Dialogues
First-Young-Watcher led her to a cool pool which was completely isolated from deep waters. Rather, this pool was filled by water from a waterfall, which made it completely safe for the young.
She was very, very eager for this small testing, not that it was much of a test. First-Young-Watcher had mentioned that the Egg-Watchers approved of how careful and gentle she was around the eggs, so they wanted her to meet the young.
Being warm and playful to the young fledglings would be much more fun than was sitting with eggs! The young fledglings were not like her or her friends in age or size, so it would not be as fun playing with them.
She and First-Young-Watcher arrived at the pool where she saw a couple Dams, other Young-Watchers, Alpha's Second-Mate, and four young fledglings, probably... two life-making cycles of age. The four young were two females and two males. They looked smaller than they probably should be, but food-lacking could make someone grow slower. It was also possible she did not know how fast a pure light wing should grow.
Second-Mate saw her and trotted to her with one of the male fledglings following her tail.
"Skadi, welcome."
She bent her head and purred in respect. Being warm and respectful to one of Alpha's two mates was a very good idea.
"My thanks, Second-Mate... if that is your role-name."
Second-Mate rolled her eyes and huffed, "That is fine. I do not truly care. You are to play with the four young here, yes?"
"I will."
"Good, follow me."
She followed Second-Mate and First-Young-Watcher down to the water in which the four young were splashing and swimming.
She sat down on the edge of the pool to watch the play for a while. A couple of the Young-Watchers were also swimming in the water, keeping the young entertained.
"Bite your tail!" "Get you!" "Stupid male!" "Twisted!"
The young were clearly having plenty of fun with each other. That was very liver-warming to see, especially since she had not known that fun play herself.
She glanced at Second-Mate and wondered if this was a good time to ask... or even if she should ask. What was it like being one of two mates to Alpha? That was a life-way she did not understand or know much about. It would be easy to just not ask, but curiosity was very powerful.
"Second-Mate, may I... ask you a question?"
"You just did."
She snorted, "Another question only for your ears?"
First-Young-Watcher trotted down the pond-shore to leave them alone.
"What is the question?" Second-Mate asked.
She glanced down at her paws, "I wondered why Alpha, your mate, has two mates when others do not. Is that not twisted? I am not words-flaming you or him. I am only curious."
Thankfully, Second-Mate did not growl in anger or look twisted at her. If anything, she looked amused.
"No, it is not twisted. The Alpha male always gets more. That is normal. You do not know this pack's past, but I am glad I am his mate."
She purred in acknowledgment, "And if you do not mind me asking, you do not care about sharing him with First-Mate?"
"No. She was one of my liver-closest friends before she and he became mates before he was a new Alpha. Much had happened in the pack, and he offered to name me his to help me, himself, and my friend. I accepted."
Second-Mate said nothing more, leaving much unsaid. It was not her place to ask more that Second-Mate was not interested in offering on her own. But she could wonder about possible explanations.
Maybe she learned she had a problem with egg-making? That would be very sad if true.
There was no way to know without asking, which she was not going to do. All that was truly important was that this was a little inside-knowing into Alpha and who he was.
She turned her attention back to the young, still splashing in the water.
"Should we play with them?"
Second-Mate snorted, "You go ahead. I will talk more with First-Young-Watcher and then join you all."
She trotted toward the water and splashed into the pool as another pair of Young-Watchers flew in with a pair of flopping fish in their jaws.
What are they doing?
The Young-Watchers dropped the thrashing fish into the water. The four young quickly roared and dove below the water, their tails vanishing in splashes.
Oh, they are learning hunting!
She dove underwater to observe the hunt. It was amusing watching the young light wings hunting the two fleeing fish. The young were slow and clumsy in their hunts, occasionally crashing into each other or snapping at each other by mistake.
One of the females and one of the males each caught a fish. All four of the young then hopped out of the water. But the ones that did not catch a fish whined and pawed at the two who had caught the fish, while the successful two growled in defense of their catches.
First-Young-Watcher barked, stopping the growing fight.
"Young ones, what did you learn earlier?"
"But I caught it!" "It is mine!" "Not fair!" "Give it to me!"
