Chapter One

Origins

It was at the turn of the tides, whence the moon was at its fullest, when the creature of destiny was born, within the waters near an ancient glacier. For hours, the mother orca moaned and screamed as the calf within her thrashed and kicked its flukes in the agony of the birthing. Her brothers, sisters and mother were there for support, as with the remainder of the pod, all giving their songs of support as they circled wide from the circling mother-to-be with the flukes of the child protruding from her body. She screamed as the child attempted to remain symbiotic with its mother, as she tried to give it the freedom of its own life.
"Keep calm Keeki… It will be worth it…"
"Think of when you see its eyes for the first time…"
"Sure am glad I'm a male…"
"Good gods!" the mother, Keeki screamed at the top of her lungs as she rose for a breath. She let loose one more loud, long shriek, and then there was a sudden cloud of blood, and in a burst of bubbles, the new life was thrust spinning into the world, the symbiotic cord of life between them forever broken for all eternity.
Rushing forward, the family hurried to aid to the weakened mother and the pristine existence that she had just given birth to. Before they could reach however, Keeki made the unifying move, gently nosing her child with her snout, to the surface, letting the youngster breath in the sweet air of life, whilst gentling humming a song, her usually tuneful voice tainted slightly with the aftermath of the pain of birthing.
Giggling slightly, the calf began to vocalize, squeaking and squealing in delight and wonder. It wiggled its body in protest, to being held in the one place, as its eternal hunger for knowledge craved to explore, learn and live.
The eldest of the pod, Keeki's mother, and pod master, Kiera, approached, giving a small hum of song to clear her way, to view her latest descendant. Kiera was the eldest of any orca in the pod, her bulk large and proud, and eye patches that were flecked with the finest of back dots, with the chunks of missing dorsal from her youthful adventures involving rampant hungry ones. As she approached the mother, nuzzling her calf, she whispered gently to the calf, nosing it softly, "Hello there little one…"
With a loud cackle, the calf cried out in glee at all the large leviathans that surrounded it. It fought its way free and floated away from its mother for a for moments, before Keeki scooped up the calf in her slipstream as she began to swim about, the baby tailing her moves, laughing and chittering away. As she swam in small circles, through the waters with the fading remnants of the afterbirth in the cold arctic waters, the rest of the pod tailed not far behind, each member commenting on the newborn, as the mother took the youngster on its first journey, to test its flukes.
"As cute as Elli when she was born…"
"Is it a male, or a female?"
"Did you see the markings on its chin?"
The pod consisted of seven adult females, three males and three calves, not including Keeki and her newborn calf. The pod was dubbed the White River pod, for the glacier that they resided nearby. It was a dangerous place to raise a family, with the eternal rumbling and collapsing of the ice. Just in the past moon, a pod member, an elder male hunter, had been claimed, when the Earth from the sky upon him.
As Keeki slowed her pace, allowing the calf to rest, and the other pod members to gaze upon her new life and marvel at the beauty of the calf, there was another rumble to the north, as more earth tumbled from the sky, and into the water. As a reaction, the calves' attention turned to the strange sound, different from the sound of the song…
Straying from his mother's side, the calf turned towards the sound, and accidentally bumped into another calf, a few weeks older than he. Suddenly, the older calf turned, snapping its jaws in anger. The newborn cried out in fear, and out of the blue Keeki appeared beside his side. "Watch your teeth Uton," she warned the other calf. "Violence is not favoured toward newborns." The elder calf merely growled at the comment, before slinking away, leaving Keeki and her calf to resume their journey.
Then, the male pod master, Kiera's brother, Okura, pulled up alongside Keeki. One of the eldest males, Okura was the largest of all orca in the pod, presented with many battle scars, one running down his face, near his left eye, and owned one of the tallest dorsals of any orca in the oceans. "The muscles of the calf are stretched now, and the pod has followed and watched… Let you bestow the calf to pod Keeki, as we all wait for… And allow us sing its name in praise to the welcoming of the newborn to the pod…"
With a nod, Keeki turned to her newborn once more. She, with her sense of being a mother, saw that it was indeed a male calf. Upon its chin, were several spot like markings, only of a shimmering white, than the grey or black that the remainder pod members owned. The markings shimmered underneath the pale light of the ever-watching moon.
