and leaving a thin sheen of dampness--and just a hint of minerals and sulfur--on everything nearby. Because of this, the rocky ground is slick and treacherous. Two or three times a day, a blast of hot steam briefly erupts from one of the cracks, increasing the heat and smell in the area.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest. Scattered, centuries-old oaks stand majestically over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered comrades. This peculiarity seems to surround only the area just outside the caern.
Through the mists, you can see the caern circling towards the walls of the crevice, north towards the rocky slab; east, you can hear the waterfall; the caern's center lies to the northeast. The valley continues towards the southwest.
Veronica is slow getting up, but still walks as she follows to the Steam Vents. Her nose works for a moment before she remembers what form she's in, and she steps carefully on the slick rock. Sweat immediately springs up on her brow.
Jacinta says "You can feel the heat of summer, smell the sulfer." She wipes moisture from her brow, even now beginning to walk on. "We understand the importance of summer, but in the north it is brief and so we do not long remain. From Summer, we move to Autumn."
At the Rock Outcropping
The rocky wall of the caern flattens out here, a more stable and solid area than around the steam vents or even the caern's center. A small outcropping juts out slightly over the caern, forming a natural dais from which to address the gathered. The stone bears chips and faint stains from past abuses that can't quite be rectified. Scrub grass and mosses eke out an frail existence on this otherwise inhospitable terrain.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest. Scattered, centuries-old oaks stand majestically over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered comrades. This peculiarity seems to surround only the area just outside the caern.
The caern circles away from the walls east, towards the swirling area, and south, towards the steam vents; the center is southeast of here. A dangerously slippery, muddy trail winds up towards the rim of the caern from here. One false step could result in tragedy.
Veronica walks quickly this time, glad to be out of the heat and steam. Almost unconsciously, she steps twards the rock outcropping, looking at it with a faint smile. "Earth. Autumn, right?" She turns to look at Jacinta. "Because of the stone?"
"Ii. Autumn, Earth. This is the place of the Philodox. Because Grandmother is so solid, she lends her strength to theirs. Many challenges happen here, in hopes that her Wisdom will affect the outcome." She steps up to the highest place on the stone slab and looks out over the caern. "During Moot, the Truthcatcher will stand here."
Veronica watches the elder stand on the slab. "What's a Moot?" she asks, taking a few steps closer and taking in the view down to the caern. "A challenge?"
Jacinta nods thoughtfully a few times before she answers. "Moot," she says and then stops. She steps down from the Rock Slab and moves into the center of the clearing. Turning to face the cub she says. "Not only must we protect this Caern from physical threats, but the Sept must also keep this place whole and full of Spiritual Strength. As part of that, there is a ritual. Each full moon, we gather all of the Sept. There are Rites, and howls, and our energy feeds the caern."
Center of the Caern
This is the central point of the 30-meter-wide clearing. The ground is a mixture of dark, rich, muddy soil mixed with clay, though there is an occasional patch of grass. At the center rests a large white boulder, immovable even by the strongest crinos. The boulder is shot through with streaks of quartz that produces scintillating colors when light strikes it just right. It is, for lack of a wholly adequate word, beautiful.
Around you, twenty yards in every direction, stretches the caern. To the southeast, a waterfall plummets over the edge of the chasm into a small pool in the caern; nearby, to the southwest, steam comes from cracks in the ground, perhaps some of the same water. Northwest, a rocky spar juts out of the ground at a low angle, showing a sloping but smooth top. The chasm walls narrow a bit to the northeast, causing some of the mist to swirl in that area.
Veronica follows her elder straight to the center. "That must be awesome," she comments, looking around, imagining the place full of Garou. Her eyes shutter as she feels the energy of the center again, and she sighs at the thought of that energy rising over and around her. "Wow."
