True understanding

The night the pack had their initial meeting with Shrike Zas watched and waited. He took careful note of the Red Talon metis. He listened as the bone-pierced skin cracked and rattled as he shifted, as Shrike spoke and revealed his purposes. He smelled the wild aromas of untouched Gaian lands exuding from the lupus Garou.

Zas then saw as Zoe and Shrike began speaking. It was then that Zas looked over near the campfire. He watched as Rends the gar chewed merrily and eagerly at the deer, and listened to Eaton regale the ahroun of battles long past. Yet, everywhere Zas could see, Kefka was nowhere to be found. His scent was concealed.

It was the absence of the ragabash that was most disconcerting. Zas's eyes scanned the area around him...the barren landscape devoid of all other signs of activity.

Then behind him, Zas heard a single twig snap, and the radiant beams of Luna shone down as a spotlight on the Shadowlord still half hidden in the shadows. His attention and gaze focused seemingly solely upon the Philodox.

Without pause, Zas walked slowly over to his friend and began speaking in homid form, his voice still intense but controlled. "A night like this should be spent with friends...am I wrong?"

Without really waiting for a reply, he continues, "Our ways are quite different, my blood brother. The methods of the half moon and the new moon are seemingly at odds at all times. Though our duties may force our perspectives to be in opposition, I hope that we as Garou, as packmates, as friends-and as men, can still find peace with one another.

I feel that I have shared with you much, but at the same time...very little. When we last spoke, I told you how things would be from now on, but neglected to give reasons for the changes I have been forced to make. This was where I erred. I came to you with the claws and fangs of fury, that are to be reserved for our enemies, rather than with gentle honeyed words that are best used with those of whom you treasure.

I will tell you my reasons of why things must be different and ask that you give them consideration, but know that what I have already told you remains to be true....if you will hear me."

The Silent Strider pauses, closely watching the movements of the Ragsbash like a hawk. He pauses as he asks, "Will you hear me?"

When Zas draws near he sees the weariness on Kefka's face. He is easily able to tell a Kefka has not been sleeping well. Kefka's stance at first is cold, but once Zas finishes speaking he breathes a heavy sigh and shrugs his shoulders before leaning against a tree.

"Say what you will. I still have ears. They are quite adept at listening too, if I say so myself."

At the Ragabash's response Zas huffs once and then begins, "In San Antonio I was forced to face the truth is been running from since I first met this pack. I was forced to see that my entire family, all my childhood friends, my entire village and maybe even my native tribe were wiped out. Slaughtered. Massacred.

Before you had met me, the great hordes of the Comanche had gathered to end my people. I was sent to gather aid-aid that never came. The Skin rippers we faced in San Antonio were in all likelihood some of the very same Comanche braves that destroyed my world.

I saw on those bloody plains the very same thing was about to happen to all of you. I realized how much I had lost, and chose then and there that I would not lose this pack to the same enemies that had hunted me and my kin for so long.

This pack is all I have now. There is nothing left for me where I have come from.

All of the changes you see now...they are from me realizing that if I continued to act as I did-I would have lost you. I am and always have been a warrior, I just didn't choose to act like it. I felt that by being as stone that I would better serve this pack...that was a mistake.

I still seek to find peace, but the way in which I once did it no longer is appropriate. Peace through negotiation and diplomacy is not feasible during war time. In war... peace must be gained through persistence, through strength of will, through sacrifice, and through blood.

Thus, I am still Zas B'ul. I am just more me than I have been before in front of you."

Zas sighs, "In our last meeting, you called me Bloody Owl. At the time, I took it as an insult...but now, I find it to be rather truthful. It is my sincerest hope however, that even before the next snow falls...these days of bloodshed will have ended; that peace will once again be accomplished through negotiation, through diplomacy. Until then...I am afraid that Litu B'ul is what I must be."

After Zas finishes speaking Kefka is silent a few moments. Nodding his head, and scratching his beard. He then huffs and gives a sincere smile.

"I do think Bloody Owl can be of use in this pack, but I also thought Snowy Owl was of use too. I think you can find balance, create a duality. Gaia called and made each of us to different things and to do different tasks. Let her guide you and we as a pack won't stray. "

He pauses.

"I do appreciate you coming and talking to me again, explaining to me the circumstances that brought upon this change. What you have come to terms with... your past... you have weathered a fierce storm, but it won't be the last. Next time let us help you. We too can be a rock for you."

Zas bows his head and sighs with relief as he says, "it is my duty to do as you have asked. I must be as much light as I am dark; As angry as I am calm; As expedient as I am patient; I must walk the path before me for I am Justice, I am philodox. This two-ness you speak of...it is a struggle."

Zas then stands upright and continues, "I will do as you have asked, in the future-circumstances permitting. I think we all would be better served if we grew closer as a pack. To do that will require all of us learning how to overcome our weaknesses, and in the process depend upon one another so that together we are that much stronger."

"Overcoming our weaknesses indeed. What do you see as my weaknesses?"

The Silent Strider grows deathly quiet at the Shadowlord's question. He takes a step back and then walks around the ragabash looking up and down and then says, "You focus greatly on things that could or might happen...rather than what is. This is not entirely bad and has its purpose, but it can cause you to overlook what is right in front of you. Blindness is a weakness.

You also speak before listening. You voice your own ideas or thoughts on matters before hearing others. When this is done before friends, it is okay. When it is done before the faces of our foes however, you miss opportunities to strike, to let the enemy show you his weakness. This I see as weakness."

Zas looks up at Mocks the Night and says, "I say these things to you only because you ask. They are my own thoughts. Do with them as you will."