STORY

The Balkar…?
Oh, so very, very much has changed since then.

There was a time, young one, when the Balkar were not as they are today, not as they were under Tratto. There was a time when peace was the farthest thing from their minds. No, they, instead, focused on murder, finding whatever it was they were charged with finding for their mistress. It was not at all like the time of Tratto, when the peace and freedom of wolves was vital. In those days, they asked for Tratto’s Blessing when crossing pack territories, very much like how we ask for Larka’s Blessing now.

By your question, you’ve heard; the Balkar is reforming.

Bogdan – I do believe that’s his name, but I’m unsure myself – appears to be rather intent on rebuilding the Balkar to its former glory, but do you also know this? He will be allowing females to join. It will no longer be a pack of only Draggas, but will now include Drappas. If he is successful – I assume he will be, due to his nature and how much interest he has spurred – it will be the first Balkar recreated since the time of Larka. In these times, we need the protection of a Balkar…

What do you mean, ‘why?’ Have you no sense? The humans have begun to kill the Varg, for sport it seems, and this bodes poorly for us. Those wolves who believe the only way to survive is run with the humans are fools. So many have been killed, and those that haven’t we can only assume will be killed. Humans have no need of the Varg. They can hunt quite well on their own, and keep their Lera in pens until the time comes to kill them. Their foolishness has caused such a rift I’ve never seen. The Varg, Helpers to humans! The thought disgusts many, to say the least. Why they ever got such a harebrained idea in the first place I shall never know.

It breaks one of our oldest rules.
You would do well to remember that much.

Yes, I know Fell somehow managed to break it and not to get himself killed, but that human was supposedly special. Mind you, most humans are a little wet behind the ears, so don’t go thinking you can find yourself a nice one to call a Helper. It simply doesn’t work, and it’s a miracle that boy wasn’t killed on sight. Lucky she didn’t die, either; she might never have whelped, though I can’t remember and can’t care to recall how many and what they were. Though, if I’m right, her genetic line is going to save nature itself. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though; humans have of a knack for destroying than preserving.

What’s worse, it would appear that more and more of the Varg are turning up with the ability to speak to the Lera, but they do not have the Sight. It’s a disgrace to the entirety of those who came before myself and other Seers, a disgrace to those of us who have the full power of the Sight. It hardly makes a difference if you can speak to Lera, yet you cannot heal or predict the future. What good are you then? I may be old and gray, but I still have more power in my right paw than they have in their entire bodies. It doesn’t help that Helpers have begun to bond to any wolf, be they gifted or not. What’s worse, prey have begun to do it, too! It’s entirely heretical!

Oh, but I digress…
You didn’t come to listen to the ramblings of an old, blind wolf.