Chapter 4

"Patience"

I must be patient. Young ones did not know the power of their jaws and they greeted me with nips and barks and bites upon returning from the Bone Taker's burrow. I was tired, but their wagging tails and nuzzling noses reminded me of the importance of our task. They were what we strove to protect every day. Prima was there and offered us rest, but her time of nursing was over. When the pack finally gathered, she left with them for the hunt.

Over the days, I resumed my usual duties as Mother. It was essential I pass along my wisdom to the pups. Few have lived as long as I have, but teaching wasn't easy, and with a large litter of five pups, I had to anticipate twice the work and ten times the teeth. It was also my responsibility to prepare the pups for council. A trip they were still much too young for, but had no choice in the matter. This gathering of Mighty Hena could not wait and every member was required to attend to represent the pack in its entirety. The pups were now big enough to travel on their own which meant it was time to start teaching them about the world outside of the den. They must learn quickly if they are to survive the long trek to Castle Rock where the council would be held.

They also weren't the only ones who needed to study.

Omega stood beside me as the pups came tumbling out of the den for their first outing in the grasses. They romped and rolled their way towards us, chewing on our tails and paws upon arrival. Omega was not accustomed to the feel of teeth on his skin and shifted uneasily under their touch, baring his teeth to growl and snap when their play became too rough. He didn't realize it, but he was already teaching the pups control and respect. A trait an Omega should not have done as well as he. The station of Omega was never meant to exceed expectation in the eyes of the pack. To most, the lowly stations were nothing more than a chance at disloyalty.

But I knew this to be untrue of the Hena before me. Not all Omega were named so because of their disposition. There was more to this Hena than what could be seen and I intended to find the mystery behind him. It was why I asked Alpha to keep Omega under my watch even after our return. The Spirit was trying to show me something. There was a lesson to be learned from him so that I too would be ready for what was to come at Castle Rock and there was no better place to learn than in the wild.

"March along pups," I told them before I padded away from the den towards the first lesson.

There would be many from here on out. As many as they could manage. Some at night and some in the sun. The pups bounded after me, leaving Omega behind. I glanced back at him. He ducked his head in shame at the implications of my summons, but quickly fell in line. I continued to stare and he perked, leaving the pups to walk beside me as we did once before. Only then did I return my gaze forward. We trotted along, and when the pups were no longer directly underfoot, he became comfortable enough to speak. His voice was always the quietest around others, but now it was just us and the oblivious pups.

"Why do you do this?" he asked, ruminating over my decision to separate him from the others so that he could accompany me. "I am Omega."

"Yes," I answered, acknowledging his status, "but the pack takes care of all."

The structure was clear and rules strict, but none were forgotten or neglected when part of the pack. The sick and old, wounded and lonely. There were lessons to learn from these things too. There was still life in them and all life was respected by the Mighty Hena. I glanced at Omega again. His fur was soft and shiny. His eyes, bright and clear. He was still young, although not as young as the pups. And coming into the pack as a stray, it was likely he had no Mother to teach him the ways of the wild. Until now.

"Come," I told him, striding a little faster. "And I will show you how to be Mighty."

We started at the beginning. At the very earth underneath our paws where there were many lessons in strength and stability to be had. I showed them where the small creatures of the earth lived. Especially where the Little Diggers created holes in the ground and popped out from along their network of tunnels. It was in their worked earth that the Mighty Hena learned the ways of dirt and rock and sand. By watching the Little Diggers, we learned how to move and shape the dirt in such a way that our dens would be fortified and not easily caved in or overcome.

The Little Diggers also proved useful teachers in other ways. They were shy, but curious creatures that never came out of their holes except to peek at the workings of the land above. Their small brown round heads made perfect targets for pouncing. They were swift and hard to catch which made for many games and exercises. Their worked earth was also soft and loose. It was a great place to practice digging. One of the pups had strong paws and even stronger shoulders. I could already tell he would be Blessed as Digger when he was older. The name itself was a tribute to those tiny creatures that helped the Hena become Mighty.

Dirt flung out from under the pups legs with such speed that the Little Diggers popped up to watch. Omega already knew how to use his paws for shelter and searching, but I could tell he was listening and watching both the pups and the Little Diggers intently. He sniffed and pawed at their mounds. Sometimes, his nose followed the Digger trails. Other times, he caught their movements with a tilt of the head or swivel of his ears. I thought that one of these skills might be his strength of Spirit so late in coming, but if he had simply been good of hearing, he would have shown an alertness like Wind Talker who could catch the slightest of sounds. If he simply had a sharp sense of smell, he would have been like Scout who could follow a trail days old and rarely trodden. But Omega's sensory skills were no better than the average Hena.

