What no Scholar knows

Mixed Births

Your are about to discover something which you will hardly believe. I will tell you a story of two-legged wolves born by four-legged ones. So do not interrupt and listen with care !

When the females give birth to new cubs it is always a reason for celebrating. While the four-legged wolves give birth to four-legged cubs and the two-legged to two-legged it might happen that occasionally four-legged females bear two-legged cubs and two-legged bear four-legged cubs. This is not often but King Eversad said that this occurs every year, sometimes more and sometimes less. The spirit wolves said also that it was always this way since the beginning of male and female Telmori.

Though it is something quite normal it always remains also something special. The cubs have a very strong bond to each other and they all have the same eye colour and life scent. So if you encounter a two-legged Telmori with golden eyes he does not have to have walked Dezak's Path already. But apart from that no Telmori can tell that they are different, nor anybody else can.

I once have spoken to such a Telmori and he told me that with this stronger bond comes also more responsibility, e.g. he was always there for his brothers and sisters and all of them took always care of their brothers and sisters. They feed them if they are unsuccessful in hunting, they help them when they are ill and they even protect them with their own lives if needed.

He recalled an unpleasant event : when he was hunting together with his four-legged brother they spotted a bear. Now a bear is a mighty creature with much strength, if they could bring it down it would feed many packs. Thus they chased the bear until they confronted him near his home. There the two-legged Telmori prayed to Telmor and within seconds he was covered in Telmor's skin. He and his brother both fought the mighty bear but suddenly a terrible pain made the two-legged Telmori unmoving. The bear fled but neither the two-legged nor the four-legged Telmori followed. The two-legged Telmori saw his four-legged brother bleeding from his chest. Yet he also felt pain there and his life scent was somehow fading. After several moments he sent a prayer to Yrr. While the wounds of his brother were closing his pain was vanishing, too. Both of them returned to the pack later and shared their story with others. Their four-legged sister told them that she also felt this pain in her chest but soon after it went away.

Many years later I met this Telmori again and again he shared a story with me. He told me that once he was ambushed by a band of people of Orlanth. He was badly wounded because he had not had enough time to pray for Telmor's skin. As the offenders discussed what to do with him he felt that soon Fer would come to him since he did not have enough power to pray to Yrr for her gentle touch. While the people of Orlanth still argued what to do, his scent of life was nearly gone. But shortly before he was dead he was struck by an unknown source of power. This power manifested in him and within only a few more moments his wound was sealed. Then he finally made an escape to the Telmori Wilds where the people of Orlanth dared not to follow.

Later his four-legged brother told him that suddenly when he was hunting so much power was drained from him that he almost fell unconscious. He cursed this moment back then. But now knowing that perhaps it was this what saved his brothers life he was thankful and grateful. He admitted that it was wonderful to feel the grace of Yrr and Telmor every day anew.

I know that you humans can hardly believe these tales but I do. These are the mysterious ways of Telmor and I would never want to abandon them.