3/11/2003 05:11 PM Logfile from Cutter. Summary: Strongbow calls a howl and the story of Skyfire's challenge to Two- Spear is retold my Redlance. Participants: Strongbow, Moonshade, Redlance, Cutter, Skywise Hill Standing atop the slope, you have an incredible view of the SilverRun river, to the west of the holt and to the Northeast you see the huge branches of the immense father tree in the distance, reaching upward to the sky. The land here rises softly in a gentle slope, then drops off steeply to the river bank which hems in the western side of the holt. The land around you is covered over with rich green grass and dotted with sweet smelling flowers. Small butterflies flit to and fro in the early NewGreen morning. The colorful little winged creatures make a lovely swirl of color in the early morning sky. In a send to the whole tribe, Strongbow sends just before dawn, ** Wolfriders...a Howl. At the star-watching Hill... ** A similar send is made to the wolves, baser, more emotion than words so that they too may join. Redlance trots up the hill, borrowed baskets from the tanner in hand, clutched under his arm or held on his shoulder, and bristling full of dreamberries. Too early in the season for dreamberries, so it could only be Redlance that carts them up, and at his Chief's request... **Ayooohah, howlers!** greeting out of breath, but elated **Let's sing down the moon!** Moonshade smiles at Redlance as he climbs the hill. She is already seated, her legs tucked beneath her, and her hands resting lightly on her knees. Strongbow is already at the Hill, looking over it, his bow by his side. At Redlance's send, the archer-chief turns, his expression almost weary as he waits for the others to arrive and settle. ** Which moon, Treeshaper? ** is asked with a slight twinkle in brown eyes. Maybe it was just a trick of the starlight. Like a pale shadow disengaging from the underbrush, Cutter pads to the hill with Ashefur at his side. A grin spreads across the former chieftain's face at Redlance's exuberant sends as he is the next to arrive. **Ayooah!** he sends back and moves to find himself a place to sit with the others, leaning against Ashefur's fuzzy side, looping an arm across the wolf's back, and idly scratching behind a furred ear. Coming from the direction of the holt, Skywise makes his way up towards the hill he's all too familiar with. Oh, dreamberries, nice. His grin broadens at the sight of the basket that Redlance carries up to the hill. It isn't long after his own arrival, that his wolf Skylark trots up towards the well-known hill, eager to get in on the howl. The stargazer makes his way towards where Cutter sits, near Ashefur. Redlance grins at the teasing and looks up "Just the childmoon... the mothermoon won't fit on our hill." Teasing back and taking a deep breath to taste the night. Well, that and recapture all that air lost from dragging twenty pounds of dreamberries up a hill. Setting said heavy berries down, he takes a double scoop and -swish- hops over to Skywise to hand them to him. Then goes back for more, murmering "This is supposed to be Pike's job, you know... storytelling... Rotten berry gobbler forgets what stories he's telling once there's dreamberries to be had though..." Again, more good natured teasing. It's been a while since he's been up here for a big howl, and it's got him in a rare mood, talkative and bubbly and excited... The next set of dreamberries goes to Cutter, and he's on his way around to give a pile to Moonshade... Cutter takes the offered handfull of dreamberries and grins at the teasing passing between the others. He glances over at Skywise and chuckles as he continues to scratch behind Ashefur's ear. ** I'd be surprised if he wasn't passed out in his grove since you started growing those berries... ** Maybe he is. Waiting for his own handfull, Strongbow glances to all present, a neutral expression on his face. He isn't used to standing up during a Howl...at least, not at this part, and it's fairly obvious that he's not the most comfortble doing so. It would seem that the archer-chief is counting the moments to when he can sit by his lifemate and let Redlance tell the story. You locksend to Strongbow, Cutter sends lightheartedly, **Relax chieftain, no one's going to bite you.