Rosalea finished sewing a fresh shirt for herself. She embroidered a wolf running on one edge and a Bear on the other, which made her sniffle now and then. It caused both Amalia and Miri to cuddle up to her throughout the whole process, and Rosalea was really grateful to have them.

I need to tell them about Rhainnon… and Ulric, she told herself. As soon as she thought about saying the words, her chest tightened. She knew in the deepest parts of herself that if she was without the company of these wolves, she would break inside. Fen’s loss was like a big chasm of darkness, despair that wanted to swallow her up, and Amalia’s attention and Miri’s playfulness kept her from slipping off the edge into it.

So, to show gratitude for at least Miri, she cut the scraps of the green fabric into strips and braided them together, making a more proper tug-toy for them to play with. Miri at first was really skeptical about it, until she found that Rosalea could hang onto it much better than the stick.

They were engaged in just such a game, Rosalea gripping tightly with her improvised mittens, and Miri pulling her about pretty well, when Raisa returned, trailing a wolf Rosalea did not recognize.

To her surprise, Bazil, who had been snoozing on her old bed, was suddenly on his feet with a literal roar, separating Rosalea and Miri from the newcomer. His back arched with all hackles. “Raisa, what is the meaning of this?” in that weird language again.

The wolf that came up behind Raisa was gray. It was a common color for them, but somehow none of this pack was gray, Rosalea realized. “Relax, boy,” he said back in the same language.

He was big, whoever he was, bigger than Nekana.

Mere creaked to life, “Hello, Connall. This is highly unusual.”

“I realize we may not be on friendly terms, but it is something I… we, wish to change, yes Raisa?”

Raisa did not say anything to affirm or deny it directly.

“Mother is not here,” Bazil snarled. “Neither is Amalia. So you should not be here. Raisa, take him and go.”

“Relax,” he said again, tilting his head pointedly to look past Bazil at Rosalea. Rosalea stepped forward as Miri tucked her tail and crouched down. “So it is true, you are harboring a human; a lianaless Uryan.”

“Rosalea is none of your business.” Bazil stalked forward. “Get out, now!”

“What is all this?” Nekana’s voice came from the trees. Nakai trotted alongside her with a hint of smugness in his expression that rather suggested he had tattled on his sister. “Conall, how dare you enter my den? I seem to recall you have your own.”

Even through whatever language this is that I somehow understand, that feels like a lot of bitterness, Rosalea thought as she watched the hair rising subtly along Nekana’s back.

“I was invited, by your pretty daughter.”

Nekana looked at Raisa who looked away, and Nekana looked back at him. “Stay away from her also.”

“I think it is her choice. Nekana, you’ve been keeping secrets. I know you’re the Moryshin’s favorite and all, but really? That thing?”

“I answer to Gods and the Moryshin, not to you or your pack,” Nekana answered, coming forward alongside Bazil, who still looked ready to attack.

He raised his head. “The Gods’ will should be shared, don’t you think? Unless you have other secret messages or missions or information I should know?”

Nekana breathed out, “Actually, yes. Why don’t you call a meeting, Connall? But not here. I uninvite you. We will meet at the territory boundaries previously agreed upon. I would strongly urge you to stay on your side.”

“Mother,” Raisa started, but the look Nekana gave was so icy cold that she stopped right away. Rosalea watched Connall’s lip curl just slightly, I know that look. He would love a chance to fight Nekana. He reminded her of Nashota, and she disliked him thoroughly instantly.

“Please escort the intruder out,” Nekana said imperiously as she stood very straight and tall on her toes, “And then stay with him or come back here, I will let you decide.”

Raisa winced. Connall spoke smoothly, “Please, I do not want to be a source of familial strife. Raisa, my dear, please escort me to the boundary. I will howl when we are ready to meet.”

“See that you do,” Nekana said with the most frosty tone Rosalea had ever heard.

Everyone stood still as Raisa and Connall walked back the way he had come. I wonder if I would have had a fight if there had been fewer wolves here, she saw Bazil was still all hackles up still.

Nakai stood on the other side of Rosalea, and in the language she could understand without it feeling odd, “Are we really going to meet with him?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Yes. Can you go find Amalia?”

“Yes, she was hunting, but I will get her.”

Nekana turned and looked at Rosalea. “Well, the secret is out, I suppose. Rosalea, take a moment and go through the motions of focusing on your magic. Tell me what you feel.”

Rosalea blinked. “I have tried many times, but I feel nothing. I cannot focus through it; it feels like nothing is there now that…” But as she tried to vocalize Fen being gone, her voice became thick and she knew she might cry.

“I see.” She hesitated. “We are going to meet with Connall in a few moments, and I shall be bringing you along. Please do not volunteer more information than you have to. I am sure much of the meeting will be hard for you to follow since we speak the language of Gods to each other more often than the language of man.”

Rosalea nodded, and wondered if she should confess she understood everything just fine, but Bazil spoke. “What happens if they try to make us take her to the Moryshin?”

“Then we do that, but I do not think that they will.”

“Why? What could possibly persuade them not to demand that?”

“Nothing. Setsy the Badger was killed near the town; he was apparently trying to kill hunters.”

There was a stillness, and several ears folded back. “But we’re so strong, all of us mystics…” Nakai protested. “Surely it would take a hundred arrows or something to kill a badger.”

“I do not know. I think I heard something about a trap or something as they were leaving the Moryshin today.”

