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Reality Fault

Realms: Oloth: Dramatis Personae

Hati of Dammerung (Hati)

"How Hati Got His Name"

Hati was raised as any other Lythari; in an isolated village, in harmony with the forest. He was a child, he hadn't had his name for long, and it wasn't the name he would be given or use in the future. The name he would use is Hati, but he didn't get it until later.

The local wolf pack and the elves got along naturally. Hati often spent time playing with the wolf cubs, learning of the forest from them. One day, on his way back to the village he heard some strange noises and smelled smoke on the air. Fearful, he crept up in wolf form, and found his village full of screaming, of the sharp metal-on-metal sound of swordplay, and of strange, dark-skinned elves. Houses burned; smoke curled thickly into the sky; the scent of fire and blood clung heavily to the air. Hati was terrified, and the fear and flight of the local wolf pack, combined with the smell of smoke and death, pushed him into flight with them.

Time passes differently as a wolf; the sense of "now" being far more important than the sense of "future" or "past." As a wolf he didn't need the elven form and didn't use it. The seasons passed in the way that they did, and none of the wolves thought it odd that Hati didn't grow old and sick with the cubs he'd played with, that being more notice than a wolf gives such things. They did notice he was strong and fast and wise, and after a dozen years he was Alpha.


It was years later when the dark-skinned elves burst out of the woods, calling out in a harsh and unpleasant tongue. The pack was surprised and surrounded. Again the dark ones attacked Hati's clan, and he returned the attack savagely, wanting to rescue his pack and remembering suddenly the horrors of his village's destruction. His eagerness and his strength were no match, however, for the nets and organization of the dark elves.

Many miserable weeks of travel later Hati alone was left, dumped into a small cage with close-set bars, next to a coffle of drooping slaves in a huge, dark, stinking cave full of people. He awoke with a thick silver chain chafing one of his hind legs and a strange weakness pulling at him through it. The sound of his whimpers brought the elves over to him. With them was a short, fat dwarf, who stabbed the caged wolf with a long silver pin on the end of a pole, despite Hati's attempt to dodge. The wound seeped blood and burned intensely, making Hati howl with anger and pain.

The conditions the dwarf's slaves were kept in were not quite appalling, but only out of sheer self-interest; a sick slave wasn't worth what a healthy one was. Many of the slaves seemed beaten down, as if all their life had been sucked from them. Losing his pack, Hati felt some of the same way. He hated the whip, and he hated all these black-skinned elves and this fat little dwarf who catered to them.


It is late in the day, months later, when the dwarf makes his mistake. He is prodding Hati with something for a customer when he gets too close. The wolf suddenly lunges for him, sinking his teeth into the hated dwarf's arm while the dark elf laughs, then leaves. The scrabbling dwarf screams and jerks away, crying something about skinning the wolf alive for breakfast.

Hati doesn't care any more. He's had enough of being on display; he snarls and snaps at the furiously yelling dwarf, straining at the silvered chain. Having watched all of this from a quiet eddy in the traffic amongst the stalls, a woman with red-gold hair steps forward and crouches outside of the cage to look in at Hati. The scent of saddle soap and well-kept leather reminds him of the now-distant village and surprises him with the pang of that memory. He settles, watching her, his growls dropping off. She in turn watches him. "Would you like to come out of there?"

The blustering dwarf shoos at her, and the caged wolf watches warily, rather as if he's listening. The astonished dwarf is stunned when the woman calmly and matter-of-factly bets him that if he gives her fifteen minutes of quiet alone with the wolf, she will be able to open the cage and lead the wolf away... and if she's wrong, she will give him twenty pieces of silver. The dwarf looks as if he cannot believe he's making this bet, but agrees, then walks away. The woman crouches by the cage again, watching the wolf seriously. "Hello, pretty wolf. I'm Dakini. If you'll behave, I can take you out of that cage."

Hati doesn't know what to think. This strange woman is talking to him, soothing and encouraging, and treating him like an intelligent being, and offering a way out of this detestable place. He settles to the ground, watching her. He likes having someone talk to him, real words and real meaning. And she smells good.

When the slaver returns Hati snarls, and the dwarf is unwilling to unlock the cage. The woman takes the keys from him, then says to the wolf, "Be quiet," and Hati finds himself doing so, not because he must fear her anger, but because he'd like to please her. And she smells good. When she steps into the cage Hati looks up at her uncertainly. She crouches next to him, moving slowly but surely, rubbing his ears and stroking his fur, soothing him as she fastens her belt snugly around his neck. She talks a moment more to him before she unlocks the silver chain on his hind leg, stands and says, "Come," then leads him out of the cage.

Hati doesn't understand this woman. She's telling him she can keep the awful dwarf away... and the black-skinned elves, too? She smells good. She talks of leaving this dismal place. His ears go back up and he looks at her. When she unfastens the silver shackle around his leg and strokes his fur, he can only stare at her. Maybe she can do these things. And she smells good.

When she leads, Hati follows, wondering where they will go. He rather enjoys knowing the dwarf is obviously afraid the wolf will attack him, but Hati can only think of the bad things that would happen if he did that, and how it would make Dakini unhappy.

As Dakini leads the wolf off through the Bazaar she says, "Have you got a name?" He can't remember what he was called, and looks blankly at her, suddenly afraid she'll be unhappy or unsatisfied. She smiles as they walk through the Bazaar, "Well, I can't just call you 'Wolf' all the time. Your name will be Hati. He was a very strong wolf, long ago."

This is where Hati got both his name and his master, neither of which he would want to be without.

-- End --




Last modified: 2002-Mar-23 20:21:42

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