Little Bear dozes in front of the licking remains of the fire, mind a thousand miles away.

Three-Blades travels along silently, coming up the bluff. For a moment, she ponders howling her presence. But then, decides to surprise the Wendigo who inhabit the area. Her paws are set down carefully, ears up as she stalks towards Little Bear from downwind. Then... pounce!

Little Bear snarls and rolls, eyes blazing and jaws snapping, then catches a scent and growls. I could've taken your head off, Scabwolf.

Three-Blades rolls off the galliard, ears splayed. You wouldn't! She struts a bit, turning and sitting down beside the low firelight and the Wendigo. She smells a bit like the farmhouse and cocoa, as well as scents of the Garou she had recently talked to. How are you, Silly Storm?

Little Bear snorts at the ragabash's antics. I am well enough. Spring is coming. And you? Who were you visiting with?

Sepdet comes up from the direction of the lake, or rather, from the stream where it spills in wide bubbling pools before hurrying past the foot of the bluff.

Sepdet tosses back wet hair, wrapping her arms across her bare midsection against the brisk air.

Little Bear looks over his shoulder at the sound of Sepdet's arrival, thumping his tail against the ground. Taking a bath?

Three-Blades barks a hello to Sepdet, then answers Little Bear with a flicker of her ear towards the alpha. Blooms-from-her-Pain, Cycle-Breaker, and another ~Fianna~ cub named Talespinner.

Sepdet says stoutly, ~Gotta practice our swimming, after all.~ She looks down at Three-blades, concern touching off a faint frown at the names of some of the cubs, but it doesn't reach the peace in her eyes.

Little Bear doesn't know any of those, he doesn't think. He doesn't seem overly concerned, though, standing and shaking. What happens in the scab?

Three-Blades scratches at the other ear, tail twitching in thought. The lights will be set into the underground soon, I imagine. She sniffs at the wet Strider. Swimming?

Little Bear nods, moving towards the underbrush to relieve himself.

Sepdet smiles faintly. ~Paddling, anyway. Desert-born jackal is still learning not to fear deep water, although I no longer panic when I find myself in it.~

Three-Blades whuffles quietly, knowing well enough how to paddle. This one has swam many times, though in the great waters more than rushing rivers. She pads over to Sepdet, while Little Bear takes care of business. Blooms-From-Her-Pain said you asked her to give a name for our pack. She suggested Rising Storm. What are your thoughts?

Sepdet goes into the cave to retrieve one of Joseph's old blankets to wrap around herself, then comes back and settles in her usual crouch. She's got her proper color back, the dusky brown that poets might call chocolate and the more cynical the color of dark mud. ~I think that 'storm' sounds very little like something to do with Salmon. But I like the bite of those words. And perhaps I am searching for perfection where there is none.~ She grins peaceably.

Little Bear returns from the bushes, cocking an ear at his alpha. Names for the pack?

Sepdet calls the names that have come to them on her fingers. ~Silver Arc. Salmon's Arc. Salmon's Leap. Salmon's Mirror. Salmon's /arrow/. Cascade. Reflections. Raindance. Rising Storm. Deepwaters. Chinook. Salmon Run.~ She looks over at the Galliard with a wry smile. ~So many; what does our wordmaster think?~

Three-Blades adds in, Rainfall. Though Blooms said it sounded weak. But I think it would be more like the rains that refresh the lands with cleansing waters. She rolls her shoulders in a shrug.

Little Bear cocks his head, listening as the names are read off. Chinook isn't bad. Name of a tribe, name of the wind from the west that signals the coming of gentler weather, name of a language that has tribal words and white words in it and was used for trade all over this part of Turtle Island. I like simple. Salmon Run is simple too.

Sepdet looks at Little Bear. ~I was told "Chinook" was one word for Salmon, named after the wind called "Eater-of-Snow." Could that be true, or is that my waisichu ignorance?~

Three-Blades listens to the two with ears perked. Salmon Run...? The thought of a fish running brings some interesting mental image to the Gnawer.

Sepdet chuckles at Yi. ~It is what the natives of this area call the time when the Salmon of the world fight their way upstream back to their spawning grounds. The time of struggle and renewal.~

Little Bear nods, a human habit he can't seem to break while wearing the wolf. It is a type of salmon, and that is about what it means, yes. They are named for the time they come more than what they do, though.

Little Bear's tongue lolls. And I don't know how fond I should be of the name 'snow eater.'

Sepdet's eyes twinkle. ~Yes, I suppose that would be a little awkward.~

Three-Blades swishes her tail slowly behind her. Salmon's Arc, sounds like the bridge we mean to build. Though Salmon's Leap, does carry the same thought. And, is not the Salmon's leap strong? She uses it to climb from the flat waters up the mountain streams. It is the essence of her power to aid in the struggle for surviving.

Sepdet exhales slowly, as if trying not to blow over a flower she's examining. ~That is the name that called to me most, of all those that have been suggested. What do you think, Little Bear?~

Little Bear nods. It is a good name. It will last.

Three-Blades gives Little Bear an appraising eye. Now are you just saying that because the alpha likes it, and you follow, or are you saying that because you like the name?

Little Bear snorts. When you know me better you will know not to ask that question. I like the name.

Sepdet observes mildly, ~Little Bear speaks his mind even when it goes against everything his alpha believes in.~

Little Bear's tongue lolls in amusement. Would you have me be as the whites are and tell you what you want to hear then go behind your back?

