The Crossroads of Should and Must

[Marunae]

Half-light hung in the sky. It was tinged with the threat of deeper blue from far above, but the sky had not darkened beyond this all night and would not do so now that morning was here.

Far beneath this aching royal blue, two points of amber light stood in the bleak. A great lodge built from pine wood and bone, smattered with lanterns to draw in any beast that had need of it. The gouges of its construction were still visible in the gaps in nearby conifer woods, swathes of forest felled and turned to pillars and beams in this worthy bid to fend off the talons of forever-winter.

A hundred strides or so from the lodge, a great pile of sodden ashes and thoroughly charred wood, wrapped in fifty paces of well-trodden snow. Deep in the ashes, if a beast cared to look close enough, there was still evidence of the four bodies burned there the previous night. Far up in the clouds, every wolf who had been at the pyre would insist, the four dead now sang with their ancestors.

In the half-light, a group of beasts worked in an Ice Walker bay, moving cargo between wagons until of the four in the bay, three were empty and one was carefully, densely packed half-full of the bundles of frozen meat that the ice-walkers had brought back this strange, cut-short hunting season.

The beasts trudged back into the lodge, drying their footpaws on beds of fabric scattered around a small inner chamber before pushing through into the lodge proper, a great wooden place of warmth and light, filled with the quiet murmured words of tired beasts acclimatising themselves to a new day and the expectation of long hard work to come.

One table of beasts held a different tone to the others. Beasts gave it just a slightly wider berth as they milled from food to drink to go and put together their gear for the work ahead. Four wolves sat at this table. Two had alphasign daubed into their forehead fur, one white and one brown. A third wolf was a lighter brown with a deep and unyielding scowl, and the fourth was clad in the carved bone armor worn by Kastor's Knights in the North. The other three beasts were markedly smaller. A skunk, black and white coat jarring against every other colour in the building. A fisher, stocky and sour of countenance, also in a Knight's bone armor. And in the same armor a tundra hare of the great family, mopping up the last of her soup with a scrap of flatbread as the others talked.

"I don't know what to tell you," Marrow shrugged. "Tusktaker had just found out that he was no more, that his daughter was to grow up without him. Never met a spirit that didn't cry, in a situation like that. Wouldn't you?"

"Never." The brown alpha rumbled out. "Tears are not for Walkers. I will not take a Kufka who has cried since coming of age."

"Agreed. Not Jhoti, and none of us." Ferro, the light brown wolf without alphasign and without armor, crossed his forepaws. "When a wolf passes, we burn the body and let the wind have the ashes. We move on."

The wolf in armor, Ruka, nodded and rumbled out his agreement. "Before I got stupid and headstrong and left the Interlopers, I understood this as well. With all your scents and powders? I am quite certain you imagined it, dancer."

"Hold, Ruka." Koga placed a small paw on Ruka's vambrace. "Remember. He walks, we guard. That's all."

The skunk scowled. "I know what I saw."

"I am surrounded," A low growl eased out under Ruka's voice, "by brothers I have not tussled with in seasons, and you expect me to speak in platitudes."

"Yes." Koga's voice hardened. "I do. These duties were yours to choose, and you chose them."

Silence roared.

Ruka's hackles went down.

An ugly laugh sounded from a corner of the lodge. It was cut short by a glare from Bahto, but Ruka had already stood from his seat and stormed away.

"When I was still travelling with the family," The tundra hare finally spoke, "We would spend a couple of summer weeks camped in the woodlands east of here. Most times, we shared the space with wolves."

Ferro nodded. "Both our pack and Kairon's, and a few others besides, make use of that space. I do remember a few of you tundra hares. One was covered head to tail in jewelry. Her partner tried to fight some other pack's Kufka when they made some slight about her ears."

Marunae outright laughed. "My birth-mother Isunova, and her paramour Nasivern. He limped for three seasons after one round with one of your youngest. But he was kind, and he wrote her lovely poetry."

Ferro coughed disparagingly. Bahto shot him a look, and turned to Marunae. "They've passed?" he asked, and Marunae could not help but note how Bahto was covering for his packmate's curtness.

"Oh, no. Age caught up with them a little, and they settled in Chandler's Light. The great family carries on, and visits them once every cycle."

Marrow tucked some stray bit of fur behind his ear.

"A pity," Kairon said. "Weakness aside, it is a pleasure to see a fighter's heart in a beast so small."

