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Andrea is playing her wooden pennywhistle softly, sitting cross-legged
near the low-burning fire.

Louisa's eyes drop to her elder and she walks silently over to the fire
and sits near her, listening, watching with a quiet smile.

Andrea's eyes move over as Louisa sits. The instrument doesn't allow for
much in the way of expression, but her eyes crinkle slightly with a
surpressed smile. The Gaian is never going to give a galliard a
sleepless night, but she plays the instrument with no little skill.
Louisa doesn't recognize the tune, but the notes drift softly and with
quick runs between the tones. The key is apparently minor.

Louisa tilts her head a bit as she acquaints herself with the melody of
the tune, then smiles a bit more and slides her fingers into the grass
(?) at her sides.

Andrea's song doesn't so much end as drift away. She lowers the whistle
then and smiles more fully. "Louisa."

"That was -- you're good at that, Moon-Laughs-Quiet-rhya." Louisa's
words are soft and sincere. "It is good to see you."

Andrea chuckles softly. "And you, Louisa. Thank you, though my skill
doesn't approach those of the near-full." She looks down at the wooden
instrument as she says offhand, "There are many of my ancestors on my
mother's side that were bards, Garou and otherwise. I am a poor
shadow, but it makes my magic easier so I am grateful."

Louisa watches Andrea with inquisitive brown eyes. "Your magic? Like
gifts? Or other things?"

You say "Gifts, yes, but only in that it helps me attain the right stage
of mind to center myself. Usually I only use music in ritual." She
smiles a little. "Tonight, though, I was just playing. Practice for
the moot."

Louisa smiles, "Will you play something else?" Then the secondary query,
"Moot? What's that?"

Andrea blinks, apparently not aware that the cub didn't know the term.
"It's a gathering. Usually when you hear the word unmodified, it
refers to the sept-wide gathering around the full moon. It's necessary
for a caern's health. Sometimes too, you'll hear of an auspice moot or
a tribal moot. Those are generally not held at the caern itself.

Louisa asks, "How does it help the caern?"

Andrea considers the question, then says, "It brings spiritual energy.
You could say it's like giving sun to a plant, or charging a battery."

Louisa nods thoughtfully, "How often are there .. Moots?"

You say "The sept-wide ones are held at the full moon. A tribe might
meet once a month, a few times a year, or none at all. Auspices are
about the same."

Louisa's eyes widen as she begins to keep track. "So there are like..
three Moots a month? I haven't seen any.." She frowns slightly,
wondering how oblivious she's been.

Andrea chuckles. "The theurges haven't had a moot for over a year. The
Children had one a month or so before you came to us, and haven't had
another since either. I think the philodox have, but I don't know if
they bring the cubs."

Louisa ohs with a quiet, satisfied smile. "So.. do cubs go do Sept
Moots?"

Andrea nods. "You'll introduce yourself to the sept there."

Louisa asks softly, "How many Garou are in the sept?"

Andrea shakes her head. "Dozens. Think of the number in our tribe, then
think of thirteen tribes."

Louisa asks, then, "How many in our tribe?--" she counts, "--Five or
six?"

Andrea shakes her head. "There are three cubs alone: you, Adam and
Lawrence. There there are the two Elders: myself and Robert. Then your
teachers: Nightflash, John, Dusty. Has Dusty started teaching you
yet?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Then Dante Seeks-Peace and my
packmate Hayes. Dougie comes and goes, but he rarely has much to do
with the sept. There's also a newcomer named Shray, but he hasn't been
admitted to the sept yet. So that's...twelve."

Louisa nods, looking down for a moment then she asks, "What do -you- do
at moots, Rhya?"

You say "What do I do, in particular?"

Louisa nods.

Andrea frowns thoughtfully. "At many, I do no more than any Garou there.
It is not our way here for only one person to serve the various
offices. But this moot, I will open the Inner Sky." She looks up,
directly at Louisa. "That's when a theurge invites the caern totem to
accept our homage. It's an important part of the moot, as far as that
spiritual energy for the caern goes."

Louisa whispers, "Wow." She is quiet for a moment, then shakes her head
and baps her forehead with a palm, "I can't believe I forgot.. I
needed to talk to you about something." Her brown eyes seek out
Andrea's once more.

Andrea frowns slightly. "What is it?

Louisa mmms quietly, trying to decide how to relate the situation. "Adam
is .. having a hard time."

Andrea's frown deepens. "With what?"

