#alaunus

The four of them shuffled to the end as the instructor sorted out the rest of the group. They all knew each other, but not all of them ran in the same groups. Wolf was usually with the older children these days, and Mac and Rowan were just in a different set of friends.

They all nodded to each other, and waited for the instructor to finish. Wolf was already moving a little, bouncing on the balls of her feet and tapping her nails against the arm guard. The sound was both annoying and satisfying.

“Catch!” the instructor called, throwing padded sparring staffs to the groups. Flow’s nearly hit her in the face, and Rowan and Mac floundered to the catch theirs. Wolf caught it with one hand, and looked around like she was wondering how everyone else had failed to catch it.

“Pick a partner to spar with in your group! We will be rotating sparring partners every few rounds, so do not waste time thinking about it!”

Mac and Rowan immediately stood opposite each other, leaving Flow and Wolf to spar each other.

“You do know biting is not part of sparring?” Flow asked her, and Wolf raised an eyebrow.

“Aye,” Wolf hefted the padded staff, feeling its weight. “Is it truly necessary to pad us and the weapon?”

“They do not want to risk injury?” Flow shrugged. “It is harder to hold though.” Only the ends to properly padded, the middle leaving space to hold, but it still felt restricting.

“Ready positions!”

Flow and Wolf held their staffs out towards each other, shifting to longer stances and lifting onto the balls of their feet.

“Begin!”

Flow was first to launch forward, making Wolf block and dodge, then coming in for her own strike before Flow could follow. It became clear that Wolf was both strong and fast, but Flow was stronger.

As the instructor called “Time!” Flow shoved the butt of the staff into Wolf’s chest. Wolf staggered back and tripped over her own feet, sprawling on her back as the bout came to an end.

“Per-perhaps,” Wolf panted. “That is why the staff is padded too.”

Flow held a hand out to help her up, and Wolf took it.

“Reset!”

Wolf and Flow took their positions again.

“Begin!”

Wolf was even faster this time, not wanting to be knocked onto her back again. She suddenly lunged and Flow staggered back, something primal kicking in as she looked at Wolf’s face. She’d been so convinced that a real wolf lunging for her.

Wolf then managed to swing and knock Flow’s legs out from under her. Their bout paused for a moment as Wolf helped her up, and they continued from where they left off.

“Time!”

The two relaxed, breathing heavily and faces pink under the helmets.

“Everyone, move one person to the left!”

There was a bit of shuffling as everyone tried to work out exactly what they meant, but soon Flow was facing Rowan, and Wolf was facing Mac.

The next few fights weren’t as good. Flow initially had a hard time realising why, but soon put her finger on it. Neither Mac nor Rowan were as good. They weren’t bad by any means, but they lacked the ferocity of Wolf.

They apologised when they landed a hit, almost as though it was reflex, and their hits were soft, cautious. They’d been chasing and rough housing each other for years, why this change?

After everyone had fought everyone in their group, the instructor called to the end of sparring, and bid everyone to take their armour, put their staffs back, and start gentle walking to cool down.

Flow ended up walking behind Wolf, both of them looking like their hair hadn’t seen a comb for at least a week. For Wolf that might actually be true.

The session came to an end, and the children all wandered back to their homes, but Flow followed Wolf as she walked towards the edge of the Whispering Forest.

“Why are you following me?” Wolf asked, barely stopping.

“I think we should do our own sparring.”

That made Wolf stop, and she turned to face Flow, face creased and head tilted as she thought.

“…You were the best fighter in our group,” she said slowly.

“Exactly, and so were you! So, we should spar together!”

The corner of Wolf’s mouth lifted into a smile. “No biting?”

“No biting, obviously,” Flow rolled her eyes. “We could do it with proper staffs, without armour!”

“I think we should wait on that. We are new to this.”

“We will be fine!” Flow brushed off. “We are not babies! We can handle it!”

“I still believe we should wait, a little bit. We do not have our own staffs.”

“You live with Lowf! Make some!”

Wolf opened her mouth to counter, then closed it.

“…Only if you can find practice armour.”

“Deal!”

 ---

They kept the staffs at Lowf’s hut, and Flow kept the armour in her room. She did have to ask the instructor in the end to borrow it, but the instructor was fine with it, as long as they brought it back for training.

A few months into this arrangement, the pair were dropping their staffs off a Lowf’s hut, taking their helmets off and shaking out their hair.

Lowf poked his head out of the hut, the smell of salt and herbs drifting out of the door.

“Would you two like a drink? It is rather warm out.”

