Duties
She purred with warmth in her liver as she watched the family of three entertaining themselves. The two adults were not doing anything important, though just being a pair and looking out for their wandering hatchling was important in its own way
She had, in her own thinking, named Hatchling. He was now Ice. He got his name after he tumbled with a squeal onto his back while fleeing from her on the ice. He was so adventurous, curious, and playful with all the other hatchlings and with her, though, like all hatchlings, he could fight the others for food and attention. Further, he was learning his words well enough, and he had grown much in the time since his hatching.
But there was a problem, not for him but for herself.
Ice was not hers. Not her own. Pretending to be like his dam-mother would have been twisted and wrong. No, it was better to let his sire-father, one of the Ground-Prey-Hunters, and dam-mother, one of the Plant-Tenders, be there for him while she was only like the rest of the pack.
She got up and trotted away toward the next group of young light wings who were receiving a lesson of some kind. Between the hatchlings and her friends was another group of younger fledglings. However, the younger fledglings were playful, wild, rebellious, and just too different. They were not as grown or as mature in their thinking. She was entirely willing to do her duty and watch over them whenever asked to do so, but giving her time to her friends was far more pleasant.
Green, the stubborn and boisterous male who liked fights and combat; Blue, the more reserved male who liked swimming and fish hunting; Yellow, the more mellow female who liked plants and healing; and Red, the careful and prudent female who was concerned with pack-orders, learning to be a First, and was active in the She-Far-Fliers as their leader. All of them were different, but they were her friends, the friends she had wanted to have for so long.
Light wings had flown through the ice-range her sire-father and dam-mother had taken a cave-den in. Those light wings were always respectful of her sire-father, while he was there, and her dam-mother, leaving them alone. Sometimes the light wings even flew with their fledglings, though none of them wanted to play much with her or stay there long. Fledgling life had been very slow and empty, especially after dam-mother had needed to go away.
But that was all in the past. Life was good now. She had her friends. What else could she want?
Her friends' sires and dams joined everyone on this flight, which she was so pleased by. This shared-flight was apparently a pack-ceremony or custom. While she knew of those pairs and knew which were their respective pack-roles, she did not truly know the pairs as people. This was an opportunity to get to know them beyond just what her friends said about their sires and dams.
It was also an opportunity to see how good sires and dams were with their young once they were almost grown. None of the fledglings' sires or dams had flown away from them.
She winced and looked away.
On the other paw, the fledglings probably had not pushed their sires or dams away as she must have somehow done. They deserved to have their kin with them.
Everyone flew into the warm-range, more specifically to a clearing beside a small waterfall. A small pile of fish and edible mushrooms were piled there for this meeting.
Unsurprisingly, the sires and dams were quicker to speak with each other than with the fledglings, and the fledglings were more comfortable alone also. At least that was true at first. There was more mixing and talking after the food started being eaten.
Blue and Green ended up being rough with each other for fun as usual. Yellow was eagerly talking about something with two of the dams that were not her own. And Red... Red was sulking, keeping her distance by swimming in the pool at the base of the waterfall.
Hmm, is something twisting your tail?
She was about to go ask Red what was the matter when Blue's sire and dam approached her.
"Skadi, how are you?" the sire asked.
What were their pack-role names... Sixth-Far-Flier and Fourth-Old-Watcher?
"I am well, Sixth-Far-Flier, Fourth-Old-Watcher. How about you both?"
They glanced toward Blue and Green.
"We are well. Though, we wish our son did not want to be a Fish-Hunter," Sixth-Far-Flier said.
"Why not?" she asked.
Fourth-Old-Watcher grumbled, "It is dangerous and does not even bring him much pack-status. How does he expect to interest a female if he does not have status?"
She recalled that being a Fish-Hunter was not seen as a desired pack-role, despite it being work that almost everyone benefited from. No one saw the hunting happen since catching fish happened under the ice or under the surface of the waters. The work which had to be done alone and away from other watching eyes was not looked on favorably, no matter how important it was to the pack.
"Maybe by being a good and kind kin whom a female knows will respect her," she offered.
"If only that was enough," Sixth-Far-Flier snorted.
"What else is there?" she asked, curious.
"He is... a more inside-thinking kin. He does not show or say all of what he thinks or feels," Sixth-Far-Flier explained.
"So he might not tell a female if he likes her?"
"Yes, that. Maybe he just needs to get in the pack-role he wants, become better at it, and that will flame his life-fire hotter. We hope that happens for him."
Fourth-Old-Watcher stepped to her and nuzzled her neck, "And we thank you for helping him learn fish hunting. He has told us many times that your help and teaching was useful."
Sixth-Far-Flier sighed, "While we wonder about his preferred pack-role, we are glad that you are helping him in that role."
She purred, "He is my friend. I want him to do well and get high in the pack-order, not to mention staying safe while providing."
