{"sf1_id":772472,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Muin","author":"assilsasta","words":6454,"posted_at":"2014-10-24T06:35:00.000Z","tags":["Aura reading","Barter","Chance Meeting","Deer husky hybrid","Deer/husky","Discernment of Spirits","Dream travel","Druid","Emancipated","Female","Hybrid","Implied incest outdoors","Kissing","Lynx","Male","Nature","New expirience","New places","Nudity","Ogham","Orphaned","Paganism","Self-discovery","Sheltered","Spiritual gifts","Tree meanings","astral projection","confusion","hiking","pagan","supplies","trade"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/772472-muin","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/772472","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=772472\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nThe\nForest Through the Trees10 Muinby Assilsasta (¯`·. .··¸.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.,-( Picking up the Pieces\n)-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··. .·´¯) Emmet pushed his way past the circle of furs as he chased\nhis fleeing wife. As soon as he was past the other men he found himself\nstanding, looking out into the all but deserted gathering grounds, the last\nsign of the female lynx, her discarded shoes, left as if stepped out of while\nshe ran. He turned and looked at the gathering of males as he asked, \"Which way\ndid she go?\"The only answer was silence returned by the men as some\nscowled at him. His heart began to race as he realized just how outnumbered he\nwas. Turning to run in the direction the shoes pointed he began to mutter to\nhimself, \"Ya though I am in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no\nevil...\" His only real concern at the moment the words and revelation his wife\nhad left him with. \nDonovan picked up his youngest sister as he turned to Sonet\nas he nodded to Katie. \"Hey munchkin,\" he said to the small lynx in his arms,\nwiping the tears from her eyes, \"I want you to meet someone very special, you\ntoo Katie.\" He put his free arm around Sonet and pulled her closer as he said,\n\"This is Sonet, My wife, your new sister... I guess.\"\"So... umm... You're married,\" Katie asked, one arm crossing her\nchest, holding her elbow to her side. Donovan gave a halfhearted chuckle as he rubbed the back of\nhis head, \"Ya, it's... um... Hard to explain.\"Sonet knelt down in front of Katie and smiled as she said,\n\"You are as beautiful in life as you are in the ether.\" Katie took a step back and blushed hard, visible through her\nwhite fur as she asked, \"Why... why are you naked?\"\"This is the way the mother made us,\" the doe husky hybrid\nreplied. \"It is only natural to be sky clad in her presence.\" Almost as if\nsnapped into some alternate world, Sonet reached out and grabbed Katie's paw\nand said, \"Dawn said candy. Come Let us find Star Dreamer. He has fruit rock\ncandies.\" Then she began to pull the cub along as the crowd began to cautiously\ndisperse back their previous activities. \"Sonet,\" Donovan shouted after the energetic hybrid, \"Hold\nup. Why don't you take Grace, I think I need to talk to Katie.\"Sonet turned and looked at him with a slightly confused\nexpression, \"Why?\"\"Well, we just had a big bomb dropped on us, and...\" he\ntrailed off for a moment as Sonnet looked him and his sisters over for a\nmoment.Letting go of Katies paw she reached out to the youngest of\nthe lynx family. In a nervous reaction Grace hugged her brother tighter and\nburied her face in his shoulder. \"Come on grace, you want some candy right?\"\nthe small girl shook her head, face still planted in his shoulder. \"Well, she's\nthe one that knows where it is. She doesn't bite.\"The small lynx looked up at his with her thumb in her mouth,\nthen to the doe.Sonet smiled at the young girl as she said, \"I'll tell you a\nstory my grandfather used to tell me when I was small like you.\"  She smiled, showing her canine teeth as she\ncontinued, \"It's called the Day Boy and Night Girl.\"The little girl looked back at Donovan for a moment before\nhe asked, \"Will you go with her if she holds your paw, She's really nice and\nwants to get to know her new sisters.\" With a weak nod of her head, Donovan put\nher back on the ground.\"Come,\" Sonet said with a smile, \"lets run, it's always more\nfun to run.