I was roused by a divine scent not long thereafter, only to feel a hand upon my head. Knowing the owner of that hand, he would probably have only just turned away after staring at my wiggling nose for a while. It was a natural reaction, but apparently a charming one; sometimes he would even wake me by placing something tasty near my nose just to see it.

"Oh? Good timing, as always."

"Mnnm..."

As I rubbed my eyes I was overwhelmed by a marvelous yawn. I could feel my entire body tremble from the ends of my ears to the tip of my tail. Unfortunately, I had no blanket with which to conceal myself, but it hardly mattered for he too heaved a great yawn a moment later. So great in fact that the horse snorted at his misguidance.

I smiled inwardly as he blinked stupidly and clumsily righted himself. Sights like that were like a kind of liquor unto themselves, but even they could not hope to compete with the sweet scents wafting through the air. My companion lost his chance to explain our situation by the time he turned to do so.

"Is that our next destination?"

"Ah, yes. I'm glad it's at least still here."

His frankness briefly made me recall his nervousness during our earlier silent tour of the ruined village, but such thoughts were even less deserving of my attention now that I realized where we were heading. There were trees everywhere ahead of us, but unlike a forest they were spaced unnaturally and hardly capable of offering any protection.

It was an orchard, and precisely the kind that I would have to be wary of. Apples were my weakness, after all. I could hardly be faulted if my wandering hands plucked a treat off the overhanging branches, but that would be uncouth. A Wisewolf never lets her instincts thusly get the better of her.

Besides, my companion would never approve. He had never plucked so much as a wildberry when we were in a populated region. He knew that business was business, and that it would undermine all of his own back-breaking efforts if he were to ruin another's hard work with petty theft.

That is precisely why my jaw dropped a moment later.

"Hmm? You don't want one?"

His hand had effortlessly twisted a rather plump red apple from a branch as we passed it by, and was now holding it out to me inquisitively. I nervously took the apple, of course, but could do nothing but stare at it as it sat in my hands, tempting me like a smiling demon.

"You've nothing to worry about. Even if they've noticed, they know a merchant like me wouldn't just be here to thieve the apples from under their noses."

Meaning that someone of his stature would only pluck an apple if he intended to buy it in the first place. I understood that, but it was still so unexpected to see him acting out of character that I continued to stare at the apple for some time.

"So dig in, you've no need to wash it with your drool first."

The fact that he managed to deliver such an obvious tease was proof of how taken aback I was. I cautiously sank my fangs into the apple as I stole a furtive glance in his direction. Gone was his earlier apprehension. In its place was a strange look of relief, as though seeing the farmhouse ahead of us had eradicated his earlier concern about "things having changed".

Everything about this scene felt awkward to me, however. His uncharacteristic act was one thing, but the apple itself was slightly off as well. And he knew it. True, he had a keen eye for the quality of merchandise and had intentionally waited to pluck one I would accept, but these apples were far more tart and crisp than the ones I favored.

Moreover it was surprising that he would have worked so hard to reassure me earlier, only to bring us to a farmhouse. Was he doing so on purpose? He knew that I cared little for such shabby places, and that he had gotten my hopes up that I would have another fine meal tonight.

Worse, I could not discern what use a farmer might have for our cargo, bundles of the same thick cloth that covered out cart. True, it was the finer variety that one might paint upon, but that did not make it any more comfortable to snuggle up inside. Yet we always put business before pleasure, so I was truly perplexed.

My companion did not see it fit to watch me devour the apple in thought, so I was free to nibble on it and consider what his game was. This orchard clearly did not belong to a noble, so the best fare I could hope for at this farmhouse was probably these slightly-less-delicious-than-hoped apples. By the time I gave up on my internal quest for answers, we had arrived.

"Phew! My thanks, old friend!"

The horse whinnied in annoyance as his head was patted and he was unhitched. Clearly the beast would require more than kind words this time, after working so hard to deliver his passengers here. My companion thusly earned a gentle bump from his head, showing that he would settle for no less than an apple as fine as the one he had granted me.

Sure enough, my companion walked off and fetched another apple, then motioned over to me to join him. I looked away with an indignant "hmph!" forcing him to walk back up to me. My mood had immediately worsened, and I required more pampering before I would lower myself to the ground just to enter a farmhouse.

"Jeez... not you, too?"

He held his hand up for mine, making it clear that he was not interested in hearing my complaints. I sighed and rolled my eyes, then held both of my arms out to him. I could hardly afford to let him think that my grievances would go unanswered. The least he could do was lift me up and set me down. He sighed, but handed me the apple and did as was expected of him.

"Hup! There you are. Now, shall we go pay them a proper visit?"

I wrinkled my nose and narrowed my eyes as I looked the place over. Every inch of it screamed of a backwater that probably had no concept of what good wine tasted like. What hope was there that we would eat anything but soup, and that spending the night here would mean lying on anything but a bed of tough, itchy hay?

Sure enough, no words needed to be said. His eyes softened and his smile slowly receeded. Again he sighed, as he always did when it had dawned on him just what my grievance was. As usual, he rubbed the back of his head and he stared at me in amazement, but I would not budge an inch. My crossed arms made that abundantly clear.

"Alright, alright. I'll go handle it and we can move on."

Move on? Then this was not our final destination? I paused to think it over for a brief moment before nodding my assent. But just as I did-

"But only if you'll tend to our trusty companion in my place. He's quite upset that you're the only one who got an apple, you know."

Again my jaw dropped as he tossed the apple back into my hands, forcing me to catch it. By the time I looked back up he had turned his back to me and was waving as though the matter was settled. My fangs were already bared: just what made him believe he could treat the Wisewolf like some kind of equal?!

Of course, 'twas none other than I who had agreed to it. But right then and there, I could not remember for the life of me why I had ever done such a thing. Him? My equal? Why it was enough to make a stone face weep tears of shame for this poor Wisewolf, tricked into such a distasteful situation!