Gabrielle - After Happy Ever After

Maive looked around. She seemed to be in some kind of forest. She started walking, then stopped. Wandering aimlessly was not the way to find Tony and…Cinnamon, was it? What a name! Maive sat down on the grass and reached into a pouch on her belt. She pulled out a small fragment of a mirror.

“Tell me how it is that I may find
Those that are controlled by another’s mind
By name of Cinnamon and Anthony they go
Tell me, mirror, I must know,” Maive said.

Not a bad rhyme, she thought proudly. At least she hadn’t forgotten everything she had been taught.

“The two you seek are near at hand
They search for a dog who rules a land
They remain within the green
But their image cannot be seen,” the mirror replied.

Maive frowned. What…? Oh! The witch must be shielding their images.

“A thanks I must give to you
In helping me find the two,” Maive said shortly, and put the mirror away.

It was always important to thank a talking mirror or they might not want to help you next time. Mirrors could be picky that way.

Maive got to her feet and looked around. Near at hand…within the green? They must be in this forest somewhere! She had better hurry and find them before they decided to leave!

Tony was seriously tired of this. Not to mention that all of the girl’s food-talk was making him tremendously hungry. And his feet hurt. Plus, he had a headache. And to top it all off, they hadn’t found Wendell.

“This is hopeless. We’re not going to find him,” Tony whined.

“We have to,” Cinnamon said shortly, but she was staring with the most longing look Tony had ever seen in the direction of the Grill. “Don’t we?”

Tony paused and thought it all over. As long as they were near the Park they should be able to catch Wendell before he went back through the mirror. And he couldn’t have gone far. It was getting on in the evening. “All right. We’ll get some food,” Tony nodded. Cinnamon looked like she might jump for joy. Instead she bounded off towards the Grill. Well, close enough. Tony hurried after her. “Don’t think of wolfing down too much. I don’t got that much cash on me,” Tony warned.

Cinnamon nodded absently, her mind obviously already on the food. Tony picked a table and sunk into one of the chairs. Cinnamon took the other one. A waitress came soon. “Can I take your orders?” she asked politely without even looking at them.

Tony picked up a menu. What the heck, he might as well spend all his money now. “I’ll have the steak,” he said and would have continued, but he caught Cinnamon out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were wide and her tongue had lolled out on one side. She stared at the menu like it was a…oh, who knew what she was imagining? Tony quickly covered. “Make that two,” he said quickly. “And what kind of beer you serve here?”

Cinnamon glanced over at Tony. He had yelled at her for her eating habits. She couldn’t help it. She was just so hungry and she had never had food like this. And now here he was, half-drunk.

“Tony. How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked.

“Um…two and a half?” Tony asked, then burped.

Cinnamon growled in frustration. “Guess it’s time to go. Can I get this stuff in a bag or something?” Cinnamon called to the nearest waitress, pointing at what was left on Tony’s plate. If he wasn’t going to eat it, she would. Besides, they should watch the mirror. The dog, King Wendell, had to come back to it sooner or later. Tony was right about that at least. Guess everybody had to be right sometime, Cinnamon thought with a shrug as she pulled Tony towards the door, the bag with the left-over food in her other hand.

Maive had followed the first path she had found. It led her to the edge of the forest. But what she saw was amazing! Lead cars sped by on hard streets with people inside, giant glass buildings rose to the sky. Lights all over, making the deepening night seem like early evening. Maive was staring at everything with such interest that she almost didn’t see the two people exiting the building nearby and coming towards her.

“Tony!”

“Maive? What the…” Tony exclaimed, suddenly a lot more sober.

“Who’s she?” Cinnamon demanded.

Maive closed her eyes and quickly began chanting. If she could finish the spell before Marissa figured out what was going on and countered, she might be able to free them.

“Yours fears have bound you.
Let the binding be undone.
Free the minds and free the body
From the hands of the evil one.
As it is spoken, so let it be done,” Maive chanted.

She opened her eyes. Tony and the wolf-girl were standing as if frozen. Maive hurriedly searched through her pouches, found what she was looking for, and threw it. The small vial broke on the ground near Tony’s feet. A mist seeped from it to wrap around both of them for a moment, then disappeared. Both blinked for a moment, then seemed to come alive again.

