The night sky once // aurora festival // ruled my imagination

[jacob w.c.]

WHAT A PRIVILEGE IT IS TO LOVE — Jacob watched as all his clanmates gathered and he let out a soft sigh of relief. Despite all the strange spirits here, he felt at peace as he watched the lights dance in the sky. He noticed Melantha leaving out of the corner of his eye and he stood, beginning to follow after her until he noticed something odd in the lights. They were beginning to form creatures of some sort. They were no longer random patterns but instead he could make out shapes of lion and a bear initially but then even more creatures began to arrive. There looked to be nine in total and with each new one that arrived, one would break away from the sky completely and come near the other spirits in a blur of color and light. There was a lioness, a bee, a bear, a duckling, a dolphin, a tortoise,em a rabbit, and even a dragon. All of them circled around the other spirits and Jacob tensed as he watched them, both entranced and frightened by whatever these new spirits were.

The lioness began to wade through the crowd towards before speaking, "We are the ancestors of this place. We are here to offer guidance, as we have through all generations. While there are many more of us, this is our counsel. I am Agu and I am the leader of our group. There is also Medve, Kanina, Hollo, Pipi, Lumba, Teknos, and Draki. We each offer different gifts and symbols for you to wear." With each name, a different animal seemed to glow a bit bright. In order, they were the bear, the rabbit, the raven, the bee, the dolphin, the tortoise, and the dragon. The lioness raised her paw and a variety of wooden figurines of each animal appeared and they settled in the snow. There were then rough, leather necklaces and the wooden pendents slipped onto them, as if to demonstrate their purpose. "Medve is meant to great courage in war, Kanina for maintaining a welcoming home, Hollo for great strategy and the gathering of information to prevent threats, Pipi for healing, Lumba for creativity, Teknos and Draki for various points of life and, of course, myself for great loyalty and skill. We will watch over your people and protect you and offer assistance when we can. We will warn you of danger. We expect nothing in return except a peaceful existence and that the members and leaders of your tribe act for the good of Snowbound, wherever it may be taken. Once this was a nomadic tribe and it's time we return to those ways. Soon, I expect you will find those traditions again. Some of you are descendants of the counsel and may be unaware. They may or may not claim you, that is for them to decide. I'm sure more will be revealed to you with time. Until then, though, I leave you with these pendents to do with as you wish.  I give blessings of peace and hope." With her final words, the lioness first began to drift back to where the lights had been and the others followed. By the time they all ascended, the lights returned and the smaller spirits had faded away.

Jacob moved forward to pick up the necklace that had been left, looking at all the tiny figurines that adorned it. He wasn't sure what to think of all this, he'd never been a particularly religious individual, but he did think these would be a nice addition to the traditions Snowbound had already started to put in place. A way to recognize members' actions in a visible way outside the ranking system. Even if he wasn't so sure about the ancestors, this would be a good thing to integrate into Snowbound's weekly routines and meetings. Conflicted of his own thoughts, Jacob turned to look to the other members of Snowbound, wondering what they would think of all this. —A GREAT HONOR TO HOLD YOU UP

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