Orphan Ch. 09

Alexander thought it best to eat instead of pushing the matter further.

As he was finishing Jenabel came into the room. Dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and white camisole top Alexander's breath was once again taken away by her natural beauty as he watched her towel her hair dry.

Jenabel felt his eyes on her, enjoyed the hunger she found in his stare.

She felt better after talking with her mother. It would not be easy waiting 'til the next full moon but she could do it. She was strong enough to contain her and her wolf's urges until they could safely join with Alexander forever.

"Okay Alexander let's go, you have a history lesson to attend."

Alexander grinned at Sophie's motherly tone as he let her pull him from the chair and out of the room.

In the large common room they were greeted by Willow and her mother, Beth, along with several other children including Amy, who was the first to notice him.

"Axander!" Amy squealed as she ran to him and hugged onto his leg.

Alexander smiled and reached down. Picking her up he threw her a foot over his head and then caught her, much to her delight.

"Hello Amy." Alexander greeted her as he gave her a quick hug before placing her pack on her own feet.

Beth was the next to say hello.

"Good afternoon Alexander, we have a lot to cover. Shall we get started?"

"Absolutely, I'm all yours." Alexander said as he sat on the couch. Jenabel sat on his left and before Sophie could join them Willow had claimed the spot to his right.

"Hello Alexander." Willow's greeting was soft almost shy. Alexander was having none of it.

"That's all I get Miss Willow, a simple hello. I think not."

Before he even finished his statement he had his fingers tickling Willow's ribs and plaintive wails and laughter taking the place of her affected coyness.

"Alright you two that's enough. Everyone settle down and find a seat." Beth's admonishment was gentle but Alexander knew better than to push his luck with a teacher primed for a lecture. He placed his arm loosely over Willow's shoulder and entwined his fingers in Jenabel's on his other side.

Jenabel smiled as Amy crawled up onto Alexander's lap, not surprised in the least that she would seek what she considered the best seat in the house.

Once everyone had settled down Beth began.

"Now there is a great deal of history for Weres in general and even more detailed histories of Packs. I'll start with our overall history and go from there. If I'm moving too quickly or you have a question feel free to interrupt.

Our recorded history truly begins around the time of Christ. This was the first time our history, myths and legends were transcribed. Were culture predates all organized religions. As far as we have been able to trace back through the first writings and other sources, Were culture began more than twelve thousand years ago.

Within many, if not most, early groupings of individuals into tribes a Shaman was normally the spiritual leader of the group. Shaman of the time communed with the spirits, healed through the spirit realm and called on spirits for all types of aid that the tribe might require. In many cases the spirits called were earth spirits represented by animals.

All across the globe, from Asia and India, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and as far north as the North Pole and Siberia these early Shaman invoked and communed with the spirits of nature.

In times of great danger or great need the Shaman themselves would take within them the animal spirits to protect, shepherd or guide the tribes. Depending on the area of the world and what the dominant animal was, the Shaman would turn into one of what we have come to call the prime spirits. They include wolves, bears, lions, tigers, hyenas and jaguars. We have never heard of nor seen evidence of a Were from a reptilian animal spirit.

As time passed the Shaman began to teach members of their tribes how to commune with and accept animal spirits to inhabit their bodies for a time. This was necessary due to the fact that the world was becoming more and more populated with each new generation. Where once a tribe may have been eight to ten members and would meet a like number in another tribe, they began to grow in size as the centuries and then millennium passed. The Shaman found that they alone were no longer enough to protect their tribes, so they pulled a small cadre of young men and women from the tribe and taught them the secrets of the animal spirits.

Time passed and the world moved forward. Man became the dominant species on the planet. Civilizations formed and thrived and fell as is the nature of all things. Through all of this those early groups of spirit warriors continued. They continued to be taught how to commune with the spirits, how to take on the aspect of their tribes chosen totem animal and continued to protect their homes and their people.

However, with the passage of time the shamanistic traditions began to die out. But something had fundamentally changed over the course of eight thousand years. Natural spirit warriors were being born and we became self-perpetuating. Even as the ancient ways died out and were lost in winds of time, our kind continued and flourished."

At this point Alexander interrupted.

"So theoretically, there is a way for a normal human to become Were. I understand that the knowledge has been lost but there is a way, no matter how remote, that a human could be changed?"

Beth thought about the question. It was not surprising that Alexander would pick this out of what she had just told to focus on. He didn't have the same perspective as she did, as any of them had. They were raised knowing that today there was no way for a human to become Were. But for Alexander, spending his whole life up until two weeks ago as human, he saw the possibility where they only saw the impossibility.

"Yes, theoretically, there is a way, but that knowledge has been lost for at least five thousand years Alexander. If there was a record of the process I highly doubt, given the time frame it was available, that any record of it could have survived. Also, up until that time most such things were passed down verbally, another reason it is doubtful anyone today could find or duplicate the process."

Alexander could think of several points where Beth's statement didn't seem quite right, but he let the subject drop for now. There was more important information he needed, this one could wait.

"Of course, I was just clarifying. Please continue."

Beth took a drink and then continued.

"As the years passed our kind became more and more insulated from the rest of humanity. As civilizations grew, as knowledge became more and more advanced, we found that it was growing impossible to live among normal society, particularly in cities. We tried to maintain our positions as protectors and guides but humanities Gods changed. More often than not when we shared what we were it was met with fear, anger and violence.