\" Donovan smiled and shook his and smiled as he heard his\nlittle sister giggle as the pair ran off paw in paw. He wasn't sure how long it\nwould take for his family to warm up to his new mate, but at least his little\nsisters seemed to be taking it better than his parents. He looked down at Katie\nas he said, \"So, I guess we got a lot to talk about.\"\"What... what mom said...\" Katie started to ask before she\ntrailed off unsure of herself.\"Yeah, I know right,\" Donovan said as he started walking in\nthe direction his wife and sister had disappeared in. \"I really don't know\nabout that, and it didn't look like Dad did either.\"\"Um... if... if he's not your dad...\" the younger girl started,\nobviously unsure of herself.\"I... I really don't know. As long as I can remember he's been\nDad,\" Donovan said with a shrug. \"Anyway, How is school? shouldn't you be in\nclass?\"\"Dad pulled us out to come looking for you,\" She said\nlooking down at the ground. They walked for a moment in silence before she\nadded, \"I made the football team, and MVP on the baseball team.\"\"That's great. I wish I could have been there for that.\"\"You could've, you know.\"\"I had to get away, Katie, I couldn't take it anymore. Every\nday was just another lecture of what I needed to be doing and how I was\namounting to nothing. It was like he has this grand plan that I needed to\nfinish for him or something.\"\"I... I miss you Don,\" Katie said softly. \"It's... it's so quiet\nat the games without you. Dad's always too busy. And... and I miss having you\nclose.\" \"Katie,\" the lynx boy said glancing down at his sister,\n\"What... what I really wanted to talk to you about... was... um... About a month ago...\ndid... did you have a dream?\"As the words came out of his mouth Katie stopped in her\ntracks. Eyes wide she looked up at him, her mouth hanging open. Donovan looked\nat her as his suspicions were confirmed. \"What you said... in the dream... what...\nwhat we did...\"Katie blushed deeply as she looked back down to the ground.\n\"I... Don...\" She stammered unable to look up at him. He knelt by her, no longer paying attention to where Sonet\nor his younger sister had gone to. \"Katie, it's okay, you're at the age where\nyou have those kinds of feelings, and... I have those kinds of feeling for Sonet.\nI do love you Katie, you're my sister, but I am in love with Sonet.\"She looked up at him as she said, \"But... but what if I'm not\nreally your sister? Mom said that...\"Donovan looked down at ground as his sister trailed off. \"I...\nI really don't know, you... you've always been my little sister and... thinking\nabout stuff like that... it's it's kinda weird. You know what I mean? Look, once\nwe find Mom and Dad, we'll have to ask them more about all this. It's gotten\nreally confusing, and today hasn't helped anything, for either of us.\"In a sad tone Katie said, \"Okay,\" as her brother put a paw\non her shoulder.\"Hey, let's find Sonet and Grace. Can't let those two have\nall the fun, right?\"\"Don?\" Katie looked up at him and said, \"You've changed. I\nthink meeting Sonet was a good thing. The way you stood up to Dad, and... you\nlook better, healthier, like you've been working out more.\"Donovan huffed a laugh as he said, \"Sure, if you call chopping\nwood and lugging a makeshift wolf den out of the forest working out, I guess I\nhave. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be able to come out and spend some time\nat the grove with us.\" He smiled as he stood back up. \"Now which way did that\ncrazy girl of mine get off to with Grace?\" (¯`·. .··¸.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.,-( A Mother's Secrets )-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··.\n.·´¯) Lydia's bare paws tapped lightly against the cold snow\ncovered ground as she ran into the tree line. Here mind raced with the sudden\nadmission she had made in front of so many people, an admission she hoped never\nto make. More than eighteen years had passed since she had met and become mated\nto Emmett, and she had sworn to leave them behind and never look back. She only\nwent back there once, and that one slip had now followed her, and affected her\nson.. And now she needed to find a way out of it all. She could hear him calling her from back the way she came,\nbut her feet would not let her stop running. He wasn't a cracker , or a\nwilderness man in any way, but a blind, deaf, mute could follow the trail she\nleft in the snow covered forest floor. Without much thought she hit a large\npine tree, her claws extending in all four of her paws as they dug into the\nbark, lifting her into the dense evergreen tree. Soon, perched high in the\nbranches, she looked down at the top of the slightly older male lynx as he\nlooked around, confused by the sudden stop in her path. She scooted close to\nthe tree trunk, pulling her legs up on the branch with her when she saw him\nlook up. Soon she let out a sigh of relief as he called out her name again and\nstarted to walk farther into the wood, following what would have been her path\nif she had continued.  \n Emmett pulled his coat tighter around him as he followed the\ntrail of paw prints left by his wife. The past few hours seemed to only add to\nhis world falling apart. His son's words echoing in his mind alongside his\nwife's. His son was only five when they started going to church. His son. Those words suddenly held more weight in his paws\nthan ever before. His wife's revelation to them had felt like a physical punch\nin the chest. It had knocked the air out of him when she said Donovan was not\nhis. The revelation that he had raised the boy as his own, feeling that\nsomething was not right the entire time. \nWhen the boy was born, his parents began their crusade to\nget Emmett to take them all back to church, raise his family right, as he was.\nAt first he was resistant, feeding off his wife's free spirited nature, the\nunbridled passion that they shared felt wrong every time he even considered\nreturning to his Christian roots. That, and the memory of his father's\ninterpretation of the verse, \"Spare the rod, Spoil the child.\" It had been one\nof the things that originally soured his palate for the biblical ways. He\ndidn't want to be his father.He stopped as the snow began to fall again. The image of his\nwife as she grabbed his raised paw, the paw he had raise at his son. His mind raced\nin two directions simultaneously. On one paw he saw the look in his father's\neyes when he was in the same place Donovan was, wanting to do his own thing,\ntake control of his own life, marry the girl he had fallen in love with. On the\nother he saw the look in his wife's eyes as she told him he essentially had no\nson, and the boy he had raised suddenly became a total stranger in his heart. He dropped down in the snow as he wondered just what other\nsecrets his family had kept from him as he took them back to the church. His\nfamily seemed content with life as he looked back, but Donovan had always\nseemed resistant to the teachings, always questioning them, but following them\nnone the less. He wondered just how much he had missed with his daughters as he\ntried to get them both to fall in line with what he thought was best. \"I've\nbecome my own father,\" he said aloud into the lonely woods. \"And Donovan is not\neven mine. Where did I go wrong?\" \n Several minutes had passed since Emmett had passed beneath the\ntree and the snow had nearly covered his tracks, and her path back the way they\nhad come. She climbed down the tree, her paws shivering in what felt like an\nentirely new chill that radiated in from the ground. It had been so many years\nsince she had been this far out in the wilderness. Just over seventeen in fact.\nShe looked around at the tranquil, death-like expanses of leafless skeletal\ntrees mixed in with the evergreens. She was uncertain which of the two paths\nbefore her she should take. One lead back to the pagan gathering, and the other\nlead to the man she had dedicated her life to, and lied to for years about her\nson. She looked up into the slowly falling snow as she said\naloud, \"Which way should I go? Every choice I've made on my own has only caused\nproblems for my children. And now I may have just destroyed every chance they\nhad at a normal life.\" She looked back down at the ground as she ran the past\nseventeen years through her mind, all the lies she had told to protect her mate\nfrom her own past, the pain she felt every time the man she loved took a step\nin the direction that only hindered her son. If only she had been truthful from\nthe start, but would he have ever accepted her?She took a deep breath as she turned in the direction her\nmate had gone. She knew he wouldn't last the night, and he wouldn't be able to\nfind the way back alone. Even with his choices, that she supported him in as\nmuch as she could, she still loved him, and wanted him in her life. But the\nLies had to end; she needed to tell him the truth, even if it would drive him\naway. She started walking and singing a song that she had always loved, though\nshe did not feel it fit well into her life and heart. \"As\nthe deer panteth for the weather so my soul longeth after thee, You alone are\nmy heart's desire and I long to worship thee.You\nalone are my strength, my shield. To you alone does my spirit yield. You alone\nare my heart's desire, and I long to worship thee.