Skwyr Court

anewpack

With Oshal by his side, Nourd walked into the great hall for the first time. He’d seen the doors, been told what it was, but had never walked inside to see it. It looked to him like every other room. There was still a ceiling blocking the open sky. There were still walls on all sides, stopping him from leaving. He didn’t like it.

“I don’t like it,” he said to Oshal.

“Why not?”

“I cannot see the sky. I like the sky.”

“Don’t worry. It’s only for a little while, then you can go back outside.”

Oshal led him to one of the stretches of wood laid out in the room. Master Gorkle had called them “tables”. He’d also instructed Nourd on how to act while in the great hall. He could sit and talk, but everyone stood at attention when the officers walked in. Unlike most other human customs, this one made sense. Of course the leaders ate first. They were the leaders.

Oshal introduced him to some other humans. He recognized one of them, the male with glass on his face, Kurgm. He sat with his mate, Demndun. None of the other humans had mates, although the other two males were in the process of attempting to gain the attention of the other female.

“Hello,” Kurgm said.

“Hello,” Nourd replied, as he’d been instructed to do.

The other humans talked with Oshal, mostly ignoring Nourd. As Master Gorkle had told him, the officers walked in, and everyone stood up, including Nourd. When King Fohra walked in and took his seat, everyone else did.

Nourd liked the food, although the strange tools humans used to eat still confused him. Why didn’t they use their hands? Master Gorkle had explained that most humans didn’t like being dirty, so they used tools to avoid getting their food all over their hands. As with most explanations, it ended with the phrase “That’s how humans are”.

What confused him more was that some food could be eaten by hand, but there was no way to tell the difference. Master Gorkle provided little help explaining the difference, only saying he’d figure it out.

“Oshal says you’re a druid?” Kurgm asked him.

“I do not know what Oshal says.”

“He grew up in the forest,” Oshal said, smiling. “You should tell them about it. I’m sure they’d be interested.”

“That’s not surprising,” the other female, Cremwa said. “Your manners certainly fit that.”

The other males, Zifor and Muwen, snickered.

“Apprentice Parom wanted me to go to the Temple of the Known Shadow with him before I go back to my assignment,” Cremwa said. “I’m only in the court for two days, and he had the nerve to ask me to spend it staring around at the dark. I have better things to do today!”

“Tomorrow,” Oshal said. “The Appreciation of the Dark. They do that once every month to help people understand that the dark doesn’t have to be bad.” He smiled. “I like going.”

“Seems like a waste of time,” Cremwa said. “Right, Demndun?”

“I’m sure they think it’s important,” Demndun said.

Nourd wasn’t sure about Cremwa. If she was trying to be the pack leader, she wasn’t good at it. A pack leader needed to know the goings on of all those in her pack, like Elder Wolf did. This female didn’t know anything about the others, and certainly didn’t know anything about Nourd. If an outsider had approached the pack, Elder Wolf would’ve inspected them thoroughly before allowing them anywhere near her cubs.

“Why do they appreciate the dark?” Nourd asked.

“The Temple of the Known Shadow believes in helping people with their fears,” Oshal said. “Most people are afraid of what they don’t understand. The Temple of the Known Shadow tries to help by showing them the unknown doesn’t have to be scary.”

“The forest creatures are like that. The deer do not like humans, so they—”

“Like I was saying,” Cremwa said, “I’m not going. I have more important things to do with my time.”

The way Cremwa smelled reminded him of deer. They held themselves higher than the other creatures. They were proud and cautious, but arrogant. Nourd responded to her the way Elder Wolf had taught him to respond to deer: he growled.

Cremwa looked at him in disgust.

“Did he just growl at me?”

“Nourd, we’ve talked about that,” Oshal said. “Don’t growl at people. It’s not polite.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Cremwa said.

“He did say raised in the forest,” Muwen said.

“Come on, that’s enough,” Kurgm said. “He’s a little different, that’s all.”

“No, Oshal’s a little different,” Demndun said. “No offense, Oshal.”

Nourd decided he didn’t like the great hall. He missed eating in the gardens. Or better yet, back in the forest, where everything made sense. Was this another part of being human? Perhaps they’d already created a pack, and there was no room in it for him.

What about Oshal? Was this his pack? No, this wasn’t the only pack he’d been in. What about the one with his sister? Nourd glanced over at her and the squirrel girl, Aonva. They were sitting together with another female. He had been okay with them. He didn’t care to be around Roshil for long, but he could probably stand her. Besides, he liked Aonva; she answered all of his questions.

