[PRP] To the source (Skuld, Kejeli, Urd)

[Annchen]

Urd rarely took playmates home to their family den to play. She didn't have that many friends that she considered close enough to dare asking the question. It seemed to be easier for Ilo, he was friends with everyone and anyone. Even that greater spirit... and she was quite sure mom didn't know about that. And now... Kejeli'zito was following her home, or had he...? No, still following. It was almost exciting, now that she had managed to shake off most of the embarrassment. She saw mom standing outside their den and rushed up to her and bumped her head against her front legs in an affectionate manner. She was usually too shy to cuddle in the presence of others, but... yeah. Different today. And she was very happy to see mom. With the odds changed to two against one it might be easier for her to handle Kejeli.


Skuld had been about to leave when she saw her beautiful daughter come running home. Usually they both stayed near the minder dens for playtime and lessons most of the day, but nothing seemed to be amiss. Well, perhaps the fact that Urd was unusually clingy. She licked the pink cub on the top of her head, careful not to hurt her with the sharp teeth of her mask. The bone mask might have seemed restricting another lion, but Skuld wore it like a second skin and it didn't seem to hinder her in her daily life. No one needed to know about her discomfort during the long learning curve.

"You brought a little friend home," Skuld asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow behind her bone mask. Not that her facial expression could be seen behind it. Her closest family could still read her reasonably well, even wearing the mask, but most others couldn't.

She recognised his pelt colour and patterns but she wasn't about to tell this child how much he resembled his mother. The slave, the traitor. She had turned away from the privileged duty of sending Sacrifices to the Spirit realm, and Skuld wasn't about to forgive and forget. She had heard what some other members of the pride called this child and his siblings when talking about them. Slave-spawn being one of the nicest. Skuld hoped no one would use those words in their presence. She sometimes wondered what her children were called by those same lions, and that was part of the reason she refused to judge this youngling by his heritage. His spirit was old, and it might very well have been put in this situation as a test.

Since her own daughter didn't answer right away she looked expectantly at the dark boy.  

[Talencia]

Keep up, she'd said. He huffed through his nose as he attempted to do so, but wasn't exactly succeeding, not well anyway. His withdrawn and sullen lifestyle meant he didn't get as much exercise as those his own age usually did. He hadn't played as a cub much, and wasn't usually allowed very far from the Minders. His whole life, hedged in. He didn't realize this wasn't normal, at least for orphans. He never suspected they were keeping a secret from him. For Kejeli, this simply was how life proceeded.

So it was when Urd bounded to a den, he was not by any means directly on her tail. The young female was able to greet her mother and the mother to look him over before he finally stopped moving, panting lightly. He took a moment to catch his breath, then really looked at the lioness. In that moment, he froze where he was, staring.

Oh sure, Urd had certainly told him that she favored bones, but he had not been prepared for the fierce and otherwordly look of the cat clothed in bones, her piercing eyes staring out of the sockets of a fanged skull. For a moment the wild thought drifted through his mind, Is her mother a spirit?! He shivered his hide and banished the thought, relegating it as illogical and also possibly heresy. With heart thumping, he took another step forward. This was it. This was his door into the spirit world, he was certain of it. With a somewhat ungainly but dignified bow, he greeted the Scryer. "I am Kejeli'zito," he said solemnly, his dour and skulking body language set aside in his intensity about what he sought. "Scryer Skuld, will you teach me?" His eyes met hers earnestly, deep in their fervor. He simply had to make a good impression so that she would agree!  

[Annchen]

Urd's eyes grew a little bit wider as Kejeli very formally asked mom to teach him. Was that what this had been all about all the time? She wanted to tell him to go home, but she was smart enough to realise that it wasn't her call to make. She had thought he would ask about the bone things and then go, and wasn't expecting this at all.

