I was a little worried about writing a Spice and Wolf story. Its one of my favorite series of all time and I was worried about screwing it up but at the same time I wanted to write it for the same reason so I hope this short story was able to do justice on Spice and Wolf.
She walked up to the door and knocked. Holo never thought she would come back to this town again. It had been her home for more than 700 years but she left after an incident that made her feel unwanted. That was more than 2 years ago. Now Holo and Lawrence were making their last trip before settling down in their store Spice & Wolf. It was being built right now but wouldn't be ready for a while. Lawrence wanted to let all of his customers know that he wouldn't be coming by anymore. Also he wanted to get more business done and spread word to potential customers about his store. He is a merchant after all and he won't be happy until he makes money.
The door opened revealing a beautiful women who had been holding several books that were now on the ground. She had an extremely shocked and frightened expression on her face. Which is understandable because the last time Chloe had seen Holo she had almost eaten her in her giant wolf form and seeing the wolf standing on her doorstep with an innocent smile on her face was not what she expected when she heard the knock.
"Hello Chloe. It has been a while hasn't it? Please don't scream I mean no harm. I just wanted to let you know that Lawrence and I will be spending a few days here since we arrived during the festival and we wish no trouble before we are on our way."
The girl had not moved and her expression had not changed. She finally started to relax a little. "Why did you come back? I thought I made it clear that we didn't want you here?"
"That's alright. I am only here because Lawrence is saying his farewells to his customers. We are getting a shop up north. It's being built as we speak."
A quick flash of jealousy went across Chloe's face that was so imperceptible that no one would be able to notice. At least no ordinary person, but Holo noticed and took a little satisfaction out of it.
"Well the reason I came to talk to you is that I hope you could keep who I am a secret from the town. I don't want to create a scene. I just wish to drink and enjoy the party."
"Well, as you know there is nothing I wish more than for you to be on your way so I will try to stay out of your way."
Holo then turned and skipped happily away from the home taking one more step putting her past behind her and one more step forward to her future.
She went around the corner to see the merchant chatting away with some of the farmers he had been acquainted with.
"Lawrence were you able to get a room? It seems like the town is busy this weekend?"
"Of course! My friends here have a room just for us Nora. (To avoid controversy the 2 decided that Holo would go by the name Nora, much to Holo's chagrin.) We will be very comfortable tonight."
"Then let's go find a place with plenty of wine and meat!"
One of the farmers decided to cut in. "You are a lucky man Lawrence. If I found someone this beautiful I would stop traveling and settle down too."
"You are too kind sir. It's I who is the lucky one to find such a man who can show me the world. It was most fortunate indeed." The wolf really like toying with men like this but also enjoyed the way it whipped up the merchant beside her. She got the reaction she wanted when the merchant's annoyed face could be seen even if he was doing his best to hide it from her.
"Nora dear, let's bring our stuff back to our room so we can go get some food." Lawrence also had learned a trick or two to take Holo's mind off toying with him and one of them is the mention of food.
The two walked to their hotel and Holo walked up to their room while Lawrence took the horse to the stable. She got undressed and was happy to let her tail and hair out from under the clothes. She went to work brushing her tail which she adored. The beautiful soft brown coat accentuated with a patch of white at the end. She hated that she always had to hide it and hiding it here felt so much worse.
Lawrence came back to the room. "The party tonight is a festival in your name right? Does that mean this is sort of your birthday?"
"I guess you could say that. I don't really remember or celebrate my actual birthday."
"Then as a birthday present the food and wine will be on me." Right after that a smirk came across her face that told him all the profit he made on his last job would be gone in a few hours. Lawrence couldn't complain though. Even though he harped on Holo for all the stuff he buys her, she has made him much more. He has also enjoyed the company. The fact that she was a wolf goddess was beside the point. Just having someone like her beside him to talk to on the long journeys was a dream he didn't know he had.
They left the room and went down the bar. There was only one bar in town and since it was a festival night it was packed. They were able to find a spot in the corner and ordered a lot of food and wine. They had a blast as Holo entered a drinking contest with three farmers who were twice as a large as Lawrence. Of course she won to everyone's surprise.
With her hearing Holo was able to over hear a conversation in the corner of the room. "She's only 15 years old and yet she has to be Holo already. Mira cut the last of the wheat yesterday and had to be locked up in the barn. It's a shame your daughter is stuck in there. She always loved the festival."
"Hey Lawrence, I will be right back."
"Don't get into too much trouble."
Of course Lawrence knew Holo was up to something but once she got it in her head there was no stopping her.
Holo made her way to the store house where they locked up 'Holo' for the festival. She could hear a girl crying inside. Holo opened the door to find Mira sitting on the bed holding a 'Holo' mask crying. She was about the same size as Holo with a darker brown hair that stopped at her shoulders. Hearing the door creak startled her.
