Detective Jim Ellison got out of his truck in the parking lot of Hargrove Hall. Blair was late. Again. Normally this would have irritated Jim but for some reason, it worried him today. Jim walked towards Blair's office and noticed that Blair's heartbeat was missing. Jim began to jog towards the office as his worry went up another level. Arriving at the office he found the door open and no sign of Blair.

 "Blair," Jim called as he took a deep breath. Jim suddenly felt rage as he detected a scent. There were scents in the air that Jim knew and which instantly infuriated him. He growled savagely as he realised that Charles Xavier had ignored his warning.

 He'd warned them. He told them what would happen if they bothered him or Blair again. Jim turned and stalked out of the office. He called Simon and asked if he wanted to go visit Daryl in New York. Simon said he would be packed and waiting for Jim at his apartment. Jim said he would be there in about two hours. Jim was furious about this. He knew by the smell in the small office that Blair had been removed from the office in a way that did not involve traditional methods. Something about the smell in the office really sent his senses on edge and touched on the more primal part of his brain.

Jim went to the loft and packed two overnight bags. One was for him the other was for Blair. Jim drove to Simon's where his captain was waiting. Simon got into the car without a word seeing the patented Ellison clenched jaw that signified extreme anger that was bordering on killing fury. Whatever had him angry was in New York or else Jim wouldn't have asked Simon to go visit Daryl with him. Simon remembered that something had happened when Blair had gone to visit Daryl at school a few months ago. Whatever it was had Jim tearing out of the Bull Pen at mock 1 and not returning for two days with Blair in tow and swearing to him that Blair was never leaving the Cascade city limits without him again. Blair had laughed but Simon could tell that Jim was almost serious about it. Whatever had happened had really pissed Jim off.

 "Jim," Simon said softly once they were on board a plane to New York. "What is going on? You haven't been this angry about anything since whatever happened a few months ago."

 Jim looked at Simon for a long minute before he answered. "Someone disregarded my warning about threatening or borrowing Blair against his wishes ever again. I warned them that there would be consequences. I warned them..." Jim trailed off and sat back to prepare for the battle he was sure was coming. Jim reached along the bond that had been forming steadily since he had met Blair. He was still very uncomfortable with using it but this was an emergency. Also Jim felt guilty about not using it to check on Blair.
 He figured if he had been paying attention like he was the last time then he would have felt it when Blair was taken. Simon could see an Ellison Guilt Trip coming on.

 "Jim," Simon said. "Don't do this. It wasn't your fault so don't start blaming yourself for it."

 Jim nodded absently and went back to the bond. He found Blair in the astral jungle they always ended up in. Blair seemed to be okay but he also seemed wired and tense about something. Jim sent an image of the Jaguar coming to the school and breaking the door down and felt Blair relax slightly.

 Blair's response to the image confirmed to Jim that he was indeed at Xavier's School for the gifted. AGAIN. Jim silently vowed to himself that this would be the last time Xavier screwed with him or his Guide.

 At Xavier's School for the Gifted, a young woman named Danielle Moonstar stood looking down at the catatonic man that Professor Xavier had had Illyana Rasputin bring here. She couldn't accept what everyone told her about this man, this Blair Sandburg. A white Shaman/Companion; It wasn't possible.

In her tradition Guardians were always of tribal peoples as were companions. The White Man couldn't possibly have been blessed by the Spirits the same way her people were and yet everyone from Storm to Wolverine and even Illyana told her that this man glowed with the aura of a very powerful Shaman. He couldn't be though. She couldn't accept it. She wouldn't accept it. To her the idea of Blair Sandburg being a Shaman simply wasn't true.

"Hey Dani," Sam Guthrie said sitting next to her by the bed. "Any change in him? Everyone said he did this the last time he was sedated too. They said he seemed to able to decide whether or not he would wake up from the mind bolt that put him out."

Dani reached forward still with her angry thoughts running though her mind when suddenly something big and black lunged up between her and Blair. It, when Dani regained her equilibrium and could see it, turned out to be a huge black jaguar. It spat at her in primal fury and its eyes blazed like blue fires at her. It was very angry. She turned again hearing another growl. On the other side of the table stood a silver/white, grey and brown wolf. It stared at her until she shifted back to where she had been watching from when Sam came in.

 <Danielle, Sam, > came the professor's voice in their minds. <Get away from him. The jaguar will rip apart anyone who gets too near. I'm sending Wolverine down now to watch over him. > Dani and Sam both backed away from the bed. Even though Sam couldn't see what Dani had seen he could almost feel the rage from whatever was there.

A few minutes later, Wolverine arrived in the med-lab/infirmary. He took one look and smiled. Yep, he thought to himself. Ellison is definitely on his way and man is he pissed. Wolverine wondered what Dani had been thinking about Sandburg for the jag to respond like it had. Even if Xavier had been too close to Sandburg it wouldn't have lunged at him the way it lunged at her.

Wolverine suspected they would all find out what had caused it before this situation had been dealt with. He and Storm had both warned the professor about taking Sandburg again. They had both tried to make it clear to him that Sandburg couldn't be separated from Ellison for any amount of time and that invading Sandburg's mind again would seriously enrage Ellison. The man was already beyond ticked if the pacing Jaguar was any indication of his mood.

"Go upstairs kids. Especially you Dani, whatever you were thinking when you reached for him you made his protectors here very angry." Wolverine said to them. Dani looked at the two animals that were glaring her out of the room.

She tried to touch the Jaguar's mind and was physically shoved out of it.