** You sense in a locksend, Strongbow doesn't seem particularly convinced of that... Skywise leans over to a side, setting the aquired berries on the ground next to him, but giving his wolf a look as though to tell her not to tromple on them. He then lifts his silvery grey eyes up to meet Strongbow's, taking in his disposition as he stands in front of the gathered. Picking up a berry and popping it into his mouth, he may not be the first, but he's not going to be the last one to taste the fruit of Redlance's work. ** I wouldn't doubt it. ** He pipes up, with a grin. The Treeshaper brings Moonshade a double handful, then, when he goes back for the Chief's, brings an entire basket over. Setting it at Strongbow's place, rather than in his cheif's hands, he takes another little handfull and plops those on top of Moonshade's already plentiful pile, with a wink. Then he stands up, dusts off his purple splotched hands, and grins at Strongbow. Whenever the chief is ready. He backs into his place again and sits heavily on his knees, using the back of his hand to brush away a braided lock of his hair... "He was when I left...." he chuckles "Makes growing them a lot slower. Pike'll eat the flowers if you let him!" Cutter chuckles at Redlance's update on Pike's whereabouts then shifts his gaze to Strongbow arching both brows high on his forehead and shaking his head at something; most likely a locksend. He pops one of the berries into his mouth and lets the juice run over his tongue as he chews it, savoring the sweetness before swallowing it. An entire basket? There's no way Strongbow will be able to eat all those berries. A sidelong glance is given to the Treeshaper before he settles himself before the others. Not one for overly-flowery language, the archer-chief gets right to the point. ** I am no storyteller. But this Howl is not for me...nor for any elf still living. ** He seems to want to say more, but instead defers to Redlance. With a bit of evident relief, he goes to sit by Moonshade and begins to slowly work on the berries in the basket. A low howl dies off into the air... Now that Redlance has everyone's attention, he pops a handfull of berries into his mouth, chewing quickly and wiping a dribble of purple off the side of his mouth. Yeah, so it's the equivalent of a bottle of jack and a spritz of grapejuice... he needs it to remember.. to remember the first time he heard this story, when Treestump was /still/ old, and to remember the last time he heard this story, one of Cutter's howls... one in the Father Tree after they returned. It's an old story, one that has been passed down from generation to generation... to Cutter from Bearclaw, and on and on up the path of chiefs to the beginning. **"SKYFIRE!"** He shouts, and sendshouts, skipping up to his feet with a scramble and wheeling into a slightly unsteady dance, weaving around the inside of the circle. **This howl is for the Huntress, who took the tribe from her brother, her mad fool, who proved he could not lead his tribe with a cold heart and hatred in his eyes. This howl is for Timmorn's blood, for the line of our chiefs, broken only by need!** He comes to a dead stop his third circle around the circle, standing right in front of Cutter... **Listen, young Kin-Seeker, to something I remember... listen close... and remember well...** He tilts his head back and let's loose a long ululating howl, tearing open the night with a wolf's cry that draws the pack into it, both those attending bonds and friends, and the rest that have been gathered about the foot of the hill at the Chief's summons... Already starting to bear purple marks on his fingers from the berries he's eaten, Skywise finishes a few more before he gives his full attention to the standing archer chief. He quirks a bit of a grin at the inclination that Strongbow is no storyteller, since he knows that much is true, and nods at the rest of the send. A few more berries? Certainly, the stargazer picks up another and rolls it between his fingers as he listens to Redlance's story, one he's heard a number of times yet still the howl tears through him as much as it does the night air. Cutter lends his voice to the howl as does Ashefur both, voice blending into the whole. As the howl dies, the former chieftain watces Redlance's circling about and listens to the introduction of the story to be told. He pops another berry into his mouth to add to the few he's eaten already but, as Redlance stops right before him and singles him out to listen well, his expression becomes curious though slightly muddled by the effects of the berries. Strongbow doesn't eat more than a couple berries before he lends his own scratchy voice to the howl, letting it die with the others. The basket seems to be untouched, for the little he has eaten...brown eyes watching the others as Redlance tells the story. He may eat more as the story continues, but perhaps he is wanting to see reactions first. **She was the first!