My name is Clover. I loved them, I love them, but part of me is incomplete. My family, my life, all is ensconced within the clean lines of Avon. But I must collect those who are lost.
I have bought a horse, and a rugged riding skirt, and stout shoes. I will find them. The horse is named Richard. His coat and mane are black.

I repeat this fragmented back story to myself as I sit in the Snow White Memorial Prison. Is it redundant to say this place is frightening? It is: made of dark wood and decorated with dead bodies.
I drum my fingers on the scarred wooden table and tap my toes on the floor. The walls close in, inch by inch…
The door swings open. A guard pushes in. “Miss Clover? Miss Cora.” He ushers in my pack-sister.
Cora takes a seat across from me. The guard retreats to the corner by the door. He crosses his arms and glares at us.
Her white hair is thin and hangs like a wimple. Her eyes are as big and pale as the summer moons she used to howl at. The skin is far too pale. I remember there was a time when it was stained red with sunburn. I wonder, for a moment, if blood ever bathed those cheeks. I shake my head to rid it of those thoughts.
Her hands used to move, as powerful as hawks. They are folded now, and rest demurely on the table.
I take a breath. “Cora…Cora, I’ve missed you.”
She smiles serenely. “Have you?”
“Yes, yes my brother and me.” She tilts her head. “I live in Avon now; it’s wonderful. Everyone is just like us.”
She furrows her brow. “Like us?”
I nod. “Half animal. Deor married--”
“Deor?”
I swallow. “Deor. My brother.”
She shakes her head and smiles apologetically.
“My brother. We want you to join us in Avon. I’m sure you’ll be released soon, because of what Wolf’s done.”
“Who?”
I grab her hands. “Wolf. Wolf! I’m going to find him, too. Bring him home. Bring you both home.”
She shrugs.
I nod. “Well. Well. Remember me, please. Clover. Come home. To Avon.”
“Yes, thank you for visiting me, miss.”
My heart breaks. “Clover. Cora, who are you? Don’t you remember growing up in Rougefleur, don’t you remember-fire?” I am becoming hysterical; the guard begins the long journey to the table.
Savagely, Cora grips my hands and leans across the table. “Dear Clover, I did what I had to do. Good behavior.” Her eyes glow; she is a wolf. She leans back and is perfect once more. “And never say his name to me again,” she whispers.
“Time’s up,” the guard says, taking Cora by the upper arm.
“Farewell,” Cora says as she leaves.

