How Red Wolf Gave Us the Polar Night
And as another Monday comes to pass, I in turn bring another story. This one is primarily told among Inupiat werewolves in America (mostly the bits of Alaska above or near the Arctic Circle, natch.) Sorry it's a little late too! It's my mom's birthday so we went out to celebrate for a bit.
In the early days, Mother Moon would not come to this place. Uncle Sun had claimed it as his territory and his reign was cruel. Most of the Uratha would not go there, but Red Wolf's children have always made themselves a den where there were seemingly none to be found.
It was Innovation, Red Wolf's first child born under the Crescent Moon, who first found the tundra. Uncle Sun and his children had left a desiccated husk of land where few spirits could grow. As it is in the Shadow, so it is in the Flesh, and thus where now Labrador tea brush and pasqueflower grow, there was nothing but dusty earth.
So when Red Wolf heard that Innovation had gone there and survived, she was most pleased. She went north, whence she saw him running about, carrying many muthrum hidden in his jaws. He did not consume them, to her surprise, so she continued to watch. He arrived at a knoll, and the moment Uncle Sun's face was turned, he dove inside, and emerged without the muthrum.
Red Wolf said, "Do you create a stockpile, my son? It would be wise to do so with how harsh this land is."
"No, mother," he replied, "I make a den for them. Look inside this knoll I have created."
She saw the burrow hidden within the knoll, and inside there was a scaffolding of whalebone, caribou horn, and seal-leather, and the tunnel ran deeper than even her sharp eyes could see.
"Uncle Sun's children are foolish hunters, who kill too much and leave no good places for the prey to hide and eat," Innovation said, "but here they cannot go. In this way, the muthrum will grow into spirits, and the spirits may thrive and create new things in the Flesh. I shall make my own territory here, and it will be good."
"This is a clever plan," said Red Wolf, "but you have forgotten something. There is only so much that will thrive here, and as the spirits will grow hungry, they will turn on each other. It is certain to create magath."
Innovation was quiet. He had not considered this, but he knew Red Wolf was right. "Yet surely, mother, it would be better to have a half-world where some can thrive rather than nothing at all."
"If you are certain you wish to create it, then you must be willing to accept what will happen when it is no longer within your control," she said. "Have I not taught you to honor your territory in all things?"
Innovation was humbled. "You are right. I shall carry the muthrum outside, and collapse the tunnels. There will surely be other places to stay away from Uncle Sun."
"Ah, but is it truly honoring your territory to abandon it?" Red Wolf asked. "If it is Uncle Sun who is the problem, then we shall drive him away."
Now, Innovation was awestruck by Red Wolf's boldness. "But he is Mother Moon's brother, and her equal in power. We stand no chance against him, and as the ones who killed his brother-in-law, he will never hear us out. What is there to do to make him leave?"
Red Wolf merely smiled. "Uncle Sun has now made many enemies, and this we can use to our advantage. Let your own territory here beneath the earth grow to the boundary of Uncle Sun's. I shall return soon."
Inspired by how her son Innovation had crafted artifices of bone, leather, and sinew, Ravening Wolf went south and towards the sea, and hunted a whale, which she brought back to the shore. From its remains, she made an effigy of a strange beast. From the leather, she made rags to wear as clothing, and tore them to look as pitable as she could. From the plants that grew away from the fiery breath of Uncle Sun, she made a net. Satisfied, she hid the net under her new clothes, and dragged the effigy behind her.
When she reached the edges of Uncle Sun's territory, near another knoll crafted by Innovation, she dropped the effigy, and made a great fuss of pretending to fight it. Uncle Sun heard the commotion, and ran towards her. "What ill wind brings the kinslayers to my territory?" He asked.
"Ah, Uncle!" said Red Wolf. "I did not know this land was yours. I was hunting this strange creature, and my chase led me here. Since it was my hunt, may I make the killing blow?"
"You dare to take what is now mine?" Uncle Sun raged. "No. If you could not keep your prey on your own territory, then it is no longer yours. This is now my kill to claim."
"As you wish, Uncle." Red Wolf stepped back.
Uncle Sun readied his spear. When he plunged down the spearhead, it was entangled in the webbings of sinew that Red Wolf had crafted. As he struggled to pull it out, Red Wolf drew her net and caught him. Though she could not take him far, she had enough strength to throw him into the knoll and collapse the tunnel entrance. While Uncle Sun howled his fury, Innovation's craft was good, and the tunnels held as his own heat baked the clay solid. The many muthrum, who had grown to be ensih and greater still in strength, were able to pin him down through sheer numbers.
This is why in winter, when Uncle Sun sinks below the horizon, he will not return for quite some time. The spirits cannot hold him forever, of course, and he does break through. When he does, this is why there are many days straight of nothing but sunlight as Uncle Sun tries to reclaim his territory before the terrible spirits Innovation created seize him again. And this is why the many burrows made by Innovation still persist as No-Places in the Shadow, where both we and the spirits may hide during the midnight sun. And they say somewhere, to this day, Uncle Sun's spear is still in the Deep Shadow. Whether or not it is good to find it is another question entirely.