Selfless

Speck led her to the level where the Far-Fliers lived after explaining that she was responsible for the female Far-Flier-Helpers. Ledges and caves were dug into the wall of the chamber. They landed at the largest of the caves, and strolled inside.

Speck softly roared, and the light wings within hopped to their paws. There were ten light wings inside, four males and six females.

"Packmates! This is Skadi, a representative of a different pack! She is ranging with us for now. Treat her accordingly."

The others bent their heads out of clear deference. One of the males approached and purred in greeting.

"This one is Second-Far-Flier. First is away. We are glad to welcome you, Skadi."

"I am glad to be with all of you," she answered.

Speck faced Second-Far-Flier, "Let Skadi walk among you and learn how we live. She is curious about us."

"We will."

Speck approached her and whispered, "You will be fine here. Keep your eyes open for anything."

"What?"

"Let me know if you see anyone breaking pack-rules."

Pack-rules like not having or wanting life-mates or true caring, saying wrong-words, or… thinking for themselves.

Antagonizing Speck or Alpha would not help her cause. But if she saw any breaking of pack-rules, there was no reason to tell. She could pretend she did not see anything.

"I know what to do."

Speck purred and flew off, leaving her alone with the Far-Fliers and Far-Flier-Helpers.

She trotted to Second-Far-Flier, "Will you introduce me to everyone?"

"Yes."

He led her through the cave and along the ledges to greet all the male Far-Fliers and female Far-Flier-Helpers. He indicated each of them by number. The males all bent their heads very low to her as she passed.

While meeting them, she closely felt their life-fires and observed their reactions, curious what she could learn about their lives were truly like.

Far more important was what she felt in some of their livers and life-fires. Three of the males were resting with or bonding with a female, but there was more in their livers than just wanting or needing. There was care, warmth, and dedication.

She looked away as the truth became clear. Those males and females had to be secret pairs.

It was very unlikely those were the only secret pairs in the pack.

"Second, I have questions."

She gestured for him to follow her out of the cave and onto the ledge that overlooked the depths below and the heights above in the massive chamber.

"What are your questions?" he asked.

"Where do you Far-Fliers and your Helpers live? Do you both share caves?"

"We do. None of us claim any territory for our own in the caves, since all belongs to the pack," he explained, gesturing with his tail toward the nearest ledges.

She chuckled, "Does that not make problems?"

"How would it?"

"Having males and females so close together could make problems understanding each other or living in peace."

He yawned, "Only if we allowed wrong-thinking. We follow all pack-rules."

"How do you make sure everyone follows pack-rules?" she asked.

"We watch each other all the time. We are all responsible to each other, for the good of the pack! We make sure to discipline our own whenever one of us breaks the words-rules."

There was no hesitation in his answer, but his life-fire hid deception. There was something important he was not saying.

"You all must fly much for the pack, and that means you miss each other, especially your Helpers. Am I right?" she asked.

A single female flashed in his thoughts. He had someone he wanted and cared for too. Just how many of the packmates were secretly not obeying the pack-rules? How many of them cared for others as he did?

He shrugged, "We do what we must for the pack, but being back here with our Helpers is warming in its own way."

"I am sure it is. Different question. What does everyone in your pack think about the beyond? You Far-Fliers get to see it, but what about your Helpers?"

He huffed, "They do not fly beyond, and they are not curious about the beyond either. We are sure to tell them how dangerous and wrong the beyond is. They know they should not think about the beyond, since their place is here with the pack."

She could feel the deception, though there were no outward signs. Almost everything he said felt wrong and twisted, and revealed to her that he did not believe everything he said.

First-Fighter showed her to the caves where the Fighters and Fighter-Helpers lived. First, he showed her to the caves with the males. The Fighters there were strong and not very kind, though none of them growled at her. A couple of the Fighters were even practicing their fighting.

The separate caves with the females were across the massive ravine. The pawful of females present in those caves were more timid and solitary. None of them cared for conversation, and their life-fires felt weaker. They appeared to be alternatively younger and older than the females up among the Far-Fliers. Further, the caves the females lived in were darker, narrower, and not as pleasant. It was clear that they were not cared for as much as the others were.

