Post
by Serespar » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:05 am
The Rabbits of Kaermalot (3H)
Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
From Kayapo’s Musings…
I was contemplating one of Saman Ziv’s lessons on time, place and balance. The role of the shaman is to be in the right place at the right time, sense the moment, and use their free will and their gifts to provide a channel for the magic of life to flow, restore balance, and express natural harmony. While our individualized existence is too small to comprehend the true big picture, we can understand and embrace the experience of the moment and allow what is “real” to be reinforced by our accepting observation in that moment.
So, deep breaths, open to the moment…
Several adepts of my acquaintance were hired to investigate reports of some unusual animal activity and invited me to come along. I sensed something out of balance so agreed to accompany them. The party included Nergae the dwarven Beastmaster, Arphen the elven Scout, Taras the human Scout, Qwilliam the dwarven Weaponsmith, Vallone the windling Shadow and myself.
I so enjoy traveling and being gently supported by the land as we go, every true need supplied with abundance. I also enjoyed just being with the different animal spirits that join me and my companions as I open myself to the magic and allow it to flow through me. Barsaive is so beautiful.
We traveled to the area and discovered a pair of females of a type of great feline I had not seen before. Both had a large number of young. The felines appeared to be out of place but were adapting like the clever predators they are. I couldn’t help but wonder how they had been displaced and why they sought to make new homes in this forest ecosystem; their coats were more suited to mountain winds than a low lying forest, their paws to not breaking through snow drifts instead of climbing the rough bark of the trees, and many other odd notes. They were strong predators in their own right, and I wondered how many generations of adaptation would bring them into harmony with their new surroundings.
My companions brought up concerns about “invasive species” but I just smiled quietly and said “Nature finds her balance”. I have heard this idea brought up before and always think how hard some people must work to resist change, to try to force things to stay the same. Nature… ..adapts. If these felines adapt at the proper pace, they will thrive. If they don’t, they will pass into the forest’s memory and that is as it should be. Yes, prey and living things further down the food chain will need to adapt and balance too, and some will do so better than others. If things swing too far prey will disappear as will the predators in turn. It all comes back to balance in time. We shooed away the great cats and their younglings, and I wished them well on the difficult journey of adaptation they faced ahead.
We next ran across another out of place type of creature, the remains of a great migrating herd of a mammal that preys upon insects. The insect eaters were being ground into near extinction by a pack of wolves drawn to the easy prey. On the one hand, it was a terrible slaughter of life, on the other, it was a time of great bounty for the wolves. Nature wastes nothing. Again, why were these creatures so poorly adapted to the local ecosystem migrating? It seems unnatural and I listened to the earth mother to see if she would share any KNOWING of disasters that might have driven so many to seek new homes.
We followed the tracks of the migration south for many days, and the extent of the tragedy became more and more apparent; the insect eater migration was larger than many of the Great Migrations, and all of a single species. Where in the world had they all come from, and why? The small insects that are the base of so much LIFE had been decimated by their passage, short lived as it might have been, and the apex predators were all well fed. I could not help but wonder what the re-balance would be like to experience for the animals at all levels of the ecosystem based on this huge, unusual event.
We traced the tracks to the Serpent River ten days to the south and learned from the t’skrang of Emerald Falls that many, many more of the creatures died trying to cross the Serpent River. It is most unnatural, and it appears that a scruffy human adept of some sort accompanied by a large feline may be involved. Hmmm.
Returning to focus, we traveled north to the last known location of the poison rabbits, a type of Preces. Again, distorted natural forces seemed to be in play since the creatures were extremely aggressive even though it was not mating season. Very odd. My companions and I reluctantly cleared the pack that attacked us. In the aftermath, I communed with the animal spirits and received no specific clues, just a feeling of distortion as their seasonal drives were drawn out of cycle. Most disturbing.
We traveled back to Throal, our stated mission accomplished but with more questions; what was causing the migrations and disturbances we had encountered?
