Fairspell Meadow Divine and Witchy
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#26
Something in the way Ash Paw's expression changed, when Ceridwen suggested meeting the King of Dread in person, and this curbed her enthusiasm and made her wary. She sensed that besides the very cool ability to converse with the dead there was more to that truth. Perhaps, that part was more important than the shiny packaging. 

 "Bones? The edible part or... have you ever tried to assemble a creature?" here Dwin's mind jumped miles away to the next topic. "You pick all the bones you can find and then put it together and try to guess, what it is - it is a fun game," which she was not going to play with anyone anytime soon, because she was on her own. Dwin's face fell at this realization. 

"Oh, I know plenty about the life after death. I have - in fact - decided that after I die, I will become a thanatonaut! After all the death is the last unexplored realm," she told. "Do you know, what thanatonauts do?"

Thanatonauts is a reference from this fantastic sci-fi/philosophical book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Thanatonautes . It is really good.
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#27
Ash Paw had never mastered the ability to hide what she was thinking. And she hadn't really ever cared much for it. But just now, she realized perhaps she should have learned.

She shook her head. No I mean reading them. Dreadfather reads the bones and gets ideas of what may happen in the future. It is a type of witchcraft I suppose is the easiest term.

She wasn't sure if that was right, but it was the closest she could get. Ash Paw was surprised and spoke softly. Does that have something to do with Thanatos the god of death?
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#28
"Reading future from fantastic beast assemblations never occurred to me. Just think - there might have been full-blown prophecies right before our eyes and we just missed them!" Dwin mused loudly, wondering, what other fateful signs she might have missed along the way. Her mind hopped to the next idea: "But isn't the future something that we make ourselves? I mean, how can you predict my future, if my mind changes like eight - ten times a day? The possibilities of ending up somewhere are endless!" 

"Oh, yes. Thanatonaut is someone, who travels the Realm of Death. After I have explored everything here, that's my next destination,"
she told. "Your Dreadfather maybe is a thanatonaut too. He fits the description at least."
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#29
Blue eyes glittered with amusement and interest. This girl was brighter than any wolf she had met, and she had the personality to match as well. She was such a sweet thing.

I often ask the same things. With futures it isn't always an exact science I am afraid. You can make inferences, and guesses, but no one can know truly what the future holds. It is impossible.

Ash Paw smiled. Well perhaps he is. I have not asked.

SHe didn't know much about the god of death other than his name. And that he had been chained before. His touch was what took you to beyond your sway.
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#30
"Well, maybe there are ranks or levels of achievement for thanatonauts. Maybe to become a Dreadfather you have to cross those seven circles of hell or something. Or do something just as extraordinary," Dwin liked the idea, but then... if being the explorer of Land of the Dead was just as lonely journey as on the Land of the Living, did those titles matter? Who were to see your successes?

"Has he brought any dead back alive?"
she blurted out the next question that popped in her mind, only to realize that her inquiry had not made any sense. "Or - even better. Say - bind a dead spirit to a living body? Or fresh dead body?" now that would be truly something! "Sounds like a very god-like thing to do. OH! What do you think - are souls made new every time or the dead ones just put back in a new form?" she was getting carried away now, her ideas buzzing like in a beehive. 
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#31
Twitch of an ear as she listened, eyes wide in her skull. So many questions, so many thoughts. How did this girl ever sleep if her brain worked this way. It was astronomical the things she threw at Ash. She tried her hardest to keep up, really she did.

Perhaps there are. I am unsure. She could understand the seven circles of hell. So it made a certain type of sense that there maybe levels of angels/demons what were you if you came from hell?

No he hasn't as far as I know to any of that. And the souls i believe depends on what you believe and how you believe. Some wolves do not believe that you come back. Those spirits probably get sent somewhere else.

Could she even answer her, was this even her place to answer? The dreadfather would be the better one to ask, but there was no guarantee that he would listen to the girl in front of Ash. He may ignore everything about her words.
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#32
Dwin could accelerate from 0 to 200 km/h, if properly encouraged (fuelled - let's stick with car metaphors). That spark of curiousity about everything in the world had already been there and Maia had done a very good job to groom it from a single wheel and a stick to a proper question making engine, who could run for a long time. The girl loved stories and history, but was not very good at retelling them word for word. She often forgot the details and then replaced them with creations of her own or borrowed items from other tales. She manipulated with the facts freely and could drown her conversation partners in them, if not stopped in time. 

