Just Another Day

"Indeed! How would you like a history lesson?" Chena asked.

"Sure, I guess. What of?" Shanku tilted her head curiously.

"Us," Chena stated.

"'Us', as in the Imnek, or 'us', as in the kurach?"

"Yes, our history of the kurach as a people," Chena nodded.

"How we started shifting?"

"No, but we may need to go over that. Do you know the tale of Father Koru?"

"Father Koru?" Shanku asked, quite puzzled.

"Do you not know the tale of Koru? The father of all upright kurach?"

Shanku shook her head. "All I've heard about is some little power-hungry kurach who made a deal with the fae."

"Where did you hear that?" Chena asked.

"From a glasscraft dragon back in the mountains," Shanku replied.

"Ah, of course. Leave it to a glasscraft to get it wrong," Chena shook her head. "Too busy singing badly and playing in their pits of sand."

Shanku suppressed a chuckle. Doane had been rather engaged in his glass work.

"Allow me to tell you about what really happened," Chena said sternly, and began her tale. "Long ago, the kurach were tormented by a terrible creature, an ugly little thing with jagged teeth and a mighty club. It ruined our hunts, it beat our pups, and nowhere could we seek refuge from it.

"So one day, Mother Yiki cried out for deliverance from this creature. The kindly fae heard her pleas, and came to visit the one who would be destined to help her bear a new race of kurach that could withstand the horrible monster and defeat it.

"Father Koru was leery at first, and tried a number of ways to handle the monster on his own, but was beaten every time. Finally, under Mother Yiki's guidance, he sought out the benevolent fae.

"He first had to pass a test to prove he was worthy of their help. So three of the fae sent him on an errand each. One to seek out the mushrooms that grew high on a mighty tree, one to find the moss that grew under thick thorns and bushes, and one to find the sweet little nuts of a prickly pine. He succeeded, and brought all three their requests.

"So the fae gathered around him and gave him and Yiki their blessing. Koru was able to walk on two legs, in what we now call the feral form. With his new strength, he fought off the monster and drove it away forever.

"Koru and Yiki became a pair, and their children became who we are today," Chena finished her tale, ever-working on her knitting. "They were also blessed with longevity, so now we live for well over a century."

"Interesting," Shanku nodded. "So how did we get four forms?"

"That is a tale for another day," Chena winked. "So, you have your human form, your tame, and your feral. But you have not yet achieved your true form, pup?"

Shanku shook her head. "Not yet."

"Ah, well. You will in time. Now, down to business," Chena became stern. "The reason why I called you here tonight.

"Long, long ago, but not long after we gained the bipedal form, there were five brothers and their families. They wanted to see the world! So they made an agreement to seek their fortune and come back every so often to tell of what they saw," Chena continued, her knitting needles clicking rapidly. "One brother went south. One brother went north. Two went east because they were already far to the west. And one brother stayed behind to watch over their parents and extended family."

"The brother who went south ended up in the tropics. He became the forefather of those who now live in Mruha.

"The brother who went north ended up here. He became the forefather of all those in the arctic and subarctic.

"The brother who went farthest east ended up in the mountains. He became the forefather of the Highland.

"The one not-so-east was the forefather of the Prairie, and later of those now in the Bhadarukian deserts.

"And of course, he who stayed behind was the forefather of the Nyre and Eor Sylvans," Chena paused a moment to unravel a knot in her yarn.