May You Always Run Free Beneath The Moon's Pale Light

Red found herself now sitting around a round, wooden table in her grandmother's small cabin in the village, across from the boy named Peter and his little brother, with Widow Lucas stationed at the small kitchenette, waiting for her teakettle to whistle. The younger boy, Red learned, was now healthy again; she had to make a note to herself to be sure that she tells Sybil about this when she came back home, as she knows that her sister would be so relieved. The two brothers, she learned, were shepherds; they tended to, cared for, and protected their flocks of sheep in the village pastures. The child of the moon nearly laughed out loud at this notion – as if any humans could 'protect' their sheep if she our one of her pack-mates decided to make an easy meal of them.

The shepherd boy stared at Red with big, quizzical eyes – both the young boy and the princess knew that, because of her sister's saving his life, the boy now knew her secret. However, Red wondered if he understood it at all. How could he, with only one encounter with Sybil, suddenly know everything? He probably had just as many questions for Red as she did for him. Looking to Peter, the girl shuttered. It was one thing if a little boy knew about them – the villagers would shrug it off and dub him 'the boy who cried wolf' – but if an older human, who had no reason to make up tall tales for fun and games, were to spread the same story of some sort of 'part-wolf-part-human monsters'…Red didn't even want to think about what that might mean…

"So…" said the younger boy, sitting straight up in his chair. "What did you say your name was?"

"Red," the princess answered. "My name's Red. What's yours?"

"Joseph," the responded rather passively – it was clear that he didn't want to waist his time with simple introductions, but didn't know how to get on the subject he wanted to address, either. There were a few awkward beats of silence, and then finally the boy just came right out with it. "Are you a werewolf?" He asked the question far too excitedly for Red's taste. "Do you eat people? Can you run really fast? Do you have sonic hearing? Do you have sonic smell? Do you see in black and white like dogs do? Can you – "

" – Joseph!" His brother cut him off. "Stop it! You're being rude!"

Red just stared at both of them with an agape mouth and furrowed eyebrows, completely taken aback.

"Uh…" she bit her lip. "I…I'm not sure I can answer your questions…"

"But why not?" Joseph asked, entirely disappointed.

"I'm sorry," Red continued. "But I don't know if I can trust you."

"You don't know if you can trust us?" Peter asked. "How do we know that we can trust you not to kill us right now for sport! How do we know you won't eat us for a snack, or mount or heads on a wall somewhere!"

"Because…because I'm not a monster!" She yelled.

"And neither are we."

It was then when Red's grandmother emerged from the kitchen, trying to balance four teacups and a teakettle in her hands; as both Peter and Red scrambled to help the woman, one of them dropped out of her hand. Red caught it in a flash, to the shock of the two humans in the room.

"Whoa…" Joseph remarked.

"Yes, Joseph," Widow Lucas agreed, sitting down at the empty chair. "'Whoa', indeed."

"So…so you are fast!" The boy smiled and his entire face lit up.

"Joseph," his brother cut in. "Don't press her. That's not good manners, and it's not fair to Red." Red looked to her grandmother, who nodded.

"It's okay," she told her. "You can trust them."

A sudden flash of a thought pulsated through Red like lightning – how did she know she could trust any of them? How did she know that this woman wasn't lying to her completely? Her doubt quickly faded away, however; she didn't quite know why, but Red simply knew that Widow Lucas was trustworthy. Perhaps it was her instinct, perhaps it was something else – but something in her heart told her that she was telling the truth, and moreover, that she loved her.

"Okay, Joseph," she finally said with a deep breath. "Fire away." The little shepherd nearly fell out of his seat with excitement. He didn't know which question to ask first.

"Are…are you really a werewolf?" He asked, his big eyes fixated on Red.

"We proffer 'children of the moon'," she corrected the boy. "The term 'werewolf' suggests negative connotation. But if you're asking if I can turn into a wolf, the answer is yes, as you saw my sister do when she found you in the forest that night."

"Sybil's your sister?"

"Yes, she's my little sister. And she disobeyed our pack's highest rule by saving you. We're never, under any circumstances supposed to interact with humans."

"So what you're saying is," Peter started. "That you're breaking that rule right now?"

"I…yes," Red answered, feeling entirely guilty. "I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to be talking to you. And I'm really not supposed to be telling you any of this."

"Then…why are you?"

