World of Ranicke Bk. 03 Ch. 01

Nasha, as sad as she was, almost had to smile at the boy since he had come up with a good reason for her to hold him. She stood up and walked over to Sheeha and took Alon from her. "Thank you for trying to comfort me Alon. I do feel the need to go and lay down for a short while." She carried him to the adult's tent and settled on the bed and curled up with him. She tucked her nose in his hair and lay there relaxing before falling asleep. Alon followed very quickly after her.

~~~

Back at Moran's caravan Nang was waiting for him to come back. When he did she stood and smiled at him. "I know you are busy Chief Moran but I need a few minutes of your time please. This should only take a few minutes."

Moran paused and gave her a good look and then gave a sharp nod. He could tell she was doing the Mystic thing and not just here for a general conversation. "Not a problem Mystic. I have as much time as you need. Would you please come into my caravan?" He turned and called one of his staff over. "Get the Mystic and me something cool to drink and let it be known I am consulting with her." He helped her up the stairs into his caravan.

Nang smiled at him and didn't bother asking him to use her name. It was pointless since he wouldn't and she knew that. It still felt rather silly to be called Mystic instead of her name though. "Thank you Chief and I appreciate it." She allowed him to help her up the stairs and settled in one of the chairs and waited for him to come in as well.

"So how can I help you Mystic?" Moran settled down across from her and ran a hand through his hair briefly.

Nang pulled a small pouch out and handed it to him. "When you burn the log for Jim ensure this is tied to it." She didn't say anymore because she was supposed to be cryptic. That and she had no clue what it was actually for. She had been told to make it and that was it. Nang had been told to take it to the senior shaman for a ritual blessing as well.

Moran took the small leather pouch from her and looked at it. "Might I ask what is in it or what it is for?" He wasn't going to hold his breath waiting on an answer.

She gave him a slight smile. "You may ask Chief as is your right." Nang didn't say anything else and she almost laughed when he rolled his eyes and gave her a patient sigh.

Just for good measure he glowered at her. "Fine I will bite, what is in it and what is it for?" The old mystic used to do things like that as well. Moran was sure he did it occasionally just for amusement value.

She kept the slight smile on her face as she replied. "As far as what is inside it there is a small power stone and some herbs. As far as what it is for I don't have the faintest idea. I was told how to make it and what to do with it. Nothing else."

Moran went from a glower to a glare. "You did that just to annoy me didn't you? You could have simply told me up front but you didn't know. No you had to make a production out of it and make me work for it." Mentally he was snickering though.

Nang widened her smile a slight bit. "I would never do such a thing Chief. The annoy and amusement part that is. It is the job of the Mystic to help others open their mind and use it. That is all I did." Just for good measure she winked at him. The drinks were carried in at that point. She thanked the male for the drink. "Well that was all I needed Chief. Is there anything else or might I leave you to your business?"

Moran took a drink and smiled at her. "That is all I need since you are the one that came to talk to me. Now you can go back to your caravan and practice being inscrutable with your mate."

She snickered at him. "I do that already. Where do you think I learned it? It keeps him guessing which keeps me in control. It is a female skill you know. Confuse the poor male and then take the reins." Once she had finished the drink she thanked him for his time and left.

Moran shook his head and sat there for a few minutes before standing up and tucking the pouch into a small drawer in his desk. He would check on the status of the ritual log for Jim and ensure it was tied on before it went to the fire. As far as what it was for he didn't bother wondering since the spirits hadn't told Nang that.

~~~

That evening Dan and Nang were sitting with Jim's family. With Nang's permission he was comforting Sorrel on one of the low couches they used. Nang was sitting with Nora and as usual Sheeha was with Nasha. Dan had to wonder about their relationship since they seemed so different. In the short time he had known Nasha he had concluded she was a gentle soul and very sensitive. Sheeha was almost brash and challenging in her actions. She was a Puma and her pride in that showed. However when it came to Nasha she was very gentle and caring with her.

Sorrel was definitely the senior mate and it showed. The other two looked up to her for advice when needed and to support her when needed as well. Nora was somewhat harder to define. He could tell that she cared for Jim a great deal but it was different than the other two. After contemplating it for a while he had finally decided it somehow related to Tonya. Now thinking about Tonya she was curled up in his lap snoring quietly.

Allie and Ana were curled up with Saulo and Farion. They seem to be working on becoming close friends with a possibility of it developing into something more. That was something Dan had to strongly think on. Coming from where they had, for obvious reasons, sleeping with and or mating with a furry person never crossed his mind. Also when he thought furry it was literally that, they had fur and not the people in fur suits. At least he had a number of years to come to terms with the idea.

