Indignation II

-``Are you sure you haven't heard or seen anything?'' - My father's voice brought my eyes back to this formal piece of paper that frustratingly enough weighed the world in my small hands.

-``What do you mean? About this meetings?''

-``About what is going on, to produce this reaction?'' - His eyes were on the table, and he used a light cover your basis tone.

-``I think I do.'' - The idea was gaining body on the fly. I thought of this night, when the meadows sounded rough and tense with the extra training. - ``Well, my Dark Knight was missing classes''

-``Your what, did what?'' - His eyes shifted impulsively to scan mine with curiosity but mostly with an edge of protectiveness.

-``He's a friend. Any way I figured he would be in the meadow with the squad, so I ran there. Though he came to meet me half way. And it seems they were having extra training and I heard my trainer exchange colorful words with the bat's trainer about him going too far and losing his job.'' - I rambled with my mind more busy trying to figure out things than explaining them.

-``You know of the squad?''

I thought I was the one who knew of it and that I would have to explain, but I couldn't hold back now - ``Yes, I found them in the first semester when I was wondering the woods. Let me finish.'' - the ideas were gathering and sense was finally gluing them together. - ``I knew they had different opinions about something the new president did, because on the other day when I was following my prey I felt some shifters walking there and I heard them argue in the council, under the tomb stone''

-``You overheard a PCC meeting? '' - His gaze was deeper and deeper carving for the bone, he starved at my words like a mad dog.

-``I think it was, but I am not sure what kind of council it was. They mentioned something about an official document and the new president and it sounded like it affected the squad or at least their trainer, he was very defensive and aggressive. I remember also that my trainer reacted as though he had to stop him doing something he was always pressuring to do. Were they really in a PCC council?''

-``Comes with the job. A trainer is a powerful front-end for a much deeper responsibility. They train elite shifters and organize the PCC interface with us therianthropes. Some of the teachers are also in the council, some are just in the ministry and rarely are they solely teachers. It's not like they have to give a lot of classes or anything and many of them don't do research.''

-``You mean that my trainer also has an elite squad?''

-``No. Only one squad exists; there were two but their rivalry striven and reduced their efficiency. Only one of the trainers is responsible for the squad, but the others also have their part in the council and their say on the squad.'' - He was standing and reaching for the green phone that hangs on the wall.

-``So? What do you think is happening?''

-``Hi there you mutt! I found out plenty, meet me here and bring the squad.'' - He hung up the phone and faced me gravely.

-``You don't have to worry, it is not the first time that someone with a significant power is hysterical enough to react to a presidential change.'' - My confusion must have been transparent, for he continued this time slower... - ``When a new president is assigned he receives notice of our existence and most of them react in strange ways. It takes some time and many meetings to ensure that he understands how we work and why. From time to time one comes along that has a stronger reaction and before he knows what we do he wants to contain us and controls us like a spreading disease. Then he has to be reminded that we are just as citizens as anyone and that we already have laws biding us to their style of life. From what you said, it sounds like we are facing one of the latter and that the trainer is reacting in a too-military style. The strange thing is that usually the council would give him no space to freak as such.''

-``I think that was what they were arguing about. That he was acting on his own and that he could loose his job over that...'' - I completed.

-``My fear is that usually your trainer wouldn't be the only one. Maybe the council is actually considering relating this to us civilians. What ever it is, this paper is a recruitment letter and it means that we are preparing to show our strength to the president, which if you ask me is a rather bold move because he can react really well or really really bad.''

-``But if he is being unreasonable how else should we make him listen?'' - I wondered out loud.

-``Precisely! I think the council only wants to catch his attention long enough to explain and they are using the trainer's euphoria on their behalf. However, if the president does see us as a threat we will have some serious problems afterwards. I believe the council intends to show off the control they have over their therianthropes and that they would not allow a civil war. But it is a dangerous game. He has the squad and if he gets too focused on his goal he will lose sight of the council's rightful hierarchic power over him.''

-``How do you know all this? From the little I have given you?''

-``Oh dear. I've been there, done that! These gray hairs didn't suddenly creep on me.'' - He massaged his rarefied scalp.

-``You think it could escalate to a civil war?'' - My nightmares started to surface.

-``Between shifters and humans? Sure, that has always been the fear of both presidents and councils alike. The problem is that therianthropes are mangling more and more and losing their traditions and that frightens those that are over-conservative.''

-``What can we do?''

-``You can go to bed, to go to school and study your way into the point you can actually do. And in the meantime, let your father and his generation take care of this. I am a little rusty, but I still know a few things and a few people. The squad should be here any minute now and I wouldn't want you attending our meeting. It is bad enough that you found yourself a way into the middle of this mess as it is. Fortunate as it turned out to be. Off you go.'' - He smiled softer as though he looked again at a three-year-old baby he used to hold.

-``You'll tell me if you need me, right? Or if I can help?''

-``You've done plenty. And given us plenty. Thanks, now go to sleep.''

As if! After this who could actually sleep? He talked as though war was ever eminent and from time to time the equilibrium must be restored by politics, which balanced constantly and suffered the effectiveness loss that constance entails. My eyes shut long before I heard the men arrive. I closed them to better distinguish each individual. I could smell two bats, two dogs and one whaleman, there was also another I couldn't really understand and my father who I knew very well now. They greeted, laughed, talked, paced and argued, and their senses passed inevitably by incredulity, indignation and insurgence. They were stable in a bustle conspiracy when I lost track of time and was lifted from reality to a nightmare of destruction, devastation and despair. A civil war to me was something that filled the streets with death, blood, plunder and wreckage. I was not ready for this reality and I had to confront my Dark Knight and assure the nonfulfillment of this premonition.