“What the hell did you do?” Tony demanded.

“I did it! I actually did it!” Maive realized. She clapped her hands together.

“You did what?!” Tony yelled.

“My spell! My spell to free you from Marissa! It actually worked!” Maive cried. She turned and began walking back towards the mirror, mumbling to herself. “I knew that the potion was right because Master Leo made it for me, but I had no idea that my spell wording would be so affective. This is excellent! Wait until I tell Mistress Phoebe! Oh, she’ll be so pleased. My spells have never worked so well. Well, at all if I make them up, to tell the truth. This is just wonderful!” she rambled to herself.

Tony and Cinnamon hurried after her. “Maive? Maive! What’s going on? What about Pri…I mean, Wendell? Where is he? What’s happened?” Tony asked.

“Oh, him. He’s hiding in the castle. Gave you two the slip. With a little help,” Maive informed them.

“The girls! I knew their scents were mixed a little too much with that dog’s. They must have found him and figured out who he was and brought him back,” Cinnamon exclaimed.

“That’s about right,” Maive agreed. “Wolf, Virginia, and the girls were going to fight Marissa when I left. We have to hurry back and see if they’re all right.”

“You left my daughter to fight that witch!” Tony exclaimed. He pushed past Maive and hurried down the path. As much as he might not act like it at times, he loved his daughter. He did not want anything to happen to her. Maive and Cinnamon hurried after him. The three stepped through the mirror.

Danielle had found a path and decided she might as well follow it. It wasn’t too long before the forest broke around her and the surroundings turned to farmland. Danielle could tell this much from driving through California so much. With her dad and mom divorced and remarried, she had two homes in two different states. It could be hard sometimes, but it could also be cool. She got two rooms. And twice as many parents to beg money from.

But that wasn’t the point at the moment. The point was, she had finally found people! Off in the distance, Danielle could see a village. It was obviously a farming community. She could see the little white blotches that had to be sheep.

Danielle stopped at a sign. She read it carefully. Now entering Little Lamb Village #5 it read. Little Lamb Village, huh? What a cutsy, wutsy name. It sounded like something out of Mother Goose. Danielle shrugged to herself and continued down the road. She was getting very hungry. She would kill for some pizza or maybe just some french fries. Mmmm. “Stop thinking about food,” Danielle commanded herself. “It’ll just make you more hungry.”

Danielle stopped again when she heard giggling. She turned in a circle, looking for the source. She finally found it. There were a group of girls off to the side in one of the fields. They each carried those curved staff things. What were they called? Crooks! That was it!

“Uh…excuse me, but could you tell me where I am?” Danielle asked, leaning over the fence.

The girls looked at each other and giggled some more. It almost made Danielle sick, all that giggling.

“Why, you’re in Little Lamb Village. Didn’t you see the sign?” one of them said with a heavy accent that Danielle couldn’t place.

“Yes, I know. But where is Little Lamb Village? What country?” Danielle asked again.

“Oh! You must mean the Fourth Kingdom. This is King Wendell’s kingdom,” another girl said.

Wendell. Wasn’t that the name of the dog? So the dog was a king? What the…? “Um…I think I need to talk to somebody in town. Like a tour guide or something?” Danielle asked, talking very slowly as if to a very dim-witted child.

“A guide? Oh, well, you’d best speak with someone else, then. We’re just shepherdesses.”

“Uh huh,” Danielle said slowly. “Well, thanks for the help.” Danielle turned and started down the road. She could feel the shepherdesses watching her. “Yeah, right. Thanks for nothing,” she said quietly to herself. Danielle hoped that the people in town would be more helpful.

The forest didn’t stay a forest long. It was very dark under the foliage so Ivy almost didn’t notice. Until she came across the first beanstalk.

“What in the…”she began, but cut herself off as she looked up and could not see the top. She moved around the beanstalk. It was huge. She stopped when she came to a sign. “Condemned. Do not climb,” she read out loud. “Okay, this is weird. And smelly.” These beanstalks smelled so strong! Her nose was filled with the scent, making her unable to smell anything else. It was very strong. It made her sneeze.

