The full moon was coming up.  Lycans were not subject to its whims as humans supposed, but it was not without its pull, either.  The draw to shift into a wolf and sing to the Eye of the Night was strong, and stronger still if a lycan had gone a while without shifting.  Many of the town lycans did not have homes at the edge of the forest like the Hemming family did.  For many of them, the full moon was the only time they shifted.  They would run together in the woods as if they were a pack, and sing to the moon.

Calista’s grandmother had anticipated shifting could be a problem for lycans living among humans, so she included the rights for those living in town to run unmolested through the woods during the full moon.  They could run in the forest within town borders whenever they wanted, but there wasn’t enough for them all to run as a pack without being noticed by humans, so it was important they have free reign during the full moon.  Lycans could not go indefinitely without shifting to their wolf form.  It had side effects, and could be quite dangerous.  It was more so for those hiding amongst humans, as one of the side effects was involuntary shifting, which would reveal their true nature to any witnesses.

Despite the rising tensions between the two lycan factions, this was one privilege the pack left completely alone.  They recognized the danger to themselves if a lycan living in town was revealed to a human because they’d been forced to go too long without shifting.  In fact, the pack was likely to bear the brunt of the trouble from such an incident.  So this was one time when they kept to the agreement to the letter.

Fridolf and Bardoul were still home, and Calista was glad for it.  They had extended their stay until the full moon.  The morning after, they would have to set out again to handle Hemming Shipping.  They were being extra diligent with the business now that their debts were fully paid off and a new fleet of ships had been purchased with the profits.

Fridolf was incredibly proud of the Hemming mercantile fleet, now confident he could retire in the next decade and leave Bardoul in charge.  He was working very hard to get the business fully set up so that Bardoul could manage it alone.  The senior lycan readily admitted that Bardoul’s task as head of the business would be much more challenging than it was for him, when the business was smaller.

Bardoul charitably insisted that, in fact, it would be less challenging because the business would be already established and the hard work of getting it running and managing it to be profitable was already done.  He only needed to not mismanage what his father had built!

Currently, they were in the midst of their first big risk with the business.  Buying the fleet had taken much of the business’s funds, but it wasn’t useful if the ships were empty.  The pair of merchants had bargained with various businesses in town and in the big, neighboring port city where the ships were based, to pre-purchase goods to be delivered to them.  The ships were currently sailing to several distant ports where Fridolf had supplier contacts.  They were due back in a couple months, after winter was underway, and would be bearing many goods that were difficult to get locally in the cold months.  The receiving shopkeepers were eager to see profit from their purchases, which were likely to be very popular with wintertime shoppers.

As night began to fall, a restlessness fell upon the lycans in town.  Bardoul found Calista preparing her bag for the night.

“Hello, little sister.  Are you ready?”

“Um, sure.  Where’s Papa?” Calista asked.

“He’s already walking Orfilia into the woods.”

“Ulva is with her fiance tonight.”

“Yes,” Bardoul confirmed, nodding.  He held out his arm, and after a moment’s hesitation, Calista accepted, threading her hand over his elbow.

“I’m not going to linger with you for long,” she said.

Bardoul chuckled and shrugged.

“Are you worried about Gunnolf, Rannulf and Channing?” she asked.

“Are you?” he questioned, amber gaze penetrating.

“No,” she told the redhead with confidence.  “The pack has been well-behaved on moon nights.  I don’t think they’ll risk changing that.”

“Hmm.” Bardoul didn’t look convinced.  He shrugged and patted her hand on his arm.

“Well, I’ll listen for you in case you need to call for help.”

Calista gave her big brother a genuine smile.  She was closer to Harou, since they were closer in age, but Bardoul had always been a good big brother to all of them.  When their mother died, he’d stepped up to help their father cope.  Sometimes, he acted more fatherly than brotherly, but Calista supposed that was only natural.  She greatly respected how hard he worked to make sure they could live comfortably among the humans.  Calista suspected that Bardoul understood humans better than any other lycan in the area.  She couldn’t imagine he could be such an effective merchant if he didn’t understand what humans wanted and how they thought and what they valued.  A sharp business sense could only carry one so far if they didn’t understand their customers.

It wasn’t long before they were deep enough in the woods that it was safe to shift.  They paused to remove their clothes and pack them in the bags they’d brought with them.  They tucked the bags in hollow trees, similar to the ones by the clearing where she practiced fighting with Harou.

The two shifted into their wolf forms.  Bardoul’s wolf was mostly red, with a white chest and stomach, similar to Harou’s, but Bardoul’s wolf also had large streaks of brown on his sides, and brown markings on his face and down his spine, and the tip of his tail.

Tails wagging, the two wolves licked each other’s faces before going searching for other lycans preparing for the moon.

«Did Papa tell you where he was starting with Orfilia?» Calista asked.

«No, but most of the town lycans end up by the river anyway, because you can get a clear view of the moon from there.»

«I don’t really like being around so many others at once.  I always get bombarded with questions and having to dispense medical advice.  I just want to enjoy the moon,» the gray and white lycan lamented.  Bardoul chuffed at her, amused.

«Just come to the river long enough to say hello, then you can run.  No one would blame you for wanting to run under the moon.  Many others will do that too.»

«Alright.  You win.  I’ll at least be polite.  It is the human thing to do, and we must practice even when we’re wolves,» she said, rolling her eyes.  Bardoul’s tongue lolled out of his mouth and he chuffed more, laughing as only a wolf can.

«I’m pretty sure being social with other lycans is about the most lycan thing you can do,» he retorted, his amusement very obvious.  Calista stuck her tongue out at him and dashed ahead towards the river.

Bardoul kept pace with her and continued to tease her until they reached the river.  Roughly half the lycans from town were present.  Calista offered stiff greetings and tried to excuse herself from any given interaction before they could ask her for advice.  She was not in the mood to act as the lycan healer tonight.  She just wanted to enjoy the night for once.  If they really felt they needed medical advice, they could visit her during daylight hours like normal.

She saw Ulva and her future mate snuggled up on a riverbank that overhang the river and had a very good view of the sky.  The brown and red wolf looked perfectly matched with the brown, gray and white male at her side.  She left them alone, and went to greet her father and Orfilia.  Fridolf’s brown and red wolf looked understated, and the gray on his muzzle was not as natural as Calista’s gray fur.  Orfilia, on the other hand, looked luminous in the rising moonlight, with her deep red and bright white fur.  Calista hoped for her sister’s sake that she attracted a lot of attention tonight.  Calista was sure the best thing she could do to help her sister stand out was to make herself scarce.

As soon as she could escape without being rude, she did so.  She ran, relishing the feel of frost-covered leaf litter and roots beneath her paw pads, the cool autumn air rushing past her ears, and the scent of damp, rot, evergreens, and forest animals.