“I can explain,” Abdal said as Dalma skidded to a halt. Ey had run out of the inn without thinking and wasn’t sure how ey had ended up at the stream. But she’d only been there a minute when the monster — looking much smaller than ey would have expected from all the tales — came down to the stream and crouched down to get a drink.
Dalma screamed because that was what one did when one saw a mythical monster and was surprised when the thing ran away. Unfortunately, it was running toward the inn, and small monster or not, it was a monster, so Dalma ran after, not sure what ey was going to do but not going to allow it to attack anyone if ey could stop it.
Only to find the monster hiding behind Lieutenant Abdal, who was sheltering the creature as if Dalma, and not it, was the danger.
Dalma was even more confused when, sure that Dalma had stopped, Abdal turned to the little monster and told it, “Human skin, now.”
Of course, as Abdal had known, the ‘monster’ was a child of the Pack. Dalma stared in shock as eir fur disappeared and eir snout receded until it looked like a human child of maybe five years. Abdal gave the child a little shake and said, “Go home. And stay out of the woods.”
Dalma was hyperventilating, both hands clasped over eir mouth, as the child muttered something and hurried away. “You’re… you’re just letting it go?” ey demanded.
“Ey, not it,” Abdal growled, “Ey lives in the village, and yes, I am letting em go home. Eir parent will probably spank em and put em to bed without supper for being out in fur when there are outsiders in the village.”
“But… but it’s a monster! Won’t it attack someone? What if it spreads its curse to the villagers!”
Abdal sighed. “Dalma, half the village shares the ‘curse’ as you call it. Now, can we go back to the inn before your siblings get worried enough to come chasing after you?”
Dalma opened eir mouth to argue but stopped. As Abdal had expected, invoking the siblings was enough to get Dalma moving, and ey tromped up the hill and out of the woods, glaring at Abdal the whole way.
“I’m expecting that explanation,” ey said as ey passed Abdal.
“Yeah,” Abdal sighed. “I figured on that.”
Abdal tracked down the Noble Bethania and told em about Dalma meeting the child and Dalma’s (expected) reaction. Bethania rubbed eir face and went in search of Lilah. They were out of time for Lilah to get comfortable telling eir siblings the truth.
Then Abdal went back to the inn. As ey expected, Dalma and Sherzod were not in any of the inn’s public areas, but ey could hear them talking when he stood outside the door of their room.
Inside the room, Dalma was getting more and more upset. Sherzod was trying to calm em down, but the more Sherzod sought to calm Dalma, the more upset ey became.
Ey was about to start yelling when Abdal knocked. Fear surged to battle anger, but Dalma didn’t hesitate, just turned to the door and threw it open. “What.”
Abdal gave a small bow. “May I come in?”
Dalma stood there glaring at em, unsure what to say. From inside the room, Sherzod murmured, “Let em in, Dalm.” Dalma continued to glare at Abdal a moment longer, then stepped back out of the doorway so ey could enter.
Abdal stepped in carefully and closed the door behind em. Eir sword belt hung empty, and ey walked into one of the room’s corners, leaving the way to the door clear. Dalma’s eyebrow rose at that, but Sherzod only nodded to emself.
“I said I could explain,” Abdal said, “and I will. You may leave, but if you do, you may never get the answers you seek.”
Sherzod sighed and went to sit on the bed. “I feel like you are all making this more complicated than it needs to be.”
Dalma squawked in outrage, but Abdal only nodded. “Perhaps,” Ey scratched eir eyebrow. “It is not how I would have handled things, but that was not my choice to make. Now we are here.
“Here then is the part that I can tell you: the child you saw in the woods is one of The Pack, and the Pack are no more monsters than you yourselves are. Few of the Pack live in your lands. The fear and hatred there put us constantly at risk. But many of us live in Balule.”
“Us?” Dalma squeaked. Ey backed across the room until eir back pressed against the wall. “What do you mean, us?”
Abdal sighed. “I mean exactly what you fear.” And ey allowed the shift to overtake em: fur sprouting across his skin, mouth, and nose extending into a short snout. Eir ears shifted up eir head and grew triangular points. “I mean that I am Pack, just as my niece who scared you is. And you have nothing to fear from us.”
Dalma could only stare, hand over eir mouth to hold in the scream, as everything ey knew turned upside down.
“Where do the stories of monsters come from?” Sherzod asked, still sitting calmly on the bed.
“Sherzod….” Dalma said.
“I want to know, Dalma.”
Abdal cocked eir head at Sherzod but answered. “We call ourselves ‘the Pack’ for a reason. We need our pack, we need to be part of a pack, part of a community or family. If one of the Pack ends up alone for too long — especially a cub, either a child or a newly changed adult — we can be struck with madness.
“I believe that is the source of your stories. And with no Pack able to live safely in your lands… Any of the Pack who find themselves there are likely to run mad from the isolation unless they are very lucky.”
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