Jacinta smiles, and it's almost as if she is experiencing the caern for the first time, herself. She moves to the crystal at the center and places her fingers just millimeters from its surface. For a beat she stares deep into the stone, then looks again at Veronia. "Ii. It can be." Gaze sliding to the rocky outcropping she says, "There are many types of challenge. At moot, the most common is for Rank. I am Fostern, as Touch Deer is Fostern. You are cub. Between is Cliath. Above, Adren, Athro, and Elder. Only two moons ago, I was still Cliath. To become Fostern, I needed to find one of that rank whom I found worthy of respect, and challenge. That person set a test for me. I passed the test, and in the eyes of Garou and Spirits, I am now Fostern."
Veronica says "Like a Rite of Passage is a test. Do those happen at Moot, too?" She follows the elder's movements, and reaches towards the stone as well. Her hand stops well back, though. "Do I get to go to Moot before I do mine? Or do I have to wait?"
Jacinta grins at the eagerness. "You will come to moot when Luna once again shows full. Whether you will still be cub, or will come as an adult will depend on your learning, and on mine. In the past, I brought our cubs to my first home so that my elders could perform the Rite of Passage. But now I learn the Rite myself. If you are ready before I have learned, we will go to another to test you. If I learn quickly, I will test you myself when you are ready."
Veronica laughs. "I'll go really, really slow, then." She pulls her hand away from the stone and does a slow spin, revelling in the feeling of the caern center again. "This place is so cool."
"Ii," Jacinta agrees readily. Then, "Come. I will tell you more of challenges another time. The sun has dropped, and it is time you felt your other half." With that, she turns and walks a clockwise spiral outward from the center until she reaches the waterfall.
Veronica follows the elder's course as exactly as she can, step for step. When they reach the waterfall, she stops a few steps behind Jacinta, still grinning with glee at her surroundings.
Jacinta drops into a half-crouch by the edge of the pool and gestures toward the surface of the water. "Come. Today you will seek your spirit self. When it is something you can do easily, it can be done even through a shard of ice. But today, we will stay here, in the caern. The spirit world can be a dangerous place and you must promise that until I say otherwise, you will not go without an adult of our Tribe to guide you. Ii?"
Veronica nods. "Ii. Yes, elder. I promise. I will not do these things without an elder." She shakes out her hair and crouches as well, looking nervously at the water. "What do we do?"
Jacinta says "In the water, seek out your reflection. Gaze upon what you see and you will feel the pull of the spirit. Focus on that pull, on that half of what you are, and let yourself cross that barrier between realms. As you felt the wolf and were able to change your form, feel your spirit and you will reach that world."
Veronica looks around in the water, trying to find her reflection. When at first it doesn't come, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She focuses, as she's been learning to do the last few days, and reopens her eyes, meeting her own reflection in the pool. The cub leans forward, trying to lose herself in the reflection.
Jacinta watches, silent and apart. Her breaths come slow and steady as she remains calm, waiting.
Unlike her wolf, Veronica is apparently closer to her spirit half. As her nose dips into the pool, her eyes catch a glimmer in the ripple of the water. As quickly, she finds herself answering the pull to cross the gauntlet.
Jacinta seems to recognize what is happening. There is a small catch in her breath. Then she resumes her steady rhythm.
Veronica's fingers grip the ground, unconsciously fighting the sensation. The elder's initial admonition to relax and focus comes to mind, and she slowly manages to release her grip on the physical. A whine chokes in her throat as indecision grips her, then she grits her teeth and takes the plunge into the other world.
Umbra: Center of the Caern
A subtly spine-vibrating thrum of power issues once again from the once-dead caern, pricking hairs and fur. Slowly but surely, the rejuvinating actions of the Garou have slowly been transforming the recently spiritually dead caern back into something befitting a caern. The caern is once again alive with a variety of spirits, though spirits of war seem a rarity now, and Wendigo spirits are never seen. The caern, visually, falls just short of the wildest rural utopia imaginable. Only hints of the previous pollution remain--slightly less than green grass, young sapling trees where there ought to be mighty oaks and pines--and these are things that, with time and care, should eventually replace what was lost.
