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Stray
03-16-07, 10:55 PM
[This is very rough at the moment. When I finish, I will return and edit all of my posts and it may end up looking very different. If you read this, do both of us a favor and read again when I am done, because this isn't my best writing.]

(My Character's History: Freedom with Nowhere to Go. Link provided in profile upon completion. Individual piece, enjoy.)

They were born at Dawn, just as the sun rose over the rolling grass fields of Kamui’s Sea. The sky was alight as if on fire, burning in triumph as the leader of the pack watched his love children arrive in this world. Joy and excitement spread across his lupine face as the blind little puppies excavated their mother’s womb. Soothing her with his gruff but honey sweet voice, Hati helped as much as he could, finding himself useless in this part of the cycle of life. Today, he was a father, and Karaya was the mother of his pups. It was at the same time incredibly amazing and terribly scary.

The process took almost an hour before finally the mother lay on her bed of straw and feathers, exhausted nearly to the point of death, nursing to five healthy pups. Three were proudly black furred. Another magnificently clad in a coat of white, and the last a disappointing gray. Hati nodded curtly to the closest of the bitches that assisted in the birth. They had seen the gray runt, and understood, but as the elderly wolf moved to grab the pup by the scruff of his neck Karaya cried out.

“No! Please! Not my only daughter, for Kami’s sake, not my daughter! Please…please…please…not her…”

It was sad to look upon his proud and strong mate in such pathetic disarray, sickly and weakened. But, he did love her, and with a deep regretful sigh he snuggled the pup back up to his mother. If her intuition was true, and a wolf’s instinct always is, then Karaya had given him four males to make up for the impure coated bitch. He would let her keep that one, for now, but it was not fit for to be a pack leader’s daughter.

Standing tall, despite his exhaustion, the proud white wolf moved slowly to the entrance of the cave. There the rest of the pack lay sprawled about in the grass, resting and waiting for the news. Sweeping his gaze across those assorted; the strong and the weak, the young and the old, this was his growing pack that had begun only as a handful of friends. A bubbling growl rose in his throat then burst out in joy, a magnificent howl piercing the night. Throwing his head up into the morning’s first growing light, joined shortly by the rest. When the leader is happy, everyone is happy, and in joy, the pack howled for him and his children. Among these kind but strong wolves, his kindred would be welcome and well raised.

The echoes of the lupine voices bounced off the endless walls of the valley they rest in. Tall sheer walls surrounded on three sides, hiding the pack from the threats of the outside world. A single entry point allowed for great security, easily guarded by only two wolves. Multiple caves, some found and some made, dotted the walls of the quarry, giving home to the growing society of lupines. At the end of the valley, the largest cave mouth opened wide, totem poles and cloth decorating the wall and entrance of the pack leader’s den. Inside carpets, cushions, and other luxuries scattered.

Hati was a modest pack leader and did not horde the niceties they found or made. In the home of every wolf, one would find the same provisions and living conditions as the pack leader’s.

Forgetting of the female among his brave boys, the wolf leaped to the cliff above his den’s entrance. Carving deep into the soft stone wall he placed the names of the males, leaving room for Karaya to name the girl. Lykke, Kiran, and Maed for the black-coated boys, and the white would be Merik. A powerful legend upon their people, was Merik, a wolf who took on the sun and stars in a great war, leading their people to the Land of the Moon. There, Kami gave Merik and his followers his favor. After great golden years in that paradise, Kami asked them to return to the Mother’s Soil and make ready for the day he would descend and once more make the path to the Land of the Moon open. The ancestors of Merik’s pack became the Wolves of Kami, noble demigods among wolf-kind.

“My children’s first full moon comes tonight. Under Kami’s eyes, I shall give to the Mother’s Soil the runt daughter. To give her soul back to creation, so that it may be reborn as a proud pure coated wolf.”

The announcement was a personal promise, but the pack heard and made ready for the ceremony that would come upon first showing of the fat moon. It would mean, among other things, moving out of safety into Kamui’s Sea and taking on human form to not draw suspicion.

Stray
03-17-07, 08:26 PM
Hati strayed out into the open air of the valley, taking the sweet midnight air in with deep breaths. Everything was serene, and after tonight he would be free of troubles, including that despicable runt sent to him. The four boys were gift enough, so the bitch would be given back with as a kindness to the Mother Soil. The cycle of life would be complete, birth and death. At least, that was how he would reason it out to the rest of the pack.

Tonight their valley home, Dawn, seemed a very serene place. A soft breeze took hold to the cloth banners and doorways that decorated the sheer cliff faces, making the images of old legends dance. A fire had been started at the center of the floor, deep in the pit, flames licking the rock guardians that prevented it from becoming wild. Smoke drifted skyward, traveling on a great exodus to mark the path to the heavens.

The howls and cheers of the pack caught his attention and broke the moment. With a smug smile, Hati shifted into the human shell and made his way to the mouth of their crevice. Climbing the steps carved there in three strong leaps, the proud wolf stood on two tanned human legs, gazing over the scenery of the Breach. Rocks jutted out in every direction, the place once being a massive stone plateau, now resembling as if something had collided into it, shattering the center and creating their home. Kami had sent his arrow to this land and gave them a home, as the elder's told.

Revelries were being held on the northern most cliff of the Breach, an enormous near-wild bonfire crackling at the center of a ring of poles. Each pole was made from glass and had thousands of breaks that refracted the strong full moon light, sending beams of light blue in all directions. Lighter than daylight, the stone floor seemed to nearly glow.

"Lacuna, everything is beautiful tonight. It is a perfect night to give the pregnant moon a babe. Is everything ready?"

A wolf in shell of a man with long flowing black hair and a soft kind face smiled gently. Nodding, he gracefully stood, his flowing black robes of a Shaman of Kami cascading down his form. With slow and deliberate words he spoke softly an answer.

"Hati, the fire has been birthed, the beacon to the moon set. All six divination pillars are alive with the energies of this fine night. As soon as Karaya and Jaci arrive, we shall be ready for the ceremony. After, food and game has been spotted. A great hunt tonight will be. Speaking of, how fares your mate?"

The pack leader, unlike Lacuna, had a much larger frame and appeared incredibly muscular. As if descendant from giants, his body was built as a rock and his face chiseled from stone. His long silvered gray hair in tight dreadlocks is tied together at the base of his neck, a bone claw capping each lock. Hati opened his mouth to continue the conversation but his words were never heard over a sorrowful howl cutting the night.

"Namura!"