Most of the little kids were in bed at the moment sleeping as best possible. The four older kids would be scattered amongst them for comfort as needed. Sheeha finally looked at Sorrel. "Nasha needs to talk to you Sorrel. It is very important to her so she chose to talk to you after the littles went to bed."

As Sheeha was talking Nasha's ears lowered even more and she looked rather shy and embarrassed. She knew that Sorrel would listen and would help as much as possible but it was very hard to talk about.

Sorrel contemplated the other woman and stood up before walking over to her and settling down next to her. She wrapped an arm around her and gave her a good hug. "What do you need Nasha? How can we help you?" She deliberately used the term 'we' to bring all of women in the tent together to support her.

Nasha's fingers were working the material of her shirt in distress. "I... I... I know this is a bad time for all of us with the loss of our mate but I don't have a choice but to ask." Her voice was small when she talked. Before saying anything else she looked at Sheeha.

Sheeha gave her a good hug and started purring even more to encourage her. "It is a hard time for all of us lovie but you need to take care of family right? That is why we are all here. It is for us to hold you and support you as well as you holding and supporting us. Believe me I am helping you as I am because it helps me keep a grip on things." For a moment the person behind her eyes was the young woman she was and not the confident active feline she normally was.

Nasha looked in Sheeha's eyes and leaned in and hugged her back. She turned to Sorrel. "As you know one of my brothers was killed. He was the provider for his mate and child. Because she is from a different pack she doesn't have family as such in my pack. They will take care of her but it will end up similar to when Alon came to us. I am not asking to bring her into the family so much as to allow her to stay with us till she finds another mate or her child is old enough for her to really start working again."

Sorrel listened carefully before nodding her understanding of the situation. "I will need to talk to my father about this since it will require the tribe to support her. That is a drain on resources no matter how small but I am sure that father will consider this and make the correct decision. Once he does that we will discuss this as a family on how to handle her and her son. For now it is time for all of us to go to bed." She stood and stretched before pulling Nasha up and wrapping her arms around her and heading towards the bedroom.

~~~

The funeral pyres ended up needing to be put off one more evening but it had to be done that night. As per the tribes laws the remains needed to be burned to free the spirit. The practical reason was as warm and humid as it was the bodies tended to decompose rapidly. The smell alone would necessitate the removal or burning but disease was even a more practical reason. Chief Moran had received the news that everything was ready, the pyres were built, the bodies prepared, the log for Jim carved. He sent the message that the pyres would be lit that evening.

As the day progressed the mood became even more somber. All work was being done as quietly as possible and conversation was sparse. Nobody felt much like talking due to the shock and horror. It was also because the families of the killed were dealing with that not to mention what had caused it. The weapons used were so outside their knowledge and experience had made the men almost god like. He had done his best with Dan and Bear to explain that they were simply man made devices. They were neither good nor bad till actually used. The weapon was still neither good nor bad but could be used for evil.

At the moment he was sitting at Jim's caravan with his granddaughter on his lap. She was curled up in a small furry ball and sleeping. Sorrel was settled next to him and he had his arm around her and she was sleeping as well. None of the women had been sleeping well and it showed. Nasha looked worse than the others since she had lost someone as well. At the moment she was curled up on a cushion with her head in Sheeha's lap.

Since Nasha wasn't asleep and simply resting Moran cleared his throat. "Nasha I have contemplated your request and as long as their pack leader doesn't have a problem they can come with the tribe. The one thing I am going to stipulate is that you take responsibility for them which would be expected anyways. Talk to your fellow ladies and decide how you wish to handle this and then come to me."

Nasha sat up when he called her name. At first she was concerned by what he had to say but by the time he was done she was crying again. It wasn't the howls that all of them had let out, just tears flowing down her cheeks. "Thank you Chief and I will talk to the others tomorrow about it."

He gave her a nod and looked out at the sky. It was getting close to time for the pyres to be lit. "Shall we go? Nasha you will accompany me as well since one is your brother. Sorrel and Nora since Jim was their mate. You are as well but in this case the relative takes priority. Once you have taken care of lighting his fire come and join us and all of us will light Jim's pyre."

She nodded and went and gathered up their pups. One she handed to Sheeha and the other she tucked into a carrier. As she was doing that the rest were getting ready as well. The children would be at the front of the tribe members there for the ceremony. Dan and Nang came over as well as their two girls. As he greeted the chief the girls went over to Farion and Saulo to help with the littles.

Once everyone was ready they stepped out of the tent and at the very end was the female Inu and her son. Everyone slowly walked to the pyres and split off to their designated spots. Bear was standing with the senior Shaman as the ceremony started. They called to the spirits of the compass points, the sun and moon as well as the Bear. The Shaman for the pack did much the same for their fallen. Once all the calls to the spirits were made the two Chief's stepped forward.

Both raised their arms and all noise stopped. "As our Shaman's have called on the spirits we also call on the spirits. We call on the spirit of forest and earth. They represent life and birth and we call on them to take the spirits of the fallen, comfort them till it is time for them to rejoin the circle of life." Both said that at the same time.

When they lowered their hands the song smiths and singers stepped forward. They started with Jim's song before moving on to two others. Once they were done they stepped back into the shadows and the torches were lit. As the family members stepped forward and stuck the torches into selected spots the crowd started mourning the lost.

Nang stood there with her eyes closed with Dan's arms around her. For the moment her grief was put away as she worked to understand what was going to happen when the fire reached the pouch. When it did she felt a surge of power and when she opened her eyes they were glowing. She didn't know that but a number of people did and could only stare.

As the fire consumed Jim's log it reached the strings to the pouch and burned through them. The pouch slid off the log and directly into the inferno below. When the fire hit it there was the flare of power Nang had felt and the sparks started swirling around till it formed a glowing shape of a bear. The bear roared his anger. From the forest there were a number of return growls and roars.

After glancing around the Bear's eyes settled on Moran's. "My warrior has been taken from me. Vengeance is mine." He roared again and the flames of the fire flared up. Within moments the pyre was done and the shape was gone.