The fishless male lunged and nipped at the other young male, but First-Young-Watcher barked again, glaring at the nipping male.
"No biting your kin!"
"But the fish!"
"Ask for it or some of it. Do not try to take the fish."
"But I do not want-"
The Young-Watcher growled softly until the loud male stopped. The fishless female hopped to the other female.
"Will you... share some fish?"
The female with the fish pinned under her paws did not look like she wanted to share. First-Young-Watcher purred and leaned closer to them.
"Your kin asked you to share. Remember that you caught the fish this time, but she might catch the next fish. Do you want her to share with you when she catches the fish?"
"Yes," the female chirped.
"So should you share with her?"
"I guess so."
The young female bit the fish in two pieces and then nosed one piece, slightly smaller than the other, toward her kin.
First-Young-Watcher purred and faced the other young female, who was glancing between the two pieces of the fish.
"There, she shared with you. Her piece is bigger, and that is fair. She did the work of catching the fish, so she should have more of the fish. Say your thanks that she shared."
"Thanks!"
The young females ate their pieces of fish.
Skadi purred in approval, seeing that this entire meeting was not only play but was also learning about fairness. The young could be very greedy and wanting of food or attention, so they needed to be taught to think about others and not only themselves.
"Skadi! Alpha wishes to speak to you!" First-Fighter said.
She roused herself from rest and followed First-Fighter back to the main roost where many of the pack rested. She had finished a third waking-cycle of helping the pack with fishing, sitting with the eggs, or amusing herself with the young in telling stories or playing.
Is it time for the last test?
It felt like she should be close, but she did not truly know their ceremonies. What even was the last test?
None in the pack had any objections to her that she knew about. Everyone spoke well of her and how much she was willing to work for the pack. But that was only from those who said they had good things to say about her.
She wished that she knew what the last test was going to be. A pack vote? Her having one of the other pack-roles for a time?
Her suspicions were raised when she arrived at the light-rock and saw not only Alpha and Oldest-Knower but also a flight of four Fighters. Why were they there too?
She touched down at the base of the light-rock and bent her head out of respect.
"Alpha, you wish to speak to me."
"Rise, Skadi. The end of your testing is near. There is one more act we want from you," Alpha grumbled.
That sounded very ominous, but Oldest-Knower chuckled for some twisted reason.
"What is it?" Skadi asked.
"You know the Other pack, yes?" he asked.
She remembered how the light wings of that pack had flamed at her and turned her away.
"I do. They call themselves Lone-Tree-Pack."
He groaned and flicked an ear, "Yes, them. Oldest-Knower wants you to try something with them, and I... agree... with the flight."
It did not sound like he agreed or thought the flight, whatever it was, had much lift, but she was willing to try almost anything as part of her testing.
"What is it you want me to do?" she asked Oldest-Knower.
The elder female stepped forward and sat down, clearly weary on her paws.
"I want you to fly with these fighters as protection and go to the Other pack, to Lone-Tree-Pack. Our past with them has been-"
"Twisted and painful," Alpha grumbled, interrupting.
Oldest-Knower rolled her eyes.
"Yes, that. But it was not always bad and fighting only. I remember when our pack would fly to that other pack in more peace. Unpaired in both packs would fly freely to the other to meet unpaired ones. We would share fish and plants we have with them, and they would share mushrooms and ground-prey with us. Both packs helped each other protect our territories. That helping each other stopped, and none from within the packs can make peace be again. You might be able to help with this problem."
She blinked and stepped back in confusion, "Me? Why me? What do I know?"
What Alpha and Oldest-Knower were asking from her was too much! She knew nothing about making peace between packs!
Oldest-Knower purred and gently nudged her shoulder, "It is not what you know. It is because you are kin to the Highest-Alpha, though he is gone now. Their Oldest-Knower, if she still lives, knew of your sire from long ago as I did. You might help make peace between our packs because both Alphas can believe your words."
She thought about it. Maybe it was possible that she could make more peace between the packs. She could try anyway. But there was the problem that she was trying to join this pack, which would make her look very likely to lean to one side of the flight. It was also possible that failing in this mission would mean that she was not allowed into the pack.