\" The words felt right to her, but the direction she sent them\nwas not what was meant by the writer. Her mind had always gone to her lover and\nmate when the verse rolled off her tongue, not the god they were written for.\nAs she walked the words got louder with each step. She sang out into the forest\nas she followed the path to the target of her song. It was not long before she\nsaw the male lynx, sitting, shivering as the snow slowly piled up around him.\nHe didn't turn or respond as she approached her words more than audible to him.\nShe knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around his as she continued to sing\nin his ear. He leaned into her as she finished singing to him. \"I love\nyou, Emmett, and I never meant to hurt you.\"\"I'm a fool.\"She snickered at his words as she said, \"No more a fool than\nI. We are from as different worlds as our son and his mate.\"\"But he's not my son. Are any of them mine? I don't even\nknow who you are anymore. You've lied to me.\" He pulled away from her warmth as\nhe spoke. \"We've lived a lie. You cheated on me, you've been unfaithful.\"She looked at him as he turned to face her. \"You don't\nunderstand. It's...\" she trailed off for a moment as she looked at the anger in\nhis eyes. The same anger she saw in his father's eyes when he told his family\nhe was getting married. The look of the entire world being forced from his\ngrip, like a toy from a stubborn child throwing a tantrum. \"You'll leave us.\nOnce I tell you  the truth you will turn\naway and never look back. Everything we have, everything we've done together I\nhave done for you. I've lied to protect you, to protect my son and our\ndaughters from the wrath of your god. There are things you would never\nunderstand, things that Donovan is seeing and questioning even now.\"\"What... what do you mean?\" He asked as he looked at the lynx\nwoman that seemed more strange to him now after eighteen years of marriage than\nshe did when he first met her. \"What do you know about what he is going\nthrough? This... this cult has brainwashed him. I've raised him as my own, I've\ntaught him better than this. Even if I am not his biological father, he defied\nme.\"\"It's not a cult,\" she said looking him in the eyes. \"They\nare disconnected; anyone can see that many of them at that gathering traveled a\nlong way to be there. Only maybe a hundred are from this town.\" They are\npeaceful, nature loving pagans, wiccans. They aren't the demon, devil\nworshipers you want them to be. You follow a religion of love, one that I can\nfollow with you. But you hang onto a prejudice taught from the pulpit that is\nso against the teachings of your own holy book. You judge them all before you\nknow them. You condemn them to hell, which is not your place to do.\"\"They deny God. They blaspheme and use the powers of the\ndevil, worshiping plant and what not. How can that be good for anything?\"\"All that doesn't matter,\" She said as she started to crawl\ntoward him. \"Your God tells you one thing about all this, Love thy neighbor as\nthy self. Jesus was an outcast of his own people, the one you confess as your\nsavior turned his back on the prejudice of the day and dined with sinners and\npagans. He surrounded himself with everything that the religious leaders of the\nday shunned. And now you do the same thing Jesus lead his people from.\"Emmett sat in stunned silence as his wife's words rang with truth\nin his ears. With a meek voice he looked at her and asked, \"What have you lied\nto me about? What is so bad that I would leave you?\"\"Donovan's father... is my brother.\" The words hung in the air\nlike icicles waiting to fall. Emmett looked wide eyed at her as he spoke, \"You... you told\nme...