Post by Athena Fire-in-Snow on Oct 28, 2009 17:52:44 GMT -8
White-Raven looked around her home, torn between rage and tears. Huge holes had been hacked into the cave walls – ugly, violating things – and the remains of a sacred Mammoth were still scattered about, butchered without skill or care. Outside, the unnatural Ice Age had vanished as though it had never been; gone with the two Metis, she supposed. Outside, the landscape had been restored to it normal seeing; the open vista of the early Cretaceous spread out below her, the grasses yellow in the chill and lightly edged in frost, a herd of Hadrosaurs wandering past… Just as it was when she had left them there. What were they, that the Umbra would become so hostile by their presence? Who were they, to so damage another's home?
White-Raven took a deep breath. She knew she was being unfair, but right now she didn't care. She was angry, sad, frustrated. She had trusted Butch, and he had allowed a sacred Glade to be tainted. She had trusted – however unwillingly – Jack and his pack to put it right, but the mage had ultimately failed. The brief respite bought by Seth was again shattered again by Butch's actions, backlashing though the Glade and into the mage, resulting in his death and the corruption of the Glade. This time she had cleansed it herself, but even the Rite she had been taught by Healer of Sorrows was insufficient to reverse the damage entirely. The area was clean, and would remain so…but the Glade was dead, the wellspring of Gnosis dried up. The Garou had destroyed a Glade.
And they dared to deny her access to THEIR home! Fury made the bear's chest shake, her paws tremble. She had done nothing but back them, protect them, try to work with them, try to honor the spirits and their Caern, holy ground, sacred land, and they turned on her. Not her friends, no, nor her pack, precious pack, but the Sept leadership and their loyal followers…Daitaro, Jack, Moira, Ravenswall, Heidi… She still remembered the last time she had visited – even as Moira bid her enter with her words, the five of them stood abreast in her path, aggression and distrust in every sinew. Words, worthless words, meaningless and deceitful….welcome, but not…visit, but not with your pack. Did a Garou ACTUALLY say that to her? It boggled her mind. Where her pack was not welcome she would not walk. They were hers, her family, her kin; Ursa Major's mother-rage burned in her – that the very creatures who scolded her for not understanding the importance of pack standing together would then ask her to abandon them for the so-called privilege of visiting the Sept! Hypocrites and bigots….
And yet, there were worthy ones amongst them, and young ones with much promise, if only they were not spoiled by the poison of their elders. White-Raven wuffled, folded herself onto the cool stone, pillowing her head on her paws. Even the younglings who had so desecrated her home had done so out of ignorance, not spite. And the damage was repairable, with time…provided she took no more risks. She would not allow the events at the lost Glade to be repeated. She sighed, and spoke quietly into the wind, and her words were pulled out and over the Pangaean plains, heard by none but the uncaring ears of a thousand grazing Hadrosaurs…
"Ah, Papa! You would be so ashamed of them. They are so like the ones who drove you out of your Sept, so nearly drove you to the Rite of the Winter Wolf! But we found each other, you and I, and we were both the better for it. I can only hope that I can bring something good out of this terrible rift as well…"
White-Raven took a deep breath. She knew she was being unfair, but right now she didn't care. She was angry, sad, frustrated. She had trusted Butch, and he had allowed a sacred Glade to be tainted. She had trusted – however unwillingly – Jack and his pack to put it right, but the mage had ultimately failed. The brief respite bought by Seth was again shattered again by Butch's actions, backlashing though the Glade and into the mage, resulting in his death and the corruption of the Glade. This time she had cleansed it herself, but even the Rite she had been taught by Healer of Sorrows was insufficient to reverse the damage entirely. The area was clean, and would remain so…but the Glade was dead, the wellspring of Gnosis dried up. The Garou had destroyed a Glade.
And they dared to deny her access to THEIR home! Fury made the bear's chest shake, her paws tremble. She had done nothing but back them, protect them, try to work with them, try to honor the spirits and their Caern, holy ground, sacred land, and they turned on her. Not her friends, no, nor her pack, precious pack, but the Sept leadership and their loyal followers…Daitaro, Jack, Moira, Ravenswall, Heidi… She still remembered the last time she had visited – even as Moira bid her enter with her words, the five of them stood abreast in her path, aggression and distrust in every sinew. Words, worthless words, meaningless and deceitful….welcome, but not…visit, but not with your pack. Did a Garou ACTUALLY say that to her? It boggled her mind. Where her pack was not welcome she would not walk. They were hers, her family, her kin; Ursa Major's mother-rage burned in her – that the very creatures who scolded her for not understanding the importance of pack standing together would then ask her to abandon them for the so-called privilege of visiting the Sept! Hypocrites and bigots….
And yet, there were worthy ones amongst them, and young ones with much promise, if only they were not spoiled by the poison of their elders. White-Raven wuffled, folded herself onto the cool stone, pillowing her head on her paws. Even the younglings who had so desecrated her home had done so out of ignorance, not spite. And the damage was repairable, with time…provided she took no more risks. She would not allow the events at the lost Glade to be repeated. She sighed, and spoke quietly into the wind, and her words were pulled out and over the Pangaean plains, heard by none but the uncaring ears of a thousand grazing Hadrosaurs…
"Ah, Papa! You would be so ashamed of them. They are so like the ones who drove you out of your Sept, so nearly drove you to the Rite of the Winter Wolf! But we found each other, you and I, and we were both the better for it. I can only hope that I can bring something good out of this terrible rift as well…"