So she tried to not worry too much, and instead focused on only one step at a time. What else was there to think about? Alpha and Oldest-Knower wanted her to fly to the other pack, but she would not be flying alone. The Fighters would go with as guards.
"I can try. What about the flight of Fighters going with me? Is them going with me not a threat to the other pack?"
"No, the other pack will also have Fighters. My Fighters going with you are protection for you. This is custom for offer-takers who fly to another pack," Alpha explained.
"So, I fly to the other pack, talk to the Alpha there, and what is the test?"
Oldest-Knower glanced at Alpha and back to her before answering, "I will not say. Here are some suggestions for what you might offer…"
Oldest-Knower mentioned several possibilities which she could bring up in negotiations. None of the suggestions seemed unfair at all.
"Fly this flight, talk to them, try to be fair, return here, and we will know if you have passed the test," Oldest-Knower said.
"I will. Alpha. Oldest-Knower."
She spun around, jumped from the light-rock, and flew off toward the dark passageway she had flown through to find this range. The four Fighters flew with her, following her lead. Having a flight of protectors going with her was a relief. Flying into another pack's territory alone would have been far worse, given her last experience meeting with them.
But there was a faint chill in her liver, as though it was certain that something bad would happen. This was all very sudden, and she had no experience being a peacemaker. Maybe Alpha and Oldest-Knower were the twisted ones for asking her to do this.
The other range where the Lone-Tree-Pack lived was very different. It was closer to the ground-belly-warmth, to the fire that lived deep under all. That made the caves this pack lived in much warmer and a better place for plants to grow. There were also more ground-prey since the caves were warm.
Fighters from the Lone-Tree-Pack were flying with them and leading them deeper into the range to meet with their Alpha. The meeting with Lone-Tree-Pack's Fighters and guards was more peaceful than she thought it would be. This meeting of a representative, herself, with the Alpha of the range was apparently a ceremony that was respected.
She still kept her life-fire wary and feeling for any whisper of twisted-thinking or hurting-warning. She would probably know if anything was going to happen just wingbeats before it happened.
The flight arrived at a large chamber filled with streams, many mushrooms of different colors, teeth of rocks, and other passageways far off in the wall.
There was a single, very large mushroom tree much bigger than the others in the middle of the range, which was probably why the pack had its given name.
The light-making mushroom tree grew up around a pair of light-rocks on which a large male, three females, and a fledgling perched. She glided down and landed on the ground before them. Both flights of Fighters landed, sat down, and settled for glaring and growling at each other without moving.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward from her group of Fighters.
All motion stopped as the Fighters spun to stare at her, and even the Alpha of the range froze in possible alarm. None of the kin moved for many wingbeats. Then the Alpha and his three mates hopped down and warily approached her. This Alpha was almost the same size as her Alpha and had scars on his neck, but she was not afraid. She had plenty of her Fighters to...
Wait, was the Alpha in Ice-Water-Pack her Alpha? Should she answer to an Alpha at all? Why did something feel not good about that? As if that should not be? Those were questions to think about later.
"What is this? What are you?" the Alpha cautiously asked.
"My name is Skadi. I am not yet one of the Ice-Water-Pack, though I wish to join them."
"But what are you?"
"I am half light wing and half whatever my sire was as a kin-kind. He was the Highest-Alpha of all the ranges."
This Alpha looked very surprised by that since his ears went back and he froze in place. While being able to make them react like that and be surprised just by being herself was good for this purpose, since it gave her some power, it was also twisting to only be given respect because of what she was instead of who she was.
But if she had that status anyway, why not use it for good? This was precisely why Alpha and Oldest-Knower thought she might be able to change the not-trusting between the two packs.
"Are you? Why are you here?" Alpha warily continued.
"The Oldest-Knower and the Alpha of Ice-Water-Pack wanted me to come here and speak to you about... making peace between the two packs. They want to end the not-trusting."
Alpha sat down and grumbled while rolling his claws in the dirt, "Does he want that? Why should I believe you?"
"I believe him. He and his Oldest-Knower told me about how they wish there was more food for all in the pack. They also said there are many in his pack who cannot find mates they are not kin to. It would be good for both packs to join more... for reasons."
