Your curiosity about Konrad's sudden departure outweighs your desire to hear Maru's story to the end.

You decide to pretend to be asleep, so that later you can slip out of the tent unnoticed.

Through the semi-darkness, you hear footsteps approaching your bed. A tall shadow looms over you.

- «Mademoiselle Véronique, our patient has decided to take a nap,» comes Grimace's quiet voice above you. You can't see him, but from his tone it's clear: he's smiling.

- «Good. Then you can get on with gathering the herbs, as I asked,» Véronique replies, already heading toward the tent's exit.

Grimace seems to nod. He stands over you for a few more seconds, then slowly walks to the exit.

At the very threshold, he turns slightly.

- «Get some rest... little one.»

***

As soon as the footsteps and other sounds of life have receded far enough, you slowly rise from the bed. For a few seconds, you simply listen to the silence - making sure that no one is really waiting for you outside. Then, trying not to make a sound, you slip out of the tent. The night air greets you with cold and dampness. On the ground, you notice tracks. They lead off to the side, disappearing into the darkness and uneven terrain. Without hesitation, you follow them - wherever they lead.

***

You had been following the trail for over an hour. Not by voice, not by growl - but by the scent that lingered in the air after him: damp fur, pine needles, and a faint bitterness, as if grass was smoldering somewhere.

Your feet slipped on the wet leaves. The forest thickened, lowering its branches, and the moonlight broke through the canopy in rare silver slivers. You had almost stopped seeing the path, but your feet found the way on their own - to where the air grew denser, where it smelled of wet bark and something sweetish. The clearing opened up suddenly.

It lay in a hollow, surrounded by old trees, and in its center loomed a gigantic trunk - an oak, felled by a storm long ago. Its roots stuck up into the air, twisted into a bizarre tangle, and on them, as if on a throne, sat a girl. You stopped. You noticed two figures in the darkness. One clearly human, and the other animal - belonging to Konrad.

Konrad lay at the feet of that figure. Matted fur rose and fell with heavy breathing. His head rested on her knees. The figure, clearly female, stroked his scruff. Slowly. As if counting the beats of his heart. Her fingers sank into the fur, parted the tangles, touched the scars - old, already healed, and fresh, still unhealed.

You stood at the edge of the clearing and watched this strange scene. All you knew about Konrad was that the werewolf was an extremely crude and closed-off member of the circus, and seeing him like this, so vulnerable, was strange.

***

This moment is too intimate to disrupt with a crude intrusion. You freeze at the edge of the clearing, merging with the shadows of the trees. Your heart is pounding somewhere in your throat, but you even try to breathe more quietly.

You take a step back - a branch snaps under your foot.

The girl raises her head. In the moonlight, you see her face - pale, with delicate features and eyes too light, almost translucent. She doesn't look frightened or angry. Only tired. Following her, the huge muzzle rises as well, the werewolf himself. He already looks surprised and angry. He starts growling at you.

- «You! What are you doing here!» Konrad says, rising to his paws and slowly approaching you.

You take a step back, but you don't run. Because if you run - he'll pounce. That you know for sure. Konrad approaches, his bulk blocking the moonlight, and in his yellow eyes rage blazes. Or fear? Now, so close, you can see: his pupils are dilated, his breathing is uneven. He's not just angry - he's frightened by what you saw.

The girl doesn't move from her spot. She remains sitting on the roots, hands folded on her knees, and looks at you with curiosity, like at an unexpectedly found object.

- «Konrad,» she says calmly, and there is neither request nor command in her voice. Just a statement. - «Who is this? Do you know who this is?»

- «Yes,» the werewolf replies, not taking his eyes off you. He sees that you are afraid. - «You, why did you follow me?! Wanted to learn my secrets?! Weren't you taught not to stick your nose in other people's business?!»

He growls, baring his fangs, but doesn't take a step closer. His claws dig into the ground.

- «What did you hear?« - he barely opens his jaws, the words come out muffled, with a hiss. - «What did you see?»

You take a breath, feeling the air tremble between you. The wind lifts a strand of hair, and you notice: the girl lifts her chin slightly, catching this wind, and something warm flickers in her light eyes.

- «Is this your friend? You didn't say you had friends.» - the girl says, looking at you with curiosity.

You say that you and Konrad aren't exactly friends, that you followed Konrad out of curiosity, not to turn Lucy in.

You take a step forward. One. Slowly. Palms open - showing they are empty.

- «I'm not your enemy, Konrad. And neither is she.» - your voice sounds quiet, but firmer than you expected. - «We followed you because we wanted to understand. Not to turn Lucy in. Not to use it against you.»

Konrad bares his teeth, but a shadow of surprise flickers in his eyes.

- «We heard her voice when she called you. We saw you run. We...» - you falter, searching for the words. - «In the circus, everyone pretends you're just a beast. Crude. Dangerous. We thought so too. But a beast doesn't run to someone to lay its head on their lap. A beast doesn't seek comfort.»

The girl rises from the roots. She takes a step toward you - light, almost weightless. Her pale face in the moonlight looks like porcelain.

- «You're from the circus,» she says, and interest awakens in her voice. - «That one? The one that's here now?»

You nod.

- «Are there others there? Like him?» - she nods toward Konrad, who watches you tensely, not taking his eyes off you.

- «There are.» - you pause, weighing whether to speak, but decide to take the risk. You tell what you know yourself.

The girl listens with wide eyes, and a light ignites in them - that childlike, almost greedy one. She clasps her hands together at her chest.

- «I want to see them,» she exhales. - «All of them. Please. Without the disguises.»

Konrad growls.

- «No.»

The girl turns to him. Her voice is soft, but there is steel in it.

- «Konrad.»

- «I said no!« - he almost shouts, but holds back. His tail lashes the ground. - «You don't understand. These ... they won't understand. They'll see you and...»

- "See what?« - you interrupt. - «That she's not a huntress? That she's not afraid of you? That she's your...» - you don't know which word to choose. - «That she's the one you run to, despite the prohibitions?»

Konrad falls silent. He looks at his beloved, then at you. In his gaze - a struggle. He wants to protect her from the world, but she wants into that world. And now the decision is his.

- «Ah, you've told so many interesting things. Could I repay you with an equally interesting story about us and Konrad?» - the girl says with a sweet smile, inviting you to sit next to her. Konrad is embarrassed, he looks surprised.

- «My lady...?» - he says, surprised and confused. You hear a very quiet whimper.

- «My name is Lady Diana Ashcroft, pleased to meet a friend of my beloved.» - the girl says, looking at you.

- «So, would you like me to tell you a little about myself and how Konrad and I met?» 

Konrad looks at you, embarrassed, and shakes his head negatively. But the choice is yours.