The kills were unloaded into the kitchen afterwards. Gon-rash wasted no time in getting several helpers to assist in the butchering. I made sure to guide the pups and their People out away from the center of the city beforehand. I certainly didn’t want to have the pups see or smell their mother being butchered.

As I guided my now much larger family away, the Elder held pace beside me.

“Ivor? A word, if I may?” he asked.

“Certainly. You guys go ahead, I’ll join you momentarily,” I called out to Elizabet, who nodded.

“You probably didn’t know this, but the Haarthuu once fought alongside Dire Wolves in territorial battles. They were once our strongest allies. Tales exist that have us riding them into battle. Since you have brought four pups into our city, that practice may yet begin again. We could certainly use the added defense to the city, at least. The kennels will need to be reopened, and new kennel masters trained. You have certainly created more work for our people, my friend!” he said with a laugh.

“Well, I hope it will be good work. It may well be possible to recruit more Dire Wolves, now. I’ve remembered a spell that allows me to speak with animals, and maybe I can use that to bring in more?” I asked, hopeful.

“More, eh? Well, if you can lure them in with the promise of food, I think it may work,” he replied, stroking his chin in thought.

“Mind you, I cannot pick and choose what creature I speak to. I can probably find a specific type of creature, but it would be rather draining to be constantly searching. You tell me when to start, and what to promise them, and I will go seeking,” I told the wizened man.

“Excellent. I will need some time to find a proper kennel master, however. I will call you once preparations are made,” he replied.

I nodded, and the Elder made his way back to the Great Hall. I hurried to catch up to my family, and found them just as they went into our homes. I walked in to see the boys as Elizabet went into our door, smiling impishly at me.

The boys had sat down in the sleeping pit, the wolf pups settling in beside them, with the exception of Fireheart. He had decided to make himself at home in the corner. Ahte-tan seemed a little put out by this development.

“Ahte-tan? Are you okay?” I asked the boy.

“I’m okay, Mr. Ivor. Fireheart doesn’t seem to want to join us, is all. I hope I’ve not done something to upset him,” he said, looking downcast.

I knelt in front of him, placing my hand on his shoulder. “Heart-of-fire was against this. He is proud, son. I think you’ll need to find a way to impress him. Give it time, and do what comes naturally to you. Speaks-with-honor is the eldest, and made the argument to stay here. If you can prove yourself to Fireheart, I am sure that he will follow you to the grave,” I said.

Ahte-tan nodded and looked over at the pup. In response, Fireheart curled up with a sigh and closed his eyes. I could see the determination in the young man’s eyes. He wouldn’t give up.

Talah-ma’at walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder. I rose, smiling at her. Wrapping her arms around me, she gave me a tight hug.

Holding me at arm’s distance, she said, “Welcome back, Ivor. I am proud of what you have done. Not only for our boys and Liss-ran, but for Haruma as a whole. You five brought back enough meat to get us through the worst of the winter, even accounting for these four pups. Elizabet has been worried sick for you. Perhaps you should go see her?”

I nodded and went through the adjoining door, finding Elizabet talking to Liss-ran at the table.

“...so then, the next thing any of us knew, a damn sanquit appeared on the other side of the clearing. We all tried to hit it, even Ivor, but they just move so damn fast. It ran at us, and everyone bolted for cover,” Liss-ran said animatedly.

“Except Ivor” they both said in unison, then fell into giggles.

“Hello, ladies. I just wanted to check in on the boys, make sure they were safe,” I said, setting down my Pack.

Elizabet turned to me, a broad smile on her face. She stood and came to me, wrapping me up in a bone-breaking hug. “I missed you,” she said breathlessly.

I kissed her soft lips. “I missed you too, love. You think Gon-rash and the others are done cooking?” I asked.

She draped her arms around my neck. “Probably.” Pulling me close, she murmured into my ear. “How about we work up an even bigger appetite, first?”

I felt my skin prickle and my face turn red. “You know, we still have a guest,” I murmured softly.

“That we do. Perhaps we should work up an appetite for dessert after we’ve eaten?” she asked softly, gently nipping at my ear.

I gripped her habit tightly, my breath catching in my chest. Liss-ran seemed to understand what was happening, and loudly got up from her chair at the table. “I think I’ll go and grab us some seats at the Great Hall. Don’t take too long, you two!” she said as she left, a smirk playing across her face.

After the door shut, Elizabet gave me an evil grin, and pulled me to the bed.

We were a little late to dinner.

***********

About an hour later, we arrived, hand-in-hand, at the Great Hall. Liss-ran had, indeed, saved us seats at her table. We found the rest of our found family sitting there, laughing and joking with each other. Blainaut, in particular, seemed to be happier than I’d ever seen him before.

“And there’s the genius himself! Tell me, my dear friend, just what do you plan to do with bite-grass, of all things?” he asked, a cup raised towards me.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Bite-grass? Ivor. Please tell me you don’t have bite-grass with you. That stuff is deadly,” Elizabet said.

“Well, I was planning on conducting some experiments. See if I could harness its apparently voracious hunger as a defense. I mean, my workshop is far from the rest of Haruma, and I’m in relatively little danger from the bit that I took. I figured I could learn how it feeds, how it propagates, and eventually whether or not I can train it to not attack certain people,” I said with a shrug.

The rest of the group just stared at me.

“He’s insane. He has to be.”

“He’s lived this long in spite of his recklessness. Should this be any different?”

“No, I suppose not.”

Elizabet spun me to look me in the eye. “Ivor, please tell me what you’re thinking. Please,” she said, concerned.