Ash Paw was in a very real danger of being swept off her feet by a tsunami. "That's interesting," Dwin nodded in agreement. "I would not want to come back either, if that next world was more interesting than this one. What is that you want to see in this world that you have not yet seen and do not know off?"
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#33
There was nothing wrong with curiosity. Ash herself was quite curious, though her likes geared more towards plants and gods, but she found other things interesting. And this youngling helped to place a bigger ember of curiosity into her soul. It was nice.

A soft mm sound left her lips as she tried to come up with an answer. What would she like to see. Well honestly I don't know. Perhaps a forest so large and so wide it seems to go on forever, with every type of plant and herb that I would need upon it. Though I am not sure if such a place even exists. Or perhaps a cave that cries and glows?
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#34
Dwin's first instinct was to interrupt and ask - why on Earth would anyone want to see a forest full of all the plants necessary for healing - but she remembered that Ash Paw was a healer by trade. And therefore - the idea was very practical. The next suggestion offered more room for imagination. A cave that cried and glowed. Hmm...

"Why would it cry and glow?" she asked Ash Paw to elaborate on the subject. "You know - my mom told me a story about mountain trolls, who are hu-u-u-u-ge and made of rock. And you can go around and wander inside a cave and in reality it is the open mouth of the sleeping troll," she retold the tale, but it was quite possible that she had improved some details and forgotten others. 
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#35
Ash Paw liked forests and dales. Even if she wasn't a lover of herbs and plant life. she'd have liked them.

You know a cavern that water drips from somewhere but no one knows why so it looks like it's crying. And the glowing fungus and bugs i told you about.

Ash nodded her head. Mountain trolls. I've never heard of them. That's rather frightening. Imagine walking around in someones mouth.
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#36
"Well, that is not the horrible part, though I imagine that smell must be something awful," Dwin mused. "The worst part is being inside that mouth, not knowing about it and then the jaws go shut," she clicked her teeth for added effect. "I think that in a case of being inside a mouth made of stone and not being able to get out is as good as a death sentence," or would turn out into a noteworthy adventure, if you made it out more or less whole and lived long enough to tell the tale.

"What landmarks does Basilica have?" she returned to the earlier topic about Ash Paw's home. "O-o-oh - do you have ghosts? My home is full of them." 
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#37
Ash Paw thought about it and then held up a paw. What if you tickled the roof of their mouth though or the sides. Make them sneeze or cough? Surely they would spit you out. You'd smell absolutely awful, but at least you'd be alive.


We have a graveyard, and a sacred space. There are caves and forests and plateaus. A large rock. We don't have ghosts that i've seen yet. Ash paw didn't think there were any, but perhaps there were. If Ingram kept calling upon the dead, pehaps they would get some.
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#38
"Well, that would work, but then think, how much free space is there in your mouth, when you close it shut?" Dwin shot back a question. "If a troll's mouth and tongue are made of solid rock, he closes his mouth and - bam - you are very likely to be crushed like a... a... frog that Jay has sat on," she finished with a metaphor that needed some explaining and there was none. Sometime Dwin found that the existing vocabulary was not enough to describe everything properly and she came up with unlikely random strings of words. 

"A graveyard? That is awesome. My mom showed us our graveyard - my aunt, my cousin and... and... I forgot, who else are buried there!" she told, racking her brain on, who else she had frogotten. "You know that there are some spooky rituals to talk with the spirits and such? I wanted to try that - you know - siblings are sometimes boring and annoying and ghosts would be a nicer company - but my parents did not let me go there alone on a full-moon night. Said I was too small. And that ghosts would eat me. I would like to see them try," she finished her trek across the memory lane.


"Besides, what kind of ghost aunt is it, that tries to eat her niece, right? THAT would be awfully rude," she sighed, then remembered that she was not at all alone here and Ash Paw had mentioned another interesting thing about her home. "What is that sacred place? What happens there?"
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#39
A furrow in her brow as she thought of the answer. Though it was a rather hard one to answer. But she nodded. Well if you're not near the teeth and it is as large as you say, then a wolf would easily fit between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, just be sure not to be actually swallowed or chomped. I don't think even a healer could put you back together after a troll chomp.
Pleasantly she listened, despite all going through the day. This was likely the most enjoyable conversation she had in days. I know there are, Dreadfather does them. That is what I meant when i said of using the bones to speak. He speaks with those beyond the grave. There are also séances, and other herbs you can take to help you speak with them. Though I'm not sure i have any of them.
"We worship there. Do sacrifices of small animals, of plants and herbs to the gods and goddesses we serve."
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#40
"Do you have to dig up those bones of that particular dead person to talk with him or her? IS that's, why you have a graveyard inside your pack?" Dwin asked. "I don't think mom would look favourably, if I dug up aunt Wraen. Though I am sure she would not have minded - my aunt, I think, I heard she liked a good joke," but there was a little uncertainty in her voice, when she said this. 

