“I’ll go now, Mom!” Raoul shouted as he burst through the wooden door, not even looking back once.

“Don’t run, Raoul!” his mother yelled after, though, of course, she had no power over him now that all the dough had been kneaded. “You will trip!”

“I’ll be fine!” With his palms still covered in flour, he passed through the buildings and the villagers, giving each one a brief wave and a short answer whenever they called out to him.

“You going there again, Raoul?”

“Yes, Uncle Wistin!”

“Boy, slow down a bit!”

“I’m in a hurry, Aunt Fleri!”

“Let’s play, Raoul!”

“I can’t now, Alec!”

Eventually, the boy reached the village gate and stopped, Andre and Jake standing guard while looking like they would fall asleep at any moment. The teenagers noticed Raoul.

“Again, you little rascal?” Andre said as he stopped leaning against the stockade, yawning and stretching. “You know the rules. Come back before the third bell.”

Jake gave the boy a nod before nodding off.

“I understand. See you later, Andre, Jake!” Raoul dashed through the gate into the forest. He had to hurry since there were less than three hours left before the third bell, and where the boy was going, the sound of the bell couldn’t reach. He had to keep track of time through the sun, which he rarely did.

If he came back after the third bell, his parents wouldn’t allow him to go out the next time there was a dough-kneading session, and he thought that had to be illegal, though he always refrained from reporting the crime to the village chief each time.

There was a clear path in the forest at first, but as Raoul got deeper and deeper, the path slowly began to fade, only faint trails left by his footprints from his previous ventures remaining. The adults were concerned for his safety, of course, but after the tenth time or so that nothing happened, they reluctantly allowed him to continue his adventure. And though there were beasts residing in the forest, none dared to tread the path Raoul was taking.

Raoul finally reached the hideout, a deep cave at the bottom of a high cliff. The darkness in the cave seemed to permeate into the air outside, and Raoul noticed two pairs of glowing blue eyes amidst that darkness.

Two azure wolves strode out of the cave, one gigantic beyond what should be possible, her fur almost grazing the cave walls. The other one was the size of a Great Wolf, though compared to his mother, he seemed like a normal young wolf.

“Al, Agnes!” Raoul rushed forward and sank his body into the young wolf’s fur, rubbing his face in the fluff with glee. “I missed you two!”

“It’s only been three days, Raoul,” Alwig said, nudging the boy with his snout.

“That’s three more days than it should have been,” the boy said.

Then, his feet were suddenly off the ground, Agnes lightly biting onto his tunic’s collar and holding him in the air. The mother wolf walked a few steps away from the cave before putting Raoul down. “Child,” she said, her voice both soft and strict, “I said this many times before. You need to act with grace. Now then, let us try this again.”

Agnes strode back to Alwig before nodding toward Raoul.

The boy sighed before he awkwardly bowed and said, “Greetings. Have you two been well?”

The wolves did their own bows by going down on one hindleg and one foreleg, replying, “We have, son of man, and we hope the same goes for you.”

“Is that good enough?” Raoul said, still in bowing position.

Agnes nodded, and the boy darted forward instantly, jumping into Alwig’s fur once more. “Why do we even need those greetings?” he said, gripping masses of fur in his hands and releasing, feeling the fur expand in his palms. “We already know each other.”

“Sincere etiquette shows good character,” Agnes replied, sitting down to watch the boy and the young wolf frolic with each other, the young wolf always catching up to the boy to cuddle with him. “And composure shows that you are in control.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Raoul climbed up Alwig’s back, his head barely above the sea of fur. “And greeting will give you those?” the boy asked, genuinely curious.

“It accustoms you to them,” the mother wolf said, her deep blue eyes mysterious.

“I don’t really get it…” Raoul looked down at his wolf friend. “Do you, Al?”

“Not really.” The young wolf shrugged. He couldn’t make the gesture like humans did, of course, but he imitated the motion of one by mimicking what Raoul had shown him.

Agnes smiled like a human, something Alwig couldn’t do yet. “You both will understand soon enough, my children.”

Raoul and Alwig continued to play, chatting about the three days they hadn’t seen each other, the boy telling the wolf how the children at the village couldn’t keep up with him physically anymore, the wolf telling the boy how animals in the forest no longer were a challenge to him. Despite the wolf having far superior physical prowess than the boy, they agreed that being together and playing was the most fun time for them.

Afterwards, they competed together in hunting animals in an area opposite the village’s direction. Agnes had left her scent all over the path between the cave and the village to ensure no beasts would harm Raoul while he traveled back and forth.

