Lentz of the Wolf - Beginings (UPDATED!)

"Grandpa!", the little girl squealed as he picked her up and placed her into her hammock hung bed.  "I'm not tired anymore! I need a story!"
The boat rocked gently, naturally and smoothly rocking the little bed, which normally put little Haref to sleep quickly.  In high summer, the coast rarely became violent and all the children of the fleet would usually sleep long and soundly.  The brazier gave the little girl's room a warm glow to ward against the coolness of the night sea.  Yellow and orange hues reflected off of every object in view; even the dog who slept soundlessly.  The grandfather was glad it no longer stared him down and howled in sad submission, as it seemed to do whenever he entered the room.
"And so you shall have it!" the wrinkled, but otherwise fairly fit, white haired man declared.  And she would have it for many nights hence; always with the same mirth and enthusiasm in his voice.  In time, she would repeat it along with him.  Other times, she would demand a new story, to which he would comply, but no other story in his vast knowledge of stories would get the encore performance this one would.
"Do you know of the world that lies between this one and your next life?" he always began.
"No?" the curious little toddler would reply.  "No!" the excited young girl would reply on cue.  "No." sarcastic young woman would reply on the rare occasion she'd ask for the story.
"The world that lies beyond this one is an interesting place, full of everything we have here in life, in spirit form, but there is only one of each of them," the old man continued, "There is only one fish,"
"There is only one shark!" she would chant as she begun to know the story better and better.
"There is only one boar."
"There is only one baboon!"
"There is only one panther."
"There is only one dolphin!"
"There is only one wolf."
"There is only one human!"
"No!" the two would shout, smiling and giggling together, the child and the old man, as they both knew what came next.
"There was a time when there was no human in the world beyond.  Before our people grew up, we did not need another human to represent us.  The ape of the world beyond did well enough, gathering our souls when we passed and trading them to other animals to be reborn anew."
"Yes Grandpa, but over time, the Wak changed, and left the form of the ape." the youth would chime in.
"That's right Haref.  And our people needed someone in the world beyond to guide us in our new role.
"Then, as is now, we were a seafaring people, but during those days we also lived on the land."
"Did we build boats on the land?" she had once asked when she was quite small.  When he shook his head no, she wondered, "Then where did we sleep?  Where did we smoke fish?"
"We had places called houses, we bound the wood of trees together into circles, not boat shaped ovals, and used thatched roofs with willow branches and reeds before we knew how to forge the tin and bronze above us now."
"That sounds so strange!"
The elderly man smiled.  "The memory of those days are long forgotten among us.  But maybe one day we will see them again.
"But back to the story."
"Yes!"
"You see, this was a most cherished and noble cause.  He who was sent into the world beyond would live forever, or as long as he kept to his role, but he was also the one responsible for all the souls that were or would become the people he represented.  Do you know why we see so few panthers when we take our shore trips to mine and get lumber?"
"Nef!"
"Yes, Nef of the panther is a solitary woman who is not interested much in the world of the living.  To her, the souls of panthers departed are precious, and are more like to remain untraded, and to become panthers again.  She has no desire for the souls of mere wolves, or humans like us.  And that is probably a good thing, since they are dangerous and would kill you or I easily.
"So the eldest of the Wak, the most sagacious and wise among us came together to determine how to choose the best of the Wak to represent us in the world beyond. They decided there would be a competition to ensure he who represented the Wak in the world beyond would be the strongest..."
"The smartest!" she would pipe in.
"The bravest"
"The most capable... !"
"...among us to go.  And they determined that they should send someone young, someone not already burdened with the wearies of the world.  So they held a contest among all the youths.  Villages, (that is what they used to call fleets of those houses on land!) sent their bravest lads and most cunning young women from near and far.  They ate and drank.  They sang songs we all knew but had forgotten over the years.
"Then, finally the day came that they announced the challenge."
"To build a boat!"
"Yes.  In those days, they did not travel to deepsea, as we can now.  The Wak stayed close to the safety of the shoreline.  So the youths were charged to build small boats that could get them the furthest in the dark of deepsea.  Designing the boat challenged their intelligence.  Building it tested their strength.  Making it float challenged their capability, and traveling to the dangers of deepsea challenged their courage.
"For two months, it is said, the youths toiled, first with charcoal and parchment, later with timber and iron.  Many full moon nights were filled with the sound of tinkering and hammers pounded hundreds of iron nails into boards of oak.  Even more youths became discouraged and tired.  They left for their villages and did not return.