“Won’t the humans be emboldened by this?”

“Yes,” Rosalea cut into the conversation, answering Nakai’s question. Everyone turned to look at her. Rosalea felt her face flush. She cleared her throat, “They thought all of you to be supernatural. They called you demons and forest gods in the town. But now they will believe you are little more than animals with magic that can bleed and die just the same as any other living creature. They have seen proof of it now.”

Nekana tilted her head, and there was something in her expression that made Rosalea wonder what she was feeling. “I see. So what shall we see happen next, do you think?”

Rosalea breathed out slowly. “I did not spend too much time in the town, but it was impoverished. The people there are desperate. Desperate people are easy to control. Promise them the essentials, and they will do almost anything for you to feel more secure. So that means one of two things will likely happen.” She held up one finger, “They will start to try to take whatever they need from the forest in a disorganized fashion, assuming that they can potentially kill any mystic that tries to engage them. Or,” she held up her second finger, “the worst could happen. They could have an organized leader who will do things to bait more mystics into traps so they can take what they need from the forest.”

Miri tilted her head, “Is that how you think, as a human?”

Rosalea was not sure quite what that meant, so she tried to answer broadly. “I studied politics while I lived with the Ieshans, including economics. I have never been desperate enough to kill or steal before.”

Nekana tilted her head, giving Rosalea a speculative look. “What would you suspect is likely next? Leaderless chaos or an organized hunt?”

Rosalea met Nekana’s eyes. “It is a dragon town. There will be a strong leader. If not someone the dragon installs in that role, then the dragon itself. If they murdered that mystic with a trap, then it was a plan they made and carried out.”

“I cannot tell you how much the idea of a dragon helping humans to set lethal traps for us chills me. What would you do to stop it?” Nekana asked.

Rosalea folded her arms and thought about it for a moment. “Give them what they need. If you are benevolent, it will not be easy to continue to talk the people into attacking. Especially if the one who died can be portrayed as an exception for attacking the hunters.”

Bazil shook his head. “That cannot happen. They already cause a lot of harm with that building that dumps molten stone and smoke into the forest. No one wants them here. We can never talk people into kindness toward them.”

Rosalea did not like what she had to say next, “Then you will have to attack them as a group and drive them out or kill them. Otherwise, they will start trying to kill whatever mystics they can because they want to survive and thrive.” It feels dirty to come to the same conclusion about those people as most Ieshans think about most Uryans.

“We cannot,” Nekana said. “The Moryshin made an oath that no mystic would enter the town. He spoke against that today.” She tilted her head. “So, our unexpected font of human wisdom, what’s the next best course of action to minimize loss?”

Rosalea was silent again mulling it over. She felt like her words had a lot of weight here, that they would be doing whatever she suggested. She took a deep breath in, feeling a little like she was choosing between the mystics and her own kind. In the end, the mystics had been kind to her and had the same morals and values she had; the people in the town had gotten her attacked by a dragon and killed Fen. “Lean into what the fallen badger mystic was doing. You must siege them out of the town if you cannot attack it. You cannot let them get supplies from the forest; you cannot let supplies come into them from the road. Though I do not know how the strength of a mystic will measure against the strength of a dragon, and if they bring in skilled plant mages, they will be able to supply themselves with whatever they need. So, the second part of that is trying to see if we can find a spy - someone who can warn us about traps that get set and tell us about what is happening in the town.”

“We might get some agreement to that,” Amalia said as she came back with Nakai. “But, I only heard half of what is going on, and it sounds risky.”

Bazil huffed. “At least there are too few of them in the town to be afraid of a proper war with them.”

“We’re really meeting with Connall? We haven’t done that since…” Amalia looked at Rosalea and stopped.

“I know. But, they should know the threat. If we count Rosalea’s liana, they’ve killed two mystics already. It is time to be more cautious.” Nekana watched Rosalea bow her head, and she would move forward to comfort her.

“I am willing to try and spy,” Rosalea said softly.

“It is much too dangerous with that dragon actively looking for you.”

Amalia came alongside Rosalea as well, pressing her between the two of them, fluff pressing to Rosalea’s upper half from all sides as a result. “Not allowed for my little darling,” she reiterated.

Rosalea breathed out and felt sheltered and that made her flustered. “I am still plenty old and capable of handling myself, even if you are a hundred times older than me.”

Nekana chuckled and stepped aside to give Rosalea space. “No one doubts it, but I think you need more time to become emotionally balanced before we send you into the middle of things.”

Rosalea did not know if she really resented how much she was being coddled or if she appreciated it. It felt awkward; no one before now had been willing to coddle her in the slightest. At the same time, it felt a little… warming, somewhere, in the pit of her chest.

There was a lot of tense silence. Bazil and Nakai sat near each other; Mere laid back down. Miri clung to her mother.

Rosalea took a deep breath in and did her best to calm herself. “So, what has Connall done to this pack?”

There was silence. Mere answered, “The short answer is that he colluded with the last dragon.”

The distant howl interrupted whatever Mere had been about to say, if it was anything. After all, she had been pretty terse so far.

The ancient wolf creaked down from the top of Rosalea’s house. “Well, let’s all stick together and be on the lookout for a trick, yes?”

Rosalea found the amount of agreement disturbing among the wolves. How bad is this meeting going to be? Scarier than Nashota? Despite all her insistence, she was grown up and tough, she felt worried.