Fourth-Old-Watcher stepped back and sat down as her ears went back, "Is it true that you lost your sire and dam? We heard stories from our son and others in the pack."
"Yes, it is true. My sire had to leave me and my dam when I was a young fledgling. My dam flew away when her work as a dam was finished, when I could provide for myself."
"But you were not life-making grown when she flew away, true?" Fourth-Old-Watcher grumbled.
Was she that grown now? She had not thought about it or considered it important in a very long time. She probably was.
"No, but she told me what I need to know about that part of life... times like life-cycles."
There was no need to go into more details, especially when Sixth-Far-Flier was right there. Any male did not need to know about such parts of life, unless he and his mate were trying to get an egg.
Fourth-Old-Watcher huffed, "There is more than only telling."
"What?"
"There is being there for your own little one's egg or hatchling as a great-dam. There is giving life-advice to your little ones as they do new things in their life."
She blinked, not understanding that word-role. Great-dam? Was that like a dam-mother for the little ones of her own little ones?
There were probably advantages for everyone in such a situation. The first dam-mother probably got something out of being a great-dam as she called it. Maybe there was liver-warmth in that nurturing.
Fourth-Old-Watcher grumbled again, "I do not understand why she flew away and did not want you in her life-flight."
She shrugged, not seeing anything important about that. Sire-fathers and dam-mothers flew away and left their young's lives eventually; that was normal of them. The only problem, if it even was one, was that her sire-father had gone away very early in her life. If only she knew why he had gone away, many questions would be answered. If only she could figure out what she had done wrong to make him go away and stay away...
"I do not think about it anymore. The past is dead and not now. There is no reason to clutch it."
That felt like truth, even if it was difficult to believe it herself.
"True, if only others knew that life-lesson," Sixth-Far-Flier said.
"What others?"
Sixth-Far-Flier started to answer but paused and glanced at the nearest light-rock, "That is not for me to say."
Fourth-Old-Watcher purred solemnly, "There are hurts from the last Alpha even now."
She probably would not get a clear answer from them on who those others were or what the hurts were, but there was something else she might get an answer to.
"When did the last Alpha die? I know that our Alpha killed him but when was that?"
They glanced at each other and hummed in thought until he answered, "Ten and eight life-making cycles ago. There have been eight groups of young since then, but the pack waited after the fighting before making more eggs."
Green and Yellow's sire-fathers and dam-mothers were whispering together and had been for a long time.
Curious, she went to greet them. Green's sire-father was First-Fighter, who was well-respected throughout the pack, and Yellow's sire-father was a Far-Flier. Both their dam-mothers were Plant-Tenders in their pack-roles before being dam-mothers as their first responsibility.
"... each other..." "Would be good, yes." "Probably do..." "Approve of it..."
Their grumbling was indistinct, but they looked pleased, ears lifted and tails swaying. They were probably talking about their young and the pack-roles they most wanted. Green would be following in his sire-father's flight as a Fighter, and Yellow was already learning about plants and healing, just like her dam-mother.
They noticed her and beckoned her over to their group.
"Welcome, Skadi. We were talking about our son and daughter... and what is in their future even if they do not know it yet," Fifth-Far-Flier, Yellow's sire-father, purred.
The other three chuckled.
She was pleased to see that Green and Yellow had such interested and warm sire-fathers and dam-mothers. They appeared to be supportive of their youngs' choices and preferences, which was very good of them.
"Your son really likes play-fights, and your daughter knows much more about plants than I do," she said.
"Yes, those too. Still, there is more to life than only pack-orders," Fifth-Far-Flier chuckled.
"What pack-role will you take? Will you stay as the First of the She-Far-Fliers?" Sixth-Plant-Tender asked.
"No, I will not be the First of that role for long. I am not sure what I will be after. Maybe a She-Far-Flier, a Fish-Hunter, or something else."
Fifth-Far-Flier purred, "Whatever you want to do we are sure you will do well."
She noticed Red speaking with her sire-father and dam-mother. Knowing her friend as well as she did, it was clear that Red was not happy. Her ears were fallen and her tail was twitching. Further, she was speaking with liver-fire, though what she was saying was unheard. Red even slapped her tail against the rock, which was a clear sign of frustration.
What is wrong with you?
Finally, Red finished speaking with them and left them. Her parents looked disappointed, but neither of them went after her as Red ran away to the forest. Red even glanced back at them, as if wondering if they would follow her, but they did not.
So she followed after her friend, knowing that something was chilling her liver. That was especially true when she saw that Red was pacing, clawing up the moss underpaw.
"Red, what is wrong?"
Red glanced at her, winced, and looked away, "Nothing important."
She snorted nose-waste at the ground, "Yes, nothing important makes a kin run from their sire and dam after talking to them. You can talk to me."
Red groaned and glanced at where everyone else was gathered by the water or already swimming in it. Everyone else except her parents who were glumly sitting on their own.
"Did they want to talk about your pack-role? They should be proud of what you will be as a First."
