The Omen of Warning

Rends stands there a long time, staring at his packmate. The forest grew quiet around them, the others trooping along ahead. Zas can see something behind Rends' eyes, some tension or fierce emotion. After a long time, Rends looks away, masking his face with the brim of his hat.

"No."

After another long moment he bends down to pick up a chunk of wood the size of his fist and starts carving it.

"Before the fight, I used my fetish knife to look at my dreams. I cain't ever remember my dreams. Never could. Jest wanted to see what they was like, really. Maybe get some spirit advice for the coming battle. Instead, I get a tour of my nightmares, where I see my family get et by my Pa's rage and my home burned down around him. Then I seen all a y'all, dead and cold with me left standin' to burry you."

He's stripped off the bark and rotten outer wood from the chunk, now carving designs into the white face of it. As he does he looks up at Zas, eyes aflame.

"I swore when I got up that I weren't gonna let that happen. I was gonna control my self and protect y'all. I wasn't gonna let the Rage eat me like it did my Pa. And then the fight started."

Zas can now see that he's carving Garou runes into the sphere of wood, spotting its surface with crude writing of sharp jagged lines.

Anger. Strength. Failure. Death. Rebirth.

"And what happens very next fight? I lose my shit and black out while anger et me up. I ain't no better than them Get bastards. Y'all deserve better a' me as your Ahroun and Penelope deserves better from her teacher."

He shoves his knife back into his belt, looking at the ball of runes in his hand. He considers it for a moment, then throws it up in the air, whipping out his pistol and blowing the ball into splinters midair.

Zas looks at Rends saying nothing. Then stares at his outstretched arm holding the gun. His gaze then follows the wooden splinters as they fall to the earth.

He then gently touches the pistol in such a way that Rends lowers the gun down to his side. Zas then bends down to the ground, and spits on it. He takes his right index finger, and transforms it into a Crinos form claw. He then swiftly impales his finger into the now wet dirt, several inches deep and draws a line about a foot long. He then stands back up and gently again touches the pistol still in Rends hand and slowly spins Rend's hand in the opposite direction to where Rends now has his back facing the line, and his gun hand is outstretched forwards.

Zas then says soberly, "You have experienced the cost of our Rage. You have seen what the end of the road looks like if it remains unrestrained."

Zas then reaches down lifting a wood splintered fragment nearby and raising it to eye level. He then says, while gesturing to it. "Destruction, devastation, and death. These things cannot be changed."

Zas then flicks the wood splinter backwards across the other side of the line making sure Rends watches it cross over. "Your past has given you focus." He then points towards the pistol pointing in the other direction and says "Let Gaia give you clarity. Your calling as an ahroun is to defend this pack. You must use your calling, your skills, your rage, as tools to serve her purpose."
He pauses as he points to the rest of the Prodigals up ahead, "They all trust you. They trust your judgement, and your decisiveness. They depend on you knowing your limits, and having control of yourself."

Zas then pulls his hand back and forms it into a fist and pounds his chest twice and says, "As do I. Don't give us reason to doubt you."

Zas then turns and begins walking again to catch up to the pack.