Marunae smirked. After Marrow's explanation last night, she had issued a Commandeer's Order on both Bahto and Kairon. The white wolf had accepted it with minimal protestations, but Kairon had been more difficult to persuade. What he had forgotten was that place where the wolf packs and the Great Family coexisted for a few weeks every cycle, where Marunae had learned from younglings eager to make friends how you issued a challenge to a wolf, and how you persuaded them of your worth when they thought you had none.

Wagons had been sent out to gather wood for the funeral pyre, and when one of them came back fully laden with a solitary tundra hare hauling the yoke, Kairon's tune had changed.

"You may test that weakness at your leisure," Marunae shot him a smirk.

He laughed. "Kastor's approval gives you guts, hare. I will save the rude awakening for when you need it. Perhaps when you have recovered from last night's wolf-liquor."

A silence fell over the table, easier than the last.

"They look ready." Ferro commented, looking out over the lodge. Most beasts sat before empty crockery now, or empty tables as the lodgekeeper's daughter attended.

Marunae pushed her empty bowl to one side, drained the last of the ale from her mug, and leapt up onto the table. "Ho, all!"

Chattering died to a murmur. A few chuckles scattered about, but none as pronounced as Ruka's hecklers from earlier.

"Today," she called out, "We save a village from ice and flood! The killhaul wagons have been repacked, so when we get there the evacuation itself should be easy work. I'm told most of you know the place already - Kavo's Trove?"

A chorus of murmured agreement, and some growls and yips of concern, rippled through the building.

"Our purpose is to reach the village by midsun and get evacuation underway. We will then carry on down south, stopping at several cities along the way to find places for these displaced wolves to stay until we can find them somewhere permanent. When Kavo's people have somewhere to stay then my authority ends and Kastor's original summons comes back into force - from then we will forge down to Kastor's Light as quickly as we can. Everybeast agree?"

There was a weak chorus. A sullen voice groused something about taking orders from prey.

"It is right," Bahto called out to little response. "It is what we should do."

Kairon stood, and projected. "If this deathtouched and these Knights were not here, we would be tracking ever further south right now and the beasts of Kavo's Trove would be lost by the time we reached city light. Whatever their species, we have the chance to save a whole village of our own because of them. Now give them thanks, for our brothers!"

There it was. Marunae let half a smile show as the wolves yelled and barked their agreement.

After a short while, she also tucked her ears back.

Wolves were loud.



"Marunae, you said your name was?" Koga looked over at her, imploring her for... something. Marrow sat at the edge of the wagon, staring unhappily off at the horizon. He didn't seem to much appreciate having been relegated to the wagon so early in the journey - and he didn't look all that well, either.

"Aye, of the great family. You're Koga?"

"I am, of Teysor Sounds. But I wanted to ask you something about the great family, if it's alright?"

"By all means."

"...is it true that you go to the Green Forest? Deliberately?"

Marunae laughed at the word. "Yes, it is. There are some wonderful fruits and berries that can only be harvested there in the fall."

"...do you wear scrimshaw, when you do?"

This caught Marrow's attention, and Marunae understood now. "Usually no," she said. "But I know the forest well enough to know the parts you stay in, and the parts you never enter. Vassals from further north get spooked the easiest. Sometimes I wear it just to keep them happy." She opened her pack, dug around in it until she found the familiar carved bone plate, and took it out. "Would you like to see?" she said, nodding to Marrow's curious muzzle. She handed it over at his barely-restrained eager nod. "A vambrace belonging to-"

"Isfahan, of the great family," the skunk breathed, running careful retracted clawtips over the carvings. He glanced up and must have seen the surprise on her face. "These markings up here," he said, "Where it looks like cross-hatching? The extra grooves that don't match the rest, those are carver's signs. This is Elder Gudra's work. Well, he wouldn't have been elder at the time, this is old so he'd've been young, but it will give you all the protection you need. I would love to see the full suit, if you know where it is."

"I'll see what I can do," she said, and left that half-smile out as he stared intently at the carvings for a great deal of the rest of the journey.



Kavo's Trove was a scattering of sturdy homes along a dirt track - a mud track, in fact, with all the recent rain. In the middle distance, peaks and ridges reared into the sky to the north, east and west.

