FSE

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Introduction

Amidst a grove of rocks, overgrown ferns, and young palm trees sat a peculiar creature. Dark fur covered his body, gray along his belly and the inside of his limbs, and black everywhere else. He had the face of a wolf, a muzzle with a dark nose at the tip, and the pointed ears that twitched at the sounds around him. His hands were like those of a human in shape, but had pads along the palm and the fingers, and possessed claws along the tips. His feet were likewise so, with the bottoms turned upwards as the creature sat in a meditative pose. His eyes were closed, and he seemed almost asleep, breathing evenly, slowly, his chest rising and falling slowly, and the sunlight coming through the trees glinting off metal bracers at his wrists, and off of the metal studs around the collar on his neck.

To a human, this creature would look like either a demon, or a creature from their pantheons of gods. He was like them, yet unlike them. A member of one of the tribes on the great island to the south could have called him a spirit; those that lived on the islands to the north might have called him a creature from hell. Others might call him a spirit guide, and still others would have called him impossible, something that could simply not be real.

For that, the creature was thankful that humans did not live on this island.

His nostrils flared, catching the scent of the breeze blowing through the grass. The smell of the sea and the nearby coast mixed with the scent of another creature like him, a bear that walked on two legs. He smelled of musk, like he had just come from a coupling that was rudely interrupted, and the creature felt his lips turn up in a slight smile. The smile faded a second later, however, as he realized his meditation was to be interrupted. He sighed, and began the process of waking himself.

By the time that the bear arrived in the grove, the creature had gained his footing again, and his thoughts. Creature; he always thought of himself as a creature in his meditation. But he was a wolf; not merely a creature or an animal, but a wolf. He turned his eyes towards the bear, and smiled. "Yes?" he said simply.

The brown bear bowed in place, his fur clinging to his skin from sweat. His belly bounced lightly as he caught his breath, and his body - like the wolf's - was completely on display. There was little need for clothing here, with the weather often fine and shelter provided in the village for when it wasn't.

As he caught his breath, the bear said, "The Council sent me...to bring you before them."

He arched an eyebrow. "Already?"

The bear nodded. "They said it's urgent. They've sent someone else to get Idesin, as well."

His other eyebrow joined its brother. That was surprising indeed. "They have? Did they say why?"

"Not to me." The bear shook his head. "But they said for me to bring you to them as quickly as I could."

"Then let's go. Lead the way."

#

They walked at a good pace, despite the bear's half-felt complaints at the speed. The wolf knew they weren't serious; the bear's breath came easily at a walk, and there was no sign of the panting that he'd done back in the grove. He wasn't out of breath; he just preferred a leisurely pace, like most of those that came here as bears. But with the summons from the Council, the wolf knew that there was little time to waste.

Trees fell away to be replaced by stony ground, the island rocky once one got past the beach and the jungles. Their bare feet found good purchase on the smooth stone, and their pace increased. Not much, as the bear still had the lead and the wolf needed to follow behind, but somewhat.

Other inhabitants of the island were seen at several points, not a one human, yet not fully animal, either; an otter, a few orcas, and a dolphin were swimming along the coastline, occasionally darting further out and diving down before surfacing with a fish; an old goat that stood on one of the higher rocks, looking down and watching, almost as though he was worried about the younger ones in the ocean; a pair of foxes molding the rocks around them with gestures and touches, making a path higher up the rocky cliffs around them...

He watched them for a second, smiling a little at the technique they were using. It was a fairly average molding magic, conveyed through touch into the inanimate rock beneath them, but it worked well, giving them a smooth path to walk up rather than a sheer cliff to climb. They were probably some of the Shapers of the island's village, now that he thought about it; he hadn't seen them before so he couldn't be sure, but that's what their powers suggested.

The bear tugged on his arm, and the wolf shook his head. "Yes, yes, I'm coming," he said, following along behind his summoner. They passed between the two highest parts of the cliff, in a dip between them that came almost to the level of the beach, before heading further inland.

It didn't take long after that to reach the village, but as they passed between another collection of rocky passages that formed a wall between the village and the island beyond, the wolf paused in his steps. The bear turned a second later, confused for a moment, before simply turning to look upon the village himself. Even for ones accustomed to living in it - which the wolf most definitely was not - it was quite the sight in comparison to the rest of the island. For the wolf, it was something else indeed.

The village was haphazard and ill-organized at best, but it was still a group of homes put up together. Shaped wood and stone and earth formed various different styles of building, allowing any of the creatures on the island to find their way to their home without needing to remember where it was. Doors faced all possible directions, each house built at the whim of the one that lived there, rather than built along any kind of organized pattern. It almost appeared as though pattern was dismissed, and even opposed, as one looked at the village.