"That sounds like he wants me out as Alpha and him to take my place!" Alpha growled.
He was very suspicious, but that was probably fair of him. She had no idea what previous offers had included.
"No, the packs will not stop being different packs. This pack will stay the Lone-Tree-Pack, and the other pack will stay the Ice-Water-Pack. All he wants is that the packs will fly more to help each other, however you did before. You have plants for eating and ground-prey you could share, yes?"
"We do. We grow many mushrooms, more than we need. We might have enough to share if we had a good reason. We do not have as many plants to help with pain and other health problems."
She thought about that and remembered Yellow showing her to patches of plants which Ice-Water-Pack grew. Those plants helped with pain and other problems. Her pack had more than enough to share. There were also enough food-mushrooms, but there could be more of different kinds.
"What about fish? How are your hunts of fish in your waters?"
He shrugged, "Well enough, though the catches could always be more."
She purred, "Both packs can help each other by giving the other what each lacks."
He huffed, "I would be willing to forgive, but your Alpha does not want that. He never did in the past."
Being asked to make peace be when she did not even know what made peace not be was very frustrating. Something bad had happened between the packs to break the peace. That was all she knew.
"What happened? Why did the peace die?"
Alpha started pacing, probably wondering what to say.
"It was not something we did-" he eventually grumbled.
Everyone says that...
"Or we did not try to do any bad. It was not our fault that their last Alpha had so much rotted and twisted death-wanting under his thinking!"
Her ears went back and tail froze. This was the first she had heard of whatever this bad was. Ice-Water-Pack once had a bad and rotted Alpha?
"What?" she barked.
"They did not tell you anything about that, did they?" Alpha snorted.
"No. What happened?"
Alpha roared, and a female light wing flew over to them a few wingbeats later. She was an older one, not as old as Oldest-Knower, but still probably past egg-making.
"This is Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer. She can explain later. You say that your Alpha wants peace? What flights are he or his pack willing to fly? What is his offer?" Alpha asked.
She stared into the distance, initially uncertain what to say before she recalled Oldest-Knower's suggestions for what to offer and how to make the offers.
"I would need to make the same offer to Ice-Water-Pack. Ice-Water-Pack will bring fish and plants that your pack does not have. Your pack can bring ground-prey and the mushroom-plants that Ice-Water-Pack lacks. You and the other Alpha can decide on the balance and types of food and prey to bring in trade. Males and females without mates but with wanting will be allowed to fly to the other pack to find a mate... or whatever they want as long as there is no forcing or threatening."
He snorted and grumbled to himself while pacing.
"What if one Alpha tries to take too many from a pack by sending all their unpaired at once and bringing back new mates to their pack?" he growled.
It was a fair concern, though it was very suspicious of him.
"That problem is easy to ground. Either the one going to claim a mate must stay in the other pack, or, if the first takes their new mate back to their range, the pack that lost one packmate must send an unpaired to the other pack and do the same with them. Both flights would keep a balance in numbers. The Alphas would keep the pack-number-balance because you do not want more fighting and not-trust. You and my Alpha could choose one of those ways to be fair."
She purred and sat down, finished with giving the offer.
Alpha glanced at his mates and started pacing again, "What about balance of food-giving? How can that trade be kept fair? One side will always try to break trust and cheat."
"You and the other Alpha could name one packmate each from your packs to keep that balance. You could both name someone you trust to count what is given in trade. Both would make sure the other pack was being fair and not breaking the giving-agreement."
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer purred as she stepped forward. Her pale pink eyes looked a mix of sleepy but also wise and knowing.
"Alpha," she said, "this one is different from the last speaker. She offered almost what you suggested last time."
"Maybe. Is he true about this? I would want the not-trust to end, but he was very rock-headed last time!" Alpha growled.
"Can you blame him for that?" Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer hummed.
"Yes. He blames us for what happened!" Alpha huffed.
"What happened? I do not know," Skadi asked again.
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer and Alpha shared a glance before the female stepped over to her and nudged her shoulder, "I want to speak to you on our own. You can bring guards if you want."
"I will wait for your return, and think about the offer while you are gone," Alpha grumbled.
