Having grown tired of traveling for the moment, Junior could be found in the center of the old rendezvous site, stretched out like a cat in a patch of sunshine, enjoying the feel of the cool grass on her back. Her hind legs were splayed in a decidedly unladylike manner and her forelegs were crooked, resting lightly against her rib cage. She stared up at the treetops and sky beyond them for a long while, wide awake but definitely at ease.
Abruptly, she sat up slightly and looked down the length of herself. Her face puckered slightly when she saw the shocks of white fur growing in the crooks of her legs. "Why?" she said aloud, for whatever reason made disgruntled by these strange and unbecoming markings. Becoming suddenly self-conscious, she rolled onto her belly, effectively hiding her whitewashed armpits.
During one of her morning hunts, Osprey had stumbled upon an old deer skull. The jaw was missing, as well as one of the antlers. The thing itself lied half-buried in the ground, parts of it sticking outside like an odd plant. Even though she was three years old and considered an adult from all points of view, the young DiSarinno had kept a lot of her inner-child. Therefore rather than passing it by without paying any attention to it, she pounced at it, dug excitedly for few minutes and pulled the skull out with a triumphant smile on her face.
With her muzzle, face and paws still covered in dirt, she picked up her trophy (which was not an easy thing to do, since it was irregular in size and heavy) and began walking, looking for a suitable place to have a better look at it. She was lucky twice-over - first the place found her, secondly - she would have an audience. Osprey didn't recognize her namesake at first, since all of Perry's brood looked the same from afar, therefore she lied down, put the skull between her paws and with a sly look in youth's direction, began to chew on the antler.
Another wolf pranced into the clearing, carrying a skull in its jaws, complete with a single branch of antlers. Forgetting all about her obscene underarm hair, Osprey Jr. immediately raised her head, large ears pricked curiously. Her nose wriggled and it wasn't long before she was pushing herself to her feet and loping toward the adult, who she belatedly identified as her Aunt Osprey.
"Hey, where'd ya get that?" she questioned, touching her nose to one of the antler's many points. "That's sharp. You could poke someone's eye out!" the youngster declared, her mismatched eyes suddenly narrowing shrewdly. "Like, you could make a weapon out of it..." she thought aloud.
Osprey's simple plan worked and her trophy caught attention of the youngster. It didn't take long before she was standing before the older wolf and inquired about it. She recognized the little girl, who had been the only one to come and greet her right after the meeting, and for a moment surprise washed over her face - OJ had grown quite a lot from that small fluff of fur Osprey Sr. had first met in spring.
"I found it sprouting out of the ground there," she beckoned with her muzzle to an unidentifiable spot somewhere in the distance. "It's a special kind, you know, the skull-tree," Osprey cast a glance at Junior with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. This was a test, really - would the girl get the idea that this was a game and more importantly, would she play along? "A weapon? Not practical."
Her aunt's explanation earned a surprised blink from the youth, then her eyes gradually began to narrow in suspicion. "Nuh-uh," she refuted, testing the waters of authenticity. "Skulls come outta dead bodies, not out of the ground!" she exclaimed with confidence, though she paused and looked at Osprey Sr. questioningly, as if not one hundred percent sure of her correctness.
"Why's it not practical? I could break it like a stick and carry it around in my mouth, stabbing people with it!" Junior declared excitedly, imagining herself parading around with what would equate to a sword. She'd really be a Warrior and Shield Maiden then! "Nobody would ever be able to beat me in a fight!" she added, unaware that it might be considered cheating to bring such a weapon to the battle arena. All was fair in love and war, was it not, and Osprey just liked to think of herself as innovative.
"And dead bodies, as you are well aware, I hope, return to the ground," Osprey finished. "So - this thing - might as well be growing. Who knows - maybe after a while there would be a whole deer there again," she mused at the very "delicious" idea and licked her chops. Sometimes her own imagination amazed her.
"Stabbing people?" Osprey quirked her eyebrows. This was something new and made her wonder, who had planted this image in the kid's head. "Why would you want to do that?" she asked curiously, since this kind of stuff didn't seem like a girly thing to do. Then again - Osprey had been a tomboy most of her life too. When you grew up surrounded by boys, you couldn't afford to be a girl.
"Nobody? While you would try to maneuver with an antler in your mouth - someone would take you down, before you even managed to touch it with your weapon," she shared her opinion. "You are equipped with the best weapons already, why should you need more?"
"'Cause I'm a Warrior, Aunt Osprey!" Junior bellowed proudly. "It's my job to kick people's butts! Well... if they deserve it," she amended with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "I'm an Outrider too," the pup added. Even though it wasn't relevant, per se, she wanted her namesake relative to know what was going on in her life, especially because she was rather proud of her apprenticeships.
Osprey made a valid point and, to her credit, Junior pondered it a moment. "I could practice," she rejoined at length, "and get really good at using it. It'd be like... having a giant, extra-sharp tooth." It was clear by her contemplative tone that she was thinking out loud.
