Gatorboy

Hoping to get more clarity on the meaning of the Nine Brothers tale, I traveled to the Way Point to look for Whispering Crow. I stopped for a moment there, beside a large boulder, and tried to sense which direction he might be in. A sharp-clawed hand, with nails like long gray knives grazed my arm and broke through my focus.

I turned to see what this was, half-nervous, half-excited, I thought maybe I was finally going to encounter one of these negative entities I've heard so much about. Expecting the worst, I looked and saw a greenish scaly creature. He looked like a raptor, or maybe the child of a raptor who had mated with Edward Scissorhands

He stroked me with his claws again, and I wasn't sure if this was a threat or just curiosity. So I tuned into the creature more closely, to try and discover what it might be thinking.

The creature's emotions were like water, very human, even timid. They felt like the perspective of a small boy, still forming, as young as four and no more than six years of age, to my mind. It was not at all what I was expecting.

Thinking it might put him at ease, I inspected his skin in much the same way he appeared to be inspecting me. While it looked very coarse, even jagged and sharp in spots, it was almost supple in texture, yet strong, tough and thick like an alligator.

He showed off his impressively sharp and pointed teeth as I commented on the quality his skin. The expression could have been mistaken for a smile, if it weren't for the threatening look of those fangs.

Giving me a final poke with his knife-claws he went on his way, and I continued my search for Whispering Crow.