Sepdet says soberly, ~I have been known to go behind other's backs at great need, but I hope for more honorable reasons. And no. You are Wendigo. As Yi is our no-moon who questions, you must be fierce and true to your belief.~ She grins with a faint show of teeth. ~Which does not mean I won't overrule you now and then, in pack matters.~

Little Bear would not follow you if you didn't. You are alpha here, not me. But it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Three-Blades flattens her ears and whimpers softly, apologetic in a sense. I am sorry. I question things, too much sometimes. It comes to me, when I have lived in a world where the closest friends can draw ~machetes~ and thundersticks behind you, and you do not know sometimes whether they will target you, or the enemy in front. The nomoon dips her head to Little Bear and Sepdet.

Sepdet tells Yi, ~Apologize no more for your questioning than Little Bear does for his Wendigo's temper. Differences make good sparks.~

Little Bear snorts. I have no temper!

Three-Blades glances from Strider to Wendigo. No, but the fire in your heart sometimes flames the mind as well. She sniffs at Little Bear, a lupine grin creeping back to her features.

Sepdet nods sagely. ~I stand corrected. You are a Stargazer in disguise.~

Little Bear wiggles his nose at the Gnawer. Are you saying my mind is cooked? He mock-growls.

Three-Blades thinks about this, perhaps for an overly long period of silence. No, but Gaia must certainly like her Garou well done. She barks and jumps up to dodge any swipes.

Little Bear swipes indeed, groaning, and proceeds to chase her around the clearing. Find a new way to avoid my rage, ragabash!

Sepdet sits back and watches for now, tucked into the warm blanket with a thin moon of a smile peeking over her arms which are clasped about her knees. ~I'm still not up to setting anyone on fire, so no cooking,~ she says apologetically.

Three-Blades yips and turns to lead the chase where she's the target. See what I mean!? She yips as she heads down towards the gurgling stream. She chances a look behind her.

Little Bear roars after her, I HAVE NO TEMPER! He's enjoying the chase, judging from his wagging tail. As soon s she pauses to look he leaps!

And as the Wendigo leaps, the Gnawer twists to one side and reveals the waiting stream behind her, eager to reach out and return the Wendigo's act of affection with a wet kiss of water.

Sepdet sings under her breath, watching them. ~Rush as lightning upwards, leap the rocks, flash of scales! Fight the falling waters. Ever on, ever on. Mountains may be conquered in this way. Ever on. No cliff nor rapids match our will. Ever on, ever on. Returning, returning, to where we all began. Ever on, ever on. This is Salmon's battle, and the price of salmon's run.~

Little Bear backpedals in midair but SPLOOSHES anyway, sending water flying as he does the wolf equivalent of a cannonball into the ice cold stream.

Three-Blades howls with laughter as she ducks away from the resulting splash, trotting to a higher elevation before looking back down at the Wendigo. Something to cool the hot stones, though... I think I should be wary of the steam. She grins at Sepdet's singing.

Little Bear snorts, sneezes and crawls out of the stream, trotting after Three-Blades to give her a little baptism of his own as he shakes.

Sepdet falls quiet. Solemnity isn't really in order here, so she just watches, eyes bright.

Three-Blades lifts her muzzle to catch some water droplets from the air, not minding the life liquid. She gives Little Bear a consoling lick of the water from his muzzle before turning to Sepdet. What were you singing? Our packsong? She splays her ears towards the Strider, tail bumping against the wet Wendigo's flank.

Sepdet makes a soft sound in her throat like a mother wolf calling pups back to the den. ~Perhaps. The words fell on me as I watched you running.~

Little Bear squints one eye at Three-Blade's lick, then moves obediently towards the noise Sepdet makes, enduring the tail-thumping with a yawn. I have not heard that song before. Where does it come from?

Sepdet rolls her shoulders. ~It fell from the sky.~

Little Bear flops into the dirt the surrounds the fire, heedless of the muddy mess he's making of himself. Sing it again then so we do not lose it among the flames and rocks.

Three-Blades trots closer to the alpha and glances up at the sky, noting the sheer amount of stars that dot across the heavens. From my home, the only stars I see are those of the lights on the dark water. As if the skyline were trying to imitate the beauty of Gaia.

Sepdet sings it again through, more carefully, having to fumble to find words that she barely remembers saying. Then looks upwards. ~The stars here are dim and mysterious, soft-edged from fog and the breath of the trees and the faint unquiet vapors of human presence. Where I grew up, every star was so sharp it cut the eye, and the Milky Way was a river to mirror the Nile.~

Little Bear lifts his head. In my home, the trees block the stars unless you are in a clearing or on top of a mountain or on the lake. Then they were as sand on the beach. Grandfather said every star had a name and sometimes he would tell me stories about the brightest ones. He sighs a bit, putting his head down on his paws.

Sepdet looks towards Little Bear. ~It was my mother who told me stories under this sky, but they will be different from yours. Will you share some with us? Now, or another time. I have never heard your tales, Galliard, or where you came from.~

Three-Blades glances over at Little Bear too, ears tilting up and over to the galliard.

