5.  Get A Strip Torn Off


    I spent most of the next 20 minutes being berated by Lena,  while not related she had taken me under her wing and treated me like family.  Or in this case like a naughty child.  I was one of only maybe a handful of opened in the area, not from an already established family and Lena had taken it upon herself to fill both a parental and supervisor type role in my life.  It had its ups and downs, Lena thought that I should never be doing anything even remotely dangerous.  I had always had somewhat different opinions on what dangerous included.


    Being yelled at by Lena while not an everyday occurrence was not an unusual one.  Since I had known nothing about life as an opened Lena and Carveor had been my main source of information, at the beginning at least.  I had still been trying to achieve my yoga born stillness of mind when I had formally met Fleetfoot.


    The first two years of my life as an opened, I lived an odd mix of normal high school life and spending every other free moment trying to become more.  Sneaking out as many nights as I had felt like I could get away with, running down to the same convenience store lot and trying to see the Coyfolk again.  It had taken me a few months to gain a semblance of trust.  I would see them once in a while and the one, my now friend Fleetfoot had become more comfortable with me.  After seeing them a few times I tried to approach them and when they ran I had shouted: "Wait!"


    Fleetfoot had stopped and turned, looking back curiously.  I learned later that once you are opened and had started to develop a sense of being opened a lot of the nonhuman sentient species could tell. Luckily by this point, my efforts had gotten me a glimmer of this and Fleetfoot had been able to tell.  "Human, what do you want?''


    The voice was slightly odd, I guess their voices boxes not quite designed for human speech.  I was beside myself with joy.  "Just to talk, learn, share a sandwich? '' I tried hopefully.


    Fleetfoot yipped at the other two with him and they took up posts a little further away watching all directions.  Fleetfoot had strolled up and said. "Sandwich?"  I hurriedly had dug a ham and cheese sandwich out of my bag and given it to him as he neared.  He had grinned, which had been relatively frightening as it showed off his impressive teeth and wolfed (or Coyoted?) the sandwich down.


    I watched and then said, "Hi, I''m Will, nice to meet you."  Fleetfoot had laughed and introduced himself.  This became the start of a great friendship,  we had started to meet about once a week during which we would talk.  I learned a lot, a lot about the Coyfolk, apparently unknown to me, human opened rarely if ever talked to Coyfolk.  On the other hand, Fleetfoot used our time together to learn English, he had spoken some before but felt it would be useful for the pack if he could speak clearly.  Also, Fleetfoot had done all he could to learn about the human side of the city.   Coyfolk before had never really understood why or how the streetlights and such functioned.


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    I learned about his pack and the other packs around the area, eventually, I had become trusted enough to meet them.  This had been nearly a year after being opened and I was super excited.  On Fleetfoots recommendation I had brought some gifts, showing up and being led to a pack gathering had been nerve racking but ended up being one of the best things I could have ever done.


    It was a huge sign of trust when I had been introduced, the current Alpha had not been especially happy having a human come but the pack shaman had convinced him.  This was to be the second time I had a binding place on me.  The old shaman had done something much similar to what Carveor had done the year before, placed a binding holding the Coyfolks secrets to myself.  I had done it willingly as Fleetfoot had become a good friend by this point.


    Once I had been bound the Alpha had relaxed and you could feel the tension drain out of the gathering.  It didn''t take long for the atmosphere to turn silly as the younger pups started playing and running around.   I had opened my bag and was instantly surrounded by the pups as the smells of the still warm pressed sandwichs drifted out.  Fleetfoot knowing what I had brought came and maintained a semblance of order as I began handing out the wrapped sandwichs.  Some might say I earned my introduction but bribed the pack into liking me.   Well, let''s just say that Coyfolk have a weakness for grilled ham and cheese, not my fault...


    I came back to Lena moving to stand directly in front of me, noticing that I had gone glazed-eyed while dreaming of the past.  She was upset but I did what I did and I would do it again.  The Coyfolk were my friends and that would not change. I explained this to the couple and Lena''s expression had changed somewhat, she didn''t seem sure whether to be mad at me or proud of me.  Lena and Carveor were familiar with them but didn''t know them.  I explained that I had to help, the Coyfolk being non-human didn''t have a lot of options for problems that came up involving either people.


    The couple both had a worried look when I told them that the pups were being sold and traded.  The batch I had rescued were not the only ones that had gone missing over the last few months, but I hadn''t known about it until a few pups including Ringer from Fleetfoot''s pack had been taken.   Carveor said, "Will, this is actually a fairly serious manner then," he looked over at Lena, "We are going to have to get involved."  Lena sighed and nodded.  I looked confused what was the big deal.   Seeing the look on my face, "This sort of thing has happened before for a few reasons all of which are bad" Carveor explained. "We''ll get back to you in a few days we have some people to talk to."


    I exited the store deciding to head home and get some extra sleep, still feeling a little mentally worn from the last few days.  I spent the remainder of the evening thinking.  Why were Carveor and Lena concerned?  Why hadn''t they given me any more explanations or information?   And what exactly did it mean that they were going to get involved?