To heal a troubled Spirit - P2

Tana had set her camp not far from where she had first spotted the female, close to a cabin one she had guessed belonged to the previous owner. In one way it reminded her of Joe’s cabin. The woman bit her lower lip. Joe was missing. He was somewhere but not here. Somehow she knew he wasn't dead. There had been men in the same clothing that had come to the Alphas ger asking for him. The giant flying bird without wings had circled the area. Some of her tokotas had seen that before when Jay had lived among them.

That man had known how to control the bird from within it's belly. She had been too far away to hear what the men wanted but they had looked if not angry but annoyed. Sometime later, when the sun since long had gone past it's highest point Uk had returned with the mittens of rabbit skin she had made for Joe. Uk had been wounded. The woman shook her head. Joe was not gone. He was just not here and she made sure to ask the spirits to look after him wherever he was as well as her friend Kayu.

Spirit, Aluaq and Alban had rolled themselves into fuzzy little molehills, tucking their noses in under their tails. Only their ears told Tana they were not sleeping, not yet at least. The sun had set. Suddenly something moved between the trees and the woman squinted. The form weaved in and out between the trees and sometimes it was like the mist formed itself to living form. That was the work of bad spirits. Tana stroked her walrus dagger. Her father, the tribe shaman, had once made it and a twin. One had taken Akhluts eye, the other still protected her.

A shadow them seemed to form to something more solid and blue eyes reflected themselves from her fire. The female was back. Tana let the female come forward at her own pace but she begun talking even if it was still quite a distance between them. She gave her introduction, again knowing well the female wouldn't understand her words. By now Aluaq, Alban and Spirit had lifted their heads. Spirit sat up and watched the female as she came closer. It went slow and a few times if Tana made a movement too fast, Cocheta retreated back about two steps.

“I know it's hard to trust again after losing one you cared about, it's hard to continue living, to breathe or just to be. Everything is turned upside down, isn't it?” There would be no answer. Tana exhaled. They, the TCA called this ‘taming’, to try to get close to the wild tokotas, those marked to be taken from the one home, the one world they knew. That was sometimes a shock in itself. For Cocheta it might be another loss, another thing that turned a lopsided world even more to the side. They would not let her stay here.

By now Cocheta had reached the outer circle that the light of her fire formed. Tana remembered the stories the elders of her tribe had told. About the great wolf that took those that walked out from the light and into the darkness. While she still respected the dark and those spirits that dwelled within it, she wasn't as scared as she had been. To be afraid, and to let the things that scared you get too close would only make it worse. To face it, learn from it, would make your respect for it greater. Respect was much better.

When Tana thought her own tokotas thing she never did it with any kind of force. To wear a halter was one of the last things she teached them. She knew that they never really saw her as a friend, aside from perhaps Yakkii that she had a special bond too. They followed her out of respect as their alpha. A odd, clawless, fangless and less hairy alpha but one they followed nonetheless. Cocheta had lost her leader and now the submissive female was lost. It was hard getting enough food in these parts, the female's condition showed that much.

One of the first things she had to do is show that Cocheta could trust her...and food was many times a good persuader. She tossed the males a treat each and then she tossed one or two towards the female but without looking at her. Even if the tokota seemed to be more like a wolf in the ways it acted, in some it was a bear, Tana had learned that a direct stare was seen as a challenge. That she didn't want. By the looks of things the female was quite low in her status as it were.

“I can't promise that you never will be alone again.” Tana continued, directing herself to the female, as she tossed another treat to the tokotas. Alban always got his first since he was the dominant male of the three males, then it was Aluaq and Spirit. Last of all Cocheta. But instead of the normal simple treat she tossed bits of her home made treat to the female. All the males were well fed and even if they most of the time prefered to sleep outside, they hadn't gone hungry. They always had food near, one way or the other.

Alban got to his feet and when he did the other males did as well. This time the female didn't move when they got closer but she tucked her tail in slightly between her legs. Her ears flat against her skull. When he got even closer and leaned in to sniff at her she danced off a few steps but still remained. Spirit didn't walked up to her like his father had done. Instead he sat down close, a bit casually. That perked the female's interest at least a little bit. Tana only watched. This language the female knew better.

Finally Cocheta let the two males scent her all over and after some hesitation she sniffed back. That seemed to make Alban and Spirit pleased enough and they returned to their spots by the fire. The flames and the toktas together sent long shadows into the Tartok woods. Even if it didn't make the mist disperse it didn't seem so thick anymore. After the two returned to where they had laid before Aluaq went forward to greet the female as well. This time the procedure went much faster. Perhaps because Cocheta knew neither would hurt her or chase her off.

After the tokotas had their moment to learn each other's scents, and the males had understood she wouldn't feed them, Tana continued to toss bits of the home made treat to the female. At the same time she continued to talk. Perhaps this was something that was good for her too. “There will be days that feel bad, and that you are more alone than ever...even when there are some around you. But that is ok. It is ok to be sad,” Now she noted the two feathers in the females mane. Had the old man placed them there?