The Angry Wolf
[member="Varick Lechner"] | [member="Gerwald Lechner"]
Three days. It had been three days since they had left Stewjon, and they were still on this ship. Both the wolf and the woman were torn about it. As soon as they had entered it, Alwine realized the ship reeked to high heavens of the auflaque’s scent, and she knew immediately that the ship belonged to her. Her brother’s scent was not strong enough to cover the stink. She wanted to protest and to demand that they leave on another ship, as she had seen that there were others, but too weak, her body broken by months of torture and then further injured during the fight with her mother, the only thing she could do was let a little whimper out, and off they went.
At least it was a big ship.
As soon as Alwine was taken to what would be her and Varick’s room for the duration of their stay, she had begun to work. Every time her bladder filled, she would empty it around the room and just outside the door, trying to cover the auflaque’s scent. Of course, the ship had an entire staff team who cleaned her fur and cleaned the remains she left everywhere, but it was working. As the auflaque’s scent lessened, Alwine found her mind clearing little by little. It was easier to think when the scent that translated into abandonment, destruction, and pack breaking was not sharp in her nose. And it was also easier to come to appreciate the experience she was going through, flying in space for the first time in her life.
For hours, Alwine would lay down in front of one of the many windows, just staring at the stars, her tail wagging lazily. It was a sight to behold. There were many stars that could be seen from Stewjon, but to see them in space, while she was on a ship… Her heart was in awe. It was a sight she wished she could paint on the back of her eyes, so that it would always be in her field of vision. Sometimes, when the neared a planet, Alwine pressed her snout against the window, her eyes widening. She had seen holos of planets at the lords’ manors that she served, but this… This was something else entirely. This beauty too intense it threatened to make her stop breathing for fear that she would miss a moment of it. For the first time in her short life, Alwine truly wished for something materialistic. She wanted her own ship, so she could float like that for days, just gazing at the stars and the planets and the suns… How many were there? Was it possible to fly by them all? Was it possible to touch down on each and every one of them? She had to know. She had to find out. Once she would heal enough, she would ask.
When the little wolf was not busy staring at space, she hobbled around the areas of the ship that she had marked as her temporary territory. She did not like the cold metal floors, nor the interior design that screamed cheap taste and lack of class. But after the first few hours, it held little interest to her. What she was after, were her brothers. For hours, she would sit by Varick, her snout on his lap or resting against his back when he was in his own wolf form. She had been present at that final scene, with Darion. She had felt her brother’s heart breaking at it, and there was nothing she could do to help him glue it back, to undo the damage. She wished Darion had been killed before arriving at the house, so that Varick would never have to know of his treachery. That he would be able to leave the planet with his heart intact and full of joy at the prospect of being reunited with his brother, despite the hardships that would come with it. Lacking that, she wished she could have defended Varick in that moment, and not the other way around, when he took the stab of the knife so that it would not hit her bloody form.
But those were all wishes that would never be granted. All she could do was remain close to him, pray that he could see her as a sister to lean on in his hard hour. Always protect Varick. Her biggest brother. He had been her cornerstone, her grounding reason. She had not shifted during months of torture because he had been on her mind, because she had to keep him safe. Stewjon had not been a safe place, not for people like the Lechner siblings, and not for men such as Varick. And it did not matter that he was the eldest of the three, that both of her brothers were much better fighters than she. With Gerwald gone, only she could protect her remaining brother, and she had done so until what she thought would be her last breath.
When Alwine was not staring at space or with Varick, there was exactly one other person she wished to be around. Her brother, Gerwald. The one that had left them. The one that had abandoned them. The one that also came back for them. Her mind pounded with questions about why or what had happened, both before, during, and after. But now was not the time. Now she had to remain in her wolf form until she healed enough to be able to shift without re-breaking her leg, which meant that conversations were not optional. And still. She was furious with her brother. She wanted to claw his face. But she also wanted to remain close to him, to rebuild what had been shattered. When she found him alone, she would always go to him, leaning against him whether he was a man or a wolf. The only problem was that the remains of the auflaque lingered on him as well, causing her to try to hold her breath. It was probably easier as a woman than as a wolf, but she powered through it. He was her brother. No auflaque would be able to undo that, no matter how hard she tried and succeeded to get her nails into him.
Despite all the pain and anger shared amongst the siblings as well as apart, there was a certain undeniable peace in those three days. The stars out of the window, the Lechner siblings united again, and the lack of needing to hide their wolf forms. It had an effect that Alwine would not deny. Had she been in her human shape, she would have smiled at it. If only she could trade the ship’s interior for the woods, it would have been perfect.
And so passed three days for Alwine, the little wolf.
It was towards the end of the third day that she realized she was no longer walking on three. Her broken leg no longer felt broken. Tender, yes, but… But she could put her full weight on it. Alwine raised her leg, checking to see what the extent of her swing was. It wasn’t full yet, but… But it worked. Her leg was usable. The damage sustained to it was far from permanent if it only took three days to get it mostly working again. She barked in happiness and broke into a little run in the hallway. Still not full speed, still had to make sure she didn’t do too much at once, but she had done it! She was not damaged beyond repair! A little bit of practice and the wolf would be back to herself, fully and completely!
Lightly running, Alwine made her way back to the room that she and Varick had shared, barking happily at finding both of her brothers there. Her tail wagged wildly with happiness, and she wasted little time before jumping on the bed, wanting a comfortable place to land on once the shift had been completed. As soon as all four paws touched the mattress, she began. There was but one thing that Alwine did not like about shifting, and that was her inability to control the amount of time it took. Usually, she delighted in it, enjoying the sound of bones crunching, enjoying the changing limbs, enjoying all of it. Now, she just wanted to get it over with, to finish it, to be a human so she could at last speak with both of her brothers.
Five minutes later, Alwine lay naked on the bed. She sat up quickly, pulling both her brothers in for a hug, and with a swift move, removed Varick’s knife from his belt. All her life she had been forced to behave in certain ways, to act in certain ways. Her hair had never been cut, reaching well below her buttocks in strings of gold and yellow. She loathed it. It took a few seconds of using the knife to saw through it, after which she tossed the hair, enough to make several wigs, into the corner of the room, and turned to face her brothers, hands on the hips, a wide smile on her face.
“I have spent months without shifting and my mind has not broken,” she declared, looking at both of them, “it is clear that the little wolf is the alpha of this pack.”
The grin turned into a laugh and she jumped on her brothers again, human hands hugging them, holding them close. A few more minutes and they would speak. A few more minutes and the anger will rise. But before that happened, before they got to that point, she wanted to bathe in this happiness, to hold both Varick and Gerwald close, to cover herself in the scent of the Lechner brothers. They would speak, soon. For now, let them just enjoy the moment.
