The evening is cool and calm, the sun setting and light beginning to fade from the sky when that calmness is broken by a howl. ~Pleasant evening! Lets-Them-Eat-Cake, Cliath Galliard of the Bone Gnawers, requests permission to come speak with The Strong Wind that Grapples with Fire Breaks the Horned Serpent's Spiral.~

The answering howl comes almost immediately, and though terse, it isn't hostile. ~Wait where you are.~

Not long after, a scarred white wolf can be seen through the trees, as the Wendigo comes to the edge of tribal territory to meet with the Bone Gnawer. She shifts smoothly as she walks toward, him, rising up onto two legs between steps. "Waqaa," she says when she's near enough not to have to raise her voice. "What is it you seek?"

Lets-Them-Eat-Cake does, as instructed, wait where he is, a small wolf sitting just beyond where he had been advised to make his howl. When Jacinta moves to two legs as she approaches, he does the same, giving her a bright grin of greeting. "Thanks for seein' me," he says, first, and gets right to the point: "So, I challenged for Fostern, an' part of my task is to speak with each of the Sept and Tribal elders an' gather any news they might want spread to the rest of the Nation, outside our borders. Anythin' you'd like to have me share for you?"

Jacinta regards Felix with a tip of her head and a narrowed eye. Her arms fold over her chest and she lifts her chin. "Ii-i," she says after a moment more, but doesn't bother to explain or expand.

Felix considers this a moment. "I ain't real good at languages," he says apologetically, and a little more cheerfully, "Hell, pretty sure if you ask somea my old teachers, that includes English, an' I been learnin' that since I was one. But if that's a yes, an' you'd like to tell me, I'm listenin'."

The Wendigo still doesn't say more for several seconds. When she does, it's with a cool, calm voice. "Once, another challenged me for rank, and when I sent him to each of the other elders to complete his task, one replied, simply, no. His challenge was ended, because another not even of the rank he sought chose not to allow it. What do you say to this?"

The moon's small enough that Felix is able to stay fairly still while he waits, but even so there's a hint of movement being suppressed. At her question, he tilts his head. "Well, I reckon that's--" He breaks off, considering again. "Well. I reckon it depends partly what the point of the challenge was. If he was s'posta prove he could get folks to cooperate with him, or be dogged enough to find a way even if he got told no, then failin' that way's reasonable. Otherwise, seems against the spirit of the thing. 'Specially if the person sayin' no weren't an even higher rank than you at the time, though you didn't say, so they mighta been."

"I said they were not of the rank he sought," Jacinta repeats. "Therefore, they could not have been of a rank equal to mine." She lets her hands fall to her sides, fingers clenching into fists and then releasing again. "Tell me, what is the purpose of your challenge, then? Is it to prove yourself to the elders? To prove that you can attain our cooperation?"

"No, but I was thinkin' if it was a long time ago an' he was, say, a Fostern challengin' you for Adren, the elder sayin' no couldn't've been Adren, but coulda been Athro," Felix says, "...hypotheoretically. An' that'd be a little different'n if it was a Cliath who happened to be the elder sayin' no. But now I think I misunderstood an' you meant not even that rank as not even havin' reached it, not just that they didn't happen to be that particular rank at the time. In which case, unless somethin' like I was suggestin' was the point, kinda seems like them sayin' they know better'n the person agreein' to give the challenge." He shifts his weight back on his heels, briefly, then settles it evenly again. "My challenge -- well, ain't been spelled out, but I reckon the point's more or less to prove I'm a decent Galliard. That I can search out information -- I gotta find what Sept Uncle Bob's at, an' that'll be where I gotta go -- an' that I can reliably pass the information I've got from one person an' place to another. No leavin' out important facts. No bein' a bad guest."

Jacinta listens, a slight bob of her brows offered when the Bone Gnawer seems to finally understand her initial statement. "Then tell me," she says when he's done. "What does it take to be a 'decent galliard', and how have you proven to the others that you are? Why should I entrust you with this information?"

Felix grins again, hands sliding into his pockets. "Well, we gather an' keep an' spread info, the news of what's goin' on an' the stories of what went on in the past. Share it 'round the folks locally, sometimes take it out farther into the world. We entertain an' inspire an' inform, all that kinda good shit. Now, I reckon I've proven to the others I am mostly by keepin' up on what's goin' on, askin' questions an' gettin' answers, an' passin' that news on to who else doesn't know yet, so we're on as much the same page as I can get us. I talk to anyone who'll talk to me, an' most people'll talk to me, so far. An' I get it right. I got a good memory, at least for shit I hear. Now, as it happens, I'm also a hell of a good performer, but I ain't got a lot of chance to use that these days. Think I proved it pretty decent when I got to use it against them Spirals in town, though. Far as entrustin' me with information... like I say, I'm good at rememberin', an' I'm good at passin' on. Now, might be you know other people you know're real good at it, an' might even be they're better'n me, but currently I'm the one headin' out somewhere to do it, so I'm likely to get it at least wherever I'm goin' soonest. Plus," he adds, with a slight shrug and another grin, "I'd appreciate it."

