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“Why are your lips blue?” Lucas asked David.

It was the morning after they saved Jessica Dane, and Catherine Vovk from the Talbot’s. Physically, they were fine, but it was clear from their demeanor that they had suffered mentally from their captivity.

“I petitioned the Lunes last night after we went to bed,” answered David, sipping hot coffee with a trembling hand. He pointed at the small grandfather clock mounted on the wall by the fireplace. Its faint ticking sounded more like the heartbeat of an animal in agony “Petitioned them to recognise my Wisdom for my ruling on Coyote-Liar-Heart and how they were punished for it.”

“Ahhh,” said Lucas in realisation. He was wondering why David was drinking a hot drink, something David disliked, and being told about the Lunes was the final piece of the puzzle he needed. “You got the Heart of Water aspect of the Gift of the Elementals from them.”

David nodded and had another sip, “So cold that it burned when I got it. Just as bad as when I got Tongue of Flame.”

“Well that will make getting the water into the truck for Fireball’s rite easier,” said Lucas. “If you get it stronger, you’ll be able to just create it. Save us from having to mix up so much each time.”

“Why didn’t you invite us?” asked Jesse.

“It was spur of the moment,” answered David. “Like petitioning them for Colin was.”

“And he only invited us then cause he needed to get Colin across the Gauntlet,” grumbled Lucas

“It also means he’s stronger than you now,” said Colin, joining the conversation with a mischievous grin.

“What?” said David and Lucas in unison.

“Ithaeur are renowned for their wisdom,” explained Colin. “So when one gets recognised by the Lunes for their wisdom, Mother Luna grants them more Moon Gifts.”

It was then that David noticed it, deep within his soul. He understood that he was now capable of great feats of tracking and hunting in the Spirit World during a Siskur-Dah.

He turned slowly to Lucas, an infuriatingly smug grin on his face, encouraged by his mate.

Lucas ground his teeth, refusing to look at his packmate.

“Before you two try and kill each other for the fifth time this week,” groaned Morrison, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What was the Talbot’s pack totem’s Bane and Ban, Madhouse? How do they work?”

The air above them shimmered as Fireball arrived to watch over the meeting. They had long since learned the difference between the pack gathered for breakfast and when it was gathered for a meeting.

Distracted from his lording over his packmate David answered, “If their totem spirit, Venom-Fang, is injected with the venom of a rattlesnake killed by fire in a certain set of clay ovens somewhere South of Caliente, then it’ll lose all of its essence. It’ll also be discorporated if it’s injected with its own venom.”

He gestured towards the library, where he had stowed the fang he stole from Venom-Fang the previous night, “So if I make a klaive from its fang using a snake killed in those ovens during its creation, it could kill it with just a single scratch, let alone actually stabbing it.”

“Are these ovens in their territory?” asked Morrison.

David was suddenly silent, avoiding the elder’s eyes.

“Do you even know the exact location of these ovens?” Morrison asked, suspicious.

“No,” mumbled David. “Mother Luna didn’t show that bit to me.”

Morrison shook his head, “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“It’s easier than its Ban,” said David indignantly.

“How’s it harder?” asked Morrison. “Enlighten me with your wisdom, Ithaeur.”

“Because of the power of names and its hatred of Humanity,” explained David, “Venom-Fang can be temporarily controlled by someone wielding a copy of the scientific journal that gave the Mojave Rattlesnake its name, Crotalus Scutulatus. With it, you can order Venom-Fang to complete a single task. If it fails, it’s destroyed.”

“How’s that harder?” asked Jesse.

“It has to be an authentic, legible copy from Eighteen-Sixty-One,” said David.

Jesse slapped the table in annoyance, “There it is.”

“And only one task can be demanded per copy,” added David. “So even if we get a hold of one, it may have already been used.”

“Even better!” said Jesse, throwing his hand up in frustration.

Tsu’mara spoke up, “Even if we knew where the ovens were, the Talbot’s would have them locked down. None of us would even be able to get within sight of them. It’s what I’d do.”

Morrison shrugged, “Not necessarily. Packs of the Pure don’t know what the Bans and Banes of their pack totems are cause the spirits keep them secret since the Pure are subservient to the Spirit World. They don’t uphold the Balance like Father Wolf did. So that could be a benefit to us.”

“But,” he added, “If they do happen to know what the Ban and Banes are, for some reason, they might be able to make moves to keep us from getting a copy of that book, or try to get that fang back.”

David stood up from the table, “Then I’m gonna get to work on that klaive now. Break it up into smaller pieces so it’d be harder for them to get it all back.”

