Author's Note: This story takes place directly after the chapter "Legends" in Eclipse, and I'm assuming Leah and Seth are already part of the pack.
LEGENDS
Billy reached the end of his tale, and Sue Clearwater tapped the shoulder of each girl of the tribe in turn, Emily, Leah, and now Kim, who was an accepted member, before they wandered off, and whispered in their ears. Though each left in a different direction, they all meandered through the forest until they met at a fire-pit nearby, but out of sight of, the Clearwater home. Sue's demeanor seemed to demand silence as she started a small fire. When she had built up the fire to her satisfaction, she sat back on the one of the benches around the pit, gazing into each feminine face as the flames cast a flickering glow around the circle. Two of the faces showed genuine curiosity, one bitter resignation.
"I have brought you here tonight to share with all of you the rest of your heritage as Quileute women. Leah has heard the tale and is familiar with the history, but you two have not. Now I share it with all of you, the next generation, and keepers of our memory."
Her gaze drifted upward as she transitioned into the lilting, rhythmic cadence of oral history passed down.
"We keep this story alive, we women of the tribe, not for Yaha Uta or the other wolves, or the beautiful Cold Woman. No, for someone thought by the men to be outside the magic altogether. The woman who saved the entire tribe, the third wife. Just a human woman, with no special gifts or powers, yet closer to the magic than any man knew, or even suspected. Physically weaker and slower than any of the monsters in the story. But she was the key, the solution. She saved her husband, her young sons, her tribe.
"This...is her story."
"It begins with the spirit warriors. The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning," Sue said, echoing Billy's words from earlier that night. "And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been magic in our blood. It wasn't always the magic of shape-shifting - that came later. First, we were spirit warriors.
"Now, the men of our tribe have always believed they were alone in the ability to set their spirits free from their bodies; that only they could set their souls free on the wind, control the breezes and waves, and talk to the animals." Her eyes flashed as she caught each one's eyes with her own. "They were wrong."
Small gasps sounded from the two newcomers. "You mean, women could do it too?" Emily whispered.
"The Quileute women have always been more in touch with the spirit world than the men, living closer to the extremes of life and death than ever they did. We could live in the "now," content with daily life, more easily than men could. Thus, they considered it nothing special to mingle with the spirits, and they slipped into each state as easily as you would slip in and out of a robe.
"Now, in the beginning, the tribe settled in this harbor and became skilled ship builders and fishermen. But the tribe was small, and the harbor was rich in fish. There were others who coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it. A larger tribe moved against us, and we took to our ships to escape them.
"Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came before his. We do not remember who was the first to discover this power, or how it had been used before this crisis. Kaheleha was the first great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land.
"He and all his warriors left the ship - not their bodies, but their spirits. Their women watched over the bodies and the waves, and the men took their spirits back to our harbor.
"When we say, 'their women watched over the bodies and the waves,' we mean exactly that. The men had powers to control the wind and rains, and women had the same. But the women took it upon themselves to return the balance that had been disrupted by the interference of the men; thus, they kept the waves from overturning the boats that contained the bodies of the men, as they sent their spirits out to defend our land. In a way, that meant that they were stronger."
"Stronger? How?" Emily interrupted. "The men were the ones doing all the fighting."
Sue looked pointedly at her. "Have you ever tried to slow a wave? Weather systems are fragile, and manipulating them as the warriors did could have had devastating consequences to the surrounding regions, and eventually to our lands. That is why the women had to do what they did, as they did."
"Oooohh..." Emily stared at her feet, pondering Sue's explanation. She looked up. "I apologize for interrupting. Please continue."
"Generations later, when Utlapa stole Taha Aki's body and Taha Aki borrowed the body of the wolf and went to try and speak with the tribe, it was not the old man Yut who recognized him first, but Taha Aki's wife who saw him in the wolf. When she heard the warning cry and saw what the warriors were gathering to attack, she took one look and saw that he was different, and knew she had to find out what it was. She broke out between the warriors and ran up to the wolf, slowing as she got close. When she finally stood in front of him, she knelt down, took his chin in her hand, and stared into his eyes. Within moments she knew who he was, for she knew the one who now occupied her husband's body was not her husband in truth. 'This is no ordinary wolf,' she declared to the warriors gathered there. 'This is my husband, his spirit trapped in the mind of this beast.'"