"Do you need all of the bones or just one piece would do?" she continued that train of thought. "Because realistically, I could steal a piece of bone and no one would have a clue," or they would. A disturbed grave place. She sighed - why were all the exciting things in life so damn complicated. "Do you think there is a rule against digging up your relatives? I mean, technically, they are not there anyway?" though she had a feeling that even proper argumentation would not convince either Maia or Eljay that grave-robbing for the sake of conversing with the dead was a necessary and noble deed.

"What kind of gods and goddesses you serve?" she moved on to the next topic.
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#41
Ash Paw actually wasn't entirely certain what was needed to read bones. A frown took precedence between her eyes. 
"Actually I'm not sure. I don't think you do. I have never asked and Dreadfather reads the bones in private." a small chuckle left her lips.

"If i was your  mother I'd be a little upset as well.

Frown again, and this time her brow puckered. I don't know. I think only one bone, but again this isn't my area of expertise.

I serve the bears Atka and Sos, one is the god of life, the other of death. One is a great white bear the other a great black bear. They share balance. You must have balance for the world to continue as it should.
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#42
"Well, the real question is, where he got his bones to begin with," Dwin loved a good mystery, but she was sure that this Dreadfather guy probably kept a graveyard for just this reason. What if he had created a graveyard before he had created the pack? There was a potential for a huge story here. 

"Yeah, I guess she would. Grown up people simply do not understand fun things in life," she sighed - using a phrase that almost every one of us have said about our parents at a certain point in our lives. "But if unearthing Wraen's bones meant that my mom was able to talk to her - I think she might reconsider. A small possiblity, but still..." she shrugged. 

"And, what do you do in winter, when bears go to sleep?" she asked. "What happens to the world, when that balance is asleep?"
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#43
Good Question, but unfortunately one I don't have an answer for. And honestly I'm not sure if i want to delve to deeply into the answer. And she didn't. She had a dose of respect for Ingram, even liked him at times, but she also knew he was not to be trifled with. She pushed the envelope on occasion, but only so far.

Ash Paw heard the middle part of teh conversation, but she ignored it. In favor of the last two questions. A smile lit up her face and she tilted her head happy to share her knowledge. Well, it's part of the balance isn't it. Sos is god of death, the end things, chaos etc. Which winter is when all plant life dies, no? When some creatures not strong enough die? Therefore, it is the balance of things.
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#44
"Well, in that case he is a god of incomplete death - not everything dies in winter," Dwin countered the argument. "I am alive, you are alive, deer are alive, there are birds and my mom told that other birds go somewhere else during winter. And there are a lot of sleeping beasts - like those bears - so winter is not the season of dying, but the season of... sleeping? Do you think Sos cooperates with Sandman? You know that guy has a lot of work on individual things and Sos may be the manager of grander stuff?" now that was something and not impossible too. All stories about gods were connected to one another. 

"And how do you know for sure that only those creatures that are predestined to keep the balance die. What if the wrong one dies and the wrong person lives? If there is wrong in dying and living," more food for thought. "Do you think that the end of things end in chaos or nothing? Or are these the very same things?"
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#45
Ash Paw's eyes  narrowed as the girl began to speak ill of her god Sos. Sos is the god of greed, vanity, trickery, rage and power. Just to name a few other things. He is the balance of all the dark things, where as Atka is the god of light, corage, wisdom, leadership, truth, glory, power, all living things. So even if things do not die. Then it is Atka's grace that they are alive. Again it comes down to balance. You sputter about things that other's tell you, but do you fully understand balance? That there must be living and dead. So of course there are deer alive, and birds. It is those to weak to stay alive that Sos, claims.

Ash Paw shifted in her irritation, though she tried to calm her ire. It was not the girls fault. She didn't know anything of Ash Paw's gods.I don't know if the gods cooperate with lesser ones. They may. I can't imagine they wouldn't, given that there are many intricacies to make the world work. I'm sure.

Those are questions I have no answers too, nor would i imagine i will ever be privy too. The gods keep their own counsels. And only share interpretations and brief things with those of us down here.
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#46
Dwin sensed she had stepped on Ash Paw's toes with her musings and inquiries, but she thought that if you were to convince someone to follow you - whether it was a person or a god - you were entitled to ask as many questions as possible. Otherwise - how did you know that it they were real and truthful? Were she ever interested to become entangled in religion of any sorts, instead of blindly believing in something, she would sit down that god/goddess or whoever celestial being it was for a thorough interview. Nothing less. 