"Finally, the day of the launch was upon them.  Earlier that morning, nobody had slept; the whole coastline was awash with bonfires and torches as the village celebrated the remaining youths.  The Wak ate well that night, roasted boar braised with a hickory glaze.  Endless fluffy loaves of maple acorn breads.  Wine and mead was given to all in generous portions.
"But by the time the sun was high, half of the youths who had launched at dawn had already turned around, hungry and scared.  The village saw more return as the sky turned a hazy purple.  When the stars began to poke out, only 5 remained and 3 of them soon headed back, feeling the cold of the night on their skin.  Well after they were out of site, Tor, the youth called out to Myr, the maiden.
"'Let us both turn around now,' he exclaimed, 'We can claim the prize together as the best of our age.  We will both be hailed as heroes.'
"Left unsaid was the story they would have to concoct to convince their family and friends that they had seen the beyond.  Implicit in his plea was that humans would remain unrepresented among the spirits.
"But Myr would entertain no such options.  She meant to win for herself and prove herself the best of everyone.
"When she didn't respond, Tor grew afraid and lonely in the open air.  He no longer competed with a human; he knew he was already racing with a spirit.  He stopped rowing and sat in his boat for a full hour before her form finally disappeared from the horizon in the sunset.
"Nobody knew what happened to Myr after that.  Tor had arrived home at dawn, saying only that she was no longer in the mortal world.  He was right.
"But about the same time Tor was reaching the shores of his home, Myr was reaching very different shores.  On the beach she saw a horse sitting besides a duck.  A little further down, a shark flopped belly down onto the sands, before changing to give himself legs to meet up with his friends.  The three were talking excitedly as any human would, enjoying the sound of the waves with the dawning of the sun.  They were startled to see the boat floating on the horizon coming towards them."
"Grandpa, don't forget the part about the change of the boat!" the little girl would have to remind him from time to time.
"Of course not!  See, in the world beyond, where there is only one of everything, everything must be the best, biggest of what it is.  When Myr passed to the world beyond, she became a full grown woman.  And her boat, it was no longer a mere boat, it was a huge ship!  It would take fifty of our frigates to fit in the ship she steered that day.
"And in those days, they did not have steam engines in our world, but Myr's new ship was propelled on its own anyway."
"It must have been magic!" Haref would interject.
"Haha, we know there is no such thing as magic in any world.  But it was an unexplained wonder.
 "So imagine, little girl, you are a horse..."
"Neeeiiiiggghh!" she would interrupt as a child,
"Minding your own business with your friends on the beach," he would continue," when you see this huge object coming at you.  Kez of the Horse got up and ran far and wide, warning everyone in the world beyond of the monstrosity that was approaching their home.  By the time Myr landed, everyone in the world beyond was there to meet her.
"She descended the plank to a huge host of every animal you can think of in the world of the living.  Parrot and junglefowl, raccoon and guinea pig, and at the head of them were the three loudest, most arrogant and proud of the spirits of the world beyond.  Ishis, of the baboon, Hetiz of the boar, and the alpha male of them all, Lentz of the wolf.
"Now, there were not many women in the world beyond.  And those who are there often hide in the shadows.  Nef, she keeps much to herself.
"But most of the animals of the world of the living see their strongest and best in the men of the species.  Before Myr even touched a foot on dry ground, the animals saw her as female, they saw her as the weaker, the less clever, the more cowardly.
"'What is this?' Ishis of the baboon screeched, 'A soul still with a body here?  Are you a sacrifice by your people to our desires?'
"Hetiz of the boar was less kind, 'If you desire your next life, we can grant that to you.' and he snarled and bore his tusks at Myr..
"'I am neither sacrifice nor despondent.  I am Myr, of the human, and I have come to claim my role among you and your council.' the human yelled, loud enough for all to hear.
"All along the beach, animals erupted in laughter, this puny human, weaker than those of the Ape to begin with, and weaker still due to her sex.
"'Let her come to me, I shall make a new little clucking hen out of her, to attend to us roosters naturally.' spoke out the junglefowl.
"'No I think she would be better to be born again, with my piglets soon on the way.  She would make a nice fat sow." declared the boar.
"And the animals went on in this way.  Nef sniffed, and stalked away, offering no help to the newcomer.  Finally, Lentz of the Wolf silenced them all with a mighty growl."
"'Idiots!  I know exactly what to do with this female human.  She is not unlike any other bitch of my kind, let us treat her as such.  And let us take this strange contraption from her.  Obviously she cannot know how to use it if she got herself lost here.'
"Surrounded by all of those animals what could Myr do?"
"She could do plenty." would reply and older Haref.
"Indeed she could.
"'This is my ship, I created it with my mind and my heart.  It obeys only my commands and it will suffer no one who disrespects me!'
