Lindvald yawned as he walked through Firthdyr. Stretching his legs and back, the memories of a couple of days ago came back to mind. Temur asks him about what spiritual animals are and how it was to travel different lands, while Yegu's wife being silent and afraid of his presence at first, which quickly subsided as she spent more time knowing him. Even after a few days some of the villagers seemed still to be a little wary of the grey wolf. As he sneaked around the village again in the early hours and reached the edge of the training grounds, it seemed half the village was practicing archery just like every morning. When Temur spotted him on the usual spot, he waved at him followed by his father bowing in his direction as it became their separate morning greeting routine. Lindvald usually stayed at the side lines observing the slight improvements of everyone's archery skills. He started to take notes of each individual's strengths and flaws in his mind. As the morning fog dissipated, the rest of the villagers rose up for their own daily routines. To not disturb them for the rest of the day, the grey wolf searched a spot behind one of the villagers' homes and went back to sleep. Unbeknownst to the villagers though, it is the best option and method for Lindvald to observe them, as they believe that the wolf was just napping while Lindvald's shadow spied on them in his favorite form, a bird. The last four days, Lindvald memorized some of the villagers' names and their tasks. The first man that he interacted with during the Ydis' missing incident was Yardai, the hunter expert of the village. He was responsible for the traps, tracking and archery teaching and training plus organizing the shifts of the day and night watchers as well as the safety around the village vicinity. Yardai was very close to the most talented craftsman of the village, Udutai. Every villager had some sort of skill for crafting or sewing but if it was about something very particular or needed a delicate touch, he and his wife Sanga were the persons to talk to as Sanga was the best sewer and leather maker of Firthdyr.

Ydis' mother, Cotola was the apprentice to the village's healer, Grandma Brigit. She spends most of the time attending to Grandma as well as taking care of their herbs storage. For the majority, the villagers shared all the work between them, like skinning and preparing the deer or cleaning the fresh caught fishes while the youths dried or tanned the deer pelt for cloths production later or made candles out of the fish oils. As Lindvald observed the village worked like a well oiled machine where everyone knew exactly when and what to do. There seemed to be only one thing that was out of control in this well organized place.

"I found you again! Lindvald."

The children or rather this kid. Lindvald was sure that Ydis was the only force of chaos in the small town. Despite the grey wolf changing his napping place everyday, Ydis always finds him. Lindvald looked at the small child who was trying to catch his waggling tail. He exhaled.

"Why are you here again, little Ydis. Didn't your mother get really angry at you last time?"

"You promised that we would play together but we have yet to do that."

"Ah, we do every time. It is called hide and seek. I hide and you find me. But the more important question, did you do your homework?"

"Lindvald. You can't fool me, you know exactly what I want to play. Also who needs to know how to write and read."

Ydis crossed his arms as he was pouting over the wolf's unwillingness to play with him and as he was looking at the ground, a handful of snow was thrown at him half hitting his face. Looking up, he saw the wolf hopping around.

"Let's make a promise, whiner. If you manage to hit me with a ball of snow, I will play with you."

The giant wolf trotted up and down casually as he was teasing the child. Ydis' face suddenly became stern, quickly kneeling down, picked up a handful of snow shaping it into a ball and threw it with all his strength at the hopping wolf. Lindvald just stood still as the snowball fell apart in mid air and transformed into a cone of snowflakes. Ydis looked sad at his failed attempt when he heard,

"Look at that little wanna-be hunter as he doesn't have enough strength to press snow into a ball. I guess someone needs to practice throwing snowballs if they want me to play with them."

Lindvald was hopping in place with a vividly wagging tail.

"Just you wait! You better watch out for your lively snout."

"Ohhh! Is that so."

One hour later, Ydis was still throwing snowballs left and right.

"How can you be so fast with that much meat on you?"

"Hahaha, it's because I have strong meat on me which gives me agility. You get there if you grow up a bit more, but until then someone needs to go home and do their homework as punishment for not getting a single hit."

"What?! That wasn't part of the promise! You meanie!"

"What do you expect to only get a reward when you win but no punishment when you fail? That isn't how the world works little Ydis. See it as motivation, I will give you an hour everyday to try hitting me, if you fail you need to do your homework."

"Hrgg! Still very cheaty of you!"

"Not cheaty, but clever. Hehehe. Hop on, let me take you home."

