Song Of The Lake(joining)

[Caspian]

Caspian's eyes appraised the wild beauty of the surrounds, the lake was indeed beautiful, and he could see himself coming here in the future alone. A place like this would be perfect for the composing of songs, and melodies seemed to drift in the air here like invisible currents.

The Cael smiled at the cheerful Hiko, liking that he felt so relaxed around her now, even though her status in the world was now much more exalted than his, she still was friendly - at times - and approachable, unlike some wolves that let power change them. "This is indeed a peaceful place, thank-you for showing it to me."

Her eyes watching him felt like she could see his soul, and he felt a small flutter of nervousness, he had not sung for other wolves very often, only a pawful of times. "I shall sing you a song from my birth-pack the Stargazers. This story is sung to every pup by their mothers and is the first story heard by our ears." he continued. "I hope you enjoy it, and I hope I can do it justice, as I have not sung this song alone before."

He settled himself before her, centering his being and drawing himself up straight, drew a breath and threw his head back, his howl starting softly and strengthening as he sang.

“In the beginning of things there was Wulf. He roamed the land and created the wolf-ways Where he rested his head became holy places and he freed the wolf-gods from the stones, trees and lakes and they became his pack. They followed him and created the last of the wolf-ways But Wulf felt that his pack was not complete nor the wolf ways as he neared maturity so he journeyed back to where he began, known as Wulf Rock and made the final wolf-way. There on the rocks where he had broken out the she-wolf Wulfin waited, he knew not where she came from as she was a mystery as Wulf himself. So he took her as his consort and his mate and the pack of the gods was complete.

Wulf and Wulfin mated and decreed that their pups would form mortal wolf-kind and together would form the last wolf-god, each mortal wolf being a part of something greater than themselves and whose truth may be glimpsed in life but only fully know in death when they rejoined the gods.

So the god reared the cubs and taught them all the wisdom they would need, the lore of rock and tree, lake and of life. The gods were excited by what they made but some desired them, and some envied them because even the gods have weaknesses.

So Wulf commanded that no god should consort with a mortal wolf and that mortal wolf-kind should forget it origins. The gods were to be invisible to them and watch the mortal wolves unseen. If any god broke the law and consorted with a mortal wolf, their punishment and torment would last as many days as they had consorted with mortal wolf.

Wulfin was wise and so decreed that mortal wolf-kind would have distant memories of the gods and sometimes see them in the stars, to guide them on the wolf-ways made for them, so that when they were full of fear, and when they seek our courage something of us may come to them.

So it was that the mortal pups forgot their origins and scattered from the place of their birth, coming to fear the Wulf Rock, forgetting it and seeing it as a place of great mystery not to be approached my mortal wolf-kind The gods receded back to the places that Wulf freed them to watch and whisper to the mortal wolves. Each wolf was left with an echo of what they had been and each pack shared these memories that once in the past they were was gods and they had been one with them.

The wolves reigned for many years, sharing the land with all creatures even the men, who were weak and few. Time passed and shadows fell over the land, and the Men started to grow in numbers and greed taking from the land and destroying the wolves and their sacred wolf-ways

Why did the gods not see and come to their aid? Wasn't it their task to combat the men and help mortal wolf-kind? Or did the gods not see? In truth the gods are as blind and fallible as mortal wolves and more arrogant. The gods chose not to see the curse of men on wolf-kind

The doom of the wolves drew near and one god saw this, it was Wulf himself, but why had he finally seen? He had broken his own law and consorted with a mortal wolf. The first time Wulfin forgave him and Wulf was shamed. The second time Wulfin forgave him and Wulf was angry but the third time, the skies were filled with shooting stars and the earth shuddered for the whole year of his sin. Wulf's mate conceived a mortal litter and Wulfin could not forgive him.

Wulf had broken his own law and as the pups grew in the mortal she-wolves belly Wulf grew weaker and started to die. Wulfin had also seen the danger of the men and came to Wulfin and told him how it was to be, “As you broke your own law and are guilty you shall be punished. For a thousand days you went with a mortal wolf and so for a thousand years you must live and die as a mortal wolf. You shall know the pain and suffering of mortal wolf. You who should of seen the rise of the man and corrupt the world shall now live the pain and suffering of the wolves for a whole millennium.

Your mate shall give birth to two pups and you shall be one. You will forget your origins and be born an ordinary wolf and die and be reborn. Each life you will learn something of what a god should know, but you will still not know what you are, as your wisdom grows so will your suffering. When you have lived all your lives you must learn all you learnt in one lifetime, suffer all you suffered, loose all you have lost and still able to raise your head to see the stars and all that you once lost, if you have the strength to be the god you were you will be restored as Wulf once more and save mortal wolf-kind from it peril. If you fail all wolf-kind shall perish.”

Wulf stared into the wise eyes on his Wulfin who loved him and still loved him despite his sins. He saw what he had already lost in her eyes.