Little Bear raises his head, blinking away his thoughts. Oh? I come from further north, just over the ~ border. Canada.~ Some of our tribe still live near here, though, we were separated when the white men divided the land. It was to them I was coming for my vision when Soulcatcher found me. He begins to say more, but shifts up, hugging his knees to his chest. "They call the Okanagan, my tribe, in Canada the Lake Okanagan, and the ones here they call the River Okanagan. There is a huge beautiful lake near my home, and many mountains and valleys, and many trees. And few people, though more in the summer when the white people come to play on the lake."

Sepdet's jaw tightens at some stray memory which she shakes away with a toss of the head, scattering damp hair. She smoothes it down again with one hand, still clutching the blanket around herself, and listens.

Three-Blades queries, with thought of the lake. Are there the big buffalo?

Leonard shakes his head. No, the buffalo have all gone, or are much further north and east, in the lands of the Athabascan. That's where we went to get those here, for my rite of passage. Its how I got my adult name: Brings The Buffalo Home." He brushes a strand of damp hair from his face. "But there are some elk, and many deer, and Grandfather taught me how to find food like serviceberries and camas. He also taught me to hunt. It was important to make sure we had enough food for the winter because our little dirt road would almost always get snowed in, and the main road was a long way off. When I was little the winters got very hard a few times, and we had to eat bark until the snow melted. The second time that happened Se-go-nee said she was going to go live in the reservation town and took me with her. Grandfather was mad but he was getting old so now he lives with her in a house in town." He makes a face. "And I had to go to school."

Sepdet is sitting near the unlit fire in a small circle with her packmates; all three appear to be in varying stages of damp, and Sepdet is bundled up in one of Joseph's old blankets, in her usual relaxed crouch, listening to Little Bear with bright eyes.

Three-Blades wrinkles her nose slightly, turning away to look down the bluff at mention of school. Memories surge against the walls inside her, the Gnawer's fur hackles rising slowly with obvious effort for her fighting to keep them down. She growls quietly. ~School is not always so bad.~

Leonard snorts. "School was _horrible_. It was about two hours on the bus to get there and back and it was BORING and all we ever learned about was stuff white people think is important, and we had to speak English and French but not Okanagan, but most of the kids were okay with that because they didn't know it anyway. The only good thing about it was it was warm in winter."

Sepdet plays with the edge of the blanket absently, observing their reactions as much as their words. ~I have only heard one cub ever seem to enjoy, or benefit from, this thing you call school. I do not understand what it is, exactly.~

Three-Blades growls softly, just the mere mention of school causing some discomfort. ~School~ is where a group of humans send their cubs to learn of the people's ways. There are teachers, and there are pupils. Mine, we learned to speak, to ~read and write~, and learned of histories and many other subjects of the human world. She gives her fur a short shake, and whines just slightly with a flattening of her ears into her fur. But my friend, she was my comfort. My sister not by blood, but in heart. That was why I always went and endured.

Sepdet rises and moves over to sit by the Gnawer, setting a hand on her back. ~Who was this?~ she asks gently.

Three-Blades keeps from whining, finding the crack in the clown's mask and mending it speedily. My friend? She glances up at Sepdet, even if her mask is mostly fixed the eyes are still rather cut out in a revealing manner. She was my only family, for ~years.~ Her name... The Gnawer shifts, to her breed form as there's no other pronounciation. "Lin Li Ching." Back in her human shape, though, she swallows visibly, nodding quietly. "The reason of my Firsting, was trying to protect her." Sepdet's fingers begin to move lightly down Yi's back, coaxing comfort. Her face still holds a question, seeking more threads of the story, but she does not pry, only watches.

You have shifted to Homid form.

Leonard watches as well, staring over her left shoulder instead of into her eyes, and listens.

Yi gazes down at the grass, a hand brushing lightly over the tips. "I lived with my parents for many thirteen years. I attended school, like any other child. Of all the children there, only Li was who I could truly call a friend. A sister, would be the closer term. And when my parents died, I only told her. She didn't tell anyone else. She helped me, waited for me every morning when I would come from the fishing docks where I worked, only to go tired, sometimes late to school. She took punishment for being late with me, sometimes. She stood by me when others called me names. Fishhead, is one of them I remember well." A wry, bitter smile creeps over her features for a fleeting moment. "Li was my own... family. I protected her, and she protected me. And ..." Yi grows quiet. She shakes her head slightly.

Leonard smiles a bit at the 'sister' reference.

Sepdet's hand is an anchor between Yi and the star which the Strider is named for. ~Even Gaia cannot save every one of her children, and our powers are so much less than hers. It is hard, though, losing a friend of the heart.~ Her voice is so quiet, memories spilling over in words.

"She isn't dead," Yi whispers softly. "She lives, somewhere in Beijing. At least, I think by now... she has a job, maybe working as a teacher. Or a seamstress. Something. But... " The Gnawer takes a long, slow breath that comes out in a shaky sigh. "That night, when I changed, she and I would never be able to speak to one another again. Because I left her with that... that worm..." Yi's jaw clenches up.

Sepdet finches, misunderstanding which sort of worm Yi means. Or maybe it's the same. ~And you cannot go back to her.~

For those in forms other than human, the approach of wet footsteps, movement in the dark is more immediately noticeable. Some time later, Robin comes into view as she ascends the bluff wearing a light jacket, a pair of rain-soaked cotton pants and boots Her hair, loosened out of its two braids is slicked back, in much the same way, against her head.