"Ass kicking - that's interesting," Osprey admitted, dipping her muzzle to show that she respected youngster's achievements. In her time she had helped raising her younger siblings, had had tons of fun with that and had learned two simple truths about kids. First - you had to listen, no matter, how impossible and sometimes incoherent their ideas were. Secondly - you had to appreciate what they thought was important. Because, what might seem like a tidbit of nothing for a grown-up could mean a world to a kid.
"What does Outrider do?" she asked, because this word was foreign for her.
Although it surprised the youth when Osprey asked what an Outrider did—adults usually seemed to know everything about everything—she was all too happy to seize the chance to tell her aunt all about it. Taking a seat, she made herself comfortable and faced the pewter she-wolf, momentarily musing about how different they looked. Why had her parents decided to name her after the elder Osprey?
"An Outrider's an explorer and a messenger. It's my job to check out all the territories and stuff. And if my dad or the other leaders need it, I can deliver messages for them. If anybody ever has a message for the plateau wolves, I can bring it back for them." Junior paused. Though it was a trademark of the young to be a bit self-centered, it occurred to her to ask, "What kinda trades do you have, Aunt Osprey?"
The names for jobs changed, while the meaning remained the same. Outrider was a new word to Osprey, who up until now had been used to a more convenient term, which - in fact - she had forgotten at the moment. Traveling around the lands sounded very exciting and, even though she was pretty much a homebody for 80% of her life, the rest were open for new opportunities.
When Junior asked about her trades, Osprey had to think long and hard, because there were so many things she enjoyed doing - such as running, hunting, exploring, coming up with stories etc. Then again she had never liked to describe herself in a boring way. Therefore she cracked a grin and said: "Well, I am a part of secret guild of Ospreys. Have you heard anything about it?"
Junior blinked her uniquely mismatched eyes in response to her aunt's answer. What was a guild? Was it like a pack? It sounded like it. Of course, a hundred questions sprang to her lips, yet she pressed them closed against all of them. She continued peering at her aunt, her eyes suddenly dancing with conspiratorial mischief.
"Of course I do, Aunt Osprey, I'm in it too!" the child answered, showing an unprecedented penchant for witticism. She clucked her tongue, grinning at the elder Osprey.
Osprey liked Junior better with every passing moment. The girl was quick to catch the vibe of the conversation and it was fun to find a kindred spirit among all of the wolves here. "Of course you are - it is reserved for our namesakes only," she agreed and stuck out her tongue briefly, as a sign of smugness for being part of something only the two of them knew.
"Then I am loyal to Nansi - God of knowledge and storytelling," during her travels she had met with some Southern-coast wolves, and decided that even though she didn't share their general views of the world, Nansi was somebody she could easily identify herself with and whom she had unknowingly followed all these years.
"He is strict and demanding, sometimes a trickster, but a good friend all the same."
Although she acted like she knew all about the guild, she wouldn't pretend to know about this Nansi. Her head tipped to the side as Aunt Osprey explained that he was the god of knowledge and storytelling, a strict and tricky entity but still a rock solid companion. The child licked her lips thoughtfully.
"What exactly is a god?" she wanted to know. "And how do you become a god of something? Is that like when you get a trade and become a master? Is a god even better than a master?"
"Well... whatever you wish it to be," Osprey chose a cryptic reply rather than a direct one. It was hard to explain, what it was or what it looked like. For some it was an angry big bear, for some it was a mystic voice that spoke in their heads, some went to great measures in assigning a god for every simple thing that happened in life.
"Every person will give you a different explanation. For me... it is part of me and around me. Everywhere," she said smiling, knowing well that Junior wouldn't get the idea right away. It was not because of her age, because many senior wolves had spent a lifetime of searching and in the end never understood, what it was. "What do you thing it could be?"
A nonplussed Junior replied, "What?" to her aunt's unexpectedly ambiguous response. "What do you mean, what I wish it to be? What is a god?" she repeated, searching for a more concrete explanation.
Osprey the Elder explained that each wolf had his or her own definition. She described her own, which really didn't shed much light on it in Junior's opinion. She quirked a brow dubiously at her silvered relative.
"I have no idea," she answered her aunt honestly, blinking loudly and unimaginatively.
The concept of God was hard to explain, because it was something you simply knew and understood. Like the way you sometimes had feelings, which were hard to name in known words and then you simply used a characterization, which sounded odd. Such as "I was so happy I could scream from the treetops" - did it make any sense? Did anyone actually engaged in such a thing? Yet the meaning was clear. The same with the God, except it was different for each person.
"Do you know, what a soul is?" rather than trying to form her idea in different words, Osprey chose to make Junior think and reach the conclusion herself.
Aunt Osprey changed the subject, asking Junior if she knew what a soul was. The pup promptly opened her mouth to say yes but then clapped it shut a second later. She sort of knew what it was, yet it was such an ambiguous concept. She realized she didn't really know or understand its definition, at least any more than she comprehended the meaning of god.
"Not really. What is it?"
Junior didn't know that and for a moment Osprey wondered, if this question wasn't too hard for the young mind to comprehend it. On the other hand - if her wit was just as keen as her parents' - then why shouldn't she give a try. It had taken a while for her to discover, what it really meant, but explaining this to another seemed a lot easier task.