---

Skuld tilted her head slightly at this new development. Her body had learned just the way to do it in order to give her a better view without the skull slipping off, and she didn't even had to think about what she was doing anymore. She did have to think before answering, however. Skuld had not thought that anyone would want to be her apprentice, and when someone finally asked. He couldn't be much older than her children, and they were barely more than cubs. Urd would have resented that statement, but luckily she was not a mind reader.

"Kejeli'zito," Skuld said and bowed her head slightly in greeting, "Why do you think I should attempt to teach a cub?"

Skuld wasn't sure she wanted to teach this child, but she also knew in her heart that she couldn't really refuse if he was serious about it. But could he be when he wasn't even half grown yet? His answer would help her decide.  

[Talencia]

He stifled a swift urge to fluff up in indignation at her calling him a cub. His outcry in protest would only confirm her assessment, he scolded himself. No, it was time to take his lumps and simply press forward for th goal. So instead of disagreeing with her, he answered her question.

"I wish to do what I can to benefit the pride and the spirits," he answered forthrightly. "I want to know what the things I see mean, how to interpret them. I don't know what to do with it yet, and you could teach me." He cast a sideways look at Urd and wasn't at all surprised to see she wasn't happy with him. So few people ever were happy with him that he'd come to not really care, most of the time. He did regret her disgruntlement with him, but he could hardly have done anything differently. It hadn't been here he'd wanted to see, after all, but her mother. It wasn't his fault if she was too selfish to realize how important this was! He returned his gaze to the feral, deathly mask of her mother again. "I may be young, but there is nothing else for me in this life but to learn about the signs I see every day."  

[Annchen]

Skuld watched Kejeli's internal struggle with some amusement, but in the end he answered politely and had, in a way, passed her first test. The youngster had some self control, and she decided then and there that she would teach him if his thirst for knowledge turned out to be genuine. She wondered about the way Urd and Kejeli looked at each other and decided to talk to her daughter about it later.

"Hmmmh," she said, and then didn't say much more for a while. Long ominous pauses for no apparent reason was one of her favourite tools when dealing with others. "Do you feel you have learned all you can about this from the Minders? It is their job to teach you about the Spirits and their signs."

Thanks to this excellent education even the most single-minded warrior knew how to interpret good signs and bad. Most of the Minders teaching were good at what they did, and even if this cub felt under stimulated she wouldn't teach him until he had a firm grasp of the basics. Perhaps a talk to one of her minder friends was in order later...

---

Urd lacked Kejeli's self control and didn't even realise she was more fluffed up than usual. She watched in silence now, since nothing good could come from interrupting mom. Skuld seemed better equipped to handle him, but she had imagined she would at least be a part of the conversation. She tried to suppress a twinge of jealousy and kept her mouth shut and ears open.  

[Talencia]

He endured the waiting patiently, though he was no less intensely hanging on her every word. His body was still, but his eyes were on fire with the passion with which he wanted this. Granted, there were others of the Heart to ask, but right now all his hopes and dreams were focused here and now, in this moment of truth. Would she take him? The silence seemed to stretch forever, but still he waited.

"It is my life to read the signs, Scryer Skuld," he replied with as much respect as he could muster. "I have learned as much and as often as the minders would put up with." A wry bit of amusement touched his words, a rarity for the serious and dour juve. He was discovering it was simpler to just go off on his own and study things for signs. He preferred natural ones, things he didn't touch to read. Even so, he knew he'd have to learn to use objects, scattering them to let fate guide their position. From what he knew, a Scryer was the best option to learn more.  

[Annchen]

Good, good... The cub wasn't just a bored child looking to get away from the minders. There were plenty of those, especially among the ones raised completely by the minders. Skuld could see a real desire to learn in his eyes, and she was pleased with what she saw. But she had to follow the rules... She was going to ask him to come back later, and she was going to have to test his talents and his patience. It was the first steps of teaching, and she hoped Kejeli would pass.

"Ah," she said in response to his answer, "The minders have taught you everything, huh? Could you tell me one sign that would mean that the spirits are unhappy?"

