The Prophesied Luna (completed)

Separate But Equal

Osmond’s POV

            The refreshing spring breeze was a welcoming reprieve from the heated situation playing out before us. Together with warriors from the other nine packs of the Sacred Alliance and a few healers from the three covens of the Sacred Alliance, we were accompanying the task force made up of 12 werewolves and witches to investigate the situation in Arkansas to ensure their safety. Looking at the situation before us, I could tell that the task force was glad to have us as their security detail. 

            “Don’t you dare tell us what is fair and what isn’t! Centuries ago when werewolves in this State drove our covens to the Boston Mountains so that you could profit from the opportunities in Little Rock when it became the official capital city of the State, we said nothing. When you collaborated with the humans to bar us from the booming healthcare industry in Little Rock, we said nothing. We kept to ourselves and lived in the shadows, hiding in the Boston Mountains, afraid that you would see through our disguise if we got anywhere near your territories or human territory. Time and time again, we swallowed our pride and accepted our fates, hoping that you’d finally be satisfied and stop your crusade against us. Yet, the moment the opportunity presents itself, you just can’t keep your dirty paws to yourselves. And this time, we will not be silent. We will not accept illegal land grabbing in the name of fair land redistribution! We will not allow you to steal our ancestral lands! The Boston Mountains may not be where our covens had chosen to make our home but it was our home for many centuries and you have no right to make us leave!”

            The impassioned speech of the young witch in front of us and the fact that her coven was outnumbered by the werewolves sent by various packs of Arkansas to evict them had a powerful impact on those of us tasked with investigating the accusations of the witch and werewolf representatives. It was like watching David fight against Goliath and I could tell that those werewolves tasked with eviction were feeling uncomfortable, starkly aware of how the situation was not looking in their favor. 

            “I don’t want to sound harsh, but from the reports submitted by the packs of Arkansas, it’s stated that the redistribution of land was agreed upon by a simple majority of covens and werewolf packs in Arkansas. All other covens who lived in the Ozarks have accepted the newly allocated lands drawn up for covens after the agreement was confirmed by the voting. It seems like your coven is the only one still refusing to leave,” one of our task force’s werewolves pointed out. As expected, his words further fueled the burning rage of the coven fighting eviction. 

            “Voting? Agreement? You’re seriously talking about a free and fair system based on democracy in this State? Can you not count or do you not know that there are more packs than covens in our State? Any agenda of the packs can be passed with a simple majority, even with a few dissenting packs! And do you think the other covens wanted to leave? We’ve lived in the shadows of the forest for so many centuries and have been cut off from the mainstream economy for so long that we no longer have the ability to live in the so-called prospering cities! Being away from the forest also weakens our connection to the source of our magic and that is exactly what the werewolves are aiming for!”

            A werewolf tasked to evict the coven immediately refuted the accusations of the young witch. “It’s not our fault that there are more packs than covens and no democracy is perfect. You should be grateful that we’re trying our best to do things the right way, that we seek your opinions and put things to a vote. And no one is forbidding you from being close to the forest. In fact, your newly allocated land is in the Ouachita National Forest. What is the difference between that forest and the forest in the Ozark National Forest?”

            “The difference? Sure, let me tell you what the difference is. Our allocated lands in the Ouachita National Forest are all the way on the eastern end. Not only is this piece of land extremely close to human territory, it’s also 100 times smaller than the lands we have here in the Ozarks. You’ve already made it clear that we’re not welcomed in schools run by werewolves but without a modern education, how do you expect our covens to survive financially when we can no longer live off the forest? How is our coven supposed to survive on such a small piece of land? How dare you even try to compare it to the magic in our ancestral lands?” 

            It was obvious to us that the situation before us could not be resolved peacefully, at least not today, and it was clear that even though our job here was to conduct an investigation, it was also in our interest, in the interest of our communities, to defuse the situation even just for today. I saw the werewolves and the witches in the task force exchange a few words in low voices before a witch said firmly, “in the interest of the investigation, we’d like to ask to postpone the eviction until we’ve spoken with the relocated covens tomorrow.” 

            “That’s not for you to decide! The Grand Tribunal has no rights here!” yelled one of the werewolves tasked with evicting the coven.

            “To hell with you, you greedy, dirty dogs,” spat a witch from the Boston Mountains Coven.

            “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Since you little whores like it the hard way, we’ll..” sneered another werewolf tasked with the eviction before I stepped in to shut the s**t show down. 

            “That’s enough! We’re not cavemen here, ok, we live in the 21st century and I’m sure we’re all rational adults and we can treat each other with more decency and respect. I agree with the task force that we need more time to speak with the relocated covens first before we could help mediate this situation. We’re not here to support one side over the other. We’re here to make sure that the three Holy Laws are upheld, that equality between the two communities is respected. If you’re not willing to help us with our investigations then at least don’t stand in our way. We’re not telling you what to do, at least not yet, because each State has the right to make their own rules and the Grand Tribunal won’t step in unless any one of the three Holy Laws has been broken. Have I made myself clear?” The silence that followed my outburst was deafening and everyone was tense, unsure if the other side would agree to de-escalate the situation or resort to violence. I noticed then that one of the werewolf’s eyes were glowing slightly and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that he was probably checking in with his Alpha on their next move. 

