“Thank you for letting me stay here,” Yao said like he did every night since the tavern had been burned to the ground along with the rest of the village.

Shijen just nodded. “We’re all doing our part,” came the canned response. He was one of the lucky few whose homes had not been destroyed when the dragon army marched through. “How is the rebuild going?”

“Slow. The army has been deployed to help everyone rebuild, starting with the essentials. But, apart from the main village, the dragons burned through half a dozen or so smaller villages on their way through. A tavern is low-priority when compared to a lot of other things like Pack Hall, homes, merchant stalls, bakeries, and other such things. Not that I’m complaining! I know the wolf princes are working hard to coordinate things efficiently. It’s just going to take a while.” He said he wasn’t complaining, but Yao certainly wanted to.

"Considering their personal loses at the battle, I'd say that the princes are doing a remarkable job."

"Mn."

“Did you hear the rumor that the young Alpha was identified during the battle?” Shijen had been saving this juicy tidbit to cheer Yao up.

Without the tavern and its diverse patrons to chat up, Yao had been sorely missing his gossip, and, as Shijen had hoped, Yao perked up immediately. “Are you serious?! Do you know who? How did it happen?”

“Yeah!” Shijen laughed. “Apparently, it was a particularly stunning event.”

“Details?!” Yao was on the edge of his seat.

“As you know, the young Alpha is traditionally identified in a special, private ceremony. Most people don’t know this, but there is some mysterious ability unique to Alpha wolves that ensures the loyalty of the pack or tribe. During the battle, the young Alpha used this ability, possibly by accident, no one really knows, to inspire the troops to beat back the dragons.”

“How wonderfully dramatic!” Yao was beaming. “And do you know which of the Lang children is the new Alpha?”

“There’s some debate around that particular point, actually. Some seem to think that one of the youngest twins is the Alpha while others think it’s the princess.”

“The princess? Again?!”

Shijen laughed. “She certainly has a talent for getting herself involved in everything.”

“Speaking of,” Yao grinned, “I heard from one of the soldiers that the princess held the front gate of Pack Hall entirely on her own for over half of the battle. Something like five hours!”

“No! That can’t be right. Five hours?! Alone?! Even a full-grown man wouldn’t last that long.”

“That’s what he said.” Yao protested. “According to him, she single-handedly held the gate and killed thousands of dragons.”

“That has to be an exaggerated war story,” Shijen rolled his eyes.

“Exaggerated or not, within every tall tale, there is a grain of truth. Perhaps this special Alpha ability gave her superhuman strength or something.”

“Now hold on,” Shijen grinned. “We don’t know for certain that Huo Lohse Lang even is the young Alpha. Tribe Leader Lang hasn’t made an official announcement yet anyway.”

Yao laughed. “It’s always Huo Lohse. Always! If there is a fight to be had, a wrong to right, or a position to fill, it’s always the princess.”

That was hard to argue, and Shijen laughed.

***

“Alright, Standig. You wanted to talk,” Huo Lohse said, pulling him aside during lunch. “I said later. It’s later.”

Not expecting Lolo to actually follow through, Standig was confounded by the sudden change in her tone.

“Do you still want to talk?”

“She’s not angry,” Standig realized.

“Standig? Are you ok?”

“Fine.”

“Oh good. I thought that maybe you’d forgotten how to talk,” Lolo smiled gently.

“She’s smiling?!” This was almost too much for him to handle.

“What did you want to talk about yesterday?”

“Lolo, um, are we ok?” Standig wasn’t really sure where to start. The conversation he’d prepared in his head assumed that Lolo would be angry with him while they talked.

“Come sit with me,” Lolo said and took his arm to lead him to a remote corner of the courtyard.

“She’s being gentle.” Standig couldn’t wrap his head around this. It’s like a switch had flipped overnight. Yesterday, she couldn’t even stand his presence. Today…. Standig didn’t dare to hope that this would last, that this was real.