It was summer now, with biting insects hovering over every body of water they could find and the days dragging on, while the heat only climbed.

“That would be lovely,” Wolf panted, tongue lolling like a wolf even as she sweated.

“Come in, it’s cooler inside.”

Flow had never been inside Lowf’s hut before, and jumped at the chance to look.

The hut was small, it seemed like there was barely enough room for two people, let alone three. To the right of the door was a small hearth and cooking pot, and Flow had to duck as she entered, as herbs and meat hung from the ceiling.

The hut itself was cluttered, with finished and half-finished carvings and their tools. There were plates and other utensils, carved from wood, scattered rather haphazardly. To the left was a pile of furs, while a basket of feathers and sticks hung just by a small window. A couple of packs sat under the window, one empty, one in the process of being packed.

The hearth was not lit, and the pot only filled with cool water, and Lowf was right, it was cooler in here, away from the sun.

Flow and Wolf found some space on the wooden floor, sipping their water. After a minute or so, Wolf flopped down, pressing her back against Flow’s side and drinking from there.

Flow looked down in surprise, half expecting to see a dog, or a wolf even, but Wolf was still human.

Even Lowf looked surprised. “Acting like a wolf without being one?”

“Too hot for fur,” Wolf grumbled.

“We can go to the River of the Diving Bird later if you want to cool off.”

“Yes!” Wolf popped back up again, making Lowf laugh and almost clashing heads with Flow.

“You would be welcome to join us,” Lowf added to Flow. “If your parents do not mind?”

“I can ask.”

“I would suggest that you finish your water first,” Lowf smiled warmly, his weather-beaten face crinkling and a leaf hanging from his curly, nut-brown hair and over his ear as though it were fixed there.

 ---

The sun was still up, although finally beginning to set when the three of them reached the bank of the river. They found a section of bank that formed a pebbly, muddy shore and Wolf ran straight in, fur and tail flying.

Flow shielded her herself from the spray of water as Wolf jumped in, and Lowf laughed and shook his head. Flow then yelped as Lowf pushed her in.

Freezing cold water splashed up as she struggled to maintain her balance in the calf deep water, and she shrieked from the cold. It was then Lowf’s turn to yell as Wolf burst from the water and grabbed his sleeve with her fangs, dragging him down too. He lost his balance and fell onto hands and knees for a moment, water splashing up and completely soaking him.

“You asked for it!” Lowf roared as he pushed himself up. He plunged his hands into the water and splashing repeatedly at Wolf, who chuffed and yelped as she dodged each splash.

Flow got caught in the crossfire, and began to splash indiscriminately. Wolf, Lowf, the trees, everything got soaked.

Lowf was still laughing, and Flow joined in. Yaps and laughs came from Wolf as she changed form with every leap and dodge.

Finally they ran out of energy and trudged back to the bank, sheltering in the shade of the trees.

Wolf didn’t turn back to human right away, fur dripping and tongue lolling as she made her way up the bank. Lowf seemed unconcerned, but Flow found herself skittering away.

Wolf wasn’t full grown, still a young wolf with gangly limbs and scrappy coat, but her shoulder still came up to just below Flow’s chest. The fur was in a shorter summer coat, mostly grey and white, with brown mantle on the shoulders, streaking down the back towards the flank.

White tipped her muzzle and paws, and a solid grey ear flicked towards Flow as she walked towards Lowf. Once she was within range, she began to shake herself dry.

“WOLF!” Lowf tried to shield himself from the deluge. “Enough! Wolf!”

Wolf didn’t stop until she stopped dripping, sending Lowf a wolfish grin before flopping down onto the grass, panting. Lowf sighed heavily and ruffled her between the ears before collapsing under a tree.

Flow remained standing, still eyeing Wolf nervously. She was relaxed now, but… but she was a wolf. She hadn’t had that realisation for a while, but here it was again.

“You are safe,” Lowf assured, with a rather defeated tone, like he’d said that many times. “She will not harm you.”

Wolf let out a huff that sounded like a laugh and her tail thumped against the ground.

Flow cautiously sat down, still keeping Lowf between her and Wolf. Lowf and Wolf looked at each other, and another huff and chuff she stood up and flopped between Lowf and Flow.

Flow froze as Wolf rested her head on Lowf, but rested her back against Flow’s side.

She slowly began to relax as she realised that nothing was going to happen. Wolf’s tail swished and thumped against her foot, and the weight was comforting. Drying off in the warm, summer air, she began to feel safe. At peace.