\"She looked away as she cut him off, \"I know. I told you I\ndidn't have any family. But you have to understand, I left for a reason. I went\nback only to tell them I was getting married. That was the last time I ever\nwanted to see them again. They are... They are everything you fear these people\nsurrounding our son are. They saw nothing wrong with any action, as long as it\nstayed within the circle.\" She sat back, unable to look at him as she heard him\ngetting closer to her.\"Lydia...\" he said softly as he reached up and brushed the\nhair away from her cheek, \"I had no idea.\"She pulled away as she said, \"I left because I wanted no\npart of what they  were.\" She looked up\nat him, tears in her eyes as she added, \"And I want nothing to do with you, or\nyour God if you stand in the way of my son, or our daughters.\"The lynx man leaned back on his haunches as his jaw dropped\nopen. He was unsure of what had just transpired as all the information slowly\nstarted to sink in. His wife had just issued him an ultimatum he could not\nignore. She wanted him to give up his power as the father of his children. In\nonly a few moments she had torn his son from him, and now she wanted him to\nstep back from their daughters. Something he could not do in good conscience.\"I can't do that,\" he said softly, \"Donovan may not be my\nson, but Katie and Grace are my children, and I will continue to do what I know\nis best.\"\"Then you will do it without me,\" She said as she stood up\nand started to walk away. \"and you will find your own way back.\" As she\nfinished her words she darted into the forest, swiftly disappearing into the\nwhite snow with her white fur. (¯`·. .··¸.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.,-( Panic )-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··.\n.·´¯) Donovan watched as Sonet and his sisters played with the\nsmall wolf pups. Several other young cubs had joined them as the farel cubs\nbarked and played happily with them. He smiled as the girls laughed the drama\nof the day all but gone as his mate started to obviously work on getting his\nsisters out of their cloths. Encouraged by the other youngsters his youngest\nsister was soon nude beside her, through Katie maintained her middle\nresistance, continually glancing at him as she protested. He wondered just what\nwas stopping her from going nude when he knew she showered with her male\nteammates after practice on a regular basis. He stood to walk over to the small group as he caught sight\nof his mother coming out of the trees, as nude as his own mate. He froze in his\ntracks as he watched her stopped short of the gathering circle and looked\naround as if confused. He couldn't help but look over her body at the distance.\nHe had never seen her in the fur, but had always known she was fit and well\nformed. He shook his head as his mind wandered to his sister Katie and the kiss\nshe shared with Sonnet.\"I'm a fucking perv,\" he mumbled to himself.  \"First I fall for a girl that is barely legal\nfor me, and now I'm perving on my sister and mother.\" he swiftly diverted his\ngaze as he saw his mother look his way. \"Don,\" the older lynx woman called out as she headed toward\nhim. Out the corner of his eye he saw his sisters react to the familiar voice\nof their mother, Katie all but fell back when she saw the older woman\nunclothed. \"Don, we need to find him.\"\"Mom, you're... you're naked,\" he said as he covered his eyes\nwith her approach. \"Get it together Don,\" she said putting a paw on his\nshoulder. \"You've been out here among these furs, you should be over the\nclothing thing. I need your help.\"\"Mom, we...\"She cut him off as she said, \"I know, there is a lot we need\nto talk about, but it'll have to wait. I left your faith... Emmett out there and\nwe need to find him. He's not prepared for this climate, or area. He'll die if\nwe leave him out there.\"Donovan's eyes went wide as the thought of the man that raised\nhim lost in the woods. He had spent so much time looking into what he would\nneed for the mountains this time of year and had hoped to be past them before\nwinter had hit. He turned and swiftly started looking for someone he recognized\nby name.  He suddenly realized how few of\nthe locals he had gotten to know in the few days he had been out of the\nmountains. The Bernese boy and his wife were nowhere to be seen, and he hardly\nknew Start Dreamer beyond the few words they shared and his quick trip to town.\nHe turned to Sonet who was standing looking at the pair as his mother talked to\nhim almost frantic. With only a nod and a smile the doe husky hybrid jetted\ninto the forest where his mother had emerged. \"Sonet!