“Exactly what I said, sweetheart. I’m going to experiment. If I find no use for the stuff, I’ll destroy it,” I said, confused.

She sat down beside Liss-ran with a sigh. “I suppose I should be thankful you’ve not decided to try to tame a Dire Bear,” she said, shaking her head. She piled a platter high with various foodstuffs.

“Well, the thought had occurred to me, to be honest,” I said as I sat beside her.

“Naturally,” she said in a flat tone. She sighed and dredged a bit of meat through a thin sauce, stuffing it into her mouth.

“Look,” I said, irritation creeping into my voice. “I’m in a whole new world, compared to my old one. I want to know not only how it works, but why it works the way it does. That includes the plants and animals. I want to know how the web of life works here. What creature is on the top of the web, and where everything else sits in said web. Life here is so vastly different from what I’m used to. Different animals. Different plants. Hel, even the humans are different here,” I said.

“You know, you’ve not told us much about the humans on your world. What makes them so different?” Blainaut asked eagerly, echoed by the various other folks at our table.

“Well, for starters, my humans are much shorter than yours. Elizabet? Would you say that you are of average height for a woman?” I asked.

“What? No, I’m a little short, actually. Most women are half a head taller than me. Even Blainaut is short for most men,” she replied.

Blainaut nodded his assent. “She is right, Ivor. I nearly mistook you for a youth when we first met. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you were nearly a decade older than I!” he exclaimed.

“Yes. Amongst my humans, I’m right at average height. In my world’s units, I am five feet and nine inches tall. You, Elizabet, are a solid six feet. Blainaut is about six and a half feet. The tallest human on record from my world was just under nine feet tall. I would assume that men and women reaching that height aren’t unheard-of here?” I asked.

Blainaut screwed up his face in concentration. “About half again as tall as Elizabet, right?” I nodded. “No, not unheard-of, but definitely rare. Most men, if I understand your measurements correctly, will be around seven of your feet tall. Women are maybe six foot four? An odd way of measuring, with one’s feet,” he said, somewhat confused.

I laughed softly. “It’s an ancient method of measurement, and I don’t remember what I was told about it when I was a child. It’s incredibly confusing, as none of it is logical. There’s another one that is logical, and follows a base ten progression. My country never really adopted it, so it never became common to see or use. The vast majority of my world uses it, however.

“But I digress,” I said, copying Elizabet and dredging a slice of meat in the same sauce she had, finding it to be rather tasty. “My humans are, at times, barely civilized towards one another. We discriminate against each other based on the silliest of reasons. We will rob and steal from each other just because we think we can get away with it. Hel, we will cause permanent and significant damage to each other just because we don’t like the way someone looks at us. Not all of us, mind you. Some of us, yes. We put a thin veneer of civility on top of our grotesque anger and hate, sometimes. There are long stretches of time where I’m glad I’ll never find my way back. If I wanted to, I could live under the notice of most people here, and not have to worry about much, if I so chose,” I said quietly.

“But that’s the bad stuff about your humans, Ivor. Surely they can’t be all bad,” Liss-ran said as she leaned back against Blainaut, who casually draped an arm around her.

I smiled at the sight. They made a cute couple, even if they were only friends. “You’re right. We do amazing things. Not only for each other, but for our planet. There are stories and records of humans taking wounded creatures to specialized doctors to help them, and then releasing them back into the wild. There’s records of people who do nothing but scour the beaches every day, looking for animals that have been tangled up in our trash. Our nets and fishing lines, mostly. They capture them, untangle them and release them. There are records of people who clean up nature, just because we, as a species, have decided to trash it by leaving our garbage in the wrong places.

“We will help each other more often than we hurt each other because it feels good to do so. I’ve watched people move a machine off another person who was trapped underneath it. For no reward other than it was simply the right thing to do. We have people whose job consists entirely of putting out fires and rescuing people from them. We have others who have pledged themselves to keeping the peace. Much like the City Watch in Nogogard, however, there are more than a few who are corrupt and use it to further their own twisted agendas.

“My humans are a rather varied group,” I said in conclusion.

Blainaut sat there for a moment, idly caressing Liss-ran’s arm. “It sounds to me, besides the height and weight differences, that humans are just humans. Fairly similar no matter where we are. Are all humans as inquisitive and curious and reckless as you are?” he asked with a smile.

“Curious and inquisitive? Absolutely. Especially as children. As they age, it is often discouraged by some of the more, shall we say, misguided adults. Not as many are as reckless as I have been, though. Not and live, anyway,” I said with a laugh.

Elizabet swatted my arm. “You’d do well to watch yourself, Mister. I’m not going to go through the rest of my life without you just because you did something stupid again,” she said in irritation.

The rest of the table laughed at us. My reputation for doing the dumbest things seemed to be spreading. I’d have to work harder on that.

The rest of the evening went by smoothly. We ate, laughing and talking with each other until well into the wee hours of the morning. We slowly said our excuses and made our way to our respective homes. I watched with mixed feelings as Liss-ran and Blainaut walked away together.

“How long have the two of them been close like that, I wonder?” I mused aloud.

“Since we had breakfast together that first time. I think they missed each other quite a bit while you were gone,” Elizabet answered, her chin in her hand, elbow resting on the smooth stone table.

“It looks like it. They’re kind of cute together, I think,” I said as I wrapped my arms around Elizabet’s midsection.

She leaned into me contentedly and yawned. “I think that it’s time you and I got home. I’m not done with you, Sir. Not by a long shot,” she murmured softly as she nuzzled my neck.

I shivered. “As my Lady love commands. Let us be off,” I replied, planting a kiss on her exquisitely soft lips.

Our night lasted well into the morning.