They sat down on the ground across from each other and Lolo took a deep breath. “I think I know what you want to talk about, so let me just put this out there. I’m still mad at you, Standig. You should have told me, you should have told us about the attack on my tribe. There's no way of knowing how things might be different now had we all fought together as a team.” Lolo choked up, but not from anger. “I’m trying really hard not to blame you, Standig. I don’t like being angry with you, and, to be fair, I know that the battle, everything that happened there, that wasn’t your fault. I just wish….” She wasn’t able to complete that thought. Her tears overwhelmed her. She wished for so many things, and her heart hurt just thinking about it.

Standig resisted the impulse to hug her as his eyes welled-up too. She was right, of course. He should have told everyone. If he had, the massacre might never have happened. Lolo’s mom and friends might all still be alive. If he were her right now, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself either. “I’m sorry,” he finally managed, breaking into tears.

“I know.” She looked up at him. “I know you are, Standig, and I’m trying to forgive you.”

***

Patiently waiting on the bench by the doors of The Great Hall, Lolo tried to wrap her head around the last twenty-four hours. How could a single conversation change everything? She’d been trapped in a headspace of blind rage for so long, how could a single conversation pull her out of it? It wasn’t even a particularly long conversation. She’d ranted, Philige had listened, it was admittedly nice for someone to actually listen to her for once, but then, what was it that Philige had said that made such a difference? Somehow, he’d managed to make her feel validated, understood, and hopeful all at the same time. He gave her permission to just feel, like those feelings weren’t simply a nuisance to push through. In fact, he had made those monstrously painful and ugly feelings seem beautiful. Which was absurd! And yet, here she was.

The doors to her left opened and the council of elders filed out in clusters. Lolo watched for Philige, but she didn’t see him. She picked up her things to poke her head into The Great Hall and saw Philige shifting some papers around on a desk down on the platform. He was packing up.

“Knock, knock!” She announced her presence before skipping down the stairs.

“Lolo! Hey!” Philige was startled, and he upset some of the papers he was holding. He’d been looking forward to seeing her all day, but he wasn’t expecting to see her until later.

She laughed and set her things down to help him collect his papers. “You didn’t specify a time or location to meet you for our walk. I figured my best bet at finding you was to wait for your meeting to finish,” she explained.

“Oh. Sorry about that.” Philige smiled self-consciously.

“It’s no problem.”

“Were you waiting long?”

“Not at all. I brought you dinner! I've already had mine,” she said, picking up a basket that one of the cooks had helped her assemble. “Matron seemed happy that someone was making sure you ate it. Have you been skipping meals? I know you’re busy, Philige, but you need to take care of yourself.”

“I, uh, thank you.”

“You’re welcome! Eat it while it’s still warm. I’ll finish stacking these for you,” Lolo traded the basket for Philige’s papers.

Not used to someone fussing over him, much less the girl he was crushing on (who knew he was crushing on her), this felt surreal. Philige had no idea how to react.

Lolo looked up from the papers she was straightening to find Philige watching her in a sort of daze. “You know, it might be easier to eat if you sat down first.”

“Right,” he said, but he'd lost the ability to figure out how to find a seat.

She snorted softly and set the papers down before taking the basket from Philige and grabbing his arm to pull him to the nearest bench. “Sit.” Taking a moment to pull the food out of the basket for him and hand him the napkin, Lolo returned to the pile of documents.

Blinking the stupor from his eyes, Philige ate quickly so that, by the time Lolo had finished organizing the papers, they could go on their walk.

“Do you need to take these papers to your study?” Lolo asked, handing him the stack so she could clean up his dishes.

“If that’s ok?”

“It’s no problem. I should return this basket to the kitchen anyway. Where should I meet up with you?”

“We could just go together,” Philige suggested and then flushed.

“If you’d rather,” she shrugged. “Lead the way! I’ve only ever been to your study once.”

“So, Lolo, how was your day?” Philige started out awkwardly as they exited The Great Hall.

“Actually, it’s been a good day,” she smiled.

“Yeah? How so?”

“I’m not exactly sure why, but I feel better today than I have in a long time.”

“How so?”

“It's hard to explain. It’s like the feelings are still there, but they’re no longer controlling me. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. I wonder what made the difference,” Philige pondered out loud.

Lolo blushed and looked at her feet, but Philige didn’t notice. “So, how was your day?”