Together, she and First-Fighter flew back to the ledge outside the males' side of the ravine. Perhaps most ominous about this area of the range was how these caves were the closest to the unknown darkness in the deeper and darker. The waterfalls high above crashed into the slope and formed a rushing river that flowed down into the unknown. A pawful of Fighters stood by the edge of the river down below while on guard against whatever was beyond. The proximity to the rushing water helped to drown out the other noise from above.

"Why are there more females than there are males?" she asked First-Fighter.

"As Helpers for the Fighters in this pack-role?" he grumbled, likely confused.

"No, in the whole pack. There is not balance."

He shrugged and stretched, "We have a custom that strong males should be Fighters, since they are best to help protect the pack. To prove themselves, Fighters must at times fly in the darker and deeper to help protect the pack and explore for new territory. Very liver-flamed males want to fight too much and can be killed by the Cleansers."

He was being honest, but she could feel a little deception in his answers. There was more than what he said.

"What are the Cleansers like?"

"They are very dark in color, have bone-spikes on their heads, and want to kill anything they find. Sometimes they kill Fighters who wandered or took on too dangerous a fight."

She hummed, "Your sire trusts me. Is there another reason why males are fewer?"

"Are those Cleansers really so dangerous? Do they ever try to attack your pack's territory?"

He huffed, "We sometimes see them in the darkness just outside our territory. We must keep attacking them to force them to stay away from us whenever they come too close."

"How long have they been threatening the pack?"

"As long as anyone can remember. We might have settled here many lifetimes ago so we could block that path out of the deeper and darker ranges."

She listened in as First-Knower, Sway, and several females, probably the dams, were occupying a group of four fledglings who were maybe two life-making cycles of age. The fledglings were sitting before the adult light wings and listening to a lesson about various pack-roles. It was a very boring lesson, but it was good to see that the pack considered and provided for the teaching of the young.

There was only one twisted part of this teaching. There were no sires here, but they probably had work and other duties at the moment.

One of the female fledglings raised the tip of her tail, "This one has a question!"

"Ask the question," First-Knower hummed.

"What are the star-flowers for? What are they good for?" the fledgling asked.

"The star-flowers are good for kin who have problems seeing well. Eating star-flowers helps their eyes be strong and good again."

One of the male fledglings raised the tip of his tail, "I have a question!"

Silence followed. The other fledglings hopped away from him. First-Knower and three of the dams faced the other dam who then slowly walked to the fledgling. Everyone stared at him.

"That is a wrong-word. Not pack-correct," the dam said.

"What is? I do not under-"

The dam swung a forearm and struck the fledgling across the muzzle. He whined, hopped back, and hung his head.

She got to her paws and barely stopped herself from dashing forward in outrage. Striking the young was very bad unless the young was trying to hurt someone. The fledgling was only asking a question.

Her suspicions came back again. Controlling what words were allowed was the same as controlling thinking itself. Teaching the young to be loyal to the pack and to put the needs of the pack before their own needs was good and had lift.

This felt different.

First-Knower stepped forward, "Young ones. Wrong-words are wrong for a reason. None of us are above the pack, and we must all obey the pack-rules. You fledglings must learn what the greatest danger is to the pack. What is it, my packmates?"

The three fledglings standing apart from the reprimanded one were silent and refusing to look at him, as though ignoring him.

"Thinking about yourself. Do not think about your own interests. The pack is all. There is nothing but the pack. Best is for all of us to be selfless. Remember that, young ones."

"We will!" "This one understands!" "Got it."

First-Knower faced the disobedient male, "What about you, packmate? Do you understand?"

He sniffled, still staring at his paws, "This one... understands."

"Good! Now where were we in the story?"

First-Knower began speaking again, telling the four fledglings a story. Sway got to her paws and dashed away from her packmates to her.

Sway purred to her, "This is boring. Want to go somewhere else?"

She followed Sway a short distance away after a final glance at First-Knower and everyone else gathered with her, "Sure. Where to?"

Sway hummed in thought, "I always like resting at the hot waters. Or we could eat a twisted-seeing mushroom."

