Page 109 of A World Enough

“Yes,” said Kanni. “We’ll tell you all about it when we get the drinks.”

Camber turned to Thane, Margot, Jhosa, Morrigan, and Ziggy. “They knew we were coming?”

Morrigan added, “I had no idea the GallowGlas wolves were like this. It’s very much like this in Earth wolf packs, except the scenery here is even more stunning.”

Thane bent closer. “It’s a bit too perfect.”

“Maybe you’re a bit too distrustful,” Margot said.

“Here we are.” Enor and Kanni brought through two trays of drinks, hot and cold, and the two bodyguards carried sandwiches and cakes.

“This looks beautiful, thank you,” Camber said.

Enor sat down next to Camber and handed out the drinks. “You wanted to know how we knew you were coming.”

“Yes, we’re quite surprised. We thought you didn’t like visitors,” Camber said.

“Just the ones that want to take over our planet,” Kanni said.

“The Great Mother let us know you were coming,” Enor said. She leaned back and asked one of the bodyguards, “Can you bring in the book?”

“Excuse me, the Great Mother? My—” How could Camber describe their relationship? “Our friend, the wolf, comes from a pack in a world far away, and they worship the Great Mother.”

Both Enor and Kanni smiled.

Brogan always loved running, but as soon as she entered this forest, it lifted her soul. There was something so primordial about it. The trees went up to the sky, and lilac flowers covered a lot of the space between the trees.

Every so often she saw white or silver wisps floating between the trees. They gave her goosebumps.

When they came to a natural stop at a stream, all the wolves took a drink, and the Alpha took the opportunity to talk to Brogan telepathically. “I’m glad you came to us, Brogan. I knew you would. My name is Koda, my second is called Leo.”

“I’m glad to meet you, I’m Brogan. How did you know we were coming?”

“Our book of the ancestors told us. It was told to us by the Great Mother.”

“The Great Mother? That is our Goddess too.”

“And this is the Great Forest,” Koda said.

Brogan was shocked. “That’s where we believe our dead go.”

Koda and Leo sat down in a sun puddle where the sun came through the trees. Brogan’s vision kept catching wisps of white passing through the trees.

“Wisps,” Leo said.

“Excuse me?” Brogan said.

“The white wisps you see,” Leo said.

Koda took over. “They are the spirits of our dead who come to be with the Great Mother.”

“The spiritual afterlife. Do you think it’s ours too?” Brogan was quite emotional.

“Tell me your pack’s story,” Koda said while the other wolves sat around to hear.

“Long ago there was a princess called—”

“Scota, who was a great warrior,” Koda finished for her, “not a choice that women had in that society. She took the Great Mother as her Goddess, and she gave her, and her followers, the ability to transform into wolves. She asked them to spread over the world and make communities that weren’t built along gender lines.”