\" he shouted, certain she was the worst person to go\nlooking for his bible thumping father, only to see that he was too late as she\nvanished into the trees. \"Fuck!\" He looked at his sisters as he said, \"Katie,\ntake mom and Grace over to one of the fires. I'll be back... I think.\" He turned\nand started weaving through the crowd looking for the polarbear that seemed to\nbe the only other one that knew Sonet well enough to know what to do. As Star Dreamer glanced up from a steaming cup of cocoa he\ncaught sight of the doe husky darting off into the woods alone. \"This can't be\ngood,\" he muttered to himself as he scanned the crowded circle soon seeing the\nlynx who appeared to be searching for someone. \"Excuse me for a minute my\nfriends, I must go and check on something,\" the old bear said as he turned to a\nbear boy a few feet away. \"Jack, go and get James, Jeremy and Jonathan... and\nroust shovel up, I think we may need him this time.\" As the bear boy ran off\nStar weaved his way through the crowd towards Donovan shouting the boy's name\nonce he was close enough to be heard over the crowd.\"Star,\" Donovan shouted as he heard his name called out,\n\"She's out looking for my father... Emmett. He's out there somewhere and I'm\nworried she might find him first.\"\"Damn fool of a girl,\" the old bear said shaking his head. \"Alright\nI have some...\" he began, his words cut off by a booming voice behind him\nshouting out his name. \"Over here shovel, and bring the others with you\nplease,\" he shouted back. A moment later a huge, strapping elk man politely\npushed his way through the crowd carrying the three bear boys under his arms as\nif they were sacks of flour. \"Ona da boys said ya needed me, what's goin on?\" the elk\nasked in a thick New York accent. \"Short of it boys is that we have a lost lynx in the woods\nalone. He's unfamiliar with the area, and not much of an outdoors man. Sonet is\nout looking for him, and it may not be a good thing if she finds him first.\nShovel, I want you to follow her trail, over take her quietly if you can and\nfind this man. You three boys follow along after him, in case he or Sonet need\nany assistance. Do not interfere unless you must if she finds him first, but\nremember your charge when it comes to the little druid. Now go and quickly,\"\nthe old bear said as he turned back to the lynx. \"Not to worry Donovan, we will\nnot let either of them come to any harm if it can be avoided in any way. Shovel\nhas the best chance of catching her, he's the only one in town that can. The\nothers will do what they need to.\"\"I'm not sure who I'm worried about the most,\" the teen lynx\nsaid as he watched the group head into the woods. \"Sonnet for going after him,\nor him if she actually finds him first. He might not be my father, but he did\nraise me as best he knew how. And I'm still worried about him, he's been out\nthere for a few hours now, and if mom came back nude...\" he trailed off at the\nthought of his father exposed to the elements away from the gathering.\"The big elk has the speed to out match your mate, and the\nskills to track your father even in a blizzard. He may not find him first, but\nhe won't be far behind Sonnet. The boys are all familiar with the area, and\nwith Shovel and his ways. They won't lose his trail either and will be there if\nthey are needed. However, as far as your mother's state of undress... I think\nwhile you wait for news of your father, you, your sisters and she has quite a\nlot that you need to discuss.\"Donovan nodded as he glanced over to the group of lynx\ngathered around a small fire as someone draped a heavy quilt over his mother.\n\"Yeah, I think we have a lot to talk about, and more than just what happened\ntoday.\" (¯`·. .··¸.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.,-( Father Daughter\nDance )-,.-~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸··. .·´¯) Sonet's ears twitched as she heard the sounds behind her,\nurging her to pick up the pace. She had seen the man's aura as he confronted\nher mate and lover, and it's shift as the lynx woman told him an unknown truth.\nHe was angry, confused and scared; things she knew were bad in the winter\nalone. The path left by Donovan's mother was clear as a deer run in fall to\nher. The random discarded clothing only served to enhance the path. She stopped\nfor a moment at a tree as she touched the bark and glanced into its\nheights.  