I am cleared to leave and stumble to the post where my horse is tied. I lead him past the out-buildings. Beside an old tool shed, farthest from the prison, I release the horse and begin to cry, sinking against the wooden wall, head resting on knees.
A voice below me asks, “Why are you crying?” It is a crow.
I lean back and run my hands through my hair. I shake my head.
The crow nods. He opens his bright beak but then pauses. He closes it again and turns his head sideways. “I must ask…” He ruffles his feathers. “I…what is that? It’s beautiful.” He spreads his large wings, this stray piece of night streaking through midday, and treads air at my throat. I lean back, splinters pressing through my shirt. He comes forward still and, for lack of a better word, bites my necklace. That bit of metal at my neck pulls me forward, chaining me to the past, and it is more important to me than even the future. I swat him away; send that old crow flying; although I am glad he quickly rights himself.
He returns to the ground, carefully rearranging his wings. His eyes are bright, two glowing stars in his dark frame. “Wow, sorry. That coin around your neck - it distracted me, is all - unfortunately, that’s one of the true crow traits that’s snuck in: being distracted by shiny things.” He laughs. “Anyway, I have to ask you - it’s part of my curse, yeah? - it’s beautiful, though, that coin. Very old, too. Is it a love token?”
I am drowning. I nod.
“As lovely as the lady that wears it. So, back to my question: would you take a vow of silence and weave me a shirt of star wart, never crying out though the thorny fibers prick your fingers?”
I stare at him, incapable of speech. I shouldn’t have left Avon.
“Are you enchanted, too, wolf-girl? Can you not speak?”
I take a breath. “I can speak. And Crow, if I knew where star wart grows, I would gladly make you a shirt.”
He jumps. “Such a lovely voice! Wait -- you would really make me a shirt?” He leaps into my lap.
“I would. But I must be going.” I push him from my lap and stand.
“Wait, wait! I just…I haven’t heard another voice in so long, yeah? They only shout at crows.”
I nod and brush myself off.
“Well, well. There is probably a statue of limitations, yeah? It is an old curse.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, as I readjust Richard’s saddlebags.
“Well…let me come with you.”
He is standing in the dirt, precariously close to the horse’s hooves. I crouch down.
“It’s a personal quest; you’d be bored.”
He swallows and stares at me. “Let me go with you. Please.”
“Fine.”
I stand and turn my back to him; I feel something sticking me in my left shoulder. The crow is delicately sinking his claws through the cloth.
“My name is Lir,” he says.
I roll my shoulders. “My name is Clover.” I take Richard by the reigns and start on the path.
“A wolf-girl named for a plant!”
“How do you know I’m a wolf?”
“Smell, yeah? Like that other wolf that broke out.”
I stop and look at him, his face level to mine. “Do you know anything about that wolf?”
“Oh, well…I mean, I saw him break out, but… Why?”
“He is my brother. I’m going to find him, bring him home.”
“Oh? Oh! Sure, sure, I know all about him. His name…his name, eh…”
“His name is Wolf.” We are moving again, but all of my attention is fixed on Lir.
“Right, well. Wolf. Handsome chap, yeah? And, um, there was a girl with him...?”
“Virginia, I think.”
“Right. Loveliest girl in the kingdoms. Except for you, now. But, uh…He looked healthy. Hair was good, skin was good.”
“Healthy.”
“Yeah. And brave. Brave! He saved his friends after all, got them out of that prison. And in, I suppose.”
“Did you hear him say anything?”
“Sure, sure. Um…that he’d do anything he could to help Virginia, but also, uh, how he couldn’t wait to see his sister again.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Virginia and his family: all he spoke of.”
I fear for Wolf, after seeing what happened to Cora. But perhaps he remembers us still, remembers me? And Virginia, too, shall be welcomed home.
“So, Lir, how did you come to be a crow?”
“Oh, typical stuff, you know? My father was wealthy and my stepmother put a curse on me. My sister tried to make me a shirt…But then she met a nice fellow and fell in love, and well…I wanted her to be happy.”
I nod.
“That was so long ago, yeah? And she’s dead now. I would visit, my nieces and nephews, but…They didn’t understand, having a bird-brain for an uncle. And I just…they looked so much like my sister, my parents, and I couldn’t even touch them.”
Clumsily, I pat him with my right hand.
“Thank you,” he says softly.
He chatters blithely for the rest of the day.

We camp in the forest. I rest on my stomach and stare into the fire. I make up stories for the shapes I see dancing within. Those two are my parents… Those are trolls… Poor Deor stumbling in from Beantown…
“Whatcha see?” Lir says.
I jump; he is beside my ear. “Nothing important.”
“Can you divine the future?”
I chuckle and sit up. “It would have certainly made my life easier.”
“Tell me about yourself - I talked about myself all the way here - Who is Clover?”
“There is nothing much to tell.”
“C’mon. Hopes? Dreams? Who’s that coin from? Must be a wonderful fellow.”
I draw up my knees and gaze into the fire. I don’t want to tell Lir anything. My story is the only thing I can control.
“I-I’m sorry, Clover. Did I say…? Cheer up, yeah? Don’t be mad.” He hops a little.
“Nothing,” I whisper and lie back. The moon smiles at me.
“Lovely night, yeah?” Lir says desperately.
“The moon is…glorious.” There is a bunny in the moon. I could grab it, just shake it and shake it… I shake my head. Where did that come from?
“I uh…heard him sometimes, your brother. He’d howl through the bars.” Lir is at my head again.
“My poor brother…”
“It’s hard, yeah? But I’m sure he’s happy now.”
The bunny glows, teasing me. I am gripped by the desire to run. And Lir is so close, so close, a fine bundle of flesh and feathers, of beating heart and blood… Richard stamps the ground, breaking the spell. To my horror, I realize I am panting.
“Lir, I - I need to be alone.” I bolt.

I run for a bit, trying to work out the wildness. Trees, branches, leaves, all meld into one large indistinguishable scene. Darkness all around and I am alone. The bunny still sits in the moon, though the moon is not full. I look around, but I am still alone. Carefully, I undo my skirt and release my poor tail. I take a breath. And then I do what I have not done since I was a cub: I howl.
I hear a rushing -- newly wakened birds and animals fleeing to safety.
“Are you okay?” I hear. I pick out Lir from the branches.
“Yeah…yeah. The moon.”
“I think you need to get some rest, Clover.”
I nod and follow him back to camp.