"No, it is not that. I just do not care for this gathering-ceremony. Why are we even here?" Red huffed and stomped on the ground with a forepaw.
"I do not know. Maybe this is a way for the sires and dams in each group of young to share advice."
Red rolled her eyes, "I doubt that. More likely is they are planning to arrange mate-pairs."
What!
"Does that happen in each group of young?"
Red shrugged, "Sometimes. Truly, the sires and dams cannot force the young into a pair, but they can strongly suggest a pair and try to push a pair together."
"Is that what your sire and dam were talking about? Did they find someone for you?"
Red snorted, "They asked me about my plans, not that they should care. Well, they would want to know if I found someone high in the pack-order. But... they were... just being themselves. There is nothing more to say about it."
She purred, seeing that Red was very frustrated by something and not interested in talking about it.
"Do you want me to talk to them?"
"No, do not bother with them. They are not a good sire and dam."
That was a very cold thing for a young one to say of his or her own parents. There had to be a reason why Red was not warm to them.
But, now that she thought it, Red's parents were more solitary and less interested in involving themselves with all the fledglings. That was not true of the other three pairs, all of whom freely interacted with Blue, Green, and Yellow.
It was not her own life-flight to stick her nose into, but this concerned her friend, so it was her own life-flight... in a twisted way. She had a duty to be there for her friend. Further, she knew very well what it was like to have problems with one's own sire-father and dam-mother.
She stepped over to Red and lay a wing over her back, "Why are they not good? Do they hurt you or do anything bad?"
"No, they-"
Red paused, glanced at her, and slipped out from under the wing, "-they are too weak and cowardly. I do not want to talk about this."
She thought about it and saw how that might explain the problem. If Red's sire-father and dam-mother had very weak and dim life-fires, that could explain why they kept to themselves and why Red did not like them.
It was a little frustrating that Red did not want to bond now with her offered comfort. However, not being pushy was probably the best. Red would talk about this when she wanted to do so.
"Okay, I understand. Do you know why they are weak? You do not need to tell me why."
"Yes, I know," Red said, staring into the distance.
"If it helps you feel warmer, you are not weak or a coward."
Red growled, "If there is one thing my sire and dam did that was good for me, it is that they taught me what is important: being aware of having power in the pack."
That explained much about Red's interest in the pack-order and the power-places in the pack.
"True, knowing all that is very important."
Red yawned and stretched her wings, "I... try to not be like them. I will never be powerless."
She approved of that. Red might not have come from the best sire-father and dam-mother, she did not know the specifics of what was wrong with them, but trying to be better than them was very admirable and good. Nothing could make a bad hatchling or fledgling life from bad parents not have happened, but someone could try to be better than their parents.
If she ever became a dam-mother, she would not want to leave after her little one grew up. Being a dam-mother would not be just a duty do be done and finished with. No, she would be kin to her little one even after he or she grew up and did not need a dam-mother anymore.
But that was all very far in the future.
"No, you will not be like them. Want to go back to everyone else?"
Red sighed and slowly spun away, "I want to be on my own for a while. Later."
Red wandered off to be on her own, which also left her alone. She calmly trotted back to the rest of her kin and found a place to curl up by the water.
Green, Yellow, and Blue were calmly sitting before their three groups of sires and dams, Red's sire-father and dam-mother excluded. They had wandered away too.
A cold wind flew into her liver at the sight of what was so good and should be. Green, Yellow, and Blue had, from all she could see, good and warm sire-fathers and dam-mothers who at the very least were here now. Her friends were wanted.
Dam-mother sighed and lifted her hung head with a paw, "Skadi, it is time."
"But... dam-mother... why... why do you have to go?"
"Little one, I already told you. You are grown enough to hunt for yourself."
She sniffled, hating that dam-mother was correct. She was grown enough, with all her fire and fade and thought-speak, to be able to protect herself. She was almost as big as dam-mother, even.
But there was no need for dam-mother to fly away!
"But... why do you have to go? Just... stay here... please. I need you."
Dam-mother exhaled, "No, you do not need me anymore. You know everything you need to know. I did everything I can do for you."
Maybe that was true. She was a better hunter than dam-mother already. Dam-mother knew nothing about how thought-speak worked, and could not do it anyway.
But not everything needed to be about... need and use!
"Do you... not want me?" she gasped.
Dam-mother blinked, "Want? I... want you to fly on your own. All dam-mothers must do this... I think."
Dam-mother did not answer the question; rather, that was a way of hiding from giving an answer.
But dam-mother purred softly, "Do you remember what I said about the pack with the no-mate-pairs life-rule?"
"I... do."
"Then you understand I had to get out. It was that or a bad life. Your sire-father wanted you kept here, safe until the time was right for more. I did what he wanted in the trade."
She understood that agreement and trade. Dam-mother agreed to make an egg, hers, with sire-father and raise her in exchange for being allowed to leave that bad pack and live under her own power in a safe range. Both dam-mother and sire-father got what they wanted.