Built upon a stretch of black rock, the village population roamed through the jaggedly arranged paths between the buildings. From the little overlook, the wolf could make out a few dozen of them, but knew that there were a few hundred that were either inside or doing something elsewhere on the island. The smell of cooked meat, hot bodies, and wet fur drifted to his nose, along with the scents of scales, turned earth, and fresh rain. The storm from last night must have soaked the ground more thoroughly than usual, he thought to himself.

At the far end of the village was the only structure that was made completely of stone. It topped the rest of the varied homes by the height of an elephant, and was simply defined as imposing. Unlike the many other buildings, featuring personal decorations done either by the Shaper or the owner of the house, the Council House was smooth and bare. No sigils or signs were etched in the stone, no decorations or letters marked the doors or the lines above the entrance. None were needed; the Council House stood above all others, and nobody could mistake it for anything other than the sign of authority that it was.

He looked at it with a small shake of his head. After so many years as a wolf, he was all too familiar with the building, and with the many different Council members that had called it home during its time here. And now, they had summoned him. Again.

As the bear led him down into the village, the wolf's thoughts turned to the other times that he had been brought here. Always under a different name, depending on just what name he was giving at the time. Ildamar, Rash-Tet, Eglamore, Stuervore; all different names that he'd had before, all of them given when they thought his actual name too silly to summon him by, saying that it didn't fit.

A small chuckle escaped him at that. Who would have thought calling him Studley would be that hard?

The wolf waved at some of the people he recognized. A sea-lion woman working on some drawings on her walls, a piece of charcoal in hand; a bat flying above the village, swooping down with some fruit in his feet; a few others, as well. They waved back, for the most part, though there was a horse that stubbornly continued pulling a tree trunk towards his house. A purple and black dragon waited there, helping him get it inside after he got it close enough. Studley chuckled, shaking his head as he turned his head back to the Council House in the distance.

Considering the small size of the village - only large enough for the island's few hundred inhabitants - it didn't take long to reach it. The bear stopped at the steps, taking a moment to lean over and grab his knees, panting softly for breath. Studley rolled his eyes a bit, ignoring the bear's exposed rump, and patted his guide on the back. "Why don't you go back to whoever was having fun with you? I'm sure that they're missing you right now."

"Are you sure? The Council -"

"The Council wants to see me, I know. Doubtless they're going to make me wait anyway, so why don't you at least go have some fun?" Studley smiled, clapping a hand on the bear's back. "Don't worry about getting in trouble; if they're calling for me and Idesin at the same time, they got bigger things to worry about."

Smiling nervously, the bear slowly nodded his head. He wrapped his arms around the wolf tightly, surprising the canine a bit, then jogged off into the village. He ducked into a house that Studley was pretty sure belonged to another stallion. A high pitched whinny confirmed his guess, and the wolf chuckled again as he walked inside.

There was only a single hall in the building, with no doors branching off from it. The floor was no different than the stony ground outside, save that it was smoother and polished rather than rough and cracked. Little imagination was brought to bear here, with nothing but smooth stone slabs forming the walls and ceiling, making it feel as though he'd been shoved into a box, or a tunnel. External light was all he had to see by, and even with wolf eyes it was impossible to see more than fifteen feet in. Even with what he could see, however, his fingers itched to bring a little life to the dull corridor.

He resisted the temptation to reach out and change it. He had the power, of course; nearly a third of the village had the power to change the things around them, the Shapers were just the best at it. It just wasn't a good idea. If the Council was angry at him, it was better not to get them angrier; if they weren't, then it better not to start on the wrong foot, regardless of why they had to interrupt his meditations.

After the first minute of walking, Studley sighed and stopped moving. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw the doorway was no more than five feet back, despite the fact that he'd been walking for almost a minute. He kept his eyes on the door and took another step. And then another. And then another.

When it continued to stay equidistant from him, the wolf sighed, turning his head towards the darkness before him. "You want me to ask your permission to come in?" The darkness refused to answer, but the wolf could feel the smugness behind it. He sighed, rubbing his hand against his cheek. "I thought that you needed me here for something important. Are you really going to play games right now?"

The continued silence indicated that they were. The wolf sighed. His other hand joined its brother as he rubbed his eyes, muttering a few choice words under his breath before lowering them to his sides again. "Studley Destiny, Wonder of the Weres, requests entry to the Council House. As I have been summoned, so do I respond."

For once, the use of his real name didn't seem to bother them. The darkness rolled back, like the waves of the sea rolling back into the ocean. The path ahead revealed, the wolf stalked forward, arms held stiff and his jaw lightly clenched. "Pompous little..." He shook his head. Another time, out of earshot, he'd finish that sentence. The darkness continued to fall back before him, revealing the corridor floor just before he could step on it, even when he hurried his pace to see if he could outrace it. He settled back to a walk shortly after, conserving his energy.

