(June 5, 1996) Lake of the Last Days A narrow, emerald lake extends like a horseshoe between the saddles formed by several mountain peaks here. The lake is smooth as glass, as unbroken as a mirror. The surrounding peaks, the sparse trees that decorate their slopes, and the sky overhead is reflected back from the surface of the water, glowing with energy like the world within. The sandy beach seems calm and peaceful. And yet, an occasional undercurrent of dread creeps across the land here like ripples on the water. As when the splash of some unseen fish or other animal breaks the surface of the lake like a warning slap. Only then does it become apparent how deep the water truly is, its rocky bottom dropping off quickly into impenetrable, green-tinged darkness. The lake is fed by a river on one side of the horseshoe. It drains at the far end through a narrow chasm that cuts its way between the mountain walls. Cristoph contorts and blurs as he is transformed. Cristoph shifts into Hispo form. Timothy stands off by himself a short distance, neither with the Cypress Rising group nor the gathering arrivals from the Wheel. For a while he stands there, simply watching over the lake, but with more arrivals he strays closer toward the Cypress Rising group. Silent-Jaws approaches, close enough to pay silent respects to Tastes-Ashes, and to indicate that he has come to honor the fallen of his tribe. Sepdet's claw-tips brush gently through the fur of the small theurge at her knees. She tips her head to expose her throat briefly to Anna, her own greeting given silently. Silent-Jaws then starts a short distance off, distancing himself from both groups as well, and being positioned more closely to Timothy than any other. Brian's walk finally brings him to the neighborhood of the little gathering. He himself does not speak, not to Wheel group, not to Cypress Rising group, not to hangers-on. Tastes-Ashes stands in the middle of a circle of upturned earth. Three deep graves, each one nearly twenty feet away from the other, have been dug in a rough triangle. Next to two graves is a body, carefully wrapped in what cloth Anna was able to purchase or steal. The other body is missing. At the entrance of the three unknown Garou, Tastes-Ashes spins, eyes shooting to Brian and then back. The Get relaxes a trifle as she recognizes Eligio and Sepdet. Tastes-Ashes looks uncomfortable by the sheer number of Garou that have turned out, and she shifts her weight uneasily from one foot to the next before she nods. ~Welcome then.~ Her voice is harsh and holds the pain of her loss. The Get indicates that the Garou should arrange themselves around the circle if they wish to participate. Anne steps out of her own motionless stance at the gesture, taking a place with her jaw tight and eyes dark. Tastes-Ashes contorts and blurs as she is transformed. Tastes-Ashes shifts into Homid form. Shadowed Moon rounds the final bend in the river to the end of the lake's horseshoe. Brian remains some distance from the circle, performing the necessary task of a Guardian, lest the rite itself be interrupted. Shadowed Moon limps in from the direction of the Hive itself. Sepdet slips quietly to the west side of the circle, glancing over her shoulder at the last streaks of twilight and then focussing her attention on the Get. Silent-Jaws drifts closer to the circle, eyes on Anna. Anna drops into her birthform for the first time since the battle with Salamander. Much of her wounds have healed by now, although she is still badly burned in areas and her hair has not yet grown back more than a half-inch. Slowly she makes her way to stand next to the body of Ereshkigal, then tilts her head back and screams a long wordless and pain-filled challenge to the sky. No howl, no mourful call of the wolf; this is grief from a human throat. Therru transfers herself, becoming Eligio's shadow rather than Sepdet's. Silent-Jaws settles down stoically to watch. He does not move, otherwise. Timothy takes a few steps inward, joining the group lined around in a circle. For a brief moment he looks over those who have gathered here and then on the Get, where his attention remains. Shadowed Moon flinches at the sound, as if struck. Sightless eyes turn towards Anna and a hint of something that could almost be described as understanding is apparent in his body language. But that understanding is quickly supplanted by disappointment. The scream falters, cracks, and dies into the sound of harsh breathing. Anna looks up, tears streaming from her face, to look at the assembled Garou. ~Three have been taken from us. Three Garou who served the Mother from the moment of their first change until the moment that the were struck down by the claws of the Wyrm. In the pounding of the waterfall, you can hear Gaia weeping. 'My Alpha is dead. My Scout is dead. My Warrior is dead.'~ Anna wipes at her face, unashamed of her crying. ~We weep with her. We mourn their loss. And we send their spirits home on the strength of our grief. These tears do not bind their souls to the earth.~ With a vicious movement, Anna looks around the gathered Garou, watching them and their reactions. ~These tears, ours and Gaia's, are tears of cleansing.