"Balance is simple - if I stand on all my four feet firmly on the ground - I am in balance. If I fall - I am not. Though... we can elaborate on that fact too - falling itself might be an act of creating balance by lessening the distance between your body and the ground,"
she explained without hesitation. "But I can argue that balance is an imaginary concept - it is that we want to believe there is an order in a world that might be entirely chaotic and unreliable," Dwin went on. "Or it may be so that by having balance in one place - we create a chaos somewhere else. Say - I am standing in an anthill - I am in balance, because I am not falling. But for ants my balance means chaos, because their home is destroyed." 
"You say that I do not understand things I am talking about, but do you understand everything about your gods, if they are not completely open and honest with you? If they choose, which facts to share and which you should ask no questions about, it does shed doubt about them being entirely competent," Dwin thought loudly. "And IF they do not answer all of your questions and act as if they know better than you, that they are bigger and better than you just because, does it not speak about them lacking self-confidence?" she said. "Because if you are comfortable in your knowledge about all things and also comfortable in not knowing everything - why should you request people to follow you blindly instead of keeping eyes wide open?"
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#47
Perhaps Ash Paw was overreacting, but she did get so caught up in the worship of her deities. She was passionate about it, truly she was. Sometimes to the point of being feverish. And she should relish the moments of being asked, to share that knowledge, she was a spiritualist after all. It was her job to share.

There was much knowledge in the young girls musings. She asked questions and came up with answers.  Though she could argue the same. 

Perhaps what you say is true, but it could also be the gods will. Your feet firmly on the ground yes, and then you fall. Was there a lesson to be had in the fall? Or perhaps there is something that must be found? There is a reason to all things, even if we don't understand it. The gods  do it for some reason. Perhaps even to be fickle or have fun. As we do.

Ash Paw furrowed her brow in thought. But there must be chaos at times in order to have peace, or to make us rise up and learn from it. Without chaos we would not know how to adapt to situations, we wouldn't know how to long for theh peaceful times. We would take it all for granted and become complacent.

Of course I don't. They are greater than all things, greater than me. The all knowing, all seeing. And they do not share, because child some truths will tear you apart and it is better not to know them.

Ash Paw frowned in thought. Knowledge is power as they say and with power comes great responsibility, and if you are to know too much, if you become to powerful. Well, it could have disastrous consequences. This is what I choose to believe, this is why I feel they do not share everything.
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#48
"Here lies the difference - believing that all things happening have a reason means excluding the possibility that there is no point or reason at all," Dwin continued to argue, but it did not necessarily mean that she did not agree with Ash Paw. Sometimes it felt good to think that there was some greater plan in life. "It is like you close your eyes and declare yourself blind, deciding against opening your eyes. Your sight is not gone - you choose not to see. Isn't it so?" she wondered. 

"Ain't gods a bit like parents? I also firmly believed that they know and see everything, but I have learned that they have been wrong and that they do not know every single thing that is out there," she said. "How do you know that your gods are always right or that they know better? Can you prove it?" Dwin asked. "Just because you believe things does not make them true."
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#49
Ash Paw tilted an ear forward. Well then that would fall under chaos wouldn't it? Because chaos happens for no reason at all, really at least it doesn't seem too, but something is learned from it. I don't have the answers for everything, Dwin. I only know what I see and can pinpoint.

Ash Paw lifted little shoulders at those words. She knew only what she knew to be truth. Her beliefs were her own. 

Perhaps, but I believe what I believe so I can make sense of things that I don't like or feel unfair. This way I can come to terms with it. yes they're like parents, though a little more absolute. You don't have to believe in Gods Dwin, but  I do. I choose to believe these things. I like that they give me purpose, make me feel better about things outside of my control.
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#50
"If gods are manifestations of us - wolves - then they must possess our qualities too. Both good and bad," Dwin was not willing to let the topic go, though her manner of asking questions was not to prove Ash Paw wrong, but just to hear her perspective on this. It was fascinating to study people, especially, when they themselves were eager to discuss. "So, they must be capable of making mistakes. OR... deliberately lying," she went on. 

"What if the god asks you to do something that goes against your nature?" she asked. "Or you feel it is wrong. Do you still do it, because you are told to do it and believe that they are always right. Or do you stop, think and refuse. Where does your belief in the greatness of gods end and where does your autonomy begin?" she finished.