Ursa Non Grata

Prolog

Dearest child, son of my mother‘s sister, I do not ask this of you lightly, and before I ask– I wish to make sure you understand what it is I ask of you... and why.

It is not our way to interfere in the affairs of humans, but the weaver's web is wide enough to snare even us and the pattern is never truly clear...

There has always been in humans the power for great sacrifice and selflessness and sadly an evil far greater than one could imagine. That is their way, and I will not assume to tell you of that.

You of all of us have witnessed these powers in action. You have lived among them... learned as would a human child, cared for and been cared for by them. You have suffered their pettiness and experienced the depths of their passions.

In our friends, there is the power of sacrifice and the hope of redemption– in their enemies, an evil that grows like a cancer, threatening even us.

These enemies use our friends as pawns in their games, and I fear that even such as they shall slowly fall or worse– become worse than that which they fight. The cost of these games are far too great to measure and I fear we will learn the price too late.

We must know their game, for ones such as these would think nothing of destroying an entire city for the chance to kill just one of our kind. They will gladly sacrifice the lives of innocents to achieve such an end and so they must not know our true nature.

That is why I am asking you to watch over Katya in the coming weeks... I have watched the web, seen the pattern in the weft. You of all of us know the human heart and that is why I ask this of you.

Know that you are dear to me child, and it is hard for me to ask this of you. I remember all too well what it was like for me to live among the humans, but that was different was it not?

Different and yet the same, for I ask you to watch over the ones who defended me when I could not defend myself.

Watch over them son of my heart, guide their steps and do what you can to keep them safe... I fear our time is growing short...



Kai closed his eyes as the Maguin's words still echoed in his mind. He did not fully understand her thoughts– her reasoning. Duck, Katya, was a friend of theirs and was it not right to watch over your friends?

Why would the Maguin make so formal a request when she knew he would do everything he could to protect Duck and her friends?

The elders would say that he was thinking like a human, but from everything he had learned about the clan, their allies... everything told him that this must be done.

He wondered if the elders every truly thought out what they said– or merely followed their own whims, satisfied in the knowledge that they knew what was best.

It was ridiculous, the same beings who had condemned the Maguin to life as a human until she learned compassion, would dispassionately turn their backs on human plight saying it was none of their business.

Sometimes he believed, as they told him, that his failure to understand was because he was young and that in time he would understand. Other times, like now, he knew it was because his mind was not clouded by the passing of ages. There was a difference, even if the elders could not or would not see it.

He sighed, realizing that his reactions were all too human. There was nothing the elders could do he reminded himself – to intervene would tilt the balance of nature, and give the sphere a chance to turn it into a war.

Waiting was the prudent thing. Not the right thing, but the prudent thing. Fortunately he was young, and the young have never been known for their prudence. He wondered if that was why the Maguin asked him to watch over Duck and the others.


Copyright 2001 - M.T. Decker

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