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Lightseeker enters from the forest.

Andrea Wyatt sits near the fire when the Fury arrives. She's watching
the flames dance, obviously lost in thought.

Lightseeker pads in relatively quietly, although she's by no means a new
moon. Obviously on a scent, her ears prick forward once she notices
the theurge, and she whuffles a greeting.

Andrea Wyatt takes a few seconds to respond, but she shakes her head and
looks up as the greeting penetrates. She squints as she looks into the
darkness, away from the fire.

Lightseeker pads closer. Dark adaption is an entertaining process to go
through, she says, as she gets closer. Heard you wanted to talk to me.
Which is good, since I want to talk to you.

Andrea Wyatt relaxes as the combination of adapting vision and sound
lets her know who speaks, and what she says. "Probably related to the
same thing."

Lightseeker, in deference to the nearness of the fire, and the weather,
shifts upwards. "suspect so," she says. "Don't think I caught all of
your info session last night. Had to go patrol."

Brian enters from the forest.

Andrea Wyatt nods, smiling wryly. "When I looked up, you were gone. I'd
wanted to ask you something specifically, so I'm glad Pete passed on
the news."

Brian approaches the compound in the wolf-shape, evidently following a
scent, but reverts to his breed form before stepping out of the
undergrowth into the clearing.

Arlen nods. "He's good with that. Most of the time." Settling herself
down next otto the Gaian, she asks, "What was the specific question?"

Andrea Wyatt answers with a question. "How much of what I explained last
night did you hear before you slipped out?" Her eyes must have
adjusted to the darkness better, because she turns her head toward
Brian's shadow as he moves further into the clearing.

"Excuse me," Brian says quietly. "I hadn't meant to interrupt. I wanted
to talk to Andrea, is all." He slides his hands into his coat pockets,
his expression a wordless offer to depart.

Arlen takes a stick from the ground and stares at it for a moment, then
looks at Brian. "Oh. Evening. Join the club." Answering Andrea, she
says, "I left early. Just after you asked the City packs what we
knew."

Andrea Wyatt's forehead momentarily creases, then she nods. "Brian, you
might want to hear this too." Very briefly, a smile touches her lips.
"I think you can be reasonable enough to listen. Do you need to speak
to me first, though?"

A tiny, slightly wry smile grows on Brian's lips, and he shakes his
head. "I'll listen first, then talk."

Arlen pokes her stick into the fire, with the evident intention of
watching it burn while the Gaian talks.

Andrea takes a breath before beginning. "My kinfolk is the one that
found this out. She's a mage." She glances at Brian as she said this,
but does not hesitate unduly on the statement. "She attempted to
contact the Wyld creatures mentally, and they pushed their history
into her head. This is from the point of view of the creature. It was
in a place far from here, and something was hurting it that it
couldn't hurt. So it fled, and it ran into some creatures like itself,
and others that bound it from changing, and others that caused it
pain. It couldn't hurt any of these, so it ran again. It got to a
wall, and when it found a thin place it ripped through the wall.
Still, everything that encountered it, it couldn't hurt. It found
another wall, thinner than the first, and ripped through it. Now it
was in a place that 'hated it,' a place that didn't morph and change.
The place's hate caused it pain, but it found something that made some
of the pain go away. Another came while it was there, something that
could also change shape." The theurge's jaw tightens at this bit. "But
now it could hurt things, and when something tried to kill it, it
killed. It fled again, but it isn't hesitating to kill, now that it
can strike back."

"Ah," Arlen says, quietly. "Didn't get the history portion of this."

Brian runs a hand back through his hair, his expression tightening into
a mask of anger. "So they're homesick, basically, and lashing out at
anything that tries to keep them from dulling their pain."

Andrea Wyatt's lips thin as she shakes her head. "I don't know if
they're homesick. I've not gotten anyone to ask them if they would go
home, if we can somehow get them passage. From the story, though, they
are creatures of body from the deep places. They tore through the
Membrane, and then the Gauntlet." She glances again at Brian. "Gaia is
not accepting of magics not Her own. They found that eating energy
could dull the pain She's causing, and they're behaving more
like--like starving dogs, with food in a horde. Unfortunately, the
food they're trying to eat is Harbor Park."

