Philige called an emergency meeting with the council of elders to discuss his quandary over what to tell the curious masses about the flood of silver light spilling down the side of the mountain from the Leader’s Lodge. He was just hoping that someone would already have their own crazy theory to spout.

“Can anybody tell me what just happened?” Philige asked the room once the elders had settled. He was met with uncomfortable silence. “Anyone at all? I will take crazy theories at this point. I expect that people will be arriving here at any moment to ask questions, and I need something to tell them!” More silence. “Alright, let’s recap. Shimmery lights, howling wolves. Am I forgetting anything?”

“The wind and a full moon,” someone finally contributed something.

“Thank you. So lights, wolves, wind, full moon. What does it all mean?”

“We have a member of the Wolf Tribe visiting, and she’s a member of the tribe leader’s family,” someone connected.

Philige struggled to find a way to work around implicating Lolo in all of this without explicitly ruling it out either. “Let’s assume for the moment that Huo Lohse Lang has no idea what just happened either, that her presence is merely a coincidence. Theories?”

After another prolonged silence, an elder in the back row raised her hand. “I read somewhere that the cry of a wolf has spiritual properties. The lights seemed to appear as many wolves across the mountains howled. Perhaps this was a rare spiritual event relating to the wolf cries.”

“Thank you!” Philige was relieved to have anything to work with. “Any other thoughts?”

“Now that you mention it, I read an old history text that suggested that rare events, perhaps something like hundreds of wolves howling in unison at a full moon, could ‘call to life the spiritual energy of nature’. Perhaps we have witnessed one such rare event.”

“And the lights were manifestations of that spiritual energy?” Philige wanted to be sure that he understood.

“Seems as good of a theory as any,” someone endorsed.

“Do you think that perhaps the wolf princess had anything to do with this spiritual event?” another elder asked. The question was met with muttering around the room, and Philige started becoming anxious.

“Like I said, let’s assume that her presence is merely coincidental. Tomorrow, we will undoubtedly be required to provide some sort of explanation for this evening’s events. Our official statement will communicate the facts of what we observed and the theory that this was a rare spiritual event that we cannot fully explain.”

“Can’t we ask the princess if she knows anything?” someone asked.

Philige sighed. “I will talk to her personally, but she likely knows nothing, and I do not want her name dragged into this unless she does have a satisfactory explanation. Understood?”

The council members nodded and seemed to be waiting expectantly.

“You want me to go speak with her right now?”

“We’ll wait,” a tall, wispy elder on the front row said with a gentle smile.

Philige knocked on Lolo’s door just a few minutes later.

“Philige? Is something wrong?” she asked, confused.

“No. But I need to talk to you,” he sounded stressed.

“Come in then. What’s on your mind?”

He found a bench to sit on and buried his face in his hands for a minute while he gathered his thoughts. “Ok. So I called the council together. I didn’t tell them anything, but I asked them for theories on what just happened based on the observable phenomena. We’ve arrived at a reasonably believable theory that it was some sort of rare, unexplainable spiritual event caused by all the wolves howling. However, the council insisted that I come talk to you to ask you if you have a better explanation, seeing as you are the princess of the Wolf Tribe, so here I am.”

“Well, you already know my explanation,” Lolo said slowly.

“Yes. But the council doesn’t know that I know your explanation. The questions I came to actually ask you are different. Do you feel that the council’s explanation is acceptable, and would you be ok if I circulate that explanation when people come asking for one tomorrow? It would mean that I will be returning to the council to report that you did not have a better explanation for tonight’s mysterious events.”

“Isn’t that a lie?”

“It’s bending the truth a little, yes. It is true that you don’t have a ‘better’ explanation in the sense that your explanation will cause a lot of problems. The theory that the elders came up with at least leaves enough ambiguity for people to draw their own conclusions, and if you wanted to declare yourself as a primordial sometime later, you could refer back to this event and explain it then.”