Lucas watched David walk off into the library.

“Alright. That part’s settled,” he said, “ I’ll get to work on tracking down a copy of the book. What about our hostage?”

“What about him?” asked Jesse.

“Well, with Mom and Jessica back,” said Lucas, “There’s no reason to keep him alive anymore. Even for a fake hostage exchange where he’d died anyway.”

Jesse shrugged and said dismissively, “Kill him.”

Colin shook his head, “No. We should let him go.”

“What?” asked Lucas, confused. “You were on Team Killing Him yesterday. You almost bit David’s head off over it.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” said Colin, holding his hands up. “I still want him dead. But some things should take precedence over personal feelings.”

“We have a stronger position now,” said Kaiden. “May as well use him to trade for something. We put the effort into keeping him alive, killing him would make that pointless. We could use him as a token of good will”

Lucas nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we do have a good bargaining position. Cut the bastard’s legs off.”

Kaiden shook his head, “Good will will only work if we don’t mutilate them. If they kidnap someone else, they’d do the same.”

Colin added, “If we make it obvious that we treated his wounds, it’d put us on a higher moral standing in negotiations with them.”

Lucas scoffed, mumbling, “With how they treated our Wolf-Bloods, sure.”

“Lucas,” Colin said, with a soft voice, reaching over to put a hand on Lucas’, “I was deliberately put in a separate car from Mrs Vovk and Jessica. I knew exactly what they were gonna do.”

“Trust me,” he then said with a firm voice. A firmness that told Lucas far more about what he was planning than those two simple words should have.

Lucas nodded, “I trust you.”

Morrison watched the exchange, eyes narrowed at Colin in suspicion.

“So if we give them back Ed,” said Morrison, “Do we use that to get them to back off or more territory? We clearly won this battle against them. What are we getting in tribute? We could demand that they give us the Northern half of Caliente.”

“More territory won’t work,” said Lucas. “We’re spread too thin already. We’re only able to keep Ely cause it’s far from the Talbot’s and we have Donny in charge of it.”

“Maybe have the Northern half be made a neutral zone instead,” suggested Morrison. “That way it will no longer be a problem to drive through to get to Vegas. Could also demand a longer ceasefire to keep them from meddling for months.”

“Also demand a tribute of Essence,” added Morrison.

“What about the scrolls?” asked Kaiden.

“We’re not giving those back,” said Lucas.

He got up from the table and headed to the library. He returned with a couple of the rolled up donkey hides he had stolen.

He rolled one out, showed them a depiction of a skinned werewolf and said, “I can’t read what it says, since it’s encoded, but it seems to show how to skin an Uratha without killing them.”

Kaiden reached for one of the hides, rolled it out and said, “What the hell are they doing to that cat?!”

Morrison snatched the scroll out of Kaiden’s hands and looked it over. His eyes widened in shock, “Oh god. That’s the Taghairm.”

He looked to Lucas, “You’re right. Giving these back isn’t an option.”

He rolled the scroll up, took the hide scroll from Lucas and did the same. “We’ll give these to the Protectorate. They have a few ciphers that could crack the Pure’s codes on these.”

Colin was drumming his fingers during the entire exchange, deep in thought. It wasn’t until the scrolls were returned to their hiding place that he spoke again.

“Neutral territory will work,” he said, “If we give Alyssa’s body, and Ed back as tokens of goodwill, and have them swear an oath on their tribal totems, it could convince them to do it and keep their word.”

Morrison nodded, “Anyone else have anything to add that we could try for?”

Everyone shook their heads. He nodded again, “Alright then. I’ll send a message to Wilhelm to meet at the Caliente town hall. During the day. Better for cover and less likely for them to overtly start shit.”

He pointed at Kaiden, Lucas, and Tsu’mara, “I’ll need you three with me. We’ll need representatives from all our pack’s tribes.”

“That’s two Iron Masters though,” said Tsu’mara, pointing to both herself and Lucas.

“We need a Rahu’s muscle in case they are stupid enough to try something,” said Morrison. He waved them off, “Now go meet me at the truck. We’ll leave right after I send the message.”

The three did as they were told and left the Den.

David popped his head out of the library door, “Hey, Kaiden.”

“Huh? What?” asked Kaiden.

“Should I focus on finishing the snake klaive or the mirror?” asked David.

“Oh, uh,” said Kaiden, surprised that David was actually asking nicely. “I guess the mirror. The klaive seems rather niche, and the mirror sounds more useful in general.”