Ivy looked around. This place was…well, ominous. She started walking again and couldn’t help but pick up her pace. She would have broke into a run, but something stopped her. It was a statue. She stepped closer to investigate. She had to brush aside some vines, but she saw that the statue was of a young man. She looked down and saw the caption. “Brave Jack. The first mayor of Beantown,” she read. “Brave Jack? Oh, my god.” Ivy stumbled backwards and had to brace herself against a beanstalk. It couldn’t be! It had to be just a coincidence! She must be completely nuts thinking that that could actually be a statue of the Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. It was just impossible!

But what if it wasn’t? Hadn’t she always wished that there was another world, a story world, where adventures and magic existed? Hadn’t she stayed up at night in the dark and wished with all her heart and soul that it was true, believed down to her very core that it had to be, that her mundane life wasn’t all that there was? Maybe she had, in her wishfulness, been right! Ivy didn’t know what she should do. Should she leap for joy, or stay on her guard for the inevitable danger that was always present in stories?

“Save the joy for later, Ivy,” she told herself quietly and wished that she had some sort of weapon. Oh, well. She would have to see how much karate she actually remembered. And how much fairy tale stuff as well. If Jack and the Beanstalk were real here, what else was?

“Are you a troll?”

Ivy must have jumped three feet in the air at that small voice. She spun towards the sound. Seeing no one, she looked down. A little boy stood, half-hidden behind a beanstalk. His bright shining eyes peered out at her. Ivy was not a people person and even less of a kid person. She hated little kids! But something about this little boy melted her heart. She knelt on one knee so she was on more of a level with him and held out her hand. It didn’t really occur to her what he had asked.

“No, no. Of course not. My name’s Ivy,” she said softly and was surprised at herself. She sounded like a…a…kindergarten teacher! Or something. She was never this nice. Especially not to little kids. What was it about this little boy?

“Are you going to hurt me?” the little boy asked fearfully, drawing back farther behind the green stalk.

“No! Never! I promise. Cross my heart,” Ivy said solemnly, crossing her heart. “You can come out. You’re safe with me, I swear.”

The little boy stepped cautiously out from behind the beanstalk. He sniffed when he was close to her and looked up at her. “You smell good,” he said.

“Uh…thanks,” Ivy said uncertainly. How do you respond to that? She decided to wing it. Maybe he could help her find her way back to Danielle and the others. “Do you know where we are?” Ivy asked.

The boy nodded vigorously and flashed a charming smile. “Of course! I’m very smart, really. The school teacher didn’t think so, but I am. We’re in the Third Kingdom. The Troll Kingdom,” he said.

“Kingdom? What do you mean kingdom? Trolls?” Ivy asked. She shook her head. “I’m new here? Can you tell me more about this place?”

The boy started to nod, but sniffed again and cocked his head as if he heard something. “We have to go!” he cried, grabbing Ivy’s hand and pulling.

“What? Why?” Ivy asked, letting herself be pulled.

“The trolls are coming back!” he said in earnest, his eyes wide. “Hurry! We have to hide!”

Ivy cocked her head and now she could hear the sound of barking. She hurried after the boy. He dived under some thick bushes at the base of a beanstalk. Ivy hurried after him. She had to hold her breath, the smell was so strong there.

It wasn’t long before the dogs came into sight. And with them….! Real Trolls! Ivy almost gasped. But that wasn’t who she was. Instead she sized up the situation. Too many of them. They were armed. She could never fight them, especially not with the dogs. Her best bet was to stick with the little boy and hope they passed.

“Suck an elf! We’ll never find those mangy wolves!” a rough voice said, too close for comfort.

“Yeah, we will! We have to!” another voice replied.

“When I find that wolf that took a bite out of me…I’ll skin ‘em alive!” a third declared.

Ivy winced at the comment. Poor wolf! She waited breathlessly for a few more long moments before the trolls and their dogs passed. She scooted back out from under the bush, sitting back on her butt and looking to the boy for explanations. He could only be about seven, but he seemed so…immature wasn’t the right word. Just not mature. Kids in her world (was this a different world?) always seemed older than they were, made tough by their environment. This kid had that aura about him, but not the sense of being forced to act older than he was. Ivy’s intuition told her that he had been through some tough times, but someone had taken care of him. She wondered if that someone was still around.

“Do you know somewhere safe?” she asked.