To Philige’s surprise, Lolo laughed. “You’ve become quite the diplomat, Philige.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” he frowned.

“Oh, it is. Somehow, you found a way to pacify the masses with a reasonable explanation for an unusual event while still enabling us to claim ownership of it later when we are ready. And in the meantime, it protects us from harassment and whatever other nonsense that would come with declaring ourselves too early. Very efficient work, Bear Leader.”

Philige wasn’t sure how to respond to her praise, so he simply stared at her.

She laughed and wrapped him in a hug that had the effect of melting away much of his stress. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Uh, you’re welcome.”

***

Philige was tired after several days of meeting with people and responding to letters about the mysterious lights. While his indefinite response was not the most satisfying, everyone accepted it without much argument. The primordials were just grateful to have Philige as their ally.

While Philige was cleaning up the mess, the primordials were busy trying to figure out the best way to accomplish their “formulaic” mission. Jadu consulted his book for answers and ideas while Fortus drew up a training plan. Standig, Ulana and Huo Lohse put a lot of energy into restoring the old courtyard and preparing the meditation circle for use. Basically, they spent the better part of a week on their hands and knees yanking up weeds.

“Alright, team,” Fortus called the group to order one evening, “according to the Great Owl, there are two major elements to our training. The first is spiritual training and the second is physical/combat training. The goals of our spiritual training are to build power, whatever that means, create a bond with our animal spirits, and develop our ‘ultimates’. Our combat training needs to focus on team building in addition to basic things like swordsmanship and physical fitness. My understanding from what the Great Owl told us is that after we become a team and learn to control our ultimates, we will be ready to take our places as leaders in the war.”

“I’ve been studying my book,” Jadu said. “The teams before us spent a lot of time meditating. In my experience, as I’ve tried to replicate the blue fire, meditating has had an effect.”

“And the Great Owl did tell us specifically that we need to meditate,” Ulana added.

“So here is what I propose,” Fortus continued, “everyday, we go to the meditation circle first thing after breakfast and meditate until lunchtime. I know that sounds like a lot, but we are going to need to fast-track our training. Afternoons will be dedicated to combat training and team building exercises until dinnertime. Evenings might involve some training occasionally, but they will generally be left open to be used at our own discretion. I would encourage you all to think about how to use your time efficiently. Any objections to this plan?” No one objected, but Lolo looked like she’d smelled something unpleasant. Fortus had to work to contain his amusement. “See you first thing in the morning, then,” Fortus said.

***

The five primordials were all sitting around the meditation circle by 7:00. Lolo was feeling groggy and kept dozing off as she tried to relax into a meditative state. She just couldn't stay focused.

"Lolo. Lolo? Lolo!" Ulana prodded at her ribs to wake her up.

"Ack! Ulana! Cut that out!"

"You're snoring."

Lolo flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry. I must have dozed off." She looked around to realize that everyone was staring at her. Standig and Ulana were amused, Fortus was annoyed, and Jadu quickly returned to his own meditating.

"Lolo, I know that meditating isn't easy for you, but you really need to take this seriously," Fortus reminded her.

"You're right, Fortus. I'm sorry."

The group returned to their meditating, but, despite her best efforts, Lolo dozed off again.

"When the Great Owl said that she's always struggled with meditating, I guess I didn't realize just how bad she was at this," Fortus grumped.

"Don't look at me," Ulana shook her head. "I woke her up the last time."

"I'll do it," Standig chuckled. "Don't worry, Fortus. She'll figure it out. When it really matters, she always does."

"How do you mean?"

"When people are depending on her, she always comes through," Standig stated vaguely.

Standig got up from his spot in the circle to sit down across from Lolo. Her head was bobbing up and down, trying to find a comfortable resting position. Her ponytail had fallen forward and was obscuring her face. Standig laughed and caught her head on the next loll. She instantly relaxed into his hand. "Hey, Lolo," Standig said, rubbing her shoulder with his free hand, "Lolo, wake up for me, please. I need your help."