---

Sparring is an odd thing, it doesn't happen to everyone, but quite a lot of people, the first time they spar, with contact, they get nervous and apologetic about it. They're suddenly afraid of hurting you. It's just something that happens, and you grow out of it with practice. As for why they're doing this sparring? I assume it's a like a Warrior precursor, everyone gives it a go as a kid and they can walk away if it doesn't work for them.

@fairyofsomething​ suggested I start calling this the ACU, or Alaunus Cinematic Universe, and I'm down for that!

On another note

“Aye,” Wolf watched the children now. One of them was pretending to scythe grass, while another might have been dancing to music only they could hear, thudding the stick into the ground rhythmically.

“Most of the children our age were afraid of me, I think,” Wolf remembered, half a smile curling on her lips. “I cannot imagine why they were afraid of the half wild girl who lived in the woods,” she chuckled.

“I was afraid of you too,” Flow admitted. “I used to hide behind my mother’s skirts when you and Lowf came into the village.”

Wolf placed her hand to chest in mock horror. “You wound me, Flow!” she mock gasped, before grinning. “I know, I saw. I thought you were going to be terrible at hunting if you kept doing that.”

“I never had your patience for hunting,” Flow tilted her head to the side. “Fighting on the other hand.”

“You could probably still beat me in a sparring match.”

“Do not doubt it!” Flow laughed, lifting a crutch into the air. “I come with weaponry included!”

“As do I!” Wolf allowed her fangs to grow as she grinned, before shrinking them back.

“On the forest edge at dawn?”

“Naturally.”

The two fell into another bout of laughter, not serious about the fight.

“That said, I grew to love you like a sister,” Flow said once the laughter had faded. “Although, I think you wished for the love to be different?”

All the humour drained from Wolf, and she glanced at Flow before finding the horizon.

“…Aye. For a time. You did not feel the same, so the matter rested.”

“… I did. Feel the same,” Flow clarified. Wolf slowly turned to look at her.

“Then why did you not say?”

“I did not realise until… until Cyrus came, and I realised that I was going to lose you. I was too much of a coward to speak.”

Wolf stared. “And… when I returned?”

“I was still a coward,” Flow chuckled, but there was little humour. “I had the courage to throw myself into battle, no matter who asked, but to admit to one of my oldest friends that I had romantic feelings for them? That was too much of an ask.”

“Flow, you have never been a coward.”

“You do not have to lie to me.”

“I am not. You are at least telling me now.”

“There is that,” Flow winced and shifted her position slightly. “One day my leg will realise it has gone,” she grumbled. “Besides, you were destined for things greater than me.”

“Do not say that!”

“I am not wrong,” Flow looked at Wolf. “I would have been an anchor, holding you in the harbour. When you should have been sailing free.”

“Forgive me if I am wrong, but is an anchor not always part of the ship? An anchor does not hold a ship back, but merely prevents it from drifting to unsafe waters.”

“The Royal Fortress was not dangerous,” Flow countered. “You would have been a grand ship, languishing in the harbour.”

“Or my anchor could have come with me.”

“Truly?” Flow raised an eyebrow. “Cyrus would not have allowed me, surely you understand that.”

“An agreement could have been made.”

“You do not believe that any more than I do. A commoner with two born shifters and the princess? Be realistic, Wolf. Apart or together, if you had known it would only have hurt us both.”

“You think it did not hurt to leave you behind?”

“Then the pain would have been sharper.”

“If you had been able to join me, then perhaps…”

“Perhaps what? Perhaps I would not have lost my leg? And perhaps you would not have been exiled? We all have our pain to harp on, Wolf. You know this.”

“The what-if’s, could-have-been’s, I am aware.”

Flow blew out of her cheeks. “Perhaps I should not have told you this.”

“No. I am glad you told me. Whether events would have gone differently if you had told me sooner, is impossible to know for certain.”

“Aye,” Flow sighed. “And, I have certainly moved on from that. We were young, we are not the same people now as we were then.”

“Aye. I still hold great fondness for you, but my romantic feelings for you have subsided.”

“I am glad we can agree,” Flow glanced at Wolf. “You know, I was not entirely joking about fighting at dawn.”

“Were you not?” a smile grew on Wolf’s face. “Then your request shall be honoured,” she held her hand out, mostly upright.

Flow looked at it, and with her own grin she clasped Wolf’s hand in her own.

--

While I had always planned that Wolf would have had a childhood crush, I always intended for it to be some unnamned character, not Flow. This is what happens when you listen 'Never Love an Anchor' by the Crane Wives on repeat!