Brian shakes his head angrily. "Yeah, I heard about this," he says.
"Nightflash and Touch Deer mentioned it to me last week, before the
Revel; we talked about how we could get rid of them and still preserve
the Veil. We couldn't come up with anything except some unpolished
ideas about trying to make whatever it is they're feeding on
unpalatable. Sour the milk, so to speak."

"Or," puts in Arlen, again rather quietly, "Just send them to some other
Umral Realm. They're not Wyrm and if there are other options, I'd
rather choose the other options."

Andrea Wyatt shakes her head again, more violently. "That's like
shooting the horse to make sure the thief doesn't steal it. The things
might leave Harbor Park, but the glade would be tainted." She pushes
back a stray curl. "They might not leave, too. The energy they're
eating isn't quite gnosis, though gnosis is the closest we come to it.
Ruining the spirit at Harbor Park with Weaver might destroy what we
hold dear without touching the energy they eat."

"Frankly," Brian says, scuffing the heel of one shoe across the ground,
"I'm more inclined to kill every last bloody one of them than send
them off into the Umbra and make them someone else's problem,
particularly after losing two good Garou to them. The Wyld is often
our ally, but that doesn't mean that it's not occasionally our enemy,
too."

Andrea Wyatt looks at Brian's face. "That, I agree with. The Wyld can be
our enemy, and has been in this case. There's two things speaking for
a peaceful settlement." She holds up one finger. "They have been our
enemy, and they would eat our places if we didn't attack them. In
another realm, though, they won't have the need to eat that energy,
because their existence won't cause them the pain it does here. We
wouldn't take them to a realm where they'd just be someone else's
problem." A second finger. "Second, Dana told me there were between
twenty and thirty of them before we killed six. We've traded six of
them for two of us. If there's a way to handle them without trading
five or six more of us, I'm willing to try."

Arlen says, "Think Dana said there's about 40 of them, all told. Expect
some of them are elsewhere, it's true, but that's still more than
we've already dealt with." She stops, looking at Andrea in faint
surprise. "I'll choose 30, then. Either way, it's too many."

Obviously not fully willing to discount the solution that relies on
speaking the language of violence rather than that of diplomacy, Brian
mutters, "Maybe if we could come up with some way to weaken them,
first," before scuffing his heel across the ground a second time and
asking, "How do we get them to move on out of here?"

Arlen says, with faint distaste, "Presumably, we get Dana to talk to
them again."

Andrea Wyatt glances at Arlen. "First we have to decide whether it's
safe to move them. I have a couple of places in mind, but I wanted to
ask others." Andrea's lips thin again as Arlen mentions Dana, then she
nods. "If none of us can speak to them with Mindspeak, we'll have to.
I'm afraid she's becoming unhealthy biased toward the creature, but
they aren't spirits, and I don't know if they would understand the
language of beasts. They aren't of this world."

Arlen pokes the fire harder. "She's definitely biased. But she's also
the only source of communication we've got -- so far. I've got someone
who'll try the language of beasts on them, soon, but until then..."

"I've been pressuring Steven to learn that gift," Brian says quietly. "I
was afraid it might come down to something like this, where we'd have
to talk to these lumps of shit." His voice and his expression betray
just how deeply diplomacy, in this matter, truly galls him.

Andrea Wyatt gives Brian an oddly sympathetic look. "It's hard sometimes
to remember all of Gaia, even when things are not of Gaia." She turns
to Arlen. "You have a galliard in your tribe. Check with her if she
has the gift. I'm looking for the ones I know. Hayes...cannot." Andrea
does not explain that further, and quickly presses on. "What realms do
you think of, Arlen? What things do you think will happen there if
they go?"