Before he could ask Oshal about it, Master Gorkle came by.

“Apprentice Nourd, I think it’s time to go.”

Nourd had finished his food while the others had talked. Besides, he was no longer hungry. He hadn’t seen any chocolate, so he didn’t care to stay any longer.

“I did not like the great hall,” he said on his way out. “I would rather eat in the gardens.”

“I understand, but you have to learn to be among humans. Apprentices eat in the great hall.”

“Why?”

“That’s the way it’s done.”

Nourd knew that part of the conversation was over. Worse than “That’s how humans are”, that was the answer Master Gorkle gave when zie no longer wanted to explain something.

“When can I see Oshal again?”

“Tomorrow. For now, I think it’s best that you have some time to yourself.”

He thought of Oshal and his pack of friends. He didn’t like them. But he wanted to be with Oshal. Was there no room for him there?

#VolumeThree #ANewPack

The next morning, Nourd was in the gardens. The sun was shining on a bright day, and the birds sang overhead. Nourd threw back his head and called to them. He bid them good morning, and they answered back “Good morning”. He grinned at them, happy to talk to creatures that understood him.

“Explain to me the Balance of Nature,” Master Gorkle said in the tongue of the forest. Zie sat in the grass nearby, keeping an eye on Nourd.

“Don’t you know? How can you commune with nature and not understand the Balance?”

“I know of it. I want to know what you know.”

Nourd was having a pretty good day. After a year in the court, most of what he’d learned about was human things. Master Gorkle had greeted him with news that they’d go over what Nourd could do.

“We can commune with nature. We wield her power. Like the flowers, we draw energy from the sun, but we must leave enough for others. We leap through the trees, but must not harm them. The wind answers our call, but rain in one land is a drought in another. Helping a flower to grow takes nutrients from the others. We must never use more than what we need.”

It’d been a long time since Nourd had been able to have a conversation in the tongue of the forest. He missed it. It was so much easier than stumbling through human speech. The Power of Nature allowed him to understand and communicate with all living things, but it was still harder dealing with humans who could so rarely understand him.

“Why don’t humans obey the Balance? They cut down trees without replacing them, slaughter the creatures of the forest, my friends. If Mother were not there—”

“That’s our job. We enforce the balance outside the forest. We all must live in peace with one another, and with the forest. The druids keep that peace, and in return, Mother protects us. The forest is the first line of defense against invasion. That’s how the court started.”

Nourd recalled learning something about the how the court began. People had run away, and Mother had protected them. That was all he remembered.

“Mother protected people who ran away.”

Master Gorkle nodded.

“About 200 years ago, the entire continent was ruled by warlords. There were good people, as there always are, but they were few and far between. The person with the largest army prevailed, able to force people to do their will. One of the good ones was overrun, and a handful of survivors fled into a forest, previously uncharted. One of them was able to communicate with the forest, having slept many nights under the stars, among nature, slowly absorbing her power. She spoke with Mother, begging her for protection against the human world.”

“Why would Mother allow that?”

“You know Mother. She’s kind. It was her forest, even in those days. She made a deal with the humans. In exchange for protection against the outside world, the humans would help care for the forest. They cleared out a place to live, replacing all the trees they removed. In time, they built a city, one where everyone could find a place to be themselves and belong. Among those first settlers were people of all backgrounds. They were from all over the world, not just the northern continent, as it was known back then.”

Nourd remained silent as Master Gorkle finished hir story. One phrase stuck in Nourd’s mind: “Everyone could find a place to be themselves and belong”. He liked the idea of that, but he was different too. He was too different. He didn’t belong with Oshal’s friends. What about Oshal? Could he belong with him? If he couldn’t belong with Oshal’s pack, he couldn’t belong with Oshal.

“It isn’t like that,” Nourd said. “Not everyone can belong.”

“I was born male. But it didn’t feel right when people would treat me like one, look at me like one. Do you remember the way you felt when you first saw Apprentice Roshil?”

Nourd nodded. His skin had crawled at the sight of her. She was wrong, unnatural. Nourd understood why the forest hated her, why the elders wanted her dead. But he had seen the way Oshal was around her, and Nourd knew that Oshal would be upset if anything happened to her. So he had learned to live with it, for the sake of Oshal.