David gave a nod and popped back into the library. Sounds of things being put away, and stuff taken out coming from the library’s closet. Soon followed by David swearing at the Scholar’s Assistant for not helping him.

Morrison was just about to start chanting in the First Tongue when Colin interrupted him.

“Elder Morrison?”

“What?” asked Morrison.

“The Message Rite is unable to be intercepted, right?” asked Colin.

“Yes. The message is sent by Lunes. Nothing can force the message from them,” answered Morrison. “Why?”

“Can you send a message to Jenny Talbot?” asked Colin. “Just tell her; ‘It’s never too late’.”

Morrison narrowed his eyes in an accusatory stare. “Okay.”

“Thank you, Elder,” said Colin and went to walk away.

Morrison grabbed Colin’s arm and pulled him back.

“Whatever it is you’re planning,” warned Morrison, squeezing Colin’s arm painfully, “Be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.”

He let go of Colin and pushed him towards the library. “Go help Madhouse with research before he breaks Lucas’ owl.”

***

The body of an Uratha was a wondrous thing. It could purge poisons and drugs in moments. Heal lethal wounds in seconds. It processed food so efficiently that virtually nothing was wasted.

So all that Kaiden could wonder in that moment was just how the hell the Uratha sitting on the other side of the table from him got so damned fat.

Richard Warton's tremendous bulk took up half of the table’s bench that Talbot’s pack sat on, with Wilhelm Talbot being the only other person of their pack sitting on the bench. The other two had to stand, those being Jenny and Josiah Talbot.

Kaiden, and others of the Pack that Morrison brought with him to negotiate sat at the table at the Caliente town hall,a Spanish mission style building originally used as a train station and depot but now renovated as the city hall, library and museum.

“I agreed to meet,” said Wilhelm, a hand clenched on his cane with white knuckles. “You may have won the last battle but I still expect you to fix the Wound you created.”

“We’re aware of the deal we made to seal the wound,” said Kaiden. “No matter how one side that deal you forced us into was. But we can’t progress on that if we have to worry about more conflict between our packs. It’s never too late for us to come to a peaceful agreement”

He didn’t know why Lucas insisted on him saying that last part at some point during the negotiations, but he was adamant about not explaining why and just to trust whatever it was Colin was planning.

Wilhelm snorted and said, “If you’re serious about any negotiations, I want both bodies of the Hawthorn siblings returned.”

“First and foremost,” said Kaiden, holding up a hand to stop Wilhelm. “We need you lot to make an oath on Father Wolf, and your tribal totems-”

“-Rabid Wolf-,” he said, looking to Wilhelm, Jenny, and Josiah.

“-and Silver Wolf.” he said to the corpulent Richard.

Wilhelm drew in a sharp intake of breath at the notion of such a binding oath. He spat, “Will you do the same with your own tribal totems?”

Morrison spoke up, “That’s why I brought the pack members I did. All our tribes are represented.”

“Good,” said Wilhelm with a satisfied sneer. The satisfaction quickly disappeared as he added, “But any treaty or agreement sworn in the Bitch Queen’s name is as fickle and changeable as her moods. It’s not worth anything. Only swear on your tribes.”

They couldn’t risk the negotiations falling apart. Not now and in the centre of the Pure’s territory. So they agreed to swear on their own tribal totems.

“Now for your terms,” said Wilhelm, satisfied that Kaiden and his pack agreed to a binding oath. “What is it you expect out of these negotiations?”

“We’ll return the body of Alyssa,” said Kaiden. He paused after that, briefly thinking about keeping Ed as a surprise for later, but decided against it. “And return Ed to you unharmed.”

“Praise Ur-Farah! The boy’s alive,” exclaimed Wilhelm, slamming his cane on the ground. “We feared that you heathens tore him apart like his sister. Returning him to my pack will be much appreciated.”

He composed himself, “That is what you’re offering, what do you want in exchange?”

Kaiden didn’t look forward to the next step. Their Big Ask. But the band-aid had to be torn off at some point. May as well have be then. “The establishment of a neutral zone. No Pure or Forsaken cross it and we stay away from each other.”

Morrison pointed at the train tracks, “That’s where Pure territory will end-”

He pointed at the river, “And Forsaken territory will end at Meadow Valley Wash.”

Josaiah’s and Richard’s face went beet red, and they started swearing and spitting insults at Kaiden and the rest of the Pack. Jenny looked upset, on the verge of tears. Only Wilhelm was calm, collected, and not openly angry like the rest of his pack was over being demanded to cede territory to the Forsaken.