His awareness was of a different sort.

It reminded me of his behavior at the Bone Taker's burrow and on the bank of the Yawning River. Omega was sensitive to the spirits. His hesitation in life did not come from the cowardice of his station, but from a fear of something he knew was beyond himself. It was a very wise fear to have. Whether for good or for bad, like the Blessed or the Bone Takers, he could recognize this power and distinguish it from other things like skill, talent, and emotion. Not many Mighty Hena could, especially not Omega.

I pondered these things in my heart as the days passed and the lessons continued. We moved from the ground to the grasses where the Bell Sprouts tolled their tales. This lesson needed to be taught in the daylight, so the pups were tired from the long hours. That made it easy on the Sprouts. They were little things, easily overlooked, which made them dangerous in their own right. For although they lacked stature and strength, their whipping vines could scratch the unsuspecting eye and blind it for good. Pups were especially vulnerable given their smaller size and inquisitive nature.

Removing the danger was easy for a Mighty Hena, so I showed the pups how to bite the head, not the body, and rip out their roots with a yank. The tricky part was squeezing the poison out of the head to stop its flailing. The pups were still too young for the last part, but they enjoyed tackling all manner of flower, Sprout or not, until their legs gave out. Then, they rolled around in sweet scents and lullabies until they eventually stretched out to pant and rest. I was grateful for these things because they too gave me a moment's peace from the shepherding and correcting that I must do.

"If these little things are so dangerous, why don't we clear them all away?" Omega asked as we watched over the pups from higher up on the hill.

"If all were gone, who would be left to teach?" I asked instead. "Where would all the poison go but in our mouths?"

I then looked out across the larger wild spread out before us.

"Sprout eat the larvae of the worms and the beetles that would otherwise consume the grasslands until there was nothing left. Little Things are also needed for balance."

I bent down and nudged the bell of the Sprout closest to me. It rang, tolling gently. Others, unseen in the grasses, picked up the signal and a soft wave of music rippled across the hill we were on.

"They have their uses too," I explained, nodding at the signal the Sprout just used to alert the others of my presence in their grove. It was pleasant and soothing to my ears. Some of them must have known me from my visits over the years. My removal of their most poisonous counterparts kept the grasses from becoming polluted or over populated.

"At just the right tone, the voices of the Bell Sprout can warm the heart, stimulate the mind, warn of danger, and alert of changes in the weather. Sprouts may pose dangers to the pups, but danger does not always mean evil," I continued.

Omega used this lesson to search out another Sprout and tap its head with his nose. A second ripple of sound waved across the hill. This time, it put the pups to sleep. Even Omega felt its calming ring. He sat down and closed his eyes to listen to it. It was a good opportunity to start the deeper lesson I'd been waiting for.

"You must learn to know when danger is good and when it is bad," I picked up with thoughts no longer on the meadow. "But you already know this."

Omega pulled his ears back. With his sensitivity to the Spirit and my presence so near, he could not help but follow my memory back to the graveyard. He tilted his nose down to the ground.

"When I was in the burrow with the last of the Takers in my jaws," I continued, "What did you mean when you said you heard the curses? How did you know to worry at this sound?"

Omega averted his gaze from mine. Now, I was even more curious.

"What is it that you heard?"

"I do not want to say," Omega whispered for he could not disobey me.

"You must," I told him.

For although I understood his caution, these words were of great importance and should not be withheld out of fear. Omega kept his head low, but turned an eye to look at me. There was something in it that quieted me. I could feel his fear just like I did in the graveyard. He did not want to speak the curse. There was power in it and I immediately braced my spirit against it. After a few moments, he found his courage.

"I head the Taker curse your bones," Omega murmured. "He…told your ribs to wrap around your lungs and skewer your heart."

I held very still.

"He commanded the teeth you were so proud of to grow and pierce your skull the next time you tried to bite."

My skin prickled, remembering the darkness of the tunnels. The gnat buzzing at my face.

A sudden ringing went up around us, startling the pups awake. Omega and I broke our gazes, jumped to our feet, and scanned the area. The sun was bright. The grasses were calm and the Bells fell quiet again, chinking lightly against the breeze. The sudden warning could have been triggered by a pup rolling in his sleep or a flower knocking into another, but my racing heart could not help but wonder if it had been from the words Omega had spoken. The second life he had given the curse.