"What are those mushrooms?" she asked, wondering if she already knew about these.

"They are blue mushrooms that twist your thinking and can make you see... differently."

She groaned, "I have had those before. They are not so good for me."

"No? Why not?"

"Probably because I am a mixed-kin," she shrugged, making up an excuse on the fly.

"Oh well, then we should go to the hot waters."

She followed Sway through the range and over forests, ledges, and waterfalls for the distant range that had the warm mist and hot waters.

The twistedness of Sway not following the very pack-rules the fledglings were forcefully taught was concerning. Though, Sway only used the not-allowed word when no one else was around to hear. Sway certainly would not speak like that in public or to the rest of the pack.

Was appearance more important than the truth?

She already knew there were several secret pairs among the Far-Fliers and their Helpers. It was wrong and twisted that those secret pairs were not allowed openly. Was it truly necessary to prohibit life-mate pairs, just to make the pack most important in all the packmates' lives? There had to be a hidden reason why that was prohibited.

The more she learned about this pack, the less warmth she felt for it. Rally this pack, encourage it to act for the good of all, and then, after the threat of two-legs was no more, she could nudge this pack toward having better customs. That had worked with Ice-Water-Pack, after all.

She arrived in the water-range where the Hunters regularly flew to catch fish. The large range split in several directions, all of which contained a large lake with many light-rocks and spires. She asked the first light wings she met where First-Hunter was, and she settled down to wait for him to arrive.

Meanwhile, she observed everything she could see about the Hunters and their Helpers. It was not difficult to see one important difference she approved of. Both the males and females were working together, swimming on their hunts for fish. Groups of two or four would swim out together or depart down the paths for another place to hunt. Returning light wings would land on a rocky part of the shore where they would place their catches of fish or anything else good to eat. Packmates staying out of the water would take the catches elsewhere in the pack's ranges.

Gently touching their life-fires was as revealing as she expected to find. The male and females that went together were probably secret pairs too.

However, all the Hunters and Hunter-Helpers who saw her were suspicious, staring warily at her from a distance.

A light wing landed beside her and introduced himself, "Second-Hunter welcomes Skadi."

"Welcome to you too. Will First-Hunter be here soon?"

"He is busy and cannot be here. Second-Hunter will speak for him," he said.

"Very well. I am ready to help hunt for the pack. I am a mixed-kin, as you can see, and that lets me swim much better than any of you. I can swim the deep waters you probably do not swim in."

He started in wary surprise and went about explaining the various rules of how fish-catching happened and where she was to go. None of it was surprising, and there was similarity with how Ice-Water-Pack had Fish-Hunters in its pack-role.

"Lastly, you are not to swim the middle path," he said.

"Why not that path?" she asked, looking at what she could see of that distant path.

He looked away and shrugged, "That path and the waters beyond do not have as much fish to catch, and it is easy to get lost underwater in twists and turns. The danger is too much for a new kin who does not know the waters well. You are to help with the other paths."

More deception and lying. She had already seen a pawful of males and females emerge from the waters toward that middle path.

Why was he being false? Maybe he was, for some twisted reason, trying to hide where the Hunters and their Helpers caught the most fish. Regardless, it did not matter much. If he wanted her to hunt in another part of the water-range, that was fine with her.

Alpha arrived at her cave to wake her up, "Warm waking-cycle, Skadi."

"Warm waking-cycle, Alpha," she purred in welcome.

"If you are not too busy, there is something you could do for me," he said.

"What is it?"

He huffed, "I would like for you to fly to the Fighters and speak with all of them, First to last. Ask them for their numbers and talk to them. I suspect that one of them is planning to kill me."

She started in surprise and confusion. His getting killed would be a major disturbance for the pack, but it would hurt her ability to get this pack to act as it should. Why was he asking for her to help?

"So you want me to see if I can find the disloyal one?"

"More or less that, yes. Think of it as a test of… them."

"Fine. I will find the one who is plotting against you."

He purred, "And I will take care of it from there."

One at a time, she met with the Fighters and asked them simple questions. Their number, what kinds of kin they had fought, how they got their hurt-marks, those kinds of questions. With all the Fighters, she gently brushed life-fires with them so she could feel their general intentions and any strong thoughts.

