Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[LadyTevar]

"I've lil doubt of that," Caitlyn answered, the banging of the screen door not bothering her in the least. She held the platter with the cups on it out for Alexander to take, before relieving Sees Faces of the pitcher of clear spring water.

"Go thru th' house to the porch now," she told them both, nodding to a narrow doorframe behind Alexander. It was hidden from the back door by the cabinets lining the walls. "Straight forward," she added, but that much was obvious as the porch door could be seen from the kitchen.

In between kitchen and the porch were two rooms; a bedroom with a large 4-poster bed draped with quilts similar to those at the Sept of Moon's Blessing, neatly made. The next room was a music room, it seemed, with carved chairs and shelves holding various drums, fiddles, and bone or metal flutes. Each room had fireplace in the inner wall for heat, giving a glimpse through them to two matching rooms on the other side of the wall. A perfect 4-square or Jinny-house, an Appalachian miner's house, built in the days before electricity and air conditioning to allow air to circulate the square pattern via four archways, with the kitchen at the back to keep the heat contained, and the porch at the front for sitting.

Again, there was a stout wooden door that still opened easily, with a wood-framed screen door that would catch tails if one wasn't careful. As the Elder had shepherded ALex and SeesFaces through, she'd taken a moment to concentrate on the spring water.

On the porch were scattered wooden stools, chairs, and a single rocking chair that seemed to have worn a grove in the floor. Brightly colored seat pads were in every chair, block-quilted by hand. The other side of the porch was taken up by a porch swing, the green paint peeling slightly off the wood slats, but the rusty chain holding it securely to the bolts in the porch roof. It moved slightly in a breeze, a faint clinking and creaking as the chain swayed, the padded seat inviting.

When the Elder joined them outside and started filling glasses, what poured out of the pitcher was not water, but a light, fruity-scented beverage that had only a faint hint of alcohol in it. "Now," Caitlyn said, taking a glass and claiming her seat in the rocking chair. "Tell me more 'bout what yer huntin', youn'uns... an' I'll see iffen I kin help."

Breathes would recognize the gleam in the Elder's eye. It was the gleam of a Galliard who was gathering information for a new story. Telling the Elder what they had done might get them their own song, and raise their renown amongst their fellow Garou.

[Charon]

As the screen door slammed the first time, Breathes-the-Winds jumped nearly a foot in the air. The Garou glared at Sees-Faces as he passed by to bring the pitcher back, and tried to get there in time to stop the door from slamming again, but just barely missed.

With a grumble, he figured since he was already at the door he might as well go in. He stepped inside and followed the elder and the others to the other porch. Breathes-the-Winds quickly took in everything in the room, then he took a seat against the wall that was also closest to the mountain face, giving him a good view of everything with a smaller chance of something sneaking up on him. When the drinks were poured, Breathes-the-Winds eyed them carefully. The Garou cautiously got to his feet and grabbed a glass before quickly returning to his seat. He didn't partake just yet, watching the others. Nor did he say anything. He understood what she was doing, and wasn't certain how much would be too much.

But if she was who she said she was, that would mean his non-compliance would get back to the elders of his sept. "We came here looking for a fetish at the request of our elders. By the time we got here it had been stolen. We have followed clues and a scent that has so far led us to our encounter with you." A barebones account, leaving out almost every detail.

[Devonie]

Arianne caught Breathe's eye and nodded. She had no talent for telling a tale, and he did. She trusted his judgment on what should and should not be said, even if there was anything that did not need to be told to an elder.

Besides, the elder had obviously warmed up to Alex even if none of the group had. No need for mentioning their dislike of one another - and if she opened her mouth, the elder would know.

[rhoenix]

Why were they so quiet now? Especially with the prospect of Stories around? How could they do less than tell all that had happened?

Taking a deep breath, Sees-Faces-In-Stars, still in his homid form of Joe-Smith, said everything in one breath, but his voice had a slight sing-song quality that Theurges normally had unconsciously when they spoke to spirits - it seemed Sees-Faces was no different. However, it was obvious that as excited as the lupus was to tell the tale...he didn't have the same concept of "easy-to-follow narration" that most people did.

"Hattie told us to go see a Perfesser at a big house with lots of rooms. We hunted the night before and caught a deer and ate it, and we all told the deer thanks. So Galileo woke us all up with horrible noises and we had a good breakfast after, then we went to the huge house with the Perfessor and she said some drunken Garou had stolen a bone. I followed his trail out the clear thing and hurt my leg, but I still followed his scent right to a big field with people that said 'hey this place is mine' so we told them hi, and they let us look in the field - we found stinky Bane juice, others call it "licker" smashed in the ground from the red-furred Garou who stole the bone. We were looking for him when we heard you, and we met you and had fun fighting Banepiggies and found out you once ran the Fianna tribe."

Once he finished, he beamed. He wasn't sure he could say all that in one breath!