"You have probably seen Atticus in his present state?" Osprey asked. "He is alive, but there is something missing. Can you think of what it is?"
"Yeah," the youth admitted with a touch of discomfort. She felt sort of bad but she really couldn't stand being around the catatonic Atticus. It felt too weird. "I was there when he fell and hit his head," she added.
Osprey pointed out that something was missing and Junior nodded, understanding exactly what she meant. That was why she avoided him. "It's weird and creepy," she said in a low voice, her ears lying back sheepishly. "I miss Uncle Atticus. He isn't himself anymore." She paused. "Are you saying his soul's gone?" she added, connecting the dots. "Will it come back?"
"Oh," Osprey winced, feeling bad for unknowingly stirring up painful memories to Junior. She was unaware of the circumstances that surrounded her brother's accident. "I am sorry," she apologized and added a little encouraging smile.
"You can say it like that," Osprey agreed, happy that Junior caught up with things so quickly. "The same happens, when you fall asleep," she ventured further, avoiding to answer the one question that bothered her and which she couldn't find an answer to. "Your body stays, where it is, while your soul wanders."
"Have you ever had one of those dreams that seem so very real?" she asked.
Osprey avoided answering the question, which tested the youth's patience and caused her to blurt, "How come you're so..." She searched for a word, her tongue swirling around her cheeks as if it might find the word hidden in her mouth somewhere. "Like, mysterious?" It wasn't quite the right word but it might get the idea across. "You don't answer my questions. It's... frustrating."
The youth didn't press it further, as the concept her aunt shared intrigued her. Naturally, she was skeptic first. "That sounds like..." Again, she searched for a word. This time, it sprang right off the tip of her tongue: "Bullshit." Nonetheless, she was still young enough to want to believe. "Yeah, but I thought..." Junior trailed off, then tried a different angle. "Prove it. Prove that your soul can separate and go wandering by itself."
"Well... there are a lot of mysteries in life that frustrate me too," Osprey smiled, getting, what Junior meant. It was true that the elder wasn't very clear about describing metaphysics. Not in a rational way, which would be easier for the young wolf to understand. The concepts of god and soul weren't easy to speak about, because they were something you felt rather than talked about. "You won't always get all of the answers and sometimes it is better not to know them," she spoke from experience.
"You thought? Do tell," Osprey urged the young one to share her opinion. It was always interesting to find out, how the mind of another worked. "Well, if I showed you, there wouldn't be much to see - I will be lying down unconscious and my soul will be fluttering around, perceiving all, but unable to make others hear and see it," she spoke truthfully. "I can tell you a story about soul travelers though."
Osprey countered her, explaining that it would be difficult to prove, since evidently the soul was invisible to the naked eye. Junior's mouth opened, then closed, as she found herself uncertain how to respond. She supposed she was interested in her aunt's stories and it seemed the silvery adult was quite curious about the pup's opinion on these matters too.
"I thought dreaming was just, like, your mind making stuff up. Like your brain takes stuff from your life and you dream about it but then it kinda gets weird and nonsensey and stuff. Because sometimes dreams are nonsense. It's not at all like you just left your body and went wandering. Sometimes it's like that — really realistic and stuff — but usually it isn't."
She didn't want to appear like she was buying into her elder's theories too much, so Junior tried to sound casually disinterested as she asked, "So what are these stories? About the soul travelers?"
"Most dreams are nonsense," Osprey agreed with Junior's view of the whole deal. Because they were all trapped in their heads, in their little worlds and it took skill and practice to break free and see everything from a different angle. "But with appropriate training it is possible to push the boundaries. The first step is to learn to control your dreams and the next, most difficult, is to venture further," this was something the Nomads she had met during her travels had told her.
"While I was away, I had a chance to meet extraordinary pack of wolves," Osprey explained. "They called themselves Nomads and their lives are dedicated to finding balance in life and connecting to the inner spirit," up until then Osprey herself had been very skeptical about all kinds of religious ordeals, but something in those people had caught her interest and captivated her.
"They practice different kind of methods of mediation to achieve that," she went on. "They believe that we are all smaller parts of the universe and that it is possible to connect to it and discover it's secrets, if you learn, how to set your soul free," Osprey paused to draw in a breath, "those, who have mastered it, are called soul-travelers. They told me an old story of theirs about the very first of those travelers - the one, who had founded the Nomad pack a very long time ago. Do you want to hear about it?"
Osprey the Younger shifted as her aunt spoke, referencing an ability to control one's dreams and master their course. This possibility intrigued the youth, though she couldn't imagine how one embarked on such a venture. The adult seemed ready to explain, via wolves she called the Nomads. Junior tilted her head as she contemplated this name and their purported capabilities.
"Sure," the youngster replied lightly, then added an, "I guess." She didn't know why she didn't want Aunt Osprey thinking she was too interested in the subject. Junior was trying to project a cool, detached image, though it wasn't actually something she was doing consciously.