“That’s what it felt like when people would refer to me as a male. I thought I was like His Majesty at first. He was born female, but Mother sensed his conflict, as she sensed mine. It was Mother that changed him. I learned in time that I didn’t feel comfortable as either male or female. It was hard for me at first, as it was for His Majesty, but we’re closer because of it. The court accepted us, as it accepted you.”

Nourd thought of the way the other apprentices had shut him out, ignoring him, mocking and jeering.

“But it didn’t. The other apprentices—”

“Don’t mind them. After a while, even people who are different can settle in. The court accepts that His Majesty was born female, and, with the occasional slip up, everyone calls me Grand Master Gorkle instead of Lord Gorkle. Apprentices are all still growing, and it will take time. You’ll always have Apprentice Oshal, right?”

“But I don’t belong with his friends.”

“I can tell you’re important to him. If you talk to him about it, it’ll work out. That’s what the court teaches: discussion, then action. If you’re willing to listen, people are willing to talk. Give it some time, that’s all.”

Nourd hoped that was all he had to do. He wanted everything to be resolved sooner, or not have the problems at all. Why couldn’t it just be he and Oshal, like it had been before? Why did Oshal have to have other friends?

#VolumeThree #ANewPack

That night, Nourd stayed in the gardens for dinner. Master Gorkle told him that it was better to ease into eating with the other humans, to give Nourd time to adjust. Nourd didn’t mind; he didn’t like eating in the great hall.

Oshal came to the gardens after dinner, accompanied as always by Lady Durwey.

“How was your day?” Oshal asked, sitting on the grass next to Nourd.

“Master Gorkle is letting me use my abilities again. It has been months since I could use them without being yelled at.”

“That’s good.”

“How was your day?” Nourd asked. Repeating that question after being asked it was one of the easier parts of “manners”.

“Good. I’m learning more about the role the weavers play in the court, and still working on sensing how all the threads fit together. It’s nice.”

Nourd nodded, which he was also supposed to do as per “manners”.

“I wanted to talk about last night,” Oshal said. “My friends were… shocked. I think you might need to back off a little. If you give them time, they’ll get used to you.”

“I do not understand.”

“Well… um… you bothered them. It’s not your fault, they just aren’t used to you yet.”

“I do not like sitting with your friends,” Nourd said. “Why can you not sit alone with me?”

“Because I have other friends,” Oshal said. “I like making friends. I like meeting new people.”

“I do not need other friends. I only want to be with you.”

Nourd smelled anger coming from Oshal. What reason did he have to be angry? He wasn’t the one people singled out. People accepted Oshal. Why would he be angry? Was he angry at them for how they’d treated Nourd?

“Maybe you should have other friends,” Oshal said. “Then this wouldn’t bother you.”

“I do not want other friends.”

“But I do! I can’t always spend time with you! If you give them time, they’ll get used to you.”

“They fight me! They will not allow me in their pack!”

“They’re aren’t fighting you!” Oshal paused for a moment. His anger was still rising and falling. Was he mad at Nourd? “You’re new. They’re always like that with new people. They did that to Kurgm too, but they ease up after a while. You just have to give them time. And you cannot growl at them again.”

“I did not like the way they talked about me.”

“I’m sorry they upset you. I promise, they’ll stop doing that. But… You can’t spend all your time with me. Sometimes, I want to do other things.”

What other things did Oshal want to do? Why did he want to spend time away from Nourd? Was it about Oshal’s friends? Had they done this to him?

“What other things?”

“Things with my other friends! Things you wouldn’t enjoy! It’s not a big deal. We do things separately all the time!”

“Do you not want to spend time together?”

“Of course, I do! But I have other friends!”

“Elder Wolf would not let someone in her pack treat me the way they did! I would not let someone treat you that way!”

“We’re not wolves! This isn’t the forest!”

“That’s enough for tonight,” Master Gorkle said, stepping between them. “We’re all tired, so let’s all take a step back, and come back with cooler heads.”

Nourd opened his mouth to ask what any of that meant, but Master Gorkle barked at him for silence.

“Agreed,” Lady Durwey said. “Apprentice Oshal, say good night.”

The anger around Oshal faded away.

“Good night, Nourd.”

“Good night, Oshal.”

Nourd bowed to Lady Durwey, then she left the gardens with Oshal.

“I understand that you’re upset about the way Apprentice Oshal’s friends treated you.”

