Title: Silent Nocturne

Author: Growly

Fandom: The Sentinel

Genre: Fantasy/AU

Pairing: none (yet)

Rating: PG (as of now)

Status: 0/? (I'm assuming five)

Feedback: Yes, please.

Archive: Yes, to the WWOMB archive

Warnings: Spirit animals ahead

Notes: I've been reading too many fantasy novels lately....

Disclaimer: The Sentinel characters do not belong to me. The story itself does.

A big thank you to Qwikshot for beta-reading this for me. And the utmost gratitude to Shallan, my other beta reader. Without her kind assistance and suggestions, I would be nothing. Thank you, Shallan!

Silent Nocturne
By Growly

Prologue:

"A man of knowledge chooses a path with a heart and follows it and then he looks and rejoices and laughs and then he sees and knows."
-- Carlos Castenada
~

He was in a forest, and it was dark… A soft breeze ruffled his fur, startling him for a moment before he realized that he did indeed have fur. Not just fur either; he also had four powerful legs, a slender body with its own measure of lithe grace, muscles rippling beneath the thick coat with every tentative motion. And it didn't feel odd at all. In fact, as the time passed, he realized that it was the other form that was the strange dream he'd been having. A furless, helpless form - so limiting.

Above him the moon rode high and full, casting a pale light that bathed the world in molten silver. It was alluring, and it filled him with a raw, wild joy as it lapped over his body, lighting his fur with its luminescence, making the dew on the leaves sparkle like the fireflies in the midst of their joining dances. From all around him came the high chirrups of crickets, and further away - somewhere - came a long, low howl.

It was this that sent his senses into overload, the smell of the damp earth held a myriad other scents that he somehow hadn't noticed before. The heavy, sodden scent of rotting bark, the fresh tingle of sprouting plants, and the trails of other animals that had passed this area. Each scent was as vivid a mark to his canine nose as a neon sign would have been to a human. One sniff told everything there was that needed to be known.

There were others here. He had heard them earlier, calling out to the sky. Not to him… they didn't know yet that he was even here. It was the moon they were singing for, not so much as a deity, but as a symbol of themselves, of their strength. They poured their voices out and let the world know they were alive and strong and above all, free. Free to follow the silver circle across the sky and past the edge of the beyond.

Part of him wanted more than anything to join them, and add his own voice to their sweet night music, his own strand to their complex and interwoven thread. His feet were obeying his half-formed wish, carrying him through the brush towards the chorus swelling in the distance. He could feel the ripples of grass brushing through his fur as he broke into an easy lope, deceptively and deliberately slow, yet eating ground at a rapid pace without using more energy than he could spare. If he needed to, he could have run for days at this pace without needing to slow down.

The underbrush passed in a blur of green and brown, splitting before him, as if there was already a trail worn into it by the passage of other creatures over the seasons. With such an obvious path to follow, he would not even have needed his keen sense of smell to keep to it. Part of him was disappointed at the simplicity of it though, it left nothing for him to do or consider.

~This is the path all creatures must travel.~ A voice whispered from somewhere far away, yet resounding inside his skull. It was familiar, and yet at the same time he could not place it.

'I have not heard this voice yet, but I know it…' The wolf reasoned as his pace slowed to a trot, large paws pattering against the ground, the sound muffled by the softness of the soil. Somehow the conclusion was not only foregone, but eminently logical despite the lack of anything beside a deep-seated belief that the words echoing in his mind needed to be true, and therefore they were. 'And I will hear this voice in the future. But when I do, I will not recall hearing it here. It will be the first time all over again.' The statement was impossible, for how could one hear something for the first time in a time that was yet to come?

~There is room in this world for all possibilities, child. Can you see that there are other options for you, even now? Others might not be able to discover them consciously, but for you, that will never be a problem. You move your own life.~

'But to where?' He questioned the voice, only to be disappointed as it did not answer as he had known it wouldn't. It was not for him to ask questions, but he could not help it now. The questions burned within his mind, demanding to be voiced, to have answers put to them. 'These are pieces of something, and I don't know what picture they form yet. But I will find out… if I choose to.'

His trot became a slow jog, then a walk. And around him he was seeing things that had been there before, but that he had not noticed in his preoccupation with finding the others who called out to the night like so many sirens.

'I did not see these things, but they were there. The voices blinded me to them. I don't know yet what this means…' Around him the world unfolded like the petals of a flower opening. Glistening slime trails on the damp unfurling leaves of ferns, the soft rustles of the moss as small animals scuttled about in their fear of his presence, even the low cry of an owl high overhead. And his nostrils caught another scent, a different scent that was somehow achingly familiar despite his never having smelled its like before.

Whatever it was, it was frightening, but in such a way that sent tingles of exhilaration through his body.

~The protector has passed here.~ The voice chimed in, sounding so much like the other night sounds that he could not easily distinguish it. ~He is seeking something, but has lost his way - He does not know how to pass through the dark without forgetting himself. Can you hear him, little one?~

Excitement rose in him at the words. 'Yes! Yes I can!' And he found it was true, he could hear a sound halfway between a scream and a roar, and it frightened him badly, setting his fur standing on end and making him quiver with a mixture of unreasoning dread and an equally strong sense of needfulness.

'He needs help." It wasn't a question, simply a statement of an irrefutable fact. It surprised him that he should know this without having KNOWN anything of the sort before that thought.

~Yes~ A whisper of wind through the leaves, and a shimmer of moonlight filtering through the branches and illuminating a faint disturbance in the underbrush that was less than a trail, yet somehow more than mere chance. It was a rough, unbroken sort of path, a stark contrast to the ease of the one he had been running along.

