73. Kaya
Kaya
Robert walked me back to my room. Both of us were pretty dirty from the hunt. He mind-linked me. "I will just be in my room if you need me, mind link." I nodded. We both needed to get cleaned up; we had spent the morning as wolves. When we shifted back to humans, we still had the blood from feeding on us.
I quickly showered and threw on some leggings and an oversized pink fuzzy sweater. The snow was still coming down outside, and it made me homesick. I was still depressed over the state of what had happened to our den but was feeling better after spending time hunting. Teaching Robert had made me feel useful. I was actually looking forward to teaching others in the pack.
I slipped on my uggs and left, knocking on Robert's door. He was fast to answer it. "Luna," he signed. I mind-linked him. "Hey, I just wanted to grab something hot to drink, and I know you are supposed to stay with me." "Yeah, give me just one second." He shut the door, and in a moment, he was back opening it again. This time, he had shoes on. "You can't be hungry." He mind linked. "What? No, I just wanted to get something hot to drink." "Tea?" he signed. I nodded.
"You are getting good at sign language." "I have been practicing nonstop." "Well, thank you." I signed. He smiled. "So what did you think of the hunt honestly?" I questioned. "I didn't expect to feel so, I don't know, powerful and like one with nature." "Well, you actually acted like a wolf." "I can't believe I ate a raw heart." I laughed. "Come on, it was not that bad." "It grossed me out, but it did not taste bad at all." "Again, you were doing what a wolf would have done."
"When are you going to teach me to butcher an animal?" "Someone is eager to learn." "I just, wow, I don't know. I feel like I am on a high. Do you always feel like this?" "When we hunt as a group and eat raw, yes. It helps form close bonds." "But you and I have already a close bond." He was referring to the fact he was sworn to me in blood. He still listens to Cade as his Alpha, but if I told him to do something Cade had said no to, he would listen to me. "Yes, we do, but it helps us feel more connected working together to do something as important as eating. Why do you think in the north we always eat together. Well, unless we are snacking."
I went over the mind link: "Crescent Moon Pack and all northern packs really are much closer than Shadow Pack; we hunt, we eat, we bathe together. It is a pack, and we live like we are actually in one. When the males go whaling, they all go together. The women help once it is returned; it is a group effort." "Do you plan to make shadow pack more like crescent moon?" "I intend to. I will be teaching sign and hunting also soon. I was thinking about doing a pack run." "That is great, Luna. I admit I was nervous when Alpha said you were from the north and when I first saw you. Everything there is just so different than it is here."
"I hope you think I am not a freak anymore." "Luna, I never thought you were a freak, just different, and I didn't know how you would adjust. But you have exceeded my expectations." I gave him a smile and then mind-linked Helen. "Helen, I am going to the kitchen. Can you please meet me there?" "I'll be there." Becky made me a cup of tea and Robert and I sat down. Helen came into the kitchen. She mind-linked me. "What can I help you with?" "A lot. I want to figure out how to go about training for hunting. Also, we need to coordinate sign language classes. Cade suggested three classes a day, and people can pick which one they want to attend. Then also we need to plan winter solstice to celebrate the goddess that is next month." "Are your friends teaching sign?" "Yes, they said they are at my disposal, so they will be helping with teaching both sign and hunting. I know I still have other stuff I need to do around here." Robert tapped my arm, and I looked at him. He spoke out loud so Helen could hear and I could read his lips. "I think you should also teach the pack your native language." Helen must have asked why because then he said. "Knowing both sign and a different language could come in handy. It is something the other packs don't know and could be used as code if needed."
I signed, "We have to talk to Cade about that." He nodded, and Helen looked at me intensely. "Sorry, Robert has gotten sign language fast, so I can speak easily with him, but I said we would need to talk to Cade about everyone learning my native language. I think he may not like the idea." I mind-linked Helen. She responded, "I think he will be fine with it. But I think we first teach sign language, then after people are fluent in that, we can introduce something else. It will be a lot of work already teaching both language and hunting. Do you know who you want to teach hunting first too?"
"Well, I was thinking starting with kids, the ones not in school yet teaching basic stuff like tracking and snares, bows, and then the older kids later in the day after school and then the adults. But I will need more trainers than just myself and my friends." "Okay, well, let's pick out some warriors to train, maybe ten, and then we can, in the mornings, work with the little kids."
"That would work. Now, the Winter Solstice?" "Yes, what do we do?" "Well, we have a huge feast! There is a massive fire, and there is dancing around the fires. People play handmade instruments. We also shift and go for a huge pack run, lots of howling at the moon. And booze, lots of booze. And everything has to be outside."
"Okay, so we need heaters if we are being outside. We need food and music." She mind-linked me. "Yes, and booze, lots of it!" She laughed. We sat there planning the next few months and what that would look like. When we were all done, I added over the link, "Also, I want to learn to quilt. I was hoping you and Kimi would join me." "We can do that. We have a few women in the pack who do that; I can reach out to them and see what we need and when they can come to teach us." I signed, "Thank you." She nodded.
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