A Calling of the Tribe. Less than two hands of days after the one that sent Inali and the scouting party to learn of the strange meteorite the Elders summoned the tribe again. The bald kit was dying and not even the Elder Priestess could cure its malady. Too young to eat solid foods of any form, Sauk milk held most of what it needed to survive, but at the same time something in that milk couldn’t be digested and forced its body to reject all traces of the foreign food.
Life is precious. I have told you that the malformed Sauk kits are killed and left for the scavengers; but not why. For now let it be said that because of that ancient war, to let a malformed kit live and perhaps reproduce was to accelerate the demise of the species as a whole. But in this kit’s case, it appeared to be whole when compared to its birth mother, now given to the scavengers after its clothing and other articles were salvaged. The kit looked little more different from its mother than a Sauk kit differs from an adult Sauk. If at all possible, the tribe needed to save this one’s life in the hopes that she could help propagate the People. Only one way was known, and that by the Elder Priestess herself. They must attempt a Changing.
It is said that once long, long ago, before the war that destroyed us and even before the peace that brought the Sauk and Pardu together in distant legend, a Sauk vixen and a Pardu male met and became more than friends. At that time the Sauk had speech such as the Pardu use and the Pardu were open-minded and accepting, though belligerent and warlike even then. Always they fought between clans for land and rank. They worshipped the Sun as we worship the Moon; or rather, the God of the Sun as we the Goddess. These two younglings developed a liking for each other to the point of declaring themselves Lifemates, he wearing a primary feather from her wing by his ear and she wearing a meticulously-crafted feather of shimmering metal by hers.
His clan was incensed by his decision and refused to acknowledge the bonding. But the seed had been sown and gradually the two species began to co-mingle, though never again to that extent. Her tribe, though not the same as modern tribes, accepted his earnestness and felt from his own mind that he truly wished to be the young vixen’s Lifemate. Still, his appearance upset many of the Elders of the time and frightened any visitors from other tribes. The Priests and Priestesses of the community, much larger then than now, determined there was only one way to satisfy both sides; the male must become a tod of the Sauk, letting the two truly join and removing the fears of both peoples. With that in mind, they asked him the Question.
Without hesitation he agreed. They sought to test him with the finality of what he would do; complete and utter separation from his own People and the risk that even the attempt could kill him. But he accepted this and emphasized that she was the most important thing in his life and that would be happier for trying than to always be a reminder of their differences. The Changing was done and from that time forward the two lived happily together. Because of their union, the Sauk and the Pardu developed a friendship that lasted for millennia.
But the Pardu, ever warlike, were never satisfied. The Pardu developed technologies that gave them similar capabilities as the Sauk, though it didn’t stop there. They could fly and speak across distances even farther and faster than the Sauk. When a new technology was developed that gave them the power of the Sun, some few believed they had attained godhood and that they were destined to own the world alone. As the Sun was stronger than the Moon in light and heat, so they believed that their power was greater than the Sauk in range and power. But they forgot that in light came darkness as the Moon eclipsed the Sun at least once each season, so does the Moon bring light to darkness in the depths of night.
The Sauk learned of the pending attempt to destroy them utterly and used their own abilities to re-aim their weapons. Regretfully they learned too late to completely stop the attack, but they were able to divert a large percentage so that they returned to their starting points and destroyed those who launched them. From that time on, the Pardu have claimed that the Sauk attempted to do to them what their own leaders sought for us.
But now this tribe had a chance to save a new life; one neither Sauk nor Pardu. Maybe this one could bear new young stronger and healthier than the tribes now bore. They sought a Changing for the new kit. As had been done for the young Pardu male so long ago, they sought now to save this infant’s life and give it a new form; one that could survive on its adopted mother’s milk and truly live as one of them.
I couldn’t believe what I was learning. No way could I have come from such an ugly being. Yet when I looked over to Inali with that question, she nodded and sent an affirmative. Suddenly I understood why she had cared for me so intently and so personally while all my sisters were daughters of the entire tribe. Now I understood why I was so different both in appearance and in ability. While I looked Sauk and had lived as a Sauk almost all my life, underneath I was something else entirely.
That night the entire tribe joined in giving energy to the Priestess as she attempted the Changing. She drew from the strongest bits of that which made them Sauk and the rest to feed into the molding. The whole took more than half the night, the moon itself beginning to set when the kit was revealed whole in body and fully Sauk, though much too thin. But as they watched, the kit stopped breathing.
The Eldest Priestess had no time to rebuild the energy web used to effect the Changing. Already exhausted from the night’s efforts, she snapped out her wings and formed the Sphere of the Web around herself and focussed a beam of that energy onto the tiny form before her. Longer and brighter that energy flowed before starting to flicker and fade at the edges. Just before the beam would have broken entirely it solidified, taking on the intensity of the Moon itself before the ‘Voice’ spoke.
“Upon this one the Future of Sau’du itself will stand. By the actions of this one, the Sauk shall live. By her actions, the Sauk shall die. There is no escape. She must live to save the People, or the People shall surely die. The Future is now in your hands.” With that the light died and the Eldest Priestess collapsed, having given her last energy to save the kit. The image of Inali took up the tiny kit into her arms whereupon the kit suckled happily, taking true nourishment from her new mother for the first time.