It was a good time to return to the den.

"Gather the pups," I told him. "This is enough for today."

Omega sunk lower into himself. Guilty and ashamed for he had the same thoughts as me. But the pups were up and wandering so he could not dwell. He trotted off to shepherd them. I wanted to comfort him, but I was too unsure of what had happened and it was unwise to assume either way. The rest of the Bone Takers curse would remain unspoken.

There were more lessons to learn after all and those of the Rock Giants required extra attention and focus. The days were easier now that the pups were accustomed to the light. Their next subject dealt with a creature vastly different from Mighty Hena. Rock Giants had hard grey knobby bodies that surpassed the size of all others in the grasslands. They moved slowly with bellies low to the ground and voices that vibrated deep beneath their feet. They migrated at this time of year and came away from the mountains to graze and mate and battle for control of the herd. The pups, Omega, and I trotted along their formation at a distance, watching how they moved and knocked against one another for space.

The Rock Giants posed no immediate threat to the Mighty Hena unless we were caught within the herd at full pace or between their territorial skirmishes. Their clacking bodies could easily crush anything caught between them or underfoot. Pups were especially vulnerable given their small size, but the swift and sure footed Mighty Hena could find protection within the herd of horned beasts when done correctly. With the pups safe on the hill, I left them under Omega's watch and trotted up to the herd. The Giants paid me no mind as I weaved between them, nothing more than a blink or flicker of shadow to their eye.

Finding a suitable position, I hopped up onto one Giant's rocky body and stood upon its back. It grunted and shook its head, but otherwise ignored my comparatively miniscule presence. I then looked back at Omega and summoned him with a bark. The pups grew eager at this but remained where they were. The call was not for them. They watched with great interest as Omega attempted to weave through the herd as I did. His presence caused many grunts, snorts, and shuffles between the Giants. Speed and confidence were the lessons here. Hesitant paws gave the Rock Giants more time to move and to think which increased one's chances of harm.

The pups watched both Omega and I closely, learning what to do and what not to do all at the same time. It became two lessons for every one and I was grateful for it. Omega's inexperience was still more than what the pups understood and they learned how to meet me by going through him. Eventually, Omega came to my Giant and attempted to jump up on another nearby. His paws slipped and he scratched the Giant's armor plating, but quickly found a new hold and climbed up. The Giant started moving in minor agitation. Omega braced himself with terror, toes flailed and legs spreads wide until the giant shuffled to a stop to chew on a new patch of grass, his burden forgotten.

"Mother, I do not doubt your wisdom," he said with shaking legs and eyes fixed on the living thing beneath him, "but this feels like folly."

"Maybe," I chuckled because the sight was too amusing not too, "but when a mountain cat or touring bull chases you, there's no safer place to hide than the back of a Rock Giant."

To prove my point, I jumped from one Giant to another, disturbing the birds nesting in the crevices of the larger Giants. The herd was relatively small, but every Giant faced a different direction and would spot an intruder no matter which way they came. Leaping from their backs also removed the need to pass through the potentially deadly maze between them. I came across a nest and stopped to collect the eggs in my mouth. Surprised by my find, Omega looked at his own Giant for hidden treasure. There were no eggs, but he saw the rivets and pits in the armor that were just deep enough to hold a different sort of treasure.

"The pups. You have placed them here before?" he realized, astounded.

It was a trick I learned years ago when my own bold adventures brought me to the top of the Giants. From there, I cleared their backs of pests, purely for my own purposes, but this led to tolerance, and tolerance, protection when I found the pups endangered so far from the den. Vipers, cats, and other predators didn't dare cross such formidable opponents. Rock Giants were friends of the Mighty Hena, as much as creatures of the wild could be, and it was important not to overstay one's welcome. With a mouthful of eggs, I hopped down off of the Giant and trotted back out of the herd. Omega hastily followed me, slipping off of his Giant in the process. He then left much more smoothly than he entered, learning the lesson quickly. The pups ran out to greet us and I placed the eggs on the ground for them to chew and break and eat.

"I have seen Jumper, Keen Eye, and Scout do such things," Omega said.

"It is easier for Keen Eye to see and Scout to scent the wind from the back of a Giant," I told him, "And Jumper just likes causing trouble."

Omega wagged his tail.