~ Anna reaches down, picks up the body of the fallen Fury and places it in the grave. A nod and a look indicates that the other Garou should assist with covering it as well as the other. Anne breaks out of the circle to assist Anna, her own tears lightly streaking her face. Silent-Jaws, after the Fury elder has gone forward, follows suit, to honor the fallen Black Fury. His manner is one of quiet sorrow. Shadowed Moon marches to the edge of Ereshkigal's grave, a misstep almost causing the old wolf to stumble into it but he recovers with only one paw over the edge. Dragging his old leg sideways he sweeps a pawful of dirt into the grave in the manner of the apes. He does not lament, showing her respect in the same silent manner as he shows the fallen of his own kind. He repeats the gesture, less formally, at the other thwo graves. Sepdet's expression is sad but strangely peaceful for a crinos, as if not entirely fixed upon the here and now, but something beyond it. She stoops and gathers earth in both hands, waiting for Shadowed Moon and Anne before adding her own with soft words muttered under her breath. Brian's attention is noticably elsewhere during all this, on the sparse trees, the rocks, anywhere from which an attack might emerge. As the other Garou tend to the bodies and the graves, Anna steps out of the circle and moves to a small pile of cloth that had previously gone unnoticed. She removes the cloth, revealing three small oak saplings that she brings back to the circle. One tree is placed in the dirt above each grave. ~Spirit returns to Gaia; flesh returns to earth. Spirit is reborn in a new form as flesh is reborn anew in these trees.~ She returns to the tree standing above Kiga's grave and says ~In the myths of my tribe, The World Tree supports Gaia, cradling her in its branches. These trees will form the foundation of this place, as Despair-Runs-Dry, Antigonne and Shaitan form their foundation. They are memory, promise, and hope.~ Anna turns to the others and says softly ~Any who wish to speak, please...~ Sepdet's stance relaxes subtly at the Get's final words for the new trees planted. Her gaze flickers towards Anne and back to Anna. Anne says, quietly, studying the dirt on her hands from the burial, ~I knew each only briefly. But Ereshkigal was one of the legends I knew of, and I held her as an example and a strength even before I met her. Antigone and Shaitan I had wished more time with, and that is perhaps my greatest grief at their deaths, that I could not spend more time with them before Gaia claimed them in their vengeance against the enemy that destroyed their home.~ Perhaps incongruously, the big Irishman who is attentive to the approaches speaks. "Nior dhun Dia doras riamh nar oscail Se ceann eile. Slan leat." The melodic cadences of the Irish tongue seem strange by the unsettling stillness of the lake. Silent-Jaws, of course, says nothing. He stands in a stance of respect to the graves for a moment, and then moves out of the circle once more. Eligio Sacateca says simply, ~Our legends are borne of heroes such as these. The memory of all that we can be becomes even more important the closer we get to these last days. Let the Galliards take their deeds and spread them far and wide through these lands. We will not forget their sacrifice. Gaia speed them on their journey.~ Sepdet touches the ankh at her throat, waiting again for others before adding her own dry whisper. ~Too short a time some of us knew you, honored elders, but we know what you are: Gaia's greatest yesterday, ashes for a moment now, phoenix for tomorrow's hopes. Old One, especially--you are going down, like your namesake, to take your honored place in the western lands. Fly far and fast beyond the sun's setting, Three together, for you have won your last battle, and other willing hands remain to honor you by building upon your victory.~ Anna moves into the center of the circle once more and turns to face the setting sun. ~Gaia, take their souls. Speed them on their journey home.~ Softly, so softly that it is possible no one else hears, she says ~Gaia speed us all.~ Anna steps out from the center and goes to wash her face and hands in the river. The moon's current phase is gibbous, which corresponds to the galliard auspice. For more information, examine #1676. Anne lifts her eyes to the sky. "Artemis," she murmurs, "receive them home." She pauses for a long moment, then turns her gaze back down, and follows Anna to wash her own face and hands. That done, she brings a tiny handful of water to each grave, dipping the fingers of her other hand into it and shaking droplets out over the freshly turned dirt. Silent-Jaws settles down some distance away, silently watching the end of the ceremony. Shadowed Moon, like many of his breed, does not linger over the shells that were once leaders in his Sept. Instead, he simply turns, without a word, and limps his way back up along the course of the river, avoiding its banks by a wide margin. Sepdet bows briefly to each young tree, then slips out of the circle, waiting by the border of sand and forest for the two children of Owl.