赤裸裸的滑稽故事

For most of Summer, the two days went by without issue or concern.

Every system had been cleared and was back in use. The only hiccup had been with the requests and orders that had been submitted on paper.

Some accident had caused them all to be destroyed, and the wolves were required to resubmit digitally. There was some general groan and gripe, but nothing too dramatic.

Gossip about how Beta Galen was doing training sessions that were meant for wolves of much lower rank was also spreading. But in the end, most simply assumed he was being diligent and refreshing himself on basic tactics.

With all of the survivors and refugees that had come to Summer, war was a very real threat and inevitability. And yet, as the full moon approached, the pack had never been so lively.

Preparations for the celebration were well underway. The patrols sent around the borders had been reinforced in order to set traps and check every alarm and automated defense weapon to ensure there were no surprises like the last celebration.

Corrine arrived the night before. Ashleigh and Fiona took her on a tour of the territory while Caleb saw to the final preparations.

“It is beautiful,” Corrine smiled. She looked out at the lush green forest and the blue skies above. They had seen so many kinds of flowers she was amazed at the assortment of colors.

While she and Wyatt had taken their vacation they had traveled south, but not terribly far from Winter. Just enough for her to remember what it was like to travel, to see the other landscapes and smell the different aromas of nature.

It made her long for the days of her youth that she had spent traveling with her parents. They had been all over the werewolf territories. They had lived for a time in the southern forests, the western plains, and on the eastern beaches. And eventually, they found their way to the northern mountains.

“Is it that beautiful?” Fiona asked, noting how brightly Corrine was smiling.

Corrine chuckled.

“It is,” she said. “But it also fills me with a nostalgia I had long forgotten.”

“What do you mean?” Ashleigh asked._.

“Oh, you must mean from your life before Wyatt?” Fiona smiled.

Corrine nodded.

“Still waiting for the clarification,” Ashleigh chuckled.

“All the time she spent traveling, dear,” Fiona replied.

“You traveled?” Ashleigh asked, turning to her mother.

Corrine nodded with a laugh.

“Don’t you know where your mother came from?” Fiona asked with surprise.

“I might have had trouble focusing when she mentioned her history….” Ashleigh said as she looked away with some embarrassment.

Corrine laughed.

“By the time Ashleigh was born, my parents were gone,” Corrine said. “Axel knew them only briefly, but he always loved to hear the stories they would share about our life before Winter. After they passed, I took on many more responsibilities as Luna and mother. So when Ashleigh showed little interest in the past, I let it go.”

Fiona nodded in understanding. She had also held back on sharing a lot of her parent’s history with Caleb for similar reasons.

“I’m confused,” Ashleigh said, “I thought you were a Winter wolf?”

“I became one,” Corrine replied. “But I didn’t start out that way.”

“So, which pack did you start out in?”

Corrine smiled and looked around again.

“None,” she said.

Ashleigh was stunned.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I mean, when I was born, my parents were nomadic,” Corrine replied. “And for the first fifteen years of my life, so was I.”

“Nomadic?” Ashleigh furrowed her brows. “You mean… you were a rogue?”

Corrine smiled.

“Technically, yes.”

“But… you… you aren’t like them at all….”

Corrine and Fiona both laughed.

“Ashleigh,” Fiona called her attention. “Summer, Winter, Spring, and Autumn. Among all the packs, these four are known as the ‘great’ packs. Why?”

“Because our packs were formed by the original werewolves, those blessed by the Goddess to lead the wolves against the Fae,” Ashleigh replied.

“Correct,” Fiona smiled. “So, then we are all the same, right?”

“Well… no,” Ashleigh replied. “I mean, yes, we share the blessings of the Goddess, but the fours packs are very different from each other. We each have our own cultures and histories. We lead entirely different lives.”

“Right,” Corrine nodded. “These four packs share one important thing, but otherwise are very different. The same is true for the lesser packs and the rogues.”

Ashleigh took a breath.

“But every rogue I have ever encountered has been hostile, some practically feral.”

“But have you really encountered that many?” Fiona asked.

Ashleigh had fought in several minor skirmishes along the borders over the past three years. But in reality, except for the large-scale attack on all the great packs, the previous attacks were all relatively small.

“The rogues, you know, are the ones we concern ourselves with because they cause problems. And usually, they are the ones that started in a pack and either were kicked out or had difficulty fitting in,” Corrine said. “But in reality, many more are simply not interested in living within the pack system.”

“Most live in small groups of either a single family or at most two or three families,” Fiona added. “The wild type, like your mom said, are generally the ones that have been kicked out. They need discipline and the strength of an alpha but don’t want to recognize that. So, the wolf sort of takes over.”

“Okay… I think I understand,” Ashleigh said. “So, what about your parents, then? Were they the kind who got kicked out?”

“No,” Corrine laughed. “Nomadic wolves simply don’t enjoy being in one place. My mother and her parents came from a long line of nomads. My father was born in Blue Reef. His parents, and his siblings, all remained.”

“Blue Reef?” Fiona asked, “I didn’t know that….”

“Yes,” Corrine said, looking away. “I had cousins there still….”

“I’m so sorry, Corrine.”

Corrine gave a nod but said nothing else.

“When my parents felt the pull of the bond, he chose to join her,” Corrine continued. “He traveled with her and my grandparents for a time, and then when I arrived, my grandparents set off on their own for their twilight journey.”

Corrine smiled at the last words.

“What’s that?” Ashleigh asked.

“It’s the final journey,” Corrine said. “It’s the time when nomadic wolves feel the end coming. They know that soon the sun will set on their final day. So, they make one last trip. It can be anywhere, but most often, it’s the only time a nomad returns to where they were born.”

“That’s kind of beautiful,” Ashleigh smiled.

Corrine nodded.

“I would like a twilight journey,” Fiona said. “But not to the place of my birth.”

“Where to then?” Corrine asked.

“I want to visit the western plains,” Fiona smiled, “I’ve only ever heard about them from you, and they just sounded so peaceful.”

“They are that,” Corrine smiled. “For me, I would like to honor the tradition of returning to where I was born.”

“Where is that?” Ashleigh asked.

“Blue Reef,” Corrine replied. “I was born within their territory. It was my mother’s decision so that my father’s family would know me, no matter where we traveled after.”

“How did you end up in Winter?” Ashleigh asked.

Corrine swallowed and looked away.

“My mother,” she said. “When I was fifteen, she got sick. Very sick. She was sure she would die, so she asked to make her twilight journey. She had been born in the south of Winter.

“We found a small corner that seemed hardly traveled or patrolled, and we set up a camp. We lived there for almost two months before we were discovered.”

“That must have been scary,” Ashleigh said. “Winter does not like trespassers.”

“It was,” Corrine laughed. “But, in the end, your grandfather convinced the patrolman not to take any drastic action. So instead, we applied to join Winter.”

“Was your mother okay with that?” Ashleigh asked.

“By that point, her mind was a bit lost in the sickness,” Corrine said softly. “We were lucky, we were accepted, and they took care of my mother immediately. They treated her, and she was well on her way to recovery after a few more months. Of course, she wasn’t happy about our decision at first, but in the end, she said she would still be completing her twilight journey by staying with Winter.”

“Loophole,” Fiona joked.

Corrine and Ashleigh both laughed.

“Indeed,” Corrine said. “We stayed. I eventually joined the military and went north. Then, when I was twenty-two, I met Wyatt, and the rest is history.”

“Wow…” Ashleigh sighed. “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of that.”

Corrine smiled and put her arm around her daughter.

“Sometimes, it’s nice to just take a moment and learn something about each other that we never knew.”