A Grand (Klaive) Purpose

While resting on their return journey to the King of Crows Eiger took a seat next to Rends. He pulled out some jerky and began chewing on it, silently offering some to a Rends before speaking.

“Rends, I’ve been meaning to ask you... why do you want a Grand Klaive? A Klaive is a powerful weapon, yes. But, one generally used to fight other Garou, especially in duels. Who do you see yourself facing down with that Klaive? Dissenters to the King, Ford, Robert, your former Shadowlord packmate?”

He cocked a smile.

“Me if I keep talking?”

He chuckled.

“I’m not tying to be rude or dissuade you at all. It’s just you are already fairly armed to the teeth to take on any enemy of Gaia, without the Grand Klaive. The fact you want one alone could cause other Garou to treat you and your pack with suspicion, regardless of your intentions. What is the price you are willing to pay for a Grand Klaive and just what do you intend to use it for?”

Rends chuckles and takes the preferred meatstick, offering his flask in trade.

"Klaives ain't jest fer duels. They can serve a lot of purposes. If you'd asked me that a few months ago I might've told you a specific purpose in mind, but now..."

He trails off, chewing slowly.

"True I'm better armed than most Garou, and I don't think it's undue braggin' to say I can take a hit better'n jest about anybody alive. So you tell me, why would somebody like me want a Klaive?"

Fey was quiet and stared into the fire before speaking. When he did he continued staring at the fire.

“Well I suppose since this is not a few months ago... I’d guess the Apocalypse. You would be able to use the Klaive to bring support under you and the king, or you could at least use the Klaive to get Garou who don’t agree with you to stay away from you at all costs. It can be a rallying cry. A symbol of the old world. Making one is an inspired idea.”

He then turned towards Rends.

“But I can only guess, hence why I asked.”

Rends nods along, taking another bite of jerky.

"The Apocalypse has been comin' fer years now. Only my pack and a handful of others has been aware and workin' to prepare fer that day. Malchizadek of the Sicarii is one a them others, and King Rawest Wind since we woke him."

He pauses for a moment, unsure, before going on.

"The traitor Tames-the-Weaver was another. In his despair he overthrew my home Caern, murdered my family and sacrificed my town to power a ritual so he could wipe out the local Uktena. Years later my pack caught up with him and rescued my wife from his grasp, and I had the honor of killing the traitor not once, but twice over thanks to his black magic."

Rends' gaze wanders to the north and east, eyes distant with memory.

"But in between he saw somethin' of what was comin'. He made his own plans, which we mainly fucked up real good. Except fer one part. He made three fetishes, and a kind of prophecy to go along with them. A Horn to sound the coming end"

He raises a hand and points to the horn at Eaton's waist.

"A Bond to bind anything"

He motions to the gleeming rope around Zoe's waist

"And a Sword to carve the way to the End."

He turns back to Carver, face carefully void of emotion.

"Robert Swiftdeath stole that from me just before he used it to kill Roaring Jack."

Rends turns to the side and spits, then swaps the jerky for the flask and takes a pull before going on.

"My Pa had a vision of how the Apocalypse was comin' to bring an end. Fer a while, I let his vision get into my head. I was obsessed with the God's Nails. I clung to that powerful fetish so tightly I couldn't see how foolish I was bein' with it and how Pa's prophecy was pushing me. Then I lost it, and I lost the greatest leader the Nation had and the man I respected more than any other."

His gaze goes back to the northeast.

"Fer a while after that I held myself back. I didn't think I was worthy to hold any kind of power since the one time I did I let it slip away and disaster came of it. But I come to realize that's a weakness in me, and I realized that I'm strong enough to handle it. So maybe this is me finishin' my Pa's work, but doin' it my way. Tames the Weaver was a treacherous bastard, but in his time he was a Theurge the likes a' which don't come along often. I can't know what Robert's gonna do with the God's Nails, but I can damn well make sure they's one sword there at the front to lead the way to the Enemy's den and take us to the day after."

