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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 3-4, By The Spirits

Kesst sat by impassively but attentive as the Valley Tribe's Shaman, Profesor Julius Blackburn introduced the group to Yesni, a very large female feral black bear with several distinctive gray steaks in her fur; the dragon couldn't help but feel that her shaded pelt shared a great deal with the Shaman's own coloration. Although she was initially quite guarded around the group, she slowly began to relax, and, as the explanation of the Two-Souls came to an end, she was seated next to Professor Blackburn with her huge head rested in his lap.

Sanmer offered up what was probably the fourth or fifth version of the same general question he'd asked since first discovering that there wasn't anything dramatically magical about a Bonding Stone, "So... Tribals don't actually change into animals?"

Rather than having the Shaman repeat his earlier answers, Enarork took the opportunity to speak, "No... that was a story your people made."

Tobias' ears raised, "But... why not explain things then?"

Roaring-Flood flicked an ear and snorted, "You say 'why not?'-- we say 'why?' Two-Souls are good... right... special. The Rock Tribe say other things... Two-Souls are wrong... man turns into beast is bad. Men of Symbol say it is dark magic when they don't know what it is and do not want to learn."

Theo rested his paws together in his lap and cleared his throat, "If they knew what it was they wouldn't think it's dark magic."

The big bear scowled, "They say what it is before they know what it is... that is not right. That is problem for Men of Symbol, not for The People."

Nicholas spat off to the side, "Until they become YOUR problem because they have their heads so far up their arses they lose the ability to see what's what."

The Shaman held up his paws, "Please... this did not start as a political discussion and does not have to end up there." He then turned to Roaring-Flood and spoke several words to him in the Tribal tongue before looking back to the group, "If I have learned anything during my time with the Tribesmen it is that their view is just as valid as our own."

Nicholas smirked smugly, "Don't let the Church hear you saying that or--"

Sanmer interrupted him, "Why even bother with a magical necklace if it doesn't have any magic powers?"

Enarork frowned in response, "The Stone Tribe uses symbols often... do you not recognize one when you see it?"

The white fox sighed, "You have NO IDEA what I could have done with something like--" he paused, and a decisive, mischievous grin spread across his muzzle, "eh... I'll survive." and he began casually fingering the imperfect Bonding-Stone he held in his paw.

Tobias quickly sidestepped that discussion by raising a question, "Professor... you said that Yesni is a she-bear."

The Shaman nodded, "Yes."

The prong horn's ears focused in on the bear, "I thought you had said that Two-Souls are considered so holy because a spiritual bond only forms when someone from The People creates that link with an identical animal... how can that be if you are male and she--"

The Shaman held up a paw to halt the scholar's question, "Yesni is a special case, Tobias... in fact, though she wears the twin of my Bonding Stone, it was her SIRE who was the second half of the pairing. Although he has been gone for years, she has stayed with me."

Enarork smiled kindly, "You are too 'hohtou', Shaman."

The older black bear chuckled, adjusting the spectacles on his snout, "There is nothing 'modest' about it, Enarork... Shehl sired five cubs in the time he and I were Bonded... the fact that one happened to be--"

The white-furred trader spoke right over him to the group, "Shi-Pani IS too 'hohtou'... too 'modest'.... our past Shaman saw a great Sign. Shi-Pani has a second Bond with a new Bondmate. It shows that he is right to be our Shaman."

Tobias tapped a finger against the end of his muzzle in thought, "Is it normal for a Two-Soul to have more than one Bondmate in their lifetime?"

Roaring-Flood shook his head, "Only three Two-Souls before Shi-Pani... he is four."

The prong horn nodded in thought, adding, "And it's not normal for a male Two-Soul to have a female animal Bondmate?"

Enarork reached into his pouch and pulled out what looked to Kesst to be a cat's eye agate hanging from a hemp lanyard, "There is a story among the Yew Tribe of a--"

Roaring-Flood chuckled deeply, licking his muzzle, "I like that story." and he leaned aside to Sanmer, taking several moments to whisper something in into his ear. The fox's ears rose further and further and, whatever it was, it happened to be enough to get the rogue to blush visibly, and make his tail wag. Kesst also didn't miss the fact that the fox slid the cat's eye necklace into one of his pouches.

Professor Blackburn cleared his throat, "The story suggests that the great grandfather of the current Cheiftain had no wife, but his Bondmate was a female deer and that she bore him twofawns... which would make the Yew Tribe's--"

Nicholas slapped his thigh with a raucous 'haw!' followed by a, "family gatherings really interesting events?"

Sanmer's tail continued wagging, "I like the way Roaring-Flood told it better."

The Shaman cleared his throat and addressed the gathering gruffly, "Be that as it may, no, Two-Soul partners are usually far too much alike to be a male and female pair, which is why Yesni is NOT my Bondmate."

Theo glanced between the feral bear and the professor next to her, "But you both still wear the Bonding-Stone?"