"Sage…" Keeki whispered in song to Okura and her calf. "This, my calf, shall be named Sage… The sagacious explorer, whom's mind hungers the arts of knowledge, beauty and the wonders of life… My little one… My Sage…"
Turning around, dipping her pectorals and smirking as Sage mimicked her motions, giggling his fearless calf laugh, Keeki faced the pod, drawing her calf close to her, but allowing it to be seen by all the pod. "Sage… This is my calf Sage… I introduce him to you now… And I pray take that you all will welcome him as an equal to the pod."
A chorus of song erupted, every orca giving their own salutation to the little Sage. As the calf stared about in wonder, the song being written to his memory as its majestic choir all sung an individual tune, creating an amazing cacophony of song.
Every orca sung the song, providing a separate division of tune unique to the orca that sung; the females, such as Keeki, Keira, Seniti, Lokoni and all the others, all provided sweet melodies of mother-ship, love and the joys of life, the way of the mothers and givers of life. Whilst the males, the pod's warriors, hunters and masters of the ancient songs; Okura, Gol and Sanh, all sung of power, bravery and legendary heroes.
Calves sung the simple melodies that in their youth had learned. The earlier calf by two moons, Uton sung of a jealousy, and secret desire to rule over the sea, deafened within the majestic chorale. The calf, Bria, sung a flat tune with an endless loop of rhythm, and no rhyme, about things she had seen and done in her short life of one moon.
But it was the calf Elli, of several tides old, whom with her sweet tones, vocally retold the songs that he had learnt of the legendary hero Ecco, a song that forever remained sketched to Sage's mind… Before she changed onto the topic of love in-between the family.
Overwhelmed by the singing philosophy directed to him, Sage's mind was a blur of questions that needed answering, and answers requiring question asking of them. Confused, Sage gave an attempt to join into this massive gathering of voices, singing of the things he recalled of the song. Sage began in his infant song, to croon about love, and sharks, and seals and adventure, and breaching…
And Ecco. He sung the most of Ecco. The Asterite, Big Blue, the Tides of Time, Atlantis, and all things of past legend, revolving back to the legendary defender, Ecco.
When at long last the song died from exhaustion of the eternal repetition, only Sage was left, buzzing his boyish song of Ecco over and over and over again. Okura and Kiera watched, tilting their heads in curiosity at the newborn.
"His song is pure and sweet," Kiera hummed gently, caressing Sage with her gentle eyes. "He will be a strong singer, capable of long bouts of hymns of the sea. I sense that Sage will grow to embrace the strength of the song, and of the supremacy the melodies hold to our lives."
Okura watched for a few moments, before he chattered privately to the male Gol, "I see the makings of another heir in his song. The song of the adult is spoiled by age, by the song of a calf remains untouched by lusts such as desires and rage. Do you see an heir in this newborn?"
The male Gol, whose body remained mostly untouched by scars and wounds, but eyes injured by the decay of aging and worry, tilted his head in thought. After a blow, the dull eyes lit up as he pondered the options, "The song of Uton is too strong with desires and ambitions, his song remains impossible to sway. The song of Bria is flat, and though she could sing well, her songs will never hold the ancient melodies that the song demands. Only Sage here, faces one such rival; Elli's songs are sweet, unspoiled and full of emotion. However, though Sage sings not as harmoniously as does his cousin Elli, he does of the legends with such a passion that the female lacks…" Gol blew in thought and clacked his jaws. "An apprentice to the song-master role I do require before I pass to the end… the beginning. The songs of legend must be sung to all…"
Gol returned his gaze to the pod, as they all welcomed Sage, each member introducing himself or herself as a relative of some sort to him, bar Uton, who stayed far back. When Elli approached Sage, Gol smiled, as she and Sage seemed to connect in ways he had seen few calves do, both seeming to understand one another better than the adults and singing in unison of their two glorious songs of sweet tones and high notes of laughter and joy.
Two worthy singers, to learn to be the pod song-master… Gol hummed to himself, watching the procession to welcome the young Sage into the pod. But which shall be most worthy to uphold the responsibility that it holds?