Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was just before dusk Llikmeht's muscles were tense. The story teller had told him and the otehr pups he would teach them how to shadow walk. HE was beyond excited, his tail wagged and a small smile curled on his lips. A lot of the older wolves at the story telling felt a need for the young ones to learn shadow walking. Llikmeht was glad he had asked the elders more about it. HE was so curious and so anxious to learn the art of shadow walking, he wanted to have an advantage in hunting. Learn more about how to kill, and to taste blood again. His mouth began to salivate as he entered the meadow. He put his tail between his legs and lowered his head to Xihuitl. "I have come to learn how to shadow walk," he said.

Firdaws had led the dark young pup here, and given him the flicker of an encouraging smile as he withdrew. Oh, to be sure, he could have taught this lesson just as well as Xihuitl now did. He was as adept at becoming invisible as any wolf among them.

But let the storyteller tell his tales. Let him teach the pups the ways of their pack. It was the proper thing to do. Some of the wolves in the pack questioned the purpose of a storyteller, but Firdaws was not one of them. It was important for the next generation to understand the role it played within the pack. It was important to learn the tales and understand the laws and begin to truly live the lessons of the Shadowclan.

So, let the starry wolf teach them their first and most primal lesson. He would be satisfied to watch, until he thought of something better to do.

Makya even though he was the newest felt the urdge to answer the storytellers question. He was still working on letting go of the fear and his inhibitions, talking would help, plus he felt confident that he had the right answer having to rely so much on the shadows these past months while he was alone in the woods. He looked up at Xihuitl. "Shadow walking is becoming the dark, the shadow. You become apart of the dark and it becoems apart of you, you can conceal yourself, hide, and watch." He looked to the other pup.

Ashur was the oldest of the pups, and he felt keenly that he didn't belong. He hadn't had an opportunity to meet most of the others, yet; indeed, he'd spent most of his time holed up in Xihuitl's den, eating scraps of food as they came his way. He was getting better at identifying food by taste and feel, which was not necessarily a comforting proposition. Some of the meat that came into his paws seemed suspiciously like wolfmeat. He wasn't sure how he felt about eating other wolves...but he had little choice in the matter now.

The blind teen walked slowly, picking his way over the unfamiliar territory. He knew that the storyteller would be teaching a lesson today, and he fully intended to be involved, even if he wasn't the best candidate. He wanted to prove himself.

The earth felt strange beneath his paws -- damp, in places, and then dry and rocky in others. He stuck to the dry and rocky bits. The damp parts seemed to lead into a close, foul-smelling copse of trees, while the dry bits seemed to lead to the more habitable parts of the territory.

The sound of wolves talking caught his ears, and he shifted his course to lead him there. His nose twitched. Four wolves: two older than him, two younger. He heard the pups talking about shadow-walking, and something shifted uncomfortably in his gut.

He couldn't learn how to shadow-walk. How could he possibly learn to shadow-walk? His whole world was a shadow! How would he know if he could be seen or not? He almost turned around and left right then.

Firdaws smiled fondly as Makya responded to the question. He was proud of the dark pup; he was a fast learner, eager to please, and Firdaws knew he would grow into his position well. Llikmeht, too, was doing well; the Huntmaster liked his confidence and eagerness. The playfulness, even. Playful pups often made exquisite hunters.

Then the strangely-marked blue-banded teen stumbled into the area, and the Huntmaster's brows raised. Why was this pup even alive? What possible purpose could he serve? His eyes flicked over to Xihuitl's. "This is him?" He asked, not bothering to conceal the harshness in his voice. "This is your new apprentice?"

Llikmeht thought and thought, how is shadow walking done? He figured the best way to start was to picture darkness, nothingness, in his mind, and then somehow he would transform into an invisible shadow! He closed his eyes really tightly and tried hard to meditate on becoming a shadow.

Makya looked at Llikmeht and tried hard to hold in his laughter but when he saw the other pups face scrunch up he burst out laughing. "What are you doing, taking a poop?"

Llikmeht started laughing too. He puffed out his chest a little bit trying to look tough. "I'm using my mind as a tool, I'm thinking of myself as nothing, empty, invisible, just a shadow going in and out with the light," he said matter of factly.