And would you look at that, I'm back! Kinda. I got a burst of inspiration listening to that song, and I got a few pieces out of it, but after a few weeks I will most likely disappear into the ether again

He charged for the door and flung it open. It was a cloudy night, and his eyes were adjusted to the low light coming from the hearth. He could barely see a thing.

“Wolf?!” he called out, trying to find his torches and strike flint. The torch spluttered into life and flared, although its light didn’t go far. Still, he held it high and cast around.

Wolf was long gone, but he found her tracks, light as they were. They spoke of a young pup, ambling excitedly into the woods.

Lowf was comfortable in the Whispering Forest, confident in the daylight. Nighttime? It could be done, but the risk of him breaking something shot through the roof.

Still, he hovered, strongly considering it. He could track her, but would he ever catch up? The longer he waited, the less likely that seemed.

With few options left, he howled.

There was an answer, the wobbly, squeaky, pup howl he recognised as Wolf’s, and a bunch of other howls joined in. He howled again, and the howls came back.

Was this a goodbye? He found himself hoping not. Despite the fact that she had been dropped into his life with no warning or preparation, he found he enjoyed the little wild thing’s company.

He planted the torch into the ground, letting it continue to burn, and making sure the falling cinders didn’t set the grass alight. He sat by the side of hut, and stared out into the dark.

 ---

He hadn’t noticed when he fell asleep, but he woke up to something trying to climb onto him.

He opened his eyes with a groan, grey, pre-dawn light showing him that the torch had long since burned out. He was slumped against the wall of his hut, neck at an angle that was definitely going to hurt if he moved it.

Still, he looked down, wincing slightly, and saw that a familiar looking wolf pup was trying to climb on him.

“…Wolf?”

She gave a high pitched chuff of acknowledgement before succeeding in climbing up to his chest. She then curled up as best she could on the angled surface.

“You came back.”

Wolf yapped quietly before yawning widely and snuggling in.

Lowf let out a low chuckle, and scratched the top of her head with two fingers. Her tail began to patter against his ribs until sleep took her.

He looked at his small charge, and smiled fondly before resting his head back against the wall. The sun was not up yet, he could sleep more.

 ---

Another moon cycle had gone by, and he had managed to brush Wolf’s hair. Once. Trying to encourage human habits was like pulling teeth.

Still, as the moon went up, Lowf wondered if she would go out again.

“Wolf?” he still didn’t know how much she knew, but her grasp on human language was getting strong. “Will you go with the wolves tonight?”

“Think so,” she turned over a small toy Lowf had crafted in her hands, before sending the small wooden hoop spinning across the floor, rattling in a satisfying way.

“They will call for you?”

“Aye.” Wolf sent the hoop spinning again. “Might want to see you.”

Lowf froze. “They want to see me?”

Wolf growled slightly, word not coming to her. “Protective. They are protective.”

“They want to test me?”

“Maybe.”

Lowf suppressed a nervous laugh. A test from a wolf? What would that entail? Wolf seemed calm about it, but what Wolf was calm about wasn’t always a good indicator.

Night fell, and the howls filtered through. Wolf bounded towards the door as she did last time, but waited for Lowf to get up and follow before disappearing through it.

Lowf took a deep breath before he left the hut. The sky was clearer tonight, so he could easily pick out the wolves who stepped out of the treeline, and who Wolf bounded towards.

Lowf froze before he got too close, watching the wolves greet Wolf with sniffs and muzzle licks. They then all reacted to something he couldn’t hear, and stepped aside.

Another wolf, walking slowly, made their way through the assembled pack. There was a limp to them, one eye looked milky and the muzzle grey in a way that didn’t match the rest of the face.

Still, there was clear respect as the assembled wolves licked their muzzle as they walked by. The old wolf reached the front of the pack and looked right at Lowf.

A shiver of fear went down his spine and he glanced at Wolf. The roles were reversed, he was looking to her on how to behave.

She seemed to realise this too, and obviously lowered herself a bit, eyes a bit to the side.

Lowf tried to copy, lowering himself to the wolf’s level, not making eye contact. Every instinct was telling him to move, to get out of there. This was an entire pack of wolves, best to leave them alone, and they’ll leave you alone.

The old wolf growled a little, and looked at Wolf. Wolf scampered over to Lowf, and turned human.

“Come to her. Legs do not work as good.”

“I understand,” everything was telling him that this was the worst idea possible. But he trusted Wolf.

Keeping low, he made his way towards the old wolf. Wolf was next to him as a human, maybe she was suddenly very aware that he didn’t understand?