Arlen's expression, if she weren't staring at the fire, would be showing
just how frustrating she finds this diplomacy, as well. " Looking up
to Andrea, her expression smooths as she thinks. "They are solid, so
Flux will not do." She narrows her eyes in frustration, and then
suddenly asks, "What is a Horizon Realm?"

Brian's cheeks redden slightly. "The mages pay a price each time they
work their magic. Horizon Realms are places in the Umbra where there
is no price." He doesn't elucidate, or explain how he knows this.

Arlen leans towards Brian, all frustration gone, interest only
remaining. "How would one reach such a place?"

Andrea Wyatt looks startled, then says, "You've been speaking to Dana,
that's right." She pauses for a few moments, then says, "It is a place
carved out in the spirit realms that is held by mages. Usually a Realm
is held by either a single group, like a pack, or a Tradition, which
is like our tribes." She glances at Brian at his statement, and then
nods. "I have been to one in my lifetime, but the mage I know of that
Tradition says these things can't go there."

Brian gives a grim little laugh. "I can't imagine many mages being
thrilled about inviting them into their Umbral bungalow." A third time
he kicks at the ground, and then says, "What about sending them off
into the Deep Umbra? Perform a Rite of Becoming, draw them off into an
Anchorhead, and give them a firm shove."

You say "I think that's where their home is. If they can return, that
would be the best solution." She turns back to Arlen and shrugs
slightly. "Part of it was walking, just like going to any near realm.
The rest--it would be like trying to explain a moon bridge to a
mundane. I don't understand it myself."

Arlen says, "Mmmph. Wish I knew your friend, so I could ask. In any
case, we could at least /attempt/ a Rite of Becoming with the ones in
Harbor Park. Small sample, can't hurt to try."

"Trouble is," Brian mutters disconsolately, "I know exactly no one who
knows the Rite of Becoming."

Andrea Wyatt shakes her head. "I know the Rite of Becoming," she says.
"I had to learn it when we got the fetish for the caern. It has to be
performed at an Anchorhead. These things would have to be willing to
walk that far on their own."

Grimly, Brian asks, "Anyone got a bag of breadcrumbs?"

"Well," Arlen says, with a somewhat ironic grin, "We've got someone
who's got a direct sort of connection with them. /She/ can persuade
them."

Andrea Wyatt gives a harsh chuckle. She nods at Arlen. "Probably. If
they won't go home, I thought of two places they could go, with wildly
different enviroments." She again lists with her fingers. "Pangea. The
Children of Gaia homeland."

Arlen says "Don't know if we could find it, but maybe the Abyss. If it
actually exists. Be worried, if they went to your homeland, they'd
keep draining energy."

Brian grimaces. "Still, though, you're talking about getting them to
make a commute. And if we don't get them to go home, then it's a
toss-up between giving them a menu full of dinosaurs or a menu full of
unicorns."

Arlen says, firmly, "Dinosaurs'd be my pick."

Andrea Wyatt frowns. "It...depends. It depends how honest they're being,
and what they'll do when they get to a place that doesn't hurt them
all the time just for existing. They could hole up and live out their
lives in peace. If the elders of my homeland agreed to take them, they
would allow them to do so. Or they could begin breeding, and need the
Great Beasts to prey on them if their numbers grew too big." She
shrugs, the movement almost violent. "Or they could hive and take over
any realm, even Pangea itself, like some supernatural kudzu. I don't
want to trade a half dozen more Garou lives to kill them, but I can't
take unleasing them to destroy any more of Gaia either."

Brian nods a firm assent, glancing momentarily towards the fire. "Let's
work on the Deep Umbra solution, then. Since your kin seems to like
them so much, tell her we want to try to help them find a way home,
and see if she'll ask for their help."

Arlen nods, looking at the fire again. "Makes sense. Wouldn't mind
visiting either of those Realms, but that wouldn't be logical."

