"Some say it's prediction while others know it's a pattern." – Thalla Stormwatch while reviewing budget allocations in the Order.

"So, uh, Anna. I take it you like fried food?" Kristi said after watching the petite fey woman swipe her basket of onion rings.

Kurt just sighed and went to the counter to order more while Anna responded between crunching bites. "Mmm. It's sooooo good. We didn't have anything like this in Hetat, I actually don't think this was anywhere on Ladaheim. Mmf, and Hetat had plenty of foreigners… That's where I learned Earth common."

Kurt sat back down and went to take a sip of his milkshake but found it also in the growing mix of food that Anna was pulling to her side of the table. "Two things, it's called English, and you might want to slow down." He advised while settling for his water to sip on while waiting for the baskets of wings to come out.

"W-Why? This is amazing." Anna said while continuing to stuff fries, wings, burgers and various other fast-food items into her mouth.

Val placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetie, have you ever had deep fried food like this?"

"Mrmph- No." Anna paused long enough to swallow. "Does that matter? I have it now."

"Oh! Oh honey, I am so sorry for what is going to happen to you later." Penny shook her head slowly while both Kurt and Kristi winced in sympathy. The poor girl didn't know the digestive pain she was going to be in later that day.

*****

"AHoOOooo. Just kill me now." Kurt heard Anna say from the bathroom before she switched to a language he didn't know.

"Gotta do that translation device." He muttered to himself while fishing out some Pepto from the medicine cabinet. "Here, see if you can get her to choke some of this down." He handed the bottle to Kristi since he didn't want to walk into a bathroom in which a girl was having any sort of 'issue'. Some might call him a coward, but he liked to think of it as discretion being the better part of valor.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about her stealing our food anymore." Val said from the couch. "But what did you and Kristi get up to while Penny and I took her shopping?" They had been relaxing in the living room after getting home from their trip to TC, not really wanting to do much else that day.

Kurt flopped down next to her. "Kristi and I got some new guns, picked up the parts I had made and fixed the rifle she nearly cut in half." He filled her in on some finer points.

"We should stop by and visit Renee at some point. See how it's going after our little guild problem." Val said while laying her head on his lap and propping her feet on the arm of the couch.

"Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to pay her a visit and maybe even get an update from Jay." He fully agreed. "How was shopping for Anna?"

"Surprisingly difficult." Val began but stopped when the bathroom door opened, both Kristi and Anna walking out. They made it two steps before the fey doubled over and ran back to the bathroom. Kristi just shut the door and walked over to join them, propping Val's feet on her lap while she took the end spot.

The kitsune sighed happily before continuing. "She has a sort of fur covering almost all her body except for her palms and a few other places. That sort of fuzz actually makes it rather difficult to buy clothes."

"How so?" Kurt and Kristi both asked at the same time.

Val smiled at the little jinx. "Well, anything cotton sticks to her and hangs poorly. Then the synthetics are almost too slick and don't stay put too well. That was why she was so fidgety earlier, the leggings I loaned her kept sliding around."

"What about wool?" Kurt suggested.

"Tried that. We thought it was a winner until she touched Penny and nearly electrocuted her." Val answered while covering her eyes with her arm. "It was both frustrating and sad."

"And funny." Kristi added while tickling Val's paw pads a little.

"That too. We did come up with a solution though." Val said while kicking slightly and glaring at Kristi. "The shape change amulet pretty much negates that effect for regular clothes but she was fond of denim and a few of the poly blends that are less clingy when not shifted."

Kurt nodded. "Makes sense, but what about around the house? When she doesn't want to use the amulet, I mean."

Val and Penny apparently didn't even need to do much looking on that front as Anna had found a few sets of draw string pants and high waisted jeans. She found that those would prevent the issues with bunching and also with the sliding off as long as she kept them firmly tied or buttoned. That wasn't the only solution that their new friend had found, however.

"Yeah, she cleaned out that clearance rack of everything she thought would fit or be bigger on her." Val was saying. "Apparently, she is a rather accomplished seamstress and is used to making alterations. The addition of many of the clothes she found being out of season helped."