He took a long, slow breath before answering, “Alright. I’m okay with a neutral zone. But what about this? What if we make all the highways a neutral zone? So both us and you can travel along freely.”

That was a horrible idea and the Pack knew it. Having all the highway be a neutral zone would have it come uncomfortably close to their den, Colin’s bar, and Gabby’s clinic. Being unable to control the highway would leave them no way to respond in a timely manner to the Pure trying to kidnap their pack members. They barely saved Gabby and Colin in time the first time.

Kaiden didn’t know how to shoot down that suggestion.

Thankfully, Lucas came to his rescue.

“So because you Pure reject the blessings of Luna, you miss out on rather special tools,” said Lucas. “Such as being able to look at a spirit and discover its weakness.”

He pointed in the direction of the valley the Talbots had his mother, and Jessica captive, “When we were in your prison, we met your pack totem. Suffice to say, I got a good look at its weaknesses.”

Kaiden fought to keep a straight face. It was David that discovered the ban and bane. Showing any kind of shock at Lucas claiming to have found it instead would invoke suspicion from Wilhelm. Be it believing that they were lying about the ban and bane, which would cause its own problems, or risk finding out that it was David who discovered the weaknesses.

Wilhelm finding out that it was David would make him wonder why they tried to keep it secret. He already knew David was Matt Dane’s apprentice, so it would have been reasonable to presume that it was kept secret because David would create a fetish to destroy Venom-Fang.

Which he was.

Discovering that fact could prompt the Talbots to raid their den where they could steal or destroy their accumulated lore and rites. Just like what they did to the Pure the night before.

And worse. He didn’t know where David hid his Perfected Metals, but they couldn’t risk such valuable, magical materials falling into the wrong hands. Alongside the Scholar’s Assistant, and the fetishes they claimed from Dane’s den after his pack’s slaughter.

“Now keep in mind,” said Lucas, snapping Kaiden out of his thoughts. “We’re not making these negotiations cause we’re on equal footing. We can do far more damage if we want. But we don’t want to destroy you though. That’s where we differ from you.”

Wilhelm narrowed his eyes, glaring at Lucas and the others in the pack. He worked his jaw as he chewed on his words.

He looked to his own pack before letting out a frustrated snort. “Alright. No neutral zones on the roads then. How about we agree to not use silver in future conflicts?”

That’s not something Kaiden and the others could agree to either. They all knew that David wanted to use, and has been using, silver in his fetishes to keep them out of the Pure’s hands. Agreeing not to use silver in any conflict would raise the risk of them being stolen, since the vague wording of conflict would be purposefully used against them to have no silver at all in any fetish.

Which meant David couldn’t use his Charred Death Rattle, or the mirror he was in the middle of crafting that very moment. Or the ring he gave to Colin to find him if he was kidnapped again.

“That something we can agree to?” asked Wilhelm, seeing the obvious resistance on Kaiden’s face to that agreement. “If you truly wish for our packs not to destroy each other, silver’s a reasonable request, is it not?”

“Fine,” said Kaiden. “We’ll agree not to use any silver weaponry and ammunition.”

That would allow David to keep using silver when crafting fetishes. He wouldn’t be able to make silver bullet talens or klaives. But everything else he could. They just had to make sure they weren’t used to bludgeon or cut anyone.

“Those will be the terms,” said Kaiden. He gestured to the river and the railroad tracks. “The area between Meadow Valley Wash and the railroad tracks will mark neutral territory. We’ll return Alyssa’s body and release Ed in the state he’s currently in.”

He continued, “There will be no use of silver-”

Wilhelm interrupted him, a predatory gleam in his eye, “in bladed weapons and firearm ammunition.”

Kaiden swore internally. His specific word use was noticed and made even more loose. No bladed weapons left weaponry like clubs and explosives on the table, and no firearm ammunition allowed the use of cannons and black powder guns as, according to US law, those weren’t considered firearms.

“Very well,” he said, at least David had a lot more freedom when it came to his fetishes, “We have an agreement.”

“Time to seal the deal on our tribal totems,” said Morrison.

He gave a growling whistle and the air shimmered with heat behind them as Fireball appeared, invisible in the Twilight.

“Our pack totems will serve as witness to this agreement,” said Morrison.

A soft cacophony of rattles rang in the air as Venom-Fang appeared, invisible to all but Lucas who had shifted his eyes to see into the Twilight. The vast serpent spirit was glaring at them with a barely restrained fury.

Lucas held back a smirk as it hissed at them, only a single fang in its mouth.