"'We shall see about that mongrel.' replied Lentz of the Wolf.  He snarled and arched his back in loathing and animosity.  Not asking her permission, or even giving her a look in the eye, he made his way for the ramp to take her ship away.  Perhaps it was because he was too foolish to even look at her that she was able land her kick so precisely and so hard, but I believe she would have send that wolf spirit howling regardless of how well he was able to prepare for it.
"'I repeat, this is my ship.  You will ask for my permission to board,' she gave him another kick down the ramp.  And you will know us as human, as strong, smart, brave and capable.'
"Myr stayed in the world beyond for some time according to legend.  And she did more than just her duty.  She tamed Lentz of the Wolf so that from then on, he was known as Lentz of the Dog.  She took him to husband and bore him a child and it is said that child has taken on the mantle for humankind forevermore.
"But eventually she tired of the responsibility and left the world beyond and returned.  They say she took Tor, her old rival, as a new husband and gave him a child as well, but I doubt that.  She was far too fiery for a man who would quit so soon.  She did ensure that her people would continue and thrive, and I suspect many in the fleet are the spiritual children of Myr.  We have thrived, haven't we?"
"Yes, our boats and ships are many, our people happy, "Haref recited when she was younger,  "We get everything we need from the sea and we are given mastery of the sea from what we steal from the land."
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These days, the tellings of the story were becoming fewer and fewer, and she was thinking of other things; that practical woman she had become.  Mostly she was thinking of betrothals and her ship, and though she loved her Grandpa dearly, he was becoming less and less the center of her life and more an eccentric fool who at best served as entertainment, and at worse, a nuisance.
Tonight was going to be a good night though, the best prospect by far had invited her aboard his parents' ship for a dance and a sauna sweat.  That was how important his family was - they had a full working sauna on-board their vessel.  Haref was not in a bad position herself, thanks in part to tragedy.  Before she could remember, her parents had both died, leaving her the ship, and since she had no siblings to share, it was a fine dowry.  Her date for the evening was second son; she could offer him a chance for a life of his own.  She knew she was going into this meetings with a great hand and she wanted to savor victory.
As she sat down to her fine oak vanity, staring through the looking glass and mixing adornments on her ears and in her hair, she hummed softly.  "Fitzar", she whispered to herself, trying to make the constants and vowels sling to her head and heart favorably.  She had never met the young man, but she was determined to like him.  Haref was already tired of courting and wanted to move on with her life.
She had tried her hand at love, twice, and twice those boys had broken her heart.  Schoolchildren though they might have been, betrayal is betrayal, and she needed none of that.  She just wanted help on her ship, she just wanted somebody that would hoist the rigging when needed, pull in the catch when the nets were overfull or repair the sails from time to time.  She was not interested in being the prettiest, or the most flirty anymore.  Let those games stay with the little girls.
"My little Haref, you can do better than this.  You know you are stronger, smarter, and better than any man in the fleet.  Why limit yourself so?" the old man muttered, startling Haref from her revere.  He stood in the doorway, gnarled hands resting on lacquered door frame.  As he had recently come from the boiler room, his white bound knee-high leg warmers were now black, but his hands and face were freshly washed.
"Grandpa, I'm developing options for myself, not limiting myself.  How else can I claim my full right to citizenship and a voice on the council but through marriage?"
"That is a foolish law.  Myr would never have approved." the old man grumbled, knowing full well his granddaughter would dismiss him.
"Yes, grandpa, but we don't live in a fairy tale world.  This is reality.  It makes sense, really." she rationalized to herself,  "What good is it to listen to someone whose line will end with them?  You need to show that you are not just one individual, but that you are looking out for the future of our fleet as a whole." the girl huffed.  Much as she cherished the memories she had with the old man and his bedtime stories, she was a woman now.  She really wished he would treat her as such.
The old man walked around the cramped wooden room to the porthole and starred into the twilight sky.  The seas were calm but the sky was ominous.  Such is life upon the open waters.
"Have you ever wondered, dear, why I have no voice on the council, though I have a hand in the future, through you?" he asked softly.
"You told me you don't like the council.  That you don't play well in groups where you aren't in charge." she said.
"Heh," he grunted, "Yes I suppose that is true too.  But I could never join the council, even if I wanted to."  He lifted his hands and with his fore finger, absentmindedly began to trace the outlines of the brass bolts that held the porthole in place.  "This ship," he whispered wistfully, "may be mine to command until you come of age and marry, but she was never mine, and I was never hers.  I may be your grandfather, but neither your mother nor your father was my child."
Haref turned her attentions to a deep sea blue pendant, seemingly unaffected by the news.  She merely nodded.