Louisa shifts a bit, folding her hands in her lap. "He feels unnoticed,
I think." She's -trying- to be unbiased.

Andrea looks slightly confused. "Unnoticed?"

Louisa sighs, mostly hiding her exasperation. "He thinks the tribe is
giving him no attention and.." Her voice is quiet and carefully
modulated, ".. me special attention." There is a slightly haunted look
to her eyes that hints that all night of looking for elders made her
begin to question her own certainty despite the ludicrous nature of
the claim.
Louisa is sitting next to the fire near Andrea.

Adam wanders into the Compound. While he's not seething with anger as he
was last night, there is a strong hint of something, maybe
dteremination in his eyes.

Andrea frowns, having not yet noticed Adam. "That's foolish," she states
forthrightly. "The tribe teaches all its cubs. It may be true that you
show more interest, and so get more attention. That's not playing
favorites; it's simple reality. The one that pursues a goal reaches it
faster."

Adam stops short at the voices. He stands for a while, and coughs.

Louisa draws her knees up to her chin and sets her arms across them. "I
wasn't sure exactly how to .." She glances over at Adam.

Andrea also looks up at the cough. Her frown doesn't fade as she sees
who it is, but she does motion him closer.

Adam walks towards the fire calmly. "Andrea-ryha. I was wondering if we
could talk?"

You say "Certainly." She makes a motion with her hand, which happens to
be holding a wooden pennywhistle. "Here, or do you want to take a
walk?"

Adam thinks for a moment, and sits down slowly. "Here," he says, then
pauses, doing his best to avoid Louisa's gaze. The words he says are
forced, as if he's walking on eggshells. "A-alone."

Louisa's brown eyes flick to Andrea and she rises to her feet; but she
doesn't leave quite yet, still watching Andrea with a questioning
expression.

Andrea gives her head a slight nod, reassuring the girl that it's all
right to leave. "I'll find you later, Louisa," the theurge promises.

Louisa smiles quietly, "I'll look forward to it." A glance to Adam, then
she turns and moves off into the forest.
Louisa steps into the forest.

Adam finds he can't look at the other cub as she goes. He crosses his
legs, and stares into the fire, apparently not able to look at his
Elder, either. "Where...where should we start?"

Andrea's frown slowly smooths. "With your unhappiness."

Adam chews his lower lip for a bit, and nods. "What did I do wrong?"

Andrea blinks once, then says, "Until about thirty minutes ago, I wasn't
even aware of a problem. Maybe you waited too long to say something
over something that wasn't real."

Adam winces a bit at the last. "But...I tried, I wanted to say
something. But either everyone was busy, or all fo you were working
with Louisa about something she did."

Andrea tilts her head slightly to the right and looks at Adam directly.
"Cub lessons aren't exclusive, Adam. I can't say anything about busy,
because we are busy. A lot. That's not a reflection on you. It's a
fact of Garou life. But that doesn't mean you can't join us any time
we're in public, especially if we're teaching." Andrea's voice isn't
angry, but it is earnest.

Adam looks back to his Elder. "I understand. But the thing is I'm trying
as hard as I can to do this, looking for teaching, learning, asking
questions. But it's like I'm constantly being compared to her. In all
honesty, I don't hear much else except of her progress, and the
impression she's made and all."

Andrea shakes her head. "That's odd, because I don't remember speaking
much about her to you at all. Perhaps John and Nightflash do, because
she's agreed to pack with them after her rite." She smiles slightly,
with a touch of sadness. "You have every right to pack outside the
tribe, but it means you two get the most attention from different
people. Or are you talking about other tribemates?"

Adam raises a brow. "From what I heard, Louisa has chosen to pack with
others, also outside the tribe. And, 'cept for John and Luc, the other
tribemates have gone wandering, I think. Haven't seen most of them in
weeks."

Andrea says dryly, "Well, she has chosen to pack with Robert, Luc and
John, which is three tribemates more than you have. But I have only
one packmate of the tribe, so it's not like I consider it a
requirement in a place like this." Her voice softens a little. "I can
assure you that the Warder and myself haven't gone wandering. The
impending threat has kept us all busy. But surely you've seen Dusty
and Dante, at least, even if Hayes has been pretty much kept to my
pack's territory. And Lawrence."

Adam shrugs. "Dante, not much. See a bit more of Dusty, mostly with the
Guardians. We were talking out in the woods a week and a half ago, and
well, we sorta encountered a spirit."