"What do you mean out of season?" Kristi asked, looking a little confused. "Clothes aren't like fresh fruit or vegetables."

Laughing a little, Val sat up to look at Kristi. "Yes, but you wouldn't want to wear a coat and scarf in the dead of summer just like you don't want to wear sandals in two feet of snow."

"Oh, I see. Seasonally appropriate rather than seasonally available." The look on Kristi's face made Kurt think she had just figured out something that had puzzled her for a while.

The talk about seasons and temperature reminded Kurt that he hadn't filled the wood stove since the morning, and he got up to tend to it. The house was still warm, given the adjustments he made to the flue and vents, but it wouldn't last forever. If he stocked it full and lowered the air flow, he could get at max, twelve hours of life out of it. That was also if he was burning hardwood like oak and not something like pine or cedar.

Thankfully most of his wood pile was hard wood and he avoided the softer variety for anything more than lighting it. There was just so much resin in pine that it made cleaning the chimney a real pain at times. And that was all before the risk of a chimney fire.

Standing up, Kurt stretched. "Welp, who's for bed?" he asked and got immediate responses as the girls stood up and followed after him. Val stopped to check on Anna along the way and made sure she was ok before joining him and Kristi under the covers.

*****

Kurt was beginning to get a sense of when he would be pulled into the alternate reality where he learned his race's history. It was like a certain pressure in his mind that built up until reaching a certain point. He wondered if he could voluntarily enter this place and decided to ask his wolf at some point.

"Hello." Said his wolf.

"Good evening." Kurt replied blithely. He was still a little miffed that it seemed to know more than it let on and kept secrets from him. "What are we looking at today?" He asked while walking toward the cave.

He got the feeling of shrugging from the wolf as it walked along next to him. "No idea. I suspect the next part of our people's story."

That made Kurt pause for a second but he quickly continued walking, barely missing a step. "I thought you curated the content?"

"Nope, I am just the part of you that can provide some context. I have the genetic memory but I don't know exactly what will be shown and when. Given we last saw the beginning of the first hunt, I predict we see the return or we see the hunt itself."

Kurt just continued walking as he thought about how this all worked. He knew that the wolf represented that animal part of his being and also the heritage that came all the way from the Origin. What he was having a hard time with was the separation that seemed to make little sense.

On the one hand, the wolf knew about everything, at least to some extent, but it also didn't control anything, being a passenger of sorts. Kurt wondered if that was part of the curse that the Avatar had set upon them or if it was something else that was working in the background. In either event, it would have to wait as he arrived at the next panel and stood before it.

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The scene that played was one of a village at the edge of a wooded mountain side. The architecture was similar to the villages they had seen before but more refined and a set pattern had been developed. Where once there were round houses with wattle walls and straw roofs, there were now stone foundations and wood shingles along with thatching. It was like the whole village had slowly been rebuilt over the course of several years. Even the once small farm fields had been expanded, growing larger and pushing the boundary of the settlement.

The art style depicting the scene had also changed again, moving from tile mosaic to a more paint heavy depiction. Each scene still slowly moved and changed to show what was happening in amazing detail.

The fields that laid between the homes and the woods were being worked by people. Dozens of them slowly toiling under the morning sun. As one, they looked up to a disturbance in the woods. Some gripped their crude tools while others seemed ready to flee but all locked eyes on the tree line.

Then, werewolves began to emerge from the trees, all of whom were in human form. It was at that point Kurt realized the style of clothing was also different. The villagers wore sturdy yet colorful clothes, and more than a few had wide brimmed hats to shield them from the sun.

The wolves, in contrast, wore simple undyed fabrics or, in most cases, animal hides. Their garments were much more muted, harkening back to simpler times. They stopped, waiting just at the edge of the fields. Kurt wasn't sure what they were waiting for but one of the villagers approached them after a quick conversation with each other.