As if what she wanted mattered to them.
She wearily took a deep breath and got to her paws, facing dam-mother but unable to look at her eyes. It was such a liver-chilling question, but she was too curious to not want to know the answer.
"Did you ever truly want me?"
Dam-mother looked confused at first, "Did I want you? Yes, as part of the trade."
"Dam-mother, that is not what I meant."
"What else could you mean?"
How did dam-mother not understand? There was more than only teaching hunting, life-rules for how to live a warm life-flight, and protecting from danger. There was more?
"Did you... want me... just for me?"
Dam-mother said nothing for a very long time before slowly looking away from her.
"Little one, Skadi, talking about that has no lift; it changes nothing so why waste breath?"
So it was true: dam-mother did not truly want her for... her, only for what having her helped her get. She was only something dam-mother used for another goal, which was... fair. Dam-mother would not do this if it was not fair.
Could a liver turn to ice?
"I... understand," she whispered.
Dam-mother purred in relief, "Good. Stay here until your sire comes back here. He said he would once he did something important."
Sire-father would come back? It had been so long since he was here. Thought-speak and seeing in sleep-visions were not enough. She and sire-father were not truly together from afar.
"Do you know... when he will fly here?" she warily asked.
"No. You know to stay here where you are safest."
"I do. Where will you fly?"
"There is a range and light wing pack far from here; your sire told me where to find it. I will probably fly to that pack to find a mate and move on."
"So why not let me come with you?" she whined.
Dam-mother sighed, as if she was very tired, "There are reasons that pack would not... want you there. You do not need to hear the reasons why. Trust me on this."
"I want to know! I must... know!"
Dam-mother faced her again, now looking frustrated, "Fine! You are a mixed-kin, and that would be a problem for them!"
That had no lift. So what she was a mixed-kin? How could that be a problem to anyone?
"What?"
"See, you do not even know that! They would not want you. You are safest if you stay here in your territory. All know these skies are yours. Stay here and wait until you are truly grown or ready to fly beyond. Find a light wing pack to join when you are ready for that."
She gasped and forced an empty purr, "I can do that... dam-mother. Will you ever fly back to me here?"
Dam-mother again looked confused and tired, "Why do you keep... Maybe, but there is no need. You are strong enough on your own. You do not need me for anything."
If dam-mother said it... then it must be true.
If this had to be the end...
She exhaled and looked away at the wall of ice.
"Warm flights, dam-mother."
"Warm flights, Skadi."
There was a rush of wings, a flash of motion, and then silence. There was no need to look to see that she was alone in the cave-den. The same cave-den where she had hatched and fledged, where her sire-father had curled up with her to tell her stories when she was so small, where dam-mother had brought back so many fish, where...
Where she was alone.
Unwanted.
Other light wings would fly this way in time. She knew a pawful of Far-Fliers for distant packs.
Her sire-father said he would come back here, so he would. He made a promise, so she would stay here and wait for him to come back.
She curled in tightly on herself and cried, whining until sleep finally came.
She was calmly dozing in her cave when noise woke her up from outside her cave.
"Skadi! Are you in there?" Blue shouted.
"Yes!"
She jumped to her paws and trotted outside onto the ledge to see him looking tired, probably from having flown quickly. There were also a pawful of other light wings all flying the same direction: toward one of the largest stretches of flat ice.
"What is it, Blue?" she asked.
"Alpha called a pack-meeting! All adults in our ranges and not on important work are to be there!" he answered.
"Do you know why?"
"No, only that we must be there as a pack. He said that younger fledglings and hatchlings should not be there. This must be serious!"
"Okay, we should go!"
She followed him deeper into the pack's territory where everyone else was flying. She wondered what could have been important enough for Alpha to summon the entire pack... except for the younger ones. Maybe that was a hint. This was probably not a pleasant ceremony.
After much flying, she and Blue arrived at the ice chamber with most of the pack. Blue winged away to his parents, and she found an open place among packmates she did not know well at all. Everyone else was gathered on the ice in their family-groups in a big circle around... eight of the pack. She could recognize Alpha, his two mates, and First-Fighter; those four were standing between a male and a group of three packmates.
Now on the ice and closer to them, she could see who they were. The lone male was a low-number Fighter, Eleventh-Fighter, and the other three were Sixth-Far-Flier, Third-Plant-Tender, and, huddled between them, their grown daughter, Seventh-Young-Watcher.
What is going on?
There was so much muttering and talking over each other that nothing was clear. More packmates arrived until almost everyone was here. She briefly greeted her fellow She-Far-Fliers.
Alpha roared, silencing all the talking as everyone looked to him.
"Packmates, this is very bad! There has been an accusation of attacking and force-mating!"