Marunae's Vassaling had seen her incorporated into the Keaners - the Cartography Corps - when she had first taken her pledge. Keaner and his charges had taught the principles of mapping and of how land affected land, and it had been this careful tutelage that had led her to identify Kavo's Trove as the village Marrow saw under threat, because just as all those peaks protected the village very nicely from the worst of the weather from the North, they and their slopes also funneled any and all water down to the village. And then it had been her Farer training that had taken over, and she had put the authority of the Emergency Corps to use.

The walker wolves and the wagons came to a stop, greeted by a few curious village wolves. Questions were exchanged between the edgemost wolves, the conversation gathering momentum as younglings came out of their homes in that bleary excitement and confusion of the small.

Marunae hopped down from the wagon and greeted the nearest of the wolves. "Would you take us to your... who do we want?" She looked over to Bahto.

"To the Kindler. We bring grave news. The hare and the deathtouched must come as well."

The wolf they had spoken to tilted her head, assessing the four of them. Her eyes roved - Bahto and Kairon's alphasigns, Marunae's green neckerchief, Marrow's black and white patterning.

"Fine," she said. "The four of you, follow me. The rest, stay here."

As she started to lead them away, the sounds of conversation from behind them rose. Where pups had been visibly waiting, now they darted into the milling crowd of wolves, eager, curious, and loud.

They walked the mud track that led between cabins plastered with bright pawprints and decorations. Marunae found scenes coming to mind of younglings running round with dyes and paints all over them, smattering the lower third of each wall with their prints. Tired adolescents lifting the pups up to decorate higher, and the adolescents taking some spaces for themselves with little murals dotted in between the colour chaos.

Strings of colourful fabrics hung between buildings, tying rafter to rafter and lintel to lintel. Marunae touched her green neckerchief. The mark of the Emergency Corps was nothing compared to some of the weaving and tapestry she'd seen exported from wolf villages and scattered through any and all of Kastor's cities, but it was the same sort of splash of colour where colour was not often to be found.

The track weaved slightly between cabins and over a small bridge - beneath which a small river ran, lapping sometimes a mere paw's breadth away from its banks. Marunae tapped Marrow's shoulder and pointed down. He glanced and nodded back to her, expression grim.

"Ruyo," the she-wolf called as she pushed into an old, stout cabin. "Visitors."

A rough old voice coughed from another room, and a moment later a tall and careworn wolf joined them in what seemed to be the cabin's eating room. "Helvocen," he said, and gestured around. "Take seats, please. Menya, will you bring water?"

The younger she-wolf pivoted on her heel and left them.

"Sir, I'm afraid this isn't pleasantry. I am a member of the Farers - the Emergency Corps. This village is under threat and I have assembled this group to assist with evacuations."

The careworn wolf smiled. "Under threat, you say? My, my. How concerning. And what threat might one of Kastor's..." he paused, raking his eyes over her. "...hares deem significant enough to evacuate an entire village on word alone?"

"Flooding, sir." Marrow spoke this time and Marunae was silently grateful for it. "My markings aren't just for show. I've been travelling the northlands, digging up the truth behind all the mysterious disappearances, and it's bad news. The deepfrost itself is melting, and the floodwater breaches out of the ice without warning. Your river is already close to bursting its banks with rainwater alone - floodwater will sweep this whole place away."

His smile had faded somewhat by the time Marrow had finished speaking. Menya returned with mugs of water and distributed them.

"You speak as though the disappearances are any more than mere rumour. I won't be displaced by hearsay."

Bahto spoke. "Excuse me. Menya?"

The she-wolf grunted.

"Would you go back out to the others and bring Hopi to come see us? With your permission, Kindler...?"

The older wolf nodded idly, and inspected his mug for a moment.

Thank you, Marunae mouthed to Marrow while the Kindler was distracted.

They sat, and drank their water.

"Hopi is Jhoti's daughter. She lived here before he Walked," Bahto explained to nobeast in particular, but also to all of them. Marrow nodded immediately and Marunae understood the play as well, moments before the door opened again and Menya brought a much younger she-wolf in with her.

Ruyo looked over at her, and the smirk he had been building back up on his face over the last few minutes crumbled. Hopi's eyes were bloodshot, her fur flattened at points by the past tracking of tears.

She stood by Menya, coming up to her elbow, and looked at Bahto, then Ruyo. "You asked for me?" Her voice, still a little raw.

Marunae caught her gaze and got only the tiniest fraction of a head-shake in response. She saw Kairon's ear flicker out of the corner of her eye.

"You recognise her?" Bahto asked Ruyo, who nodded weakly.