Duane appears out of the darkness, near the trail leading off toward the lake, his steps so soft they go almost unnoticed. He slips in with the others, murmuring only, "Water's all good," to no one in particular.

Sepdet's nose twitches; as always, human form is something she wears only for Veil's sake and never otherwise. Her hand stays supporting Yi in silence, but she twists half away, giving a soft yip that turns into roughedged English. "Saaatshut! Flamecaller!"

Leonard looks up at the interruptions, nodding to Duane in acnowledgement of both his words and his presence, and then frowning at the sight of a wet Robin (nevermind his own disheveled, muddy appearance) and immediately fetches his blanket from the cave.

Yi glances up at the calling of names, and quickly swallows to clear her throat. "Duane." She forces a smile up, and looks over as the other approaches from a different direction. It takes her a little while before she recognizes Robin. Her head dips in a nod, as she ignores the water from the skies. Tears shed for the ones she can't. To Sepdet, she nods slowly. "I left her a note, and told her to leave Hong Kong. We would never see each other again. After I killed Jin Shu for... for violating.. her, I could not do anything else but take her home and turn away."

Duane settles in near the fire, with a brief nod toward Yi, and a quiet, "Hey, kola," for Leonard. As the Gnawer picks up her story again, his attention is drawn back to her.

Robin approaches the small fire, her breath a tad more labored than it would typically be. She offers nods of greeting to each present, ending with Sepdet who receives more query than simple greeting. The kinswoman, however, does not interrupt the conversation.

Leonard exits the cave and promptly puts the blanket around Robin's shoulders. He smiles at Duane and retakes his seat, giving Robin what he hopes is a covert once-over before returning his attention to Yi.

Sepdet squeezes Yi's shoulder tightly. "You helped your friend. And she is remembered. This matters." Then she releases the Gnawer to rise to her feet, the Lakota blanket falling from damp shoulders as she paces over to Robin in one hop and, uncharacteristically, squeezes in her a brief exuberant hug, standing slightly on tiptoe so she's embracing the woman's shoulders. Then she falls a step back. "Be welcome. You know us all now?"

Yi looks up to the clouded sky and feels the soft sheets of rain. She says something quietly to herself, of her own tongue, and glances over to the fire and others dampened. "We're almost all here."

Soulcatcher's noticeably absent from the pack's gathering at the bluff, but his distinct carrying cry can be heard echoing among the foothills. From some crest a mile or more above the bluff, his wolf's silouette can be seen lifted toward the thin crescent moon as he howls.

Yi glances up towards the cry. "I sit corrected."

Leonard looks up immediately at the howl, eyes searching the moonlit horizon for the familiar silouette.

Robin doesn't refuse the blanket as Leonard presses it to her shoulders. In fact she murmurs a quiet thank-you to him in Lakota before he moves away. Turning she accepts Sepdet's sudden embrace with an atypically warm light in her dark eyes, though the rest of her expression is impassive. "Enough for a beginning," she answers. "And I thank you for your welcome." The second is formally spoken, directed obsequiously to the pack as a whole. Robin refocuses on Sepdet's face and her gaze sharpens. "All is well?"

Duane flashes a short smirk as he hears the Wendigo in the hills. "Hey, hey," he murmurs, before rising to gather a bit more wood for the flames.

Sepdet's hands squeeze into fists and she gives them a slight shake, emphasizing her mute nod of affirmative. Her face turns towards the sound of the howl. The faintest hint of concern drifts across her eyes, but it's fleeting, and she tips back her head, cups hands to her mouth, returns the howl with a semblance of the high shimmering cry she uses in jackal's guise. A twist at the end is an invitation.

Yi looks to Duane. "Hey, we might actually have a name to call ourselves by now," she notes to the Uktena. Her mood, unlike her hair, is not as damp.

Robin's attention turns sharply over her shoulder as she hears that cry and the beginnings of a pleased expression touches around her eyes and lips. She looks back to Sepdet as she calls up into the wet sky, her gaze mildly appraising once more, and perhaps intrigued by the near-howl itself.

Sepdet pages to the room: Oh, ah, hunh. None of you would've seen it before, but Sepdet's now wearing a wooden ankh along with her other necklaces that looks old and worn.

"Straight? What you got?" Duane responds, giving Yi a short once-over before depositing a small bundle of thin sticks near the fire.

Soulcatcher makes his way down, though it does take some time before his shadow emerges from the treeline near the stream. Nostrils flair as he takes in the various scents atop the bluff, and a soft grunt of greeting escapes as he pads in among the group. Unsurprisingly, it's the kin he moves to last and preses his body against Robin's sides, settling against her and laying his head in her lap.

Robin has indeed sunk to kneel on the wet ground by the time the Wendigo lupe arrives. She opens the blanket to invite him closer and rewraps it around him as he settles, leaning down to murmur something hushed and Lakota near his ear.

Yi looks at the others. "Well, I think we've narrowed it down to Salmon's Leap, or Salmon's Arc, or... Chinook?" She glances to Sepdet.

Duane nods speculatively as he arranges a few sticks in the flames, trying to stave off the rain. "Word, yo," he says. "Chinook's cool. So're the others." He's too easy to please.