The boy mostly hunted rabbits, using an old bow and dull arrows. The young wolf hunted deer, elk, and foxes. And at the end of their one-hour hunt, they tallied their catch.

“I won!” Raoul pumped a fist into the air. “Did you see that, Agnes?”

“I did indeed.” The mother wolf nodded, crossing her paws. “Good work, my child.”

“But Mother,” Alwig protested, “I hunted way larger animals than Raoul, so can we say that this is… a tie?”

Agnes glanced at her son with warm eyes. “Alwig,” she said. “Remember, you need to always act with dignity. You have agreed to the rules beforehand; you also need to be able to accept the outcome as well.”

The young wolf looked down. “I know… but this is the first time I lost…”

“Remember, my child, Raoul is a human. There would be no need to compete if you assumed leveled standing grounds.” Agnes stood and strode toward Alwig, nudging him with her head. “But the world doesn’t necessarily run on equality but instead on equity.”

“I don’t get it, Mother…”

“You will one day, my child,” Agnes said before she turned to Raoul. “Besides that, isn’t it about time you head back, my child?”

Raoul’s smile froze, and he craned his head up to see the sun hidden behind the trees. He almost screamed. “I’ll get going now, Al, Agnes!” he shouted while picking up his sack of dead rabbits before running, looking back once at them with a smile. “I’ll beat you again next time as well, Al!”

“I’ll be waiting!” The young wolf tried to smile like a human, only to fail miserably.

“Slow down a little, child—” Agnes said, though Raoul was already too far away to hear the rest of her words.

On the way back, Raoul couldn’t help but smile and giggle to himself. This was the first time he won against Alwig. He had been waiting for this day for years. Agnes told the boy that Alwig had an early growth sprout, and Raoul would soon catch up, and this might be the start of that.

Soon after, the village stockade came into view, Andre and Jake about to leave and change shifts. Raoul lunged through the entrance when the bell sounded right after. The boy smiled, turning around to the teenagers. “I made it in time! You saw, right?”

The teenage guards looked at each other for a second before they sighed and giggled. “I suppose,” Andre said, shrugging. “I’ll tell your mom and dad that you kept your promise, Raoul.”

“That aside, I thought you were a beast or something, seeing how fast you were going,” Jake mused, leaning against the stockade.

Raoul gave them another bright smile. “I am just built different,” he said before turning toward his house and waving at the teenagers. “I’ll get going now! See you, Andre, Jake!”

On his way back, the boy saw adults ushering their children to their homes. They believed the evil spirits would taint the children’s souls if they were outside after the third bell. He didn’t believe such a thing but also didn’t want to upset the villagers, so he tried his best to return on time. And judging from his mother’s and father’s reactions to him being occasionally late, they also didn’t mind the superstition much.

His house and his mother came into view, the baker crossing her arms with a stern look.

Raoul froze and almost toppled over, but he got a foothold and sauntered toward his mother as if dealing with a rabid beast.

“Haven’t I told you,” she rasped, tapping her arm with one finger, “that you need to get back before the third bell?”

“I-I did!” Raoul said, acting indignant. “You can ask Andre and Jake! I returned before the bell—“

A fist lightly landed dead center of his scalp. “Seconds before the bell rings, you mean,” his father said. “There’s a limit to how close you should be, Raoul.”

The boy rubbed his head, pouting. “That’s still before the bell—“

“Raoul?” his mother said, her voice deep.

Raoul’s mother, with her walnut hair and verdant eyes, was a beautiful woman; even the villagers agreed. They always joked with his father about how such an average-looking farmer was able to hit it off with his mother.

They had not seen her when she was angry.

Raoul’s first instinct in front of such a presence was to go to Uncle Wistin, for his mother would return to normal in an instant had there been a villager in the scene, but even he knew that that would only prolong the inevitable. Raoul finally resigned himself and said, “I’m sorry… I was too distracted…”

There was a moment of silence before his mother sighed. She came over, knelt, and looked him in the eye, a faint smile on her face. “Just don’t make me worry like this next time, alright? I don’t know how far you went into the forest, and there could be beasts there in the deeper parts. Who knows what could have happened?”

Raoul nodded, looking down. He was sure his mother would also include Alwig and Agnes in those ‘beasts’, so he had to keep quiet. “I’ll be careful, Mom…”

There was another moment of silence before his father slapped him on the back. “Now, now,” he said, “Let’s get rid of this gloomy atmosphere and see how many you’ve caught today, why don’t we?”

Raoul brightened up instantly. “I caught a lot today, Dad!” he said, rushing into his house. “Come look!”

His parents smiled and entered, the three of them celebrating Raoul’s new hunting record well into the night.