Andrea Wyatt's smile twitches up on one side. "I hope that's what
they're willing to do, that they're just lost here. The question that
eats at me though is, if they couldn't hurt the spirits because
they're of the body, why did they flee all the way here? Why didn't
they already go home?" She sighs and shakes her head. "Arlen, has Dana
told you anything more?"

Arlen shakes her head. "It was a brief conversation. I was entirely
uncertain of her objectivity, and while information is useful, a
biased source just makes me doubt it."

Brian shrugs his shoulders. "Biased or not, she's useful," he mutters.
"If she's feeling motherly or protective towards them, maybe they'll
pick up on it, and be that much more likely to listen." A pause, and
then he exhales slowly. "Maybe the reason they didn't go home is
because they couldn't get through the Membrane twice."

Andrea Wyatt nods. "Maybe. It's a guessing game, unless we can
communiate."

Arlen grins, briefly but widely. "If they can't, there are always pine
daggers. Got one or two already -- intuition was nagging at me." She
adds, to Brian, "And indeed, the woman does feel quite motherly. Most
of my information matches Andrea's, although as I said, I did not
receive the history."

Brian shrugs his shoulders. "Whichever it is, I think we'll have to work
in two groups. One group will need to do the actual work of performing
the Rite and holding things open for them. The other group will need
to be ready to herd the damn things like sheep if they don't go along
quietly."

Andrea Wyatt snorts. "We'll be frigging sheepdogs on a long walk first,
too. The closest anchorhead is a good way away, and these things are
easy prey to any spirit."

Slightly bloodthirsty humor springs to Brian's eyes. "My little heart
bleeds," he murmurs. Then, realization overtakes him. "Which means
we'll need to protect them on the way... Jesus Christ. I'm going to be
defending some sack of shit that killed two Garou."

Andrea Wyatt grimaces, but she nods. "It would not be honorable to do
otherwise, if they agree."

Arlen mutters, "Fucking marvelous."

Brian rubs at his temples as he turns in a circle and paces a bit. "I
think Megan might be able to make things go easier on us. How far a
haul is the nearest Anchorhead, from here?"

Andrea Wyatt shakes her head. "Time feels odd, as you go deeper into the
Umbra. At a quick pace, I think you could go there and return here in
two or three days. It could take longer or shorter, though."

Brian continues to rub at his temples. "Let's hope for shorter," he
says. "Full moon is in around two weeks. Will that be too soon to try,
or is it dragging things out overlong?"

"If," Arlen says, in tones that imply she doubts it, "Dana's friend
slows down the creature's draining of the Glade, I think that will be
a suitable time."

Andrea Wyatt decides, "Maybe before the full moon, but after the half.
The fuller the moon gets, the safer the Umbra will be, but the easier
it will be for someone to remember what those we'll be herding have
done." She nods at Arlen. "If Harbor Park can handle them that long."

"A week or a week and a half, then," Brian states. A pause, then,
cheerfully, "Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you didn't have any plans."

Andrea Wyatt's lips quirk. "I usually go to Tennessee."

Brian returns Andrea's wry expression. "It's one of two American
holidays I actually look forward to."

Arlen manages a smile. "I think all five of us in Edge are packing into
me and Davy's apartment. So other than eating myself silly, no. You
sticking here, Brian?"

Brian shrugs his shoulders slightly. "I'd been hoping to open up the
Stag for some of the homeless folks around Kent Crossing," he says.
"You know, the people who don't usually get a hot meal. Seems like
I'll be on a trip to an Anchorhead instead, though."

You say "If everything can be done before that. Or we can leave soon
after." She shrugs, then blows out her cheeks with a sigh. "A lot
depends on Dana now."

Stormcloud enters from the forest.

Brian nods slowly, his own expression falling. "I... really hate relying
on them so much," he confesses quietly. Then, a bit louder, he says,
"Arlen, incidentally, while I'm thinking about it. The fact that these
things set to roost in Harbor Park and I first heard about it from
Nightflash and Touch Deer tells me that Untouchables is just not doing
their job. If you see any of them over the next few days, tell me that
I want to see them?"

