The Legend. Part 7.

“Those words touched the hearts and stirred the souls within every single wolf, male and female, out there on that battlefield.  The anger that had burned inside their hearts for so many years finally subsided, becoming nothing more than a memory.  Instead of total silence following Courvalina’s words of pure wisdom, cheers, whoops, and hollers of all kinds reached her ears.  The happiness that she had longed to see for her family’s past generations went through her body and the aura became stronger than ever.  The pink star that shined on her left temple felt warm to the touch as it glowed with its own life.  Tears, remorse, forgiveness, and happiness ran through the tears of the remaining pieces of the pack’s life, and the positive energy that had been cleared out of that part of the world returned with a new light.”

Alpha Guisono took a breath and sighed gently, knowing that the story was coming to a close.  He gazed around the campfire one more time before he gave up his conclusion.

“Months passed after the reuniting of the forgotten pack.  Hearts were mended, wounds were healed, and pretty soon, the world seemed to be at peace.  After the rivalry and hatred was washed out of their hearts, the pack decided as a whole that Courvalina was their new leader.  Why?  Of course, the obvious reasons stood out with no explanation - she was courageous, she spoke her mind, she thought of others, her heart was big, and the wisdom she carried on her shoulders was from the past ancestors that gave her what she needed to make a stand."  

"Once she was pronounced the Alpha of Cheriminsa, legend goes on to write that she was visited by spirits.  Two, in fact, that stood out in her mind from anyone else in her family’s history.  The one who started it all, and the one who promised her great victory in her lifetime - Europa and Calkrhuma.  Both of them, some say, were white as the snow and the natural auras that surrounded their bodies made them as bright as beacons from the moon himself.  That night, as she sat in the clearing of her family’s terrain, they told her they were proud.  Not only that, but what she did was an amazing thing for a woman of her age, and they did not know she would be up to such a challenge.  Europa and Calkrhuma both promised Courvalina that they would watch over her forever, and when her time came, they would see her again…in the bright city in the sky.  Now, of course, Courvalina was confused - ’What bright city in the sky?’ she asked.  Both figures of light chuckled before Europa’s slender and meek paw reached out to touch Courvalina’s left temple.  ’The star, of course, my love’, Europa replied. ’When you look up into the big night sky and see millions of stars, our city will be the one standing out so well.  Once you look into the sky and locate our city, you will know that you are being watched over.  You, as will the future generations of our family will be looked upon.  We are forever in your heart, Courvalina.  Never forget who you are-’, Europa raised Courvalina’s chin with that same meek paw, ’and others will never forget what and who you stand for.  Remember, you are never alone under the stars…’  

With that final statement made by her great-great-great grandmother, Courvalina was blessed with Europa’s kiss and Calkrhuma’s deep and affectionate nuzzle.  These two motions of love and caring from the kindred spirits helped Courvalina live a wonderful and amazing life.  She started to become more involved with the pack, sorted out complex problems that seemed so small afterwards, and who she was stayed in the pack members’ hearts.”

Those deep eyes that held so many memories of the past looked around the fire and the bright-eyed pups.  Never before had they been so intrigued, so fascinated with the stories of old.  Legends that had been passed from generation to generation were now in the minds of all the little ones that sat there in front of the fire.  A simple sound of awe came from each of their mouths, even the older adolescents who never grew tired of hearing about their pack’s term of peace.  The Alpha smiled his deep wrinkled smile and raised his paw with the pink star.

“We are forever in debt to Courvalina, for if she had not done what was accomplished for our pack, then we would not be here today.  That is why tonight we honor her memory by retelling her story of triumph on the day that she reconciled peace between everyone in our pack so many days ago.  Yes, tonight is the anniversary of when that legendary moment took place.  It has been over a hundred years since that time, and we still feel the shudders of happiness and relief flow through us like the shudders that our ancestors felt.”

With that simple ending, he blew the star out of his paw, causing it to leap into the fire that was now a pile of fading embers.  The fire came back to life in a pink daze, flames dancing here and there as if it had been crackling for hours.  As the pups watched, the beautiful Europa’s head formed from the pink smoke.  They awed and gasped at her magnificence before she faded and her son, Calkrhuma, came into their gaze.  Formed by gray and white smoke rings, they still continued to stare in awe at his handsome and mighty features, only to see him disappear with a simple night breeze.  Finally, Courvalina’s maw came into view.  Beautiful, and in delicate fumes of blue, green, and pink, she hovered above the pink flames, of which welcomed her face with the utmost sounds of crackles and pops.  One single pup whispered “Wow”, creating the life-sized head to smile before blinking once and disappearing like the first two.  

The fire faded into embers, and the faces of the pups looked frozen.  None of them moved a muscle, their nerves were shot because of the amazing thing that had happened.  Once they recovered and rubbed their eyes out of exhaustion and amazement, they looked over to the Alpha, who had risen and was then stretching his old bones.  He tossed back his head, howled to the moon (the little ones following in tune), which was followed by the phrase that stayed in everyone's minds when they crawled into bed afterwards “Remember…You are never alone under the stars”.

El Fin