Andrea nods. "Well, I haven't asked Dante to be a teacher. It's not in
his nature." She shakes her head, then looks at Adam directly again.
"You spend a lot of time with Tim and that group, don't you?"

Adam looks back to the fire again, shame crossing his features. "Well,
sometimes. They're all Cliath, and can go off the Bawn. They want me
to be in their pack."

Andrea nods. "But is it surprising that if you spend a lot of time with
them and not looking for your tribemates, that they teach the one
that's here instead? Or that they talk about a good cub as an example
of the behavior that they're looking for?"

Adam looks up. "Then you think I'm misbehaving by spending time with
them? I don't spend every moment with them. They go to the city often
enough that I'm by myself."

You say "I didn't say you're misbehaving. There are things about being
Garou that they can teach you, too. I'm just saying that you may be
seeing slights that have more reasons than you'd like to admit."

"Slights," Adam asks. "But more reasons? This is my fault? How so?"

Some of the impatience of the moon flickers in Andrea's face. "From what
I've been saying. If you haven't listened--that she seeks them out
more. That she plans to pack with them. That you are off with others
at times. It's not a matter of fault. It simply is, unless you plan to
change it."

Adam just shakes his head. "I want to learn more, and maybe the changes
over the last few weeks are bugging me, what with the barn and all.
But how, then? How am I supposed to know how I'm doing, and how to do
it better, if no one says anything to me?"

Andrea fixes Adam with a direct stare. She's keeping her temper pretty
well under control, but Adam is probably not getting the sympathetic
audience he was expecting. "You know, Nightflash actually talked to me
about you when he left for Western Eye. He said that he had stopped
seeking you out for lessons because, even when he found you, if
another member of your pack-to-be was around, you would ignore him."

Adam's jaw drops, almost incredulous. "I...I did what?"

Andrea shrugs. "It's what he said. Myself, I haven't seen you much at
all, which is why I sent Nightflash looking for you and wanted to
speak to Tim about you as soon as I found out his interest. But that
night is a good example. If you are so eager to be taught by us--by
me--why didn't you come to the caern that night with me instead of
staying with your new pack-to-be? I invited you to come, either then
or when you finished eating. I was there until a few hours before
dawn."

Adam nods. "I...guess I'm too eager to grow up, sometimes."

Andrea softens a little at that. "That I can understand, Adam. This is
one of the lessons you need to learn as your moon. There are many
sides to an event. Going to Nightflash or myself and saying 'Teach me
this.' is much more likely to have good results than looking for
reasons to feel sorry for yourself or to get angry with the tribe."

Adam hangs his head. "I...just want to know if I'm doing ok."

Andrea blinks twice in clear surprise. Her smile comes much easier as
she replies, "Yes, Adam. At least, of all I've seen. Nightflash only
brought things up to me because he was disappointed to lose your
attention as a promising student."

Adam is still hanging his head. He shakes a little, and his voice is
breaking. "That's....I...just wanted someone to say that to me."

Andrea moves without hesitation, going to Adam's side to put her arms
around the boy in a hug. "We're proud of you, Adam. We might not say
it enough, but we are. We're glad you're in the tribe." She smiles
slighly, her voice taking on a teasing cast. "That's why we worry
about you becoming a Silver Fang's groupie, instead of one of us. If
we didn't want you, we wouldn't care."

Adam smiles a little trough the tears, and nods. He just sits there.
"I'm...I'm sorry. It just hurt. You guys /are/ my truibe, and I didn't
feel like I was pulling my weight."

Andrea smoothes the younger Gaian's hair. "Well, now we all know to be
more careful, and talk sooner. Right?"

Adam nods again. "Thank you," he whispers.

Andrea smiles very softly, though the other Gaian can't see it, since
her head rests about on his shoulder. Her tone is soft. "Not a
problem, Adam. I've always said that the Voice was misnamed. I'm at
least as much an Ear as a Voice."

Adam sighs quietly. "I...just kept hearing all the stuff about Lou, and
I wondered what I had done wrong. I...really needed to talk to
someone, especially of the tribe."

You say "You should always talk to me if you're upset. It's in my job
description." She finally pulls back and looks directly at Adam's face
again. Her voice is still soft, but serious and firm. "I just don't
want you to think it's okay to feel sorry for youself. If you're
unhappy, you have to do something about it yourself, not sit back and
wait for things to happen. A human can make do like that. It'll kill a
Garou."

