The following day Solomon and I stood together to give support to the families who were mourning the guards who passed. Before waking up their family member, I informed them, "Please pass on to her that I had decided tomorrow at noon, the mates and parents only would meet my siblings and me at the Pack memorial lake to plan our farewell memorial. We will do it the day after we get any remains from the enforcers. We do not expect much of anything."  They turned and went to join their family member. It was emotional, with lots of tears as members woke up. I did stay strong and gave them support.

That afternoon I stood with my uncles and grandparents. We woke up my grandmother first. She had tears but calmed herself down. Now it came time to wake up my siblings. I paired them up. I moved Beth with her identical twin. Plus, I placed their mates by them, Uncle Zander, aunt Jillian. I paired Dave with his identical twin, Zane. I assigned Uncle Easten, who had arrived earlier with Aunt Maggie. Plus, their seventeen-year-old twin sons Zeus and Yuri.  Grammy Victoria, Uncle Lander, and Aunt Mary Beth were with my identical triplet sisters: Victoria, Celeste, and Olivia.  Then Grandpa was with Grandma. They went to stand off to the side since she was still fighting her emotions. Then Solomon stood by me.  They all woke up and wondered what happened. Why were they in the hospital? I told them. There were tears and anger. I informed them of our plan. I then looked at them and said, "I need to rest. I have black spots before my eyes. I have gotten no sleep because of worry over you. It is my turn to sleep. I leaned back on a bed, and Solomon and Easton pushed me down. The doctor gave me a shot. I then was out."

Solomon said, "he will be ok. Nothing sleep will cure. He has been strong through it all. Now it is time for us to be strong for him.  He looked at Beth and Gwen, "Congratulations on finding your mates. You have been our shining star since we found out."

"Tomorrow morning, once your brother is woken up, I want to meet with Alpha Easton, Beta Beth, Beta Gwen, and Beta Elliot. I want a list of trackers and warriors you would be willing to step in and assist the womb mates in their mission.  Then put them in charge of working together to grab the necessary provisions."

Then tomorrow at 1:00 pm, the siblings and mates will sit together to plan the memorial at the lake. Charlie said noon, but I want to ensure you all eat before you plan. We ordered the doctor to give him a shot to knock him out. He might be upset we knocked him out.

The rest of the afternoon, let us go to Easton's house, where all our pups are with Councilman Goliath and Councilwoman Tiana. The older dogs would help the younger pups and have a pool party. We need to relax and enjoy each other's company. Share memories of our fallen family members.

That is what I was told they did when I woke up. I joined the meetings the next day. I will admit I did need the sleep, but I spent the morning growling at my Uncles Solomon, Easton, and Goliath since I knew they had to order me knocked out.

I was that morning given a list with forty names on it. The list I saw had my oldest nephews: Zeus and Yuri. I did think this group was too large, but their hearts were into it. I would have to think of a way to slim it down without offending anyone. I nodded my head and turned to walk out while saying, "Now it is time to go grab lunch; my siblings and I have to go plan a memorial this afternoon." I stood up and walked out. My womb mates and their mates followed.
        

Five days after their deaths, the remains were brought back to the pack. They carried it all in one large box. "Alpha Charlie, we have collected the remains that were found. We did cremate them. There was no way to separate them after the explosion." He then handed me the wooden box. On the top was a carving of a wolf surrounded by his pack. On the side, they had carved a cameo of every person who had lost their life and their date of birth and date. It was beautifully done.

We had a prayer room in the pack. I took the box there. I set it on the altar. In the room, we had set up an 11x14 photo of each person and had a PowerPoint playing that had those pack members in it doing various activities. Charles did an excellent job putting this together with a fantastic playlist in the background. He had it that both would loop.

1. Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here
2. Green Day — Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
3. Jimmy Eat World — Hear You Me
4. Led Zeppelin's — Stairway to Heaven
5. Queen — Another One Bites the Dust
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd — Free Bird
7. Queen — The Show Must Go On
8. Guns and Roses — Knocking on Heaven's Door
9. Norman Greenbaum — Spirit in the Sky
10. AC/DC — Highway to Hell
11. Bon Jovi — Hallelujah
12. Linkin Park — Shadow of the Day
13. Queen — You're My Best Friend
14. Aerosmith — I Don't Want a Miss A Thing
15. Oasis - Stop Crying Your Heart Out
16. INXS — By My Side
17. Bread — Everything I Own
18. Crowded House — Don't Dream It's Over
19. Guns and Roses — Knocking on Heavens Door
20. Beatles — Yesterday

This was set up and would play for the next three days. Pack members stopped by and left memorials around the building. On the funeral day, a large raft was set at the memorial lake. That afternoon the pack moved all the memorial gifts to the raft. The mate's family had worked together to make a decorated litter to carry the chest on. My mates and siblings met me in the prayer room one hour before the memorial ceremony. This way, we all could say goodbye privately.

I picked up the chest and carried it outside to the litter and set it on. The mates were taking the photos. Their pups were standing behind them. I saw all the girls were carrying pictures. They stood behind the dogs. My two brothers went to the front of the litter. They stood on each corner. Four males who were the mate's family stood at the back. I walked to the show. When I began to walk. The litter was picked up and carried with the others trailing behind.

We walked the half-mile trail through the forest to the memorial lake. I go to step from the forest to the clearing by the lake. The pack had made a flower petal path to the lake.

