At the Moot

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara watched Anna put her head in the noose, giving nothing in his posture to support her in her decision. She needed to be strong and to survive without his assistance. Vasara froze his heart. If she died today, then she died. It really wasn't up to him anymore.

He watched the Ash and found it's sound pleasing, it reminded him of his own homeland. As the branch lowered, Vasara threw the rope over it, cathing it again as it fell with his both hands. He didn't give Anna a quarter here. He just looked at Danny and Kasiya to see if they were ready.

Then he pulled with all his strength.

[Anna]

Anna gasped as the rope suddenly constricted around her neck and she was lifted off the ground. She kicked her feet as Vasara pulled her higher. She could still see the three of them below, watching calmly as she choked to death. They didn't like it. Either she died, or she was reborn a Child of Fenris. Either way, they would lose. Their angry screams and roars filled her head, breaking the quiet serenity of the Umbral park.

Anna turned blue as she struggled for breath, flailing her legs wildly as her fingers tugged at the rope around her neck. Slowly, the world darkened as she started to lose consciousness.
Soon enough, she stopped kicking and just hung limply from the Ash tree.

[Kasiya]

Kasiya takes his breed form as Anna is lifted from the ground.
As she instinctively kicks and chokes he has more than enough time to emit an unearthly howl. Once again in the language of the Spirits it is closer to Garou tongue, intended for the spirits of Fenris' brood it is blood on snow, the dead enemy hitting the floor, a lined and worn face in the teeth of a storm.

"Fenris' Brood, it is time. Ancestors of the Fenrir, it is time. Bear witness!"

These spirits he calls know well what passes today. They had held council, living Garou and Ancestors, with a great Fenris Wolf in attendance. Kasiya knows that they will come, for they have their own part to play. They have watched unseen and now they will make their judgement on the Cub.

Kasiya waits. He knows they will not take long for they are already here.

There is little anough time and much to be done. I need you now.

As Anna hangs, the Glade child does a curious thing, walking down the trunk of the tree as if it were level ground and not the vertical trunk that it is. Closer now it can be seen that tree and spirit are as one, it's feet meld with the bark as it moves, it simply flows through some smaller branches. Coming to a level with Anna's head it reaches out, brushing it's fingers over her face and keeping the light contact. It looks down at Vasara and then it's vivid eyes flick to the base of the tree and a knot grows out there and then. Vasara has other duties and the Glade Child may bear this burden.

[Danny]

Danny stepped back as Vasara pulled, allowing more room as Anna kicked in panic.

And Kasiya howled...

The air grew cold. So cold that the three of them could see their breath. Vasara's hands grew numb around the rope, and Kasiya's fur stood on end. They shivered.

And for a while they waited in the chilly darkness as the cub's corpse swung silently from the great tree.

Finally, three white swans broke the silence, circling overhead before they landed near the tree and shifted. There they became three women. They were young and beautiful with long golden hair, and they were clad in battle gear. They held swords and their shields bore the fierce and wild face of Fenris. Vasara recognised immediately who they were, and it was to him that they spoke.

"Who calls from the Glade?" said the one on the right. Her voice was as cold as the the night had suddenly become, as were her eyes.

[Tony Vasara]

"I, Judgement-From-Skies, Son of Great Fenris, call you, Battle-Maidens!" Vasara howled in his battered and scarred crinos-form "We are here tonight to prove this garou either worthy or unworthy to become a daughter of Fenris!" he roared to Maidens pointing Anna hanging from the tree "She is Crescent-Moon with dark past, and we demand a chance to wage war against her ancestors, and to see if she is strong enough to survive the icy breath of Fenris that can cleanse her!". No spirit associated to Fenris would listen to anyone asking nicely or looking like a weakling, so Vasara kept his head high and voice unfaltering.

"We call you to aid us in this battle, fair Maidens! We call you to become the vessel of Fenris' Will to judge that is she worthy, or is her destiny to die here! For your aid in this, I will dedicate my next battle against the Wyrm to your Honor, Icy Maidens of War!"

[Kasiya]

Kasiya can do little now but leave Anna's fate in her Alpha's hands. The spirits of the Fenrir would never acknowlege him, small and wise as he is, so he sits at Anna's feet and watches.

