Cole's Fostern Challenge

Logfile from GarouMU.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Full Moon phase (87% full).
It is currently 15:19 Pacific Time on Thu Jan 12 2006.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining. The temperature is 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the north at 5 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.81 and falling, and the relative humidity is 93 percent. The dewpoint is 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius.)

Bawn: Northern Forest(#3012RA)
Dark and forboding woods stretch in all directions but the north, the trees close together as if they were soldiers closing ranks against the enemy of Man. The trees here are tall, and close off all light from above, like they were pillars in some vast cathedral to Nature. Songbirds flit between the branches and the snuffling of small animals comes from the brush if one listens close enough. The busy interstate highway to the north, though, drowns out most of the subtler sounds in that direction.
The northern edge of the bawn is marked here by the unavoidable length of Interstate 90. Near it, the sounds of traffic drown out the more natural sounds of water and wildlife. In all other directions, the traffic noise recedes into the background.
Contents:
Cole
Obvious exits:
Interstate 90  North  Lone Boulder  Western Bawn  Central Bawn  Eastern Bawn  

A shape comes hobbling into the gathering gloom that prevails underneath the trees. Auburn fur and his size mark the shape immediately to anyone who knows him as Howls-for-Glory. It looks as if the Galliard has seen better days, however. He moves slowly, stumbling occasionally, and seems to be having trouble tracking his quarry. For those close enough, he smells of sicknes from his very pores.
Runner comes from the eastern direction, almost sopping wet from her time under the rainy weather to date. She pauses beneath one of the spreading evergreens, shaking off another spray of countless drops of water from her deep rusty red and ivory coat. Movement, stumbling, that catches the predator's eye quickly, but the Gnawer soon discovers it isn't a vulnerable food source, but the galliard. She sniffs futilely in the washed out weather, but gives a bark to greet and acknowledge the Fianna elder from her spot sheltered from the elements.

As soon as the bark echoes out, the Fianna looks up. His tail swishes once, and he approaches her. Runner-rhya, he greets her cordially. I have been looking for you. He sits down on his haunches with a heavy thump.

Once he's closer, Runner can get a will of the ill condition of the galliard. The top of her muzzle wrinkles, ears tilting back as she moves a pace or two aside. You are quite happy, for a sick wolf, she observes.

Howls-For-Glory grunts, looking up to the Bone Gnawer. Not as happy as I hope to be, he answers in tired 'tones'. Something a rat ~fomor~ gave me. I will be talking to Guards-Flame-rhya later, and see if anything can be done about it. It is not as bad like this. In the ape skin, it's worse. But that is not why I was searching for you. I have a question, if you'd be willing to hear it?

Runner snaps her ears forward. Tainted rats? That gets her attention as much as anything else, and suddenly the moon's influence bubbles up from her otherwise calm outward demeanor. Hackles pitch up, and her lips don't loosen as quickly as they would normally. She gives the galliard a short, sharp nod of her nose to bid him continue.

Howls-For-Glory seems surprisingly submissive tonight, merely dipping his gaze. ~In a warehouse,~ he starts, reverting to Mother Tongue. ~We found rats the size of cats, and one twice the size of that. They had eaten a human being, as well as all the dogs and cats in the area. Where the sewage has backed up. They were put down, their pain ended. If you wish to search the place, it is a warehouse with a steel door, scorched by acid.~ He spends a long moment, gathering his breath. Even that short tale has left him winded, it would seem. ~My question...yes. It is for my challenge for Fostern. It is the last question.~

Runner squints, and then snorts. The underground of the Scab has been a breeding ground for the Wyrm for a long, long time. The one who manages to lead the Garou to cleansing it would be considered a great Garou. With the mention of rank challenges, though, she promptly shakes off the other topic and focuses on the one at hand. How many have you asked already?

Four, he replies. Cycle-Breaker-yuf knew the first. The second went to Rags-Torn-to-Rags-yuf of the Uktena. The third was to the scarred Walker. The fourth was known by Fights-for-Hope-rhya.
Runner looks curious after the list of names given, before grunting. You have had a good time with this challenge? she asks, head tilting at the galliard.

There's another silence. It has been an experience. I have been allowed to see into a history that no more than a few in the Sept yet remember. It is humbling, the tales of someone I call friend and fellow Galliard. It was not fun. But it was worth every question. He pushes himself up to his legs, just in time to give a sneeze.

Runner flinches away from the sneeze, mindful of the illness brought upon the galliard. Clearly, she's hoping it's not something contagious, given if it is powerful enough to make sick a Garou. In said distraction she wonders aloud, have you been checked for taint, since you fought the tainted rats?