"What are you doing here? You can't open the door or else Holo will get out!"
"What about you? Don't you want to enjoy the festival Mira?"
"Of course I do but I have to be in here since I was the last to harvest."
"The stupid tradition where you lock 'Holo' up while everyone else gets to party? To me it sound like the one that is 'Holo' should be able to party the most. Don't the stories say she loves to drink?"
The little girl was perking up. She was open to the idea because she enjoys the festival. "Dad would be mad though."
"What if you put on the mask? Then nobody will know it is you!"
"What about Holo?"
"Do you believe Holo is real?"
"Yes, but I think most people don't. They think is a dumb tradition, but I like to think that a goddess is out there looking out for me." That made the wolf smile. There were still people that loved her and wanted her here. It also gave her a pang of guilt for leaving. She wanted to do something for Mira.
"What if I ask you to come and dance with me?" While saying this Holo pulled her hood down exposing her ears and let her tail pop out and showed her toothy smile all at the same time.
"Wait… You? You're her?!"
"I am the one and only Holo! So if I am partying there is no point of you hiding in here. Right?"
The girl smiled so wide. She was right Holo was real and she was going to go to the festival. She put the mask on to blend into the crowd.
"By the way. People in town think my name is Nora so just call me that name while we are out."
"Why do you hide?"
"There are some people who don't like me and want me to leave. Also I don't like to be worshiped or all the attention. I just want to party and have some fun."
They went outside and there was a large bonfire which they spent a while dancing around and having fun. Lawrence walked out of the bar and saw Holo dancing with a young girl in a 'Holo' mask and could pretty much guess what had happened. He saw Chloe sitting off to the side watching the scene and went over to join her.
The girl was the first to talk. "She seems like she's having fun."
"She likes atmospheres like this. Drinking, dancing, and food."
"The girl with her is Mira. She is supposed to be in the storehouse as 'Holo' since she was the last one to harvest this year."
"I figured it was something like that. Holo wouldn't want someone to miss a party in her name."
"So are you really done traveling? She said you got a store."
"Yeah we made enough money on a big deal recently and we found a place up north with hot springs available."
"You finally reach your dream. I only wished you had found it with me. That's what I was trying to talk to you about on that day. I wanted to make deal with the coins to work together then we could have opened a store but I guess by then it was too late."
"A little. But that is all over with. You still got rights for the town. You have done a lot for these people."
Holo and Mira walked over to the two who were talking. "Lawrence you should come dance too! Leave the grumpy lady alone."
"Maybe I would like to dance too?" said grumpy lady responded "Lawrence would you like to come dance with me? Your friend is busy hanging out with 'Holo'" the smirk on her face flashed over toward the wolf as she grabbed his hand and pulled Lawrence up toward the bonfire where everyone was dancing.
The wolf stood there frozen in place. Jealousy was a bad look on her. "Holo? Are you ok? Does Ms. Chloe know who you are?"
"Yeah she does. We ran into each other a while ago and got into an argument and now she doesn't like me."
"What happened?"
"I stole a man away from her and she hasn't forgiven me."
The two were done resting and joined back in. Holo skillfully got between Chloe and Lawrence and was able to steal him back.
Lawrence was enjoying being on this side of the battle rather than Holo purposely trying to make him jealous. They had fun and the four of them partied all night. Chloe ended up leaving first since she had to get up early the next morning. Lawrence then went back to the inn they were staying at and Holo left to bring Mira back to the storehouse.
"Did you have fun at the festival?"
"Yes! I still can't believe I got to go with Holo! Can we do this next year?!" Holo had a pained look on her face. The guilt from earlier coming back.
"Actually this was my last one. I left the village two years ago with Lawrence. He was the guy I stole from Chloe. We came back for the festival and to say bye because we have our own store now."
"Why did you leave?" The girl was on the verge of tears.
"The village didn't need me anymore. I would help make sure the crops were good but now the farmers can do that all on their own. I had spent 700 years here and most of that was alone. I wanted to travel and see the world and even go back home to where I am from. Then I met Lawrence and he said he would take me. Now we are opening a shop and hot spring by my home."
"Will you come back and visit? The festival won't be the same without you. Will we even have a festival without you?"
"I might come back and visit but I don't know when it could be 100 years from now. As for the festival, there is no reason why you can't still party and have fun." The girl was visibly crying now. Holo was not good with this kind of stuff.
"How about as a final goodbye I show you something interesting."
The girl calmed down a little and looked up to Holo who was sitting next to her. "Alright."
Back in the hotel room Lawrence was getting the plan for visiting the next town sorted. He had purchased a few goods in Pasloe, but was sorting out what he needed to get in the morning. That was when he heard a loud howl come from the woods. He looked out the window and saw the shadow of a large wolf running with what looked like a small girl clinging to her back. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of the wolf looking like she was so free and happy.