[LadyTevar]

Caitlyn, with long experience translating 'lupus', listened carefully, then looked to Breathes, Arianne, Sophie, and finally to Alexander. "So... th' taint you were followin' is from a Garou who stole a bone fetish, an' somehow the Bledson's tainted likker's tied up in this?" the Elder asked, watching the other four closely. She took a sip of her own glass, savoring the mild taste of peaches in the fruit mead. It was light enough for casual drinking, more refreshing than beer.

[General Havoc]

Sophie was also on her guard, albeit for very different reasons than Breathes. This was the first elder of any tribe besides her own (and the ones at the Appalachian sept she supposed) that she had met, and certainly the first she had ever spoken to for a length of time. The Fianna and the Glasswalkers, she knew, did not always get along that well (to say the least), and it wasn't as though it was difficult to determine what clan she was from. If the laptop case didn't give it away, the handgun, bluetooth earpiece, and assorted other technical gizmos had to.

Still, there was no point in being rude...

"We think so," she said, having, with difficulty, managed to follow what Sees was saying, though if she had not herself experienced those events, she was fairly certain she would not have been able to figure it out. "The fetish was stolen from the university by a Wyrm-tainted Garou, who left a scent trail that led us to the Wyrmshine, and then to those banes. We don't know if it's all connected, but I'd guess it probably is."

[LadyTevar]

The elder rocked in her chair, the soft creakcreak just barely louder than the sounds of the farm and the wilderness around her. "I've not be s'prised if he's tainted from the 'shine," she finally said. "When're the Bledsons sell a batch, the locals they sell to get ... mean. Som' o' the local boys are Bonegnawer kin. They've been tryin' ta help me get proof for the Sept."

But that wasn't all that was on her mind. "Red-furred..." her blue eyes got distant a moment. "Ya'll know th' name o' the Garou as did this?"

[Charon]

"Nothing provable, but we think it was Neil Crier." Breathes spoke. "How about you, you have any ideas?" He looked at the others "Did we grab any of those broken bottles?"

[LadyTevar]

The rocking chair stopped.

Caitlyn's face held a look of sudden immense sadness, mixed with pain. "Crier...?" she asked, hoping she had misheard, yet it was clear she knew. The rocking chair creaked lowly as she leaned back in it, looking up to the porch roof. " ... has he ... started killin' humans ... "

[General Havoc]

"So far, I don't think he's killed any humans," said Sophie, "but if he's drunk on Wyrmshine and mutilating cattle, then it might only be a matter of time."

She paused for a moment, not sure what to do here. "Do you... know where he is?" she asked.

[LadyTevar]

Caitlyn looked up with alarm. "He's the cattle-killer?" she asked in shock, then slumped in her chair, shaking her head sadly. "Neil, Neil.... how far you've gone..........." she murmured quietly. It was clear she knew him well, and didn't seem to hear the last question Sophie asked.

[Charon]

Breathes pretended to take a sip from his drink. I knew it. he thought to himself.

"How long ago did you know him?"

[General Havoc]

"We don't... know that he killed the cattle," said Sophie. "But his name came up when we were investigating. We need to talk to him if nothing else..."

[LadyTevar]

"I was th' one who kicked him out," Caitlyn answered with finality. "He went to Ireland... fell in with the Fundie Camp. He came back, talkin' of startin' the Impergium...."

The Impergium, where Garou kept human population in check by killing off the 'overstock'. To some, a great mistake. To others, a final solution for the human overpopulation problem. There was a small camp of vocal Fianna, the Eire Fundamentalists who wanted to start with Ireland.

"He was stopped afore he broke the Litany, and we cast him out. His 'friends'," she spat the word "with th' Talons wised up quick an' shunned him too."

[Cynical Cat]

Alex sat down gingerly. The wound from the boar had only slightly healed and it pained him to move in certain ways. "These Bledsons," he said. "Do you know where we can find them?"

[LadyTevar]

Alex's pain was noticed, and Caitlyn grimaced, getting up out of her rocking chair. "I'm thinkin' tha's why I was attacked by them Baneboars ... I was gettin' too close ta findin' them. They're in one o' them hollers close by, I know it."

Crossing the short distance to Alex, she reached out her hand and laid it on his shoulder. A warm feeling spread through him, like a mother's embrace, and then the pain from his wounds were gone.

One by one, she walked amongst them, touching each one and healing the wounded with the gentle touch of Mother Gaia, before she sat down again. "I should o' thought o' doing that sooner," Caitlyn apologized. "My mind gets onta one thin', and fergets what else anymore. Drink yer glass... the Brew'll restore yer spirit."

She poured another glass for herself, taking her own advice. As she drank, a sound came from the deer trail into the holler. Someone was walking in, whistling cheerfully as they came. The song was bouncy and cheerful, and agonizingly familiar to any homid or metis who'd ever watched TV in their lifetime.

A lanky young man came walking onto the farm, his sandy hair tied back from his face. He wore faded denim jeans and a cotton shirt that looked hand-sown. The whistling stopped as he looked towards the porch, giving a big grin. "Miss me, Kate?"

