Log edited with Logedit 2.6.6pl on Mon Aug 17 23:49:50 EDT 1998

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The Garou Cub hurtles through the forest this night, seeming intent on his speed of travel.

Quiet raises her head as the crashing sound comes to her ears before the smell. She moves to investigate, leaving whatever spirit thing she had been examining.

As the familiar yellow wolf comes into view, Barks-Softly stops short. Apparently, he has become more used to being the wolf. He chuffs, elated. Moon-Laughs-Quiet!

Quiet's tail wags as she recognizes the noisemaker's scent. She gives an answering howl, then moves up toward the cub and begins nosing him in greeting.

The nosing is quick, and excited. You are back! Wagwagwag! How was your trip?

Quiet gives a pleased whuff. Good. As long as you are skilled at this form, you will rarely know true hunger or find yourself without shelter. This form is survival, outside the city.

Barks-Softly has been learning to hunt as well, from Windsoul.

Quiet gives another pleased noise. Good. It is hard to do that as much as you need, here, because of the great numbers of our kind. But cubs at least should have the right, especially during the warm season.

A questioning whurf? A right? Barks-Softly asks. I had believed it was a requirement for cubs to be able to survive in the wild.

Quiet says that during the cold months, none of the human breed are allowed to hunt, at least in the bawn area. But that time is not now, and such a rule is often softened for learning cubs.

Barks-Softly lolls his tongue. I think Summer is the hunting season, what with the big one that happened last week.

Quiet's ears flatten a little. Yes, though that prey was not found.

Quiet doesn't seem angry, but the idea seems to disturb her.

Barks-Softly paws at the ground a bit. I only heard the barest things about it, and haven't heard the full story.

Quiet's packmate Touch Deer was one of the runners. But enough of failed hunts; I do not wish to make our meeting after so many days sad. She returns to nuzzling the cub.

Barks-Softly did miss you, ryha. The Cub nuzzles gently. I am glad you are back.

Quiet is glad to return. There is much of value where I go, but this is home.

Barks-Softly wonders if you have seen any of the others?

Quiet has seen Weighs-the-Way briefly. She seems much better. I have scented for Reaches-High, but I have not yet found him.

Barks-Softly paves a bit, bothered. She worries me.

Quiet tilts her head in silent question.

Barks-Softly's pace quickens. I had gone to talk to her, about what had happened between us before Growls-At-Water was killed. She seemed...distant somehow, like living in two places at once.

Quiet's ears swivel and she gives a low considering noise.

Barks-Softly twitches an ear. This is only mo opinion, ma'am.

Quiet does not disbelieve you. I have not seen it, but that does not mean you did not. She pauses, then says, I have seen it more often in us than in humans. It is sometimes a way of dealing with the violence and loss in our lives.

Barks-Softly blinks. Teaches-Laughter had a word for it. Harano? He said Chases-Nothing had it, some time back.

Quiet snorts. That is a word overused. ~Harano~ is more than the darkening of the spirit.

Barks-Softly paces a bit more. This is something different?

Quiet says it may be. ~Harano~ does not come and go, but darkens and sullies everything. It cannot be mistaken.

Barks-Softly flops to the ground. How do you tell?

Quiet will tell you. But it is a story for human words. Shall we go to the compound or the caern?

Barks-Softly has no preference. You?

Quiet is relaxed, tonight. But the compound is more a place for stories; let's go there.

Barks-Softly gets up, and chuffs agreement. No problem.

[The two go to the compound.]

Barks-Softly pads over to the center, shifting up to his human form as he goes.

Andrea settles down, some small distance from the glowing embers of the fire that is never wholly put out.

Sitting down opposite his Elder by the fire, Adam relaxes, curious. "I wish to know about this."

Andrea nods. "It's good you ask," she begins. "Our tribe deals with Harano more than any other. Not because more of our members suffer it, but because a Garou suffering Harano often becomes so useless that no other tribe will try anything to redeem them."

A shudder. "How...how bad is it? I mean, how did it start?"

You say "How did Harano take the first Garou?"

Adam nods. "Yes, ma'am."