There were many, and every member of the pride knew how to look out for them. She had no doubts the dark cub could name at least one, but which one would he pick?

---

She was going to take him in, Urd suddenly realised. She was going to do it! Mom might be hard to read for most lions, and Urd was pretty sure she was making it more difficult on purpose at times, but the young hybrid had known her mom for her entire life and knew at least a little bit about how Skuld worked by now. Not that she knew what she was up to at all times, she could still be as annoyingly mind reading as any mom, but she knew some things. She knew when Skuld had decided on something and was just being mysterious and annoying instead of saying it out loud.

"You're actually going to teach him," she blurted and then put her paw over her own mouth as if that action would stuff the words back in again. Um... Ooops?  

[Talencia]

"When the grass lies flat on its own, with no wind to press it down," he answered promptly. It was one of the more obscure signs, granted, but it was one of his favorites, as it involved untouched nature. Everyone knew that rippling, healthy grass stood up, and was a good thing for the pride. But flat grass generally didn't live long, and often spread, resulting in less herds to hunt. The spirits were not always terribly obvious, but sometimes the way they expressed themselves made sense and was clearly bad for the pride.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Urd broke into the conversation so abruptly. He had nearly forgotten she was there, she was so quiet and inconsequential to his purpose here. For a moment he stared at her in astonishment, for interrupting was bad-mannered as well as dangerous when it involved a Scryer. Her words didn't immediately make an impact. Instead his eyes flashed from youngster to mother and back again several times. Would something bad happen to Urd? Why would she do something so foolish? But then her words sank in finally, and his eyes got large. He was too smart to react to them, but the very fact that she seemed to fully believe what she'd said gave him such hope he felt he was soaring on wings like a bird. Would Scryer Skuld really take him as her student?!  

[Annchen]

Skuld nodded to confirm that Kejeli was right. She didn't comment his choice of sign, but silently noted that he hadn't picked any of the obvious choices. She hardly believed he had learned everything the minders had to teach, but perhaps it was time for other ways to teach this youngster in addition to their efforts. She knew some cubs (and adults for that matter) that just stopped listening when they thought there were nothing more to learn. This one tried to find knowledge at least.

And then her daughter entered the conversation again. Skuld was better trained and didn't flinch at the sudden... complication. She saw the dark cub move from disbelief to hope, and knew she had to change her way of handling this.

"Thank you Urd," she said patiently, giving Urd one of her newly perfected 'mom' looks. Really, it seemed to say, I expected better from you Urd. "I might teach him, if the spirits are willing. And if you are willing to do what it takes."

She was looking at Kejeli again.

---

Urd felt sheepish, and squirmed under Kejeli's glare. And then mom... She didn't even get mad, she just looked at her.

"M'sorry," she said timidly, but mom was talking to Kejeli again. She stared at the swirly pattern on his leg, as if it was the most interesting thing she had seen all day. It could almost distract her from her embarrassment. Hey, those dark parts there almost looked like cobweb.  

[Talencia]

He stood up straighter than he had in a long while. His shoulders and spine screamed obscenities at him for it, but he was too thrilled to care. Was he willing to do the hard work? Oh great spirits, yes! If he could only have this honor, he'd... well, he'd do something drastic and dramatic! He took a steadying breath in an attempt to prevent his voice from cracking in his excitement. He tried to look sober and calm, even though his tailtip was twitching wildly behind him and his half-grown mane was fluffed.

"Yes, Scryer Skuld," he answered formally, bowing his head. "I will do everything you bid me, should the spirits choose me as your student." His whole body was quivering eagerly, and he sank his fangs into his lower lip to try and get control. This here was the start of his new life, the one he'd longed for. The rise in importance from cubs others whispered about to highly respected member of the pride that none would look askance of! He refused to let anything so trivial as excitement ruin it for him. "Thank you for considering me. I hope I will have the chance to learn much from you."