"You knew?" the old man asked, incredulously.
"Not for sure, but I think I did." she said.  "There aren't any shadow slides of you and my parents together, or of you and me any time before I turned 2."
"The year your parents were lost."
She turned around and looked the old man in his hazel eyes.  "Yes.  So tell me then, who are you, and why are you here?," she asked, adding a repentant, if sweet smile, "Grandpa?"
It worked, of course, and the old man smiled back.  Neither of them doubted that it would.  "I was escaping the mainland when I came across your parents.  I was scavenging but the wolf presence became too great.  I had to take flight as the first of the hurricane hit land.
"I was one of the lucky ones.  By the time I reached my dingy, I was in the eye of the storm.  The winds and waves were relatively calm.  That was when I came across your parents' fishing dingy; or rather, what was left of it.
"Your parents were not the only ones to pass that day, and I had to navigate through wood debris and bodies.  Your father was long dead, likely one of the first.  I never saw him, but the seas were harsh and likely swallowed him whole in one gulp.
"But your mother clung on to some of the wreckage, along with 2 other survivors.  Two young boys, ship-hands I suspect, were knocked out cold and were afloat on debris thanks only to the good will of your mother.  I didn't have a lot of room in my dingy; why would I have brought out a big ship?  It was just supposed to be a simple day with a simple catch.  I lived on my own back then, and I've never really needed much to survive.
"So it was either your mother of both of the boys.  I offered to let her take my place, but she refused. I swore at her, saying I could swim along side the boat.  I asked her if she wanted to abandon her friends and family in the fleet.  That was when she told me about you.  'Protect my daughter' were her final words that day, but she needn't have said a thing.  It was becoming clear to me that the spirits had guided me for this very purpose.
"But still I tried, I implored she climb into safety.  Surely all four of us could make it.
"All she could do was respond to me with a moan.  It was the first time I noticed the faint hint of red in the water around her.  Slowly, with great effort, she brought her hand down to her stomach.  She had been near impaled by a splintered part of the mast.
"Could she have been saved?  I don't know, but I knew there I couldn't move her without fatally dooming her.  We needed stronger men and better doctors than one old man and two unconscious boys.
"She gave me your family crest before I sailed off, rushing to beat the rest of the storm to the fleet.  It was the same crest I will give to you on your wedding day.  She made me promise to care for you and I was not about to refuse a dying woman's request.  I told her that I would send for help to return as soon as I could, but I think she knew she was out of time.  We made it to the fleet just as the eye of the storm passed, and by the time I could venture out again, there was no sign of the sloop or your mother.  I'm sorry."
Haref considered what she heard.  Nothing contradicted anything she had read, but he certainly filled in a lot of gaps to her family history research.  "The boys, I am guessing they were the twins Joraf and Jepsah.  That would explain why they always seem to just happen to be in this part of the fleet when they have a huge over catch or when we have a leak or boiler malfunction."
"Yes.  When those two boys returned home, their parents had already begun burning the incense and singing songs to the spirits.  They thought us ghosts.  They thought me a spirit myself!  But when they saw my flesh and blood, their prostrations stopped, and their gratitude began to flow unceasingly.
"As an old man, there are too many things I could not do for you.  I had never been a ship master.  When I told them of your parents, and how I saw it as my duty to raise you to become the fine young woman you are today, they insisted they help.  If I saved their sons once, that family has saved us a hundred times over.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Haref asked.
"Because this is your ship, and soon you will have that crest.  And you will know why there is so much hope and promise in you, and why I want to make sure that it is not squandered.  Please, do not be hasty.  Choose a man that will be a true first officer.  Take a man to husband that will help you to go far, not one who merely wants a cushy life.  Choose a man who won't let you down, and who will not let you let yourself down either.  Only a man such as that is truly worthy of you."
 “Thank you grandfather.” Haref nodded calmly, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.  I will consider it.”
The old man signed and took a step back, closing the door ever so gently.  Always so clinical, his Haref was.  He knew what her words really meant.  She would think on it, but her mind was already made up.  She might change the details, but her goal was still first to become Matron of the ship, in whatever way was the fastest, and take the burden of sailing off of himself - whether she was prepared for it or not.  Intelligence breeds confidence and confidence breeds more confidence; his granddaughter was a prime example of that.  She was sure she had already taken into account all the most important factors in her decision to marry.  What an old man had to say was for the details only.
As he was only the acting ship master, the decision would ultimately come from the council elders.  She might come to him for a symbolic blessing, and at her wedding, he would symbolically pass her family crest down, but he was expendable in the process.
"So much promise," he muttered, "I had such hopes for you."  Turning down the hall he amended, "I still do."
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