<Jori, Jori!> Elowen skidded to a stop and barked, gray tail wagging.

The deer he’d been stalking froze, snapped its head up, and bounded away.

<El!> Jori whirled on his sister. <You scared it away!>

<Oh, please, you were never gonna catch it on your own.> Elowen circled him and leaned in to nip at his shoulder. <Mam and Da want you home. There's visitors.>

<Visitors?> Jori's ears perked up. <But we never get visitors.>

<They're wolves too.> Elowen picked up her paws and began trotting towards home. <Come on, slowpoke!>

Jori loped after her. <But why do we need to be there!>

Back in town, Jori padded to the house that was his– for now. Morcant was one of several werewolf towns on the Great Plains. The Southern packs lived in it over the winter, but when the weather was warm, most of them were gone, roaming across the plains to follow the deer. Only those who couldn’t hunt stayed behind, including pups. With winter nearly here, the deer Jori had almost caught would be one of the last.

Steredenn, the nameplate by the door read, in his mother's loose scribble. Star.

Jori paused at the door, waiting for Elowen to shift form and open it. Padding through the first room, he asked, <We really have to be there?>

“Yes, and dressed nice.” Elowen patted his head, hand sinking deep into his ruff. “Mam ‘n Da said so. Da's the Alpha this year, so it's our job to meet visitors.” 

<Can I borrow your brush?>

Elowen raked her fingers through her blonde hair, already feathered with her wolf-shape’s silver, and frowned. “Mine? Why?”

Jori huffed and waited for her to open the door to their room. <My hair is getting long. Da didn't have time to cut it last spring.>

…Not to mention that Jori had conveniently been busy when there had been time. Just like he had been last year. By now, his hair was nearly as long as Elowen's– he could have been taken for her twin sister, instead of her brother, if everyone didn't already know them.

“Agh, fine. But only if you braid my hair before we leave!”

Jori threw himself onto Elowen's bed and shifted to human-shape in one smooth motion. “Deal.”

“Hey, move!” Grabbing up a pillow, Elowen smacked him with it. “Go get fur on your own bed!”

“I'm not furry right now!” Jori defended.

“But you were!”

With a dramatic sigh, Jori rolled off the bed, dragged himself to his feet, and plunged through the half-open curtain that separated his half of the room from Elowen's. He jerked it shut, and immediately his sister's face poked through. “Jori! Is that my shirt?”

Jori looked down at the sky-blue shirt, roses patterned across the hem. “It was on my side. That's forfeit.”

“I'm going to steal yours tomorrow.”

“Go for it.” As quickly as he could, Jori stripped out of his hunting clothes and changed into something nicer. Or at least cleaner. He tossed Elowen's shirt over the curtain. “Pass me the brush, El?”

The brush came flying over the curtain, and Jori only just managed to dodge it. He scooped it off the floor and began to tackle the monster that was his hair. Tears sprang to his eyes as he tugged the brush through his blond curls, but he didn't stop until it got stuck.

A sigh, along with the noise of the curtain being pushed aside. “Here. Let me try.” And then Elowen's hands were in his hair, teasing the tangles apart with brush and comb and a bit of detangling lotion. “How is your hair this bad?”

“Dunno.” Jori folded his hands in his lap and let her work through the remnants of the braid he'd forgotten to undo last night. “It just does that. Yours doesn't, it's straight.”

“This is why you need to get Da to cut it.” Elowen huffed and pulled a few more strands free.

“But he was busy.” And I like having long hair…

“Maybe I should ask him to cut mine too, next spring,” Elowen mused. “Like Briallan's.”

Their conversation turned from hair, to birds, to things that ate birds, to that night's dinner and their visitors, as Jori's hair came untangled and he traded places with Elowen to braid hers.

She felt the braid, tight along her scalp. “You do it better than Mam. Thanks.”

