"Did anybody die?" the Yellow Eyes asked again.
"I don't think so. We should check it out… or, well, I should. But the infirmary's got to have taken them in if anyone's injured, and that lady sure prevented us from hurting anyone any further."
Kuba looked at them thoughtfully, wishing she could do something to help them, but she didn't even know anyone's name, or who the Wolf King was. Then she realised that the people were actually heading up the stairs to reach her. They paused in front of her and looked at her like children looking for guidance.
"What should we do now?" Golden Wolf asked in a tired voice.
Kuba assessed the situation as quickly as she could.
"You need to sit down before doing anything else," Kuba fretted, and she put her hand on his arm. "You look dreadfully unhappy -- all of you. Cleaning can wait. Just sit down first."
"What about afterwards?" Golden Wolf insisted as he sat down like a confused baby with joint problems.
Everything was sore, so he grimaced.
"I don't mind cleaning on my own. Please go to sleep, unless you mind the rain."
"No, we don't," Golden Wolf concluded as he curled up into a ball. "We're Wolf People, and it'll cleanse us."
His fur was growing under the rain, and slowly, grime started to pool under him as the water washed it out. It was dark, with white splotches on his shoulders and his neck. It was rather pretty, Kuba told herself. Soon, he looked like a fuzzy fur ball whose clothes were on the verge of exploding from the pressure of the fur under them.
"I'm going back inside," the Yellow Eyes added, before turning to Kuba. "Would you like to join me, milady? We have no idea what to do, and we need a leader."
One of his friends elbowed him, because he was being much too forward.
"We have a leader, but any help is welcome," his friend corrected. "Especially after a day like this."
Golden Wolf thought that they had attacked first, but didn't say it.
"Perhaps we could all use a stop at the infirmary," Kuba tried.
Everyone shrugged.
"I got elbowed," someone said.
"This guy poked me in the eye," someone added.
"I got slapped with a waffle iron, but it wasn't so bad," the friend admitted.
"Please help us rebuild. Will you stay?" the Yellow Eyes begged.
His friend elbowed him again.
"Oh, and my name is Pumpkin Patch," the Yellow Eyes quickly added, and he extended his hand.
His friend pushed him. He couldn't just shake hands with a lady. He had to bow. The friend was grimacing desperately in the background, but Kuba shook his hand anyway.
"This idiot here is --" Pumpkin Patch started.
"Red Salsa. Please, stay if you like, but you must tell us who you are," the friend insisted worriedly.
"I would like to stay and help you rebuild. I was looking for a place to stay," Kuba explained. "My name is Kuba."
"I've never seen powers like yours," Red Salsa went on curiously. "And forgive me for talking like this to a lady like you. Don't think we're not grateful, either. We've got a lot of problems here in Wolf Stone, but if the King approves, we'd be glad to have you stay. Please, Lady Kuba, follow us indoors."
"You're not leader, I'm leader," Pumpkin Patch muttered, and he elbowed him.
"None of us are leader! The King's leader!" Red Salsa howled, exasperated, before covering his mouth and bowing. "I'm sorry, Lady Kuba. I shouldn't behave like this in front of you."
He internally added that his brother was more of an idiot than he was anyway.
"We're normally more civilized," Pumpkin Patch added helpfully, and Red Salsa shot him a grateful look. "If you're not too deterred, will you follow us?"
Kuba nodded.
"Your friend is growing furry," she noted, and she turned her head around to look back at Golden Wolf.
"You're not a Wolf Person, then," Golden Wolf answered.
"His name is Golden Wolf, but he's not even golden," Pumpkin Patch teased.
He did have a patch of golden fur on his face shaped like a four-branched star, but nobody could see it, and besides, he just wanted to make fun of him, so he didn't need facts.
"We're not friends," Golden Wolf shot back. "Please, you must go inside, Lady Kuba. This rain's not good for you. I know this is very strange, but if you're thinking of staying, you'll need an interview with the king, and that can't happen if you stay here."
He stood up. He was getting very impatient. None of this was how things usually worked. Accepting travellers into their clan was something that happened on a sunny summer afternoon. They would come from town, and everyone would wave from the strawberry bushes. They would appear with their walking sticks and enter, and the king would need to reluctantly tear himself away from his work to interview them. Sometimes, Golden Wolf would do it if the king couldn't be bothered. The point is that travellers didn't usually ask for a room after splitting a battle in half. People didn't go back inside together after battles, either. They split up for good. But this wasn't what was happening, and it was stupid, and Golden Wolf was getting very frustrated.