Howls-For-Glory grunts. After I speak to you, I am going to find Guards-Flame-rhya, and while I speak to her, ask her to check me for it. The touch of the Mother does nothing. I will ask to be Cleansed, since Fights-for-Hope missed me in his round of Cleansings recently.

Runner looks concerned even more about it, made so by the fact that they are sitting on the bawn. She stands, looking around the area before looking back. Ask your question.

Howls-For-Glory shakes his shoulders heavily. Thank you, Runner-rhya. I will be swift. This question was given by Fights-for-Hope-rhya, and is the last. Who was Guards-Flame-rhya's....At this point, he trails off. He looks frustrated, and then blurs as his form swells into homid. The symptoms of the sickness, then, become clear. He looks like anyone who might be suffering from a particularly nasty bout with the flu. He starts to shiver almost instantly in the chill air. "Who was Alicia-rhya's Romeo?"

As the Fianna changes, the Gnawer steps back another couple paces. The ragabash evaluates the condition of the galliard. Are you /sure/ you should not see someone to cleanse yourself first? It is a dubious whine at best.

Cole grits his teeth, shaking his head. It's clear that the gritting isn't a threat so much as him simply keeping from shuddering. "No, Gauntlet-Runner-rhya. My challenge ends tonight, as soon as Alicia-rhya lays eyes on me. By this evening, I will be Cleansed. Please. I am out of time." He looks up, trying to catch her gaze. "It is a sickness, and I have been careful about not touching others."

Runner eyes the galliard more, before she seats herself again beneath the drier needles beside the tree, tail straight out behind her. I will not answer that question, she states firmly.

There's a flash of surprise on his face, unfeigned and too sudden to even be hidden. "What? You know the answer? Why will you not, if I can ask, Runner-rhya?" The Fianna leans in as he sits down, heedless of the damp.

Runner indicates that she knows the answer, yes. But, she will not answer the question because there is information in there you are not someone she would tell it to. It is an answer, but perhaps not really an answer. The ragabash gazes at the galliard more, head lifting and setting in seriousness.

Cole's jaw literally drops. It'd be comical, if not for the hectic spots of color flaring up on his face. "Infromation...I shouldn't know? Does...does anyone else know this at the Sept? Anyone else at all know the answer to this question?"

Runner flickers her ears, still observing the Fianna with a serious eye. There are no hints at amusement in her expression this time. That, she replies, I would not know the answer to. Guards-Flame herself knows the answer, of course.

If whatever illness he's facing made him complacent before, it seems to rush away. His face gets redder by the moment, and it's obvious he's fighting a battle with his temper. "If it's something I shouldn't know, then I don't think anyone else would know. It's a..a...secret." The last word is spit out with something akin to disgust. "And...there is no way to convince you otherwise, I take it?" He looks up to the Ragabash, then it flicks away. A small bunch of leaves is scooped up from the forest floor and crushed into shape in one hand.

Runner lifts her muzzle a touch, sitting stock still though the hairs along her hackles have run up again. I am of the Bone Gnawers, and a ragabash, she answers him. The leaves being crushed in hand get a glance, then her attentions return back up to his face. No piece of knowledge is not unattainable.

Cole squints his brow. "Nothing is not unattainable," he echoes. The confusion softens the edge of his burgeoning anger. "What would you accept as a sign that...I am worthy of knowing this? A tale, maybe? Or a token of some kind? My word as a Fianna that I'll not tell another soul? Runner-rhya, ask something of me to prove myself. If Alicia-rhya asked this question of me, she must have expected that I might learn it. Surely it cannot be so bad?"

Runner offers the other side of the coin. Or, she muses aloud, she meant to make you stop and question what all this knowledge you know is for. You have learned much about Guards-Flame, but what have you truly learned about yourself?

Cole coughs, a rattling sound. This time, when a question is put to him, he shows no confusion. "I talked about that with Jamethon-rhya at length, yesterday. At first I didn't understand. I thought it was merely a test of my skill as a Galliard." He anger seems forgotten for the moment as he explains. "No. I think...I think Alicia-rhya wanted me to realize how important history is to us, and my role as a Galliard in it. If so few people know these facts, important facts about one of our heroes...how much will be lost when the few who know it die in battle? I owe her a debt of gratitude for making me teach myself this. I learned that I have an obligation and duty."

Runner yawns widely, closing her jaws with a sharp snap. That is not all you should learn about being a singer moon, she comments, tail swishing behind her. And, she adds with blunt honesty, while you understand it is important for knowledge to be known, you do not know the value of the knowledge you have, Howls-for-Glory.

Cole stiffens. "Knowledge I have? How can you say that I don't understand the value of it?" He looks offended, if anything else, at the blunt reply.