Adam nods, yet again. "Felt like it was killing me, too."

Andrea's lips quirk. "Well, our anger and depression aren't good
bedpartners. But I was speaking more overall. The more you seek,
rather than sit back, the more you'll know, the better prepared you'll
be, the better your chances of survival." She drops her eyes and says
softly, "I don't want to lose you, like I've lost others."

Adam calms down, and this time reaches a hand to squeeze Andrea's
shoulder affectionately.

Andrea looks up. Her face shows old, reflected pain, but she manages a
smile.

Adam manages a grin. "And, if you ever need someone to talk to..."

Andrea chuckles honestly. "I'll remember. But it's not good for me to
brood, either. Practice what I preach."

Adam stifles a laugh. "Thought it was 'Physician, heal thyself.'"

Andrea laughs. "Maybe when I'm an Elder. I'm still only human, even if
I'm not."

Adam smiles. "Exactly. We can't help it."

Andrea sobers, though the sadness is only a faint shadow in her dark
eyes now. "Doesn't mean we can't strive for perfection."

Adam snorts. "What's the fun with being perfect? Rather be flawed and
real then perfect and plastic."

John enters from the forest.

Andrea shakes her head. "Maybe because I know I can't get there. I'll
never be plastic, but maybe I can keep myself and the people and
things I love alive."

Andrea stands near Adam, close to the fire. She has a wooden
pennywhistle in one hand. His eyes are a little shiny, but both
postures are pretty relaxed.

Adam nods. "And that's all we can do, Andrea-ryha."

John makes his way into the compound, a smile crossing his face when he
sees his two tribemates there. He nods politely, heading over to join
them. "Evening Adam, Andrea-rhya."

Adam looks over as the other Gaian enters. The Cub smiles, though shame
of past action flickers across his face. "Evening."

Andrea nods at Adam once, completelly serious. The theurge then turns to
the side as John greets the pair. She gains a smile of greetings as
she says his name, "John."

John shrugs nonchalantly at the cub. "You and Lou get things hammered
out last night?"

Adam winces at the memory. "Not...exactly, no."

Andrea says encouragingly, "Why don't you talk to John, Adam? I can go
away if you like, or stay."

John turns his lips down in a frown. "Anything I can do to help you two
smooth things over?"

Adam looks to Andrea. "I think that's up to you," he says, then goes
back to John. "I...was really angry last night, and pushed her away
more than I already had."

John sighs softly, folding his arms across his chest. "You might have
had good reason to be upset. What did you say to her?"

Adam sighs, himself. "She thought that I was upset because she went off
on when I tried to comfort her Friday, and that torqued me. All I
could say that just because the tribe revolved around her, the rest of
the world did not. I was angry, 'cause I was working hard, and all I
heard about was how much potential she had, and how much of an
impression she made. I...thought all of you forgot about me."

Andrea holds her body pretty still, listening but not giving John
nonverbal clues on her reaction.

John shakes his head at Adam. "Haven't forgotten about you at all. It's
just with Nightflash gone I've been trying to spend a little more time
with her. You've taken to your lessons well; I happen to think you're
going to make a pretty good Cliath once you make it there, if my
opinion's worth anything in that regard."

Adam bites his lip. "It does, John."

John smiles at Adam. "You've already been invited to join a pack. I
wanted you for the one I'm still forming, but Tim beat me to you. I
think you've just had the bad luck to walk in on some of us when Lou's
name came up."

Adam nods quietly. "I...yeah, that's pretty much what happened. Then
when asked me is I 'mastered everything already,' I kinda lost it."

Andrea nods once, thoughtfully. She still doesn't make comment.

John reaches out to pat the young man on the shoulder. "It happens. Do
you want to see if you can patch things up with her? I'll do what I
can to help, if you like."

Adam nods, again. "I'm going to, but I think I have to handle this
myself. It's my problem, so it's up to me to fix it."

John looks somewhat pleased by that response. "Good. I'll leave it to
you two to settle it then."

Andrea glances up at the sky. "I need to go and check the wards." She
gives Adam a quick look. "Would you like to go? It should be safe
enough, and it'll give you an idea of the work Robert and I are
doing."

Adam looks back to his Elder, and smiles. "I would, yes."

John looks to the other two. "Must run myself. Forest to look after. See
you around." He shifts down to the wolf form, heading out toward the
woods.

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