“What of the other cub?” he whispered

Wulfin was silent for a long while, unsure if she would name who that other cub would be, but then she spoke “That other cub shall be me, so you shall not be alone on the earth. Through all your suffering I shall be the one mortal wolf that shall love you true.”

“Will you know who I am?' asked wolf as the birthing of the mortal she-wolves cubs started to draw him to the start of his millennia of suffering.

“I shall not forget” whispered Wulfin. “For surely I am to blame for your fall, and my suffering shall be to watch the suffering all your lives, unable to help you until the last of your lives. I shall bear this cross as a show of my love for you.”

And so Wulf died, and was reborn mortal, to suffer for a thousand years striving to regain the knowledge of the gods. Wulfin followed him, marked with a cross to do what she might to bring comfort to the one she loved although he would never know who she was.”

The song shivered and sunk on the air. Caspian felt a huge rush of tiredness wash over him. He felt he had sung the song well, although the end always made him feel uncomfortable. The spirit turned on him again and snarled at him. 'You are a fool. That story may have been told to you by your mother, but the pack never spoke of it to me.'

He then turned from her and looked up at the sky. The stars were out now. "For you are not of our pack."


-------------------------------------------------------

He woke from the dream with a start and groan. "Again?" this time he howled for real. Singing his song over again to make his dream seem unreal, at least to himself.

[Ácélan Hákonsson]

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[atrb=background, i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/Somatra1/aback-16.jpg] "Speaking" - - - The day was lovely and warm, a typical summer day, and the great lake was sparkling beautifully under the gentle sunlight. It was just about a perfect day, and Ácélan could not pass up the chance to have a walk around the lake. Or at least halfway around. The sun was starting to make him feel drowsy. Of course nowadays he felt more tired then usual, thanks to his rowdy bunch of puppies. At the thought of his new family, a quick smile touched his dark lips. His first daughter, Aeslin was like neither of her parents; she was wonderfully unique with a great imagination. She was a true princess. However Aveza, his second daughter, was opposite. She was a hell-raiser, often seeking for new adventures and troubles to get into. Grudgingly the father admitted to himself that she reminded him of himself so much. Vindict, his first son, was much more prideful than any of his children, and he was often seen trying to avoid them, especially Aveza. Dyolain, his tiny pup, also reminded Ácélan of himself, but he was much more loyal to his pack, he had to admit. The dark lupus could see his youngest child being the strongest warrior of the Centena Accord, no matter how small he was. When he met Keinvarii for the first time, Ácélan initially thought he would leave the pack any time soon, but after seeing his children he could not even think about leaving them right now. They were his pride and joy. He flicked his ears self-consciously. He was too young and wild to be tied down, he knew that, but he was glad to have them anyway. It showed him what was important in his life and what was not. Keinvarii, the puppies, and the Accord were important, very important, for him. If he was being so brutally honest, he knew he would go away sometime in the future, definitely after all of the puppies had grown up. There was still so many he hadn't seen yet, so many wolves he hadn't met yet. Having puppies was a completely new experience, a wonderful experience, but that was it. An experience. No matter how much he loved them, it was still an experience. And he knew he needed to go out and experience new things sometime in his life, no matter how it hurt him to leave his sons and daughters. He pushed the lovable and bothersome thoughts about his puppies out of his mind and reminded himself why he had came here. Ácélan came here to relax under the soft sunlight and to forget some heavy responsibilities a king was expected to have. He had only started to settle down when he heard a howl not too far away. Either a bothersome rogue seeking for a trouble or a wannabe pack member. He growled silently at whoever dared to interrupt his rest and walked heavily towards the howler. Sure enough there was a cael standing a few metres from him. Ácélan remembered Keinvarii's words about being nice to possible joiners. Both of them knew how harsh he could be when irritated. The more wolves joining meant the bigger the pack would be. He reminded himself that repeatedly to calm himself down. A defensive, exhausted father was probably not the best greeter this wolf could have at the moment. The King of the Centena Accord walked closer to the silvery-blue cael almost too prideful, with his head high and his thick tail raised behind him almost too exaggeratedly. "State your business, stranger." He suddenly felt defensive with this stranger inside his territory, especially with his puppies rollicking around somewhere. If the stranger wasn't a joiner... Well, Ácélan hoped he was because he wasn't in the mood to attack anyone.

[Caspian]

Caspian's jaws bit down gently to hold the horsetail in place. He had just done another herb run, before the howl and was about to leave. He was sure that he had enough already, but he kept saying that he would probably need them in case of an emergency. Really, however, herb gathering just helped clear his head.

Before he had done it to settle his mind from all the awful memories of when he was in the pack, now he had more typical problems to worry about. He still hadn't forgiven himself from acting so selfishly in front of her. She had poured out to him all the horrors she had faced back at the pack, and all he had done was dwell on his own guilt. He should have aimed to help her through it, and he didn't.

And what was worse was the idea that he could possibly lose her again. Though he doubted the dead could be lost, who knew what other dangers could befall the dead? If one looked at the two of them, they would see two trouble magnets. Put together Hiko and Caspian could create their own world of trouble with problems and enemies orbiting them.