Finally, the darkness pulled back enough to reveal the other end of the tunnel. Blinking his eyes, he stepped forward into the Council Chamber. A pair of chairs, formed of stone and harvested wool from the few sheep people of the island, were placed in the center of the room. Above them, a great circle hole with spikes of stone in the ceiling allowed light and wind inside, and at the far end of the room, the stone floor raised upwards, forming a rapidly ascending slope that ended in a wavy barrier at the top, with crests like the tops of waves running from one side of the barrier to another.

Seated behind the barrier was the Council, seven members of the village that had been chosen to 'lead' the village. Studley disguised a snort behind his hand, coughing a bit to cover it as he walked in. Just the thought of someone ruling or leading a group of people like the village housed was ridiculous. The fact that it had been put into practice required a new word to describe the lunacy of the act.

Despite his differing viewpoint, however, the wolf bowed as he approached them. "Hello, Council members," Studley said. "May I -"

"Be seated," the parrot seated in the middle said. "Your...friend will be here momentarily, we trust."

"I wouldn't know; I wasn't with him when I was summoned, Uriah," Studley said. He shrugged as he walked around the chair, seating himself in it before crossing his arms. He pulled one foot off of the ground and laid it across his other leg, leaning back in his chair as he looked up at the parrot. "I don't suppose you can just tell me what's going on?"

"You will wait as protocol demands, just as anyone summoned here would do," Uriah said, his feathers fluffing indignantly. "And I am Chairman Uriah."

"So you keep claiming, but never showing."

Both wolf and parrot turned to the Council member at the parrot's side. A large bellied tanuki smiled, his eyes a sparkling green over the black fur beneath them. A reddish yellow set of fur ran along the upper parts of his face and down his sides, shimmering slightly in the light from above. He spoke again, his voice carrying a slight undercurrent of laughter in each word. "You have insisted you are the Chairman for the last fifty years, Uriah; please, at least start to show us that you are."

"I have been chosen by the people of this village, Yama, and you -"

"And I will keep asking you to show us something until you do, little bird," Yama said with a gentle smile. He folded his hands over his broad belly. "Just relax; the protocols have been violated as many times as they have been upheld. The world will not end if we simply start talking."

"You don't know that," the elephant on the far right said. Eyes turned to her, though Studley's was not among them. "None of you know whether that is true."

"We are not getting into your theories today, Hai Mei; this is about a mission off-island."

Off-island? Regardless of the parrot's snapping tone, that had the wolf's interest, and his ears perked up. He even bothered sitting up straight in his chair.

Uriah continued, stabbing a feathered finger against the wave crest in front of him. "We are the Council of the Wonders, and we will continue to abide by the rules that all the previous Councils have set down for us to follow. And I will hear nothing against these procedures -"

"Not that you ever have before," Yama muttered.

"- Or any theories or concerns about the world ending, just because one of us is off of the island, or if we break the procedures. We follow them because of tradition, and because they work, not because they are magical." The parrot shook his head, the feathers around his neck lifted up in agitation. It took a great deal of effort for Studley not to make a comment on it. Ordinarily, he would, but with the parrot this riled up, he might just decide to pick someone else for this mission, and it had been too long since he was off island.

The rest of the Council fell silent, either staring at their Chairman or looking down at the ground. Studley did neither. Rather, he looked over at Yama, the tanuki at Uriah's side, and smiled. The tanuki gave him a roll of his eyes, and the wolf nodded sympathetically in return. With over five centuries on the Council, Yama could have had the Chairman's seat, but he'd turned it down. Probably regretted that sometimes, what with the way that Uriah behaved, Studley thought.

He waited in silence, tapping his foot on the floor as the minutes stretched on. The blunted claw tips clicked against the floor, the steady beat of the clicking the only sound in the room, and even it barely reached the wolf's sensitive ears. Studley turned his head, looking over his shoulder towards the hallway. The darkness was back, blocking the sight of the entrance, and there was still no sign of the otter. Where was -

A thought occurred, and the wolf turned his head from the hallway to the hole in the ceiling. His lips turned up in an indulgent smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Uriah said, his voice just shy of a shriek. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just glad that Idesin's finally turning up."

"What are you -"

Yama broke out in laughter, pointing a finger up at what Studley had already seen. "He is at it again, that otter. Does he never stop?"

"Not in my experience," Studley said with a shake of his head, his smile actually getting a little bigger even as the desire to slap the otter filled him at the same time. Not exactly for what he was doing - it was actually pretty brilliant - but for when he was doing it.

The light shining through the hole in the ceiling gradually disappeared, blocked out by a large ball of floating fur. Studley reached up and rubbed his forehead at the sight of the large ball of floating otter, a purple lump of wool atop his head stretched into something like a pillar, and nothing else. Nobody else had a tall hat like that; it was definitely Idesin. Inflating himself, and then floating over the Council House so that he didn't have to use the door. Not the usual method of getting in, but definitely a reminder of why people thought him insane.