“There’s not much to say about it really. Just lots of meetings and a little training thrown in.” Philige realized in a moment of panic that he had very little to talk about, and, somehow, he needed to be able to carry a casual conversation through the rest of the evening. Why did he do this to himself?!

“Tell me about your meetings.”

“What?! Really? You want to hear about my meetings?”

“Well, sure! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, they’re kind of boring.” Philige stated what he thought should be obvious.

“I’ve never thought that affairs of state were boring. My dad used to invite my brothers and me to observe his meetings when we were kids. We always felt so cool and grown-up sitting at the table with my dad. We got to hear all about how our tribe functioned, learn about all the major players, develop relationships with the people, watch negotiations, do some problem solving…. It made us feel like we were part of something bigger, you know? And it helped us feel like our education as potential Alphas was actually worth something.”

“That’s right! Lolo was trained with the assumption that she might be the next Wolf Tribe leader.” Philige always forgot that the succession rules were different in the Wolf Tribe. He relaxed. “Well, since the battle, I usually start the day talking to the military leaders. Today, General Starkam gave me an injury update. We are really lucky to have New Pahaad here. Our men are recovering quickly with minimal complications, and, having experienced a real battle, those of our soldiers that weren’t injured have been extra motivated to train harder. We are also seeing a surge in new recruits that more than make up for our lost numbers. We’re having to accelerate the construction of a couple new camps. It’s putting a bit of a strain on our resources, but we are managing.”

“That’s good to hear,” Lolo said, suddenly a little melancholy.

Philige felt like an idiot. Why would he bring up casualties right out of the gate? “Lolo, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I didn’t mean to remind you about-”

“The war?” Lolo smiled. “It’s ok. The war is kind of a big part of all of our lives right now. It’s good to hear that the bear military is recovering. And, actually, I’d rather hear about it than not. I know I tend to be sensitive about things, but I hope that you never feel like you have to keep things from me. It makes it difficult to trust people when they intentionally hide things from you.” Lolo realized that she wasn’t really talking about Philige. She was talking about his younger brother.

Philige seemed to understand and smiled. “We’re here.”

The only other time Lolo had been in this room, she had been too preoccupied explaining the whole primordials thing to Philige to really pay attention to her surroundings. Philige's study was cozy but not cramped. The room was lined with built-in bookcases. One great desk stood to the left as they walked in, and a comfortable arrangement of chairs and an oversized, cushioned bench surrounded a fireplace to the right. From the looks of things, Philige occasionally spent nights sleeping on that bench.

Philige pulled out a key that unlocked a chest behind his desk where he deposited the stack of documents he was carrying. “To the kitchen?” he asked, standing back up.

“Mn.” Huo Lohse nodded with a smile.

Philige took the basket from Lolo and gestured to the door.

They chatted, dropped off the basket with a generous “thank you” to the cooks from Lolo, and headed toward the apple orchard out of Philige’s habit as much as anything else.

Having someone to talk about his day with that really understood all the ins and outs of running a tribe was cathartic and liberating for Philige. Lolo was quick to share in his frustrations, laugh at some of the awkwardness of his role, and provide wonderfully fresh insights into issues he was struggling with. It occurred to him that Lolo was an intelligent, well-educated, naturally capable leader. He kind of already knew that, but up until now, it hadn’t quite sunk in just how profoundly true that was. The conversation that Philige had been so stressed about unfolded organically. This was easy!

“It’s getting dark,” Lolo observed, wondering where the time had gone. “Should we call it a night?”

Philige found himself disappointed that the evening was already over. “I’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to do that, Philige. I actually need to head up to the courtyard for a bit.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“I've told you before that meditating at night has made a difference in my training. My wolf spirit only seems to be able to absorb spiritual energy after the sun goes down.”

“Then why do you meditate during the day?”

“It’s kind of complicated."

Philige had a small burst of inspiration. “Would you be willing to walk with me again tomorrow so you can explain it to me?”

“Smooth, Philige,” Lolo thought and smiled. “If you’d like.” She walked past him to the exit, glancing over her shoulder just once to see that Philige was watching her leave. She felt a little silly for it, but she was genuinely excited to see him again the next day. And maybe, just maybe, a little giddy.