Jacinta doesn't pace, doesn't shift her weight, doesn't even glance to the side as the cliath speaks. When he's done, she gives a single nod, and drops down into a crouch, snatching up a stray stick. For the first time, she lets her gaze leave him, looking down at the bed of pine needles between them. "Then listen," she says, and draws a line through the dead foliage, "and I will speak."

"Thank you," Felix says, and he drops down to sit crosslegged from where he stands, in a perhaps surprisingly graceful movement. No other comment, for now; he just watches and, of course, listens.

"Clear Water, the Wendigo caern at which I was trained, is troubled," Jacinta says, continuing to draw the stick through the leaves. "Long ago, Elder Brother and Middle Brother helped us to defeat a great enemy, to put it to sleep and bind it deep within the earth. Even when the Wyrmcomers came, we were able to keep it in slumber. But the greed of the Kass'aqs is too great, and despite the protests by our kin, BP and Conoco Philips have begun drilling. Their work has awakened the Great Beast, but that is not all. In its fitful dreams, the creature has corrupted the Weaver's children, and they, in turn, have come to its defense, and have lent it their power. What once took all three tribes to bear to the ground is now more dangerous than it ever was before. Tan'geq Eluciq is rising." Eventually a shape takes form where she draws in the dirt, a combined glyph of Weaver and Wyrm, straight lines merged with a spiral.

"Tan'geq Eluciq," Felix murmurs softly, carefully echoing the pronunciation to himself. Out loud, he asks, "Kass'aqs is... companies? Or people from not around there?"

Jacinta cannot hide the laugh as she gestures easily with the back of her hand at the galliard. "White people," she says and shakes her head. "Wyrmcomers." She draws in a breath and smooths over the drawing. "That is where I go. While I was alpha, here, my duties prevented my return to assist the sept and tribe, but those duties are no longer mine. The spirits have made their wishes clear. I am needed more at Clear Water. Pass that along, also. If the spirits determine that it shall be so, I will return when Darkness Maker is defeated."

Felix half-smiles at the gesture and answer, nodding. "Got it," he says, "...ain't real big on the kind who run places like that myself." He studies the glyph until it's wiped out, and her last remarks get another nod. "I'll pass it along," he promises.

"Ii-i," Jacinta says, and follows with, "Assirtuq." Still, she offers no translation for either word. "As I am certain that the new Alpha will tell of his victory, and many others will tell of the troubles, here, there is one thing further I would have you share." She reaches up and pulls a leather thong from around her neck, a distinct, white fang dangling from its length.

The first one, at least, Felix seems to recall from earlier, and even if he didn't get an actual translation at the time, context seems to suggest this probably isn't one he'll need to be able to specifically explain. "You're definitely right on the troubles," he agrees, and watches the movement of the necklace, and what it holds, with interest.

Jacinta holds out the leather cord, nodding toward the fang. "This belongs to the Sept, not to me. It is intended to be in the hands of the Guardians, or the Warder, in the event that he does not have the gift to determine the touch of the Horned Serpent, himself. There is another. It will be with my cousin, The Storm of the North Who Strikes at the True Enemy's Heart. If the Alpha desires that it be in the hands of another, that is his decision, but she will act in the best interest of the Sept, using it as I have, to track down our enemy, should he allow her to continue to do so."

Felix reaches out to accept the cord, nodding once more. "I'll bring it to them," he says, "and I'll let him know." He pauses, then asks, "Do you know when you're gonna head out to Clear Water, yet?"

Jacinta tips her head up toward the sky, eyeing the darkness, the stars that are visible though trees. "Nearly all the preparations have been made," she says. "But a great deal of the journey will be through the umbra. Once Luna's face shines a bit brighter, Heartwood will depart."

Felix glances upward as well, and puts on the necklace for the time being, tucking the fang into his shirt for safekeeping. "Soon, then," he says, and looks to her again. "Is there anything else you'd like me to tell anyone here, or outside the Sept? Or anything else I can do for you?"

"Qang'a," Jacinta answers, rising from her crouch. She tosses the stick aside. "Good luck in your quest, and should you find Ears to the Ground, remind her that her place remains open."

"Man, I wish I'd run into her," Felix says, "One of my teachers when I was a cub, she talked about her all the time..." He rises as well, and inclines his head to the Athro. "Thanks. Good luck with Tan'geq Eluciq, an' may your travel there go smooth, too."

"Ii-i," Jacinta replies. "Piuraa," she adds for good measure, and then turns without offering anything further, melting into lupus and disappearing into the forest.

"G'night!" Felix says as she turns, and he melts down into lupus as well, turning and disappearing off the other way.