Background
His father was a Bone Gnawer. His mother was a stray dog.
'Uncle' Raccoon manifested in the world with the rest of the spirits during the Calling. As the bone is snapped, many make their return home, but this one lingers on to hear the story as only a Talesinger can tell it. Their existence is tenuous, and their appearance is uncanny - it is less like an actual raccoon of flesh and blood and fur, and more a hallucination of round shapes and a dark mask and busy little hands. That mask is turned downward by sadness. Raccoon perches atop their own totem statuette, and addresses the crowd with gestures that are understood by all. The busy little hands speak volumes.
"His father was Bending-The-Arc, born of Rat Tribe under the crescent moon. His mother was a free spirit. He hoped she could heal the break in his heart. For a while, she could. But only for a while."
"Harano tore Bending-the-Arc's hope from him. To spare his children the pain of his world, he killed them - and their mother, too, when she tried to stop him - and then, himself. Only one survived. I saw him come to the shore, small and wet and dying. I thought that he should not die yet. Rat agreed."
"For three years I dreamed with Bites-The-Hand. I taught him lessons. I helped him become wise, to know how to survive stray. I was there with him in his suffering. I was there in his broken heart. He was one of my brood. I led him to this place."
"I knew that he would die here... That was his fate. But, I did not know that he would live here so well. He knew enough happiness here to make those three bad years feel very far away."
"I loved him. He loved you. Thank you for taking care of my boy."
Uncle Raccoon's busy hands grow still, and his gaze turns down. He dissolves back in to the umbra beyond, like tears falling in to the distant and silvery sea.
Logs
Gallery
 
|
