The Strength of an Oak/The voice of a mouse

Zas continued leading the two packs down the road on their journey south. His thoughts resting heavily on what he felt he needed to do.

He needed a plan. He needed a good plan. He needed...I don't know what I need. How do I come up with a ruling of sorts that shows the Uktena tribe as still serving Gaia as I know them to be that would be deemed worthy by perhaps all the leaders of the Garou of the nation-me, a Silent Strider who'd only recently stepped into the role of Adren.

I'm no public speaker. The last time I spoke to a large crowd they nearly torn down a bar of someone I barely knew. Calling out someone of the wyrm-sure any day of the week, but defending a tribe accused of serving the Wyrm...I'm perhaps a bit out of my element. Wait-no this totally uncharted waters...well not really... Penelope was not accepted into her tribe, but I guess that's kinda close to this.

He shakes his head it won't work. I couldn't even make one Iron Rider Ahroun who knows me at least slightly see the tribe as I do. How could I hope to do this for many Garou I don't know who seem to already have their minds made up?

His thoughts are disturbed by the Oiler's theurge Walks with Spiders as she mentions something about Homid and lupus Garou overcoming differences. Yes-the Red Talons, they are prime example....wait, acceptance of the Homid or face extinction, those sound like serious ultimatums....I'm getting distracted. I need to concentrate.

He sighs, If this somehow works out, where we don't end up chased out of the moot or dead, this could be my big chance to unite the tribes...to at least some extent. If however this fails, it will make the gap between the pure and the nation even wider. This pack could lose face....no It has to succeed. That means I'm going to need some help. I can't do this on my own. I have a pack who seems to support this. There's no reason then that I should have to come up with a plan alone. I've still got time. Who knows maybe Walks with Spiders may be able to help

Zas turns to the Lupus elder as he says, "There are spirits who don't get along well together am I correct? Fire and water would seem to be the first spirits to spring to my mind. Have you ever had to unite two seemingly opposing spirits?"

"Yes, I have. The spirit is bound by its place in Gaia's design, as are we. Yet rules of the umbra are often different." The cagey old wolf's eyes glinted as the midmorning sun flittered down among the branches overhead. "Peace between a servant of owl and a servant of rat may result in one consuming the other."

The Theurge's tail swished pensively, and her pace slowed.

"In woods long since reduced to sawdust, the first lesson ever I learned was this: wolves always work together to subdue their prey."

Zas chuckles to himself, as he thinks peace through violence-Rends would like that.

At the Theurge's latter pensive moment, the Silent strider turns to her and says, "That's a good lesson, but I'm not sure I can teach it. From what I've been told it seems many of the Garou we are going to meet already seem to have their minds made up."

Zas considers for a moment before asking, "Tell me-what do you think of this mission-my coming to be the peacekeeper and bridge between the pure and the Nation? Do you think this is a wasted venture?"

The old wolf angled her head, quiet amusement in her deep-set eyes. "It is a good lesson, but you are not meant to teach it to others... I am telling you the best way I know to unite wolves."

"It requires finding new prey. Do not teach them. Give them reason to hunt together." She strolled past him, raising her snout to sample something intriguing on the breeze.

"I do not think the division between Pure and Unpure is trivial, but I do not wish for it to swallow up our true calling. We must know Garou are very different from one another." Walks-with-Spiders paused to give a satisfying scratch to a long copper-laced scar that slashed across her hind leg.

"I have learned to walk among humans and the wolves born to them. That was not so easy, for there was much I did not understand; but it was done, all the same." The Iron Rider moved bit faster now, quickening her pace to eventually catch up with the others.