"Would you show us what the deathtouched gave you?" Bahto said to Hopi this time. His voice was quiet but hard, as though he was thinking of someone else while he spoke.

The small wolf opened a clenched paw.

A growl surged in Ruyo's throat, then died again. "Jhoti's father gave him that. An old folktale committed to bone by an old Rattler, that he said kept him safe through thick and thin. Your father is gone then, young Hopi?"

She nodded, with a twist to her lips that left Marunae's heart plummeting in her chest.

"By flash flood, I take it?" A fraction of a snarl on Ruyo's lips as he gazed levelly at Marrow.

"Yes sir. We brought four bodies to Lodge Nine - uh, Kavo's Rest - and held pyre there."

"I oversaw it." Kairon said, a roughness to his already-deep voice. "I made sure we honoured them."

"Four...?"

"We did not find any of the rest, sir. I'm sorry. This is the threat your village faces. This is why Marunae led us here."

And finally the careworn wolf looked at her again, this time with age dragging at his features far more than before. "I see," he said. "You did as the old bastard taught all his Knights. Assess the situation... then tell everybeast what to do. Insufferable."

"Not just a Knight, sir. I'm also of the great family. Kastor has space in his cities for your people, and I promise you now that my family will help them as best they can. It is in their nature."

"That is... something, I suppose." The old wolf drained his mug, then stood. "Come along, Menya. It seems we have a village to evacuate. A whole people to uproot." He shook his head. "Damn that old monster. Taught you all far too well."



The village rose slowly to a bustle. The wolves were anywhere between stoic and visibly furious, but all who could, worked on the evacuation. The three smaller beasts, Marrow, Marunae and Koga, were left to explain what was going on to any who were confused.

One wagon filled as quick as it could with pups, the infirm, and all the fabrics that could be spared from anywhere at all.

They worked well, and fast. It struck Marunae that they were very well prepared for this, given the Kindler's reticence. Everything was being crated up - somebeast in the village had had crates to paw! - and packed onto the wagons bit-by-bit, scratched with clear labels and carefully placed.

The second wagon was full and the third was halfway there when a howl went up.

Marrow's tail bottlebrushed - several wolves bodily dived away from him at the sight.

A group of younger wolves, gathered around young Hopi. Her shoulders heaved and she faced away from the wagons as two of them held her close and howled, and the younglings around them joined in as well.

"Too soon, too soon!" Marrow's gaze darted from the howling younglings up to the ridgeline, all around the village and back again. "It's coming, quick, quick!"

Marunae bellowed. "Double speed, all! Whatever you're carrying, get it to the wagons! Flood's coming, and we can't be here any longer! Everybeast who feels strong right now, we need drive-teams on all wagons, pups first! Start hauling! Show us the speed and strength of the wolves of the north!"

Most wolves seemed to listen, this time. Any who didn't got chivvied along by Ruyo, Bahto, Kairon or one of the other wolves working alongside them and suddenly that was it, the village was all but empty.

"You have to move," Marrow yelled at the younger adolescents, who were still forming a wall of sorts around the sobbing Hopi. "Do you understand? Faster, come on, faster!" as they started shifting, only as fast as Hopi could move.

He cast one final panicked look at the ridgeline, where avalanche-sign riddled every visible slope, and he cursed loud and vulgar enough that several of the pups on the rapidly-retreating first wagon cackled in delight.

"I'm sorry about this!" he yelled, skittered around behind them, reared up on his forelimbs and spritzed them all.

At least Hopi probably didn't care about being seen crying any more, Marunae thought as the cluster of young adolescents careened toward the retreating wagons, yipping and barking in horror at the stench.

Marrow barely stopped to breathe, tipping over into a rough roll and sprinting pellmell for the wagons.

Behind him, something in the village let out a mighty crack and the distant roar of water became just that little bit clearer.

Marunae held out a paw. He was putting everything into the sprint and if he wasn't careful he'd run out of breath and power before he got to them -

His paw fell into hers and she hauled him up.

"I'm sorry about the stink," he said.

"They're not." She gestured to the adolescents who had come together for Hopi, and who were now watching in horror as more and more cabins foundered and the space where they had been mourning was consumed in scant moments by swirling turbid water. "They're alive because of you. Well done."

The wagons didn't stop moving until they crested the next hill along the trail. Only at that moment did Kindler Ruyo call a halt, and only at that moment did he and Bahto and Kairon lead a new howl.

Marunae plugged her ears as subtly as she could.

They really were very loud.