Gasps, growls, and muttering went through everyone including herself. What she saw made much more sense. The parents were there to support their daughter as she accused the male who hurt her... or at least who she says hurt her. Alpha, his mates, and First-Fighter were there to keep the peace during this ceremony.
"This is very serious! We will hear from both, and I will decide on the guilt!"
Alpha stepped aside and faced Sixth-Far-Flier, Third-Plant-Tender, and Seventh-Young-Watcher. Seventh-Young-Watcher slowly stepped forward, looking around at the entire pack staring at her. She looked very scared and terrified, which was hardly a surprise since she was surrounded by the entire pack and about to talk about this topic. She stopped and sat down facing Alpha.
"I... I..."
Seventh-Young-Watcher hung her head and whined, as if unable to speak.
Skadi closed her eyes and focused only on Seventh-Young-Watcher. The scared, hurt light wing did not know the truth about her powers and would not know that she did this for her, but helping her was the right thing to do. Seventh-Young-Watcher might even think that what she heard came from her own liver-voice.
'I can do it. I am strong!'
Seventh-Young-Watcher froze, took a deep breath, and lifted her head again.
"I was in the... warm-range after finishing my young-watching. I was tired and went to the hot-bubble-water to swim and relax. He... Eleventh-Fighter was there. He swam to me after I climbed out, we talked about the waking-cycle, and he... said he wanted to show me something in a side-chamber far from the warm-range. He said it was a strange rock in a cave. I... flew with him to see that strange rock, but there was nothing in the cave. He... jumped on me... pulled me over and... would not stop when I said stop... and..."
She paused and whined before continuing, "and after he was done... he told me never to say anything or my kin would be hurt. He flew away. I went to my sire and dam, told them what happened, and we flew to tell you. They... smelled him on me. This all happened in this waking-cycle. That is all."
She stepped back to her parents and snuggled under her dam-mother's extended wing.
Alpha calmly addressed her parents, "Is that true? Did you scent him on her?"
"I did!" Sixth-Far-Flier growled, baring his teeth.
Alpha then slowly spun around and faced Eleventh-Fighter, "Eleventh-Fighter, you have been accused of force-mating a packmate. Speak."
Eleventh-Fighter growled softly and held his shoulders high, "I do not deny that we were together! I found her by the water as she said. We were talking about many different topics. She whispered to me and said no male had ever climbed on her or given her pleasure, and she wanted to know what it was like. I asked if she has been eating no-eggs berries, and she said she was. We both wanted to do it, so we found a cave where we could be alone and not bother anyone. We had fun together and went our own ways after we were finished."
He paused before continuing, "I do not understand why she is saying this. Maybe I did not do enough to make her happy. I am sorry if that is the problem. She might be saying this because someone saw us flying together to the cave, so she thinks she must protect herself. That is all."
Sixth-Far-Flier and Third-Plant-Tender snarled and looked like they wanted to pounce on him, though Alpha, his mates, and First-Fighter stood between them.
Eleventh-Fighter stepped back and sat down while Alpha looked around the pack.
"Did anyone see them flying away together?" Alpha roared.
No one moved at first, until a She-Far-Flier she knew and respected stepped forward, "I might have."
"What did you see, Fourth-She-Far-Flier? Did you see anything that would speak to the stories they told?" Alpha asked.
"I had this waking-cycle's watching-duty for the path which leads to the bright beyond and the range where the stinging-tail hunter-kin lived. I saw two packmates, a male and a female, flying away together. I did not see if they came back. That is all."
Alpha grunted once and began pacing while Fourth-She-Far-Flier backed into the crowd.
Skadi grumbled to herself as she glanced between the two: Eleventh-Fighter and Seventh-Young-Watcher. Eleventh-Fighter looked calm and sure of himself, while Seventh-Young-Watcher looked humiliated, afraid, and scared.
Neither story was obviously true or false. He told one story, and she told another story. Either one could be the truth.
It was possible that he was taken by mating-wanting and tricked her into the cave so he could do what he wanted to do to her. He almost accused her of being at fault for what she was saying. Accusing someone else of doing something bad might be a trick to distract from himself.
It was also possible that they agreed to go there and do everything for fun. She might be accusing him to avoid getting a bad reputation as an... eager female.
On the other paw, publicly accusing like this had to hurt her liver, especially letting others know about what had happened to her. Seventh-Young-Watcher gained nothing by claiming this, but she let everyone in the pack know she had been used. That might hurt her chances of finding a mate of her own.
However, there was no way to know who was guilty beyond any doubting.
No normal way. One of them was lying, and that lying would be much more difficult to hide in the liver and life-fire which she could touch. Directly feeling their memories was different from only sharing thought-voice. Doing this would be a… a violation, though with only good intentions. Learning the truth was necessary.
She closed her eyes and stretched out her life-fire and thoughts toward them. Past so many glowing life-fires until she found, between two others, a life-fire that was... scared, terrified, ashamed, and trying to not think about anything. On its own was another life-fire that was angered and worried.