His eyes darted from one to the other as the voice became more urgent. ~The time for choosing is now, little one. It cannot be delayed any longer.~

Already he had known this. The voice was telling him nothing new. In the distance, the howls rose in chorus again briefly, and he imagined it was him they were calling for, demanding with such fervent cries. The sounds pulled at him, but so did the memory of that frustrated, anguished call from somewhere off the beaten path.

Movement caught his eye, and he saw something approaching him along the well-worn trail. Moonlight glinted on fur so pale as to be almost white, and the eyes staring at him were a dark, earthen brown. The figure took a couple of steps closer, then paused, tongue lolling a bit and the tip of a bushy tail wagging ever so slightly in what appeared to be hopeful anticipation. It did not take a genius to recognize an open welcome such as this, but all the same, the wolf was… not wary, just reluctant.

'This path leads to those who obviously want me… yet the other. The other leads to one who does not know who I am, yet who needs me.' Now that he thought about it, it wasn't such a hard choice to make after all. The wolf turned towards the path that led away from the open night and into the shadowed undergrowth where the going would undoubtedly be much more difficult, and yet - to his mind - that much more worthwhile for the struggle.

The other wolf who had been beckoning leapt forward with a soft whine, as if to intercept him, only to recoil as a snarling cry emerged from the dark again, falling back and looking at the gray wolf through eyes that were wide with astonishment, disbelief, perhaps even no small measure of fear. The gray stared back, feeling astonishingly calm in light of the near chaos that was threatening. A steady blue gaze met the warm brown of the other's eyes and held it.

It felt like a long time, but in reality took only moments before the other wolf closed its eyes, lowering its head in something that was less than submission and more than acceptance. Respect maybe. It didn't matter now. The world was spinning onto a different course, and being remade in its new image.

Without hesitation, without reluctance, he stepped into the dark…

And the voice he would know soon for the first time despite having heard it in the realm of the spirit was whispering with barely muted satisfaction. ~The path has been chosen. The journey of the Guide will begin from this moment.~

* * *

Aiden awoke from the dream slowly, his mind still filled with the images that were, as always, crystal clear to him despite their hazy nature. He was not astonished to note that he was shaking, although he could not have said exactly what had caused the reaction - whether it was fear or exhilaration, or perhaps some combination of both. His cousin would not be pleased to find out what had happened though, and for the first time he could remember, Aiden wondered if he should lie. Perhaps say he hadn't been able to tap into the dream realm.

No. His cousin would know if he said anything of the sort. It was not in his nature to lie, and although he could do so on occasion, it was always halting and easily seen through. It was a good trait, the others said often, just not one very conductive to the role of a leader.

He didn't know the name of the young man whose dream he had brushed, nor any other really concrete facts other than that those eyes had been a vivid blue. And the voice…

Shaking his head, the dream walker sat up, running one hand through his mess of white-blonde hair and reaching for his glasses with the other. The world came into focus and he wished he hadn't bothered to put them on as he saw his cousin standing in the doorway and looking at him expectantly. "How long have you been there?" His voice was resigned.

"Long enough." The red-haired man strode into the room with easy grace, somehow managing to be dominating even dressed in his gold and red pajamas that Aiden always found laugh-worthy. "What did you find out, Ai? Did you get him?"

Heaving a soft sigh, the blonde answered, "No, Edward. I did not 'get him' as you put it -"

"Then you failed?" The words were less a question than an accusation. Even though he spoke so calmly, Aiden was not fooled about his cousin's state at the moment. Edward was angry. Possibly VERY angry, and he was therefore walking a dangerous line as he considered his answer.

'Just because he is family, just because I love him, that does not mean I should expect leniency. He is still my leader.' He was torn. 'But if I say that something stopped me, he will think I am passing blame - I know how he works.' He hadn't realized he was silent for so long, lost in thought, until he heard a soft noise and looked up to find his cousin standing beside his bed and looking down at him with reproach.

"I asked you a question, Aiden."

"Yes." The word was a sigh as his head dipped, his gaze averted. "Yes, I failed." At least he had no fear of being struck, Edward would never dare cross that line. The humiliation would be punishment enough.

A finger slid beneath his chin, tipping it up and forcing him to meet his leader's emerald eyes. For a long moment they just stared with Aiden wishing he knew what was expected of him. Was he crossing his line with this stare-down? Finally Edward's lips pulled back in an expression that looked like a smile, showing most of his teeth. Aiden knew better.

'What have I done wrong NOW?'

His unvoiced thought was answered quickly enough. "Don't lie to me, Aiden. I don't care if you mess up every once in a while, but don't you EVER lie to me again."

"Yes, m'lord…"

"And don't call me that. I get enough of the titles and the bowing and scraping from everyone else around here." A hand rested softly on top of Aiden's head, patting him, much like a man would pat a dog. "Just fix it."

The sudden subject change succeeded in catching the blonde man off-guard again. "Fix it?"

"Find him. It is vital that you find him. I don't care what you have to do to track him down, but we need to know where he is and bring him here."

"Yes, Edward." 'As if I could ever disagree with you.'

"Good. Very good." The redhead strode back to the door, turning as he reached it to regard his rumpled underling. "And Aiden?"

Troubled brown eyes flitted to him, timidly. "Yes?"

"Come to breakfast." His words were almost amused, and Aiden took it as a good sign. He was off the hook for now. His cousin slipped out the door without any further words, closing it gently behind him.

"Of course." Aiden got out of bed, wondering if he should straighten the messed up blankets and deciding against it quickly. You didn't keep Edward waiting. That was a no-no.

'The guide…' There were words swimming in his head, and he wasn't sure where he'd heard them. 'The path has been chosen…' What it meant - well, he couldn't be confident he knew. But it was important somehow. He filed the thought away as he headed for the door.

~The pieces are in motion~

*End prologue*
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