Moonspear the dark age

No need to match length. :)
Tarot draw: Chariot [R], Ten of Cups [R], Knight of Wands [R]

Fennec was missing. The Witch of the Glen. Good or bad, Sialuk was still not certain. This, she decided, was the perfect chance to flex her skills. She wondered if it would be easier or harder to get an answer from the bones because Fennec was a witch. Was she more in tune with them because of it? Would she try to hide the answer from her? Sialuk was not sure, but the thought of asking the bones was downright thrilling. Perhaps she could actually put this skill to use for the pack.

Sixsix perched on a log in front of her, and Sialuk held the bag of bones in her teeth. Gently, she began to shake them, forming the question in her mind. "Where is Fennec? Where is Fennec? Where is Fennec?" Over and over she heard the words in her mind until she could feel them solidify between her ears. They took on a life of their own, and she pushed them down into the bag, into the bones.

Once there, Sialuk let go, and the bag fell to the ground, opening and revealing their answer. Since she had come into possession of them, Sialuk had named each bone to keep its meaning (or meanings, in most cases). It was slow going, and while she didn't completely understand each one, she felt she was starting to get the hang of it.

None of the messages she saw in the bones were particularly good signs. There was the bone that meant travel (obviously, because Fennec must have traveled away from Moonspear and Firefly Glen). There was the bone that meant a great bounty had been lost. And finally, there was the bone that Sialuk had a harder time interpreting, and she spent the longest time on that one.

The final bone that had set itself with the other two was a relatively powerful one. Sialuk likened it to the leader of the glen: Osiris. But the way the bone was situated made it seem like he was unhappy. That wasn't all that surprising once she fit it into the puzzle. Of course he'd be unhappy that one of the glen's members was missing.

So what was the great bounty that had been lost, and how was that supposed to tell her where Fennec had gone?

Sixsix squawked at her, and Sialuk gave them a pointed look.

Can't you give me a hint? she asked. She had always used her mother's language to speak to the bird. It seemed more appropriate than the words the rest of Moonspear used.

The bird said nothing more, and it promptly flew away.

Just as discreetly Norah had left Moonspear weeks earlier, she returned there. Unseen and unnoticed, she blended in with the surroundings perfectly and acted, as if she had always been there. Never doing more than it was required from her, exchanging heart-felt "hello"s and "how do you do"s with those few she met in her path, giving off a vibe of familiarity - as if she had known them for a lifetime, when in reality she did not know even their names. 

A snack and a nap later, she prowled the claimed territories, reading the messages left along the borders, and tracking the scent trails left by the members. She entertained herself with guessing, where had they been going and what had they been thinking, but these remained speculations only. If she could not see them face to face, she was unable to read. And Norah always preferred facts to fiction. 

The sound of rattling bones caught her attention and she was soon drawn to a scene, where a puppy she had learned to know earlier - Bleach - was toying with a piece of fur and assembly of small, whitened osseus matter. They no longer held any remnants of food and therefore it took a while for Norah to understand, what the girl was doing with them. Naturally, it would have been a lot easier, to intrude in the process and ask those questions right away, but it was always interesting to observe first and get those important first impressions. 

A game. That's, what it had to be. Pointless and impractical, but that was not surprising given the girl's age. Kids by definition weren't up to anything useful, but Norah had to give them credit for creativity and interesting past-times. "Evening," she greeted the girl and emerged from the shadows. "What is that you are playing with?"

When Sialuk looked up, she realized why the bird had flown away. Norah approached, and the dappled younger girl wagged her tail in a friendly manner. They had met once before, and although Sialuk had not seen much of her since, she chalked that up to adults being busy. Either that or they were just on opposite sides of the mountain from one another. She was a Moonspear wolf, though, and Sialuk had no reason to turn her away or to lie to her.

They are bones, she said when asked about them.

I ask them things, and sometimes they give me answers.