"They are great Mighty Hena," he said, always with awe and never with envy.

"And who do you think taught them such things?" I replied.

Because Jumper wasn't the only one who liked to tease. Omega wagged his tail a little harder. Then, watched the pups bat around their eggs. One bit through the narrow end and started licking at the fluid inside. Either his teeth were strong or finding weakness came easy to him. He too would be Blessed. I would have to watch to see if he would be Maw Mouth or Biter or Hunter.

"We are grateful to you, Mother. Even if the others do not say it," Omega surprisingly added.

He bashfully kept his head slightly turned away.

"I was worried about what the Doom Seer said at the river, but as I watch you do these great things, I realize that no creature of the grasslands can defeat you."

The smile in my eyes dimmed with the inevitable sorrow I knew Omega would one day face, because I too once thought such things of another. No Mighty Hena lasted forever, despite their everlasting place in the pack. And as powerful as I seemed to be, the seasons have been long for me. They grew longer still. But Omega was much too young to understand this, and I was much too prideful to deny him. But I did take it as another chance to learn more about him.

"What did you hear in the Doom Seer's words?" I asked, picking up his earlier statement.

Omega was not hesitant to answer me this time. There were no threats or curses to taint his voice. We had spoken much over lessons and he gained confidence in himself with each one. He no longer shied away while in my shadow. Omega pondered this because he knew I was looking for the words beyond what was spoken.

"He speaks like shadow," Omega described, narrowing his gaze on the memory. "Not like Mighty Hena, but like pooling darkness under water. His words elevate him, but cloud him like the peak of a mountain. The Seer did not look at what he saw, but beyond it, and his promises did not give me comfort."

I smiled again, small and sly, because I too had the same doubts. Damon Doom Seer was no Mighty Hena and we would be wise to remember as much at council.

The time to leave for Castle Rock drew near. Faster than I would have liked. I sat at my place on the hill, looking up at the moon that was no longer sharp and thin. I had much to think about ever since I came back from the graveyard. Not just of Bone Takers and Iron Mouths and Doom Seers, but of Omega and the strangeness that came from him. The way he looked at me in the river, the way he heard the curses of the Bone Takers and the prophesies of the Doom Seers, they all had a clarity that would have normally been bizarre and complex for Mighty Hena to understand. I wanted answers to these things, but in this too, I must be patient.

I looked down from the moon as Alpha found his way into my shadow once again. He walked up the hill toward me, stopping to look back at the moths fluttering above the grasses around the rest of the pack. I had no need to teach the pups the lessons of the Purple Moths tonight. Jumper had already taken that honor. He leapt straight up from the grasses to snap at the soft wings and fuzzy bodies of the moths drifting by. He obtained great height and snatched one out of the sky. The dust of the creature's wings puffed out in a fine glittering cloud. Jumper quickly went rigid afterwards. It was a temporary effect of the poison on their wings. He was subsequently powerless to stop an ambush of pups from rough housing with him in his vulnerable state. They too breathed in the lingering dust and fell over stiffly. Omega bounded over and quickly licked them clean. Moth poison didn't last long, but it was deadly in the wrong circumstances. It was also powerless against our teeth and tongues. Another fine trait of the Mighty Hena.

Alpha shook his head before continuing up to me.

"Maybe all the Blessed should spend time with their Mother," he lamented, coming up beside me.

"You think too highly of me," I answered. "Their gifts can be changed as much as their markings."

Which was exactly why Alpha had come to me.

"And what of Omega? Have you named his purpose?" he asked.

"How he thinks and sees and hears is not of Omega," I said. "He is more than Omega, but his gift is something I have not seen before. The Spirit has yet to reveal it to me."

"He is not ready," Alpha correctly surmised.

We watched as Prima went over to the group and used her tail to capture the last of the dust in its hairs. Omega tried to mimic her and ended up spinning in circles. It drew in the now recovered pups to do the same. He was not ready, but that was not all.

"I am not ready," I sighed, for one's pack name was special and could not be decided lightly or changed easily. Only when I was sure could I name him. Only a Mother or Father, or in some cases, an Alpha, could discern the gifts of the Spirit.

"Until then, I leave him under your watch as Omega," Alpha decided. "Something is different in him since being in your shadow. His way with the pups is special too. The others feel it also, but there is no more time. We must make our way to Castle Rock."

Alpha then looked at me with his blood moon eyes.

"The wild waits for no one."