Lad... Take it from your grandfather; you will have less time than you think. Look at me; I'm an old man now and I still haven't finished all of the goals from when I was but a callow youth. So, don't waste your time trying to complete the lists that others give you. Finish your own list and tell Mrs. Grundy to go fuck herself. ~~ J. Milton O'Leary
~~
Reservoir of Power, Chapter 8
The drive from Medford to Whiskey Lake proved to be an easy journey. The roads were mostly empty, and the entire trip took far less time than they had feared, so Lena and Lochlainn were in a surprisingly optimistic mood when they were entering the outskirts of the small tourist village. The high altitude town was lushly surrounded by virgin groves of pine and cedar, and it was tucked just above the dam of the crystal blue waters of the lake. Impressed with the natural beauty of the Sierras, they could almost forget that they'd come here to confront a wolf pack.
Neither of them had ever been in this part of California before, and beyond their belief that the town supposedly contained werewolves, they knew nothing about the area. Lochlainn needed to find a hotel for the night, so he decided to do what most tourists do when they reach an unknown destination; he stopped at the combination gas station and general store and hoped that one of the clerks would be able to direct him to a nice place.
Needing to find a restroom, Lena jumped out of the van before it even came to a full stop. She breezed into the general store, not bothering to peruse the obligatory small town bulletin board where the locals offered their goods and services. Lochlainn, on the other hand, spotted the board and the kiosks of free newspapers and tourist trap information that stood underneath it, but before he could approach close enough to actually read any of the notices, he was hit with a more important chunk of information. It was an odor, and it hit him as soon as he stepped out of his van. The musky smell was definitely coming from the inside of the grocery store, and it was the stench of wolf. His human sense of smell was nowhere as acute as that of his bear form, but there was no doubt in his mind that this town positively reeked of wolf.
Lochlainn hissed at Lena in an attempt to get her attention, but it was too late, she was already inside the building. "Shit!" Lucky exclaimed as he rushed toward the small store. He darted up the wooden steps and into the building, but he saw no sign of her and he told himself,
"Don't panic, don't panic; surely she's already in the bathroom. Yes,
he told himself again
, every woman on a road trip is the same, especially when she's made her breakfast on a pot of coffee and a half box of Danish."
Then he spotted the bathroom sign and had begun to make his way there to find Lena when he chanced a quick glance to where three cashiers stood behind the service counter. Two of them, both men, were frowning at him and the third was speaking quietly into her cell phone. The fact that she was doing this while staring at him intently didn't reduce his stress over the situation.
Seeing the stern looks on all three faces, and realizing that in all likelihood that the three of them were wolves, Lochlainn decided that his best bet was to confront them directly. He figured that it was too late for any other approach, so he altered his path and walked directly to the polished hard wood counter.
He held his hands up in a gesture of supplication to the two men and said, "I'll be honest. I've never met a wolf before today, but I mean you no harm and we're certainly not here to cause you any trouble. I apologize if we've done anything incorrectly, but I really don't know the proper protocol for entering a pack's territory. If I've offended you or broken any rules, we'll be glad to leave as soon as my girlfriend comes out of the bathroom."
"No worries," replied the woman as she stood holding the phone to her ear. Lochlainn was surprised that the female was doing the speaking for the three wolves, but he didn't let it worry him, he merely switched his focus to her. "Here..." she said, handing him the telephone. "Alpha William wants to speak with you."
Surprised at her easy manner, but eager to avoid causing problems, Lochlainn took the phone and tried to present a friendly face, "Greetings Alpha William, my name is Lochlainn Thorsson, and I'm a bear. I'm sorry if I've broken any rules by coming into your territory, but as I've told your people here, I've never actually met a wolf before. I've come here looking for you because I'm in dire need of some help."
William would have freely admitted that he was shocked by William's polite demeanor as his Betas had told him that bears were notoriously difficult, but then again, he understood that both Sam and Tom tended to exaggerate a bit. He spared a quick look to where his mate and her uncles sat quietly listening to his discussion before continuing, but none of them said a word, so he answered, "No, Mr. Thorsson..."
"Call me Lochlainn, or Lucky," Lochlainn interrupted. "I hope that we can be friends."
"Okay," William said easily. Then he said, "No Lochlainn, you haven't broken any rules, and it speaks well for you that you've contacted us directly. So... what can we do for you?"
"I'm desperately in need of some information that I've been led to believe that you might possess."
"Can I ask who sent you our way?" William responded quickly before Lochlainn could continue.
"Well... There was a message written entirely in wolf prints on our Van when we stopped in Medford, but that only confirmed what my vision with Artio had already suggested. She said that I'd likely be sent to the wolves for the answers to my questions."
"Hold on a second," William said politely as he muted his phone. He then looked to the corner of the room where his grandfather was perched upon the Alpha's easy chair. "Artio, I've never heard of that one. Grandfather, do you have a clue?"
Ja-mul responded casually, "Bear Goddess... She's just another aspect of Xwun. She's not much fun."
"What?" Sam hissed! "You are saying that our biggest enemy worships the same deity that we do? How is that possible? Bears and wolves
hate
one another!"
William had only been a wolf for several months and he was not really well-versed in wolf culture yet, and even though he tended to listen to Samoset and Tisquantum and their four hundred years of experience, something in Sam's anger about bears didn't ring entirely true. Now was not the time for that conversation though, so instead of pressing the point with Sam, he raised his hand for silence and unmuted the phone.
"You say that Artio sent you to us?"
"Yes, Alpha William; I spoke with her in a vision. She materialized as an ancient redwood, and she said that I'd probably end up having to speak with the wolves, although she didn't actually say which wolves. Can Lena and I come and speak with you in person?"
"Lena... Who is Lena?" William asked curiously.
"She's my girlfriend, and we have some questions that we really hope that you can answer."
Still confused, but reassured by Lucky's polite tone and Ja-mul's insistence that Artio did indeed exist, William replied, "We'd love to
speak
with you." Then giving Sam a sharp look before he continued, he said, "Come on up to the resort; we're on the far side of the lake from where you are now. Just follow the road along the lake shore and you'll be here in about thirty minutes or so. When you get to the lodge, just use the valet parking and then go to the main desk and ask for Oliver. He'll lead you to my office."
"Thank you sir," and upon seeing that Lena was just exiting the ladies' room, he said, "We'll leave right away!"
"There's no need for formality, you can call me William... and by the way, don't stop for lunch in town. We'll feed you when you get the resort."
"Thank you William; Lena and I are pretty hungry. We mostly skipped breakfast; we were in a hurry to get here."
