<blockquote><div><cite>Eferhilda wrote:</cite>â€œYou know we have a history...â€ she began softly as she stared into the fire. â€œWe are not the beasts and nightmares that humans have made us out to be. We are children of Gaia, children of the earth. Born to be protectors and the balance that man seeks to unbalance due to no fault of their own.â€ A pause now as she looked at Jaden, just to make sure he was still hopefully listening. â€œWhen there was man, there was us. We lived and evolved together, though we sought to maintain a balance to protect the natural world. Our numbers were never great, we cannot breed as rapidly as humans, there is a lot of stress on our bodies and carrying a child to term is hard. So, as humans grew in numbers we remained few and the humans began to tell stories of us as monsters. It was not a complete lie, because some of us, like humans, are just bad. They like to hurt, to cause pain and fear. They made those legends, they made them want to hurt us.â€ Another pause as she stared into the flames and then up at the sky, â€œStill, we are what we are for a reason. You can feel the earth, feel nature breathing around you. You can feel....life. It is scary and what we have can be a great gift, if you allow for it to be one.â€</div></blockquote><br/><br/>Jaden listened intently, grateful for the distraction from the tormented feelings in his mind. It was true that Human myth had jaded his image of Werewolves as being bloodthirsty monsters. These people obviously weren't like that. They were trying to help him. The pressure on his mind seemed to come from all directions, confusing it for his mangled feelings and the shock of learning what he was.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"You can feel the earth, feel nature breathing around you. You can feel....life. It is scary and what we have can be a great gift, if you allow for it to be one."</span><br/><br/>Life...<br/><br/>That's what it was. This pressure on his mind wasn't stress. It was an epiphany of sorts. He took a deep breath and kept his face buried in his knees, hugging them closer. He let go of his panic and started to relax. It was hard to explain, but he could tell where everyone was sitting, the location of nearby trees and shrubs. He knew there was a rabbit behind a tree a bit into the woods, a few trout in the stream, birds in the sky and even a hint of something from the pile of skins beside him.  It was life. He could feel it. It felt oddly comforting once he realized what it was.<br/><br/>Jaden leaned back, straightening his legs and looked up at the sky as clouds drifted lazily above him. He took another deep breath, letting the feeling of the life around him wash over him. It was beautiful and he finally smiled, wiping his eyes and face.<br/><br/>"I finally understand now." he said, "I feel it." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes, "It's beautiful. Thank you." He felt reborn, a changed man. He stood up and stretched, still feeling a little wiped from the ordeal. Maybe he was tired from changing for the first time he could remember, or because he got upset. He still felt remnants of the headache he just had but shook his head to clear his mind, only to make the headache return with a vengeance.<br/><br/>"Ugh, I don't suppose Tylenol works on Werewolves, does it?"