Arlen's eyebrow raises. "Be glad to. They're not doing any worse than
they were a month or so ago, but I'll tell 'em."

Stormcloud forces his way past the underbrush into the clearing,
avoiding the usual path to get here. He chuffs respectively to all
present before making a beeline for a pile of leaves nearby.

Brian shrugs his shoulders slightly. "Well, we've had this happen to two
places that are important, and we haven't heard a word about it from
the packs that are supposedly watching over them. So I think it's time
to do something about it."

Andrea Wyatt's mouth twitches sourly and she nods. "As far as I know,
Forest Howl's Echo didn't even seek to find out if the things had fled
the bowl. My pack did that, the next night."

"I'd been trying to get Casper and Kristine and Derrick to look into
that, since they'd shown an interest," Brian says quietly, "but since
you beat them to the punch, what'd you discover?"

Arlen admits, with a faint smile, "It's just I'm an interested party, so
I have to bend over to treat 'em objectively. Edge, after all, patrols
it part of the time."

Andrea Wyatt shakes her head. "Reasonably certain they fled the scene.
There's a thousand little caves, it seems like, but we inspected a
number of them. Patrick can take to the air, Touch Deer has senses
sharper than any Garou I know, and I can sometimes sense unnatural
things. We hit the all the bases, but we didn't find anything."

Stormcloud settles back within the leaves, relegating himself to a
silent listener to the conversation at hand.

Arlen gives Stormcloud a brief nod.

Brian nods again. "I'll have the three of them go over the Bowl once
more, just to be sure, but we'll assume for the time being that
they've left." He pauses. "Which only leaves the question where they
went."

You say "There's at least one extra in Harbor Park. They could have
moved back to the bowl in the following time, though. We checked it,
but we don't patrol it."

Arlen says "Couple of them went to the Park. Maybe only one, but I think
two. Should check the hilltop down south, though. Seems to be a
weirdness magnet."

Stormcloud licks his chops. Perhaps one who walks there many nights
should go?

"We ought to keep a high-profile presence in the Bowl," Brian muses.
"Maybe if they see us after what we did to them, they'll think twice
about roosting again. You want to handle that, Stormcloud?" He hasn't
actually turned to face the Talon, but addresses him nonetheless.

Stormcloud answers innocently enough. If I am a high-profile presence,
then consider it done.

A smirk grows on Brian's lips. "You and anyone else you can recruit," he
says. To Andrea and Arlen, "Can I rely on you two to work with the
other crescent-moons and get this thing planned out? I think the
herding job is going to be relatively straightforward."

Andrea Wyatt exchanges glances with Arlen. The Gaian is already nodding
as she does so.

Arlen's attention is dragged back from the fire, as she looks to Andrea.
She, too, is nodding. "Think you got a willing pair, yes."

Brian draws a breath. "Do me a favor, though, and delegate. I made a big
stink at moot about how this was a problem for the whole sept, and I
still believe that. I'm sure there are a dozen other theurges floating
around who'd be happy to pitch in; I know Kristine's one of them."

You say "Right now, what we need to most is a way to talk to them."

Arlen smiles faintly. "Kristine, Casper, Duncan, at least. See if more
flexible minds have more ideas."

Stormcloud stands back up and shakes out his ruff.
Moon-Laughs-Quiet-rhya, this one knows of a new Fostern full-moon in
your pack. Would he be available?

Brian runs a hand back through his hair. "Great," he says. "Only other
thing I ask is to keep me updated."

Andrea Wyatt turns to Stormcloud. "I think so. You'd need to ask him
directly."

Arlen rises to her feet, as well. "In any case, I should go back to Edge
territory, get some patrolling done. Call Dillan, too. I shall see you
people aroun and about, I expect."

Stormcloud gives the Gaian a lupine smirk, almost seeming to say, As if
I won't. He starts into pondering who else would be wise to take.

Andrea Wyatt stands to follow suit. "Let me know if you find Cutter. I'm
going to return to the cave."

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