Wilhelm muttered a small incantation in the First Tongue, too soft for Lucas and the others to properly make out, and he looked directly at Fireball. Now clearly able to see the flaming meteor, he looked it over. Clearly looking for some sort of weakness.

Morrison was the first to swear, “In the memory of Father Wolf and by Winter Wolf’s honor, we will abide by this pact.”

Wilhelm answered, “By Rabid Wolf’s wisdom, we will ensure all abide by this pact.”

Kaiden responded, “By Death Wolf’s wisdom, we will ensure this pact is not maliciously abused.”

Richard Warton swore, “By Silver Wolf’s purity, we will ensure that the pact’s word is followed.”

Lucas sealed the pact by finishing with, “By Red Wolf’s cunning, we will follow this pact to the letter.”

As Red Wolf’s name was invoked, Tsu’mara felt a cold shiver race up her spine and the hairs on the back of her neck raised as if she was being watched. She looked to her side and could have sworn that she saw the tail of a red wolf disappear around the corner.

It wasn’t Colin. She knew that. David would not let the Wolf-blood out his sight. Not now. Not after what happened.

But there was something else. Something more. She realised that she didn’t see the tail. Not truly.

She looked to Lucas, seeking her Ithaeur’s wisdom, and saw him looking at the same area where the red wolf disappeared. Whatever it was that she saw with more than eyes, he saw too.

The Pure shivered too as their tribal totems were invoked and the pact sealed. But they did not look around as if they saw something like Lucas and Tsu’mara did.

***

David shuddered at the book shelf he was standing in front of as he and Colin searched through the library’s overly filled shelves for wells.

“You okay?” asked Colin, looking up from the stack of maps that were on the desk.

“I think they just finished negotiations,” said David as he rubbed the back of his neck to get the hairs on his neck to go back down.

“That’s great!” said Colin with a huge smile. “They should be back soon then.”

“Yeah,” agreed David, pulling a worn journal from the shelf and flipping through it. “It’ll be nice not having to take the long way around in order to drive to Vegas.”

“If they got that part of the deal,” he grumbled under his breath.

He paused his flipping the journal. It was an old journal that the Old Man wrote in. “I think I found something.”

Colin looked up, curious, “What is it?”

“This journal was written in the early Two-Thousands,” said David. “The Old Man was mentioned adding some well spirits to a map he had.”

Colin quickly sifted through the maps on the desk. He gave an excited ‘Aha!’ when he found the map he was looking for.

“This map was made by Elder Morrison of a lot of locations with known spirits outside of Pioche,” said Colin, setting the map on the top of the stack. He pointed at the North Western corner of the map. “Even Fireball’s marked here.”

“Also a spirit named ‘Thunder-Coyote,” he said before he squinted and looked closer at the spirit’s marked location, near to where they first met Fireball. “Odd. He has it marked ‘Stay far away.’”

David walked over to Colin and looked over his shoulder. He saw that Morrison’s note on the spirit actually said ‘Stay the FUCK away’.

He gave his mate an annoyed look.

Colin gave a frustrated hum, not noticing David’s look, “There’s a lot of spirits on here though. Too many to sift through in a reasonable time.”

Colin looked up from the map and asked the marble owl perched at the edge of the desk, “Can you help narrow this down, please?”

The owl fluttered its stoney wings. It wordlessly swivelled its head and saw David. It then froze, still as a statue again.

Colin gave David an annoyed look.

“What?” asked David. “I didn’t say anything this time.”

Colin shook his head, “We’ll just have to cross reference the spirit map with some water table maps and hope for the best.”

It took over an hour for them to narrow the spirits down to five wells with confirmed spirits.

“This one’s pretty close,” said Colin, pointing at a well East of Boothill Cemetery. “It’s just a small hike from Boothill.”

“Yeah, it is,” agreed David.

“But?” asked Colin.

“Because it’s so close to town,” said David pointing to Pioche on the map, “It’s far more likely to be well fed. A hungry spirit will be easier to convince to inhabit the fetish.”

His ears perked up when he heard the truck pull up in front of the house.

He took off to meet the pack and find out how the negotiations went, leaving Colin to clean up the library.

Colin grumbled to himself, annoyed and started rolling the maps up.

He stopped when he heard David quickly run back.

David skidded into the room and grabbed a bunch of the maps.

“Lucas is gonna kill me if he sees the state I left the library in,” he said in a panic, shoving the maps back into their spots.

Colin let out a small laugh, handing David maps and watched him scamper around the library.