Sialuk had never given any thought to how others might take her pastime. Except, of course, her mother, who seemed wary of the bones, but not entirely disapproving. Her father seemed supportive, and he had even helped the raindrop develop a technique for testing the power of the bones. Sialuk was anything but self-conscious about her skill as a (good!) witch. She intended to keep up the practice even if Fennec appeared to have disappeared from the glen.

I was trying to figure out where Fennec went, but I'm not sure she wants me to know. She's a witch, too.

"Interesting," Norah remarked, sitting down daintily, and went to examine each trinket very carefully in hopes that she may see more. But did not. To her they were inanimate objects. Unable to communicate. And magic? Witchcraft - please... She shook her head and rolled her eyes, but - showed herself kind, when she turned to meet Sialuk's gaze. Even managed to infuse some warmth in her usually cool and calculating gaze. 

"Humour me," she said sweetly and smiled at the girl. "Can you read my future from these?" she asked, brushing her paw lightly against the assembly of the bones. "Or should it be a very specific question?" with nothing else to entertain herself with, she could settle quite comfortably with learning, how the little Bleach's mind worked.

Tarot draw: The Magician, Wheel of Fortune, The Fool.

Sialuk thought she caught some strange expression in Norah's face when she looked back, but it was fleeting, and she did not think on it more. Anybody who wished to know more about her practice was welcome, so long as they were not rude about it. As far as Sialuk could tell, Norah was being perfectly pleasant about the whole thing.

Then came the question, and Sialuk wondered if such a thing could be done. It was hard when she was still learning to read, but perhaps the extra practice would do her some good. Besides, what was there to lose? Hopefully, Norah's future would be a good one. And if not, Sialuk could always lie and tell her the bones only said good things about what was to happen.

I will ask them, she said.

Once again, she gathered the corners of the softened skin, bones clattering around as she shook them and thought of the question: What is Norah's future?

When the time was right, Sialuk let the bag of bones fall to the ground, taking a moment to look over them and see if anything was noticeable about the way they had fallen.

Once again, there was a set of three bones (they always seemed to come in threes) that she focused on. The first one was representative of the bones themselves, which Sialuk found rather meta. The second one she had come to think of as the cycle of life and the cycle of the seasons. The third one was a rather amusing bone, a sort of bumbling, carefree caricature in her mind.

Slowly, the three came together to tell a story. This was the part that Sialuk needed the most practice with. Now that she knew what the bones all meant, she had to figure out how to explain it to Norah.

You will see magic again. It could be from me, but there are other practitioners around. That will put things into motion, and a four seasons after your encounter with this magic, the weight of whatever troubles you now will be lifted from you.

Sialuk glanced up, curious to see what Norah's reaction would be. Would she take it to heart, or would she think it was all a farce? A year (and then some) was a long way to wait, but a vague question deserved a vague answer, she supposed.

Norah did not have time to come up with a question (but we can't say she had actually given a try), because Oracle Bleach went straight to action - rattling bones, making them fall on the ground, leaning over, scrutinizing location of each piece, every angle. She had to admit that the kid had true devotion to the craft, even if it was just a silly, little game to pass the time, but which meant nothing in the bigger scheme of things. 

See magic again? As opposed of now? Her inner sarcastic self sneered, but her expression remained composed and her eyes were trained on the girl. Sounds like I am dying, how convenient. The voice in her head rolled its eyes, groaned and went off to a dark corner of her mind to do stuff that was more practical. "That's not very specific," she observed. "Your words may have thousand different meanings and just because I may see one in them, what appease me the most, might not be true on a bigger scale," she went on. 

"How can you be sure that you are not mistaken? How do you know that your trinkets are telling the truth?" she questioned.

Norah came at her hard, and Sialuk felt herself shrink back at the way she was being talked down to. Everybody else had been so encouraging, so it was hard to hear such harsh words coming at her from somebody she did not know very well. Her shoulders slumped, and she gathered the bones back into the skin, pulling the makeshift pouch close between her two front feet. She felt rather protective of them now.

At the questions, she shrugged, her skin hot beneath her fur.

