A low moaning resonated through the open space of the room. Lindvald's eyes flickered half open as he started to regain his consciousness. His whining accelerated as the piercing pain in his chest began to pulse through his body but lessen as a gentle rasping female voice whispered in his ears.

"Young Lindvald, your left front leg and some of your rips are broken. Don't worry, I will fix it. Your job is just to keep breathing slow and steady. Breath in and ou…t…"

The docile lulling voice along with the light flowery scent in the air the wolf's whimpering ran dry.

The wolf opened his eyes while his ears flinched at a crackling sound. The orange light emitting from the fireplace made the unfamiliar room less eerie. The mild berry scent of a candle next to Lindvald aided on calming his mind down. As he wanted to sit up, he felt that one of his legs was restricted from moving by two branches. While he repositioned himself, a small groan escaped him followed by holding his breath. His chest felt heavy and stiff from the bandages, even simply breathing caused pain. After finding a more and less comfortable position, Lindvald looked around only to realize that it was the mead hall. The difference was that it felt like a small room since someone put up pelts curtains to give them more privacy. The grey wolf looked down on his bound leg and slowly tried to move his fingers, when a sharp pain flew through the whole leg. Lindvald exhaled in relief that there seemed nothing else wrong other than some broken bones. He closed his eyes and was concentrating on his breathing to lessen the growing pain that he caused by finding his current body's limits when he heard muffled whispering. The soft voices changed to a clinking and rustling sound which ended falling in silence too. The grey wolf's ears turned in the direction of the door to listen for footsteps, however there seemed to be none. He was about to focus back on his breathing when suddenly a light breeze blew the warmth of the flames away from his fur and as he opened his eyes to see where it came from. Alaqa entered the room with a large bowl in hands and her eyes opened wide when the awoken wolf glanced back at her.

"Lindvald? How are you...? Grandma said you wouldn't wake up until tomorrow. Ah, ahm, how are you feeling? Maybe I should fetch Grandma?"

"Miss Alaqa, calm down! I'm doing fine ... considering the current circumstances."

"Oh, that is so great to hear! Do you want something? Water, more fire wood or food?"

"A little water would be very nice."

As Alaqa made one step back to the door, the water in the bowl she was holding splattered. Her shoulder shrugged at the cold water that landed on her hands, she looked down and remembered that earlier she let some leaves soak in the water and it was what she had planned all along on making the inquired wolf drink it. With light footsteps, she set down the water bowl next to the grey wolf and watched him taking some sips.

"Miss Alaqa, how long was I out?"

"Oh, ahm, the whole day. It is actually already in the middle of the night. Grandma and Cotola treated you the entire day. They just went to sleep, whereas you were asleep until now."

"Hm, and would you happen to know what happened after I lost consciousness, you know the bear attack, I mean."

"Unfortunately, not much. All I know is that no one got hurt apart from you and that wounds came from protecting my Temur. Thank you so so much for it."

"Don't mention it, he is a kind young man. But why is the Miss here, attending me in the middle of the night?"

"Well, someone needed to watch over you."

For the first time since Lindvald knew Alaqa, she looked angry as she pointed with her index finger at his nose.

"So now that you know that everyone is alright, it is time for you to go back to sleep in order for you to make a quick recovery. Take a couple more sips and then lay back down and sleep."

Lindvald wanted to chuckle at Alaqa's motherly angry hand gestures but only a dry cough came out. He drank some more and then laid down flat on the fur blankets. Alaqa threw more logs into the fire and kneeled next to the grey wolf, brushing his fur from the head down to his shoulder while humming softly.

"Sleep well, you did more than enough for us."

Temur locked the arrow to the string, pinched the sting between his thumb and index finger, drew his arm as far back as he could, adjusted his aim and released the arrow as it flashed through the air to land on the wooden practice target.

"You got really good at the bow, Temur. I think I don't need to teach you much more, now it all comes down to practice."

Lindvald sat on the sideline of the training ground, observing the archer in front of him.

"You think so, Lindvald. It is all due to your precise instructions. But are you sure it is alright for you to be moving around already? It's only been two days that you got hurt because of me. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Don't worry too much about that. I don't like to be stuck in bed and I do still rest in the afternoon when everyone is busy doing their work. I get plenty of rest. But enough of me, go get the next one."

"Hm, okay. I will send the next one over."

Temur ran off to get the next person for Lindvald to instruct.

It became their new morning routine as Lindvald limped to the training grounds and taught the villagers some basic techniques of archery. Afterwards he went back to the mead hall for his daily check-ups by Grandma and Cotola.

"And how is our youngster doing today?"

"Good Morning Elder Brigit. So far, nothing has changed. My chest still feels heavy when I breathe. Could we just leave the bandages away?"

"That is the purpose, young Lindvald. Your broken ribs are yet to grow back together and until then you should move as little as possible. In short, no! Until I tell you, you are healed, I'm the boss and you just obey."

"Yes, elder Brigit. I understand."

"Cotola will give you your medicine to drink. See you tomorrow Lindvald."

"Thank you so much for the inconvenience, Elder."

Grandma waved her arm like it was attached to a string and moved by a puppet master while grunting as she walked through the door. Lindvald laid on his side as he was waiting for Cotola. The creaking sound of the opening doors woke the napping grey wolf up. Lindvald lifted his head expecting a woman but instead a sad looking child entered.