She respectfully bent her head and then followed after the older light wing after telling the Ice-Water-Pack Fighters what she was doing. Two of the Fighters said they would follow at a distance to keep her safe while not interfering. Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer then led her down a slope toward a small stream. The path they walked was covered in smaller mushrooms and plants, many of which were growing in lines and rows. Most of the mushrooms were the big and brown ones which were good for eating.
Then she understood what was happening. They were making food be instead of only hunting for it, which was very smart. This pack appeared to do a better job of growing mushrooms than her own pack did.
On the way, she glanced around and saw more of the inside of this range. There were many other patches of mushrooms that looked like they were growing in a line or made to grow that way. There were also many ground-prey or not-prey animals eating the small plants and green things on the other side of the range.
"You are a special kin. What is your pack-role?" Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer asked.
"I have none yet. My name is Skadi. It does not mean a pack-role."
"Skadi. You have no pack-role because you are not truly one of Ice-Water-Pack yet, true?"
"True. I am trying to join them because I want to be in a pack. I almost flew to this one, but the light wings who saw me flamed at me!"
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer grunted, "I am not surprised. Did you meet Far-Fliers and Fighters?"
"It does not matter. They were rotted to me. I did nothing wrong or twisted to them either!"
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer shrugged, "They must have thought you were a threat, maybe because you look different."
"I wish others would not judge me from how I look."
"But you are different from light wings. You must feel more and can do more than we can," Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer hummed.
How did this light wing know that about her... other than from appearance only? She was an old one who probably knew much and had seen much in life. This was probably Lone-Tree-Pack's Oldest-Knower, in a way.
But she also did not want to talk freely about her powers unless she needed to.
"True, I am different. How did you know that about me?"
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer purred, as if pleased with herself, "I could feel those powers clinging to you. I learned some from another who had some of those powers."
She gasped and leaned closer to the light wing out of curiosity. This must be important.
"What was it? Was it like me? Was it my sire?"
"No, it is another kin... very different from you or light wings. It is a kin-hunting kin."
"What? A kin-hunting kin?" she exclaimed in surprise.
"But its life-fire is different. It does not hunt kin."
This sounded very strange and difficult to believe. Hunters were enemies of whatever they preyed on. There were some kin that would prey on other kin. But apparently there was one that did not do as its body or in-hatched wants told it to.
"That is hard to believe. A not-hunter?"
Twistingly, the light wing chuckled softly at those words, "It is easy to not believe that which one has not seen. How can anyone truly know what someone else is thinking? How can you know about me? What is in my liver?"
It was a very twisting question which she had no answer to. Well, she could always touch life-fire directly, though that did not help much with great-thinking life like fellow light wings. Doing so helped her feel and know intentions that the light wing was aware of but not ones that were... hidden, whatever that meant. Anything her kin felt strongly was more clear though.
"You seem nice and warm to me."
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer lay down and relaxed with her paws around a patch of small blue mushrooms. The old light wing yawned widely.
"How do you know that I am not going to jump at you right now and attack you?"
"You would not do that," she barked and stepped back in alarm, ready to fight.
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer rolled her eyes and calmly shuffled in place, extending a single claw to dig at the dirt.
"Maybe I want to, but I do not act on that want only because I know that I would be seen and punished by others. But if I could get away with it, I would do it. Maybe I truly could not or would not do such a terrible thing. You cannot know. How can you know about yourself?"
"What? I do not understand."
"Do you think you are normal?"
Normal? No... but I want to be.
She grumbled, "I want a warm life-flight and a pack that... wants me. That is normal. But I am different. Sometimes I wish I was not different."
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer chuffed and stared down between her paws.
"You have never had one of these, have you?" she asked, brushing the blue mushrooms with a paw.
"No, is it good eating?"
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer barked and laughed, "No! You will lose everything from your belly wherever you rest after you eat it."
That made the mushroom look dangerous, if not something that could kill.
"Why would any kin eat it?"
"Because this mushroom lets you meet and speak with your true life-fire."
She blinked in confusion at that very strange idea, "What?"