"Only then did Yut venture forward to discover for himself if what she said was true. He went out of his body and met his chief there, but when he tried to return to his body to tell the others, Utlapa had come upon their gathering and had already silenced him forever with a hand over his mouth and a knife across his throat.
"What happened next would change the world for the Quileutes forever.
"The veil between the physical and spiritual worlds tore, the wolf shuddered, and - before the eyes of the shocked warriors and Utlapa - transformed into a man.
"The new man did not look like Taha Aki's body. He was far more glorious. He was the flesh interpretation of Taha Aki's spirit. The warriors recognized him at once, though, for they had flown with Taha Aki's spirit.
"Utlapa tried to run, but Taha Aki had the strength of the wolf in his new body. He caught the thief and crushed the spirit from him before he could jump out of the stolen body.
"The men rejoiced when they understood what had happened. The spirit women, however, shuddered as they felt the veil tear. The could sense that the balance of nature had shifted.
"Taha Aki quickly set everything right in the tribe, working again with his people and giving the young wives back to their families. The only change he kept in place was the end of the spirit travels. He knew that it was too dangerous now that the idea of stealing a life was there. The spirit warriors were no more.
"From that point on, Taha Aki was more than either wolf or man. They called him Taha Aki the Great Wolf, or Taha Aki the Spirit Man. He led the tribe for many, many years, for he did not age. When danger threatened, he would resume his wolf-self to fight or frighten the enemy. The people dwelt in peace. Taha Aki fathered many sons, and some of these found that, after they had reached the age of manhood, they, too, could transform into wolves. The wolves were all different, because they were spirit wolves and reflected the man they were inside."
"The women, however, although they no longer sent their spirits from their bodies, still felt the shifts and changes in the spirit world. In the time of the spirit warriors, they had been there, backing the men, calming the waters and directing the winds before they cause any unintended damage. With this change, however, any chance of balance was beyond them. They were unable to cut through the wall that now appeared between the men and women of the tribe. The men were in a place the women could not touch, and could not influence, and it made them sorely afraid.
"Taha Aki lived the span of three old men's lives. He married a third wife after the deaths of the first two, and found in her his true spirit wife. Though he had loved the others, this was something else. When he and the third wife joined bodies, those women who were still attuned to the spirits could sense their souls joining as well; the children from their union were stronger any others born of Taha Aki. He decided to give up his spirit wolf so that he would die when she did, for he had lived long, and did not wish to go on, especially without her.
"That was the story of the spirit warriors." Sue ended the tale, and looked around the circle again to make sure all were paying attention. "Now, this is the story of the third wife's sacrifice, and the promise.
"Many years after Taha Aki gave up his spirit wolf, when he was an old man, trouble began in the north, with the Makahs. Several young women of their tribe had disappeared, and they blamed it on the neighboring wolves, who they feared and mistrusted. The wolf-men could still read each other's thoughts while in their wolf forms, as had their ancestors while in their spirit forms, and they knew that none of their number was to blame. Taha Aki did not want to have a war on his hands. He was no longer a warrior to lead his people, so he charged his oldest wolf-son, Taha Wi, with finding the true culprit before hostilities began.
"The spirit women of the tribe grew uneasy. They could feel a disturbance in the world, a further unbalancing of the natural world. They were concerned about what it meant.
"Taha Wi led the five other wolves in his pack on a search through the mountains, looking for any evidence of the missing Makahs. They came across something they had never encountered before - a strange, sweet scent in the forest that burned their noses to the point of pain."
"They did not know what creature would leave such a scent, but they followed it."
"They found faint traces of human scent, and human blood, along the trail. They were sure this was the enemy they were searching for.