The boy paused. Then slowly nodded. He took her hand and led her from the bushes quickly, his pace getting faster the farther they went. Ivy didn’t blame him. She wanted out of this area, too.

Virginia stopped, sinking down on a log to catch her breath. The journey hadn’t seemed nearly this tough the first time. Maybe she was more pregnant than she thought. But how? She was only…had it been almost three months already?! Virginia looked down at herself and saw that she was beginning to show a lot! How could that be?! She still had a good six months and about a half to go. Or was there something different about carrying a part wolf baby that she didn’t know about. She really needed Wolf. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was scared. The idea, or rather the speculations about her baby just brought up more and more doubts. Would her baby have a tail?

Virginia shook all her thoughts off. She could worry about that later. Now she had to find someplace to spend the night. She had only about another hour or so of daylight left.

Wolf froze, staying absolutely still. He held his breath as the border patrol guards stomped by. He had learned early what happened to a wolf caught by any of the queen’s men. They hadn’t spared him anything for being a little boy, they wouldn’t now.

As soon as the two guards had passed, Wolf ran across the path towards the next patch of woods. But he hadn’t counted on the queen being there.

“Stop!”

Wolf stopped. He wasn’t sure exactly why he stopped. Maybe it was just the force of the command. Wolf turned slowly to look up at the queen’s caravan.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! He should never have run upwind where he couldn’t smell whatever was coming. Well, it couldn’t be helped now. Wolf adjusted his position a little to convey the right message and stared coolly over at the queen’s vanguard.

The guards surrounded Wolf, hands on their sword hilts. The queen’s carriage stopped in front of them.

“You!” a high voice cried in rage. The door to the carriage was flung open and Red Riding Hood the Third climbed out. She straightened, fixing her already flawless skirts and brushing off the imaginary dirt of the outdoors. “How dare you show your face in this kingdom!” she said, her eyes flashing dangerously.

Wolf shook his head. “I don’t…” he began.

“Silence, you flea-bitten wolf!” Riding Hood cut him off. “Thanks to you and that fool, Wendell, all the wolves across my kingdom have gotten very uppity. Do you know how difficult they have become? I have to make runs out to these godforsaken places just to make sure that they all haven’t run off into the Fourth Kingdom!”

Wolf was thoroughly confused and it showed plainly.

“Don’t play dumb with me! Wendell may have been stupid enough to fall for your tricks, but not me! You wolves think that you can run around the kingdoms and do as you please! Well, you’ve got another think coming!”

“Your…uh…Majesty, I don’t know what you’re talking about? Do you know me?” Wolf asked.

Riding Hood glared at him. “Please. Don’t even try to weasel out of this. Yes, I know you, Wolf. And now that you have wandered into my domain, you will pay.” Riding Hood whirled, making her red skirts flare out behind her and stamped her foot as she waited for someone to open the carriage door for her. When they did, she quickly got into it. “Bring him along. He will be taken back to the castle for questioning,” her voice trailed out.

“What?! No! You don’t understand! My Virginia…the witch! You have to let me go!” Wolf cried. The guards grabbed his arms and began to drag him down the path. “No!” Wolf cried again, struggling. He began to growl and bare his teeth. One of the soldiers clubbed him over the head and he blacked out. The guards dragged him along after the queen’s carriage, back towards her castle.

“Uh…excuse me. Excuse me!” Danielle sighed in utter frustration. No one would pay attention to her. Everyone was too busy. They gave her passing glances or stopped for a moment, then hurried on. She would never get any answers this way. She felt like she was going to scream.

“No, Danielle. You’re okay. You’re calm. There’s a man over there by that well, you can ask him,” she said to herself, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Danielle strode through the crowd of villagers to the well.

“Hello,” the man said, also with an accent.

“Hi,” Danielle said uncertainly. The man was missing a few teeth and looked a little grungy. Oh, well. “Um…could you…?” she began.

“I’m the village idiot. And not just a half-wit, neither. I’m a complete idiot!” he said with much pride.

“Oh, good for you, then,” Danielle said, unconsciously picking up an accent of her own. Danielle had always had a thing for accents, especially British. Without knowing it, she had fallen back on it after hearing everyone else speaking with one, although theirs were definitely not British.