Runner continues reading the galliard, fur puffing and slicking alternatingly between subtle changes of her mood in response to his. What have you learned about Guards-the-Flame? she queries with implication behind her question.

Cole opens his mouth to speak, but snaps it shut quickly enough that his teeth click together. "What have I learned of her? I've learned more than just the answers. I've learned that she came from a harsh beginning, with a brute of a man who called himself her father. I've learned that despite this, even because of it, she drew on alot of strength people didn't think she had. I learned that she was brave when she fought Agatha-ikthya, taking her first wounds in defense of the Caern itself. I've learned...I've learned that she is a healer as much as a warrior, saving Smith's eyesight like that. I've learned that she's a model for a Galliard that I don't know if I can ever match. She's a fucking hero to the Walk!"

So, Runner tacks on, circling back to a question posed to her in the past. You asked me this question from before. Who is the killer of Guards-Flame's father?

Cole wipes rainwater from his eyes, seemingly taken aback by the question. "Helen Cycle-Breaker of the Furies killed her father, though he brought the death sentence on himself. That man...was sick as they come."

Runner jumps up to her paws, ears pushing forward along with her face as she fully exposes her point. You see? You see? How easily you reveal the knowledge you know, without thinking of what you know. You have just told me the name of a killer - her full name, her tribe, her past deeds as well. How could I, then, tell you what I know and not expect you to take your knowledge to another? To someone who should not know? To someone else who would tell? To Magpie, Gossiper of the Forest?

Cole gets a dawning look of horror on his face. "Because there is no shame in what she did," he responds, hotly. "The man was walking the line of the Wyrm's corruption, if he hadn't already fell in! Helen deserves honor for what she did, not to have it hid like some shameful seceret! I have kept secrets even from, yes, Magpie, my totem! But there's no way to prove that without proving it false." Somewhere in the midst of that, he's pushed himself to his feet, leaning against the bole of a tree for support.

Would you say the same, if you knew what I know, Runner questions. Would you say that much if I were one who captured and caged those who broke the law? What if I were Wyrm-tainted, and had fooled you into thinking I was a friend of Gaia, and was only using you for more knowledge? She turns a tight circle, looking discomforted by the very thoughts that swirl in her mind and the opinions that she airs.

Cole grits his teeth. "I don't know what you know, Runner-rhya, so I can't answer that question. You aren't someone who cages those who have broken human law. And I must believe you are not Wyrm-tainted. The Guardians would have caught you, or your very own packmates, especially the one we're speaking of right now. Life is risk. I have to risk giving you information in order to get information. Otherwise, our tales would never be told, just in case a Wyrm creature might hear them and report back to its masters! I do the best I can with the knowledge I have, and I do not betray secrets idly. That is a fact, and one I cherish."

Runner stops in her pacing, staring back. And how far will you go? How much will you risk, Howls-for-Glory, to gain this knowledge?

Cole meets her gaze levelly, looking aside before it becomes a challenging stare. "I will go as far as you, Runner-rhya. I risk that you've fallen to the Wyrm. I don't believe the risk is there, though. You are Gaia's, as surely as I am. I would risk myself for this. But...if you truly believe that I would do wrong by someone who raised me almost as surely as did the Fianna...if you really think that I would do anything to hurt her...I accept your judgement."

Runner raises her hackles again, growling out rather thunderously when their eyes meet. When he looks away, the growl trails and dies, but so does her worked up state. She looks away as well only after he is the first to break the gaze, and sighs heavily. It is not what I believe you would do on purpose to hurt any of the Hidden Walk. It is what I believe you are able to do with it, Howls-for-Glory, and what others are able to do with you. I will not go so far to answer your question. Not tonight. I am sorry.

Cole's shoulder slump. "Yeah." He doesn't meet her gaze again, looking anywhere but. "Thank you for your time, Runner-rhya. I need to go find Alicia-rhya, now. Get Cleansed. Sniffed for Wyrm taint. Tell her the news. You know." He drops into lupus, sneezing almost as soon as he does. Good hunting. The Fianna starts off, then, tail pegged low.

Runner watches again as the Fianna shifts, and starts a couple paces alongside him into the weather again. Howls-for-Glory, she calls after him. Think about what you know now. A singer moon holds precious knowledge and prized wisdom. But a singer moon must also know when and where, and to whom the knowledge can be given. You may not be satisfied tonight, Howls-for-Glory, but believe me when I say... you have proven yourself. And one more thing. Do not tell Circle Keeper about your fighting with tainted rats and not being Cleansed after taking sick, and coming onto the Bawn. He would not be as forgiving. At this last, she tilts her head, hoping the galliard catches all of that in the dying light.

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