Andrea considers. "Such a thing happened so long ago that it's lost in story. One story says that it was a Red Talon that first suffered Harano, so horror-struck by the burning of the forests for fuel that he could no longer see the beauty of those around him. Another says the pain is that of the Black Furies, who feared to be close to another sister for the rest of her life after seeing so many raped and killed. Yet another says the first was a Child of Gaia, mourning one of the lost tribes with such intensity that her own tribe brought her no joy. But whoever was the first, it is not just sorrow or depression. Those things are natural and fade with time. It is a perversion of those things that make even beauty look unappealing and all meat taste bitter and rotten. It is a Garou trying to take the suffering of all of Gaia into her own body, and her soul being eaten by it."

"I see..." the Cub whispers. "But, it's so hard to believe. How...well, how can you /not/ see the beauty?"

Andrea shakes her head. "I have been depressed," she admits. "I have even been close to madness with hurts and loss. But I have never been in Harano, and I hope I never will. I know what it is, but I can't explain the feelings."

Adam nods again. "I'd rather not have any first hand experience, myself."

Andrea nods, looking serious. "I hope to never see one of my tribe here that way. It's a living death."

Adam shakes his head. "I don't think Lou is going through that. That wasn't what it was like. I think she's ok, but she's still mourning hard."

Andrea nods. "Sometimes losing someone you love is like losing a piece of yourself." She pauses, then says, "Just so you know, there is a rite that our tribe knows. It does not cure Harano, but it can keep the destruction of the state at bay."

Adam raises an eyebrow. "How does the Rite do that?"

Andrea shakes her head with a faint smile. "That's like asking how a butterfly flies, or how a bee knows which flower will give honey. It is just what it does. I don't know it yet, but I am told that it reminds them dimly of the good in living."

Adam hmmms to himself. "Mystical Prozac, huh?"

Andrea laughs. "Perhaps. A Glass Walker would certainly call it so."

Adam nods. "That's another question. How are Rites learned?"

Andrea frowns. "That's a more difficult question than it seems. You know how it was when you were taught your gifts? There was explaining and practice, but part of the learning came inside, without words?"

Adam ponders this for a while, and nods. "It's not like learning Gemoetry or something, when you just remember it. The power, or inner strength needed, to work the Rite comes from inside, right?"

Andrea nods. "It is a gift of Gaia and your spirit magic. You learn the ways of a rite, but that is just the way of tapping the magic."

"If you had told me a year ago," Adam says, a little shocked at himself, "that I would be able to do Magic and Gifts, I would never have believed it."

Andrea smiles gently. "I had it easier, there. I grew up with magic. Still, it is truly something to be able to watch magic work."

Adam runs a hand along the windbreaker he wears. "Yeah...it's odd. When Hayes dedicated my stuff, it was this feeling. I can't explain it."

Andrea nods. "The greater rites are more, yet." She rubs her hands together. "When you return from your rite of passage, you can learn some, if that calls to you."

Adam rubs a clean-shaven chin. "I understand."

Andrea stretches. "Is there anything else you want to ask, while you have me?" She smiles as she says it.

Adam manages a chuckle, and shakes his head. "Not that I can think of, right now..."

Andrea's smile widens. "Well." She lies down on her back, where she can see the sky through the gap in the trees above the clearing. She pats the ground next to her.

Adam nods quietly, then moves to lie down next to his Elder, staring up into the sky.

Andrea moves her arm up, where her hand can play with Adam's fine and slightly-tangled hair. She begins singing softly, a Garou song about running in the dark sky and hunting the stars like deer.

Adam smiles to himself, as he continues to watch the stars. As the song continues, his eyes start to blink rapidly.

Andrea's voice is a pleasant alto, and tone-true for all its slightly-husky quality. The song wanders on, not totally like human music in its fondness for atonal shifts in the minor keys. Her fingers continue to play gently with the cub's hair as her night-black eyes stare up into the dim night sky.

Adam tries, he really does, to listen to all of the sing. He fails, though, and falls asleep on the ground.

Andrea's song finally ends. She stays next to Adam for some time, her eyes open while he sleeps. Finally, as the moon sets, she gently pulls away. She does not cover him in the summer warmth, but she does smile down at him before shifting and loping wearily back to her territory.

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