"It lets you talk to the kin who is hiding underneath possibility and custom and words and the calm surface of thoughts. You see the kin that you fully are and can be... but do not want to see. What eating the mushroom does is different for each who eats one. Some kin are healed of thought-problems after eating this. Others are not. Danger and opportunity. This mushroom is life itself by letting you know yourself."
She stared at the small, blue mushroom while trying to understand what Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer meant by those twisted words.
"I do not understand this. I know who I am."
"Do you? I am much older than you, I have given much of my life to thinking about these questions, and I do not know who I am."
"Why does this matter? Were you not going to tell me what happened between the packs?" she asked.
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer shrugged, "It does matter. Some kin never realize their full potential and never act on their wants. Maybe that is good for them to not act. I am not sure."
That was not very helpful at satisfying her curiosity.
She purred, "With respect, you still did not answer my question."
"Yes, I did, though you do not see it."
Grr... maybe my Alpha and Oldest-Knower will give me an answer.
"We should return to Alpha. He has had enough time to think. I will take you," Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer said.
That reminded her of the real reason she came here. They both got to their paws and started walking back to Alpha.
"Will your Alpha want the peace?" she huffed.
"Yes, he will. Males can be very stubborn, but he wants what is best for our pack. Peace with Ice-Water-Pack would help both of us. You have not seen all of our pack, but we have a pawful of males who want mates but cannot find any good ones."
"That is good. Ice-Water-Pack has more females who have no one."
She followed while observing what she could see of the range and the pack. Far more light wings had appeared to see what was happening with her arrival and her guards Alpha sent with her.
Another difference she could see between the two packs was that this pack was smaller in number than Ice-Water-Pack. There was nothing that seemed very bad about the range, nothing that could cause death. Maybe their territory was not as big.
"Where are the rest of the pack? You should be more in number," she asked.
Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer hung her head with a weary sigh.
"This pack fought a battle against hunter-kin after the pack-peace ended. We killed many of the stinging-tail hunter-kin and burned one of their nests, but many of us also died. We have been slow to grow in number since then. Mushrooms are good to eat, but they are not enough to live on without fish or meat. There are also some plants that help with hurts and sickness, but we do not have many of those plants in this range."
"The peace can help with that. Ice-Water-Pack has many of those plants in our warm range."
"I hope it does. I want this peace to be. Many of us do."
The tallest mushroom and the two light-rocks underneath it were directly ahead. Fighters from both packs were sitting across from each other, calmly but warily keeping watch. Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer then stepped before her and gazed deeply into her eyes. The old light wing's faded red eyes were tired but still appeared to have strength in them.
"I do not know you well. But at least one of the Alphas who is being a rock-head has been carrying the weight of the past with him. You might be able to help with that."
Without saying anything else, Life-Fire-Speaker-Gatherer loped away toward Alpha and his mates.
She wondered about those warning-words while she watched the elder light wing depart. Then she continued on to where Alpha was speaking with his three mates and their elder light wing.
She walked before him, flanked by her Fighters as they joined her, and sat down.
Alpha huffed and then calmly approached her, "Skadi, I want the pack-peace to be, but I need something from you first."
"What do you need?" she warily asked.
"You are of the last High-Alpha's life-water. You are special. Tell me in your sire's name... do you truly think that the other Alpha wants peace?"
"I do! He was complaining about problems which pack-peace would help with. He did not know I was listening."
He snorted, "Fine. Our packs were close once, and we should be again, if your Alpha wants it. He must fly here himself and talk to me. That is my answer."
Yes! This worked!
"I will, Alpha."
She spun around and flew, her Fighters following after her as she left the other pack's range. They returned to the cooler skies that were filled with water and ice.
Most of the Fighters were muttering to each other about how the Others were not as foul and rotted as they thought they would be. She agreed with them.
That was very twisted. Our Alpha made it sound that like that pack was very dangerous. Maybe his thought was rotted toward them.
She growled to herself, annoyed by how she still did not know what had happened between the packs.
Somehow, she was sure that the peace would be between the packs very soon. Both Alphas appeared to want greater peace and trusting, if they were both able to stop being rock-headed. Maybe they just needed to pull their heads out of their waste ends!
She had almost certainly passed whatever the last test was.
