A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Littlebit stripped off her sandals, delicately stuck her feet into the stream, and sat with her chin on her fists, pondering the nature of wolves, curses, and babies.

She knew that she was duty-bound to take care of Virginia’s baby. She had not expected to fall so fanatically in love with it. She'd worshipped her nephew from the moment he had been placed in her arms last night and snuggled up to her with a sigh. That was only to be expected-wolves were made to love babies, it was part of their nature. It was probably impossible for one to not adore and protect any infant it came in contact with... one of the main reasons why she had refused to hold or sniff her own daughter at birth. Better to never become attached, knowing what would have to happen after.

The past couldn’t be changed. But what did that mean for the future? Would her own haunted past bring the curses of the forest down on the cub? The shadows flickered everywhere ever since the birth, even inside the house now. Sometimes she heard whispering from rooms she knew were empty. Cinderella’s pendant always shone with its own light, driving the shadows back, but they were there. Since the ghosts had always followed her, Littlebit had fled back to the woods, hoping to draw them away. Unfortunately, that left her alone with her own guilt and doubts.

Contrarily, it also left her with a measure of peace. For so long she had lived and worked in isolated rooms, with only a few other seamstresses to gossip with. It wasn’t like living in a village where everyone was on top of everyone else, and the noise of building and just living was so loud every day. And where everyone called her the wrong name. Wolf had slipped and called her “Littlebit” in public. At the Renfaire, it was ignored as a family quirk. Here, every word from a Wolf’s mouth was a decree, and so she had been renamed.

“A human comes.” The voice of a child startled her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, did you follow me from the vil-” Littlebit’s voice cut off as she turned to look at her companion. A very little boy, hardly any older than Addie, looked at her out of bleeding, empty sockets. The back of his pants were soaked in blood, gushing from where a tail should have grown.

“A human comes for the baby!” The little girl who appeared from the shadows had her eyes, but a nostril had been sliced. She must have tried to scent something. She’d heard of the punishments, of the way they slowly mutilated the part-wolf children. At least they still had their tongues...

Not the one who stepped from behind a tree. He was older, having made it to adolescence before they punished him for howling. He gurgled at her as Littlebit whimpered in fear.

“Go away! Why do you haunt me! Go a-way!”

More and more of them appeared, clustering around her. Littlebit shrieked and swung at them, her hands passing through the cold ghosts.

“A human!” “A human comes!” “Human!” “Protect the baby, a human comes!”

“Who? What do you want?” They closed in on her, tugging at her skirt, pointing to the village, repeating over and over that humans were on the way.

“Leave her alone!”

Sobbing with relief, Littlebit turned to her rescuer, only to scream in horror at the ghost of a wolf woman, blood pouring from her gutted stomach. Incoherent with terror, she could only whimper as the ghost looked at her.

“They think you are one of them, tailless one. Your half blood and mutilation binds them to you.”

“No… I… no…”

“No indeed.” The ghost curled a disdainful lip. “I know what you really are. I know what you did. But you can redeem yourself yet. Take their warning, tailless one. Humans come to see the child. Protect it.”

“Protect it from who?” Littlebit wailed. “His mother is human! This baby will have a royal blessing! Who would dare hurt it besides you?”

“A blessing!” “A royal blessing!” The ghosts of the children buzzed amongst themselves. Those who had eyes looked at her hopefully. Others clasped their hands. The first to talk to her asked, “Which royalty?”

“King Wendell White, grandson of Snow White!”

“Oh.” “Ohhhhh...” “Ooooohhh.” The children started to disappointedly disperse-not by walking, but by slowly evaporating.

“Go!” Littlebit shrieked at them. “Leave me and the baby alone! We’ve rebuilt the sanctuary, leave these woods!”

The wolf woman was the last to disappear, leaving a mournful, “We cannot,” on the wind behind her.

Totally forgetting her sandals, Littlebit tore back to the village as fast as she could run.

Tony took a certain amount of pleasure in being the first dignitary to arrive after the birth. It was only to be expected; he didn’t have royal appointments to keep, and his castle was closer. Still, it was good to have a little time with his family before Wendell arrived to turn everything into pomp and circumstance.

Wolf took him right up to the bedroom, where a tired-looking Virginia was staring at the baby in her arms like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Oh, he’d forgotten how itty-bitty new babies were!

“Sweetie, how are you? Everything okay?” The smile on her face was so reassuring. Her mother had cried when she delivered, and not from happiness. In the back of his mind Tony always worried-would Virginia go the same way?

She looked exhausted, but that was to be expected. Certainly she didn’t look homicidally depressed. At least her grandmother wasn’t here to poison her with ideas of how things “were supposed to be.” If there was the slightest sign of depression, he was going right back through the mirror and getting Virginia some medicine, and the anti-psychiatry, anti-drug attitude of “our kind of people in society don’t do that” be damned!

“Come meet your grandson,” she offered. He didn’t need to be invited twice. Sitting gingerly on the bed, he took the precious bundle into his arms. One infinitesimal hand closed around his thumb.

“You’ve got quite a healthy grip there, little Tony,” he told the baby, feeling himself turning to mush.

Wolf snorted. “You mean Warren has a healthy grip.”

Warren? Oh, yeah, that was Wolf’s original name or something. “You’re gonna find it’s really confusing to have the baby named after his father. Besides, Tony Lewis has a nice ring to it.”

Wolf was scowling. “So does Warren Lewis. The baby’s name is-“

“Wendell,” Virginia said from the bed.

Wolf and Tony turned to her in surprise, squawking in unison, “Wendell?”

“Wen. Dell. Who started this whole adventure? Wendell. Who did I first meet from this world? Wendell. Who did you follow to my world, Wolf? Wendell. Why did we meet? Because of Wendell.”

“But...”

“Wendell!”

“They’ll call him Wendy,” Wolf warned. Tony snorted. Just what his grandson needed, to be the Nine Kingdom equivalent of being a boy named Sue!

Still, one look at Virginia and he knew the cause was lost. When she really wanted something, she’d find a way to get her way, and this was obviously going to be one of those times.

Wolf recognized her expression too. “I suppose Wendell Warren Lewis isn’t so bad,” he said dubiously.

“Wendell Warren Anthony Lewis,” Tony chipped in.

Virginia was about to say something, but a cultured accent cut her off. “What a charming name! Even though it does seem silly to give babies names that are twice as long as they are.” King Wendell strode into the room. “Still, he can grow into it like I did.” He held out his hands. “Do let me hold my namesake!”