“Stop,” she said, and he did. There was still a good two metres between him and the old wolf. Wolf changed to pup and stood between the two groups, ears and eyes flicking between the two.

The old wolf made her way over, and stopped so close that if he leaned forward, his nose could touch hers. Lowf still dared not make eye contact, and tried to control his breathing. He desperately wanted to run.

The old wolf chuffed and sniffed, close enough to ruffle his hair with her breath. She briefly looked away and chuffed at Wolf, who responded with a whine. The old wolf then stepped back and sat down.

Lowf felt like he could breathe again, then the old wolf lifted her head back and howled.

The rest of the pack joined in, and Wolf nudged him before she tilted her head back to howl too.

Lowf kneeled, cupped his hands to his mouth and joined in. His howls got lost in the more powerful howls of the wolves, yet he didn’t feel the need to stop. The howls blended together like a choir, those who needed to breathe fading out while the others carried on, before joining back in again.

Eventually the howls faded, and Lowf looked back at the wolves. They were all sniffing and licking each other, which all stopped as the old wolf stood up, and made her way back into the forest.

The rest of the pack began to follow, and Wolf paused, one paw off the ground and head tilted. She turned back to where Lowf was kneeling, darted over and up to lick his face before bounding into the trees.

Lowf let out a long breath, but given that he was still here, he assumed he’d passed this test the old wolf had been attempting. He tried to stand, but his legs nearly gave out from underneath him, knees trembling.

Oh.

He managed to reach the side of his hut, half stumbling, half crawling, and slumped against the wall. Seemed like he would be sleeping outside again. He could live with that.

He woke up again to Wolf clambering onto his chest at dawn, and he simply smiled warmly before going back to sleep.

 ---

Later that day, when Lowf had mostly recovered and Wolf was knocking the hoop between her hands across the floor, Lowf had to ask.

“Did I pass?”

“…Mostly,” Wolf responded. “Told her you did not know how to talk, so she was more…” Wolf growled as the word failed to come to her.

“Lenient? Forgiving?”

“…Understand…able?”

“Understanding.”

“Understanding,” Wolf nodded.

“Who is she, to you?”

“She is…” Wolf growled again. “You but girl.”

Lowf took a minute to work out what she meant.

“…She is your mother?”

“Aye.”

Lowf sat down heavily, stunned. “I met your mother?”

Wolf tilted her head, then scowled, growling. “Words!”

“Take your time,” the words were out automatically.

“She… found me. Did not…” words failed Wolf again and she growled in frustration.

“She did not give birth to you?”

“Birth?”

Lowf felt a sudden sense of dread. He was not prepared for this conversation! Especially when she didn’t have the vocabulary!

“Um, she is not your blood mother. You do not share blood. Like you and I do not share blood, but I look after you.”

Wolf nodded slowly, seeming to understand. “Aye. Not same blood, but looked after me.”

“Do you know who your blood mother is?”

Wolf shook her head. “Should I?”

“You do not have to. If you do not know, then it does not matter.”

Wolf nodded, accepting that answer.

“How long did she look after you?”

Wolf shrugged. “Long time. Always.”

“We have gone over numbers, can you work it out?”

Wolf frowned, and tapped her fingernails against the wood floor. “Wolves do not count. Just ‘one’ ‘few’ ‘many’.”

“But you can count. Do you remember?”

Wolf growled, trying to get the numbers to work and counting off her fingers. “…Four? Five? Do not know.”

“Four or five years?”

Wolf shrugged again, and went back to knocking the hoop back and forth.

Lowf at least recognised when a conversation was over, and managed to stand up, after that revelation. He was glad she didn’t tell him that last night, otherwise he would not have handled the pressure well. Caretaker to caretaker, how much was she judging him now?

His gaze went to Wolf, still batting the hoop across the floor. Hopefully, she thought he was doing a halfway good job.

---

I realise that Wolf's explanation of how wolves count is a little bit of a retcon, but it can explained away. Her full wolf name is 'The One Who Walks on Few Legs and Many Legs', which is a bit of a mouthful for human language. 'The One Who Walks on Two and Four' is easier and close enough.

Lowf passed the vibe check! I don't know if I ever actually explained why Wolf got left with Lowf. She was initially raised by wolves, but once they started to realise that she wasn't ageing at the same rate (she aged at a human rate) the wolves realised that she couldn't really stay. Wolf's mother selected Lowf on account of his closeness to the forest, and was moderately pleased that it hadn't been a terrible decision.