Before the council had broken for the day, Lukas had announced that there would be a skaldic poetry reading in one of the side camps that night. Amanda was torn. She could guess who was behind it, but curiosity overcame even that. She had thought that the wolf clan had completely lost it's root, and to discover otherwise, she couldn't resist.

Besides Darren had loved the old poems and songs. So did Jay. It made her sad now that she'd never taken the time to learn the old tongue. She knew only a handful of folk songs, and many of them in English.

Most of her pack joined her, to support her or out of curiosity. Most of the Sons of Garm were there though it was clear that Haltir was the real organiser of this night. A couple of Fleischers showed, a few of the Holt and three Jaeger wolves.

"I don't suppose many wolves today even know what a skald is," Haltir said as he limped into the center of the circle. Lukas carried a chair and a small harp and set these up for Haltir. "But it was an old north bard, or druid. In the old days, before writing, this was how we kept the traditions of our people. It's easier perhaps to show, rather than tell."

He cleared his throat. He began to play the harp and then sing, in a clear strong voice. The words were foreign but his voice and the rhythm were strong and it lulled them all.

Amanda watched the others Sons of Garm as Haltir sang. Fenrir watched his brother, his face smooth and his expression soft. It was the first sign of tenderness that Amanda had observed in the man, and it made her uncomfortable.

A couple, like Stanley, fidgeted or appeared bored, but most of those two packs listened in a rapt silence. These songs were familiar, important to them in a way that Amanda wouldn't have guessed.

After the first one, Deana called out, "sing the svathifilari," she gave a sniff and added, "it was his favorite."

Haltir laughed. "It was," he agreed. "I will sing and then we will see if any knows this story."

Amanda startled. She didn't have to guess who they were talking about and seeing Deana's grief at the lost of her alpha stung at the rage Amanda still held for Loki. She looked away, hearing the song but refusing to acknowledge the grief.

"Does anyone know this myth?" Haltir asked when had finished his song.

"Of course," Amanda snapped. "It tells of the god Loki, how the others were tricked by a giant and he had to save them."

"By changing himself into a mare, and leading the giant's stallion on a wild goose chase," Haltir said, "but it is best in its full. Let me give you the English." He told the story of how an giant offered to rebuild the walls of Asgard for the gods. The gods made a deal, if he could finish in a given time. They thought to trick him, to set him an impossible task, but as the walls grew they grew they became afraid that they were the ones who had been duped. They appealed to Loki. He transformed himself into a mare and led the giant's stallion away, preventing him from working. "He succeeded in keeping the giant from completing the task in the appointed time," Haltir said as he ended the story. "But he did not escape unscathed. You see, the stallion caught him while he was still a mare, and impregnated him. Loki could not change his form back, for in human form he was male and could not carry a child. After a long labor he gave birth to Slepinir, the eight legged foal that became Odin's horse."

There was a smattering of laughter at this.

"You know the eddas?" Haltir asked Amanda when the laughter and applause died down.

"Only in English, I'm afraid," Amanda said. "My uncle could sing..." she broke off and looked away. Deana gave her a hard look and then she, too, looked away.

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken by Brianna tentatively raising her hand.

"Yes," Haltir said.

"I know one song. It's not Norse, I don't think. My friend Jay taught me. It's yoik."

"Yoik? I am impressed," Haltir replied. "By all means."

Brianna stood and sang, starting in a halting voice, one of the flowing songs that Jay loved.

"By all the gods," Haltir whispered when she was done. "Some song, and some friend."

"Jarvinen." It came from one of the Sons of Garm.

Amanda's eyes narrowed. She didn't know what they were referring to, but the Sons of Garm knowing anything about songs the otter clan sang was worrying, to say the least.

"Do you know the meaning of this song?" Haltir challenged.

"It speaks of time when all the people of the earth were one people," Amanda said. "No clans, no shifters, no humans. Just one people, with many forms, both human and animals."

"It was not us that made the divisions," Fenrir growled. He stood. "Forgiveness brother, the morning comes early and I've much to do." He strode off into the dark. Several of the Sons of Garm followed after him. Lukas and a handful of Fenrir's pack stayed, but all of Loki's old pack left, all except Billy.

Haltir watched them go and then turned back to the dwindling audience. "Let not this night be lessened, there are yet songs to be sung." He launched immediately into another song. When he was finished. "Are there others? Any more surprises." He looked around.

The Jaeger's had visited the "old country" recently but none had skill at traditional singing of any kind. They played a song they'd recorded on their phones.

Amanda, feeling more comfortable now that the worst of her enemies, Fenrir, Deana, and Stanley had gone, stood. The others, she could almost pretend they weren't sworn to kill her and just enjoy the night and the singing. She had brought an old Hardanger fiddle, Darren's practice fiddle. She wasn't half as skilled as he was, but she managed to a couple of rustic folk songs.

"Do the Lokasenna," Billy asked after some time.

"No!" Haltir snapped, shooting him a look.

"Why not?" Billy asked.

Haltir shot Amanda a look. "It's not a song for this gathering." Then his voice softened. "It's late anyway. A parting song perhaps." His parting song was an Irish folk song and it was beautifully played and sang. Despite not being Norse, it fit the feel of the gathering close enough.

"Why didn't he want to sing that one song?" Connor whispered in her ear. Amanda shrugged. She recognized the name "Loki's quarrel" but little else about it.

Lukas had remained and gathered the chair and the harp from Haltir as he rose.

Amanda approached him, despite her conflicted feelings about his company, she felt she should offer some thanks for his gift of singing. The others, Fleischers, Holt and Jaeger had disappeared into the growing night without a token thank you.

Lukas gave her a look as she approached. Haltir laughed the look off. "We are gathered under the flag of peace. The bear won't kill me here. You may go." Lukas glanced once at Amanda and then nodded and left, the rest of the Sons of Garm in tow.

"Your voice is quite beautiful," Amanda said, hesitantly.

"Thank you. And thank you for coming." He laughed ruefully. "You are the only ones that I can be sure did not come because Fenrir told them to." He started to move slowly towards the camp.

When he sang Amanda all but forgot about his disability and it was almost a shock to see his limp now. She fell into step beside him.

"I'm surprised," he commented. "I've not met many who know the old stories, the poems or even a trace of the old language," he glanced back to include Brianna in his next statement, "Let alone a traditional Sami yoik."

"Bear clan doesn't forget," Amanda replied, a reflex and for a moment it was thought Darren spoke through her.

Haltir gave a dry chuckle. "Nor do the Sons of Garm. Though perhaps it would be better for the world if we could manage the trick."

She gave him a startled look.

"We should be enemies because of events that happened long before our birth?" he asked. "Because some old myths tell us we are enemies? I apologize for Billy, by the way. He should have known better than to suggest that song."

"Why?" Brianna asked, sparing Amanda the question. "What is that song?"

"Loki's quarrel?" Haltir said. "The beginning, is what it is. The beginning of the end, for Loki, for all of us. Loki quarrelled with the gods. They punished him. Chained him to a rock. It is said that some day he will escape his bonds, and the world will end."

"Ragnarok," Amanda whispered.

"Yes. And he will come back to this world, flanked by his two most loyal hounds, Fenrir and Garm." Haltir stopped. They were at the edge of the camp, and he fixed Amanda with an intense stare. "If I had not been premature, not had this," he gestured at his cane. "I'd have been the third, a complete set for our father. Fenrir, Loki and Garm." He spat on the ground. "Garm Garmenson. A stupid name. So maybe it's just as well I was Haltir instead." He turned and limped off into the night, leaving Amanda more conflicted then ever.