Sepdet watches Robin and Joseph with quiet warmth, reseating herself beside sings the song that struck her earlier a third time, stammering slightly as she scrambles for English to meet the sense.
"As lightning leaps, but upwards,
Salmon leaps stone--
flash of scales!
Fight the falling waters.
Ever on, ever on.
Mountains may be conquered in this way.
Ever on.
No cliffs nor rapids match our will.
Ever on, ever on.
Returning, returning, to that place where we began.
Ever on, ever on.
This is Salmon's battle,
and the price of salmon's run."

The Strider breaks off with a grin. "Salmon's Leap," she pronounces, tasting the words and looking to Joseph and Duane for their reactions. She reseats herself by Yi and Little Bear.

Leonard nods with satisfaction. "Salmon's Leap."

"Salmon's Leap," Duane intones, as if his mimicry were part of some ceremony.

Yi nods. "Salmon's Leap. Though if I go around saying it's Rising Storm, I hope you won't mind." She coughs softly in a wry laugh.

Soulcatcher listens to the song, his ears pricked forward and his eyes glittering golden amber. The name, Salmon's Leap elicites a soft, satisfied whine from the wolf.

Robin listens to the song, her dark eyes reflecting the fire along with something less defined and faraway.

Yi smiles at Leo. "It's a name that has bitter roots, but sweet flowers budding from it. Even Li called me 'Fishhead'. It was bound to return in the circle." She gazes over as Sepdet sings her song.

Sepdet leans forward, touching . "Full circle indeed. We are telling stories tonight, Robin, my Soulcatcher, of roots and returnings. Yi of a friend and her firsting. Leonard of his grandfather's good teachings, and the human school's bad teachings."

Soulcatcher's nose burrows under the blanket briefly and he licks at one of Robin's hands. then his head turns back to fix his gaze on Sepdet, her explanation bringing a pleased thump of his tail. And he waits to hear who's talking now.

Robin's murmur comes low and the movement of the blanket suggests she has prodded the wolf warming her. "Then it is, perhaps, Two Souls' turn." She smiles a small, fleeting smile and notes, ".. though his tales can be a bit self-serving."

Yi shrugs off the creeping feelings. "School is as bittersweet as any medicine, for my experiences." She looks over the others. "And speaking of teachings, I still have to learn a few things about being out in these places. There are some /fierce/ animals out among the trees. Any of you ever seen a little bear?" She glances over to Leo. "Uhm," clarifying, she motions with her arms holding them out a little shorter than widespread arms, "Was about this big, low to the ground, short tail, bad scent, and had a very nasty temper. Almost took my rabbit, but, I got most of it away." She thinks. "Well, a limb and most of the head and shoulders."

Sepdet's mouth turns down slightly. "Sounds like Wolverine," she mutters uneasily.

Leonard smiles. "Sounds like either a wolverine or a badger. Was it grey or brown?"

Soulcatcher lolls his tongue at Yi's adventure, and Robin gets a brief answering nudge, just as playful as her words seem to be to him. For himself, he does not start a tale until Yi and Little Bear are done.

Sepdet lets out a breath to ground herself, casts eyes up at the misty sky and gets rain instead of stars in her eyes, and find her thin smile again. She leans forward to stoke the smoking fire, coaxing it with soft wordless sounds under her breath.

Yi shrugs, withdrawing her arms back. "That's what it was? I'm not sure. Can't see colors in lupus. But it had a very bad temper, even worse than yours." She chuckles at Leonard. "Gave a good fight to it, anyway. Scratched up my shoulders and things, but hispo healed those quickly. Smelled horrible... like dead meat. Maybe it rolled in some."

Leonard huhs. "Wolverine stinks like that." He glances at Joe, ignoring Yi's jab..for now. "So what was your school like?"

Sepdet pulls out the stick she was using as poker and holds up the end, upturned face lit by the little tongue of flame until it sputters out. Expression solemn but relaxed, she begins to sketch signs in air with the red glowing end. An idea strikes her and the movements become little arcs, leaps, trailing sparks that fall and wink out before touching the damp ground.

Soulcatcher seems reluctant to shift, enjoying leaning in against Robin, sharing his warmth with her. But, he can't tell a tale in wolf, and expect her to understand it. So, the Wendigo shifts up to Glabro. In the near man, he's larger than usual, settles behind her and wraps both his legs and arms around her to keep her warm. Focusing on the fire, he says, "School?" in English. "When my parents were killed, I was taken out of the White Man's school. I have little memory of it, now."

Yi rubs the back of her neck, slowly, as she listens. She arches an eyebrow at the constant mention of white men. But that will be a different story.

Leonard smiles ruefully. "Lucky. So who taught you what you know?"

Sepdet says lightly, still watching the sparks, "I had thought to ask you and Robin of the Black Hills, or of Buffalo." She falls quiet again at Leonard's question.

Though she's not petite, Robin looks positively small wrapped in Leo's blanket and drawn back against glabro-Joe. Although the initial shift away from lupus disturbs her, Robin settles back into his hold readily and watches the ember tracing Sepdet does while she listens to Joe's gravelly Glabro voice behind her.

Joseph's voice is gruff, deep thanks to the form he's in. "My Tunkasila. Grandfather Quick Bear. And, Feather's grandfather, too. They sent priests and indian agents, always talking about law. But the two elders were good at tricking them. We had to go to a little house with several of the other children. But more often than not, I didn't."

Yi tilts her head to Joe, thoughtful.