Lindvald laid down so that Ydis could climb on his back and as Lindvald walked around the houses, he sensed someone's gaze on him. He figured that the one person on the watch must have observed them but since he was focusing on playing with the child, he didn't notice until now. His fur suddenly stood up when Lindvald saw another angry looking person in front of a familiar door. Cotola was standing with crossed arms and her eyes were piercing through Lindvald.

"I'm sorry Miss Cotola. Ydis just ran to me again."

Lindvald lowered himself in front of the frightening looking woman as he let Ydis down.

"Ydis, let's go inside."

She grabbed her son by the arm and slapped the door in front of the wolf's nose with a loud bang.

"Oh wow, maybe I should let Cotola fight the bears if she can look that frightening towards the great spiritual wolf Lindvald."

"If that's the case, maybe she should replace you vice-chief Yegu, too."

"Hahaha. That is also a possibility. Sorry that I just saw everything, but I was just about to fetch you for dinner."

"Then let's go."

"Can I add something to this?"

"And what would that be?"

"I never expected to see a giant wolf play with children. We are getting used to your presence but most of them think you are just an intelligent animal rather than an actual person. It would be easier to get along with them if you change to your human form as you have told us you are able to do."

"Hm, that might be very true, but I have my reasons for staying in this form. And let me tell you it hasn't anything to do with me avoiding the winter cold. But as I see it, we better hurry back before your wife also gets angry at us. One thing that I learned here, the women are the ones holding the true power."

"Hehehe. I can see what you mean. But also you are right, better not be late for dinner."

"Thank you for the meal, Miss Alaqa. Like every time, it was very delicious."

"You know, I was at first very surprised that your speech and manners were so gentle and charming. And since I know that you are actually a person who can change into an animal, I might just ditch my dense husband for you."

"Snowflake, I'm right here. Please don't say that, even our son heard you."

"That was a hint to learn one or two things from Lindvald about enchanting me with words, my dear dense Teddy Bear."

"Ah, please don't embarrass me in front of our guest and son by calling me by our pet names."

"Well, who started it? Whatever, let me put the dishes away and bring out our home brewed berry tea."

Lindvald whispered.

"I guess, I was absolutely right earlier that the women are the ones in charge. You better think of a second job, vice-chief."

"You... better look out in the future when you have your own wife."

"What? You all now have secrets. Don't influence Lindvald in a bad way, he is such a sweetheart."

"Snowflake, what about the rest of us?"

"Temur is also an absolutely sweetheart in looks and personality, contrary to your father who only has a pretty face but his tongue is lacking a bit of magic words."

Temur was perplexed.

"Magic words? Mother, I think that doesn't exist."

"Hehehe, Temur. Your father understood, right~?"

Temur looked over to his father who's face suddenly became a red bean. Yegu stood up and side hugged Alaqa, while enchanting her with,

"My wife is more beautiful than all the shimmering colors reflected by the falling snowflakes in the morning."

He kissed her on the cheek and quickly grabbed one of the tea mugs and walked towards the door.

"I have the night watch tonight, so I have to leave now. Enjoy the evening, Lindvald, son."

Yegu grabbed his jacket and ran away with his bright red ear.

"Hehehe, he still knows how to do it."  

Lindvald looked at Temur who was just frozen at what just happened while Alaqa was sipping her tea with the brightest smile on her face. Shifting his eyes between the both spacing out, Lindvald excused himself for the night. As he stepped into the night, he could still see Yegu in the distance as he was holding the tea cup in one hand while the other one was struggling to get into the thick pelt jacket.

The fluffy ears were twitching wildly before a low growl echoed across the storage room and a grey wolf suddenly jumped on all four paws as he just woke up from a nightmare. Seeing the lovely family dynamic made him dream of his family, however that dynamic was very different. To shake off the bad memories, Lindvald decided to aimlessly stroll around at night, before he realized who he found someone hiding in a small ditch.

"Do you mind having some extra pairs of eyes? Also, very surprising that even the vice-chief isn't spared from the night watch."

"Oh, Lindvald. You don't need to. We are used to it. Also this place is the best way to protect everyone. So it is the perfect job for the vice-chief."

"Hm, very admirable of the vi..."

Lindvald's head turned suddenly with his ears twitching.

"Yegu, what is your warning procedure when you notice danger?"

"Ah. We lit up a bonfire and then we blow our antler whistle. Why do you ask?"

"I hear heavy footsteps stumping towards us. Start the fire! I will wake up the others."

Before Yegu could process what Lindvald just said, he reflexively held his ears as the grey wolf howled at the tip of his lungs.