So, we turned within. Our communities, towns and enclaves pulled farther and farther away from those of normal humans. Roughly two thousand years ago the strongest packs came together to forge economic, social and protection treaties with other packs. They came up with laws our kind would follow and tried to put into place traditions that would keep our race strong and growing. At the time this was mainly done with packs from Europe and the Middle East. As time passed and more were-kind were found they were given the opportunity to join the gathering, increasing our diversity as well as their own security and growth.

As humans explored the world and found new lands so too did our kind follow, learning that our shamanistic roots in the distant past were shared by people on every continent. From South America to Alaska to Australia and the Far East as humanity expanded and met new cultures so did we.

We have always been a relatively peaceful people, content to care for our own, craft our lives around duty to our packs and families, ensuring that our kind continues and that our children inherit a better world than the one which we found.

However, being part human and part predator, Weres are also fiercely protective of their own and their territory. For a very long time the scarcity of our kind did a good job at precluding territorial conflicts between Weres. With the coming of the middle ages that all changed.

As human settlements expanded many of our kind found their ancestral homes encroached upon. Many simply pulled further away from human expansion, others tried to reintegrate with humans. Both had dire consequences. The packs that pulled away often found themselves now in competition for territories with other Were packs which lead to the Pack Wars. The ones who tried to integrate were once again met with fear and derision. The modern Were mythos that humanity has today was born during this time.

Decades passed and many smaller packs were either destroyed or taken in by larger and stronger packs. We became more and more insulated from humanity as all of our attempts to integrate failed. It was a very difficult and dark period in our history. We, just as mankind, were forced to come to grips with our own failings and flaws.

Finally, around the middle of the eighteenth century we began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The packs met again, reaffirmed our laws and traditions, enacted the old treaties and formalized territories as well as how disputes would be handled. It took almost fifty years but in the end we created the foundation for modern Were culture.

Of course coming to grips with and finding a balance with our own kind was only the start. Our leaders realized that while we would have to keep our nature a secret from pure humans, it was also vital that Weres begin to integrate with them if we had any chance to continue and thrive.

So that is what we did. Slowly at first, we formed new enclaves encompassing a mixture of humans and Weres. The humans were not told our secret but they benefited from their associations with us. It is how places like Red Lodge came into being.

We are a mixture of northern European and local native Weres along with the descendants of settlers from all across the globe. We have learned the balance and do everything we can to maintain it, for just as we gain from humanities advances, so too do the humans that live and work with us gain from ours."

Alexander sat quietly, a look of deep thought on his face for many moments after Beth finished her history. It was amazing, a parallel species developing alongside that of regular humans. He had so many questions that he struggled to find a place to start.

"How many packs are there?"

Beth smiled, not surprised that this was his first question.

"There are currently just over nine hundred acknowledged Were packs across the globe. The average size of a pack today is roughly a hundred members. Some are bigger, some smaller but this average allows for our population to gradually increase with each passing generation. Aside from the packs we believe there are also upward of five thousand solitary Weres who live within normal human society choosing not to live within a pack hierarchy."

'Ninety thousand Weres.'

The thought brought a smile to Alexander's lips, knowing that there was such a profound quantity of such an ancient magic still out there walking the earth provided him with an intense of calm and belonging.

Several hours had passed and while Alexander had questions he also needed time to process all of the new information.

Alexander's voice was quiet and thoughtful as he spoke to Beth.

"Thank you so much for the history, it is...amazing to say the least. It's getting late and it seems most of our audience is ready to stretch their legs." There was a smile on his lips as he gestured to the gathered kids.

Glancing around at the gathered children she could see, by the fidgeting and general restlessness that Alexander was correct. She had gotten caught up in the telling of the history to Alexander and had gone on much longer than she normally would have with the children.

"Alright, lecture's over. Get out of here and go run around you pups."

Almost as one the children bolted for the door at Beth's pronouncement.

Beth came over to Alexander and gave him a gentle hug.

"I know you'll have a thousand questions just come find me and I'll be glad to answer as many as I can."

Once again Alexander was shaken by the easy acceptance he found with everyone he met.

"I'll do that Beth, and thank you again. It helps to know where I came from and fills in some of the blanks as to what the future may hold."

Beth smiled as she corralled Willow and made her way home.

Alexander looked over to find Jenabel talking with her parents as she motioned him over to them.

Carl placed a strong hand on his shoulder.

"Congratulations on your first shift Alexander. You caused quite a stir there for a few minutes. I'm glad everything worked out well."

"It was an interesting experience, of that you can be sure Carl and thank you, I feel one step closer to being wholly...me."

Sophie pulled her husband away from Alexander and Jenabel.

"Why don't you two go stretch your legs, dinner will be ready in about an hour."

Jenabel was more than happy to agree. As she grabbed Alexander's hand and pulled him toward the door.

Sophie and Carl smiled at the happy look the young couple shared as they left the house, both of them more confident than ever that everything would work out for the best. Only days before they had worried what would become of the love that the two so obviously shared, now they were more comfortable and trusting that Alexander would face his first moon change successfully and their daughter would be able to find true happiness.

-vVv-

Half a world away Dmitri was bent over a stack of documents from the late nineteen eighties.

The fact that Alexander had been abandoned was being pressed by the other Elders. Even if they hadn't, Dmitri would be driven to find out just who Alexander Dane's parents were. To abandon a cub was unthinkable. To place one in the care of humans was the worst kind of neglect.

It was imperative that he track down Alexander's lineage. It was a mystery that could not be allowed to go unsolved.

Edited By: Mikothebaby