As Rends explained his logic and motivation Eiger began to smile and turned towards Rends as he spoke.

“Eaton explained much of the Storm Eater to me, though he left out the prophecy and your father’s fetishes. I can tell your intentions are just and honorable Rends the Gar. I should like to do what I can to help you achieve this goal. Your Grand Klaive may lead when the end times come, but my spear shall be right behind.”

He turned to face the fire.

“I came here to kill Ford and check on the fey. I didn’t know I was going to cross paths with the Prodigals, the only pack with stones large enough to lead the fight against the Apocalypse. The Storm Eater is not something I can simply turn a blind eye to and go back home. It wouldn’t be right.”

He closed his eyes and popped his neck.

“The apocalypse... what a drag.”

Rends chuckled.

"Eh, relax. Old Mal's got his eye on the Apocalypse too, he's jest a bit more fatalistic about it. Like I told him last time we met, he's focused on the day of - I'm focused on the day after. I do appreciate the offer of help though."

He turns to regard the Fianna, taking measure of him.

"We didn't plan on an of this. Hell, from what we know the Storm Eater is the bastard child of a fallen Phoenix we defeated a few years ago while cleanin' up a Uketena mess."

He belches and picks at his teeth.

"It was Akna's last curse the first time the Pure beat her way back when, and it's back now to finish the job. That's been most of our career though; cleanin' up other people's messes. But all that ain't yer problem. Nobody's blame you if you jest went on your way after we got Ford his dues. Yer new to the Nation and ain't none of this yer problem."

Rends' face is unreadable as he regards the Ragabash.

Fae shook his head and turned to look at Rends as he smiled.

“You ain’t gettin rid of me that easy. Sure it’d be easy to run home... but the Get in me won’t let that happen. If you lot took it down without me I’d never forgive myself.”

He turned back to the fire and took a drink of his own whiskey.

“Besides... if on the off chance you don’t succeed in stopping it... I’m guessing it ain’t going to just stay put here content with its victory. I’d rather do what I can to play my part now, then wake up in the future back home one day to the Apocalypse saying to myself “Damn those Prodigals”.

He chuckled.

“If I may be so bold... maybe Cernunnos had other intentions for me then just taking care of Ford and these other Black Spirals. Even with Ford and them out of the picture... the Fae here are still in danger because of this Storm Eater. Just maybe one of them knows something. If Garou of all tribes, spirits, and even mages are helping... maybe I’m here to enlist a little more help for you.”

After a few moments of silence and picking at the fire he turned back to look at Rends.

“Who is Mal?”

Rends gives a nod of approval and slaps the other man on the back.

"Good. I wouldn't want to find out you had any quit in ya. Life out here ain't somethin' fer the weak of heart, let alone huntin' Black Spirals."

Rends starts idly stuffing his pipe from his tobacco pouch.

"Mal's the leader of a bunch of wannabe spooky bastards with nothin' good to do and too much time to do it in. Fer all that Mal's alright, even if he's got a fondness fer vague threats and bad taste in followers. But he's helped us out of a couple tight spots, and he helped bring Lune Stalker out of the grasp of the Abyss. Back when we first started out as a pack one of our first jobs was to bring Penelope..."

He trails off, pain flashing across his face. He shakes his head.

"Who's Cernunnos?"

Eiger smiles as Rends slapped him. As Rends mentioned Penelope Eiger almost spoke up, but stopped himself upon seeing the pain on his new friend’s face. He responded quickly though to the Ahroun’s question.

“Cernunnos is one of the 3 aspects of Stag. There is the White Hart, Cernunnos, and Herne the Horned One also known as Herne the Huntsman. Each is a facet of Stag and in turn each handles separate affairs. During a Fianna’s rite of passage Stag will manifest itself as one of the 3 aspects. We try to divine a greater purpose by which aspect chose to manifest itself, and for me it was Cernunnos.”

He paused and sighed.

“All this that we are doing to reach the Uktena. Will they even be willing to speak with us?”