I looked around and saw thousands of people from my pack, various other packs, rogue village, leaders from multiple species, people who supported Mom during her trial, different people she had helped at the council center, Council center staff, friends, and families. When we went to the lake, I saw the rafts filled with memorials. A second raft had been made for the overflow and the litter to be placed on. I stepped to the side. My brothers and the family members set the trash on the raft. All the ladies carrying the photos put them on the raft. The pups went to their grandparents. Then they all went to join their families.

I walked to the front, "it is overwhelming to see so many people here who our fallen pack members have touched. I have had over 400 individuals contact us about speaking at this memorial. We knew that was too many, so we dropped everyone's name who requested to speak into a box. The mates, my siblings, and I drew out one name each without looking at it. Whose name we drew, we handed it to Charles. Charles, who has been a wonderful friend, contacted each person. I will be honest we do not know who is going to speak. We did not want anyone to feel offended, but over 400 people wanting to speak would have made this ceremony last days. We did not want that." I looked out over the crowd.

"Charles, please step up and announce each speaker." I walked over to join my family while Charles walked to the front. "I am going to call forward each person. Please remember, no one, but me knows who drew who's name. I will announce them and who drew their name."

Each person came up to speak great things about each fallen friend.

🪔   Councilman Tiana from the Supernatural Council
is who Charlie drew to speak at the memorial.
She talked about the school days at the university with Jocelyn. Then being there for every birth of Jocelyn's pups, maid of honor at her wedding, and Jocelyn being there for her halflings' delivery. Some of the vacations they went on.  It was a walk down memory lane.

🪔   Elder Beta Frank from Cayenne Mountain Pack
is who Beth drew to speak at the memorial.
He talked about his rejection of Jocelyn and how she encouraged him with his second chance mate, how they ended up forgiving each other to be friends, and how Jocelyn was there during the birth of his last pup.

🪔   Councilor Mari from Mountain Moon
and later, the Counseling Center
is who Gwen drew to speak at the memorial
She did not mention the rape and how she counseled her. She talked about how she worked with Jocelyn to get the Counseling Center up and running. Then announced, after 20-plus years of it just being called the Counseling Center, they would officially change it to The Jocelyn Sommers-Hutton Counseling Center because, without her, there would not be one.

🪔   Beta Peter Brandon from Crimson Pack, Lycan Jail, and now Rogue Village
is who Zane drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about Jocelyn bringing the pups to see him at the prison when they were ten. She encouraged him to get counseling. She gave him a chance to get to know his daughters. How they forgave him and how he learned to forgive himself for caving into his father's evil influences. He talked about getting even to know his mother.

🪔   Easton Hutton from Lycan Pack
is who Dave drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about his brother as a pup and some of their adventures. He talked about the camping trips they did with the families.  He spoke of the day he found his mate. Plus, he raved about his pups.

🪔   Shawna Nelson from Delaware River Pack
is who Victoria drew to speak at the memorial.
She talked about how Hutton found her after she had been beaten and raped. He took her to the counseling center for help. How Jocelyn helped her and was there for the birth of her pup. How she helped with her mate, and they just celebrated their seventh anniversary. She now has two more puppies with one girl on the way they would call Jocelyn Graham.

🪔Lander Sommers from Green Valley Pack 
is who Celeste drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about their childhood and some of her accomplishments. Plus, how proud he is to say she was my sister. He also spoke about his nephews.

🪔 Mitchell Kaden, a pup in Juniper Pack
He just ran up just then. He wasn't on Charles' list. All he said was, "My name is Mitchel Kaden.  Scott and Zander are, umm, my best friends. We were always on adventures together. We made a lot of camping trips with Uncle Lander. We had a lot of fun together, and I am going to miss them." he had tears running down his face, "We had planned to make a tree house this summer by the river." He walked over to the raft and dropped a bag on the raft. He then turned and walked to his dad.  His dad wrapped his arms around him.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: when I wrote this child's unexpected comment, I had tears rolling down my cheeks.)

🪔Elder Zepher from the land of the Fairies
is who Olivia drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about how much fun he had when Jocelyn was his surprise neighbor and how he had her family visit him. He spoke of when Zander and Scott found his box of fairy dust. Their visit ended up being a week longer while they waited for it to wear off. Those boys flew around his house the entire time. This image caused a lot of laughter.

🪔   Warrior Guard Payton Grass from Juniper Pack is who Mate Sheila drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about growing up with the four guards, how they excelled in training together, and some funny guard adventures.

🪔   Lycan Guard Didius assigned to Juniper Pack is who Mate Lily drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about their first training day to when they graduated top of their class. That all four of them graduated with 97%.

🪔   Enforcer Zip Tyson of  Juniper Pack
is who Mate Dee drew to speak at the memorial
He talked about how those four helped guard a witness and were the best guards he had ever worked with.

🪔   Teresa chose not to draw
and requested to speak at the memorial
She talked about when she met her mate. How as the first one to get mated out of the foursome was difficult. How she, with Jocelyn's help, grew to understand them, and she, too, became best friends with them. Plus, she learned to accept being gay. She did not realize she was gay until she met her mate.

It took over two hours for just these speakers to finish. When they were done, four guards went up. They poured a floral-scented oil over both rafts. They then pushed it off to go float. Two archers came and shot off flaming arrows. The rafts caught fire. Everyone watched it burn into the night. Slowly everyone left until all that was left was me with my siblings. I looked at them and said let us run. We shifted and had our younger sisters climb on to run late into the night.

What did you think of the way they established the speakers? Plus, the surprise little speaker?