The Grey Pool

Neon appeared with Kohaku.
"Sorry"

Kooni yawned loudly.
"I'm really tired now..." she muttered.

"No problem." Swift grinned

Featherkite looked up at Neon.
"We can go to a place to rest" Neon tapped each one. They all disaperead in a flash.

Daybreak approached the pool, looking into it's silver depths. He pictured the Moonriver Clan den in his mind, and searched for Silverstorm. As he found her, he picked her out from the others, setting a set of calulations deep inside her mind to perform when he was ready.
Daybreak opened his eyes and coughed gently, swipping his paw across the pool for it to begin.

But he stopped. He watched as a shadowy figure took and stole something.
He knew it was Neon. And it was a trap. He gave a snarl. And wiped away his calculations. Quickly turning the portal to take him away from Moonriver. Then he jumped.

Stormcloud slid through the silver pines. They flickered in a breeze, the one that came from the flickering temporal orb above the Sea of Time. She had spent many an hour sat, watching the tiny timeline waves crash against the rock, listening to the insistent humming that echoed around this place. It reeked of Daybreak. But, Storm remembered, Neon was back. Daybreak's grip on this place was nearly gone.

She had set up something of a camp around the crystal clear water that was now here. She had made bone phials and bottles, spending her time on free recreational activities. "Fun" was all she could do, besides watching the shifting tides of Time. She had glimpsed the place under the water once, and she had a new found respect for the Original of Time. Seeing each timeline whirl past, she had seen events she would only dream about. She'd seen similar events many times, each on different timelines, but it was moving too fast for her to really tell.

She settled down beside the pool. The water was so pure here, she could only marvel at it's clarity. A tiny pendant made from a shard of crystal she had found was filled with water and now hung around her neck. The stopper was made from ivory. It caught the light in a fascinating way and sent rainbows against her dark fur. There was a petal in the water - a plant that she had found on the shore. She'd seen it only a few times. She made a tea with infusions from the plant. A single drop could heal a wolf on the brink of death.

"A drop" was all she had made. The plant was too precious to be squandered.

Along with her phials and pendant, she had made a new, leather medicine satchel. She had used the ammonical properties from the stale water she had passed to bleach a large piece of rawhide. The rawhide went a near white colour. Usually, she would have made a chalk paste to dye the rawhide a pure white, like snow. But she liked the pale cream colour of the hide when it had only been treated with the ammonia. The only other colour she had added was a rich ochre red colour, painted in one of the symbols she had developed.

Because, to her utmost confusion, it was as if she was getting younger, not older. Her knowledge disappeared from her head, her memories corrupted, her scars faded, and her body lost it's elder-like appeal. She clung desperately to her memories of Polaris. She had only a rune to remember him now - A snake-like line with two marks. It looked like an ice-crystal to her, much like her mate's power. A power to manipulate ice.

Along with her memories of Polaris, her memories of Medicine was fading. The moment she had realised her memories were fading, she realised her knowledge might also have been lost. She had gathered all of the plants that could heal that she could remember, and with the hardening sap from a pine tree, she "glued" the plants to a huge piece of rawhide. She then made a black paste from the sap mixed with the soot from a tree struck by "lightning", and she drew runes onto the rawhide, sealing her memories in sap and soot. She created a rune for each ailment a wolf could get, and memorized them. It was now sat in the gathering depths of her satchel.

The last thing she had done was to create pouches with sinew and more hide. Each one had a succession of knots. The knots also helped her to remember her medicine, but it had a more defined purpose. Each pouch contained an emergency pre-prepared concoction. If a wolf got sick, the less exotic of remedies she had on paw, without any mixing, grinding, or chewing involved. In fact, each remedy had been mixed with honey and heather flowers and bound up in ivy leaves, into tightly packed "pills".

She did not know how long she had been along the shores of the Sea of Time, but she valued every second she had been here. It was almost calming here.

But most importantly, she was now waiting for Neon.

Emerging from the pines, Neon took a position in front of Stormcloud, and sat.
"I like you Stormcloud." She said simply, "And I want to confide in you." She wrapped her tail around her paws.
"We will speak about you afterwards, but I realise I must speak to someone."

"Confide in me." Storm said softly. "You mean use my body, speak with my tongue?" Storm looked at her paws, thinking hard. Would she? Could she?

"No. I do not infiltrate your privacy." Neon spoke softly, "It seems to Dusk Isle that I have grown weak?"

"When I died, the tension there was so thick you could cut it with a claw." Storm replied. "War might have broken out now."

"I keep a close eye on the timelines. War is close, unpreventable, but we have time." Neon studied Stormcloud carefully, "I want to grant you a wish - one timeline edit, one correction."

"One correction." Storm said, curling her tail around herself. "So one change. A change that could possibly change a lot."

"Yes. Things can be manipulated, and much manipulation is needed." Neon confirmed.

"I suppose I'd need to know more about what's going on in the world first. Would you mind that? I could get more information. We could choose something to manipulate when we've got a better idea on what's going on."

Neon indicated to the Grey Pool, and wrapped her tail around it. Instantly, the pool lit up.
"Whatever you need to know, you will see it." She spoke, indicating with her neon yellow eyes for Stormcloud to look into the pool.

"Alright... what sides are there? I knew there was tension, but I didn't know who between."

"Apose and Daybreak were the main factions in the war at your death." Neon explained, without having to use the water, "Although Cynder is starting a third. I expect she will trick the neutral wolves onto her side in a bid for power. Kaiti will be with Daybreak, and if Kohaku breaks out, I imagine she will side with Cynder. I have let Apose believe I am ailed with her on this matter."

"You've let her believe that." Storm picked up on the hint. "But that's not the case, is it?"

"No, it is not." Neon agreed, "In truth I am ailed with none as of yet." She paused, and peered into the pool.
"Would you like to see Moonriver before you decide?"

"That would be helpful." Storm nodded in earnest.

The pool flickered, and and images began to flash across the pool, showing each member of Moonriver and what they were doing, over and over.

"I'm still not sure..." Storm shook her head numbly.

Kiiroku was talking to thin air. Polaris, Sunfire, Ritoru and Barakiri were sleeping. Taiyo was alone in the Sunwood hunting grounds. Silvermask was deep in thought. Swiftwing was stood in confusion. Shadow had a dark look about him.
"It can be anything you desire." Neon whispered.

"I- I don't know." Storm shook her head softly.