"The journey took them so far north that Taha Wi sent half the pack, the younger ones, back
to the harbor to report to Taha Aki.
"Taha Wi and his two brothers did not return.
"The younger brothers searched for their elders, but found only silence. Taha Aki mourned for his sons. He wished to avenge his sons' death, but he was old. He went to the Makah chief in his mourning clothes and told him everything that had happened. The Makah chief believed his grief, and tensions ended between the tribes.
"A year later, two Makah maidens disappeared from their homes on the same night. The Makahs called on the Quileute wolves at once, who found the same sweet stink all through the Makah village. The wolves went on the hunt again.
"Only one came back. He was Yaha Uta, the oldest son of Taka Aki's third wife, and the youngest in the pack. He brought something with him that had never been seen in all the days of the Quileutes - a strange, cold, stony corpse that he carried in pieces. All who were of Taha Aki's blood, even those who had never been wolves, could smell the piercing smell of the dead creature. This was the enemy of the Makahs.
"A chill went through the women when they gazed upon the corpse, for here was the source of great imbalance in nature, and there was now nothing they could do to make it right.
"Yaha Uta described what had happened: he and his brothers had found the creature, who looked like a man but was hard as a granite rock, with the two Makah daughters. One girl was already dead, white and bloodless on the ground. The other was in the creature's arms, his mouth at her throat. She may have been alive when they came upon the hideous scene, but the creature quickly snapped her neck and tossed her lifeless body to the ground when they approached. His white lips were covered in her blood, and his eyes glowed red.
"Yaha Uta described the fierce strength and speed of the creature. One of his brothers quickly became a victim when he underestimated that strength. The creature ripped him apart like a doll. Yaha Uta and his other brother were more wary. They worked together, coming at the creature from the sides, outmaneuvering it. They had to reach the very limits of their wolf strength and speed, something that had never been tested before. The creature was hard as stone and cold as ice. They found that only their teeth could damage it. They began to rip small pieces of the creature apart while it fought them.
"But the creature learned quickly, and soon was matching their maneuvers. It got its hands on Yaha Uta's brother. Yaha Uta found an opening on the creature's throat, and he lunged. His teeth tore the head off the creature, but the hands continued to mangle his brother.
"Yaha Uta ripped the creature into unrecognizable chunks, tearing pieces apart in a desperate attempt to save his brother. He was too late, but, in the end, the creature was destroyed.
"Or so they thought. Yaha Uta laid the reeking remains out to be examined by the elders. One severed hand lay beside a piece of the creature's granite arm. The two pieces touched when the elders poked them with sticks, and the hand reached out towards the arm piece, trying to reassemble itself.
"Horrified, the elders set fire to the remains. A great cloud of choking, vile smoke polluted the air. When there was nothing but ashes, they separated the ashes into many small bags and spread them far and wide - some in the ocean, some in the forest, some in the cliff caverns. Taha Aki wore one bag around his neck, so he would be warned if the creature ever tried to put himself together again."
"They called it The Cold One, the Blood Drinker, and lived in fear that it was not alone. They only had one wolf protector left, young Yaha Uta.
"They did not have long to wait. The creature had a mate, another blood drinker, who came to the Quileutes seeking revenge.
"The stories say that the Cold Woman was the most beautiful thing human eyes had ever seen. She looked like the goddess of the dawn when she entered the village that morning; the sun was shining, and it glittered off her white skin and lit the golden hair that flowed down to her knees. Her face was magical in its beauty, her eyes black in her white face.
"She asked something in a high, piercing voice, in a language no one had ever heard. The people were dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer her. There was none of Taha Aki's blood among the witnesses but one small boy. He clung to his mother and screamed that the smell was hurting his nose. One of the elders, on his way to council, heard the boy and realized what had come among them. He yelled for the people to run. She killed him first.