"Our king will grant you an interview. Before then, please stay in sight of the glass doors," Golden Wolf concluded, and he left. "Beeno can guide you. I'm afraid the lot of us have unfinished business to work out in the conference room."
"Will the king be there?" Pumpkin Patch squinted.
"I don't speak for him. He'll be there if he deems it important enough."
"I'm not going anywhere if the king doesn't even bother to show up. It's disrespectful," Pumpkin Patch spat out angrily.
"What do you need the king for?" Kuba asked, and her big green eyes weren't malicious.
She simply wanted to be helpful. If the king was busy, perhaps she could try to negotiate for him.
"The strawberry patches are rotten out. The grass is no good for the younglings to play in. We don't have good grazing for cows, and all we've been eating for weeks is pea soup with mushrooms. You all take more than your share of it, too," Pumpkin Patch listed with his eyes burning. "Just today, there were a dozen of you getting a full plate, while we only had a spoon-length of it in ours."
"They've been talked to! How is this management's problem?" Golden Wolf exploded, stupefied. "I hardly see what I could tell them, either. "Don't eat if you're hungry?" That's stupid. If you want more food, then come early or something."
Everyone's fur was growing out as the rain fell on. Ice Golem, Beeno's father, was shaking off the water from his shoulders. He was tall, and had white splotches on his face and the tip of his head. These splotches were growing out, slowly but surely, and one day, he would turn all white.
"Are we done fighting?" Ice Golem commented disappointedly.
"There you are!" Pumpkin Patch exclaimed.
Ice Golem didn't even care about the issue. He just wanted to punch things. He hadn't worn any uniform and had rammed into everyone equally.
"There's no need to fight for that," Kuba protested.
"The King never gets out of his office. We're left on our own half the time, and some of us have had to go horse-hunting for the townspeople to make ends meet," Pumpkin Patch added.
"He's the one keeping track of the money we all make!" Golden Wolf spat.
"The kids hate school! And we all feel watched in the cafeteria! The -- I mean -- it stinks!" Pumpkin Patch exclaimed.
"He did need to watch us. We started a battle today," Golden Wolf pointed out.
"He's the leader of the only clan of Wolf People in this country! He needs to pull himself together," Pumpkin Patch replied heatedly. "And let the lady hear it. Maybe she'll help us out. She seems smarter than all of you combined. I'd go if I could, but Wolf People stick together."
Kuba looked at him with a frown.
"Sit down," she said, and he sat down. "Why did this escalate into a fight? If you're unhappy, you can leave, or talk about it. Unless, of course, you want to keep the castle, and have the other side leave."
Everyone looked at each other knowingly.
"The castle belongs to everyone. I don't think it belongs to either side. Or perhaps it belongs to the King's family. How long has this problem been going on?" Kuba added.
Everyone muttered different answers. Kuba rubbed her face. She didn't really know what to tell them. She was no politician. She just wanted to help.
“I could help you regrow your crops,” she suggested tentatively.
It felt as though all her self-confidence was plummeting down into a well.
“I’m only one woman, but I’m here to help. I’m nobody special. I can’t solve your problems, but I can help with whatever tasks you give me. I’m not the king, or an advisor. I just want to help,” she hammered, “Now, please let me in. This argument has lasted long enough, and we’ve been standing here for ages. I’ll go see how well the clean-up is going downstairs, and perhaps you ought to sit down inside and think about what just happened. It’s lucky I appeared when I did.”
She gestured to gently push everyone out of her way, and everyone moved away immediately, letting her go down the stairs again. These people were fighting about ridiculous things, she told herself. Perhaps they needed counselling, or perhaps there was a bigger issue they hadn’t told her. Then she turned around.
“Please follow me,” she called back. “I don’t know which rooms are big enough for us all to have a chat. This needs to get solved quickly.”
Of course, she could have simply told them to stop fighting, and they would have said “yes, of course” and stopped fighting, but that wouldn’t be right.
“Or for you to have a chat, of course,” Kuba added. “Unless you still want my advice.”
“Of course we do,” everyone replied, and she grabbed her beech staff before she could forget it, or lose it.
She hadn’t expected to do this kind of work today, but it was better than being bored and muddy from walking around the forest aimlessly.
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