Chapter 8: The Pack

Mongswai and NeeNee got their belongings and went outside, where the wolfpack had been up and around collecting some food for the breakfast. All the wolves got up at the sound of their leader, and One Tooth stood tall and the packmembers all walked slowly past him to stand behind him, all with their heads bowed lower than One Tooth's. What I tell you now is what Mongswai was sent by NeeNee.

First came the best tracker of the pack, Smell-Ice. He was known to be able to track a deer, that has not even been wounded, only touched by a packmember, for weeks. When it one winter was very cold, he and One Tooth went to one of the cities of the land, and here they made some tricks to get some food. One of the most famous tricks they made was, that one in the audience touched a stick, and Smell-Ice would turn away while the volunteer touched one of ten baskets with water with the stick. When this was done and the volunteer had walked away, Smell-Ice would in less than ten seconds, which was the time it took for him to walk past the baskets one time, be standing by the basket that had been touched by the volunteer!

Then came a very beautifully proportioned she-wolf. She was a shy being, and had her best eyes of the pack, and was a strange wolf. She was a deep thinker, who had her best times, being alone on a hill-top, with her head turned upwards, facing the moonless sky, that is so seldom on abode, due to the two moons, that are almost there all the time. This behavior had given her the name Gazes-At-Sky. The three words that would fit on her best would be: Small, black, slim. She had a knowing look in her eyes, and she was one of the wolves who was best at the normal. She was able to form sentences, even though they were not always just correct, and she was able to send over very long distances. Well, for a wolf 50 kilometers is a very long way.

After Gazes-At-Sky came a big wolf named Hunts-Alone, whose size was only surpassed by One Tooth himself. He was not the brightest of the wolves, but his brute strength made him able to take a deer down by himself. Even then, as he could do so, he was the most kind soul. He could not think of hurting anyone or anything if it was not in the course of getting food. If one said anything evil about his friends, he was always there to defend them.

Then came a small grey wolf. NeeNee didn't know much about him, other than he was supposed to be immortal. He had been around for as long as she and any of her tribe's members could remember. As far as she was concerned, he was a shapechanger, but she was not sure of it. Perhaps One Tooth knew, but she was not sure about that either. He always tried to go about it when asked directly and if you tried to get to it with excuses and things, he was always getting around it. He never used words when he sent, but he understood it perfectly, when one used it towards him. When he sent, he always used pictures, sounds and feelings, and never speech. The only thing NeeNee really knew about him was the name. He had always been called Eater-Of-Stone, due to the strange habit he had of always carrying a stone in his mouth.

After those came three small wolves, who was yearlings; cubs from last year. When this short accepting of status, One Tooth sent, that it was time to get going. They left the old woman's cabin and went out through the opening in the living wall around it and into the forest.