Kiss of the Moon Ch. 08

"Ten..."

"Hold this," Mary handed the microphone to her producer.

"Three..." Mary as did everyone got ready to tear his or her tops off, "Two... one..."

Amy tore her blouse off; most had chosen easy to open clothes.

Mary pointed to her shirt as the camera focused on the words clearly written there, I'm Were. Mary snatched her microphone back.

"That's right this is a Were protest. In every town and city across the world, Were and Others have gathered coming out of hiding. Now I don't know everything, so I'll turn you over to the organizer of this world wide protest," Mary said and turned to Amy.

Cameras focused on Amy. Amy picked up the microphone and took a deep breath.

"Hi everyone," Amy said, a deep hush fell over the crowd. Amy knew that across the world she would be on large projection screens.

Amy took a deep breath, "I've found that people be they Human, Were or Other react mainly when statistics are thrown at them. So to begin this, I'm going to give everyone some statistics. 60% of the worlds population is Were, a further 5% is Other, which leaves 35% of the remaining population to be pure Human. Humans may refute these statistics, they believe that they are supreme, that is why this has been organized. Some don't believe in facts until they see them. So look around, in every town, in every city in the world there is a gathering like this one. A gathering of Were and Others."

Amy paused for a moment, "One unified, global protest, a protest about how Humans want to collar us like we are some pet they can control. We will not accept this, we let you live in peace, why can you not leave us in peace."

Amy smiled as she looked at a man with a; I'm not Were but my friend is, he had written best on his shirt next to friend.

"But I am wrong," Amy corrected, "Not all humans want to see us collared and treated like scum, some just want to live with us, want to know us, they want to be our friends and just as important we want to be their's. It is the intolerant which are causing friction."

Amy paused for another moment, "I would like to read an essay by an eleven year old girl, an essay she wrote for her human studies class."

She opened the piece of folded paper.

"The girl called her paper 'The True Meaning of Hate'," Amy told them she then cleared her throat.

"Hate... we've heard the word, and sadly; we've all used it, sometimes in anger without true intention and sometimes in malice; meaning it with a vengeance... but what is Hate. According to the Oxford dictionary to hate is to dislike somebody or something intensely, often in a way that evokes feelings of anger, hostility, or animosity. How is it that humanity, be it Human or Other, in this day and age of almost infinite knowledge; can still have such a destructive word in its vocabulary. How is it that at the drop of a hat; that word can just be thrown out at the people around us?"

"We hear the grumbles, the whispers of our parents, when they think we are too involved in our games. We see the gatherings, the caution as our parents try to shield us from danger. The lessons drummed into us from the moment we are old enough to understand, are drummed deeper, pretend to be human, pretend to be what we are so obviously not, but we conform."

"Still the grumbles continue, those of us who are open are attacked, so we close ranks tighter, trying to lessen our impact to calm Human's down. I'm eleven, yet I am not like my human age mates, they find it hard to live the one life they know, they should try living three for that is my life. At home I am Were with a strict code that governs my actions, at school I pretend to be human even though there is only five humans in my entire year and at night I am the wolf cub learning my place in the pack. I cannot be what I am because I will cause waves, but pretending to be what I'm not isn't helping either."

"History has shown us countless of times what humans do to those who are different, the atrocities that humans have inflicted on their own kind because their skin is different, they speak the wrong language, come from the wrong side of the street and most of all if they follow wrong god. It seems that humans have always hated that which they either don't understand; or don't want to understand. It has led them to war countless of times."

"As a Were I understand nature and in nature it is considered weak to show fear, it's why most animals when startled or chased will turn and attack the thing that scares them. Instead of showing fear they show anger, its why most cats will hiss and snarl at dogs as if they hate them. It is fear that drives them to anger and what can be described as hate. Well it's not that much different for humans, humans are only evolved animals, much like we are."

"This essay is about hate, so it's actually about fear. Fear is the true motivation behind hate. So here is my Theory: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate is an ugly cycle that constantly renews itself in the minds of some humans. Hate and anger can be overcome by releasing fear and learning about that which is different. Acceptance and tolerance will prevent so much from happening, but history shows us how humans deal with those they consider different. However history also shows us that humans when push comes to shove will endure, being shunned themselves to right a wrong done to a different kind of human."

"I don't understand racial hatred, I know what it means, how it affects the people who either use it as a shield that they think will protect them and those who are the victim of it's damaging edges, but I still do not understand it. I'm eleven and we, as in Were, are taught deep respect for everything around us and everyone. I go to school with Elementals, Folk, Hawks, Panthers, a Bear, Humans; the female alpha of my pack is Ancient. My best friend is a Centaur."

"We have our territories, our boundaries were we can grow, but our boarders overlap, we don't care what you are as long as we know who you are. It is the character of the person be they Human or Non-human that should be judged, for that is the true person."

