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"My mother," ]one said, "has always been glad that I was Garou, gladder once you guys made me a pack member." Ringer and Hack had returned and sat by No Mandy. )one's white teeth flashed in a smile. "But she T clo was really just as glad when my brother was fine, healthy. . . I'~ 0 ss and Kin. It's a strange thing: all these marriage negotiations and matchmaking to make Kin bear us, but really, who carries the Old Blood? The real tribe .... " His voice was completely neutral. "They surprised the sept by blackmailing the watch-spirits and slaying the Kin who guarded the caern during a revel. He raped her and mutilated her with silver, then left her alive to watch her packmates hanged, cut down alive, and skinned over a fire. The Dancers fled as her cousin's pack approached. My mother went to the Sunset Sea Sept when she knew she was pregnant, knowing that a Dancer was the father. Wounded as she was, she bore me, then went with her cousin to attack the Hell's Hand Hive and did not return." Mandy and] one sat silently. No answer would come. "You asked me about metis and fairness. I am here with you when the Sunset Sea Sept knew, all my days, what I tell you. That is my answer." "Rich ... thanks. Thanks." Mandy knew many metis, most living at caerm. "Aren't most sept officials, keepers of the land, aren't they metis?" )one had recovered enough to propose a safer topic. "I notice that that's something a lot of them do." "Well, we are born Crinos, and many of us can't rely on staying out of it. So a caern is a safer place for us. Also, it lets us serve." "Serve? You mean serve Gaia?" "No. I mean serve fellow Garou. The harder we work, the more we work, the better homids like us. And the easier things are for them." Mandy knew that this was true. Metis rode easier on the superhuman strength and fury of the Crinos form than any others, and she'd seen her metis friend Earthback rebuild a concrete-slab building by hand. Was this why Mule was so sacred to them? "And, really, it's our rightful place. The center of Garou life is ours. We are the middle breed, the only ones who are born Garou mstead of human or wolf. If Gaia marks us, that's her business." Mandy wondered how many packs would have heard Rich out. The tolerance of the Children had its limits. But it did make sense ... what other secrets did metis keep? vklnfo~ "Are the Kin!" Ringer felt he understood for once. "Yeah, I can see it too. I mean, I couldn't do much for myself when I Changed. I was crazy, too full of Rage. Kin are a lot more than we give them credit for; our parents, our siblings, even for metis they surround us-." "Bind the galaxy together?" ]one laughed. Ringer went on: "All those organizations! Gaia Youth N etwork, my two brothers do tables for them at the college. Gaian Rainbow Action Community Explorers, they raised money for a kid I know who got kicked out the Scouts because he was gay; G aian Urban And Rural Defense- " "They cleaned up the stream that runs through the Sunset Sea caern, and got all the property owners to watchdog on their own property! The caern spirit says someday we might restore the salmon run! I was meditating with my feet in the water one time," Amanda chimed in, "and a little old lady, lives by the creek, came down and told me not to pollute the stream 'because the salmon won't come back!"' ]one went on, "Yeah, when even ordinary humans get involved you know we're doing a good job. I did a website for the Gaian Resources Environmental Education N etwork. It has places to get nonleather shoes, carpooling chat rooms, links to where you can recycle everything, even fluorescent light tubes, batteries, shrink-wrap and steel waste! I managed to find a place that will take your body weight in plastic bottles and give you a fleece jacket back made from the polymers. I know a couple of chatrooms for Kin and Garou, even a dating network for our Kin and other tribes' Kin. Hell, my parents met that way, at a key exchange party for Kinfolk. The Garou are the warriors, the edge of the tool, but it's Kin keep it working, going." Amanda said, "It's Kin that keep the Church of Gaia going too. My sister is teaching for them in India right now; I just got a letter from her and an email from a friend of hers in South Africa. Her husband, he's Garou, went to try to negotiate with the Red Talons, and she went just to teach and learn from the humans, Kin and maybe-Kin. To talk about solutions with people at the bottom of the food chain. Yeah, most of the people who work for Unicorn are Kin, not Garou. No Rage, no frenzy. I.. . I wonder sometimes if the blood grows rhin because rhey can do so much, even without us ... because if peace comes, real peace, what about Gaia's warriors? What about us?" The pack sat silent, man , woman and wolf in thoughts of their own. J;jJQ ~m/ JbLfk{Jt rJ#P u;t¥ rr#d a~ )one asked, "So who ... runs a Children of Gaia sept? I saw someone called "Voice of the Mother" on one site. Is that the leader?" CAt;.pfer-Two: TAe C]r-ove Amanda smiled. "The Voice is a woman who speaks Gaia's will. Sometimes the Children listen. She doesn't command." "Sounds like a way to get nothing done. So how do you get to be one?" "Gaia chooses." Amanda gave a wry look. "Supposedly. You basically have to .. . walk the walk, I guess. I mean, it's not like we don't know Her will. It's just that we don'tdo it. You havetospeakoutwisely. Know what you're talking about." "That sounds more like a politician than a prophet. Do you have to be 'chosen' from above too?" Rich watched across the fire, Hispo-huge and glitter-eyed. "Don't sneer too loud while you sit on Her body. Yeah, sure, some Voices just butter up the right people. But my grandmother sat as Voice because two elders heard spirits cry her name. You never know who the spirits will choose." "So, 'Manda, are you the Voice for this pack? You fit your own description." Rich's Hispo voice was thunder in a barrel. "The spirits like you." "!... uh, I guess I am. I. .. thanks, I guess." ]one caught embarrassment on the older woman's face. "I might be Voice for the sept when Summer is gone. I hope that's a long time. Voice in Waiting, maybe." Ringer thought that it wouldn't be a long time, probably. rJ#PAHifrr#da~ Amanda Barret went on, "Ringer, ifl am Her Voice, even in waiting, you must be Her Arm. It is the pack's will. Even Snow Falling on Hackberries. He has said so." Mandy's words surprised him. "And prop up Beekaw at the sept; his wounds bother him more and more as the years go by." "Yeah ... I knew a guy that was Arm of the Goddess," he said. Ringer felt strange, hot-faced. Am I blushing? he wondered. The guy had wanted him; hadn't worked out. "I know what it means. It's doing for Her .. . not just fighting. Everything. It means leading, but going farther, working harder than the rest. Being an example. Because an arm isn't just a fist. The ... hand, being able to make tools, use tools. That's not something Weaver-wrought, not something ... wrong. Even lupus have hands," he went on, surprised at himself (he wasn't much of a talker, he'd always thought), "even the Talons. The Arm and the Voice work together. Thanks for the nomination. I'll try to be a deft hand. A clever hand." Amanda said, "Yes. We'll see how it all works out. Her Arms are doers: look at Cemounos down under, whelping the Bun yip. Those around you have chosen. You won't fail."