Caspian didn't even know how he would handle such dangers, but nonetheless he knew he would. He would or he would lose himself. Dealing with danger was one thing Caspian was all right with, but losing himself again was out of the question.

The scent of wolf wafted over Caspian's nose. It twitched at the Earthy scent of it. He would have assumed someone had wandered nearby him, but Caspian could distinctly make out that this was pack scent as well as wolf scent. He didn't see any other wolves around so he assumed that there was a lot of it. I might just use this plant after all, Caspian thought as he looked at the wolf nearing him.

He knew this was an alpha and that he was in trouble. He dipped his head slightly in respect to him. Though he did not know him, he knew he ran these lands. One false move could be his last. From his tone and words, he registered that he did not like him being here. Then he set his plant down.

"Damn..." he whispered. What he saw was a fearful thing. In front of him stood ether his friend, or his foe. The black wolf in front of him had blues eyes that were striking against his scarred black fur, at least they looked blue from this distance. Caspian had the surreal experience of his old life and who he was come crashing back: scarred and scared little Cael.

Of course, Caspian played his feelings off like an idiot and shunned and spat at every wolf he found. The plat was what he ate to drive away the memories of his old home. He assumed that the male would be made about the plant. He could smell something else. The alpha was waiting for a reply and he knew it.

"I mean no harm. I only wished to join."

[Ácélan Hákonsson]

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[atrb=background, i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/Somatra1/aback-16.jpg] "Speaking" - - - It was bad enough that this cael had interrupted Ácélan's rest, but when the king saw the plants in the stranger's mouth, he felt angrier. How dare this wolf trespass and take something from his lands?! His icy blue eyes were glued on the dangling plant around the cael's jaws almost threateningly. And when Ácélan spoke, his voice was icy, much colder than the colour of his eyes, "No harm indeed." He sniffed and glared at the cael, allowing himself to have a moment to calm down. It was tough as he wasn't known to forgive and forget quickly. Ácélan had to keep reminding himself not to be too hostile towards possible joiners, and this wolf was seeking to join his pack. Ácélan smoothed his raised hackles with a great struggle and tried to make his face appear more or less neutral. No, he wasn't in the welcoming mood, just yet. "I'm Ácélan Hákonsson, the King of the Centena Accord." He shook himself, many minuscule shards of ice jutting out of his thick fur, and sat down, with his eyes still on the cael carefully. Though he had tried to get rid of the anger in his eyes, there was still a small ball of anger inside him. "And who are you?" His voice was somewhat commanding now. Well, he was allowed to do that anyway. It was best for the newcomer to acknowledge him as a king from the very start. The next thing Ácélan thought about was which rank would be suitable for this cael. He looked handsome and muscular, but nowhere like the king, and therefore strong and healthy. He would be a great Knight. After all the Accord needed them. But there was something else about him made Ácélan to think otherwise. It was possibly because of the plants at his paws, or because of the way he looked at the world. A Knight's mind wasn't often that keen. Keen minds were often put to a good use in the Accord. "What are these plants for?" Perhaps the cael's answer would help Ácélan to pick a right rank for him.

[Caspian]

Caspian heaved a long lasted breath as he slumped himself by the edge of the lake, the sun shone down and warmed his pelt, yet it did nothing to hide him from this angry wolf. King of the Accord. His sigh was followed by a role, the lazy bunch of fur was doing nothing, or was he doing everything, he didn't know. Nor did he care, he just wanted some form of safety from this wolf, yet as he looked around there was nothing. All he could do was gaze into the kings eyes and hope something would at least save him from his wrath. Looking behind him he didn't see a soul, not even a flicker of orange, even a fox? No it seamed nature had cursed him with the punishment of nothing to save him.

"No harm to your pack. A plant such as this is plentiful here - an I only ever take one strand. The forest must be respected, right? To do so I only ever take what I will need and leave plenty for those around me. Is this not how the Great Spirits would want it?" he asked calmly. "Are we not all kin in some way to the Earth?" he adds softly as he watches the alpha.

He glanced over at the wolf as he spoke. He took a moment to think about his words to the king. He had to be careful. He sighed softly and closed his eyes tightly. Then they opened and seemed distant. He blinked and tilted his head.

"Oh, why how wonderful to meet you, your majesty. I am Caspian. A loner in these lands known as WonderWhy. I am learning these lands." he said, and shrank back as if he were a pup being attacked by a dragon. "Forgive me?"

"The plant? It helps me calm my nerves," he gave a chuckle. "I learned about it shortly after I left my old home," Caspian turned his gaze from the king to the plant. A glimmer of knowing in his eyes. "It helps me forget painful things for a while. Long enough to get some sleep," he adds softly.

[soar]

[OOC: Since I'm gonna be gone for more than two weeks, it's better to allow this thread to end. We're going to say for now that Ácélan had accepted Caspian and gave the Priest rank to him. Consider yourself officially accepted! <3]

[Caspian]

(Thanks and okay.)