“‘Course.” Jori grinned, proud of the comparison. He'd been braiding Elowen's hair for years, after watching Mam and practicing on his own bangs. Mam braided loosely, so it wouldn't hurt, but Elowen liked it tight enough to hurt. That was the only way it wouldn't slip uncomfortably loose in a few hours.

Jori liked it the same way.

Sticking to human-shape, the twins trotted through the streets of Morcant until they reached the little guesthouse. It wasn't often used, normally reserved for the Lightguards who came every winter to collect taxes and ended up staying a day or two, but occasionally it found other uses.

It wasn't like the other houses, built for comfort whether one was in human-shape or wolf-shape, with a nameplate hung near the door to show whose house it was this year. The guesthouse had higher ceilings and wider doorways, to accommodate horns and wings, doors that clicked shut and couldn't be nosed open. And windows. Some Lightguard years ago, when Mam and Da were young, had complained that there weren't windows, and ever since then there'd been windows in the guesthouse.

“Jori, Elowen.” Mam greeted them as they came to the main room. Instead of cushions and a folding table, the guesthouse had a more permanent table, and nicer chairs. Da had one chair, Mam another, and a third was occupied by a strange wolf with brown hair and perked-up brown ears. “Come meet our guests.”

Holding tight to his sister's hand, Jori's ears twitched as he studied the room. There was the man, and there were two girls sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching him and Elowen as intently as he was watching them. One girl had the same dark brown hair as her father, while the other's hair was blond, streaked with the same snowy white as her ears. All three had green eyes– common for wolves. Jori and Elowen had blue eyes, like their Mam. 

“Meredith Herian,” the man introduced. He gestured at the girls. “These are my eldest daughters, Ceinwen and Blythe.” He looked at Mam and Da and added, “I'm sure they'll be great friends with your girls.”

Jori blinked. Girls. Meredith thought–

And then Da said, all light and tense like he was brushing off a bothersome fly,“Oh– no, Jori's a boy,” gesturing at him. “But I'm sure he and Elowen would love to show your daughters around while we talk,” and that strange, fluttery feeling in Jori's heart died. He struggled to keep his polite smile, but he could feel his ears going stiff. Hopefully his parents would just think he was nervous.

“Great idea.” Meredith smiled. “Go on, have fun!”

Ceinwen and Blythe jumped to their feet and trotted over to Jori and Elowen obediently.

“Be back for dinner,” Mam instructed. “It's at home, we're having goat stew with Meredith and the girls.”

“Yes, Mam!” Jori waved, and hurried after Elowen, who was already on her way out and striking up a conversation with Ceinwen.

That left Jori to talk to Blythe.

“Hi,” he offered.

“Hi,” she said.

“I almost caught a deer today.” Jori froze internally as soon as he'd said the words. How stupid could he sound? Almost. Blythe looked older than him, she'd probably caught a ton of deer.

“Really?” Blythe perked up. “Your parents let you hunt? Alone? Mam and Da won't let us go alone until we're fifteen. We're twelve this fall. Me, Ceinwen, and our brother Eirian.”

“Elowen and I are ten.” Jori puffed up. “Our first hunt was last year, we helped bring down an elk!”

Helped might have been a strong word. They'd watched, under strict instructions to stay out of the way and especially away from the elk's hooves and antlers. 

“That's so cool.” Blythe's eyes shone. “I can't wait til I get to do that.”

“We could go stalk the sheep and goats,” Jori suggested. “My cousin's watching them today, we could sneak past her.”

“We should!” Blythe fell to all fours, shifting form as she did. <Let's get Ceinwen and Elowen too.>

“...Elowen can't keep secrets,” Jori said quietly. “If we get her, we'll be in trouble later.”

Just like he'd been in trouble the first, and last, time he'd entrusted Elowen with a secret.

–Not that it mattered now. It had only been silly childishness, that was all. Jori pushed the twisting thoughts down and brought a smile back to his face.