"There were twenty witnesses to the Cold Woman's approach. Two survived, only because she grew distracted by the blood, and paused to sate her thirst. They ran to Taha Aki, who sat in counsel with the other elders, his sons, and his third wife.
"Yaha Uta transformed into his spirit wolf as soon as he heard the news. He went to destroy the blood drinker alone. Taha Aki, his third wife, his sons, and his elders followed behind him.
"At first they could not find the creature, only the evidence of her attack. Bodies lay broken, a few drained of blood, strewn across the road where she'd appeared. Then they heard the screams and hurried to the harbor.
"A handful of the Quileutes had run to the ships for refuge. She swam after them like a shark, and broke the bow of their boat with her incredible strength. When the ship sank, she caught those trying to swim away and broke them, too.
"She saw the great wolf on the shore, and she forgot the fleeing swimmers. She swam so fast she was a blur and came, dripping and glorious, to stand before Yaha Uta. She pointed at him with one white finger and asked another incomprehensible question. Yaha Uta waited.
"It was a close fight. She was not the warrior her mate had been. But Yaha Uta was alone - there was no one to distract her fury from him.
"When Yaha Uta lost, Taha Aki screamed in defiance. He limped forward and shifted into an ancient, white-muzzled wolf. The wolf was old, but this was Taha Aki the Spirit Man, and his rage made him strong. The fight began again.
"Taha Aki's third wife had just seen her son die before her. Now her husband fought, and she had no hope that he could win. She felt helpless. She'd heard every word the witnesses to the slaughter had told the council. She'd heard the story of Yaha Uta's first victory, and knew that his brother's diversion had saved him.
"The third wife grabbed the knife from her belt. Her sons stood beside her. They were all young sons, not yet men, and she knew they would die when their father failed.
"The third wife ran toward the Cold Woman with the dagger raised high. The Cold Woman smiled, barely distracted from her fight with the old wolf. She had no fear of the weak human woman or the knife that would not even scratch her skin, and she was about to deliver the death blow to Taha Aki.
"And then the third wife did something the Cold Woman did not expect. She fell to her knees at the blood drinker's feet and plunged the knife into her own heart. It was all she could o.
"Blood spurted through the third wife's fingers and splashed against the Cold Woman. The blood drinker could not resist the lure of the fresh blood leaving the third wife's body. Instinctively, she turned to the dying woman, for one second entirely consumed by thirst.
"Taha Aki's teeth closed around her neck.
"That was not the end of the fight, but Taha Aki was not alone now. Watching their mother die, two young sons felt such rage that they sprang forth as their spirit wolves, though they were not yet men. With their father, they finished the creature.
"Taha Aki never rejoined the tribe. He never changed back to a man again. He lay for one day beside the body of the third wife, growling whenever anyone tried to touch her. What they could not see was Taha Aki communing with his wife in the spirit world. She had left her body just before death, and spoke with Taha Aki the wolf where he lay by her side. He asked her why she did a thing so senseless and foolish. She replied that it was neither; she had achieved what she set out to do.
"The wolf looked away and said he had not needed her help. She caressed his face with an intangible hand and replied that he had always needed her help. She went on, reminding him that everyone needed to feel wanted and necessary. She told him about the balance of nature, and how it had been broken with his transformation.
"Taha Aki grieved at the realization of what he had done, all unknowing. He asked his wife what they should do.
"She replied that she would remain behind as pure spirit, and wait for the time when the pack increased in number again. Only then would the opportunity arise to restore the balance once again.
Taha Aki saw her wisdom, and understood that she was doing what must be done. Then he went into the forest and never returned.
"Thus it is said that when the pack grows again, a woman will arise who can temper the rage of the wolf-men, and will begin the restoration." Here Sue looked pointedly at Leah, who deliberately looked away.
Leah thought back to the strange, magical, terrible day she first transformed.