“Elder Wolf—”

“I know how she would’ve handled it. But Apprentice Oshal was right. This isn’t the forest. It’s a different culture. You cannot growl, you cannot fight.”

Master Gorkle kept hir voice low and menacing. Nourd rarely heard zie talk that way.

“Do you understand?”

Nourd nodded, too nervous to speak.

“Good. I agree with you that friends should stick together. But if Apprentice Oshal is happy with his friends, and they’re happy with him, it’s asking a lot of him to give them up for you. I know they’re mean to you, and they shouldn’t be. But they’re still his friends, and it’s hard to speak against friends.”

“It shouldn’t be hard! They’re mean to me!”

“What if Elder Wolf spoke ill of Apprentice Oshal? Or he spoke ill of the forest?”

“Oshal would not do that!”

Master Gorkle sighed. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to explain something to you that isn’t found in the forest. It’s called empathy. You imagine yourself in someone else’s position. It helps you understand what they’re going through.”

Nourd frowned. “What good is it?”

“In the forest where survival of the clan is the most important thing, none. But humans need it to survive. It allows us to work together and help one another.”

Nourd obeyed, closing his eyes.

“Imagine you’re a rabbit. Running through the woods, trying to escape a wolf.”

“What does this have to do with Oshal?”

“I’m getting to that. First, you need to separate yourself from reality. Imagine you’re someone else.”

Nourd did as he was told. He imagined running through the woods. He tried to imagine being a rabbit, but he only imagined himself, running from a human. Trying to catch the predator’s scent on the wind, desperately seeking shelter.

“How do you feel?”

“Afraid.”

“Good. Now, imagine you brought Oshal to the forest. Imagine Elder Wolf didn’t trust him. He’s human, and she doesn’t like him. How do you feel? Are you willing to speak against her?”

Nourd imagined it. He saw Elder Wolf, pacing around Oshal, smelling him. Growling at him. Nourd wanted to tell her to stop, but would she? Would she be mad at him for speaking against her? For bringing Oshal into the forest?

“I do not want to speak out against her. She raised me.” Nourd opened his eyes. “She is my family.”

Master Gorkle smiled.

“We’ll practice that more. It’s important that you learn. Do you understand how Apprentice Oshal feels?”

Nourd nodded.

“Good. I know he wants to spend time with you, but he wants to do other things too. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you.”

Nourd sat in silence. He didn’t like the way Oshal’s friends had treated him, but he understood why Oshal hadn’t said anything. He hoped there would be a way to see Oshal when Nourd was forced to eat in the great hall again.

“Do I have to eat in the great hall?”

“It’s part of being an apprentice. I’m sure we’ll figure out something for you. Eating alone isn’t easy.”

Nourd agreed with that. He didn’t want to eat alone. But if Oshal spent time with his friends, then Nourd had no choice. Maybe Oshal was right. Maybe they would stop being mean if he spent time with them. Either way, he had to talk to Oshal again. To tell him that he understood.

“Get some rest.” Master Gorkle stood up. “You’ve had a long day, but you’re making progress.”

Nourd found a spot among the other druids and laid down to sleep.

#VolumeThree #ANewPack

Nourd spent the next day with Master Gorkle. They talked about the Balance, and how to work with the elements. Near dinner time, Lady Durwey and Oshal came to the gardens.

“I want to apologize for yesterday,” Oshal said. “I thought them being mean to you would pass, but they talked about you today. They were worse, and I think they’ll keep getting worse, like they do with Roshil. I get upset when friends are mean to my sister too, and I realized how much they do that. I want my friends to get along. Kurgm and Roshil were mad at each other, but they talked it out. I don’t think the others want to talk it out.”

Nourd was more excited than he’d ever been. He wanted to run around and play, but Master Gorkle eyed him in a way that suggested it wasn’t a good time.

In a voice only they could hear, Master Gorkle said, “Remember what we talked about yesterday.”

“I am happy that you spoke to your friends. I do not think I could if Elder Wolf didn’t like you.”

“And?” Master Gorkle said, still keeping hir voice down.

“And I am sorry for asking you to hurt your friends.”

Oshal smiled. “Apology accepted.”

“I’m glad that’s cleared up,” Lady Durwey said. “It’s time for dinner. Are you two ready to go?”

Nourd looked at Oshal and smiled. He was ready to go with his best friend.