The kid shrank visibly at the critique and was neither happy, nor excited. Norah felt a little pang of regret for challenging the girl so. Perhaps, her questions should have been addressed to an adult, not left for a child to fight against. Especially since they did not have the wits or the weapons necessary to defend themselves. That's, why she did not think children were very useful. Their mental capabilities were too slow to develop for her liking. 

"Nay, nay, that won't do... Sialuk," she had almost called the girl by her nickname, but that would not make things any more interesting than they already were. "You let yourself be beaten down too easily. And prepare yourself - people criticizing you will happen way more often," the first blows were the hardest. "Look at my questions as a challenge - someone out there will ask them to you in the future and - perhaps - in a more demeaning and hurtful way too," she explained. "So - give it a thought and defend yourself," Norah finished, looking down at the girl.

She would never ever praise people for doing things that she considered useless or foolish (like playing with trinkets, but she could forgive anyone having a hobby), but the her pragmatic self would encourage a person to become better at valuable life-skills. Such as this.

Oof I love this. Such good development for Sia. <3

She considered Norah's words, but they were hard to swallow, young as she was. Still, she knew she had to try. Norah was right. She was not the only wolf who would challenge her, and it was better to practice on a wolf she sorta knew, but wouldn't go easy on her. The same could be said of sparring, and when she framed it like that, Sialuk straightened her shoulders. She'd seen other spar, and even when they were knocked down, they would get up and try again. It wasn't about winning every time; it was about defending yourself the best you could. This was a mental spar, she realized.

She set her jaw, then went to work.

I don't think it's always a literal description, she said, and I think sometimes they do give vague answers if they don't have anything concrete to say about you. So sure, it could have a thousand different meanings, but one of them must be true, right? And why is that a downside? she asked, challenging Norah.

For a moment there Norah felt that Bleach would have to be written off - she did not seem too enthused by the proposed game. If that was the case, the older wolf would leave right away - she had no time to waste on snivelling kids just because they had not been declared to be awesome for the most stupid things. Unlike most she did not believe in praising children just for existing. Like every good thing in the world - one had to earn them. Preferrably by working hard, but all the more admirable, if they were clever enough to find an easy way out. 

"Life is built on facts, not assumptions," Norah replied. "My mother used to say that "ass" in "the assumption" is there for a reason," she said, enjoying the joke herself and not caring, if the kid understood it or not. She was not here to entertain the other. "My advice is that you adjust your readings, depending on the audience you have," she went on. "You won't go down in history as the greatest fortune teller in the world by being honest about the truth of your craft and playthings. Or by telling that there are numerous variables on, what your trinkets show. That there might not be a meaning at all," she said.

"Even less - don't reveal that it is something any person can do. Make it special, make it enticing, make a spectacle out of it," Norah went on. "The best way to convince a person to believe you is to read them carefully, read them well. Most of the time people unknowingly tell you, what they want to hear," she told. "So - take a good look at me, put together all you can read from me first and then tell me my future," she challenged.

Sialuk listened, though she did not agree. She also wondered why Norah was pushing her so hard. And why did she think Sialuk wanted to be "the greatest fortune teller in the world"? She simply wanted to learn how to read the bones to the best of her ability. It made her feel closer to Sixsix and her mother.

There was one thing, though, that irked Sialuk more than all the others. It is not something anybody can do, she curtly corrected. In fact, Norah had blown all the wind out of her sails, and Sialuk now felt like she was simply looking for a fight. Even if she read them perfectly, it felt like Norah would find some fault in them.

I will try again later. I am tired.

She began to fold the bones back into their skin pouch, making it clear that her mind was made up on this.

"Suit yourself," Norah shrugged, losing all interest in lecturing Bleach any further. For a moment there she had thought of - well, if not having a worthy opponent right away - then teaching her to become one, but it seemed that her take on "kids are boring and useless" had been correct from the get go. There was just another proof. 

Before she left the girl, there was one final thing she did want to plant in her tiny head and it was this: "It does not matter, whether I can do it. It is, how you tell the story that counts. In all roads of life. You'll learn." With this done, she went off to find something to eat. She had already spoken a week's worth of words and now needed to refuel. 

Last one from me, thanks! :D