She had just been in a fight with Sam and Emily. Well, it had started with a fight with just Sam. It was getting pretty heated, then Emily had walked in, seen them fighting, and jumped in to defend Sam, which just pissed off Leah more than she already was, particularly in light of the scar that had been "given" to Emily by Sam. Sam kept yelling and telling Leah what a failure of a person she was, Leah called him an abusive ass, Emily cried and insisted that Sam loved her, and at that point Leah got so frustrated and fed up with the whole thing that she stalked out of the house into the woods, angry tears running down her cheeks.
She didn't know how far she'd gone, or where exactly she was, when suddenly a woman stepped out from behind a tree. Leah gasped and jumped back a little. It wasn't just the suddenness of her appearance, though that would be enough to startle anybody; Leah would have sworn she couldn't have hidden behind that tree. It was too small, the woman's frame too broad.
Leah took a closer look at the woman. She looked like a Quileute, or a closely related tribe, with dark almond-shaped eyes and obsidian hair falling to her waist. Her dress was Quileute ceremonial dress, made of pale leather and delicately wrought with colored beads in complicated patterns. Even so, it looked a little outdated. Her eyes were deep black, with white specks in them, almost like a star-scape. Her skin was the tanned shade of the Quileutes, but it seemed translucent somehow. Her outline seemed-fuzzy, was the word that came to Leah's mind.
The strange woman spoke.
"What?" Leah didn't understand the language she was speaking.
The woman spoke again, slower this time. The Leah recognized it. It was the Quileute language. The woman had offered a greeting.
Leah answered in kind. Her speech was slow and halting; it had been a while since she had last spoken it beyond slang phrases.
"The wolf pack grows," the woman stated.
Leah shook her head a little to clear it; she wasn't expecting her to say that. She didn't know what she expected, really. "The wolf-? Oh, you mean all those arrogant boys with egos the size of Washington? I guess so."
"They have grown too large for their own good."
"What do you mean?"
"They are untempered and without restraint, and content to be so."
"So? If they want to hang out and act like thugs, what's that to me?"
The woman's face grew hard. "Their numbers are increasing at an unprecedented rate, imprinting is becoming less about what is ideal and more about what is convenient, and each one is indulging more in untamed emotion and wild instinct. If this continues-" she hesitated, and her look softened. "If it continues, the monster inside the magic will consume the entire pack and they will become little more than giant animals, and may forget their human natures altogether."
Leah folded her arms and looked off to the side. "So? What do I care if they all-" She froze, then jerked her gaze back to the woman. "When you said the entire pack, you didn't meant-?" Seth, too?
She nodded solemnly. "The entire pack."
No! Leah's face crumpled. Not Seth! Not my little brother. She covered her face with her hands as a wave of helplessness washed over her. A minute later, she peeked out between her fingers at the woman in front of her, and got suddenly very angry. She dropped her hands and drew herself up. "You tell me the pack's in danger of going mad? For what? What tell me? So I can cry myself to sleep to night?" She was shrieking by the end.
The woman's gaze did not waver. "You must restore the balance."
"Oh, I'm supposed to do this all by myself? Shouldn't be a problem," Leah replied sarcastically.
"You will only begin the process, but that will probably be the hardest step."
Leah looked at her incredulously. "And how am I supposed to do that? You want me to be like Emily? Some kind of 'den mother' looking after them, cooking and cleaning for them, and don't forget sporting a lovely disfiguring scar for the crime of daring to say 'no' even once?"
The woman closed her eyes and her figure seemed to ripple in the dimming light. "That is saddening, and also a symptom of the imbalance. If you agree to restore the balance of the magic, you would not be unprotected."
"Oh really? What, would you give me a magical forcefield? Give me a break."
"I do not know what a 'force-field' is, but I tell you that you would match them, strength for strength."
"What does that mean?"
"It means what it means."
"Thanks, that cleared up everything. So you're saying you can make it so they can't hurt me if I try to change them?"
"You will heal very quickly, and gain great strength; you will be strong enough that they could not intimidate you with strength and size alone."
"And if I don't, all of them may go mad, including my brother?"