The jaguar growled low and dangerous.

"Out Dani!" Wolverine barked. The jag was about to lunge again and there was no Sandburg to pull it back this time. It had stopped before because it was warning them away but the anger was more directed now. Dani retreated after Wolverine's order. She didn't understand. She was from a long line of Shamans. The Spirit Guide shouldn't have refused to let her in. And the rage she felt from it...whoever had made its person angry was in for a lot of trouble.
 

Dani wandered through the school and up to where Storm was drinking tea in her attic bedroom.

Storm looked at her and understood from the look on her face that Dani was troubled. "Come sit with me, Danielle." She said. Dani sat next to Storm and looked out the window. There was a sun set on the horizon and Dani watched it.

Storm waited until it was dark before she spoke. "Something about Mr. Sandburg disturbs you Danielle," Storm said. "What is it? Why do you fight so hard against accepting what is truth?"

"It can't be true Storm," Dani began. "No white man can be a Shaman and a Companion and no white man can possibly be a Guardian. It simply isn't possible. My ancestors said that there were no Guardians among the whites and that there never had been and never would be."

"It is true Danielle," Storm told her after a few moments of thought. "I think you need to replay those stories in your head and hear what was really said. If you believe that only your people ever had Guardians and Companions among them then you have become as narrow minded as the people who once mistreated you. Mr. Sandburg is both a Companion and a Shaman. Accept it or be guilty of what you claim all whites are guilty of: Making decisions based solely on the colour of the skin."

"How could my beliefs be wrong Storm? They've always been right before..."

"Not always Danielle," Storm corrected gently. "If you are having trouble maybe you should ask your ancestors for guidance. I am sure they would be quite willing to help you find the truth among all the lies you have told yourself over the years."

Dani recognised the rebuke in Storm's words and called her on it. "I have never lied to myself..." She began in a huff.

Storm merely looked at her and she subsided. "You have indeed lied to yourself. You have blamed all of your people's hardships on the white man and that is not true. You have developed prejudices against all white men because of what some narrow minded people did to you in Colorado, you have completely obliterated in your mind the fact that you just tried to reach for Blair Sandburg's mind and so caused Mr. Ellison's Spirit Guide to lunge at you. This you did Danielle and until you accept that you have made many errors in judgement in your life, you will always be less than what your people once were. You must accept that you have been wrong in the past or you prove those same narrow-minded bigots in your past correct. Worse yet, you join them on their level. Think on all that you have said and done in your life Danielle and ask you ancestors for help in discerning truth from falsehood. Only then will you prove yourself worthy of your Grandfather's legacy." Storm said and turned her back on Dani.

Dani knew a dismissal when she received it and so she wandered down to her bedroom to think things through. She sat on her bed in the lotus position and thought on what Storm had said. Taking a deep breath, Dani slipped into the meditative state that her grand father had taught her so long ago.

"Welcome Granddaughter," a voice Dani had long missed said.

Dani realised that she was in a jungle of some kind. "Grandfather, where are we?" She asked the old Native American man. "This isn't the mountain forest..."

"No Moonstar," he told her calmly. "This is the place where the Sentinel and his Guide can communicate. This is the place where you will learn what you seek to know. Come, I will you show you."

Dani followed him to a clearing where she saw Blair Sandburg seated against a tree. He was meditating and by his feet was the wolf from the infirmary. He was dressed in tribal clothes that she didn't recognise but obviously her grandfather did.

"The clothes that he wears here are of the Chopec of South America. What he wears here are the clothes of a Shaman. They have had Sentinels and Guides among them for many generations. His Sentinel is the man to whom the Jaguar belongs. He is a white man and he is very protective of his Guide or as we called them Companions. Mr. Sandburg does not wish to respond to the professor's calls because he is afraid of what will happen when he wakes up. What he will be confronted with. Wolverine is Like Mr. Ellison: A Sentinel whose tribe is your school. He also Mr. Sandburg's father even though they do not know this yet it will be discovered when Mr. Ellison arrives. You must apologise to them both for Mr. Ellison feels all that his Guide does."

"So he is a Shaman?" Dani asked

"Yes Moonstar, he is." Her grandfather told her. "You may go and speak with him if you wish. He has nothing against you."

Dani walked over to where Blair Sandburg sat against the tree.

His eyes opened at her approach and he smiled lopsidedly at her. "Hi," he said. "You must be Danielle. Your grandfather has been telling me about you. Don't worry about the jag, he won't lunge at you again it's just that he gets ultra protective of me when he thinks I'm being threatened."

Dani sat down next to him and watched as Blair unfolded his legs. The wolf lay next to him protectively.

"You want to know how I became a Shaman." Blair said to her. Dani nodded.

Blair looked at her for a few minutes before he spoke. "Well, I sort of inherited the title when Incacha, the former Chopec Shaman, came to Cascade and was murdered. He passed the Way Of The Shaman on to me and I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do all the time. Your grandfather tells me that I'm supposed to care for my Sentinel and help him protect the tribe. I should warn you, Incacha himself wanted to have it out with you but fortunately, your grandfather convinced him that he would be better to help you understand. Believe me I get why you don't like white men but you need to realise that not all whites are like the rednecks in Colorado."

"I know," Dani said. "I just... It's so hard to let go of the past."

"Tell me something I don't know. But the whole point of maturing is learning to let go of the past. Jim is a master of holding onto the past and boy is he way overprotective when it comes to me. He's on his way to the school now with Daryl's father. I hope your professor is ready to face Jim because he is so mad right now."