"Faster, faster!" I told Anabel. "She's catching us!"

The forest around us streaked past as the swift gray wolf carried me by the scruff of my neck at her top speed.

"What did you expect? I'm fast, but this is Vera we're talking about."

"You're the one that agreed to the bet, not me."

Vera's merry voice entered our minds. "You might as well give up, or I shall claim your tail for a banner."

Anabel glanced back over her shoulder to see Vera practically on her heels.

She sighed. "Fine! Just don't bowl me over when I stop."

Vera came up beside her as they slowed to a walk. "You didn't make it to the creek, so, I hate to break it to you, but you're the one peeling potatoes tonight."

"That's a lot of potatoes," Anabel complained.

"I'd offer to help," I piped up, "but that would be an exercise in futility."

"With my luck, you'd steal the potatoes."

"Quite possibly, although the Omegas are observant enough to catch most of my attempts to unhelp them."

Anabel shrugged as much as she could in wolf form. "Either way, potatoes or no potatoes, I'm having more fun in this pack than I did as a rogue."

"I agree. We've only been here for two days, but I'm enjoying it so far. My old pack rarely let me go so far from the packhouse, although Alpha Kiel doesn't mind as long as someone is with me."

"Let's go back," Vera said. "I can help peel potatoes if Julie agrees to remain in the room without causing mischief."

"You're asking a difficult thing," I informed her.

"Consider it as an exercise in keeping the pack peace. The trainers need a break, or they may ban me from the training grounds."

"Why do I need to be in the kitchen?"

"Because it is very hard for me to let you out of my sight, and I'm still getting to know our new pack mates."

"So, in other words, you want me to help you interact with them. Got it!"

"That is not what I said. And, with the way you are grinning, I'd be scared to know what ideas are running through your head."

"That's okay, because I plan to keep them a surprise!"

"How is it that you manage to get into more mischief than all three of my pups did combined?"

The casual reference to her dead family without a sharp flare of pain showed just how far she had come.

I wolf-grinned at her. "It's a talent that I think only Comforters have."

"That is another reason why I want you to stay in the kitchen. You won't be able to cause mischief without me knowing about it."

"Hmmm... I guess I can stay in the kitchen."

I wondered if she knew just how much trouble a Comforter could get into in the kitchen.

I stared at the racks of spare clothing and glanced over my shoulder to double check that I had closed the door behind me. I exhaled slowly and shifted into my human form. Despite how long I had been locked in my human form by the lawless rogues, it was just as hard as ever to remain on two legs.

Realizing there was something in each of my hands, I looked down and stared at the two halves of the broken token. I had forgotten that I had been holding those when I shifted.

The distraction was enough for me to shift back into my wolf form again. I huffed and shifted back, putting more effort into keeping my shape this time. The two halves reappeared in my hands. There were just pieces of wood now that the Alpha command had been broken, but they held much more significance for me. They marked a major event in my life. I put them to the side for the moment.

It took intense concentration to reach into the shelves for the proper sizes of clothing and pull out the colors I had picked out from the floor. A new set of house slippers joined my pile.

Then it was time for the hard part. Changing out of my old clothing and getting into the new clothes involved three accidental shifts back to my wolf form. One of which had me worming my way out of the shirt after I had partially lost my balance while trying to get my head through the neck hole.

How did people not exhaust themselves getting dressed every morning?

Once I was dressed, I stuck the two pieces of the token in my pocket and picked up the dirty clothing in my arms. When I pulled the door open and shifted, the dirty clothing disappeared just as my new clothing did. It was the simplest way to transport them over to the laundry room. I trotted out the door and down the hallway, leaving the door open since it had been that way when I first entered the room.

This packhouse was a bit smaller than my old one, although it lacked the hidden corridors. My toenails clicked quietly along the polished wood floor. I glanced into the weaving room as I passed, where two women were using large looms to weave cloth.

I kept going and managed to make it to the laundry room without anyone noticing or calling me. There were five big wash tubs, although I couldn't tell if any were currently in use from down here. After a quick check of my surroundings, I moved my paws right in front of me before shifting, so I would be holding the clothes that would appear along my forearms where they had been before.

One tub was soaking some clothing, so I quickly tossed my dirty clothes in and used a wooden stick to submerge them before I shifted back. I shook myself off, pleased that I had new clothing and had managed to get the dirty ones into the wash.

The sound of a wolf's toenails clicking came from the hallway and grew louder. On a whim, I squeezed under the stand supporting the rinsing basin, which was a tight fit, even for me.

The low stand let me see a set of brown paws following a black nose through the door. I was far enough back that I couldn't see her eyes, so Vera wouldn't be able to see me either. Her paws disappeared to the side of the room, and I held my breath as I tried to listen for her now-silent footsteps.

A nose blocked most of my view before Vera lay down on the floor so she could peek underneath. My tail started wagging and beat against the wooden frame.

"I'd love to yell boo and jump out, but there isn't enough room under here for that."

"Why are you under there?"

"To see if you could find me. Which you did. And you didn't even follow where I walked. What kind of bloodhound are you?"

She snorted in amusement. "I'm a former feral."

"Excellent. Which means you know exactly how I got out of the kitchen."

"Actually, I'm still trying to figure that one out. Even the Omegas and Anabel are confused."

I wiggled my way out from under the stand. "Then I shall take that as a win."