Why would he be angry? Was he angry that Seventh-Young-Watcher was wrongly accusing him? More information was needed, so she gently touched the life-fire so softly that he would not feel anything. The strongest and most recent events in a life burned the brightest in memory and were probably the easiest to find, which meant that-
The female light wing under him groaned and whined in pain, begging him to stop and not do this and-
She blinked and gasped, staring at her paws as the terrible-bad-wrong vision broke.
He was guilty.
He did it.
The calm, relaxed male light wing was a monster who force-mated a packmate.
Alpha needed to know, so she willed that he hear her. She could make it so that no other except the intended could hear her thought-voice. He and she had not spoken since their last tense encounter, but this was important enough that he had to hear it right now!
'Alpha, he is guilty! I know it!'
Alpha paused in his pacing and briefly glanced at her before looking away. He knew to keep the secret of how she used her powers. She would gladly tell everyone in the pack if doing so meant that this attacker would be punished. Of course, the pack knew that she could do things no one else could, but no one would know that she had just told Alpha the truth or that she could touch memories.
Her powers were also not truly proof she could share. Eleventh-Fighter could easily question such powers and say that they were too convenient or were proof of nothing.
Alpha kept pacing, and Eleventh-Fighter looked more confident the longer the pacing kept going.
She glanced around at the gathering and heard many different opinions on what was happening. Some were saying that they were not surprised by her behavior, others were remarking that he was a strong male who deserves some fun, and others were grumbling that he should have been more prudent and let others know he and she planned to be together.
Most of the voices were dismissive of Seventh-Young-Watcher's claim. They did not want to believe her.
Maybe they did not want to admit they were living around a force-mating male without seeing his rot. How could they be so blind and unprotective of their own?
But amid the many of tens of packmates, she noticed two other females who were staring at Eleventh-Fighter. They looked frozen in place, their ears swept back, and were not speaking to anyone around them.
Wait, what is with them?
It chilled the liver to do this, but this was probably for the best. She touched life-fires with each of the females without letting them know about her being there. They did not need to know that she could-
His grunting continued as he held her neck in his jaws and moved on her and he would not stop and-
She swatted with a paw, struck his head, jumped past him out of the cave while he was dazed, and flew in fear as fast as her wings could carry her-
She shook her head and remembered herself. She was safe... not fouled and not hurt by a monster. None of that had happened to her.
She growled freely as she realized the terrible truth that he had force-mated someone else and had tried to do so to another! There was not only one victim.
"Skadi, are you well?" a packmate asked.
"Yes, I am well. Sorry," she caught her breath.
All her attention went to the two additional females she knew, though she only knew one of them well. Fifth-She-Far-Flier, whom she had thought of as Cautious, was one of the two whose memories she had touched. Had Cautious said that she joined the She-Far-Fliers partly to learn how to fight and defend herself? She did not know the other one, a Plant-Tender, well enough to know her number.
Why were they not speaking up? Why did they not say something as Seventh-Young-Watcher had? Maybe they were too afraid. Seventh-Young-Watcher said that he threatened her family if she said anything.
Alpha paused in his pacing, roared to silence everyone else, and sat down to face Seventh-Young-Watcher and family. He did not look pleased by what he was going to say.
"There is not enough proof either way now! He tells one story, and she tells another story! How can I decide which is true?"
'Ask if anyone else has been hurt by him! There are more!'
He froze, flicked an ear, and looked away from Seventh-Young-Watcher, instead looking around at the gathered pack. Hopefully he knew to ask the right questions.
"Are there any other packmates who want to speak? This is your chance if you want to say anything! If no one else speaks, I will have to say there is no guilt either way!"
No one moved at first, but she was watching the two females whose life-fires hid fear and defiance. They shuffled on their paws, neither of them moving at first.
Then they both stepped forward at the same time.
"I accuse him!" Fifth-She-Far-Flier roared.
"He hurt me!" the Plant-Tender shouted.
The Plant-Tender and Fifth-She-Far-Flier glanced at each other in surprise, neither having known the other would speak up. Then they glanced at Seventh-Young-Watcher as she stared back at them.
She glanced at Eleventh-Fighter and was pleased to see shock and fear in his eyes. He was trapped.
"What is-" Eleventh-Fighter began.
"Silence! We will hear these two packmates! Speak, Fifth-She-Far-Flier, Ninth-Plant-Tender!" Alpha roared.
Fifth-She-Far-Flier glared at Eleventh-Fighter, "He asked me to help him flame a wrong-kin from the pack's territory. He led me into a cave and tried to climb on me after I pushed him away and said no! We fought, I hit him, and I escaped! I told none about this until now!"
"It never happened! I do not know her!" Eleventh-Fighter shouted.
Ninth-Plant-Tender snarled as her sire-father and dam-mother strode out from the pack to stand with her, "You said you would have a Fighter... kill my friends if I told anyone that you... you... found me... and fouled me..."