She looked over her shoulder back down the path as whispered\nvoices came to her heart again. Swiftly she turned and sprinted down the trail,\nhoping to stay ahead of the  elk she\nsmelled on the air. She knew they were coming more to stop her than help her\nsave the man her mate called his father. But, she knew that she needed to find\nhim first, for her sake, and Dawn's.Sonet knew the older elk could not be far behind as she\ncaught site of the lynx man sitting in the snow. She slowed her pace to a walk\nas she cautiously continued her approach. She watched as radiance of energy\naround him shifted and swirled with confusion and conflict. The doe took a few\nmore steps forward, to ensure her position between the  trees and the small clearing he sat in,\nbefore she started to softly sing. The breeze and snow ruffled through her bare\nfur as she watched him turn toward the sound. The light layer of snow that had formed on his head and\nshoulders cracked and fell away as he looked at the nude doe husky hybrid.He\nturned back away from her as he said, \"Haven't you devils done enough to punish\nme?\"Sonet stopped and tilted her head when she asked, \"Punish\nyou? I've come to help you.\" She spoke softly, more childlike than he had\nexpected.  He turned to look at the girl again, and let out a shivered\ngasp as he realized the girl was not much older than his own daughter. He couldn't\nhelp but look at her nude form. He could see why Donovan was swayed if she was\nthe one they used to entrap him. She was beautiful, with the voice of an angel.\nHe swallowed hard as he diverted his eyes from her temptation. \"Leave me be\nchild, I want nothing to do with your people.\" The young doe husky\nknelt down in the snow a few feet from him as she replied, \"They are not my\npeople, not the one you think. They fear my presence as much as you fear them.\nI see it in their smiles, as much as I see it in your frown. They love and\ncherish what and who I am, but they want me as far from their homes as you want\nyour family away from them.\"\"What are you talking about?\" he asked the angst in his\nvoice filling the tension that hung around him. \"I wasn't even there for you\nand they gathered around to take action no matter what I did.\"\"No,\" she said softly as she reached toward him only for him\nto pull away from her touch. \"They only did that to protect themselves and\ntheir family. Not from you, but from what might have happened if you got to\nme.\" Her head jerked to the look over her shoulder as she continued, her ears\ntwitching at the sounds carried on the wind. \"Just as they are looking for you,\nto keep you from me. They would gladly have made it to you first, regardless of\nwhere I was.\" She stood and turned toward the trees where she had come from as\nshe spoke, more to the forest than to him, \"And they will carry you out of this\nforest, clinging to the threats of your life. Or you can walk out of here with\nme.\"He chuckled lightly, his teeth chattering in the cold as he\nsaid, \"If a child could find me, I'm sure any one can.\"\"I live in this forest, it is my home,\" She said loudly into\nthe air. Her ears twitched as she looked into the shadows of the trees. \"You assume\nas Dawn did, that I am but a child left alone in the woods. Worse, you think I\nam of your devil. This forest is where I belong, and you are all lost in it.\nYou find your way only by the grace of the mother.\" She turned back to the\nlynx, dropping to her knees as she said, \"And you refuse to listen to her, or\nanyone else that has come to this place. \nIf you wish for me to leave you here, I can, and I will. Unlike the\nothers that came looking for you, for us, I am not bound by their law. The will\ndo all in their power to bring harm to none. They will take you out of this forest;\nthey will do all they can to help you, even though they only wish for you to\nleave this place, and their... town. Truly, for all I care, you can die here, and\ncomplete the circle. Your body will feed this forest and bring new life, even\nif it is fed with your anger and hatred. That I can bind. I am here not for\nyou, but for Dawn.