~~~

She walked into the room and smiled as she glanced around. It was always subtly different each time she was here. It was a way to keep things fresh and new not to mention that he knew she liked the little things like that. To her it showed that he cared for her and their time together. No they weren't mates and had other lovers but they had always enjoyed spending time together.

While she waited for him to show she walked to one window and looked out over the lush and green jungle. It was one of her favorite views in the room and the scent of life was simply luscious. After several minutes she moved to another window. This one showed a scene from a city that didn't exist anymore. Though it looked to be bustling if you looked carefully you could see that some of the people were treated with great fear.

After again watching for a few minutes she moved to the third window which looked out over her world. It was night time but the lights of the city glowed and lit up the night. Looking out over her world she was saddened by the actions of some of the people. She had wrested control of the world from her father by tossing him into the darkness where he belonged. For too long he had treated the people as playthings. He greatly enjoyed watching the little beings fighting for scraps from his table though they didn't realize it. She needed to correct the balance but that was going to take time and it was going to be hard on the people when it happened.

She sighed before leaning back into his arms. She had felt him come in as she was looking out the window. His arms wrapped around her and held her in a snug embrace. When he leaned forward she turned her head and collected a kiss from him. She could feel his desire and hers but that had to wait. "Before we can relax we have to decide what to do about this issue."

He sighed as well before nibbling on her ear for a moment before stepping back. He captured one of her hands and led her over to a low table and helped her down on a cushion. On the table were several trays of delights that she loved. There was also a pot of coffee for her and tea for him. "How you can stand that abominable stuff I have never been able to understand." He wrinkled his muzzle at her.

She laughed as she was adjusting the coffee to her taste. "That is because you have been corrupted by that watery stuff you call tea." She reached over and stroked his cheek and one ear before she looked serious. "You know why I am here. There is an unexpected temporal disturbance. I have checked my sources and even talked to The Doctor and we need to resolve this soon. If we don't it will have grave consequences for both our worlds and our peoples."

He settled down next to her and fixed his tea as she was talking and nodded. For a brief moment he wondered who this doctor she had talked to was but dismissed it from his mind. "You are right I have felt the ripples from that unexpected death. It has to be righted and as you said soon. How do you propose to do this?" He had already put a few things in place and she knew he would have but it was only polite to ask.

She gave him a warm look. "I have felt your touch on your world very recently and the surge of power in the void. We need to create a similar surge from my world. Once they combine the resolution will start. I don't have any idea how it will be resolved since some things are hidden to us as well." As she was sipping her coffee she was giving him a look through her eyelashes. It showed him how interested in some things she was.

He smiled when she told him she had felt what he had started. "And I tried so hard to be subtle and make you work for knowing what I had done." He pretended to sigh and look sad. He had most definitely noticed the look in her eyes and damn it but he didn't feel like waiting. "So when are you going to create the surge from your world?" Then they could get down to business.

She finished the cup of coffee and stood up. As she was walking towards the bed her robes started to fall off. "Come my lover and I will show you..."

His eyes started glowing with his desire. When he stood and walked towards her his robes fell off as well. He gathered her lovely body into his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. "I have a feeling I will enjoy this schooling..."

~~~

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