Connor felt trepidation as he entered the long hall the next day. So much hinged on this meeting. For the Leidulf's, with so few allies and so many enemies, friendship with the otter clan was vital. For his own pack, trapped deep in their enemy's territory, with a hunt declared on one of his wolves, it could well mean life or death.

Amanda could be a great help, or a great hindrance. She seemed closed down, still struggling with the revelation that she was otter kin as well as a bear shifter. It made Connor mad. Her mother's sins were not hers. She shouldn't blame herself for what another had done. She shouldn't push him, all of them really, away. They needed her now, needed her to use her influence with those, like her grandfather, were glad to see her back amongst their kind. Use that influence to counter those of the matriarch and others that were convinced otters should have nothing more to do with any of the other clans.

The Matriarch entered the hall, bearing a mug. She somehow managed to simultaneously convey an image of being an old lady, sitting at the kitchen table with her morning coffee and the image of being a wizened wise woman, leader of her people. Knowing the former image was the truth, Connor bowed to her and took his seat along the bench.

He was, he had to admit, out of his depth. Wolf hierarchy was clear. It was communicated in who sat with whom, who greeted who and how. Otters had their own ways of communicating these things, but they were lost on Connor.

Johann stood in the center and introduced Eva as his apprentice. She took a seat opposite the Matriarch. Neither spoke but gave each other a nod of recognition. No one else sat at the table, but instead gathered on the benches. The Matriarchs closest supporters sat nearer to her side of the room. Corey, his parents, Eva's parents, a few others in favor of their cause set towards Eva's end. In between was a shifting mass of people whose names and loyalties Connor couldn't begin to guess.

Children scrambled through the crowd, crawling at laps, or running between the rows. This was one of the biggest differences between this conclave and the wolf council they had just left. Few wolf packs were as open about their abilities as the otters and Connor himself hadn't known his family were shifters until he was a teen. Otter families were usually open about who they were. Many otters could tame their abilities at a young age and Connor witness more than one toddler squirm out of a parent's arm only to hit the floor in otter form and scurry under the bench to play.

"Is there any new business?" Jacob Jarvinen asked. It was a polite courtesy. Everyone knew there was new business, and what it was.

Connor looked to Eva, expecting her or Johann to speak, to introduce Connor and let him plead his case. Instead it was Michael that rose. "Young was I once, I walked alone, and bewildered seemed; then I found me another and rich I thought me, for kin is the joy of man."

The phrase tickled at Connor's mind. He couldn't place where he'd read it before. Michael went on, speaking more plainly now.

"I nearly lost a kin because I let fear and anger cloud this simple truth." Connor glanced at Corey and saw tears standing in her eyes. "But no more. Long ago, a kinfolk did something that hurt many of us. Perhaps he had some power of seduction we know not." Michael laughed ruefully. "Though I doubt this. Perhaps it was her youthful folly. I thought so for a long time. Or perhaps it was simply, love." He shrugged. "Or perhaps it was the design of some larger forces. For didn't she have the Selkies blood, from her great-grandmother?"

Selkies — Seal shifters. Connor had heard mentions in the old legends that Amanda and Eva shared. But he hadn't realised they, too, were real.

"Selkies, fickle ones," someone muttered from the crowd.

"Selkie blood and otter."

"And the Selkie blood won." Someone opined.

"And she left us for a bear," Michael said. He raised a hand to quell further comment. "But look now. The progeny stands before you, with a wolf."

"One with a foot in every clan," Eva said. "To stand against those that would threaten every clan."

"Yes," Michael agreed. "But let us leave aside what the mother did, or who the daughter is and address this threat. Because whatever you think of the parents, why they did what they did, the tragedy of their deaths was not their own doing. It was murder!" he slapped the table loudly for emphasis. "Murder. The Sons of Garm surrounded their cabin, trapped them inside, the children too. They killed them." He glared around the crowd. "And you know well enough why they did this."

Connor leaned forward, unsure what was coming.

"They did it to send a message to us. They did us to scare us into turning our backs. Hide. Do not get involved. These others, all of them, are dangerous to our kind. Let otters stick to themselves. Let wolves and bears sort out their own issues."

"And is this not the way it should be?" a voice demanded. "Why should we involve ourselves? And get killed? Over what? A man who stole from us."

"She left of her own accord." It was Ghost. He looked sad but determined. "Call her what you will, or him. But he was not a thief. And Amanda? Are we to let children suffer the folly of their parents?"

"Parents suffer the folly of their children all the time," the Matriarch remarked. "Why should it not be the other way?"

"Perhaps we should turn away," Michael said. "Perhaps the Sons of Garm have already won. They've certainly scared you."

There was an angry murmur.

"Cattle die, men die," Corey said. "Only brave deeds will endure."

Connor did recognise that line. It was from the Havamal, the sayings of Odin. It was one of Darren's favorite sagas and he'd given Connor a copy for a gift shortly before leaving for his hunting trip, the one that cost him his life.

"Cattle die, men die," Ghost said. Everyone stared at him. He blushed and looked down. "The lame can still ride," he finished.

That, too, was from the Havamal, or so Connor thought. As more and more stanzas rolled off various tongues, some were from that book, some must have come from other books and some sounded made up on the spot. They all shared the same sentiment, that death was inevitable but there were still many things worth living for.

"Cattle die, men die, but an honorable name will last forever."

Cattle die, men die, but today, there are women to love," Johann called out, pulling his wife on his lap. This was greeted by cheers.

"Cattle die, men die, but today there is mead and good food."

"Cattle die, men die, but while we live, we are free."

Somewhere in the rush of people talking, the tide was turning. The otters were becoming fiercer, bolder in their declarations. Other stanzas from the Havamal rolled off many tongues. "Most blest is he who lives free and bold and nurses no grief, for the fearful man is dismayed by everything, and the mean one mourns over giving."

"The coward thinks himself safe, if he keeps to himself. But old age will hold no peace, even if the sword spares him," Eva said.

Corey rose at the end and started her speech with one last phrase from the sagas. "A brave man dies once. A coward faces death again and again. We know this, though perhaps we needed the reminder. I won't hide from what's coming. Let us listen to Connor Leidulf."

That was his cue. Not sure how to top what had just happened, he spoke. "I have heard that the otters are brave, cunning, that they keep the traditions. I see the truth here." There was a roar of applause. He tried to think, in the back of his mind, of a fitting phrase to add. "I've only recently read the old books, but I've found them good and your memories are better than mine. So let me say this, if you aid my tribe, I won't ask anyone to fight, or die needlessly. Otter clan is the most cunning and..." It came to him in a flash and he added, "no better burden can one bear, than his mother's wisdoms." He flashed a smile at the Matriarch and gave him a grudging smile in answer.

"The refuge of the poor, and better than wealth in an unsure world," Jacob said, finishing the stanza.

"So help my pack escape, get home to our own territory. And pledge to me your eyes and ears. You live right under the very noses of the other wolves and they don't even know it."

"They will know soon enough," a voice protested. "And then we are alone, far from help."

"We will come, we will help if we can," Tanner called back.

"If you can," the voice replied.

Michael stepped forward again. "The old books have much wisdom in them. But there is wisdom in the new as well. Remember the words of Martin Niemoller:

'First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.'

In the east our kinsmen stood aside when they came for the other wolf tribes. It's not our fight, we said. When they hunted the bears? We stood aside. Soon it will be our turn and there will be no one. I can't speak for anyone else. But I will give the aid this one asks willingly, and more. If it means danger, I will face it."

There was a roar of approval at his words. The Matriarch gave a glance around the house, but it was clear what the mood was. "What would you have of us?" she asked.