Sepdet's firestick fades to two thin wisps of smoke. She draws it side to side, making uneven sinuous waves like a winding river, peering through it at Joseph.

Leonard glances at Sepdet. "So what about the Black Hills or buffalo," he asks again, for her.

Joseph remembers, and he speaks the words as the memories come to him. "The suits, the black suits, sent two after me one time. And Feather hid me in corn hut. Grandfather told them that they should not worry because my father's spirit had taken me. And, pointing to the sky, an Eagle flew over the two men. One of them looked up, and the bird--so grandfather Quick Bear told me later--shit on his mirrored eyes."

Leonard laughs!

Sepdet's teeth flash in a fleeting grin of approval.

Yi blinks. How pleasant that must have been.

Sepdet sets the stick back into the edge of the fire with a puff of sparks. "Joseph hiding in his own desert, like my mother hiding me in the hills and dunes," she says, apparently pleased by the image.

Joseph lays his chin on the kin's shoulder, smiling at Sepdet. The expression is naturally feral, thanks again to his form. As for stories, he seems to be done.

Sepdet asks in a low voice, "Joseph must have heard it, but have I told you all how I first met Salmon?"

Yi gazes over at Sepdet. Her eyes squint a bit, until she sees the pendant about the Strider's neck. "On your Rite of Passage?"

Sepdet nods lightly. "That, yes. Perhaps it is a different story I should give," she says sheepishly.

Joseph, if he has heard the story, could probably stand to hear it again. Ate least that could be gleaned from his expression.

Sepdet pages to the room: And then there were three. But tis Joe and Yi, two of the bestest.

Sepdet's voice and eyes are unusually clear, grave with memory. "I was a cub asked to aid a pack on a difficult quest in Wendigo lands... a quest I am not so proud of, but it was at the orders of my elders. /Salmon/ was my own. On the way I and my Rite-sisters, Jess and Dia, were sent to explore eastward. We came to a river that stank of burnt paper, sickness, acrid evil. Along the bank, in the umbra, we found an ancient longhouse, falling in, broken timbers, hollow as a body when the spirit is fled. In it, Jess found a single round pebble, water-smooth."

Yi cants her head to the Strider. Such mythical sounding rites, as opposed to her rather mundane one, garner her interest as much as mythic tales do.

Sepdet says "In a flash I saw an old woman, skin ruddy like salmon's, bones and hair gray, garments dripping. Her face was sad and anguished: a plea. We went upriver. There we found a logging mill, with wide scars on the land where the earth was raw and muddy and choked with the splinters of the dead trees that had been cut down. It filled the river with filth. In the umbra, there was a bane spewing forth sickness into the waters. In the realm, men twisted by the wyrm to horrible shapes. Dia Fire-drums, my Get friend, and I attacked them, while Jess, a peaceful Gaian healer, took a giant machine with wheels and drove it into the mill, knocking it down and breaking everything." She grins."

Yi nods her approval, though the description of the woman gets her curiosity. "Was the woman another shapeshifted Salmon?"

Sepdet says softly, "It was Grandmother Salmon, the Incarna. This was /her/ river."

Sepdet continues, "The men scattered or died at our claws. But there was still the bane. Jess and I went into the umbra. Dia tore at it bravely, but it only hurt her. I thought: if it is so not the mother, I shall try Healing on it. That worked. Gaia's healing burned it. So Jess and I took it down, Dia clawed its spawn from the river, and we went back to Salmon's spirit-hut. And there we found the old woman, and dying, she told us, 'Bring my children home.' Then she faded away. We wept over her, cubs frightened and afraid we had failed."

Yi watches the Strider intently, as she were a cub again listening to stories.

Sepdet says "But Jess Asks For Directions realized her meaning, and took the round pebble we had kept. We went back to the stream. We placed it in the waters, like an egg in a nest, and suddenly there came leaping, rushing, boiling out new small salmon, running down the river like they hadn't a moment to spare. And more suddenly there came a child, a little girl with ruddy skin and silver hair and an old woman's eyes. She thanked us, called us her daughters, and promised each of us one boon for helped clear her sacred river." The Strider's tale ends, and she returns to herself, and then, with a shy smile. "So as you said, Yi, we come full circle."

Yi feels the slow smile spreading over her face. "So it comes around as a full circle." She straightens up some, and glances sidelong to Joseph before returning her gaze back to the Strider. "So, how did you get the pendant? It was not there before."

Sepdet blinks, still thinking of Salmon (whose sign she also wears) before realizing. "Oh." Her voice is soft. "It was given to me before my Rite of Passage by a long-dead tribesmate. It sustained me through that, my Harbinger test, and our last pack's trial in the River of Silver. I gave it to Andrea before she left telling her: 'When I was captured by Dancers and in their power, I held this in my hand, and never lost hope. I came back even from there. You will come back from the gates of Erebus, if you wear it.' She returned it to me three nights ago."

Yi nods slowly, the small smile on her face not waning. "We still have to meet.. uhm.. Quiet. Or Andrea, as you call her now... and her pack."

Sepdet agrees with a fervent nod. "Very much. And she wishes to meet you. She asked me of our pack."

Yi looks up momentarily, after realizing it's stopped raining. "Well, we have a name to call ourselves by now." She grins smally. "And if she's as wonderful as you and Alicia say she is, it would be an honour to meet a Garou who comes back from the Silver River."

