The shaman gave a low chuff, pleased with Tenzin's appreciation for his handiwork. Such things were his milieu now, the binding of smaller wounds, the easing of pain, though he recalled how he had mended Jinx after she had lost their children. Give thanks to Sos. It is through Him I am able to heal,
Lecter muttered with humility, aware of that which he owed his God.
As Tenzin relaxed himself, lips forming a request for the history of Silvertip Mountain, Lecter found himself wondering if he should tell the snowfurred monk of Jinx's loss, and thought better of it. Such things were better left locked into the closet of their shared minds. Jinx and I come from Shearwater Bay, which is far from here. There, we were divided into the worship of two equal entities; Atka, the Great Mother, the White Bear, who brings forth life, and Sos, the Black God, who brings death. Both must be respected, however, for without one there cannot be another.
We were driven by many things, and we may not return. The pack was comprised of her parents, Kesuks, whom I served as shaman and leader for many years before we were disbanded. Jinx's sister holds Shearwater now, but that is a point of contention better left unremarked. I arrived here, and came with my daughter Clarice to a pack called Swiftcurrent Creek.
In those days, a woman named Lethe led us. She had been an aspiring wolfess in Shearwater, and gave me and mine shelter. Jinx, unbeknownst to me until later, had found her way also. It was a stark day when Lethe left us, and she did not walk away from leadership. Driven by dark loa, tormented, I am sure, she cast herself into the waters of the Creek and ended her life. A yearling named Fox took up the rule of the pack, and later Jinx joined us.
As she had always done, she excelled in the ranks and rose alongside Fox. But the chafe of leadership had always been her curse; her mother, Nanuq, had been a fierce warrior and leader in her own right, as had her father, Koios. Jinx had been groomed for leadership since her birth.
Several events led us here, but the foremost of them was Fox's refusal to deal harshly with the wolves of your former Vale. Xi'nuata was the most brazen of these, threatening to hunt upon Creek territory, roaming upon our borders. Had it been Jinx's decision, she would have gathered our finest and come down upon the Vale with a bloodthirsty vengeance.
Instead, she opted to lead myself and a handful of those loyal to her here, where we reside to this day.
Lecter fell silent at last, running a tongue across lips gone dry with the effort of lengthy speech, and leveled a vaguely inviting look at Tenzin, so that the monk might speak if he so chose.