As she expected, the Fighters were rougher in their life-fires than were the Hunters or Far-Fliers. The Fighters thought very much about fighting, spilling life-water, rising in their pack-order, and pleasing themselves to relieve stress or feel better about themselves. Touching their life-fires left her feeling dirty, needing a wash before too long.

Why were the Fighters much brasher and different from the other males? Maybe their lives having more danger in them forced them to want more comfort and satisfaction as a way of enduring.

A couple of the Fighters were unsure about Alpha. She could not feel any actual plan to act against him though.

Lastly, she went to speak with First-Fighter. Just quickly check with First and then go back to report to Alpha that she had not found anyone planning against him.

Free to speak on their own away from anyone else, First-Fighter asked her questions about the ranges far beyond and the various aggressive kin-kinds she had seen.

But there was deception in his life-fire. He was hiding something.

Gently touching life-fires enough that thoughts and plans took shape and-

'Lead him outside and kill him. I will be Alpha! My pack! Mine!'

"Skadi, are you well?" he pleasantly rumbled.

"Yes, very... sorry, my thinking was flying wildly."

They resumed talking about the ranges beyond until she found an excuse to leave.

Alpha's own young was planning to kill him! How rotted was that?

Back in her cave-den, she explained the terrible news to Alpha. He sat calmly, not reacting at all as she explained that one of his own young was planning to replace him. She thought he would bare his teeth or growl in anger, or something!

She finished explaining what she felt. He laughed and rumbled in amusement.

"What is funny? Your own young one is planning to kill you!"

"No, he is not. I told him to be thinking about killing me when you met him."

"What? Why?" she barked.

He purred, "This was a test. I wanted to see how well your life-will-powers let you understand. Now I know that you can find when others are being false and planning against us."

He tricked her? Very clever of him. Having a new kin with unknown life-will-powers could be unsettling to an Alpha, so he would want to learn more about what she could do.

She turned a shoulder to him with a loud huff, as if she was very unhappy, "Well, now I see how little you trust me!"

He chuckled and stepped closer while purring, clearly seeing through her pretend-cold, "Guilty. I can make it up to you, if you want."

She rolled her eyes at how quickly he tried to turn this to something he surely wanted. She trotted out the cave-den to the ledge that overlooked much of the range and had a bright light-rock nearby.

"You can make it up to me by telling me what you think. You have had more time to think about what I said about the two-legs. What do you think about them now?" she asked.

He grumbled, "They have been in the beyond ranges for several life-making cycles. They have not done us any great bad in all that time. All we have seen from them is a pawful of two-legs flew with dark wings somewhere else. They returned many, many waking-cycles after. Nothing else has happened."

She growled, recognizing what he meant. Those two-legs that were using the dark wings had indeed flown from the fouled-range all the way to New-Strength-Pack, probably to find more ranges to foul and fill!

"Maybe they have not done you bad yet, but they will! They are already trying to spread in the ranges. I saw them far, far away in a pack near the one I grew up in."

"What were they doing there?" he asked.

"You should already know that. They were trying to find new ranges to fill, take, and foul."

He hummed in thought until he shrugged, "One of the dark wing Alphas said something about trying to find more ranges they might live in, probably with their two-legs."

There was the proof she was looking for!

"See! They even admit they are looking to take more ranges!"

He glanced at her, "I still do not know if my pack needs to act. Suppose that we did. What is the goal? What do you want done?"

She glanced over his shoulder at her faint shadow showing on the wall of the cave. Did her shadow tilt its head and glare at her? Was Nameless watching her? Nameless had left her alone for many waking-cycles.

Burn their range, their dens, and their traps! Kill the two-legs: males, females, and young! They all share guilt! All the kin who died and suffered before demanded justice! They demanded-

"Skadi?" he warbled.

"Sorry. What should happen with them? Best would be if the two-legs go away and entirely leave the kin-ranges under the ground. Make them go back to the hidden world above, and let them keep that world. Two-legs and kin should be apart and separate always."

"What about after they are gone? What would you do then?"

