Natasha Luepke - The Wolf Now Roams Among Fearless Lambs

To be sure, it is an unconventional arrangement; the townspeople would have commented on it had they not been used to unconventional arrangements.
One day, in the early spring, a royal messenger had arrived. The long-empty castle on the hill had been bought. Not only bought, but by two women. To the townspeople, these women were strangers, yet both seemed strangely familiar to Elsinore. And they would have commented on this dichotomy, the townspeople, had they not been used to strange dichotomies.
The women turned the grand ghostly castle into an inn, an oasis for the alive in what had been an everlong winter of deathly despair. It was called The Inn with No Name. The townspeople called it, simply, The Inn.
Some chattering grannies could be heard to quietly mutter that they thought the first official inn of Elsinore would have a more dignified name - the Sparrow, perhaps, or the Queenshead. But none of the townspeople had any real objections to this name, though no one could quite put their finger on why.
The main proprietor of The Inn is the older of the two women. She has dark hair and flashing eyes and an air of sorrow and a quick smile. Since her arrival, the townspeople could swear they heard more wolf howls than in the past. But then, people of the Eight Kingdom are used to wolves; the townsfolk of Elsinore are no different.
The other woman, though, the jill-of-all-trades of the inn, she is even stranger than her companion. She has the blonde hair and blue eyes of the locals. Unlike the locals, however, are the great wings that emerge from her back. The feathers are the coal black of midnight crows; her darkness and light bring a sweet shine to The Inn and to Elsinore. She is lovely and kind, and careful with her wings, and so the townspeople do not say anything. Occasionally, a mother will object to her child being taken for a ride by the winged-woman; otherwise, the townspeople do not say anything.
The women receive frequent guests besides the inn patrons. In time, the townspeople will learn who these people are, just as they will come to embrace Clover and Iduna. In time.
None of the townspeople are quite sure of the relationship between the two women. The younger seems devoted to the elder; but how strange is that? The elder takes care of the younger; but how strange is that? They call each other “sweetie”; but how strange is that? And the bachelors call upon them and are turned away; but then, how strange is that? But they are happy, these two, and smile in each other’s presence, and how miraculous is that?