Professor Blackburn nodded, "As a tribute to her father, yes."

Roaring-Flood stared at the Shaman and stated flatly, "Hohtou."

The Shaman responded with a casual gesture which meant nothing to Kesst, but all three Tribals burst into laughter, and Tobias' ears reddened a little. The prong horn lowered his voice and noted quietly, "That's the equivalent of a middle--"

Nicholas gave Tobias a firm slap on the back, "I think we can all guess, Toby."

Professor Blackburn gave Yesni's head a light shove, at which point she removed it from his lap, allowing him to stand, "And, aside from getting off-topic, that is the 'secret' behind the Two-Souls... nothing magical... just culturally significant and, if your belief takes you down that path, spiritual."

Theo's small, rounded ears raised, "Does yours?"

The Shaman reached down to stroke the back of the feral bear's head, "Does what?"

The ermine rephrased his question, "Does your belief take you down a spiritual path?"

Roaring-Flood let out a thunderous guffaw, "Shi-Pani is our Shaman! He is our leader in the way of spirits!"

The Professor cleared his throat, "There are things in life that we cannot understand using just one point of view..."

Tobias raised an eyebrow, "So... you DO believe in spirits?"

The Shaman glanced between the group and the two Tribals, "I believe anything is possible, so it is therefore not reasonable to rule out the possibility of spirits."

Theo likewise raised an eyebrow, "Does that mean you're avoiding the question?"

Professor Blackburn frowned, "It means that I am not interested in sharing theories and hypotheses that have not been given a chance to undergo rigorous testing."

Roaring-Flood's ears went up and he turned aside to Enarork, and the large black bear offered a few words to his brother. The white bear shrugged in response, replying in the common tongue, "I do not know those words either."

Nicholas scowled, placing a hand roughly on each scholar's shoulder, "You two so thick skulled that you can't tell now's not really the right place or time to have talks like that?"

Kesst did not miss the way the Shaman shot a quick, appreciative glance at the human, but the dragon was taken aback when the older bear's gaze locked onto him. The Professor's next words were strangely generalized, "I believe there is something that gives us life and animates us that will always escape our ability to measure, catalogue, and analyze... and if that means I believe in spirits, then I was chosen well for my duties here."

Sanmer nodded, still toying with his faux-Bonding Stone, "Well, that's all good and all, but what I really wanna know is--"

The discussion was interrupted by a young grizzly lumbering into the clearing behind the Shaman's hut. The youth was carrying what looked like a long strip of paper... which was strange to Kesst as he hadn't seen any paper anywhere around the village. The grizzly was shouting out something in the tribal language, and all three of the bears in the group were immediately attentive... and so was Tobias. Although Roaring-Flood and Enarork each waited with the group, Professor Blackburn went to speak with the teenager.

Theo watched the discussion, muzzle dropping open slightly as the Shaman took the piece of paper from the messenger, "I didn't know that the Tribals knew how to write."

Enarork responded, likewise watching the exchange, "Some do... if we learn the ways of the Stone Tribe."

Tobias also kept an eye on the Shaman and messenger, adding, "The tribes don't have a written language, but some learn how to write in Common."

Professor Blackburn returned to the group, a look of concern stuck to his ashen face, "The Church is moving soldiers into the Tribelands and heading for the Yew Tribe's village. I must go to Newport and see the University immediately."

Enarork and Roaring-Flood burst into discussion immediately in the tribal tongue while everyone else tried talking over one another in the common tongue; there was so much going on that Kesst had absolutely no idea what anyone was saying regardless of language. In the end, Professor Blackburn silenced everyone or, rather, Yesni did with an enormous feral roar at the behest of the Shaman's simple hand signal.

Professor Blackburn quickly took ownership of the silence and took the opportunity to speak, "I must travel to the University and report this immediately... if they plan on attacking the tribes then this atrocity cannot go unknown."

Tobias shook his head, "If the Church is already at the Tribelands then the Yew Tribe won't fare any better than the Birch Tribe did without help."

Roaring-Flood growled at that; Kesst had no idea what the prong horn had referenced, but it had a profound reaction from the Tribals. The large black bear beat his fist against a tree trunk, "We can help deers... THEN go to the Rock Tribe village."

Enarork nodded, "We can speak with the Cheiftain and gather our warriors."

Sanmer put his fake Bonding-Stone away, "A small group would move faster... and wouldn't take as long to get ready as an army."

Kesst took a step back, "Are you REALLY talking about going to war with the CHURCH?"

Tobias shrugged, "We can't do NOTHING... if the same thing happens with the Yew Tribe as what happened with the Birch Tribe--"

Theo nodded, "We can intercept the church's forces and tell them to pull back."

Nicholas rolled his eyes, "That'll go about as well as asking the waves to stop beating against the rocks."

The Shaman picked up a satchel, "Whatever the plan, we must move. Come... we can decide on the way."