Now that she thought about it, she was a very good peacemaker! She was good at this. That was a liver-warming thought!
"And that is his offer?" Oldest-Knower purred.
"Yes, he said that this was the offer given before," she answered.
"Because it is. What does our Alpha say to the offer this time?" Oldest-Knower asked.
Alpha grumbled and looked away, staring into the distance from atop Oldest-Knower's ledge where he, she, Oldest-Knower, and Alpha's two mates were settled. Several Far-Fliers and Fighters perched on rocks or ledges to watch, but none of those light wings were in hearing.
"Will you let go of your rock-head problems for the good of the pack? Show that you are stronger than them?" Oldest-Knower added.
"How can I believe him?" Alpha grumbled.
Oldest-Knower huffed and shoved his shoulder with a paw, "How can we believe Skadi? Both packs remember her sire. Both know she would not lie or be false and foul his name."
Alpha's First-Mate and Second-Mate hopped up to him and rubbed his neck.
"Peace with Lone-Tree-Pack would be good for all. We would be safer," First-Mate hummed.
"You should do it for the pack. Think about our little one," Second-Mate added in agreement.
Both of his mates then departed, gliding away to leave him, herself, and Oldest-Knower alone. He watched them as they flew off, and he appeared to be struggling with himself, his tail tapping on the ground in annoyance.
Do what is best for the pack!
Alpha then heavily sighed and stared at his paws, as if he was defeated, "I... can accept the offer this time. We will have pack-peace."
"Good. You should fly to Lone-Tree-Pack, and tell them yourself that you accept the offer," Oldest-Knower huffed.
"Yes, I should... I will do that now."
Alpha turned to Skadi and, despite his frustration, purred to her, "You are welcome now with us as a true packmate. You are different from us, so I will not tell you to take any pack-role. You can do whatever you want as you see need: hunting fish, sitting eggs, watching the young, flying far, anything except our two roles of Oldest-Knower and Alpha."
She was not going to question what the final test had been. It did not matter. Instead, she bent her head toward him with a deep purr and a flaring liver. She had finally found a pack of her own!
"You have my liver-thanks, Alpha."
He leaned off the ledge, called to several others in the pack, was joined by a small flight, and turned his flight for the far passageway that led to the other pack. She watched him go until they vanished from sight.
Oldest-Knower looked very pleased and relieved, "That tail-twisted cold-fighting and not-trusting had been for far too long. You did a very good thing by helping to end it."
She shrugged, more than a little amused, "I did not do much. I only talked to the other Alpha and tried to make a fair offer."
Oldest-Knower snorted and chuckled, "Sometimes talking to the other is all that is needed! Alpha was too rock-headed to allow that. You did not have his... special problem and reason for not trusting them. Further, you are also special on your own. You being different helped the other Alpha trust you and our Alpha's true wants, even if he did not speak them first. The cold had been... warming, but you made it happen much faster."
Oldest-Knower's praise warmed her liver very much! Making peace be between two different packs was a good thing indeed. But she was still curious and had to know the truth about what had happened.
"What happened to the packs? Why did they break and stop trusting? I still do not know."
Oldest-Knower stared at her for a long time, probably thinking about what to say. She barely whispered after she decided to speak.
"Do you know the back of the sleeping-cave: how that cave has two paths?"
So maybe she could get two mysteries answered at once. This was very good, though why that path was relevant was very twisted.
"Yes, I wonder where they go."
"I will not lead you down those paths because some things that are buried in the past should stay there. Both paths lead to one chamber: a small place where there are bones. Many bones from those of our pack."
What!
She stepped back, warily staring at Oldest-Knower and fearful that there was a trap or a very twisted ceremony of some kind. The old light wing did not appear to notice, and instead she continued speaking softly. Her gaze was far off into the distance, probably of space and time.
"The Alpha before this one was a strong, fierce Alpha who would force-mate females, force males into obedience, and had strong control of the pack. None could question him. They would watch as he... did what he wanted. He was... strong when the pack needed strength, but he did not stop being strong and dangerous after that was not needed."
She paused before continuing.
"Once, he flew to Lone-Tree-Pack as was the normal pack-peace custom to eat a shared meal with the other Alpha. There, something happened that changed him or maybe freed what was always there hiding underneath his thinking. He... must have eaten a thought-twisting plant."