Makya's jaw dropped a little and he stopped laughing. "Oh...well ya...ya the mind is very powerful...someone told me that once," he looked up at Xuitl. "A part of shadow walking is done by using your mind." He wagged his tail and smiled feeling like he gave somewhat of a correct answer. "I don't think you have to concentrate as hard as Llikmeht was," he winked at him and Llikmeht gave him a playful bite on his muzzle.

Llikmeht piped in, "You use your senses! And your senses have to be very sharp," he turned to the blind teenager as he said this. "You must be a good shadow walker because some of your senses you use more, so they are better than ours." For a moment he thought about what it was like to be blind. He remembered when he was born and he could not see, every touch, smell, sound, and taste was so vivid, he could picture what things were in his mind, like he actually saw it. Llikmeht knew to be a good hunter he would have to sharpen those skills again so that he could use them to his advantage.

Listening to the other pup and seeing him lost in a deep thought, Makya too tried to think deeply about how shadow walking was done. He didn't quite understanding how the blind wolf would be a good shadow walker. Makya was good at hiding in the shadows and not being seen, the blind wolf would be an easy target for him he thought. Still he was curious about him. He remembered being a new born, blind, but seeing flickrs of light and dark and being so anxious to see what those flickers of light and dark were. He got a little closer to Asher's nose. "My name is Makya, and this is Llikmeht." He pushed the other pup to the opposite side of Asher's nose, knocking Llikmeht out of his day dream.


"oof! Geez Makya can't a pup think?" Llikmeht got a good wiff of the blind wolf's muzzle. It smelled like the emat they ate the other night. Something inside him perked up, a strange feeling of insitctual rage, and hunger, he felt an emptiness in his stomach, his lips curled up revealing his canines, but then he caught himself and gave Asher a big lick! He wouldn't hurt a brohter but he sure would savor the taste on his mouth. The blind one must hunt! He thought about hunting blindly, how fun it would be, he could learn a lot from Asher.

Xihuitl smiled and shook his head, "Actually it has nothing to do wit the shadows, rather the light that is around them. Your fur is able to catch and bounce light back. To shadow walk you must learn to bend your body and direct light away from you. It is not a matter of mind quite yet, that comes when you must contra your breathing and senses." The storyteller explained and heard the bickering between the two pups and rolled his eyes pushing them both over with his paw.

"It also takes silence, so zip it." A dangerous look passed through his eyes, he didn't like goofing around when they needed to learn this. Looking to Ashur he nodded, "Yes well for you it will be harder, since you cannot see shadows, but you can feel them, the temperate change between a shadow and the lighter areas of the moon. Also the slight pinch of warmth of your fur. You will need to try much harder than anyone else."

Xihuitl looked his his brother, "Firdaws, would you mind bring my example so i can explain? Since it is quite hard to do without an example, can you disappear slowly?"

Loki stalked the shadows, still unsure of this new pack. He was near a clearing, an open area that was once used to train pups in the way of the pack. As he neared, he saw a starry wolf, wearing the cowl of the Shadowclan, and a bunch of pups sitting or playing nearby. "so some things never change." he thought to himself.

As he watched, the starry wolf asked another to show a demonstration of how shadow walking was done. The wolf did an excellent job of shadow walking, and if Loki hadn't known how it was done, he would have assumed the elder wolf had disappeared in front of the pups. As it was, he could still see and sense the wolf there.

This was a skill Loki was proud of, no one, with the exception of his God, had ever been able to track him once he began Shadow walking. Perhaps a demonstration to these pups would be the incentive for them to learn the skill. He wrapped the shadows around him, becoming one with the shadows he loved so much. He used his shadow walking to enter the opening, and wander over near where the wolf had just disappeared, and next to a blue and white youngling, who seemed to be having a hard time picking up the shadows.

After a moment of watching, Loki stepped out of the shadows, in the midst of the pups, staring at them, letting his golden eyes glitter in the moonlight. He spoke, not to the pups, but to their teacher, "Storyteller, Make sure you teach them well. Our survival depends on the shadows and their ability to walk them." Then he turned and stared right at the wolf who had disappeared, and said, "and you need to move more once you take to the shadows, you are to easily followed once you know what to look for."

With that, Loki stalked over to the edge of the opening, and lay down, to watch the rest of the training exercise.