Caitlyn walked to the porch railing and looked down at the man fondly. "I should o' know'd you'd be comin'. Get up here, I've poured th' drinks."
As the young man took the steep front stairs two at a time, with obvious familiarity, Caitlyn looked back to the rest of them. "Meet Jack th' Whistler. He's Kinfolk, so we ken talk freely. Jack," Caitlyn turned to introduce them to him, only to be swept up in a hug as the man kissed her wrinkled cheek.

"Yer lookin' lovely as ever, Kate," Jack said, before looking to the gathered Garou. "Pleased ta meetcha. I guess I'm right where I need ta be, once 'gain." His face turned serious as he looked to Caitlyn. "Old man Peeble's dead."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds looked carefully at Jack. There was something more to him, what exactly it was he could not say, but as usual he wasn't being told everything. Were they trying to kill him through lack of information?

"Peebles? I've heard that name before." The Garou spoke up, keeping his eyes looking from the Elder to the kinfolk.

[General Havoc]

Peeples...

Lester Peeples was the man who had donated the artifact to the university in the first place. If he was dead, then this situation had suddenly gotten very, very messy.

"What happened to him?" she asked the newcomer. Something about him put her off, but she couldn't determine what. Best not to make assumptions just yet.

[LadyTevar]

Jack looked down at Sophie and frowned. "The Caudill boys saw the Bledsons heading that way, and followed. By the time they caught up, the Bledsons had shot Old Man Peebles and set his place on fire. The Caudills shot a few of them, but Peebles is the only one dead."

Caitlyn once again sat down heavily in her rocker, but didn't start it moving. "The Caudills are th' Bonegnawer kin. They and th' Bledsons have fought... hell, longer than th' Hatfields and McCoys, that's fer sure." She looked up to Jack sadly. "They could do nothin' fer him?"

"He lived long 'nuff to tell them why th' Bledsons were there," Jack answered. "It was 'bout his Luck-Bone. They wanted ta make sure he told no on n'thin' about it, even though he'd given it 'way years ago." Jack looked to the rest of the Garou. "Now... why'd do that to an old man?"

[Charon]

Breathes paused. He didn't trust Caitlyn, or Jack, but if people were dying here. "There's reason to believe it's a Croatoan fetish. It had been classified as a mammoth bone with odd markings before they were figured out to be glyphs, and if it is a fetish made from a mammoth bone..." The Galliard didn't think he needed to finish that sentence.

[LadyTevar]

"Mammoth bone?" Caitlyn asked, looking at Ahady in shock, then exchanging glances with Jack. "Well... well... HELL!" she cursed, slumping back.

Jack shook his head sadly. "Kate, if I'd know his LuckBone was the one in yer dreams..."

Caitlyn wearily waved his explanation away. "Visions from past lives ain't that clear... how'd Peebles get it? A Cherokee kinfolk had it back then."

"His uncle found the bone after a woman's house got burnt down, t'was in the ashes. Th' woman and her babes all died in the fire. But as I've said before, the bone in yer dreams is a powerful Fetish from Mammoth himself. Best I kin tell, it's created to meant to create a Sanctuary for the Garou when the Darkest Times fall." Once again, this Kinfolk was more than he seemed, if he knew that much, and enough of a storyteller to want to spread the news. "If the Bledsons have it...."

"... dear Gaia...." Caitlyn muttered, looking over to the young Garou. "An' Gallileo sends Cubs fer it." It wasnt' meant as an insult -- for to her they were all far too young for this.

[Cynical Cat]

"Then we should go immediately," said Alexander, standing up. "Thank you for your hospitality and your healing, but if the matter is this urgent we have to get going. If the Bledsons are supplying Crier with Wyrm tainted drink, he's likely to show up there pretty soon for some more and from what you say, we can't take the risk of him trading or losing that fetish to them."

[rhoenix]

This felt...much more serious than it had seemed before. But what an adventure!

Joe-Smith stood up, grinning. "Yes thank you muchlots. I will never forget honor of meeting real retired Fianna tribe Elder. Can I come back to hear stories when all this done?," he asked brightly.

[Charon]

"Agreed." Adahy got up quickly, setting his still full cup down. He looked at Caitlyn. "We're gonna need directions though."

[LadyTevar]

"I have a good idea which holler," Jack said, looking down at Caitlyn. They shared a look that spoke far more than words, before she nodded grimly.

"You do that, then. Tak' 'em as close as you dare, an' I'll start gatherin' backup." The elder looked to the young pack, for they had acted as such thus far in front of her. "He can't change, but he's got th' knack o' travelin' quick. What you don't thin' ya'll need fer fightin' can stay here safe," she added, looking at some of Sophie's techtoys.

"The Bledsons aren't right. I'm not even sure they're human," Jack added. "All the adult men get mean once they hit sixteen, and then they rarely come out of their holler, but fer whiskey runs."