“I’m ready,” Oshal said. “I think I know where we can sit.”

The four of them walked together until they got to the castle, where Master Gorkle and Lady Durwey left them. Nourd helped Oshal to the great hall.

“All the way to the end,” Oshal said.

They walked to the end of the great hall, where they found Aonva and Roshil talking alone.

“Roshil, Aonva,” Oshal said. “You remember Nourd.”

“Of course,” Roshil said cheerfully. “I remember everyone that growls at me.”

Aonva frowned at her, but smiled at Nourd. She still smelled of fear, reminding Nourd once again of a squirrel running from a hawk.

“You two may join us,” Aonva said.

“Thank you,” Oshal said. He took a seat next to Roshil. Nourd sat across from him.

Just as they took their seats, Kurgm sat down next to Oshal.

“Oshal, Nourd, I want to apologize for my friends. The way they treated you, Nourd, was… um…”

“Unkind,” Oshal said. “Would you like to sit with us, Kurgm?”

Kurgm glanced at his other friends. Nourd followed his gaze. Demndun glared at them, as the others whispered to each other, casting the occasional glance at them.

“Sure,” he said. In a quieter voice, he added, “Anything to get away from Cremwa.”

Everyone rose as the officers walked in. Another girl with curly hair, who smelled faintly of anger, ran in and stood next to Nourd. The six of them sat down as the king arrived.

“You’re late,” Kurgm said to the girl.

“Says you,” she said as she grabbed food. She paused and stared at Nourd. “Who’re you?”

“I am Apprentice Nourd.”

She stared at him.

“I am Apprentice Sirshi.”

“He’s an apprentice druid,” Oshal said. “He grew up in the forest.”

Nourd tore into a piece of food. Across the table, Roshil was doing the same.

“Well,” Kurgm said, “his tables manners match Roshil’s.”

“I do not like these,” Nourd said, indicating his fork and knife. “They get in the way.”

“I know, right?” Roshil said. “We have hands!”

“But then you get ‘Sirshi, it’s not polite to eat with your hands. Sirshi, stop throwing food at your sister.’”

Aonva giggled. Roshil openly laughed.

“I can see you throwing food at Master Ekla,” Kurgm said. “I could still see you doing that.”

“Are you crazy? I’d never hear the end of it!”

“Could we please not discuss throwing food?” Aonva said.

Roshil perked up and glared at Sirshi and Kurgm.

They ate in silence for some time before Oshal spoke up.

“Aonva, when did people start eating with utensils?”

“They date back centuries. Certainly well before the court. They’ve found evidence of forks and knives buried beneath the soil.”

“Wait, people buried them?” Sirshi asked. “What, where they going to grow a knife tree?”

“I do not think that would work.”

“No, everything gets buried over time. The wind moves soil, and it’s trampled underfoot, or rock slides happen. You can estimate how old something is based on how far below the surface it was buried. It’s not perfectly accurate, but it gives them an idea of how old it is.”

“The soil would know that,” Nourd said. “Why do they not ask?”

“Druids aren’t always available. Sometimes, excavators need to find out on their own.”

“That’s our Aonva,” Roshil said, grinning at her. For a moment, Nourd thought he smelled an animal seeking a mate, but with all the smells around him, it was impossible to tell. “She has an answer for everything.”

Nourd liked having someone who could answer his questions. He tried to think of more, but they escaped him at that moment. Instead, he enjoyed the feeling of having friends. Oshal had been right; he had been able to make friends.

“Nourd,” Oshal said, “Sirshi’s an apprentice priest at the Temple of the Rising Sun.”

“Which one is that?” Nourd asked.

“Temple of Olmgra,” Sirshi said. “We spread hope. Bright and early every morning.”

“I like the Temple of Words. Does yours have poetry?”

“No, but unlike their priests, people can understand us when we talk. And we don’t make up new words just to sound smarter.”

“I don’t think they make up words,” Aonva said. “The more you read, the more you learn. They read a lot, and learn new words. It helps to have a dictionary on hand all the time, so you can look up words you don’t know.”

“Which I’m sure Aonva does,” Kurgm said.

“Of course I do. Do you not?”

“You are the only one here who does,” Sirshi said.

“And that makes you special!” Roshil said.

Nourd couldn’t help but smile. This was his new pack. They accepted him simply because he was Oshal’s friend. No one was mean. Everyone was happy. Even him.

#VolumeThree #ANewPack