Guilt Trip

Even after discussing his actions with their Philodox, Eaton still was quieter than usual. All through the negotiations with the Get and the discussions with Red Talons, he did not add or comment. Of course, what would he say? In their eyes, he had done no wrong. No need to defend or explain himself.

A short while later, the prodigals discussed their next move. At the pack's decision to head back to Galveston to make their report to Robert, the Galliard broke his self imposed silence and said, "No, we can't do that."

When everyone turned to face him he added, "At least, I can't do that."

Swallowing dryly, he said, " It's my kin who were slain and I have to own up to that. Just sayin' sorry and that we screwed up ain't cuttin' it. I feel I at least should explain myself to them, recant my actions and accept whatever punishment they see fit."  

Before anyone can interject he said, "And I ain't tryin' to be a martyr- the Bone Gnawer's goin' to war is bad any day, but now is worse than ever. They need to know of the threats they face, and that the Talon's can't be at the top of their list."

He sighed, "Look, I don't know if speakin' to 'em is gonna make 'em see reason, but we can't cause a shit storm and then scurry away. At the very least and if the Bone Gnawers are hell bent on killin' the Talons, we gotta own up to it."

Zas B'ul pursed his fingers to his lips for a moment before speaking, contemplating how best to respond. His voice was calm but firm. "Our Alpha has already told them what occurred, who was involved, and why we acted as we did. At this point your physical presence, regardless of your intentions, would likely only make the situation worse...possibly even lead to your death."

He takes a breath, "They do need to know of the Stormeater, however it would likely be better to notify them in a less direct manner..."

The Philodox considers for a moment, "If you seek to atone for your actions, I can punish you on their behalf, but if you wish to plead your case-why not do it in a more personal way? Seek out Father McClod in his dreams, where he may have had time to think without the red haze of rage fueled vengeance filling his vision."

Rends regards Eaton for a long moment, nodding along with the Bone Gnawer.

"I reckon Eaton's right. At least, he may be depending how we want this to play out. If we wanna make peace with the Gnawers and Talons, owning up and taking the fall is the right move. But how long till something like this happens again?"

Then he turns to his whole pack, eyes serious.

"But it may be better in the long run to let this play out. They've been nipping at each other for years and ain't neither side gonna give up ground. We can't always have someone out here to keep the peace so maybe it's best if we let 'em slug it out. The Comanche ain't much of a threat anymore without their Goddess and theys the reason we let the Talons set up at the Burned Rock. We need to get their feud settled so we can focus on the next big threat."

His eyes brighten as inspiration strikes. He turns back to Eaton, grabbing his arm.

"So how about you go to McLeod and offer to challenge the Talons in his name? A challenge would settle this fast, and restore your own honor. Put down the Talons champion and you could fix this all in a jiffy. Iff'n ya don't die that is."

He seems downright cheerful by the end.

Mocks shook his head after Rends stopped speaking. He turned to Eaton as he spoke.

"Look Eaton I understand why you want to go there. I do. But I was just there. I already told them of our part in it, and the Get's part. They fully understand it is not just the Talons who have done this. Just because they want retribution does not mean it will be all out war. Uncle Mcleod is smarter than that. If you go to them to explain what happened so soon after I was just there it would look suspicious that we did not come together. We don't need that. I already offered my head as alpha of our pack to them and they declined at least for the time being."

He paused and grew stern.

"Also I resent the fact that you think we caused a shit storm. This would have happened with or without us being here and the fact we were here is probably why two kin survived. We had logical reasons for attacking the caravan when the bone gnawers calm down they will see that. It doesn't justify the deaths that occurred, but it's not like anyone was set out to kill bone gnawer kinfolk."

He looked around to the others as he continued speaking.

"We have to go to Galveston next. Robert needs to be warned of the vampires, the storm eater, and what is happening with the Uktena, their kinfolk, and his siblings. I don't trust Can't Be Killed and who knows what he has been whispering in Robert's ear. We need to get there and put out whatever fires he started. We also need to get the gate from O'toole and take it to the Forked Ash. I warned Raises All Hell about the vampires coming from up south and he said that's our problem since they will hit our caern first. For the time being we can't rely on the Bone Gnawers for aid."

He sighed and sat down.

