[ Actual Story of "The Howl" Credited to David Clement-Davies ]
Starpelt glanced at the moon briefly before refocusing her attention on the Sikla before her. They had met just a few days prior to this meeting, and as they had parted the other day she made a promise to tell him a vastly known legend should they meet again. Taking a deep breath she began the tale known by many a Varg...
"It was in the beginning, when the wolf gods Tor and Fenris created the world and so brought light out of the darkness. When, in the shape of the moon and the sun, the great gods made Dammam, the first wolf, to rule over the whole earth. Then, because she loved him, Tor took one of Dammam's teeth and out of it she fashioned the she-wolf Va, to be his mate. As Tor and Fenris stood over Dammam and Va and looked down on them from the heavens, they were glad at what they had done."
She paused then to catch her breath and to let the Varg before her catch up to the tale. She was glad for his silence throughout the story as many she had told it to before had constantly interrupted throughout the whole of it.
"Tor let Va give Dammam a beautiful litter of thirty-three pups, made up of every type of Varg in the world: timber wolves and red wolves, chancos and arctic wolves, all of whom lived and grew and spread out through the forests. But the oldest of these cubs was the gray Varg Fren, who was Va's favorite."
Once more she paused. This part was her favorite part of the story. Depending on who was telling the story, and especially whether it was a male or a female, Fren was either the greatest hunter and fighter in the forest, dark and mysterious, a loner and something of a villan, too, or the kindest father and the best defender of the brood. Brave and cunning, and always at odds with Tor and Fenris, Fren was the hero of a thousand wonderful adventures. It was hard to say if there was a right or wrong between them though.
"One sun Fren was fast asleep in the sunlight, when Tor came padding slowly by across the clouds. Now Fren heard Tor, but he pretended to go on sleeping, for he guessed what was coming next. Tor was furious with Fren because he was always disobeying her and stealing things from the wolf gods: food and magic and the secrets that they forever kept hidden in the den of the night. Above all, he had tried to steal the golden deer pelt that once worn would bestow not only freedom, but all knowledge and wisdom to the wearer. It hung from an ancient branch in a forest of almond trees."
She smiled, joyous that he seemed to be enjoying the story by the glittering of his eyes.
"Just as Fren had expected, Tor grew angrier and angrier as she saw him sleeping there, and in order to wake the wolf, she let out a howl that rose to the stars. But Tor had howled so long and so hard that her call had filled the whole world. And there was plenty of howling left over for every wolf in it. And for every kind of feeling, too -- the howl of the hunter and the mate, the howl of friendship and of loss, the howl of danger and of mourning too. Which is how Fren stole the secret of the howl from Tor and Fenris, and how he showed his cunning, too."