She had not thought that far ahead, since it was more important to achieve the first goal. But now that she thought about it, these underground ranges would always need protecting against the two-legs even after being cleansed of them.

"I would help to keep the kin-ranges safe from two-legs forever, however I must."

"What about for yourself?"

What else was there other than duty?

"Duty is more important than anything I could want. As an Alpha, you should know that."

He hummed, "Still, it does not hurt to think about what you might do when the time is right. As I said before, I can see you having a special place in my pack, if you want."

He hopped from the ledge and flew off, leaving her alone to get some rest.

Suspicious, she glanced at her shadow on the wall. The shadow was completely normal, not doing anything it should not. Or was it pretending?

"Are you there?" she hissed.

The shadow did not answer. Nameless was not present. Or Nameless was not revealing itself if it was present.

On a break after helping catch fish, she sat on the shore of the water-range and watched for a while as the Hunters and their Helpers were busy at work. They flew out down one of the various paths and returned later with fish to be carried to rest of the pack, usually by one of the Hunter-Helpers. Half of the males were outside the pack's territory to hunt ground-prey at the moment.

She had to hide the growl of anger that this pack did not allow the Hunter-Helpers, the females, to fly beyond the pack's territory. True, Ice-Water-Pack had lacked a group like the She-Far-Fliers, but there was no rule specifically preventing females from doing that on their own. Not wanting to do something and not being allowed to try something were completely different.

Beyond any doubt, there was rot throughout in this pack.

On the other paw, meeting with the present Hunters and Hunter-Helpers was more liver-warming, especially when she found what were likely secret pairs. She had not spoken to any of them or even suggested she knew anything at all, since they would surely deny it and be afraid.

All the Hunters and Hunter-Helpers kept glancing at her out of suspicion. That was understandable as they might think she was here to observe them on Alpha's behalf. Maybe that was why they kept working without stopping: to make a good impression if she was truly her on Alpha's behalf.

The other curious detail was how everyone who flew down or swam in the left or right paw paths returned with fish rather quickly, but those who flew down the middle, narrower path took much longer and did not always return with fish. Some of them did not return at all. Further, the same males and females always took the same path.

She got to her paws and stopped one of the returning females whose number she did not remember, "Hunter-Helper, I have a question for you."

The female sat down before her and purred encouragingly, "This one will answer if she can."

"Is there something special about the middle path?"

She remembered what First-Hunter had said about the middle path being more dangerous and not as good for hunting, but hearing it from one of the Helpers might explain it further.

The female froze and looked away, "Special? No. Only the best in the pack-role are allowed to swim that path. It is too dangerous for others or for you."

Deception and fear.

Why would the female be afraid of her going down that middle path? Surely not out of true concern for her. No, something was being hidden.

"You have my thanks for the warning. I understand."

She trotted away from the female and sat down by the edge of the water. Unlike the endless waters above, the waves here were very slow and small, though the deeper waters did flow to somewhere.

Curiosity was powerful. What could they be hiding? There was one way to find out.

She flew down the left-paw path she had been instructed to go down, and took very deep breaths while flying. Then she dove into the water, swam down to near the bottom among the reeds and water-plants, and turned back for the main chamber and the middle-path. There was no way to know how long she needed to be underwater, but it could not be as long as her swim up the water-path to get to the above had been.

Staying deep near the bottom, among the reeds and swaying water-grass would help hide her from any light wings up above. A turn and long swim along a rocky path which narrowed, twisted, and turned. A pair of light wings swam high over her, so she stayed still while they passed.

Continuing on in the darker pass, she swam until the path finally widened into a new water-range. This range had clear and deeper waters with plenty of fish, light-rocks, water-trees, and other water-plants. There were a couple light wings chasing after big fish in the distance.

Slowly and cautiously, she swam up to the surface in what looked like a dark corner. She climbed out of the water, shook herself dry, and flamed herself to fade. Then she carefully crept along the ground while watching for anything worth seeing. The ground was like another range entirely, with mushroom-trees, other plants, and scurrying creatures.

But what most bit at her interest was a cave-mouth with light flying through it. The cave-mouth was big, and a female light wing was standing outside at attention, as if guarding.