            “Fine, we will continue after you’ve spoken with the relocated covens tomorrow. Most of them have been moved to vacant housing owned by the Ouachita Pack in Hot Springs.” smirked one of the werewolves. I ignored the mockery in his tone and instructed the warriors to escort the werewolves and task force off the lands that still belonged to the Boston Mountains Coven, while I stayed behind to try and talk some sense into the witches. 

            The witches’ animosity towards werewolves didn’t leave entirely with the werewolves who tried to evict them but I was glad that they were at least calm enough to want to speak with me. “My name is Osmond and I’m the Gamma of the Gold Moon Pack in Sonora, California. My mission here is not to investigate the accusations from both the witch and werewolf representatives of this State, but rather to protect the task force who’s here to conduct the investigation,” I explained. 

            “So you can’t actually help us, is what you’re saying,” scoffed one of the witches as she rolled her eyes. My wolf was not amused by her reaction and I had to remind him that we were here to solve problems, not create more problems. 

            “Look, for what it’s worth, my Pack is part of the Sacred Alliance. Even before the Grand Tribunal, we forged an alliance by faith with a coven in our State before bringing in a few more allied packs and covens. I’m here because I believe in the equality of the Moon Goddess’s children. I believe in a better future for all of us but I’m also not naive and I know that it’s an uphill battle until the day our children can live the lives that we can now only dream of. But I’m willing to fight for this dream and if you’re with me, I need to know your side of the story without any of those werewolves from the packs of Arkansas. The more I know, the more helpful I can be tomorrow when we talk to the covens who have agreed to relocation.” 

            The witches eyed me suspiciously and after a long uncomfortable silence, one of the older witches nodded at the younger witch, who had served as the coven’s spokesmen the entire time. 

            “Fine, we’ll talk. We’ve nothing to hide anyway and even if no one helps us, we will not stand by silently anymore. My name is Clara and I’m 65 years old. I know I don’t look the part but witches age slowly and we live a long time. So believe me when I tell you that I’ve seen enough to know the dirty tricks of those dogs through and through. After the Great Betrayal, the covens of our State, or rather what was left of the covens either fled north or went into hiding. For those who went into hiding, there was nowhere else to go other than the remote mountains and forests. We were driven out of the populated cities and whoever didn’t leave was hunted down and burned at stake during the infamous witch trials in the 17th century. When things finally calmed down a little in the 1800s, some of our sisters started venturing back to the cities in search of opportunities. We’re witches but we can’t just live off magic and over the years, it became increasingly difficult to live off the forests. As fate would have it, Little Rock became the capital of Arkansas in 1820 and trade boomed. Soon the werewolves were working with the humans again to push us out of the cities by making up unfair rules that would bar us from any work and when that didn’t work, the werewolves would involve the Werewolf Council to hunt us down. My mother was one of the witches who had to flee Little Rock because the guesthouse that she was working at suddenly had a rule that only Little Rock residents whose grandfathers were Little Rock residents were allowed to work there. Her human mate was also harassed by the other workers at the port and eventually, he left my mother. And now that we’re finally equals of werewolves, the first thing that the packs who have been oppressing us get down to is to grab our lands from us. When you go to Hot Springs tomorrow, don’t be fooled by appearances. I know a sister who moved into the temporary housing there as they wait for their turn to settle on their allocated land in the Ouachita National Park, and from what she was able to tell me, the area where they are housed in, the central northern part of Hot Springs, is anything but ideal. Unemployment rate and poverty rate amongst humans living there is high, and no one is going to be happy about more competition coming from us. Besides, we have been excluded from society for so long that none of us have the education that we need to get a job in businesses owned by the humans or werewolves, and no there are no witch owned businesses.” 

            The not so young but young looking witch’s account didn’t surprise me very much, unfortunately. This was the result of centuries long of animosity but I didn’t understand why the werewolves were trying to force the covens to move other than being able to gain more land, since they were taking an entire pie and giving only the trimmings to the covens. “Why are the werewolves forcing the covens to move? I mean I understand that they’re trying to grab more land but they’re not exactly driving you out completely from the forests in Arkansas.” 

            Clara chuckled and shook her head before she answered my question. “When you’ve lived long enough, some things will become obvious. The Ouachita Pack is located in the Ouachita National Park and they own various businesses as well as properties in Hot Springs. By moving us to their territory on the pretense of allocating small parcels of it to us, they get to keep us close and under surveillance. We’d be effectively living side by side with them but on worse lands in the forest. For those who choose to build a life in the city or commute to the city to work, we’d be living and working side by side with the werewolves in Hot Springs but only in areas that are approved for us and only in jobs where they’re not colluding with humans to keep us out of. We would look like equals to everyone on the outside but separate is not equal. It never has been and it never will be! I hope that you keep that in mind when you talk to our sisters tomorrow, young Gamma.”