"What happened?" she asked, fearing the answer would be bad.
"He flew back here and became angry very fast. He lost all control and started killing males, females, fledglings... anyone who stood before him, as if everyone was his enemy. Four packmates died to him."
She could not speak over the horror and the liver-chill as Oldest-Knower continued.
"All were confused and afraid. Even his fighters did not know what was happening. Our Alpha acted and killed him, took his place, and blamed the other pack for letting the dead Alpha eat that thought-twisting plant. The pack-peace ended with fighting as we drove them out of our range, and they drove us out of theirs."
"That is very bad and wrong. The entire pack did nothing wrong! Why did Alpha... have the other pack attacked or forced away?" she whined.
Oldest-Knower paused and faced her again before continuing, "Because he blamed them for what happened. We took our dead who died because of the rotted Alpha, and put them deep in the cave to let them be at peace. The pack also has a ceremony we do once each of us claims a new mate but before there are eggs. I and Alpha take the new mates into that deep cave to see the bones. Showing them that helps them know the danger of letting anything twist or rot our life-fires."
So that was it. Not some ongoing trap or hidden malice, but rather just an echo of the past. A terrible one, yes, but something that was gone and dead and could not hurt anyone now.
Unless...
"How do you know that Alpha would not do that and go thought-rotted?" she warily asked.
Oldest-Knower chuffed in amusement, "Because he has tried the same plant from our warmer chamber as the dead Alpha probably had from the other pack's range, but our Alpha had Fighters stay around him to stop him if his thought did get rotted. Do you know what happened to him?"
"What?"
"After emptying his belly and wandering around without knowing who he was, he fell on his back, heard the sound of color, spoke with his dead sire who was also a light-rock, cried a mourning-joy song at a tiny-wing flower-drinker, and then he flew back to his two mates to make their livers and bellies warm."
She chuckled in amusement at that thought-picture while Oldest-Knower rolled her eyes.
"His words, not mine. I was not there to see... any of that. He has his own problems, but he is not rotted inside his life-fire. You will keep this story between us, yes?"
What Oldest-Knower explained was a very liver-close story, so keeping it quiet and secret was fair.
"Yes, I understand."
Oldest-Knower purred and relaxed, "Good. We are very warmed that you are part of our pack now. We very much want you here."
They wanted her here. Nothing could be more liver-warming than that good news. She was wanted!
Further, it had been easy to help make peace between Ice-Water-Pack and Lone-Tree-Pack. She must be very good at helping others come to understanding and put bad pasts behind them! Being a peacemaker was fun and good because of how it made everyone better off.
She rested in the back of the sleeping-cave for her first sleep-cycle among the pack as a true packmate. Not much had changed yet, but there were warmer looks being given to her by everyone. The dams freely let the young fledglings wander up to her to sniff her.
Partly ahead of her in the cave were the older fledglings: Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red. While she was going to do her part to earn and keep her place among the pack and help this pack, she also wanted to get to know those four kin very well. They were already her friends, but they would be even better friends in time!
Alpha had returned to the pack along with his Fish-Hunters and Fighters and with the good news that the other pack would be warming to them now. Both packs would try to work to help each other and make their life-flights warmer by mingling and trading food. The full peace would not happen immediately, but the ice and not-trusting between the packs was going to melt.
She had helped with that, in a small way, but she had helped nevertheless. She made both packs better just by being herself!
Sleep was not flying to her even long after everyone else was apparently asleep or had flown away to talk about this big change.
She stared at the dark passage that split in two paths. What Oldest-Knower had explained had happened in the past was terrible. Maybe what happened with the bad Alpha was not a surprise since he had been known to be cruel and harsh even before he started wildly killing.
Could something like that happen with a normal kin, with someone who appeared calm and warm in the liver? How could she truly know what was lurking in the liver of every kin? Was it possible for any kin to become a monster?
That thought was too much and would only lead to doubting everyone, so she put it out of mind and closed her eyes.
All she could hear was the purring and snoring of many of her new packmates around her, and the very faint whistle of the wind from the dark passage.