“Ooh, there’s the new star of the castle,” cooed Eileen in her gravel-rough voice, when Agnes stepped into the kitchen.

“I was holding Rosemary’s umbrella,” Agnes asserted. “I don’t know what you want from me.” She sat down at the table, where four empty cups awaited a steeping pot of tea beside a plate of sandwiches.

“Just some gossip,” Eileen laughed. “Lady Rosemary doesn’t talk to anyone, but she talks to you. We want to know what she’s been up to this century. I’m sure there’s plenty!”

The woman next to her, a pale-skinned woman with rosy hair and a great pair of horns, cackled. “No there isn’t!” She had sharp teeth. Agnes had no idea what to make of her and decided that it was better if she pretended not to be surprised. “She just takes care of her flowers and reads the same books over and over again, like she has for centuries.”

“Come on, Lumina, you know that isn’t all there is.”

“I wash the library windows! I see her wander back and forth. It’s always the same.”

“Well, what does Agnes think?” said the third woman at the table, a dark-skinned werewolf with fiery-gold eyes. “She’s the one who spends the most time with her.”

Lumina hummed, “I agree, Catherine. What does our Agnes think?”

Three pairs of eyes turned to Agnes. She steeled herself from fidgeting beneath the intensity of their gazes.

“Rosemary...”

Lumina cooed. “Not using her title? You two must be close.”

“Lady Rosemary,” bit Agnes, to a chorus of disappointed groans, “is very... kind.”

“And?” Eileen leaned in. 

“She’s sweet?” Agnes struggled for words. “Small? She’s very... tiny. I had expected a far more imposing figure.”

“Isn’t she? Sometimes I think I could just eat her in one bite.”
Agnes raised an eyebrow. Under her scrutiny, Eileen laughed. “I mean, she’s delicate. Just like a lady... ought to be?”

“She has many thoughts,” Agnes said, moving on, “yet has no idea how to express them, because nobody has bothered to engage her. Perhaps you all could answer your own questions by simply talking to her.”

“Ooh, someone is a little annoyed at us,” cooed Lumina, who Agnes was beginning to think must be a demon, or something. She had never encountered one before.

A new voice chimed in as the door to the kitchen shut. “With how insatiable you all are, how could she not be?”

“M-Minerva,” Eileen said, as the elegant librarian made her way into the space. Her fluffy ears first perked up, and then drooped, as though she was trying to appear smaller.

“Eileen,” Minerva snipped. Then, she smiled. “I thought I would make a change. How long has it been since I last chatted with you all?”

“A century,” breathed Eileen.

“No,” said Catherine, “it’s been centuries.” 

A moment passed. Then Minerva said, “am I welcome at this table?” One of her elegant eyebrows was raised.

“Oh!” Eileen gasped. “Of course!” 

Minerva sat down then, and Agnes quietly noted that vampires indeed could not enter spaces in which they were not welcome. No vampire, she decided, was ever welcome in her room. 

“So, I hear we’re gossiping?” Minerva said, lip quirking. “I have something juicy for you all.”

The group of servants, a pack, she supposed, leaned in. Agnes was embarrassed to note she had included herself among them. 

“In the library, last night,” said Minerva, “I saw Agnes and Rosemary spending time together.”

The group gasped.

“I am right here!” Agnes exclaimed.

“I know,” Minerva said. “But if you’re going to torture me doing... whatever it is the two of you did in the library right in front of me then I get to gossip about it.”

“What were they doing? Was it... illicit?” Lumina’s curious grin was demonic. Agnes sort of wanted to kill her.

“Oh, no no no. They were speaking about the moon, and the sun, and distance, and all sorts of interesting things. But Agnes had her hand on Lady Rosemary’s shoulder. And afterwords, Lady Rosemary was deep in reverie.”

Eileen sighed. “Oh, the two of you have gotten so close!”

“We have not,” said Agnes. “I was only angry.”

“Angry?” Eileen said. “About what?”

Agnes stilled. There was no reason, no reason at all, to reveal her true feelings. For a moment they bubbled at her tongue; the distance of this place from Cordis and its problems, a lack of recognition of its beauty, a lack of any assistance for the night beasts who prowled the city and did not know how to handle their power. Instead, she sighed. “That’s between me and Rosemary, isn’t it?”

“I suppose? But that’s disappointing.”

“Get used to it, babe,” Agnes said, and she grabbed a sandwich and chewed on it.

Minerva sighed. Eileen seemed to twitch at the sound. 

“Well, that’s all the gossip I’ve got. Nothing interesting happens in the library.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Unless you count books.” Minerva smiled. “Speaking of, could whoever goes to get the groceries this time please pick up the latest books that are coming out from the Inkblot?”

“I believe that should be me,” Eileen said, “and Catherine?”

“I went last time,” Catherine grumbled. “But I suppose it would be nice to see the city again.”

Agnes sipped her tea. “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you hide in the city?”

Eileen laughed. “Hoods in crowds, and sticking to the places where packs lived. How did you survive?” 

“Hoods in crowds,” Agnes admitted. 

“You mentioned you were alone; have you been to Silvermarket? Near the southern gate.”

“I’ve been all over the city,” Agnes said. “Why do you ask?” 

“There are some old werewolf packs who stay there.”

Agnes frowned. “I heard nothing of werewolf activity in Cordis, except for the ones who rampage.”

“They keep to themselves,” Eileen said. “They keep their heads down and live near the city outskirts, and hunt and play in the woods.”

Agnes furrowed her brows. “And they just live there? Among the humans? Aren’t there problems?”

“Occasionally, but the packs work to keep the peace and not draw eyes. It’s where I’m from,” announced Eileen. “Though I haven’t been in a while.”

“Me too,” said Catherine, drinking from her own cup. “They also do their best to regulate the werewolves outside Silvermarket, but they don’t have the resources to help. Especially not in the north half of Cordis. First there’s the hunting compound, so watchful, and then there’s the nobles. I know we have allies there, but they never do anything to help.”

Agnes carefully logged the information in her mind. Later, she would write it down to report to Ariadne and the rest of the hunters.

“I can’t believe you never learned any of this,” Lumina cooed. “You poor thing.”

“Not everyone gets the support that we’e received,” Minerva said. “And it is not as though we do much to help.”

The five of them sat in silence. 

“Perhaps we could start?” Lumina said.

“What are we supposed to do?” Eileen snapped. “Hand out bread? The packs have it covered.”

“The packs are not perfect. Clearly at least one person fell through their fingertips, because we have Agnes here before us and she doesn’t even know about them.”

Four pairs of eyes gazed at her now. “I survived among hunters for years after my turning, and had no support from any werewolf.”

“Oh, we have to take you to Silvermarket now!”

“Why?”

“So you can meet your community!”

“What community?” Agnes growled. “I won’t be living down there. I’ll be up here, caring for Lady Rosemary.” The packs had not given her any help, and they had not stopped the werewolf who had turned her. Why should she meet them? 

She knew where they were now. Once this mission was complete, she would wander Silvermarket with a scrutinizing gaze, and scope out its possibility as a threat.

“I’m sorry,” said Eileen. Then, her brows furrowed, her ears curling back. “How about this? Your pack is here now! You’re one of us. And we’ll take care of you.”

“We could go hunting,” Catherine said. “I always feel better after running around transformed.”

“I-“ Agnes meant to scowl, but something strange curled in her heart. She looked down at her reflection in the tea; the ears on her head were a constant reminder of her beastliness.

And yet they made her just like the women around her.

Agnes reminded herself that she ought to play nice with her coworkers. Who knew what useful information they would give next?

“I would like that very much.”