“I’m in charge of the wishing well. The water’s back on now, you know? People travel from all around to have things blessed right in this well. That’s how we were able to get the village back running again so quick. You gonna make a wish, then? It’s bad luck not to,” he said.

“I would. I really would. But I don’t have any money on me, I don’t think,” Danielle said, searching her pockets. She found a quarter and held it up. “Will this work? Oh, what am I saying? Anything’ll work, it’s a wishing well,” Danielle muttered to herself.

“What kind of money’s that? That’s not a Wendell,” the village idiot said, peering at the quarter.

“A what? No, it’s a quarter. From my…um…land,” she said carefully.

“Oh! All right, then. Make a wish,” he said, moving aside and waiting expectantly.

Danielle stepped up next to the well and closed her eyes. She wished fervently for someone who could help her. Then she threw the quarter down into the well. She opened her eyes and leaned over to watch it. She could hear a faint whistling sound as it dropped and then a plunk. Danielle waited. Wasn’t something supposed to happen now?

No, of course not. It was just a silly trick to get people to waste their change.

Suddenly, there was a blurp from the well and shining lights flew up the well and onto Danielle. She jumped in surprise, but it was already over. Whatever that had been, it was gone. “Your wish has been granted! Congratulations!” the village idiot said, grabbing her hand and pumping it vigorously.

Danielle wiggled her hand free. “Oh, great. Hey do you know where…” she began.

“I do!” a little voice said.

“What?” Danielle asked, turning around. Something buzzed past her face. Her hand automatically swatted at it.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? I’m trying to help you!” the voice said angrily.

The something buzzed around her head, then alighted on Danielle’s shoulder. Danielle turned her head to see…it was a fairy! Danielle stumbled back off the platform around the well. The fairy had to flap her wings and grab ahold of Danielle’s hair to stay on her shoulder. “Calm down. I’m just a fairy. I heard your wish and since I was closest, I responded. So,” the fairy said, sitting down on her shoulder and getting comfortable, “What’s your problem?”

“Are you serious?” Danielle asked in a whisper, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed her and the fairy.

The fairy saw what she was doing and raised her hand to get her attention. “Don’t worry. No one else can see me. Just you because it was your wish. Now, I can only help if I know the problem,” she said.

Danielle looked at the fairy skeptically. She was covered in a leaf-like outfit. She had big, bright eyes and long silver hair. She had long, beautiful wings that were colored silver, blue, and green and sparkled almost magically. Her small face shown. Plus, she was getting impatient.

“Okay. But not here. I know I’m crazy, but these people don’t have to,” Danielle said quickly. She started walking out of the village square and away from the people.

“I know a faster way,” the fairy announced. Before Danielle could even think of replying, there was a flash and a zap sound and the next thing Danielle knew she was out in one of the far fields around the village.

“Wow,” Danielle breathed. “How’d you do that?”

“Fairy magic.” She shrugged it off.

Danielle found a good spot and sat down, Indian-style. The fairy fluttered over to land on her knee.

“My name’s Danielle,” she said, thinking it would be best to start with names.

“My name is Breena,“ the fairy replied. “I’m a regular, garden variety fairy. There’s a lot of different kinds, you know. I’m sometimes called a forest fairy.”

“Oh,” Danielle said. “Well, the reason I wished for help is because I’m not from here. I’m from Earth. Phoenix, Arizona, to be exact. I have no idea what this place is or how to get back to that castle or find Ivy and Wolf and Virginia or anything. I don’t even know where I am. I get that I’m in Little Lamb Village. And that that’s in the Fourth Kingdom. But what is the Fourth Kingdom?”

The fairy nodded. “The Tenth Kingdom. You’re like the Lady Virginia. I understand. You need a guide like Wolf was for her. This is gonna be a long assignment, isn’t it?” Breena mumbled. She cleared her throat and began. “First off, you are in what is known as the Nine Kingdoms. They were formed a long time ago. The first five were established by the Five Women Who Changed History. They are Snow White, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Gretel, and Rapunzel. Cinderella is the only one still alive and she is over 200 years old.”

“Hold it. You mean this is a fairy tale land?” Danielle asked in disbelief.

“Well, yes,” Breena nodded.

Danielle’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. “I…I…” she stumbled.