Life resides in Anna still. It is small and frail but the spark is not gone. The energies of the Glade child sustain her a whisper away from the shroud and they are aided by the passive presence of her Totem. Bear's gift of allowing his children to sleep away the seasons is with her, freeing her mind while reducing her body's needs. She would last long enough.

Kasiya resists the urge to feel smug about that.

The tallest and most fierce of the Maidens strides up to Vasara and plunges her sword into the ground at his feet. Regardless of his massive Crinos form she reaches up and pulls his head down to her with a finger hooked around one of his incisors. Looking into his eye she speaks in a low voice that carries:

"Judgment-From-the-Skies. You who forgot your duties and took them up again, who lost an eye to foolishness instead of a foe. Every battle where you hold your head high and scream Glory to Fenris is ours!"

She releases his head and backhands him across the muzzle. It feels like she hit him with a lump hammer, although her hands are empty and unclad.

"This is not about you or what you offer us or your slinking Cur of a Theurge."

The three now speak together and it is as if thus they can channel Fenris himself for their words carry more than sound, they bear meaning. They echo with the wind of the north and the howl of lean and ferocious predators.

"What makes this Cub worthy of Fenris?"

[Danny]

Danny remained quiet too, watching Anna for signs of life, knowing the Glade Child wouldn't let her die. At least not yet.
The Theurge had planned this from the start.
He held his breath, leaving it now to the proud son of Fenris to make her case.

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara howled as he lifted his head high again after the strike, sparks flying in his vision "She came here to become Chosen of Fenris and FIGHT the Wyrm from her own free will, or Die trying; never to become one with Wyrm!"

"She is strong, she has will to fight and she do not fear Death! How could she fail? She is haunted by her Ancestors that tries to hurl her to the Dark, yet she came here! When the Tainted ones have been struck down and driven away by Might of Fenris, she is a white-hot Iron that can be forged into Steel through Discipline and Strength, to become another sword to be wielded against the Serpent!"

[Kasiya]

The swan maiden responds in kind to Vasara's impassioned outburst. As all Fenrir she respects righteous passion and fury but would never cow or accede to it. That would dishonour them all. She is bound by her very nature to rise to it. Her bosom heaves and her haughty demeanor makes it seem that she looks down upon the nine foot tall Crinos Garou. Her very tone of voice is challenge and authority.

"Then show us. We will not take a Viper to our bosom. She must be made pure or detroyed. Your Theurge..."

and the contempt in her voice is undisguised

"...claims that his tribesman will join us all to witness her cast out her tainted ancestors. So be it. Join your minds and earn her place among us."

She steps forward again, caressing Vasara's muzzle where before she had struck it.

"You will be our channel to her dream."

The three maidens shimmer like reflections in the water and disappear, yet Vasara can still feel them, indeed, he can still feel her touch on his face.

Kasiya looks up at Danny, it was evident that the long dead Fenrir would be content to judge Anna by her actions. He had never doubted that they would consider the casting out of her Howler Ancestors a suitable feat for a Cub. They now had to achieve it. At least no-one would ever be able to say that Anna had had a token Rite of Passage.

"Now."

[Danny]

Danny watched the exchange solemnly. The words of the swanmaidens sent a shiver down his spine. Surely, they were asking too much from a cub. He had heard of those who had gone on quests for days and nights to banish their demons, half of which had never returned. Now, they were expecting her to do it in one night.

But there was no turning back. Like Vasara, he had to freeze his heart and let Fenris' own decide whether or not she was worthy of them. She had accepted this path, knowing what it might mean.

He closed his eyes momentarily, whispering a prayer to his Totem, asking for strength. He would need it to bring them all into the dream, and maintain it.

"It is time," he said loudly. "Wake up, cub."

And he pulled the three of them into her dream.
Their world shifted. The brightness of the Umbra faded and they were standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the sea. Anna was no longer hanging from the tree, but standing on a grassy knoll a feet away.

It was still cold, but a different kind of cold. This was a wet salty cold that you didn't feel inland. Danny looked up at Vasara and Kasiya, and a part of him hoped that unlike him, they knew what they were doing.
Then he looked at Anna as she slowly realised they were there.