Yama continued to laugh while Uriah's feathers stood out so far that his head had doubled in size. Squawks of impotent rage squeaked past his tightly clenched beak, and both his hands clenched the barrier between the Council and the rest of the room. Studley peeked through his fingers, and winced at the sight; it was not flattering to the parrot at all. Not one bit.

Over the course of about ten seconds, the otter floated himself over the hole in the ceiling. Only when all the light was out did they hear the sound of his deflating. It was loud and high pitched, a whistle that forced Studley to reach up and cover his ears in annoyance. His eyes narrowed at the shrinking otter, a few new choice words muttered as he contemplated a few fates for his friend.

Idesin slipped through the hole with ease, and landed on the floor scant seconds later. His purple blob bounced off of his head, and he flailed around trying to catch it. It bounced from one hand to another, and nearly went flying up the side of the barrier before the otter leaped for it. He landed on his stomach, slid up the smooth sloping floor, and caught his hat. Almost sliding high enough up to kiss the parrot on the beach, the otter flipped around, laying on his back as he slid back down the slope, coming to a halt just in front of the wolf. Spinning the blob around on his thumb, he said, "How's that for an entrance?"

"Could have been at a better time." He shook his head, pulling the otter up by one hand and pushing him into his seat. Turning to the Council - and doing his best to ignore the twitches the parrot's head was going through - he said, "Now we're here. Can you just tell us what you need?"

The parrot finally blew up. Leaning forward to the point where Studley swore he should be falling over, Uriah pointed at them, shouting at the top of his lungs, "IF THERE WAS ANY JUSTICE IN THE WORLD, THE TWO OF YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER BECOME WONDERS! YOU ARE RUDE, DISRESPECTFUL, AND...AND...-"

"The people we need for this job?" Yama prompted.

The parrot whipped around, and for a second, Studley honestly thought that Uriah was going to slap Yama. He tensed up, his bracers clicking lightly as his hands came together.

Yama simply held up a hand. "Calm yourself, Uriah. If you wish to be the Chairman, be the Chairman. We all agreed this was to be done -"

"I do not -"

"You agreed with the vote, Hai Mei; I am sorry you are so worried, but you did agree," the tanuki said. He kept his eyes on the parrot, however. "Uriah, you came to this position fifty years ago; this is your first time dealing with a situation with Rannoi, so I am not surprised you are losing control. But if you wish to maintain your position, regain it. This is a constant for us; it will not stop, no matter how hard you try to control it."

"Rannoi?!" Studley's chair screeched across the stone as he yanked himself to his feet, and Idesin wasn't far behind. The both of them sported massive grins. "You're saying that Rannoi's -"

"Off island again, dah." This from the tiger at the far right. "He and Mirari vanted to experiment, needed new test subjects. Ran off before ve could tell him no. Or yes."

"We'd never tell him yes, Gleb," Hai Mei said, curling her trunk around her wrists.

"Don't know 'bout zat, girl," Gleb said, white and black tail twitching as he preened his whiskers. "Dragon good vith experiments, and Mirari helps. He's good Wonder, changing things like ve should do." He turned to Uriah. "Coward here never vants REAL change, eh?"

"We're Wonders, not gods!"

"All this is well and good, but you said he's off island." Studley knew he needed to keep them focused, or they'd never get around to telling them what was going on. "We all know what that means; Rannoi's getting ready for one of his big changes. And I'm guessing you want us to find him?"

The parrot nodded his head, taking a few deep breaths. He leaned on the barrier again, his voice coming slow and clear. "Find him before he has a chance to expose all of us again. The last time he left the island, he and Mirari shoved the last emperor of Western Rome out of his capital, and then turned half the palace into people like us."

Studley whistled. The fall of Western Rome had been almost a hundred fifty years ago, but he still remembered it. He hadn't known that Rannoi had been behind that one, though. No wonder Yama had hurried off the island that time; having so many people suddenly transformed would have been almost a death knell to any kind of secrecy that they had out here. He'd done some crazy stuff himself - including a little dance over on Hadrian's Wall back when he was still getting to know a younger Wonder - but never anything to that degree.

He turned to the otter. "Think we should start packing?"

"Who said anything about packing? Let's go now." Idesin smiled, patting that purple blob again. "Besides, all I need is this."

"Heh, fair enough." He leaned over, patting the otter on the back, and whispered in his ear, "I'll get you later for that inflation thing." Turning back to the Council, Studley said, "We'll go and find him. Happen to have an idea of where to start?"

"I do." Yama nodded. "A place not too far from my own home. ?wada Anchorage, Japan."

"Maybe I'll find a katana there..." Studley muttered.