The air crackles with tingles of spiritual potency, though it's obvious to Garou who'd witnessed the caern earlier that the caern just isn't quite as powerful and potent as it was before the BSD invasion.
The moon hangs huge, just above the horizon, half her face covered by darkness. The light here is like the first light of dawn, enough to see clearly, but no where near as bright as it would be in full daylight. As the caern itself, the magical half-light elongates the shadows and lends even more magic to a place already steeped in the mystic.
There are tears. Veronica's speechless in her first encounter with the spirit world, wrapping her arms around her knees and curling as tight into herself as she can. Wide brown eyes take in every facet she can find, and her jaw goes a little slack.
A pair of lunes play hide-and-go-seek around a giant tree at the edge of the circular clearing. Jacinta follows the cub into the Umbra, half a second or so behind. She doesn't speak, at first, just lets the girl take in what is here.
Veronica's attention is drawn by the spirits, and if it's possible, her eyes go even wider. She's speechless, pushing herself to her feet, the better to turn herself around to get a better look at everything. When she sees her elder, her expression speaks quite plainly, 'is this real?'.
"More real than what you were born to," The Ahroun replies. "Once, in the time before memory, the spirit and the flesh were one. Not two parts of a whole, but the whole in itself. Then the Weaver went mad, and in her madness divided the spirit from the flesh. Humans are without their spirit halves, they have rejected the Yua. But Garou are of both, contain both, remember both."
The story brings more tears as the cub turns another circle. "That's horrible," she sniffles, wiping her nose on her arm. "Poor Grandmother."
Above, a pair of hawk spirits circle, while in the still dim west of the caern a small aurora spirit shimmers and shifts. "Ii," Jacinta agrees. She watches the girl, but adds no more to her lesson. The Ahroun seems to be more interested in letting the girl explore on her own terms.
Veronica is enamored of everything, each movement and change drawing her eye and engaging her further. When she sees the aurora, she freezes, then starts to walk in it's direction. The colors of the changing spirit draw the Galliard nearer and nearer.
Jacinta settles down, sitting cross-legged by the pool. The aurora spirit shimmers pale green and white, stretching and elongating, then returning to its original shape. Bits of blue enter the color scheme as the girl nears.
Veronica watches the colors change, a smile starting to cross her lips. "Hello spirit...um...elder," she murmurs, reaching to touch the spirit when she's near enough. "Hello. I am Ingtaq Cetaaq, a Wendigo Galliard cub." She doesn't much care if it answers, it's apparent that it's enough that the spirit even exists.
The greens shift to white, the whites taking on a yellowish hue and where blue was, now orange appears. As the colors shift to warmer spectrums, the spirit wavers in the air before the girl. There is no answer, at least none that is verbal.
"May I touch you, elder spirit?" Veronica asks, stopping her hand a fraction of an inch from the spirit's surface. "Please?" She tries to lower her eyes respectfully, but the shift of the colors and light makes it impossible for her to take her attention away.
The spirit doesn't flinch or move away, the colors shimmering brighter for a moment. The Aurora has no physical mass, not even here, and the girl's fingers pass right through the surface. The color changes, almost like colored oil on water, where her fingers pass.
Veronica giggles again, turning back to the elder with the look of an excited child. She moves her hand around the spirit, then removes her hand and bows to the spirit. "Thank you," she murmurs, before turning and sprinting back to Jacinta's side. "This is awesome."
As the girl leaves, the spirit returns to its original pale greens and whites. For the next several hours, Jacinta takes the girl on a tour of the umbra in and around the Caern, stopping to examine or meet the various local spirits. She introduces the girl to her Bison pack Totem, though without the gift of Spirit Speech, it is little more than another spirit introduction. Sometime before dawn, they return to the Realm at the Caern. "With any adult of our Tribe, you may come to the Caern. With any adult of our Tribe, you may visit the Umbra. Soon, I will give you leave to come to the Caern alone, but that day is not just yet." Then, though the way is still dark and the two have not slept, they make the journey back to the lake. This time, however, they do so in Lupus.
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