"Anna, where are we?" he asked.

[Anna]

"I don't know," Anna said. "Is this a dream? How are you here?"

She looked at the three of them suspiciously. There was something very strange about this dream.

Maybe I'm not really dreaming. Maybe I really did die.

For some reason, the thought didn't freak her out as much as she would have thought. She slowly walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

"I think I have been here before," she said. "Maybe in a memory, or a dream?"

[Kasiya]

Kasiya has arrived in human form, because he wants to. He needs it to talk to Anna in terms she will understand. Born human, her comprehension is hampered by thought.

"We are here because this is your trial.
The Ancestors of the Fenrir have come to witness.
I told you that strength of will could protect you from your tainted ancestors.
You will need that now."

But there is no sign as yet of the Swan Maidens. Only Vasara feels their presence.

[Tony Vasara]

Vasara felt utterly lost and confused. These spirit-things gave him the creeps and he was a bit surprised that he had managed to affect Maidens in any way with his words. He really needed to make Umbra more like his home instead of necessary evil, with few wrong words he could have doomed them all. He stood high up in his crinos-form watching silently at the sea. He was thinking on Maidens words.

We will not take a Viper to our bosom. She must be made pure or destroyed.

Vasara instinctively hunched low and honed his claws against the rocky ground. "Anna. Prepare. We are here to witness and help, but this is YOUR Trial."

Your Theurge claims that his tribesman will join us all to witness her cast out her tainted ancestors.

"Anna, remember this; whatever happens, Fenris helps only those who helps themselves. The weak have no place in his Hall." he stared Anna with his lone icy-blue eye. This wet cold gave him horrible headache, why did he always have to hurt his head? He laughed with a dry tone. "This was a good day, wasn't it Anna?"

Join your minds and earn her place among us

We will.

[Shehrazad]

Not all was well in the dreamscape. Anna's barely-living mind was not in total control, so the world takes the form not only of the stuff of dreams... but the darker product of her nightmares as well.
The world shifted, the dream changing, and he stood there behind her again. Her fear made him impossibly large and powerful and the bald black man stood almost nine feet tall with muscles bulging out from his torso and limbs. Oddly, the ash tree seemed to exist there now close behind the giant man.
Anna turned back from the cliff as she felt his warmth at her back and found her vision blocked out by his bare flesh. He took her in his hands, touching her with a suprising fragility. Like his form, his voice was warped and twisted by her memories and he spoke in a soft and almost childlike tone.

"Why did you leave me, sweet girl. We could of been so good together."

The others could only watch helplessly as the nightmare unfolded, the image was already conjured in Anna's mind and they are not a part of it. He held her in one arm and ran a hand across her belly softly as he turned her around to face her so-called friends.

"They took you away to kill you, they don't want you really. They just didn't want us to be together."

A finger grew into a claw and he cut open her belly then hooked out a curl of her intestine which is slit open. He gripped her intestine in one hand and tied it into a noose, which he then slung over the branch of the tree. She tried to struggle, despite the terror and agony, but she knew he was too strong for her or anyone to overpower.
The others can only push against the power of her nightmares, their movements sticky and slow as this monster puts the noose around her neck. He briefly brushed a hand over one of her cheeks and smiled down at her before he pulled on her intestines and hoisted her up into the air in a sick parody of their sacred ritual. He held it there so that her bowels didn't all unravel and so she was supported a few feet above ground.

"I'm not doing this, it's them, they want you to die. You're dying now because of them. You were my princess..."

But the image in her mind was complete, though it didn't seem like she could do anything while hanging in the air being choked by her own flesh. The others though... with Anna's nightmare formed fully by her subconscious they could try to interfere.

[Anna]

Anna turned around and immediately let out a terrified scream. She would have stepped back and fallen off the cliff if he hadn't reached down and picked her up at that moment.
"No," she managed to rasp as he hoisted her up by the neck, hanging her by her entrails.

"Help me!"
But they weren't there anymore. Or at least Anna couldn't see them. All she could see was the big black hairless monster, turning the dream into another horrifying nightmare. She tried to scream but now her voice was starting to fail her and all she could do was kick at him as she swung from the branch.