A Moonlit Walk

Zoe followed Jana out of the bar and into the moonlit night. As much as she had enjoyed the time relaxing, celebrating, and catching up with the members of the sept, she was looking forward to catching up with her kinfolk friend away from all the rage and testosterone of the gathered Garou. The cold night air wrapped itself around the two women, but they were too caught up in good conversation and tales of Elijah's development to notice. Walks-with-Spiders had planned to keep Jasnah and Elijah til morning, so Zoe and Jana took their time walking through the mostly deserted streets.

"So you didn't seem to be paying Connor much attention tonight. Everything okay with you two?"

Zoe shrugged and tilted her head side to side. "Yeah, I think we're okay. It's just a little awkward I guess. I mean, we decided to try this thing out right before I left town for a week and it was quite a week, let me tell you. Actually, I'll let Eaton tell you..."

An icy breeze blew down the road and Zoe shuddered briefly. "There is one thing I wanted to warn you about concerning our time away this week."

Jana met Zoe's eyes in the darkened street, curiosity furrowing her brow.

"While we were there we met some, well, disturbing characters. There were half a dozen girls who knew things they had no business knowing about each one of us. One of them knew I was an orphan and suggested - no, stated that my widowed mother hated me. Another was keenly aware of Zas's tribe's interest in ghosts and speaking with the dead. Yet another knew specific details of one of Rends' fights and his history with his father."

"And what does that have to do with me or Eaton?"

Zoe broke eye contact and exhaled sharply. "One of the girls said that you despised Eaton as a mixed-breed Bone Gnawer. He got really upset at that and actually stormed off."

She paused a moment then regained Jana's gaze. "I don't need to know if it's true or not. It's none of my business, but Eaton may ask you. Or worse he may not and just interpret everything you do and say as if what they said was true. So I just wanted you to be aware that that thought has been planted in his mind in case he starts acting strange...or stranger than usual."

Jana stopped in the road, her mouth open in shock. "I- that's ridiculous! I went with Eaton because he was compassionate and kind. He was willing to look past my illness and accept me, even when my own family would not..."

"In a lot of ways, he is the opposite of a Silver Fang husband. The money is... tight sometimes, and he doesn't have title or a noble lineage. Sometimes, I think having those things would make the life of our child easier, but those are just foolish idle thoughts. A sense of belonging is worth more to me than wealth."

Jana pulled her cloak close, guarding against the cool spring night. "I truly am glad I am no longer with the Silver Fangs, Ms. Kostas. When we first came here the New World held so much hope, but after my sister's death, I realized those dreams were nothing but fantasies. Being rejected by my clan once filled me with bitterness, and I hated my family. Now I feel relief to no longer be associated with that shadowed House."

Jana squared her shoulders, dismissing her dark thoughts. "Whatever that snake-tongued creature told you was a lie. I am proud to count myself among the Bone Gnawers."

Relief washed over Zoe's face as Jana declared her feelings toward Eaton. She smiled and gave her friend a side hug to warm her as they continued walking.

"I am so glad to hear you say that, Jana. Make sure you tell Eaton how you feel. You can even tell him what I told you if you think it's relevant."

"A sense of belonging is certainly important for anyone - Garou, kinfolk, or human. As an Iron Rider I certainly feel as if I belong while I'm here in Nacogdoches, but most other tribes do not look favorably upon us, even tribes represented in my own pack."

Her eyes drifted up to Luna's crescent face, which smiled down upon her. "The Get of Fenris call us urrah because they, like other tribes, think our interest in the Weaver jeopardizes our devotion to Gaia. Rends was actually sent to hunt me down and bring me back to Galveston as his initial rite of passage. Zas also doesn't trust my tribe due to our fascination with technological advancements. I don't know how Mocks or Eaton feel, and Rends has never personally called me an urrah, but I guess I can understand not feeling like I belong. While others prefer to fight with tooth and claw, I prefer to use any tools at my disposal. Many Garou see that as cowardice and weakness."

A stern look crossed her face as she considered her treatment by the Get at the Forked Paths caern. "What do I care what they think? I know I serve Gaia above all else. I would never sacrifice my devotion to Gaia for the sake of the Weaver. That's absurd. The Get have their ways and we Iron Riders have ours. It's time we stopped criticizing one another and started working together."

A moment of silent passed between the women before Zoe spoke again. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your sister? And what hopeful dreams were lost along with her?"

"My sister is dead." Jana said, flatly.

"Her name was Anett. Well, I called her Anett." The scarred woman's voice grew slightly less mechanical as she spoke, drawing on memories of happier days. "Her official name and title was Sun-Never-Sets, Queen-errant of House Unbreakable Hearth."  

"She was my heroine when we were children. In some ways, she was all I had. Our mother died during our travels in Mexico in a freak stagecoach accident. Our father, Rawest-Wind, was encouraging in his own way, but he wasn't about to get soft and mollycoddle either of us. Though it's true that we had some wealth, that did not make our upbringing soft or easy. The Baptism of Flame revealed that Anett was a true-blood, and accordingly my sister always knew that it was her destiny to one day lead the Garou Nation. We were raised with the clear expectation that one day Anett would take her place among the high lords of the Silver Fangs."  

"I don't know how she did it. Sometimes, when we were young, she  would tense up at the end of the day and not sleep, worrying about the coming day and the fresh difficulties it invariably posed. I can remember the look of numb dread on her face as the moon shone on down..." Jana trailed off, and after a quite moment began again.

"I did the best to help her cope, even though I did not really understand just how hard she was being pushed. She must have had some of that old Silver Fang blood in her, alright, because Anett rose to meet every challenge our father and the teachers placed before her." Jana sighed, her face a faraway mask tinged with dull pain. "I looked up to her, but I did not envy her. History, Latin, sparring, racing... she took to each one with the same wild zeal. Her efforts to please my father seemed Herculean, and yet... she never treated me as a weakling or a servant, even though she was clearly superior to me in every measurable way." Jana looked at Zoe, her melancholy temporarily forgotten as she smiled wistfully.

"I was young, but I remember thinking 'I am sure glad I don't have to learn how to sabre-dance!' when she drew blood during one of her countless ritualized sparring matches."

"Though I thought nothing of it as a small child, later it occurred to me how truly kind she was growing up, but I figured that it would not last forever. Sooner or later, Anett's duties- her nature as a Garou- would change her. I was sure she was going to end up like our father: a good person caught in a tangled knot of complicated, and sometimes conflicting compromises and desires." Jana's voice had become neutral, as if she was commenting on the weather or some other triviality.  

"My sister was always driven do what was honorable and right, and I think she saw the vagaries facing the Garou as a difficult puzzle... one that she could solve if only she were sufficiently fair and clever and conscientious. I suppose it comes from her being a half-moon, obsessed with honor and moral-uprightness. More than once I accused her of having a ramrod up her hindquarters, usually when she was preventing me from prematurely abandoning some stuffy dinner party."

"As for what happened to her... my sister disappeared in the ruins of San Antone right after the war, when I was struggling with illness."

"My father was to lead the attack, but instead at the last moment my sister petitioned to be sent in his stead."