"Elders, I have a request." The Chieftain, nodded and said, "Please, anything we can do." "If you could, will you tell Marcus how you became wolves? You know me, I hate to dwell on the past." The Chieftain smiled and nodded. Of course they knew she hated to remember. Was she not the second Wotan since Marta had come to them? "Of course, this is no problem but first we need drinks and snacks! To tell stories we must do this right!" The other men quickly left and soon returned with their wives and older children. Young ones were in bed of course. Kegs of beer, bottles of wine, skewers of meat and vegetables were brought out to roast on the fire.Marcus noticed that the preparations happened very quickly so he asked the Chieftain, "You planned this in advance?" The ???? Chieftain smiled, "We knew the new Wotan would come so to celebrate her transition and to celebrate Olen"s life we prepared." Seeing everyone had arrived and food stuffs were being prepared on the bonfire. The Chieftain stood and said, "The Wotan, Cally has requested we tell how she came into our lives." Everyone present smiled and banged their fists on any object handy to make noise to show their appreciation. "At the end of the 1700"s and the beginning of the 1800"s, a woman came up along the coast. This woman was Marta of the Clan Wotan. Brave and honest. Fearless! She traveled alone. She came upon us, the ????. We were pitiable, small in numbers, small in power."
Taking a long pull on his beer, (Wolves don"t get drunk easily, but some enjoy the taste.) He continued, "Finding us, Marta wanted to help us. She told us she could see we would not survive the white man long. Did we want to become powerful?" Loud cheers sounded. "Did we want to grow in numbers?" Louder cheers sounded. "She showed us herself. She stayed with us and told us what becoming would mean. How we could grow and live GOOD lives!" Wild shouting sounded and some of the truly younger men jumped and danced. "Then she asked again "do you all want to do this?" And we said YES!" Marta changed me first. She stayed with us for one full year. Once I was strong enough and stable enough I changed the rest of the people. Then in the end, my old father who has left us, helped to change my bloodline back to his bloodline."
Everyone loudly shouted and cheered. Drinks were pa.s.sed around and food began to be pa.s.sed around. Marcus had just accepted a shish kabob of deer meat when he realized Cally had left the dancing crowd. He started to rise but the Chieftain noticed his intent and waved him back to his seat. "Marcus, this Cally, she is new and fresh. She also is Marta. She changed because Marta"s story was full to overflowing. Bringing back memories is painful to her. Let her be. She will come back after I finish my tale." The Chieftain grabbed a skewer of meat and ripped off a bite. "Where was I?" He shouted to get everyone"s attention. "BLOODLINE!" "Yes, Yes, Once my bloodline had been changed back to the ????. Marta asked if she could claim our lands and territories. Doing this would prevent others from stealing it from us! Haha! What a good deal! She claimed our lands. But they are our lands!" Insane cheering and drinking followed. Even the women and children who were present began to dance and shout. "We keep the land. It is ours, to hunt to fish. And SHE pays the taxes and pays us rent! Is this not a good deal?"
Marcus sat with the elders for some time before he noticed Cally had slipped back in beside him. She had a long neck bottle she was quietly sipping. Occasionally she would reach out and s.n.a.t.c.h food off his meat skewer but was otherwise quiet. She yawned a couple of times and leaned against Marcus. The Chieftain noticed and said, "How about I have Collin take you back?" Marcus nodded and sat Cally"s drink aside. "Come little one. It"s past your bedtime."
Collin, a 24 year old college graduate appeared. He was perhaps 5 foot 6 inches with the dark hair and skin of his people. He smiled and indicated the way to his car, quietly. Cally seemed to be practically sleep walking behind Marcus. She had a happy dreamy smile on her face as she tripped along behind Marcus. Marcus tried to urge her to his side but she simply smiled, no, she would follow behind. Hee* she would follow anytime she could!