Work Text:
Lessons Lost
by Danii
"I saw you staring..." Wolf said, sitting down beside the young Gypsy. The boy looked startled that the stranger was talking to him, considering what his Grandmother had done to the man earlier. The boy had never met another like him before, so it was odd. It felt like an invasion of his space, of his territory, but at the same time, he was glad to have someone who understood what it felt like to be different. He didn't exactly know what to say, so he just stared. "I bet you were a bit afraid..." the man continued, trying for a response, "I know I would be if I were a cub and a full grown stranger wolf came into my territory."
The boy nodded solemnly, but didn't say anything.
"I bet you didn't know if I would attack you, did you?" Wolf asked, looking the boy straight in the face. When the Gypsy boy didn't respond, he put his hand on the cub's shoulder. "I won't hurt you, any of you, I promise. Now, what's your name?"
"Nicoli" he mumbled, still wary of the stranger who sat beside him.
"Nicoli." Wolf repeated, "That's a nice name. Mine's Wolf, by the way. Redundant, isn't it?"
The young boy tried to restrain himself, but he couldn't hold back the small smile that broke on his face. Wolf grinned back when he saw it, glad at the progress he seemed to be making with Nicoli. The boy was opening up, slowly but surely.
"Yes. I don't really know what my mother was thinking. My brothers and sisters got much nicer names. Lupus, Luna, Fenris, Rufus, Lycaona, Dendra. But I got plain old Wolf." the elder wolf sighed and leaned back on the log, "I like it though. Seems to fit me quite well." As he finished, Wolf looked over to see if the boy was listening. He was.
"I should think so..." responded Nicoli, who was liking this stranger more and more as the minutes passed.
"Indeed." Wolf agreed. His expression then changed to one of curiosity, "So, what about you? Any siblings?"
"No" replied Nicoli very calmly, "My father was killed shortly after my birth in a hunting accident. It was he who was like me. My mother died shortly after."
"Oh. I lost my parents at a young age also..."
"You did?" asked the boy. He was surprised. This Wolf seemed like a rather well adjusted person, not like some orphan who got stuck living with his Grandmother's clan.
"Yes. We were living in a little farming village, where my father worked as a woodsguide. We lived there for some time, but the villagers were afraid of us. They were even afraid of my mother, who was a perfectly normal human. So, one night, why, I'll never know, they came to our house and burned both of them at the stake. We weren't home when they came, but we returned in time to see our parents burn to death. I'll never forget that night. The sights, the smells, the cheering of the villagers as they watched the two people I loved most be consumed by flames...what monsters..."
"Your parents!?" Nicoli asked in disbelief.
"The town's people."
"I am sorry..."
"No need. They are past suffering now..." Wolf smiled wanly at his new young friend.
"I guess we are far more similar than even we imagined..."
"I guess we are."
They were both silent for a moment. Words weren't really necessary. The very presence of someone who understood was enough to patch the pain in their hearts, at least for a while.
"Oh. So I guess no one told you about others? The proprieties, the customs, the procedures? How to deal with the moon time, and the extra advantages? What it means to be like we are?"
Nicoli shook his head. He wasn't even aware such things existed among those of his kind.
"Then" Wolf said with a smile, "I guess I shall have to teach you, now, won't I?"
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"And when in the presence of another wolf, it is appropriate to let your tail be seen. In fact, in some kingdoms, it is rude not to do so..."
"Really?" asked Nicoli, who was trying his best to absorb the knowledge as fast as Wolf was giving it out.
"Oh yes!" answered Wolf with a smile, "As you can see, I have mine out, and have had it out since your Grandmother announced my little secret..."
Nicoli looked down to see a long, bushy tail puffing up from the back of his tutor's pants. He then looked guiltily back at his own, and began pulling his out.
"There you go, isn't that much more comfortable?" Wolf asked, swishing his own tail about in the dim firelight with a smile.
Nicoli nodded. "Yes. It is much nicer..."
"Yes, wolves are definitely practical, if nothing else." Wolf went on, "I see your tail has a bit of a rusty color to it. You're like my brother, Rufus, then. Most with that color become very fine trackers, usually smaller than others, but definitely more powerful than a normal human. You help to catch those magic birds, don't you?"
"Yes..." the cub answered, blushing a bit. It was supposed to be a secret, for children were never supposed to be part of that hunt.
"I knew it. Anyway, usually those with redder tails aren't affected during the full moon as badly as those with grey ones, like mine... How is it for you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, I get very mad at everyone for a day, then they tie me to a tree for a night and a day. It is not fun. I get very angry and very hungry, and I howl alot. Sometimes, I can feel sharp points in my mouth...It's frightening."
Wolf sighed. Poor kid. Left alone during that time at an early age. He could handle being alone now, but Wolf knew he would have been very frightened if he'd been left alone as a child in the middle of the woods. Being by yourself in the dark woods, unable to free yourself, smelling all sorts of things, and unable to do anything.
"Yes. I know it's scary. Especially being all alone with that feeling. I get scared sometimes too. I get it very badly. My eyes glow, and I get fangs. And the moon. The moon drives me crazy. I feels so angry and so hungry, I'll kill anything that moves. But I don't want to do that really. So I tie myself up somewhere, with big strong rope, nice and thick. And it's painful. And frightening. And it makes me feel like a monster through and through. But the worst is when I break free of the ropes-"
"Break free?" Nicoli asked, unbelieving. That would take enormous strength, a frightening amount of power.
Wolf nodded solemnly. "I told you it hits me badly. But when I break free is the worst, because afterwards, I can't seem to remember anything. What I did. Where I went. Nothing. If I ate something, or someone..."
Neither said anything for a while after that. By the time the discussion had come up, Wolf had finished with teaching the boy all he really needed to know about etiquette, so no words were necessary. They both just savored the time together, two wolves who were considered misfits by the human world. It was at dawn that Wolf finally said something.
"I'm going to go now. And I hope to see you again." he said, getting up and tucking his tail into his pants, "And there's something I'd like you to have..."
As he said it, Wolf pulled out a little bundle of fur from his jacket and handed it to the boy. "When your alone in the woods, and feel like no one knows what it's like, put this to your nose and remember me..."
Nicoli nodded, then put the bundle deep into his vest. "I will see you, Wolf."
"And I, you, Nicoli."
And then he went to go wake Virginia. They had to be going.
****************************
"So, Wolf, how much further along is-"
Virginia was cut off by a far off yell. The girl jumped.
"They're probably still looking for use, Virginia. Don't worry about it..." Wolf calmed her, stroking her shoulder in a loving gesture.
There were more yells, and they seemed to be more screams than anything.
"Yeah, just the hunters" continued Tony.
"They won't find us, we're too far and-"
Suddenly, in the middle of it, a howl erupted from the camp they had just left. The howl hung in the air for a moment, and then was cut off.
"Oh Cripes, Nicoli!" Wolf exclaimed, trying to run towards the howl. But Virginia and Tony held him back, barely, just enough to keep him in one spot, if not to move him away from the noise.
"We have to go! If whatever it is can kill the Gypsies, then it can certainly kill us too, and quickly!"
"But the cub!"
"We have to go. And besides, there was no second howl. There is nothing you can do..."
Wolf slumped in their arms. There was nothing he could do now. Nothing. Nothing but make sure that that didn't happen to them. But later. Later, he would get the sick bastard who would kill a little cub in cold blood. He swore it.
"Come, I smell something. Let's hide..."
Fin
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