"Yes." She paused. "It may be easier at this stage to start a new pack; the current one is set in their ways and may overwhelm you with sheer numbers. If there were fewer, you could more easily influence them."
"I'll keep that in mind...how do we do this?"
"Do you mean that you agree?"
"Yes! So do whatever it is, before I lose my nerve!"
"Very well." The woman stepped back and crouched on the ground. She closed her eyes in concentration, and began to morph into one of the giant wolves. Leah's eyes went wide; this was the last thing she was expecting. When she finished the change, she leveled her gaze on Leah again, and stepped forward, eyes glinting.
Leah began stepping back as well, and brought her hands up in front of her. "Wait, what are you doing? I didn't-this isn't-stop!" She tripped on some brush and sprawled backward, quickly regaining her footing. The wolf leaped forward, and plunged headfirst into her chest. Abruptly the wolf started glowing, and began to disappear, inch by inch, into Leah's body. Leah backed up until she was against a tree, and watched in horror as the wolf's muscles kept pushing it forward. She had no idea what was happening, and felt like she hanging on to some kind of precipice with only a shaky grasp. Finally even the wolf's tail vanished where it met her chest, and she stood frozen for a moment, trying to absorb what had just happened. She thought maybe it was just a really intense hallucination.
Then she began to glow.
She felt suddenly nauseous, and her body convulsed as the glow grew brighter. Adrenaline raced through her as her terror increased. She felt strange sensations throughout her body, like things were rearranging themselves, without pain, oddly enough.
Her hands and feet began to change. Her fingers grew shorter, fur spontaneously sprouted from her skin, and she fell forward as her knee joints reversed direction. Within minutes she found herself standing on all fours on the forest floor, a wolf; just like all those boys.
NO! She tried to scream, but all that came out was a barking growl. She still felt the need do something, so she took off running. She could feel the new strength and power in her limbs, could feel the sheer joy that came with just running. She could do this all day.
Well, hey there, cuz. It was Paul. He was in wolf form too, and he had seen her. She looked different from the others, so he knew she was a new wolf. Come on with me, you can meet the rest of the pack. Leah silently nodded, and followed as he led her to their standard meeting place.
Three more were there, including Sam. Paul returned to human form, then looked expectantly at wolf-Leah.
"What are you waiting for? Come on, change back. We wanna see our new pack member." A chorus of "yes"es and "yeah"s followed his declaration. Still Leah hesitated. They kept on pressing her, eager to meet the newbie. Eventually, their enthusiasm won her over, and she concentrated, finally returning to her human form, crouched on the ground.
The boys' enthusiasm vanished. Different emotions crossed their faces-anger, confusion, resentment. Clearly she was an intruder in their "boys only" club. Leah decided that she wouldn't let them cow her. She stood up, threw her shoulders back, and boldly faced Sam, the leader of the pack.
"Sam?" Embry asked. "What do we do? What do we do now?"
She jolted out of her flashback as Sue ended the oral legend.
"We keep this story alive, we women of the tribe, not for Yaha Uta or the other wolves, or the beautiful Cold Woman. No, for someone thought by the men to be outside the magic altogether. The woman who had saved the entire tribe, the third wife. Just a human woman, with no special gifts or powers, yet closer to the magic than any man knew, or even suspected. Physically weaker and slower than any of the monsters in the story. But she had been the key, the solution. She'd saved her husband, her young sons, and her tribe, stretching from the past and forward into now."
'Now it's your turn,' her eyes seemed to be saying to Leah. The mood around the fire was somber, and each of the women there stayed for several minutes, lost in her own thoughts, before getting up and walking back home. Finally, only Sue and Leah were left. They were going to the same place, so they got up together and walked home, Sue's arm draped in support over Leah's shoulders.
I wrote this assuming everyone is at at least passably familiar with the chapter "Legends." If you are not, and enough people tell me so, I will probably post another chapter that is a third-person POV of the original chapter.
Stay tuned for more! BTW, does anyone know where I can find a full text of Breaking Dawn online? It would be easier, and make BD updates faster.