Sepdet winces. "It is. But it is for other reasons too. I hope you will see." She wipes her face with her hands and peers upwards, seeking breaks in the clouds. "Yi, is there anything you want of this pack? Anything at all you find yourself wishing we did, or dared?"

Yi peers at Sepdet with some confusion. "What I want from the pack?" She blinks a couple of times. "What do you mean? And why do you wince?"

Sepdet shakes her head quickly. "Oh, just that Joseph and I had our own dip in the silver river, for surely no more than an hour, and when I think of Quiet there for moons and moons--" evidently the Strider is taking a while to adjust to the name change-- "it makes me shiver. Not that the river is evil. It is /good/. But it is pain beyond words."

Yi takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly, watching her breath roll out in small puffs. "You mean, something as... travelling back to Erebus, or somewhere? Swimming in the Silver River, and returning cleansed and changed?" Yi looks pensive, batting at a few blades of grass with her finger. "Something daring, as that?"

Sepdet shakes her head. "Not so complete as Andrea. There were no spirits, no creatures inflicting torture. Only... it was on our last Totemquest. We were in a distant place in the umbra, the Mountain of Five Winds. Following the trail the wind set for us, which led us deep into the mountain's heart. There we found a river of molten silver. Its vapors burned our eyes, skin, lungs. The pack thought it was not the way. But I felt it was, leapt out: fell. They followed. Thank gods I was right. It seared our bodies with pain, and forced us each to face the most terrible regret we'd never healed from, brutally and vividy, until we could accept it. We swam across and climbed out. The only thing that truly changed was our will. It was no more than a creek, a tributary, of the great river Andrea and her pack endured."

Yi listens to her alpha's words carefully. After a few moments of silent thought, she queries quietly, "You want to go back?"

Sepdet purses her lips. "It might have helped me, this last winter, in dealing with the Lady's death. But no. The River is to drive out the taste of despair, hopelessness, powerless, and cleanse one of all faults, sins, guilts, and small nicks of the Wyrm. One who goes in cannot count on coming back in a month, a year, or even the lifetime of those one leaves behind. There are other ways to heal." Her eyes dance with a shy pleasure.

Yi thinks on this, as if trying to puzzle out a possible riddle the Strider has given her. "When you asked me, about joining your pack... that night. I said it was an honour to receive such an invitation. That night.. Jay and I, we had promised ourselves to grow old together as elders." She swallows dryly. "That was the last night we held each other. He died, the next night, trying to cleanse this sept of the Dancers. I was supposed to pack with him, and Banecruncher, Nevada and some others. But when he was gone, things... they fell apart. But I remembered your invitation. I waited. I'm not sure why, but I did. I do not regret it." She looks down at her hands, wringing them together slowly. "When you ask me what I want from this pack... I, well I don't really know. Companionship, I guess. A chance to do something, to learn something about worlds that I have never seen before. It's all rather.. overwhelming. I mean I've been in packs.. but. But none, quite like this one." She shrugs, a slow roll of her shoulders. "I was.. I am, sure that I want this pack to be the first in my journey here. I guess, all I want now, is for Gaia to show me what she wants me to do next."

Sepdet leans towards her, earnest. "Two things: getting to know the forest and spirits better, and fighting banes in the scab. There are the sewers, that all-encompassing battle which we wage as many tribes: Get, Gnawers, and the scattered ones from the forest. That is our main task. For the moment, you can best help there by keeping track of what the city Garou are doing, helping Kaz get the lights together, and inspiring the Gnawers for the battle. I will also need your help with another bane, the one that wounded me near Sydney's home." There is an odd weight to the so-called Strider kinfolk's name.

Yi looks up into the Strider's eyes. "That... I can do. Learning about the forest.. well, I met one of the inhabitants already." She smiles a little wryly at the memory. "Bane-fighting, sewer scouting, I can do. Keeping track of the city Garou, ok. I'll be there when Kaz drops down below. The other bane.. well, I am the fish that lured the bait to the hook." Her eyes narrow as she smiles. "Sydney, your kinfolk... the one you mentioned before. A bane threatens her home?"

Sepdet starts and comes back from some thought that makes her gaze drift out far into the night shadows, a smile playing across her lips. She gives an almost fierce laugh. "Gaia forbid! No. She lives near the University. The bane is there in one of the buildings. I was trying to check the umbra where the infamous bones are being kept, but I nver made it that far."

Yi quirks a part of her lip up as she nods slowly. "Maybe that's one reason why schools are so bad sometimes," she remarks with some sardonic tone. "I remember my school, some kids said it was haunted. Maybe it was. Who knows..." She leans back and straightens up slightly. "But if this is related with the bones... I can ask Bernie about it. She is the main spearhead for distracting the seekers out there from the forests looking for some 'Bigfoot' monster. Though... there was recently on the news, that a group of humans were protesting at the national park's ranger station. Said they wanted Bigfoot to be protected." She shrugs a bit. "I'll see what I can come up with on it." She tilts her head at Sepdet. "Will the bane come out of the Umbra? Attack in the Realm? We'd have a problem if that happened."

Sepdet shakes her head hurriedly. "No, it's well rooted in the umbra. I don't think it's the mobile type. Just feeding off something in the basement there."

Yi nods. "A guardian. Kind of like the wards that we saw in the banehunt."