"Not proof! Lies!" Eleventh-Fighter snarled.
The muttering and conversation started anew, but it was more a mix of shock, surprise, and anger.
"Knew he was dangerous..." "Saw this coming..." "Good for them..." "Can we watch the punishment..."
She watched as Alpha whispered to First-Fighter who swiftly trotted away. Alpha roared, silencing the conversation. He looked tense and angry.
"This is more serious than I thought! Three accusers is enough for me! Eleventh-Fighter is guilty!"
Eleventh-Fighter jumped, trying to flee, but First-Fighter and two other Fighters were already in the sky. They tackled him and forced him to the ice-ground. A quick fight followed with flaming and roaring until First-Fighter and the other two stepped back, showing that Eleventh-Fighter was knocked out.
Alpha checked on him and then went over to the three accusing females now all standing together.
"I am sorry this happened to you. My duty as Alpha is to protect all in the pack even from dangers in the pack. For his punishment, I want to hear what the three he attacked want! Please take a few wingbeats to talk among yourselves!"
Ninth-Plant-Tender, Seventh-Young-Watcher, and Fifth-She-Far-Flier began whispering together. Their tails started swaying as they spoke, finally coming to some agreement.
Seventh-Young-Watcher stepped forward and raised her voice, "We want him named Packless and thrown out of the pack!"
Alpha purred, "Yes, it will be done! Do you not want him dead?"
Seventh-Young-Watcher growled, "Not dead. We want him to never again hurt or threaten a female. He must lose his mating-parts!"
Gasps and chuckles followed, mostly from the nearest females but also from several of the males.
She entirely agreed with the demand. Naming him Packless would mean that he could hurt females who did not live in packs or who lived in other packs after he joined those other packs. No, a male who showed that he would force-mate more than once, let alone one time, could not be trusted to have that power! Take away that power and leave him broken but alive to suffer longer, yes, that was good and fair!
He was a monster, and monsters did not deserve second chances. Monsters deserved to be destroyed and made to suffer.
Alpha growled, "I agree. Do you three want to do it, watch it done, or just be told when it is done?"
The three females spoke together again until Fifth-She-Far-Flier stepped forward, "I will watch it done for us. My packmates do not want to see it happen."
Alpha faced First-Fighter and the others, "Carry him to the edge of our territory! Fifth-She-Far-Flier will fly with us to watch the punishment!"
He spoke to his two mates, and they both strode to the Plant-Tender and Seventh-Young-Watcher as their sire-fathers and dam-mothers also went to them. Oldest-Knower also trotted to be with them. It looked like she and Alpha's mates were comforting them, since the hurt females' ears lifted throughout the talking that followed.
Alpha roared, "Our three packmates who spoke are very brave! We know and live by the pack-rules, all of us! Eleventh-Fighter broke the pack-rule of no force-mating. He is not one of us! We will never see him again! He made himself Packless!"
"Packless!" everyone roared.
Alpha looked around the pack and must have noticed whomever he was looking for. He strode to a male and female who were sitting apart from everyone else.
She could not recognize them, but her guess was that they were probably Eleventh-Fighter's sire-father and dam-mother. That was surely a twisted and liver-chilling talk which she was glad she did not need to be part of.
The pair shrugged after Alpha finished speaking. They did not look like they cared very much, which was twisted of them if true. Or maybe they accepted the necessity of the decision.
"This ceremony is finished!"
Alpha trotted over to the Fighters, helped them pick up Packless, and flew away with them. Fifth-She-Far-Flier followed the flight to see everything done.
The entire pack began dispersing after that as everyone returned to their duties or their rest. She did not feel like being around anyone right now, so she flew back to her cave. Once there she trotted inside and curled up on the cold rock.
But sleep would not come. Rather, her thoughts were too twisted by what happened. How could any male be so rotted as to force-mate a female? Why?
Worse than how Eleventh-Fighter, no, Packless, was cruel was how bad the pack itself could be! Almost no one in the pack had believed Seventh-Young-Watcher at first. Not believing the accusation was maybe understandable if there was no proof, but they had even been accusing her of wanting what happened!
Maybe they did not want to accept that they were blind to a monster living among them. Closing their eyes and pretending to be blind was a way to not see that they were part of the problem.
It was good that Alpha took such quick action.
She understood why Alpha was so quick to act. Females being hurt by a dangerous male was a type of bad that bit at his liver. That his daughter was killed was probably why he took such quick and fierce action against Eleventh-Fighter.
She rolled her eyes at how twisted the pack's naming-rules were. The former Twelfth-Fighter was now the new Eleventh-Fighter, so it would not be good to think any bad about the name-sign. No, the kin behind the name-sign was more important.
Still, if there was one rotted male, could there be another? How was it possible to know for sure? She knew Blue and Green well enough that she trusted them. Alpha had his own problems, but he was not rotted like the packless one had been. But what about others? How could she know what they were planning or wanted.