While one of the villagers approached the wolves, another ran back to the town, likely to alert whoever was in charge. That was where the scene ended. It showed the return of the humans' protectors and the not so joyous reunion. The looks of disappointment on the werewolves' faces all but confirmed how they expected the return to go.

The next scene played, and Kurt looked at it, showing the same standoff as before. From the buildings emerged a group of younger men escorting another. They all carried simple weapons and crude shields as they walked in a square around an older man.

The man at the center of the formation was likely in his late sixties. His hair was well on its way to being silver with only a few strands of brown in it. He walked with a confident stride but carefully placed his feet as he walked along the path. It was then that Kurt noted his cane, it barely showed in the art style, but it was being carried rather than leaned on, showing his hurry to move.

The next scene showed the man reaching the front of the gathered farmers, parting them gently as he pushed forward. He strode confidently towards the werewolves, passing the one villager who had greeted them and waving at the guards to stay away.

He paused for a moment, staring at the lead wolf in what felt like complete silence. Then he sank to his knees, not caring about the dirt and mud of the field as he gazed upon them. Without hesitation the lead werewolf stepped forward and knelt in front of the old man, being embraced as he did.

Kurt felt that words were exchanged but naturally couldn't hear anything from the mural. It was after a few moments that the scene froze, and he looked to the next one. It was the last in this section of the gallery and he wondered what it might show.

The final scene was depicting the old man pulling the lead wolf into the village, talking animatedly as he did. The other villagers and werewolves followed along, the former having utterly confused expressions.

The scene blurred, showing a similar reaction in several different styles of village. It was shown in towns of mud brick huts, of log long houses and even of half buried sod-roofed houses. The only place the scene didn't show was in the cities, the ones lurking in the background as they overwatched their vassal towns and villages from the safety of their tall walls.

Kurt somehow felt judgement from those cities. It was a feeling that there was a sort of disagreement between the people in the villages and the rulers of the lands. It seemed to Kurt that the local kings and lords didn't take kindly to power outside their control.

Quickly stepping to the right, Kurt watched the next panel light up. The first scene depicted the werewolves back in the villages. Some were working fields, some built houses and others still worked in other ways. All of them were integrated back into the villages, resuming their previous lives while also casting the occasional glance to the edge of the woods.

The sun began to set on the small village and Kurt noted that several of the wolves stayed outside, patrolling along the boundary of the village. They carried no torch, and they bore no weapon as they put their backs to what they held dear, ready to defend it from an evil that never came. An evil that never came from that direction, at least.

After that scene, the next one showed a daytime shot of the village, everyone back to work on whatever they had been doing when a group of people came from the side of the scene, clearly from the city. They were walking alongside a man riding a rickshaw, showing that either horses weren't domesticated or just not ridden yet. Each of the men, except the person pulling the cart, were wearing much finer clothing and carried themselves with an air of importance.

The group stopped in the center of the village, under the pavilion that stood next to one of the wells. After a span of time, the villagers arrived to see what was going on, the werewolves were among them with the alpha now being an attendant to the elder who had greeted them. Once more the image stilled, and Kurt looked to the last scene.

After the people had gathered, a well-dressed man stepped forward, standing on a small platform. He read from a tablet of some sort as he addressed the crowd. The villagers seemed to not like the man or what he was saying as they collectively wore open looks of distaste. Then the noble, as that's what Kurt assumed he was, pointed to several of the werewolves who stood out in their rough clothing.

The crowd looked around, seemingly deciding what to do before they began to shout at the noble. They raised fists and made gestures toward him that must have been offensive, but Kurt had no idea why. The noble and his men then retreated, running quickly despite not being chased in the slightest. That scene ended and the next panel didn't light, making Kurt turn to his wolf with a questioning look.

"Care to elaborate on what that was about?" Kurt asked. "Or do I just have to infer from context and wait till next week's thrilling conclusion?"

Somehow, the wolf rolled its eyes at him. "My prediction was correct, and we were shown when our people returned from the first hunt."