Sepdet purses her lips. "I'm not sure it was guarding anything. I think it was just feeding off the other little spirits in the area. It's sort of like a big horrible plant, brought in by a seed. I've heard of its ilk before." She grimaces. "Not that it prevented me from falling for its lure, at least enough to investigate."

Yi furrows her brow with thought. "Well, since you have somewhat scouted it out already... then we can try and arrange a plan of attack." She sighs somewhat frustratedly. "One really doesn't comprehend the extent of the Wyrm's reach until one sees just how hard it is to combat it. Work on one side, the other starts falling apart. Fix the problem, and turn back, and there's another one. By the four winds, there's just.. a lot... to clean up." She flicks her finger at a grassblade.

Sepdet makes a soothing noise in her throat. "Have you ever really gotten full of fleas, Yi?"

Yi glances up at Sepdet. "Fleas? Sure I have. Hot shower and scrubbing with rocks helps. But it doesn't help that much if the fleas are caused by the rats you're stuck in the closet with." She tilts her head at Sepdet. "Why do you ask?"

Sepdet speaks with her hands, fingers wiggling. "Well, I didn't hit them til I moved to Cairo, and couldn't find a shower, and no sand to roll in. I remember how I thought I'd never be rid of them again. But when I left Cairo, and the ship we stowed away in, they showed me how if you bit a few each day, killed 'em one by one, you'd wake up one day and be free of the itch. Banes are just really large, really horrible fleas on Gaia's face. There's ways to wash them off."

Yi laughs, shaking her head with some hint of being impressed. "True... true. Though there are more than just fleas. But it can be cleaned eventually." She takes to stroking the grass under her finger. "Just takes time. And a little luck."

Sepdet adds firmly, "Persistence and organization. Two things our great sprawling river of a sept has never had much skill in doing. Like the Nile spreading out, with no men there to arrange its floodwaters into neat channels, banks, pools. So much can be grown in our waters, if only there are a few people with shovels and rakes to shape it."

Yi glances at the low fire, the flames still dancing with light. "There are a lot of Garou in this sept, I admit. Gaia knows what sort of force we would be if we worked together. But, we'll just take them one at a time, the Wyrmspawn. Or even 2 or more." She looks up at the Strider, and smiles softly. "One hit at a time. Reminds me of what my Sifu said. Never expect to strike more than once."

Soulcatcher pads out of the cave, after spending a good deal of time getting the kin settled for the night, as well as perhaps sleeping next to her for a bit. He's returned to the wolf as he shakes out his fur and settles by the fire.

Sepdet chuckles ruefully. "Seems to take me two times or more to win most battles. But it's a good goal to strive for."

Yi sees Soulcatcher and moves over to fuzzle the Wendigo's ears. "To give ourselves so that Gaia, and others may live on. Quite a noble cause." She's starting to look tired, but in a good way.

Sepdet's eyes brighten at Yi's words, Salmon's lessons, but there's a different light in her eyes, an intensity that translates itself into mischief. She circles the fire to fall on the other side of the Wendigo, kneeling and scooping arms around his midsection. "You."

Soulcatcher rolls onto his back, his winter coat full with only a few nettles caught in the long coat. He rubs against the Gnawer's legs and then imitates her Tribe's title by Gnawing on her hand playfully.

Yi fuzzles the Wendigo with her other hand in that case, rubbing at the spots around his ears. "So I suppose the first thing to do, is stick to the city until the sewer lights are set up. And come out here on some spare time to learn about the ways of the woods and maybe, talk to Salmon or something. If she understands me, anyway..."

Sepdet rubs her face against Soulcatcher's fur and then settles on her side next to him. Dignity? Not tonight, apparently. "We shall teach you spirits. And you need to help me teach Joseph more of the city, someday."

Soulcatcher wriggles, growling like a puppy at play and biting and pawing at both packmates. He seems content to be the /object/ of affection while he dolls out his own attention. Something about Sepdet draws his nose more curiously, however, and he winds up sniffing the Strider quite, quite thoroughly.

Yi narrows her eyes some as she remembers her last encounter with spirits. The thoughts are put away though, as she watches Soulcatcher sniff at Sepdet. "Something interesting?"

Sepdet pinches his nose lightly between two fingers. ~Tickle not the Strider,~ she intones. But she gives him an odd sidelong glance, eager but furtive.

Soulcatcher finishes sniffing and winds up licking at the Strider's tweaking fingers. His keen, amber gaze lingers on Sepdet's as he growl-chuffs out an answer to the Gnawer. Hope-Star smells of a warm fire. Pack. Comfort.

Yi smiles and nods, giving the Wendigo some more scritches around his ears before letting go. "I should get some sleep. Still have work tomorrow at the kitchen."

Sepdet strokes his muzzle, answering that with a curt breathy chuckle in the back of her throat. "Yes," she agrees quietly. "Perhaps I do. The Lady will not grudge me that the time of mourning her is over."

Soulcatcher cocks his muzzle at both, but licks the gnawer in answer, taking his leave. Sleep well, he tells her.

Sepdet props up on one elbow and looks towards the Gnawer. "Go well, as always, friend. Next time we meet here by the lake, we should take you spirit side, and teaching." She holds out her free hand palm-forward towards the young woman in a silent blessing and farewell.

Yi dips her head towards the two. Then again, she does a more formal half-bow to them both with a smile tacked on before she slips into wolf and travels back to the city.