Hammers in the Shadows

Part One: Shadows And Ice - Chapter Three

I looked at the wolf, he was built like boulder, though he was a good deal shorter than I was but I could sense that he was a touch worried about me having the sword.

"I received this weapon eight years ago, Master Smith, when I was recovering from my Turn at Forest Edge Pack, five hours from here."

He grumbled and asked me if I had used it before while he held out a hand for me to hand it over so that he could inspect it.

Grudgingly I handed it over to him while at the same time I told him of the four or five times I'd actually had to use it in the challenge circle, and the two times when I'd had to kill with it, though I kept the painful details to a minimum.

He took a few minutes of looking at my sword before he resheathed it and handed it back to me. "I always wondered why my master made this one..." He mused as he turned and let me go about my business.

The next event that I can recall as significant was when we returned for the second semester, the ravens had already decided that they didn't want to be cooped up in the car again so they made the decision to fly back and forth between the Pack and the Pride.

It was the second day after we arrived at the Pride when I got a strange image from Caspian. It was of him Katyusha, and two other ravens sitting on Adam's desk while two others were flapping around trying to find a place to land in Adam's office while he and Brook looked less than amused.

*Adam it would help if you just let those two land, they are hungry, wingsore, tired, and they want to meet you and Brook.* I sent to Adam while I tried to keep from laughing too loudly before I watched, through Caspian's eyes as Adam and Brook sat down and let the birds land on their shoulders. Both birds quickly rubbed their heads against their respective perch's head while making soft sounds at them. *Well Adam now you will be followed most places by not just that huge dog of your's but also by that bird. His Name is Apollo and he's one of Caspian and Katyusha's from last spring.* I told him. *Brook's raven is Athena and she's the chick of my parent's ravens from two years ago.* I completed the introduction before I pulled myself away from what my Companion was seeing. Looking through a raven's eyes could be more than a little disconcerting.

The only comment I got from Adam on the matter was a quiet grumble not because of the birds but because of my laughter.

The next year and a half was a period where I worked as hard I'd ever worked at the Pride, I had to juggle my responsibilities of doing what I could of my jobs for the Pride by remote, while at the same time being a good parent for Sergey, Kathy, and Shawn. Next, I had to remember to keep my mate happy, and lastly focus enough energy on my classes so that I could do as well as I could, considering the fact that I had some serious expectations to meet on the behalf of both the Guardian, and Matriarch of the Blackwater Pride.

During the last semester, I found myself assisting with the entry level computer classes. As with previous semesters I'd found myself leading a class, not learning from it since in the almost nine years between my turn and when I'd first arrived at the Academy I'd picked up a BS in Computer Information Systems with a minor in Business Admin, the degree did help me, at least with maintaining the Pride's Network hardware and software, though I wasn't near as good at it as Boris was. He was a damned wiz with computers and could make them do things that I'd only dream of.

Regardless of my human education I found my last semester leading that class to be one of my more frustrating  groups that I had to deal with, not because of the bone-headed mistakes of the less technologically adept of the students but because one of the three cats in the class, his name was Yevgeny Berekov, though he wasn't mad like the Berekovs of my experience he was no less stubborn and hard headed. From what little I did learn from him, he was from a Pride near Vladivostok called Winter's Depths.