Breena nodded. “The idea will take some getting used to. You’ll adjust. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Later, the other Four Kingdoms were formed and the borders have changed a little, but that’s basically how they have stayed. We didn’t learn until recently of the Tenth Kingdom. Not until the incident with the Evil Queen. But that’s a long tale. These villages, Little Lamb Villages, were founded by Little Bo Peep herself. Most of the Peeps used to live in this very village, but after the discovery of how they had stolen the well water, they were driven out of town. Again, not relevant right now. The castle? You must mean Wendell’s castle, right?” the fairy paused for Danielle to nod. “I would take you there immediately, but fairy magic isn’t that long range. Only short hops. You’ll have to go on foot,” Breena finished.

“All right. And you’re going to be my guide?” Danielle asked slowly.

“Yep. Looks like it,” Breena nodded again.

Ivy was getting out of breath and that familiar pain in her knee had returned in force. It wasn’t long before the boy broke into a run and Ivy had to run after him. Before her numerous knee injuries she had been a great runner, but now it just made her knee explode with pain. She couldn’t go very far very fast. The boy was very fast and didn’t seem to tire. Ivy was thanking her lucky stars when he slowed down and finally stopped.

They were out of the beanstalks and back into a woods of some sort. The boy was looking around and sniffing again.

“What is it?” Ivy asked.

The boy didn’t answer. Instead he took off in another direction. Ivy rubbed her knee, then followed. She prayed it wouldn’t be far.

Ivy was so busy with her silent prayers and her knee pains that she wasn’t looking where she was going and was caught by surprise when someone caught her around the waist and pulled her to a stop.

“Woah, stop,” the guy who had stopped her said.

Ivy jerked free of his arms and backed up, on her guard. She brought up her hands into a semi-ready position in case she had to fight. “Who’re you?” she demanded.

“My name’s Faolan. You found my little brother, Randal. Thanks. I knew the trolls were coming. I was worried about him,” he replied. “I would have gone after him, but the bean stalk smell completely covered his scent. I never would have found him in time.”

Ivy saw the little boy peek out from behind his older brother at her. She smiled at him and relaxed. “Sorry, I just…” she tried to explain.

“It’s all right,” Faolan nodded, understanding. He looked her over as she was doing him. He had dark hair, like his little brother. But the little boy had bright blue eyes. Faolan had almost golden brown ones. Like a wolf’s, she thought absently. He flashed a smile at her and his eyes flashed as well. “What were you doing in that area anyway? Are you lost?” he asked and Ivy felt compelled to answer as best she could and didn’t know why.

“Yes. I…well, I don’t know anything about this place, really. I’m not from around here. Anywhere around here,” Ivy replied, spreading her arms to encompass this whole world or whatever it was.

Faolan looked a little confused. “So you don’t know where you are? What this place is? What we are?” he asked.

Ivy shook her head. “Your brother told me that we’re in the Third Kingdom, but where is that? What’s this land called?” Ivy asked.

Faolan started to explain, but cast a glance back at the area where they had come from and decided to move along. “Come on. I’ll explain on the way. It’s not too safe around here,” he said, taking his brother’s hand and leading the way.

Ivy hurried to catch up. The two brothers could set a pretty fast pace, that was for sure! Ivy turned over her situation in her mind. And she had to say she wasn’t not pleased with it. Wait a minute! Had Faolan said what we are? What was that supposed to mean? Now she had to know.

“What do you mean, what you are?” Ivy demanded.

Faolan looked a little hesitant to tell her.

“I don’t really care, you know. You guys are the only thing between me and being lost with those trolls. I’m not gonna hold anything against you,” she added quickly.

That seemed to make Faolan a little happier. Still he was slow to speak. “My brother and I,…well, we’re part wolf,” he said slowly and watched her closely for her reaction.

“Part what?” Ivy asked. Maybe she hadn’t heard right.

“Part wolf,” Faolan repeated. “But huff-puff, don’t think that just because we’re part wolf that we…”

Ivy noticed absently that he seemed rather defensive. At least, on this subject anyway. “No, no. I just…I’ve never met anyone who was part wolf before. I mean, how…? What?” Ivy sighed in frustration. “Are you like werewolves or what? What makes you part wolf? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry. Just ignore me.” Ivy berated herself for even asking. She could see that Faolan was uncomfortable with the subject. She shouldn’t have pressed it. But…could he really be part wolf?