** He cries, his sending cutting into the end of the howl as his breath dies away **It was Skyfire who first seized the tribe from an Elf unworthy to lead, though he lead by right of blood. The Huntress challenged her mad brother, her brother named for his Twin Spears, Two Spear who carried the spear of an elf, strong, and slender, and tipped in troll metal, and the spear of a Man, thick, clumsy, tipped by jagged stone.** He pauses at that, still standing before Cutter, and whispers "I remember those tips, Cutter... remember them so clearly tonight..." He stares for a second and then dances away, his eyes wet with the pain of the memory **The tribe split! We were not yet born, none of us here, but we well remember the effect... the tribe, large then, splintered, broke, and in stinking hides scattered. Two Spears sundered the tribe with his madness, his challenge against his own sister lost, turned to violence, and then shamefully fleeing into the day, taking with him the half that respected his strength, the half that peeled away, one by one, until only Two Spears, mad Two Spears remained. That half of the tribe was lost... so very few returned to us, or have returned by way of their descendents through the years... Two Spears war was not the way of elves... we do not fight the five fingers, we hide from them. We frighten them away...** He pauses then before Strongbow **New-Chief, who rules with strength, you do well to ask for this story... the lesson is not only Cutters, but yours... The Tribe made the decision, not the challenge. The Line of Chiefs is sundered here, by you with no claim of blood. But it starts anew, if you are loyal to The Way. Skyfire's challenge was one not of power, but of heart. I remember many stories, New Chief, not just Skyfire's... would you have won on the bridge, or at the test of the crack? Had it been you seeking, would you have won the heart of the healer? You have great strength, of head, and of hand, but can you love us, boundlessly, as Cutter has? As Skyfire did!? She took us to wander, our tribe starved, through cold winters and bad hunts, our skills of tanning not yet mastered...** He starts back into his circle, but slowly **Skyfire broke the line of chiefs, though she claimed blood right, and in the end was one of the greatest, perhaps the very greatest. Nobility, strength, love... We owe her our Way, wolfriders... she preserved it...** He drops to his space in the circle, panting and sweating, his eyes wide and unfocused... "Humans could not tear this tribe apart... but a war of Chiefs can... the tribe must choose... the Tribe must... or we will repeat the folly of Skyfire and Two Spears... two good leaders, each with their own strengths, and each with their own weakness... how do we choose? How does the tribe decide when they should 'KNOW', and yet cannot, divided by The Way, and their hearts?" Redlance passes neatly out, panting softly on the grass... maybe those few handfulls while he was shaping were enough? Apparently, that last one all at once was too much. No healer needed, he's snoring like a troll... Cutter's gaze follows Redlance for only a moment before it glazes and his memory takes him to the time of Skyfire and her challenge to Two-Spear. The memory washes over him, though he did not live it himself, as if it were only a hand of days past instead of time immemorable. Redlance's sends alongside the vivid images playing out in his mind's eye bring about an awareness within him and sadness creeps over his expression. As his mind shifts back to Now, he looks to Strongbow with a graveness in the depths of his cerulean eyes; yet, there is neither accusation nor anger there; only a steady calm. There is neither send nor spoken word from the pale former, chieftain, only a thoughtfulness to his expression that might not have been there before. Strongbow's eyes have fallen, focusing on the ground before him. A few more berries have been eaten, but only when Redlance comes before him...sends at him, does he look up. Nothing is said to the Shaper...he did indeed ask for this story to be told. No doubt Redlance's spell breaks a bit when he passes out...at least enough for Strongbow to send pensively, ** Let us Howl then, for Huntress Skyfire. ** Another berry is quickly eaten before he tilts back his head and lends his raspy voice to the wolves who continue to howl at the moons and the memories. Between Redlance's well-told story, that draws memories from the well for both Strongbow and Cutter to realize, and the look of sadness creeping over Cutter's