Without opening her eyes, Lolo started muttering. "What is it, Standig?"

"I need your help."

"Ok. What do you need?"

"Can you help me meditate?"

Lolo finally lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. She was too sleepy to realize that Standig was trying to help her instead of the other way around. "How can I help?"

"Can you help me find a comfortable breathing pattern?"

"Are you wanting to do a partner meditation?"

"No, but I thought it might help me if we meditated next to each other. I can still synchronize my breathing with yours to get me started."

Lolo stretched a kink in her neck and blinked some of the sleep out of her eyes. "Sure." She sat up a little straighter and started breathing slow, rhythmic breaths. True to his word, Standig synchronized his breathing with hers, and for the first time ever, Lolo entered a meditative state on her own.

Standig cracked his eyes just a little to see that his plan had worked. He quietly returned to his own spot in the circle with a wink at Fortus, leaving Lolo to her meditating.

***

Meditating for four to five hours every day proved painful for Lolo, but with time (and a lot of patience from Standig) she was at least able to do it. Eventually, she was even able to do it on her own without Standig walking her through it. But she hated it. Meditating was miserable, especially first thing in the morning when she still wasn't quite awake.

"What are we supposed to be accomplishing with all this meditating again?" Lolo asked Fortus one day over lunch.

"We are connecting with our animal spirits."

"I don't think my animal spirit likes meditating any more than I do," Lolo pouted.

"You haven't noticed any difference at all?" Fortus was concerned.

"Have you?"

"Well, yeah. We've been training for over two months. You're telling me that meditating hasn't made any difference for you?"

She shook her head. "What am I supposed to be feeling?" Everyone was now looking at her with deep concern. "Are all the rest of you with Fortus on this one?"

Ulana nodded. "It's hard to put into words, but meditating makes me feel like I can tap into a deeper pool of energy, and I've noticed that I get a lot more air on my aerials afterwards too."

"Recently, I've been coming out of meditating feeling stronger," Standig nodded. "I kind of feel like I've been working to combine my own strength with the strength of my bear spirit."

"After meditating, I'm more focused," Fortus added. "I seem to have the best ideas immediately afterwards, and yeah, it affects my fighting."

"What about you, Jadu?" Lolo asked, not feeling particularly hopeful.

"I told you when we started that it makes a difference," Jadu shrugged. "It makes me feel calm and powerful."

Lolo groaned. "I must be doing something wrong then. I always come out of meditating feeling irritable." She thought for a moment. "Jadu, in that book of yours, I don't suppose there's any mention of how the Silver Wolf figured out how to meditate properly in the first place, is there?"

Jadu shook his head. "It is consistently noted that the Silver Wolf struggles with this part though."

Lolo dropped her head into her arms on the table and whimpered. "This is so frustrating!"

No one knew what to say as Lolo proceeded to bang her head a few times on the table.

"Alright, stop, Lolo. Stop!" Standig said, slipping his hand under her forehead before she could smack it again. "Think. Has there ever been a time when you felt extra connected to your wolf spirit or felt particularly powerful? After meditating or otherwise?"

"Partner meditations have that effect sometimes, like at the ruins that one time… climbing my tree under a full moon… covering the entire Bear Tribe in spiritual energy," she listed the events off one-by-one.

"You know, Lolo, it occurs to me that those things all happened at night," Fortus connected.

"So?"

"Wolves are nocturnal. Maybe having you meditate in the morning is the problem."

"So, in order to connect with my wolf spirit, I need to become nocturnal?"

"No, but you might try meditating at night a few times."

"It's a thought," Lolo slouched in her seat, not especially thrilled with the idea of even more meditating.

Standig laughed. "I'll come with you to meditate tonight if you'd like."

Lolo pulled a face at him but nodded. "Fortus, if meditating at night makes the difference, can I sleep in tomorrow?"

Fortus laughed. "You know, Lolo, being nocturnal might actually suit you better."

Grudgingly, Lolo laughed too.