"Right, I got that part…"

"If you noticed that when they returned, only the elderly seemed to recognize them as they hadn't aged nearly as much as the humans. It would be like meeting a long-lost friend that you had thought dead." His wolf explained the reunion episode before continuing.

"You will also remember that the people didn't know of monsters and the creatures from the negative realms. They had been safe since the wolves pushed them all away and those that remained were weak enough to be handled by lesser means.

"That scene, where the werewolves went back to patrolling in the night was shocking for us. We had assumed the monsters would follow us back to our homes and we would still have to deal with their predations." His wolf touched its nose to the scene in question. "This was more than we had hoped for and that result is what would lead us to take on future hunts."

Kurt looked at the mural again. "What about this guy?" He pointed to the noble who was holding court in the town square.

"This was the unforeseen side effect of our success." The wolf sat down and looked at him. "Without monsters to plague the outlying areas, the lords in the cities forgot the deal we had made."

Frowning, Kurt looked to the other panels and tried to remember an agreement being made. "What deal was that? I don't remember them meeting with anyone."

"It wasn't a formal treaty or contract, those didn't exist when we forged the bond between out peoples. That we would protect their lands and their kin in exchange for a place to live and candidates to pass our blessings too in times of need."

"So, you kind of farmed them? Raised them as stock for your own ranks?" That didn't feel like what happened, but it was what Kurt's mind leapt to.

The wolf shrugged. "You could say that when viewed from a certain point of view."

This time Kurt snorted. "Ok Obiwan."

His wolf did that head tilt and ear flop that many canines did when confused or curious. "Who is Obiwan again?"

"From Star Wars…" Kurt lead.

"Ahh, the movies." His wolf nodded. "I remember the name but never heard it referenced."

Kurt tried to raise his eyebrows but couldn't since he was a werewolf at the moment. "You haven't heard the reference? I thought you were in all of us, watching and waiting?"

"I am." His wolf confirmed before elaborating. "But you are the first I have had any meaningful interaction with in many, many years. Also, I just observe passively, not necessarily in an active role."

"How long is 'many' years?" Kurt asked.

Considering for a moment, the wolf took a while to reply. "I think the last time I talked to one of us like this was… sometime around when the first world war started in Europe. I remember a pack talking about if they should get involved in the conflict or not. Their leader was not of alpha stock, but she was close, close enough for us to commune in a way."

"That was over a hundred years ago…" Kurt said flatly.

"Yes, and also in Crimea. What of it?"

"I- ah never mind." Kurt shook his head, giving up on the topic. He was curious about what happened to that 'pack' but would have to put that on the back burner for now. "Anyway, what else happened here?" He gestured to the scene before him depicting the lord being sent packing by the village.

"Ah, yes. That would be almost exactly what happened in every instance of our return. Except for a few rare cases where the regional rulers either remembered us or understood our value. This one was more concerned with his own image and 'power' than with letting things return to the natural order." His wolf confirmed that the scene was pretty much exactly the same everywhere.

"So, what did he do?"

His wolf shook its head sadly. "The same thing that any government does when faced with something they can't completely control. But I think that is better shown than not. Go now and we will speak of this more on your next visit."

Kurt awoke then, once more before the sun rose. He quietly got up but felt that Val would be right behind him as she seemed to be a little restless and moving more than usual. Still, he went about his morning routine of stoking the wood stove and making coffee.

He then remembered that he hadn't checked his mailbox for a couple days and quickly hopped in his car to drive down the snowy driveway to get it. Just as he suspected there was a large stack of mail, and he began sorting through it after pouring his coffee.

Flipping through the junk mail and various bills, Kurt came to an immediate halt upon seeing a familiar letterhead. It had was addressed to Mr. Kurtis Rosk & Company, but the more disturbing part was the upper left corner where the return address was.

Beneath a very recognizable seal, in neat block letters was a title he was all too familiar with. It was labeled 'U.S. Department of Justice' with 'Federal Bureau of Investigation' directly below it.

"Well… Fuck." Was all that he could think after tearing open the envelope and reading the summons. It looked like he would be taking another road trip to the local FBI offices.

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