"Ydis, why are you here? You know your mother doesn't like that you spend time with me."

"But Lind, everyone is worried about you. They all want you to heal fast. But aren't you getting bored of resting and of being alone here doing nothing. With me here, you will at least have a talking partner."

The grey wolf eyebrows lowered and his eyes lit up in a soft light.

"That is very considerate of you Ydis. However, I bet your mother gave you some tasks to do, so you can't stay for long or she will be very angry again. And I'm sure you also need to do your studies too."

"Lind truly knows a lot. You aren't wrong. However, I already thought of a way to do everything and still keep you company. Hehe."

The small child smirked with an evil star. He was about to explain his plan to the wolf, when both of them heard the door creaking. Ydis's face became paper white, he knew that his mother was attending Lindvald's medication. He abruptly stood up, hazely looked around and then he crawled underneath one of the corners of the floor pelt that Lindvald was laying on.

"Lindvald, here is your medicine, it will lessen your pain."

"Thank you very much for treating me so good and sorry, Miss Cotola for all the inconveniences I always cause you."

 Lindvald's voice sounded a bit more unsettling than usual as he felt Ydis movements next to his tail.

"Don't sweat too much about it. It's a way for me to get more experience in brewing drugs without wasting our herbs meaningless."

The woman opened her mouth slightly as she wanted to add something but then decided against it.

"I still have some work to do, drink your medicine and take a nap. Madame Alaqa will bring your dinner later in the evening. Bye."

Before the grey wolf could reply to her, she pointed at the medicine bowl and walked outside the room.

"You can come out, Ydis. She is gone."

"Ahhh. Finally, I could barely breathe underneath there."

"You shouldn't stay too long. She will notice that you aren't doing your homework. I really appreciate your feelings of keeping me company but I don't like the fact that you will get in trouble because of me."

"Hmm. About that Lind, I started to think of something."

"See you tomorrow, Lindvald."

"Thank you so much like always, Elder Brigit."

The grey wolf laid down with his eyes closed, he was just waiting for the inevitable to happen. Lindvald barely moved his head, the front door opened again. He knew  who it was as there was only one person who would immediately show up after Grandma left. He lifted his head and the expecting Ydis entered the room. However he was holding a book, a wooden slate, a small rag and a tiny charcoal pencil in hand which was rather new.

"Ydis, are you sure that this will work to convince your mother to let you stay next to me?"

"Did Lind practice just like I showed you? I thought two days would be enough for you to master it. And even if my master plan doesn't work, I came up with a back-up plan. So don't worry too much, but let me see first!"

The grey wolf stared at the confident looking child. Lindvald sighed and then gave his best at repeating Ydis teachings. He lowered his head, shrugged his eyebrows together, his eyes opened wide and only his pupils looked up. The grand final was the moment when the grey wolf's ears and tail dropped.

"Absolutely perfect Lind. You really got this down already, just like I thought you would. I'm absolutely convinced that mother won't resist this look of yours."

"I admire your confidence, Ydis. I really hope you are right about this because otherwise I feel like we both will need more of Grandma's healing."

"Don't even joke about it Lind. Believe in me, mother will finally like you if you look like that."

"You better prepare your back-up plan already because I hear her footsteps just outside the door."

Ydis couldn't react to the wolf in time when the door opened and Cotola entered with narrow eyes, placing the medicine bowl at the usual spot.

"Ydis, I told you to let Lindvald rest. As you can see, they are doing just fine."

"But Ma, doesn't he feel alone and even bored at this point. Am I not right, Lindvald?"

Ydis looked at the wolf and winked. It was their sign to proceed with their master plan. And so Lindvald just repeated what he did just a couple of minutes ago. Cotola hold his breath as see saw the big wolf's ears drop, her eyebrows rose in astonishment as well as confusion of the sudden soft side of the proud wolf. Ydis's confidence lessened as her mother didn't really seem to soften to his puppy eyes master plan. Before the effect loses completely, Ydis raised his book and slate in hands and negotiated.

"Ma, I was to let him rest while I did my studies but then he suddenly told me I made a mistake. Perhaps Lindvald doesn't might to be my teacher for the time he recovers and while you are at work Ma."

Ydis looked at her mother with the same pleading eyes as the wolf earlies although without the fluffy ears drop. Cotola sighed at the look of her son and turned to Lindvald and asked.

"Lindvald, although you are willing to help my son in his studies, you should think of yourself first and heal first and foremost."

"Ah, don't worry too much Miss Cotola. I get plenty of rest here and a little company is actually pretty nice. Although I don't want any of the people here to stop their work only for me."

"Hmm, fine. Let's see how good of a teacher you will be. And Ydis, I expect you to double your work progress now that you have a teacher."

"Oh crap, I didn't think of that, when I came up with this. Ahh, I guess."

Ydis' whining makes a smirk appear on Cotola's face.

"Well, I still have work. Drink your medicine Lindvald and Ydis study a lot."

The woman smirked as she left the room, leaving the boy and the wolf baffled behind.

"I guess it works, Lind, just like I said it would."

"I am lost for words with you Ydis, but now we better also do your homework in all honesty and seriousness."

"About that, do you even know how to write and read? I kind of lied about that to my mother, in order for her to let me stay here with you."

"You will be surprised, Ydis. Open your book and show me what you can do."