Randal tapped her hand and she looked over at him. He pulled something around from behind him and Ivy saw it was a tail! “This does. And other things,” he said quietly.

Ivy’s eyes widened in surprise and for the first time in her life she thought she might faint. She stumbled and felt herself dropping to the ground. She closed her eyes, trying to figure all this out and force herself to keep moving. Someone caught her and lowered her more gently onto the grass. Without opening her eyes, Ivy said, “I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve never…no one in my world has a tail!”

There was no reply. Ivy spent the next moment trying to remember the stories she had read when she was younger. Hadn’t the wolves in Grimm’s fairy tales been able to talk and such. Maybe wolves here weren’t the same as wolves on Earth. Ivy opened her eyes. The more she thought it over the more it started to make some kind of sense. And the more she came to like the idea. A tail would be useful for running, wouldn’t it? Providing balance and such. And from the way that Randal had been sniffing earlier, he could probably follow his brother’s scent. That was probably one of the most useful things. She'd be willing to bet anything that their other senses were better than hers were, too. And had Faolan said huff-puff? One of Ivy’s favorite things about acting and stories and make-believe things was getting to say things that you don’t normally get to say. And who normally gets to say huff-puff? Part wolves, apparently.

“Are you all right?” Randal asked. He was sitting near her and looking at her. His brother stood a few paces away, like he expected her to leave now, trolls or no trolls.

“Yes, yes. I’m fine. I just needed a moment to think all this through.” Ivy said truthfully.

“Do you hate us now? A lot of people hate us,” Randal said.

“What? No!” Ivy smiled to prove it and messed up Randal’s hair. “You know, I’ll bet you and your brother over there can smell a troll coming for half a mile, huh?”

“I could! I’ve got a really good nose,” Randal told her proudly.

“Uh huh. That’s what I thought. And I’ll bet either one of you could run across this kingdom or whatever and not trip once with that tail to balance you. Am I right?” this time she looked over at Faolan.

“Yes. Probably,” he admitted stiffly.

“And you know what? I think that those people who hate you are just jealous,” Ivy finished, turning back to Randal.

“Really?” he asked hopefully.

“Yep,” Ivy nodded. “Now, could one of you give me a hand getting up? My knee is killing me.”

Faolan gave her a hand. Ivy brushed herself off, but stopped when she felt him staring at her. She looked up at him. “What?” she asked.

“Did you say all that for Randal or do you mean it?” he asked quietly so his brother wouldn’t hear.

“I meant it. If I ran off just now, don’t tell me you couldn’t find my scent and track me down in seconds. That’s a useful skill,” Ivy said, then grinned. “Besides, I’ve never met anyone who could chase their own tail before.”

At that Faolan grinned and laughed. “You should see Randal,” he said.

“What?” Randal’s head shot up. “What’d I do?”

“Nothing,” Faolan said in that big brother, ‘I’m humoring you’ voice that was kind of sing-songy.

Ivy had heard that voice too often at her own home. She decided to side with Randal. One of her own personal favorite activities at home was being a double agent in the household. “He said you chase your tail,” she reported.

“I do not!” Randal protested.

Faolan smiled at his brother’s protest. Ivy was glad. It seemed she had remedied that situation. That was new for her. She was more used to screwing them up. Faolan transferred his smile to her and she couldn’t help, but smile back. “You know, I’ll bet I could teach you to be a wolf,” he said.

Ivy cocked her head a little, intrigued. “Oh? And how do you plan on doing that?” she asked.

“Well, first off, wolves learn better on the move or safe in their den. So let’s get moving! If we can get to the river by nightfall, we’ll have made some progress. Then, tomorrow we can cross into the Fourth Kingdom,” Faolan said.

Ivy nodded as if she understood.

“Second, wolves always watch where they’re going,” he said teasingly.

“Hey! You know, for some reason, I doubt that,” she said and started walking at a brisk pace. Her knee did hurt, but if she kept her mind off it, she could almost forget that it did.

Faolan followed her. Randal took it upon himself to run ahead and be the group’s own little scout. Ivy could tell by the sky that there wasn’t much day left. She hoped the river was close by.