Why would Hunters need to guard this cave-mouth? Maybe this was a range they used to grow prey-animals.

Curious, she waited until the female walked away to speak with someone returning from the water. In that brief time and while faded, she dashed through the cave-mouth.

In shock and surprise, she walked into another range much like the other ones the rest of the pack lived in, though this one was smaller. The range had many different plants, food-mushrooms, vines, trees, small prey, grasses, and light-rocks. Most importantly, right there ahead of her were a pawful of light wing fledglings and even a couple hatchlings. Two pairs of a male and female were overseeing the young. These young were not ones she had seen anywhere in the other of the pack's ranges.

The Hunters and Hunter-Helpers had a secret range where they were raising young of their own, breaking and defying the pack's rules.

She dashed back of the cave-mouth, paused, and listened in on the female and male who were whispering together.

"-what it means either. I am not sure," the male grumbled.

The female grumbled, "She is probably helping the Alpha, so we must be careful."

"We have been so far, but it only takes one mistake and we will all be found..." the male whined, going silent.

"We will not let that happen! No one would let that happen!"

"They did not care last time there was a-"

"But we are more than they were then!"

He sighed and hung his head, "Maybe. I hope it does not come to that."

She softly hummed, "Neither do I. Did you hear that-"

Silently, she crept away from the light wings as they moved on to speaking of other topics. She slipped into the water, dove for the deeps, and turned back for the pack's main ranges where she would be expected.

How were the Hunters and their Hunter-Helpers able to hide what they were doing? Maybe not all of them were breaking the pack-rules. It was as if some of them had made a secret pack within the broader pack. How could that be kept hidden?

If all in the secret group shared a reason to stay quiet, such as if they were secretly in pairs or had young in the hidden range, that would reassure everyone involved that none of them would tell on the others. They had a common reason to stay quiet for the good of their own kin. Further, the pack's strictness in following rules probably ensured that no one not trusted to swim that path would ever find what was hidden there.

Maybe they had to do things they did not truly want to do. She was not sure what customs the pack expected to ensure loyalty. At the very least, they had to hide the existence of this place from everyone who did not have an important reason to want it to stay hidden.

First-Hunter was not one of Alpha's young or his kin at all. He had to know about this secret life many of his packmates in his own pack-role were living, but he was hiding that from the rest of the pack. He was surely helping them, maybe even because he had young of his own in that place.

Maybe First-Hunter ensured that only the Hunters he could trust were allowed to swim down this path.

Back in the path she was supposed to stay in, she swiftly caught a fish and returned to the shore where she would be expected. Nothing was strange on shore when she climbed out and shook herself dry after dropping her fish with the others. The lone light wing there did not spare her any curious or suspicious glances. With that done, she slipped back into the water to go hunt more fish as though nothing had happened.

From what she had learned and guessed of the Far-Fliers and the Hunters and their respective Helpers, the Alpha did not really understand how his packmates were living. Many of them were pretending to be loyal to the pack and its rules when they did not truly believe the ideas the pack imposed on them.

This information about secret pairs and their hidden young in a range most of the pack did not know about could be very useful. She could use it to force these light wings to act, or she would tell Alpha and-

She blinked and shook her head of that rotted thinking. Telling Alpha about these warm pairs and their young could only lead to terrible fates for the light wings just trying to live their lives without hurting anyone. No, this was a secret to keep no matter what.

But it was good to know that many of these light wings were not truly loyal at liver to the Alpha. That could be important in time.

For now though, she could keep learning more about this pack, how the pack-roles interacted, who had what kind of influence, and how to best motivate them to act. It probably was not as simple as convincing the Alpha, since the rest of the pack needed to truly believe in the cause. Getting them to appreciate the danger could be difficult, since most of them lived only within the five ranges that were the pack's territory. How best to explain the danger to them?

Starting with the Far-Fliers, Hunters, and their Helpers might work best. They at least had to regularly leave these ranges for their pack-roles and would understand the danger. Further, they appeared to be the least twisted of everyone in the pack.

Author's Note – Posts might be more intermittent until further notice.