She purred deeply, relieved that she was a special kin in this way: she could feel life-fires as others could not! Touching life-fires and seeing memories was a way to learn the truth and see what others could not see. No one would ever trick her as long as she was careful and did not let anyone know the full extent of what she could do.
Satisfied, she curled up and tried thinking about nothing so she could go to sleep. It was very satisfying to know that the Packless monster would never again hurt a female.
"Skadi, are you awake?" Alpha shouted, waking her up.
She grumbled and yawned, "Now I am."
She got to her paws and trotted outside to where Alpha was waiting for her on the ledge. He was alone and looked very tired and upset.
"Alpha, how are you?"
He growled and rolled his jaws, flicking his teeth, "Not happy. We had to kill that Packless one."
"What?"
He sat down, so she did too.
"He woke up during the flight and tried to flee us. We caught him again, explained his two punishments, and he fought. He tried to kill, so we had to kill him."
"You did what you had to do. The ranges are better without him."
He huffed and looked away into the distance, "True, but he was a packmate before. The kin who speaks the judgment should strike the final blow, so I did. I… cut his throat."
He had to kill one of his own former packmates. That was a terrible but necessary part of being Alpha.
"Were you talking to his sire and dam earlier?" she asked.
"That was also my duty. They understood and accepted my decision. They said they were secretly afraid of him, though they said nothing before. If they had said something, he could have been stopped earlier, or maybe helped before he did anything bad. I do not know."
"Maybe he was always bad," she offered.
He faced her, "Maybe. Thank you for the help. I should have thought to ask if there were any others he had hurt."
"You are welcome. I am glad to have helped get rid of a monster," she purred.
He sighed and looked down to his paws, "I should also apologize for being… cold to you in the cave with the bones. I was afraid, surprised that you were there, and… I am sorry."
His apology was very surprising but welcome. She had not expected him to do anything like that.
"It is nothing. Why were you surprised or afraid?"
He winced, "I would rather not say why I was surprised. As for fear, I was afraid of you wanting to take my place."
She chuckled, "And I meant it when I said I do not want your place."
"Yes, I trust that now. How did you know about the other females?" he asked.
"There were two of them who looked angry or afraid. I..."
He might not truly appreciate or understand this part of her powers. She almost never used it, except when hunting prey and protecting herself from kin-hunters.
"I... touched their life-fires as only I can. Doing that lets me see and feel some of their life, anything that was important or very recent. I... saw what happened to them."
He grumbled and glanced at her as his ears went back, "You saw and felt? Like you lived it or were hurt too?"
That was a twisted point. Experiencing what they had lived was, in that moment of living it, very bad. But that was only a memory of what she herself had not lived. It was not her own experience, not truly anyway. Those memories were not part of her and did not carry any weight or force.
"Almost, but not. I do not remember now any of what they felt. It was enough that I knew he hurt them. That is also how I knew Seventh-Young-Watcher was truthful."
He sighed in evident relief, "Good, I am glad you did not truly feel what they did. Do you use that life-fire touching much?"
"No, only when there is much need. What will happen with the three hurt packmates?"
"My mates and Oldest-Knower will help them however they need. They can give help and advice that I cannot or should not give."
"I understand. It might be best for other females to help them with that."
He relaxed, finding a more comfortable position, "I know. That helps them feel safer and trust more. Other than what happened this waking-cycle, how are you doing?"
"Me? Being the First of the She-Far-Fliers has been good, but I am letting my friend start to lead them more in small ways. She will be good at that."
He snorted, "That is about pack-roles. I mean how are you? You are more grown than when you first flew to us."
It was surprising that he was talking about this, but they had not talked about her life-flight in a long time. He was also right that she was much more grown than when she had first arrived at Ice-Water-Pack.
"I... I am doing well. Yes, I am probably as grown as I will be. There are no life-problems or reasons to not be happy."
"Good."
She paused and glanced at her paws, "But I still feel a little lost."
"Lost how?"
"Lost like not knowing my true pack-role or what to do with my life-flight. I wish I knew how to learn what would be best."
Alpha looked away, appearing weary, "Learning who we can be and what our potential is sometimes needs help. It is not always good for everyone, but that is not a rot in the thing, only in the kin who does the learning. You heard my advice from before, but you will learn in time."
He stepped away and stretched his wings after yawning again.
"Anyway, let me know if you need anything. Warm flights," he said.
"And to you, Alpha."
He flew off, and she went back to rest in her cave and ponder what was missing from her life-flight. Now that she was grown to her full size, what was not there but should be? What did everyone else have but she did not have? Everyone else, her friends included, seemed much more sure of themselves and of what they wanted.
Well, there was one possibility that came to mind. Alpha had suggested she consider finding a mate and set her sights on becoming a dam. Everyone wanted the warmth such a normal life surely had. Maybe that was an option. Only time would tell.