Fitfully, as if someone had been twisting the hair on the back of his neck, Priam clung to whatever heartbeats of sleep he managed to catch, and finally he seemed incapable of even shutting his eyes. He felt his blood stirring almost as feverishly as the cursed blood of his guest. As she slept on, he crept past and slid outside into the chilly night air. How beautiful it was, how silent, even the wolves were peaceful with a sliver shaved off the moon. Perhaps they were as worried as he, as pensive and cautious, but also as curious. It was not every day that a wolf, torn apart by territorial assailants, turned into a maiden. He could not be certain if he had not finally be driven insane by isolation and endless fields of sentinel trees, for the situation was certainly impossible, but perhaps it truly was an act of mysterious hexes and unfortunate damsels.
He could see it when he shut his eyes tightly. In the tallest tower of a quaint castle rested the bed of the young lady, soft silken sheets caressing her angelic skin, and every morning she would rise to greet the day with soft but exciting words. The people of the tiny town below would greet her casually as she graced their streets, and her lordly parents would shower her with gifts of all kind so that one seemingly mundane day she would take a finely bred mare into the woods in search of adventure. The baker would wave as she galloped past, then the blacksmith, then the innkeeper, and none would worry that their beloved princess would encounter any trouble, as the loyal guards patrolled day and night. If a beast happened to catch her, the horse she rode could outpace any creature, and there was a woodsman that would leap to her aid should the need arise. Her safety was assured, but the one factor that could not be controlled by preventative measures was her own curiosity. She met a sorceress who promised her swift feet and boundless freedom, not to mention a silver coat to protect her once she abandoned the protected portion of the forest. The price was, simply, her nights, as she would now use them to explore, and the ignorant maid accepted without hesitation. Then she rode her horse home that night and attempted to tuck herself into her sheets, to lose herself to dreamland adrift on a tide of perfumed silks, to await the promised powers of the witch.
However, when the poor woman awoke, it was in pain and with her body morphing. She stumbled from the castle and into the woods, and a few night owls peered out of their homes and wondered who that wretched creature had been. She finished the gruesome change in the woods, then wandered them hopelessly for the rest of the night. Daybreak brought her back to her human form, but she found no relief, and she must have spent weeks simply wandering until she stumbled into the realm of the woodsman.
In such a story he would be the hero, but in this little cabin there was no such thing.
He cleared his whirling dream thoughts with a quick shake of his head, and then he watched her shiver for a moment. Sometime in the early moments of dawn she had transformed again, and yet she was still curled up on the ground, bandages loose once more.
"Where did you come from?" he murmured, and suddenly she twitched and lifted her head to smile at him.
"I could ask the same of you."
"Fair enough. My father brought me out here when I was young, and he taught me everything I needed to survive. When he died, I taught myself everything else."
Lucina tilted her head to one side, wolfishly. "What about your mother?"
"She died before I could have something of her to remember."
"Surely you do not spend your life out here."
"I do, though I have been to town on occasion to buy and sell a few things." He rested his elbows on his knees and regarded her with a practiced hunter's eye. "Now, you?"
"I was starving on the streets, desperate for any means to earn money or a meal. The witch said she would give me silver, and instead I received a curse."
He pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "You lie."
"It is as if you already know me," she chuckled faintly, resting her head on the unforgiving floor once again and beginning to drift off. "I will... tell you the truth... after breakfast."