Jake spoke words she couldn't even begin to understand to the newcomer then bowed slightly. So apparently, Jake knew who this guy was. She looked over to Dominic whose mouth hung loosely open and his face looked awestruck. She gently nudged Dominic with her elbow to get his attention and cocked an eyebrow in question. He looked down at her and smiled.
"It's okay, Adele. This is Choden Sangye. He is the original shifter, and he's like our guru."
The original shifter? Guru? Adele's head began pounding and she buried her head into Dominic's chest as she became totally overwhelmed.
"Jake, my brother, have you not begun educating your newest cub? I fear we have overwhelmed the child."
"Choden, I was just starting to explain. Perhaps you would like to take over; you tell our history so much clearer than I."
"Yes, I believe starting with our history would be a good place to begin. We will get to her father's story later, I think. Jake, would you be so kind as to find me a seat. We are going to be here for some time." Adele lifted her head from Dominic's chest as she heard Jake bring a chair close to the bed. Before Choden sat down, he picked up her left hand, resting his forehead against the back of it for a moment before speaking in quiet words she didn't understand. She felt a wave of energy roll through her body and mind leaving peace and comfort in its wake.
"Now, my child, let me tell you a story or two." He cleared his throat before he continued.
"This story starts long ago with the monks who lived high in the mountains of Tibet. The monks were bonded with the snow leopards. The men would provide shelter and medical aid and in return ,the snow leopards offered the monks protection from those who would harm them. It was a relationship that worked well and benefited both man and beast.
"In the 1750's an elderly monk had started to become concerned for the snow leopards. Their numbers were declining rapidly from hunters who sought out their beautiful and thick pelts. Together with his prodigy, a young boy who he had taken under his wing, they researched ways in which they could help protect the snow leopards.
"In 1759 they finally had everything they needed to conduct the magic that would hopefully save their friends and protectors. They had found a way to join together a man and a beast. Thus enabling the beast to shift to a man and the man to shift to a beast, enabling both to better protect themselves and others they held dear.
"Now the young monk had an extremely close bond with a young male snow leopard, and they both gladly volunteered to be joined. Late at night, under the darkness of a new moon, the elder monk cast the magic upon the younger man and beast. A ball of blue electric energy formed around both the man and the beast before they were raised in the air and merged into one. Upon the energy fading, the beast was revealed and the man had disappeared. The beast raised his head and roared to the sky. As he did, the blue ball of energy returned over him and he flashed into a man.
"Now, that isn't the end of the story. You see the monks didn't realize that Halley's Comet had passed over them just as they were casting the magic. The comet strengthened the magic, and along with the newly created shifter, a pair of mated shifters were conceived on each of the world's seven continents that night. The magic continues to stay with Halley's comet, and each time it passes back over the earth, a new mated pair is conceived on each continent."
Adele could hardly believe what she was hearing, but then she could. It explained so much, but also bought on more questions.
"Can I ask you a question?" She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to offend the wise--apparently very old--man before her.
"Yes, my child, ask as many as you like. It is important that you understand."
"Are shifters immortal?" She wasn't sure how she felt about maybe living forever.
"I am the only one who is immortal. All other shifters have a human life cycle. Shifters do live longer than most humans as they don't get sick as humans do. Most shifters live well past one hundred years."
"How did you find out about what the comet did?"
"Now, that was a little embarrassing. We had no idea about the comet until later. I was fifteen when I was transformed, so shifters stay solely in their human form until their fifteenth birthdays. When they shift for the first time, it is under the rising moon on the night of their birthday. So, fifteen years after we cast the magic, we started hearing reports from all over the world of sightings of snow leopards where they shouldn't have been. The two in Tibet came to us to seek advice and we helped them learn their skills and establish a Leap. I then took a small group of monks on a worldwide search. As we found each one, we helped them find their mate then set up a Leap on each continent. It took many years. With the other three passings of the comet, the Alpha of each Continental Leap has conducted the search to find the Lost Ones."