"Look, we have the warm coming at us from several directions we don't have time to choose sides when it comes to the Talons and the Gnawers. Honestly, if the Gnawers want to blame the talons and them alone...all the better for us. That means we can focus on the Uktena, protecting our caern and the King, and Galveston."

Rends shakes his head, locking his eyes on the Alpha.

"I don't think the point is that we didn't know who we was killin. The point is we should have stopped and checked our targets before diving in. Ya we took the Talons lead since Wes in their land, but we've stepped on toes before to do the Right thing and failed to do that here."

He fiddles with his lopsided hat, shading his eyes. Then he looks back to Mocks, his jaw set.

"We need to talk to Robert. I don't like the Chief whispering to him all alone either. But this ain't jest politics at play here. This is a family matter and Eaton feels he needs to fix it; I don't think it's an Alphas place to step in since this ain't a pack matter. If we can send a rat or mind-speak with McClaud and get his blessing before we leave, we won't lose more than a couple hours on the challenge and a couple hours won't matter. Aedfang will be here to enforce the result so we won't need to stick around and that would clear the exit for the Get. It makes sense, and it covers our bases while putting out the fire we helped start."

Mock's locked eyes with Rends.

"It's more than a family matter because we as a pack were directly involved, that makes it a pack matter and therefore my responsibility. We might not have a couple of hours because we don't know what the when the wyrm is making its move. We have to make certain our defenses are in line for when it does. This might just be me but sense Eaton helped with the killing I doubt Uncle would use him as his champion."

He sighed.

"We have to remain focused. The Bone Gnawers want justice and have every right to want it. We along with the Red Talons have every right to defend ourselves from the judgement. However, they currently are not focused on us and we must use that to our advantage."

Eaton looked to Rends as he grapped his arm, wincing before he said, "Now, your confidence in me is certainly inspirin', but I don't think it's gonna be that easy. Not that I'm backin' down cause I don't think I could win, but I really can't see Mccload trustin' me with somethin' like that now. That doesn't mean I can't try and get it back and then challenge away- and I think I know how."

Turning to Mock's, his eyes narrowed,  "I have a gut feelin' that if it were your kinfolk that died, we'd be travelin' to the ends of the earth to set it right. We've got time to track down Drowns-his-foes but don't have time to at least try and address this mess? I don't buy it. You can blame yourself all day as Alpha, but I wronged my tribe and that's something you can't own up for me."

He breaks free of Rends grip and strides toward Mocks, "I'm sure ya heard that actions speak louder than words. It's one thing to say sorry with your tail between yer legs and mention that some leeches are in the neighborhood. You and Zas said that you hunted down one of 'em on the way back. They gotta be shown that these vampires are a threat now, and that declarin' war on the Red Talon's is just gonna lose 'em Kin and Garou alike."

Now in the Alpha's face, Eaton says, "I don't know what they said, but it musta been impressive if you're too scared to go back."

Mocks growled in the Beta's and stood strong.

"You might want to rethink your what you last said unless you're fine with them being your last words. I ain't scared to go back there I just know it's stupid for us all to go back there because we got other shit to handle. If you want to go so bad and can't focus on anything else than go. Get the hell out of here but if you leave you ain't coming back as my Beta. There is shit going on with my tribe that we haven't handled. I got to go out West and handle the Necromantis and the Masks but you know what I am still here because as a pack there are greater things at stakes than my pride. But if you can't focus on the bigger picture then get the hell out of my sight."

Zoe whistled shrilly to gain the attention of her packmates.

She was ready to use her gifts to soothe the first packmate to get out of hand.

When she spoke, her voice was soft and controlled.

"That's enough of all that."

"This situation is fresh and painful for all of us. None of us are proud of the way we behaved in this situation. Hindsight is clearer than foresight ever will be. We could have handled this better, but we didn't."

Zoe turned first to Eaton.

"You're right. If these were Iron Rider kin, I would be desperate to get back to Nacogdoches and make amends with Red Oath myself. I understand your desire and it is not wrong or bad; however, we do have to prioritize our efforts. If you feel Mocks-the-Night's words with the Bone Gnawers were insufficient, there are ways, which have been suggested, to make amends without traveling there yourself."

She then turned to Mocks-the-Night.