\"Emmett couldn't help but look into the girl's eyes as the\nwords  that flowed into the air  from the melodic, childlike voice spoke with\nan edge that was years beyond the young teens age. This child spoke to him in a\nway that he would expect any cult leader to speak, but with the most\nthreatening and frightening twist one could put in the almost angelic sound.\nShe seemed cancer in each work that she let out, calculating and manipulative\nin every turn. \"If you came to find me for Don, where is he?\" Emmett asked\nas he twisted his face in contempt at the girl's actions and words. \"Why did\nyou come alone? You're here to tempt me, to twist the truth. I will not be\nswayed as easily as Donovan, or any others you may have tempted.\" The lynx\nturned his face away, holding up one paw to the doe's face as he shouted, \"BE\nGONE FROM MY PRESENCE SATAN!\" The lynx man's eyes widened as he turned back to look at the\ndoe girl. The wind had suddenly picked up for no reason, carrying with it the\nlight snow dust surface that covered the ground. Quickly the trees around them\nfaded in to a white haze that felt as if it separated them from everything.\nSonet stood up and stepped closer to him and spoke, her voice as soft and\ngentle as the song he first heard when she found him.\"You are wounded deeply, and torn between what you know in\nyour heart to be the truth and what you have seen and been taught.\" She looked\ndown at him as he looked up at her, His mouth agape and tears filled her eyes.\n\"I have a gift, be it from your god or the great mother, and my gift shows me\nso much pain, fear, hatred, and you hold all this in. You are all fools, and\nmore, Emmett Hunter, more than most.\" He scooted back from her as she took\nanother step closer. \"Dawn showed me in your holy book, these gifts of the\nspirit, and the one he believed I may have received. I see the good and evil\nwith in all things, the spirit and power that flows through the mother and all\nliving things. And I see it in you.\" She dropped to her paws and knees, her\nmuzzle only inches from his, their eyes looking deep into each other's. \"He\nhurt you, took so much from you, and you told no one. The things he did to\nyou... And you call me evil?\"He backed away, crawling as fast as he could scurrying like\na crab as he stammered, \"How... Who... What are you?\"  When he was out of arm's reach the lynx\nrolled over to his footpaws, facing away from the doe as he stumbled upright\ninto a run, heading aimlessly deeper into the woods.Sonet got to her hooves as the wind faded and the haze of\nsnowy powder drifted back to the ground. She turned to look at the elk and teen\nbear boys who had inched their way out of the shadows to better observe the doe\nand lynx. Visible tears streamed down her cheeks and she shivered as if feeling\nthe frigid air for the first time. \"I'm sorry,\" she said softly as she fell\nbackward into the soft pile of freshly fallen snow.Sighing heavily the big elk said, \"he's not gonna out run ya\nthis close... go get him boys, don't hurt 'im, but don't let him get away either.\nHe's not gonna make it much longer in dis chit.\"As the teens started running after the frightened lynx man\nShovel turned back to look the doe in the eyes. \"Dang it Sonnet, I know you\nknew we were behind you. Everyone in town knows you can smell us coming from a\nmile away, even me and I hardly know chit about you. Star didn't send us after\nyou and that fool to interfere, just to keep an eye on ya and keep ya safe,\nboth of ya.\"Sonnet looked up at the older male with a weak smile. \"Why\ndo you all live with so much pain and anger? Why do you hide it from each\nother? It only causes tension and hinders the mother's blessings.\"\"I dun know about everyone else, but a lot of people are\ntaught to. Some people think it makes you tough, er stronga to keep stuff to yourself.\nTo them lettin dat kind of stuff out makes ya look like a whimp. Stupid if ya\nask me but it's what people think,\" the elk replied.The young doe husky sat up in the snow, her tail swishing\nslowly behind her as she said, \"If only they had both shared the truth, maybe\nthey all wouldn't be so confused.\" She looked up at the elk as she added, \"you\nmay want to follow them. He will not be very receptive to the others.\"\"He aint likely to be willin to go with none of us, weah all\nevil to him and dat aint gonna change anytime soon. But I'll go help da boys,\njus hope da fool don't make me have to do nothin harsh...\" the big elk said as he\nturned to follow the teen boys into the forest.       "}