A howl went up through the village on the first full moon of the month. Spring had come, the weather warm enough they’d shed their heavy coats, and now it was time to hunt again!

“Remember, we leave younglings and their mothers for next year!” the year’s Alpha called, raising her voice to be heard over the excited clamour of pups on their first hunt. “Our job is to feed ourselves and our packs, not to prove ourselves, not to show off. Remember that.”

“Did something happen last year?” a voice whispered.

Jori jumped. “Blythe? But Mam said you and your da weren’t coming this year?”

Her grin sparkled back at him, tousled curls falling around her face. “In the flesh! Yeah, Da’s busy, but your parents agreed to be responsible for me so I could come join you!”

“‘M so glad you’re here.” Jori threw his arms around her, pinning her arms. “Why didn’t you say in any of your letters?”

“Wanted to surprise you.” Blythe's arm twitched, bopping his hand with a flute. “Leggo, or I’ll bite you.”

“You wouldn’t.” Still, Jori let go.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Jori chuckled and rubbed his neck, not taking his eyes from the flute. “Oh. Yeah. Last year, two of the first-timers tried taking down a moose calf by themselves before you got here. Talwyn saved them from its mother, that’s why she’s Alpha this year.”

“It changes year by year?”

“Mhm. Whoever’s most responsible in the hunt has to deal with the tax collectors, but they also get the best house over the winter. Will you teach me to play that?” Jori’s fingers itched to touch the flute. Ever since Blythe had mentioned her Mam’s affinity for instruments and music last year, Jori hadn’t been able to get the idea out of his head. Bards almost never came to Morcant, but even the wind was music if you listened right.

He envied their lives. Bards and other performers got to travel all over, never constrained by the need to return home for winter. Maybe when it came time for Jori to start his own pack, he could find someone who wanted to travel, and they could tour the continent together. Maybe she'd even like to sing the songs that played in Jori's mind on long hunts.

“Yeah, that's what I brought it for!” She held it up. “It's Mam's spare–” 

Talwyn's howl went up, singing through the air and cutting Blythe off. Every other wolf joined in, adding their voices to hers. Jori added his voice too, giving a few yips to change the melody of his howl. Blythe’s ears flicked in surprise, and then she howled too, a bit late. 

“Let’s go!” Talwyn howled again and shifted.

“Jori!” Elowen appeared through the crowd. “And Blythe! You’re here!”

Jori’s breath caught on the sudden stone in his throat. “...Hi, El.”

“Where’ve you been? Mam and Da are waiting!”

“Right. Let’s go join them.”

Blythe nudged Jori as they walked. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Nothing.”

“Nothing nothing, or nothing you wanna talk about?”

With a glance ahead at Elowen, cheerfully winding her way through the crowd of wolves in both shapes, Jori mumbled, “Had a fight with my parents.”

“Why?” Blythe’s hand brushed his, lightly enough it might have been an accident. The flute bumped against his knuckles.

“They want to get us a three-bedroom house this winter, so El and I can have different rooms, ‘cause we’ll be thirteen by then.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

Jori shrugged. “I guess. Only, El lets me borrow her brush.”

It sounded like such a pathetic thing to be concerned about. Only, it wasn’t just that. It was a change, when Jori only wanted to stay the same. To stay twelve, without any of the changes that he knew would be coming soon. 

But it was only him being silly and childish, not anything else. Not the horrible lurching feeling when anyone told him he looked more like his father every year. Just a childish wish to stay forever young.

“You can keep mine, if you want,” Blythe offered. “Ceinwen just cut her hair, so she doesn’t need hers anymore, I’ll steal it when I go home.” She tousled Jori’s hair, shorter than it had been the last time she’d seen him. “Are you planning to grow it out again?”

Jori nodded quickly, feeling like something inside him was clawing at his stomach, trying to get out. “I like having long hair. Da said it needed a cut last spring, since I couldn’t take care of it, but I said I’d try harder this year…”

“I’ll help,” Blythe offered. “If you want me to.”

“Yes. Please.”