"I also understand your anger and frustration with Eaton's words. We all know that you are not afraid to face the Gnawers again if necessary. As a leader, I would advise you, despite being a creature of rage, to take a breath and address the situation without so much anger. Anger colors our decisions and often results in poor choices by an otherwise wise individual."

Finally, Zoe faced the pack as a whole.

"We messed up, guys. And we shouldn't be afraid to face the consequences of our actions. But we also don't need to go and look for consequences that are not being sent our way, either. If the Gnawers and the Talons want to duke it out, this event was just the last straw on a very large pile of hurts. We cannot take that responsibility on ourselves alone."

The Philodox had been quietly listening to his pack mates share their views. Upon noting the tense pained words that had begun to be spewed-and watching in particular how the Galliard had closed the distance between himself and the pack alpha; the Apache had closed his eyes and concentrated just long enough to form his arms into those of the war form forcing himself between the space of the two garou, placing a hand on each mans chest.

Upon hearing the words of the theurge, Zas bowed his head in both appreciation and acknowledgement towards her, making a mental note to thank the Iron Rider later for her words of wisdom and well-timed intervention.

The Silent Strider looked between each pack member he stood between making sure he became the focus of their gaze before he spoke. "You two want to start trading blows-fine. Do it. But I want you to hit me first."

Zas looks directly at Eaton, his voice eerily placid, "You want to express your opinion on what we as a pack should do-great. You want to vent about how WE messed up and mourn the deaths WE caused; Do it-Hell I will even join you. But the minute you think it's okay to start disrespecting your alpha and calling your brother a coward without justifiable cause, you cross a line. Let me be blunt-the litany is absolute on this and I will gladly do what I need to do to ensure it is upheld, and this time I won't lose."

The Philodox then turns to the Shadowlord and says with the same tone, "What do you think makes the wyrm quake more, a small band of fighters or the full might of a united garou nation? You said you are playing the long game. That you have to make risky moves at the beginning in order to receive a big payoff. Your enemy thinks like this too. If we leave the Bone gnawers and Red talons as they are without trying everything we can-even if it seems poorly timed, we are simply playing a short game. They will dwindle their numbers down one at a time either through combat with the Talons or the vampires overtaking them and soon enough this whole area is crawling with wyrm and no tribe is strong enough to combat them and face off the Stormeater."

He pauses, but gives Mocks a knowing look, "We need to keep more tools potentially usable for later."

The philodox slowly lowers his arms, "If we can't keep our allies, at the very least we need to prevent gaining another enemy. Is this a gamble-yes. But you have to decide: is the potential price of losing our entire presence in this area worth a few less words into Robert's ear?"

Zas B'ul then looks to Rends and says, "Unfortunately, I do not think winning a challenge here will restore the honor lost. However, salvaging this situation as best we can and saving the caern's from falling into enemy hands-that might...but, the kinblood on our hands remains-we all just have to come to terms with that."

Rends' shoulders loosened up; they'd grown tense along with the tone of conversation but relaxed somewhat. He regards Mocks, taking measure of his Alpha.

"I don't like putting off talking to Robert any longer than we have to any more than you, but I think this is something we have to try to put to rights. Once war breaks out word will get out how it started and it'll come back on us sooner or later. It always does. The smarter move is to head it off now and keep everybody focused on the real enemy. If they was something to be gained from havi g the Talons and Gnawers go at it I'd be all for it, but the numbers jest don't add up."

He shakes his head, looking at each package.

"Half the reason Wes in thus spot is because rather than letting them settle their fight themselves I had the Get step in for the Gnawers. I thought it made sense at the time but now I see that was a mistake. The Rats gotta show the Talons they can stand on their own and deserve their own respect. Well I say we let them do it, but we do our best to decide the terms and scale of the fight. If war breaks out we lose dozens of Garou and drive a wedge between two of our allies. If a fair challenge is fought, we lose one, maybe. And keep a long term peace regardless."

He turns back to Mocks, voice dropping low as he leans forward.

"It's the better plan. I'm the one arranging the Get to move, and I'll be the one talkin' to Robert. Whatever comes of that will be in my head. You're Alpha now and I won't be the one making any challenges today, so I'll listen  to you, but it jest don't feel right leaving this mess yet."