"If a war comes, we will be ready; we will fight, for it is in our natures to fight. We will win, but we will also loose. We will loose our Were side, the side that thinks beyond the change of the seasons, and revert to our animal side with no dreams or motivation for more. So I end this three questions. Why must we be what we are not? Why must we be forced to fight when we just want to live in peace? And finally will the price of our survival be worth it?"

Amy waited; she had barely taken a breath before applause filled the gathered crowd. Amy waited until the noise died down again.

"That is why we are here today, today we stop pretending to be what we are not, today we stop hiding in the shadows. Today we step forward with humans, to share our futures. To prevent a war we don't want to happen," Amy told them.

"My name is Amy Luis and I'm Ancient," Amy declared.Part Ancient, I really should have said complicated.Amy said silently.

*

Sienna forced her way through the crowd. She spotted Bob as she had gotten used to looking for him a few months earlier. "Bob," Sienna called out as she pushed her way through the bodies.

Bob smiled when Sienna finally got to him. Four people Sienna didn't know were with him. When she was close, enough she sniffed the air around them. Human, she concluded.

"These are the people Amy wanted me to find," Bob told her.

Sienna smiled, "Welcome," she told them, "Follow me."

"Grab my belt," Bob warned and grabbed Sienna's as she dived back into the crowd. The new comers quickly formed a single file behind Sienna.

Sienna quickly got them to the flimsy railing. A man on the gate recognised Sienna and let them behind the railing. Sienna pause before Wolfgang, who was holding his arms out to help Amy down from the stage. Wolfgang gathered Amy into his arms; he brought her close and refused to set her on her feet. He kissed her thoroughly parting her lips and running his tongue around her mouth to taste her.

Sienna glanced back to watch the soldiers. They were doing their best to ignore Amy and Wolfgang.

Amy broke the kiss, "Put me down," she said almost breathlessly.

Wolfgang slid her down his body then stepped aside to let her pass. Amy smiled at Bob.

"Bob welcome," Amy greeted.

Bob opened his bomber jacket to expose his white shirt. I'm not Were but my friends are, blazed across his chest. His shirt was custom made, the lettering slightly different to the lettering of the mass made shirts.

Bob took Amy's hands and brought them to his nose, the correct way to greet the Alpha female, so he had been told by many, during his time with the Alpha's. He had even talked Wolfgang into giving him a Were advisor.

Bob gently released her hands, "Amy, political life becomes you," he told her.

Amy snorted, "As if. I've just made myself an even bigger target for those human supremacist separatist idiots."

"You and me both, mind if I take the stage to add my own two bits," Bob asked.

Amy gestured saying silently that the stage was his, "I'll just get Eon to wrap it up," She told him,Eon the president wants to chat.

Eon wrapped her song up, "Okay people, we have a guest who wants to talk," Eon put the microphone in the stand and helped the president up onto the stage.

Bob approached the stand. Everyone was as quiet for him as they were for Amy. Bob rubbed his hands against his legs, a nervous habit he had always tried to hide, but he had learnt from the Alpha's that sometimes hesitation and showing it was a good thing, it showed those beneath you that the decision made was one that wasn't made from haste but from weighing the outcomes.

"Greetings..." he began, "A few months ago I knew little to nothing about Were, all I knew were the stories fed to us, to make Humans afraid. However, I was invited to a gathering of all the worlds Alpha's; I got a chance to see the people who made Humans so afraid. I didn't just meet everyday Were, I meet the Alphas, the leaders, the law makers and enforcers of their respected territories and I tell you now, I may have harboured doubts but within moments I learnt that you cannot judge a person by the stories that were penned so long ago.

I learnt much about Were life during the four day long meeting. I got to go, watch and be involved in ceremonies that can be dated back to the dawn of Humanity. I learnt that each pack or pride was different, had different customs, ways of doing things, yet they could work together because they could see past those slight differences, they didn't matter.

I watched as one Alpha was challenged for the right to be a husband, something I learnt was completely normal; it's simply survival of the strongest when it comes to Alphas. I saw their infamous side, the one we Humans have nightmares about, but I also saw the compassion Were have for those who were wronged, I witnessed their patience and the dignity they give to those same people.

I came to understand slightly what it is to be Were, and I came to admire them.

Don't get me wrong, some Were are callous, recently the Alpha's were forced to dissolve a pack that were practising an undesirable trait. However, I know some statistics, in the last ten years, twenty-five people were killed by Were, all twenty five were killed by a pack of rogues from the pack that was dissolved, who weren't even from this country. In the last hour, twenty five people and then some would have been murdered in this one city alone, all will have perpetrated by humans," Bob said firmly.

He took a deep breath, "I'm not trying to blame one race or another. I am simply saying that there is good and bad in every race. We must accept that and judge the merit of each person by their actions not by their race," Bob glanced around.

"I will not see my friends collared and their culture lost, I will fight for Were and Other rights as strongly as I will fight for Human rights, the rights of one should be the rights of all," Bob finished. There was a roar of approval.