And whatever it was clawing at him quieted, but it didn't go away.

The first few days were uneventful, until the Steredenn pack, and Blythe, split off from the others. The three young ones were old enough to help bring down something small, Mam said.

It didn’t go well.

The deer’s hoof scored a mark across Blythe’s cheek as it fought, before Elowen managed to catch its throat with her teeth and end its misery. All three froze, watching as the deer went still.

Jori was the first to move, leaping across its body to reach Blythe. <Blythe!> There was blood on her face. <Are you okay?>

<Fine,> she replied, paws still rooted to the ground. <I’m okay. It only got my cheek.> She shifted, touched the gash on her face. “See?”

<Back to wolf shape,> Mam ordered. <Your fur will help keep dirt away, we don’t have bandages until we rejoin the other packs. Keep it clean until it can heal.>

Blythe rolled her eyes and shifted back. <Yes, Doctor.> 

<Good work, you three,> Da said. <Want to eat now, or cook it?>

<Cooked,> all three agreed. Elowen added, <Ew.>

“We’ll cook it then.” He switched shape. “You deserve a break. Go rest.”

Elowen promptly plopped down on her stomach, folding her paws under her muzzle.

<Walk with me?> Blythe nosed Jori. <I have something I want to tell you.>

<Okay?> Jori padded after her.

When they were well away, far enough that they couldn’t see Jori’s parents or Elowen, Blythe stopped and shifted.

Jori shifted too. “Blythe, Mam said–”

“It’s not bleeding anymore, I’m fiiiiine.” She waved it off. Not looking at him, but rather up at the sky, she asked, “Can I tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else?”

Jori’s heart beat faster. “I promise.”

Her hand brushed his. “Not even Elowen.”

“Not even Elowen.”

“I like girls,” Blythe said quietly, and something inside Jori began to crack and crumble away, giving way to a giddy lightness. Blythe was different, different like Jori. “Boys, too. Both. I– you’re one of my best friends, and I told Amron right before I left, I figured I should tell you too. We’re– we’re still friends, ri–?”

“Yes.” Jori pulled her into a hug before she could say anything else. The cracked thing finished breaking, bringing tears to Jori's eyes and making her breath come in sharp, quick gulps. Jori could be a girl who liked girls, just like her best friend was.

Blythe hugged her back, dropping her head to Jori's shoulder. “That’s good. Thank you, Jori.”

“Can I tell you something too?” Jori whispered, rather muffled. “I just realized it.”

“Course.” Blythe pulled back, hands on her shoulders still. “I promise I’ll keep it secret as long as you want me to.”

Jori took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut, then, “Mam says that when I was little I thought I was a girl, like El, but that I grew out of it eventually. …Only I've been realizing, I don't think I did. I just– it's getting really hard and I–”

Blythe was hugging Jori again. 

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s okay. We’re still friends, promise.”

Slowly, Jori’s breathing eased. “You’re sure?”

Blythe giggled. “Certain sure. You’re one of my best friends, Jori. Don’t think that’s changing just because you are.”

She took a last breath and squeezed Blythe’s hands. “Don’t tell El, she’d tell our parents and I think… I think they’d be mad.”

“Can I tell you what Mam said, when I told her about me? I was scared she'd be mad, too.”

Jori nodded.

“She said that if she got mad about me telling her something that personal, then she wouldn’t deserve to know.”

Something lurched inside Jori’s heart. “Oh.”

“Mhm.” Blythe tipped her face up to the darkening sky. “If you decide you need a new name… I know a lot of people who’ve changed theirs. Everyone who joins the Darkness and wasn’t born to it picks one. A lot of them just use it for Dark stuff, but some of them prefer the new one.”

Jori looked up at the sky too. There, off to her left, was the first star of the night, a bright spark in the velvety dark blanket. No one sees the stars without the night sky. “Did you know that the stars are always there in the sky? You just can’t see them during the day because the sun’s too bright.”

Blythe’s ears twitched in confusion. “Yeah? Why?”

Jori smiled and leaned into her. “No reason.”