With a faint snort, she shifted into her human form and picked me up. "Anabel did find the two potatoes you managed to steal."

"Then I shall wait with bated breath until she finds the third one."

"Considering she isn't that fond of cooking, I suspect someone else will find it."

"If someone else is digging underneath her pillow, then I have other questions for them."

Vera laughed as she got to her feet. "Perhaps it's a good thing I sleep in front of the fireplace with you."

I grinned up at her and barked a quiet agreement.

I scampered down the hallway as fast as I dared, following the directions my senses were giving me. Vera swooped in behind me and grabbed my scruff.

"Tell me where we're going, and I'll get you there faster."

"The second herb garden. I don't know what's going on, but it's unusual for my abilities to tell me exactly where I need to be."

"Hang on. We're taking a shortcut," she warned, twisting to the side and racing into a family room.

She aimed right for an open window and launched herself into the air. I clamped my eyes shut, but the thud was that of feet hitting the ground, not of a wolf getting stuck in a window frame.

"H-how did you manage that?" She was the size of a small horse – there should have been no way she could just leap through an open window like that.

"It was about the only way to stop my Grandfather in a game of tag. He wasn't allowed to damage the walls, and he couldn't fit through our windows. I had a lot of practice."

I shook my head and turned back to the problem at hand. "Nora, do you have any idea what's going on?"

The Omega replied, "An argument in the garden, if I had to guess by what my senses are telling me. I don't know any details, though."

"We're almost there," Vera told both of us.

She slowed when we heard raised voices ahead.

"Can you hide in the shrubs? I want to see if I can calm them down without them noticing me right away. They're distracted enough that they may not sense my aura."

Vera ducked behind the hedge with silent footsteps. As we got closer, we were able to make out the words.

"-don't care how they did it at your old pack. Those flowers have been here for years."

"I asked Virginia. She told me to clean up the herb garden. Those weren't herbs, there weren't any labels near them, nor had they been trimmed for a long time."

"That doesn't mean you can just throw out large plants! They clearly didn't sprout this month."

"I was going to move them to the flower garden – there is a spot already cleared for them."

My aura spread across the garden in a gentle, subtle wave that didn't do much other than lower the volume of the two women arguing.

I murmured to Vera, "I've never had my abilities bring me to a minor argument so quickly. Neither of them are in extreme emotional distress either."

My senses spread out as I tried to determine why this situation was so different.

Another mindspark was close enough to also be affected by my aura. Now I knew why my abilities had pulled me here so quickly.

"Toby is within the range of my aura," I told Vera.

"The young child?"

"Yes."

"If he is close enough to feel your aura, then there is no way he can miss this argument."

"Can you put me down?"

She placed me on the grass, and I squeezed through the hedge. The rustling caught the attention of the two adults.

"We're transplanting plants? Can I help? I'm good at digging holes!" I wagged my tail innocently.

"She was digging up plants that shouldn't have been dug up."

"I was told to clean up the herb beds – and that isn't an herb!"

The old, customary way of 'how things had always been done' was clashing with those who were trying to help with a bit more enthusiasm than clarifying questions.

A grunt came from behind the hedge, and Vera landed beside me with an inelegant thud as she jumped over the tall plants. She conversationally said, "I think the only way these two are going to sympathize with each other is if I bite both of their rear ends. If nothing else, they will stop glaring at each other."

"I'll go get the toothpaste so the taste doesn't linger!" I spun around, as if about to run back to the house, knowing that she was going to stop me.

Vera sighed and used her paw to drag me back beside her. "You're the peacekeeper. You have to stay here."

I pouted before asking the older woman, "Silly question, but why is a flower in the herb bed and not in the flower garden?" Across a private link between the two women and Vera, I also added, "Let's discuss this like rational people so we can be a good example for the children listening."

Both women fell silent as their eyes glanced around.

One finally said, "That flower was planted there by the first Luna of this pack. It was before we turned this into an herb garden, but we've left it there to honor her memory, at least, until now."

I tilted my head. "There is a lot of dirt on the roots. Since it's out, why don't we dig a deeper hole and put some fish guts in for fertilizer? It probably hasn't had anything for a long time."

The woman hesitated before reluctantly nodding. "If we give it a bit of water, it will be fine until Andrew and George come back from their fishing trip in a couple of hours."

"Let's do that! Then we can all make a sign together! With the full story of why the plant is there. We'll have to leave space at the bottom so Vera can add that she'll bite the bum of anyone who dares to dig it up in the future!"

The two women exchanged a glance, possibly unsure about my idea when it entailed all four of us working together.

I clambered over the edge of the raised garden bed. "I'll help dig the hole bigger if you want to go find a flat rock for our sign!"

Without waiting for a reply, I started digging with my front paws while 'accidentally' sending a few clumps of dirt bouncing off their legs and Vera's fur.

Reluctantly giving in, the older woman murmured, "I'll go get the engraving tools if you can keep Julie from tossing all the dirt out of that bed."

The other woman nodded and knelt beside the herb bed to try and contain my enthusiastic efforts while Vera moved to the side and laid down to watch.

This was the first notable conflict as the former ferals tried to adapt to packlife again, mostly due to the eavesdropping child. Both sides were having to learn to work together as their personalities met, meshed, and sometimes clashed.

And I was ready to smooth things over with every such event.