<Just us, then.> Blythe dropped into a play-crouch, tail wagging. <Our secret. Come on, Jori! Let's hunt!>

Our secret. Jori combed his fingers through his girlishly long curls, grinned at Blythe, and dropped into the thick-furred comfort of his wolf-shape. <Follow me!>

As always, Tamara perched on a rock, overseeing the grazing sheep and goats with a book in hand. Jori flicked his tail at Blythe and dropped into a crouch, creeping closer to the flock.

None of the animals reacted, too well used to wolf pups practice-hunting them. The scent of werewolf in their midst was no cause for alarm.

<They're boring,> Blythe complained.

<Maybe Mam will need help killing one for dinner,> Jori offered. <But—> 

He cut off. Blythe was creeping towards a big ewe, who was contentedly grazing in the other direction.

<Not that one!>

The warning came too late. Blythe leapt, and was met by the ewe's hooves as she lashed out, knocking the young wolf away.

Jori growled at the ewe, a sharp warning, and hurried over to Blythe. <Are you okay??>

Blythe let out a soft whimper and got to her paws. <Never better. Ow.>

<Sorry. Miss Fuzzy doesn't like pups.> Jori glanced anxiously up at the rock. It was empty. <We've gotta go!>

Wincing, Blythe started to lope towards the edge of the flock. Jori followed closely, heart pounding.

“When I figure out who's been stalking, you're gonna be in so much trouble!” Tamara's voice rose up.

The two pups broke free of the flock, and fled across the field until Blythe's legs buckled under her and she collapsed, panting, and shifted with a grin on her face. “That was amazing!”

<Even though you got kicked?>

“Yeah!” Blythe rubbed her chest. “Most fun I've had in ages.” She dropped her head to the side, looking at Jori as he curled up with his head on his paws. “You're way more fun than my brother. Eirian's always trying to be the good one.”

Jori rubbed a paw over his muzzle and flopped over. <You’re fun too.>

“Maybe Da’ll let me stay a little while,” she said thoughtfully.

<Stay?>

“Yeah.” Blythe pushed herself up on her elbows. “No one told you?”

<Mam and Da don’t tell us much about grown-up stuff…>

“I guess they have their reasons…”

Jori sat up and shifted. “Why? What did they not tell me?”

Blythe sparkled, ears pricked happily. “Do you know about the Darkness?”

“The Darkness?” Jori’s ears flattened. He’d heard Lightguards mention it a few times, a pestilence they couldn’t seem to drive out.

But then there was Great-Aunt Elys, who liked to change storybooks to make werewolves the heroes, and had scoffed at Jori’s fear of the dark. “No one sees the stars without the night sky,” she’d said. “And you’re a star, Jori Steredenn. What does any darkness have for you to be afraid of?”

Blythe didn’t seem to notice his tension. “Da’s on the council now, and he needed to come here for… uh, reasons. Mam’s visiting the Northern packs with Eirian and my little sisters.”

“You’re in the Darkness?” Jori demanded.

“Not yet, but I will be.” Blythe sounded quite confident of that. She flopped back down and pointed at the pink clouds scattered across the horizon. “Look, that one looks like a pink duck.”

“You’re changing the subject.” Jori crossed his arms, fascinated by the forbidden topic. “What’s the Darkness like?”

Blythe laced her hands under her head, and thought for a moment before deciding, “Different.”

“Different from what?”

“Everywhere!” She rolled over and sat up on her knees. “One of my best friends is a human.”

“But I thought humans hunted wolves.”

Blythe shook her head, ponytail bouncing. “Da says that’s a myth. Humans think the same thing– they think we hunt them!”

Jori considered this, head tipping to the side. “They do?”

Blythe nodded.

“But… why?”

Blythe shrugged. “Dunno. I think it’s cause they haven’t got teeth like we do.” She bared her teeth and snapped playfully. “Watch out, I might eat you!”

Jori laughed and pushed her. “Mam’s goat stew is way tastier than me! Race you back!”

“Oh, you’re on.”