face; Skywise looks between the two for a few moments. Archer chief, and former chief, it is true that they both have their own weaknesses and strengths - yet, who is to say which is the better leader? The challenge has been done, the decision made by force. ** For Huntress Skyfire. ** He agrees, at the call for a howl, the stargazer lends his voice to it, followed by Skylark's as his silvery eyes close in enjoyment of the moment. Cutter, too, lets his head fall back and lends his voice to the howl, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment as well. At his side, Ashefur's wolfen voice chimes in, blending with the others creating, what might seem to some as an eerie cacophony. The Howl continues, time losing meaning, the Now the only think that is important. Finally, the archer's voice fades and, silent once more, he looks to Cutter as he howls. Redlance is more than an effective Storyteller, it seems...for not only does he relate the story, but he involves the meaning. Moonshade adds her voice to the howl. Her mate's story was told swift and true - but she did not expect anything different from him. Frostfire nudges her head beneath her bond's elbow and Moonshade leans against the old wolf for strength - and take in the forever comfort of the pack. As the strength of the howling begins to dwindle, Skywise's as much as his wolf's fade into the night. He silences, reaching down for another berry from beside him, and having enough of the purple stain on his fingers and yep, even on his face to let anyone know he's probably consumed too many for his lithe frame. He leans against Cutter, since well, the former chief is right beside him, and looks up at him without saying anything - only a grin on his face. Cutter's voice quiets as well and he consumes a few more berries as well, having gotten his own tell tale berry stains on both fingers and lips. He looks down at Skywise as the stargazer leans against him and chuckles at the grin that's been missing from his soul brother's face for many days. At his side, Ashefur's howling fades into nothing more than a memory as both enjoy the Now. And who ever said that Strongbow never relaxed? Taking another berry, he quickly pops it into his mouth before he lays down, moving to rest his head in Moonshade's lap. Keen brown eyes, dulled slightly by the effects of the dreamberries, look up at the night sky. He doesn't share the fascination others do, but it is easier to look there than anywhere else when he is on his back. Moonshade strokes her lifemate's hair, gazing down upon him. Do her eyes seem a darker color than usual - perhaps the color of dreamberries? Perhaps - perhaps its all in their heads. The dreamberries seem to take their toll on Skywise quickly, his eyes drifting half closed as he leans against Cutter. Well, less his soul brother tired of it and pushed him towards Skylark, it's unlikely that the stargazer would care who he's leaning against - though, it would be nice if there was a nice maiden to rest his head on their lap. Ah well, not everything is like one wishes it could be. The words of the howl are not lost on him, though, as his gaze lingers on Strongbow. Cutter doesn't seem to mind Skywise leaning against him. In fact, he looks rather comfortable with the stargazer on one side and Ashefur on the other. The only thing missing from that picture is Leetah who doesn't seem to have joined the rest for the howl. Cutter's gaze follows Skywise's to Strongbow who's now lying back with Moonshade smiling down at him. He chuckles before he leans his head against Ashefur's ruff and sighs a sigh of the content for Now. Skywise gathers himself up from beside Cutter, using him as a steady for a moment as he reaches down to gather up the rest of the berries - no sense wasting them after Redlance's efforts, after all. "Tired." He mentions, a bit slurred by the berries, and wanders back towards the holt to go sleep. Cutter watches Skywise get up and places a hand over the stargazer's to help him steady himself then watches as he moves back toward the holt. Once Skywise disappears into the shadowed underbrush, the former chieftain rests his head against Ashefur's ruff once more and chews on a few more dreamberries.. the last that are left in his original helping of them. Strongbow has barely touched the basket Redlance gave him. Instead, he'll let any others take from it...he certainly won't be making himself ill on them. As it is, he's perfectly content to be resting in his lovemate's lap, looking up at the sky. Cutter closes his eyes and lets himself drift where the berries will take him.