"Because…I…" but Red couldn't find an answer.

"Because you're more than just a wolf, Little Red," her grandmother told her, cutting in. "That's only part of who are you. There's another part of you, too. A human part."

"Yes," Red let out a sigh of relief without even realizing it. "I suppose that's why." There was a beat of silence, then:

"Turn into a wolf! Turn into a wolf! Please, please, please?"

"Joseph, I will not ask you again to stop!" Peter scolded the boy. "You're being very rude. Where are your manners? This girl's sister saved your life, for crying out loud!"

"I'm sorry," the boy said quietly.

"Oh…no, don't be sorry! It's fine – I-I've never had someone be so…interested in my life before…" Red smiled at him. "And, even if I wanted to turn into a wolf, I couldn't."

"We wouldn't tell anyone, Red," Peter said. "You're secret is safe with us."

"That's not what I meant," she added. "I can't shift forms right now. It isn't Wolf's Time – the moon isn't full anymore. I'm a child of the moon, you see. We have the speed, strength, and senses of the wolf all the time, but we can only transform during a full moon."

"What do mean 'we'?"

"There are others like Red," Widow Lucas explained. "They live together in groups called packs. And…and how does that work, exactly?"

"Well," the princess started again. "Packs are groups of children of the moon who all live together and support each other, with everyone having their own place. There's an alpha – that's my mother – who's the leader. Then there's a beta, who's the alpha's second-in-command, and they usually take care of all the day-to-day things that alphas are too busy for. There's one or more healers in a pack, too – that's what my sister Sybil is, and that's why she saved you, Joseph. The healer's responsible for the health and well-being of his or her pack-mates. The older wolves who have finished their training are accountable for duties like patrolling the territory, going on hunting excursions, chasing out predators, or training the younger the wolves. The younger wolves need to learn from the older, and train in our ways so they can follow in their pack-mates' pawsteps. And all of us, together, are responsible for the greater good of the whole pack." She smiled, and added: "That's the how it works."

"So you…you are like a family, then?" The old woman asked hopefully. "You and your sister, you had a family growing up after all?"

"We did. A great one."

Just then, there were a few quick rasps on the door. Peter got up from his chair, unhitched the door's latch, and swung it open. There, looking in through the doorframe, was Sybil.

"I – I'm sorry to intrude…" she started, and then looked to her sister: "I thought you might be here…"

"Is anyone suspicious?" Red asked, a little worried. She hadn't been keeping track of time, and if she were gone too long, someone was bound to notice.

"No," her sister said. "I covered for you. I said you were helping me mix remedies in the forest."

"Thank you," Red breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is it true what Red tells me?" Sybil asked, now facing Widow Lucas. "Are you truly our grandmother? Our family?"

"Yes, my dear," the old woman couldn't hold back a smile. "It is true."

"I…that's…" but Sybil didn't know what to say – whether to hug the woman or run away from her – and looked to her sister for support. "What are doing here, anyway?"

"I…Sybil, I was explaining to them…"

"Yes…?"

"I pretty much told them everything."

"Well…are they trustworthy?"

"Are we trustworthy!" Peter piped up. "Like you couldn't eat us and terrorize our village if we ever told anyone!"

"We wouldn't do that!" Both sisters exclaimed, but it was their grandmother's turn to explain:

"Long ago, before any of you were born," she started. "There was a werew – erm, a child of the moon, much like the two of you, who terrorized this village. And what Peter is referencing are the stories he's heard of it over the years. The wolf back then was your grandfather's father – my father-in-law – who ripped through the village during…what did you call it, again?"

"Wolf's Time," Red supplied her with the name. "The time when the moon is full."

"Yes, that's it. During Wolf's Time, this wolf tore through the village, slaughtering innocents left and right, causing everyone to panic and – "

"And…start hunting wolves?" Sybil asked quietly. "Is that…is that how your people started coming after us?"

"It is," their grandmother nodded in affirmation. "By the time your grandfather came along, he'd seen all of his father's doings, and started to follow in his footsteps. As I told you, Little Red, he ripped through the village just the same, and killed many humans, along with my father and brothers. As a wolf, he marked me by biting my forearm, turning me into a child of the moon in the process. But I rejected the wolf, and taught your grandfather to do the same – and when it came down to defending the village or upholding loyalty to his father, your grandfather chose our new life together. He killed in father in a battle against him, and neither of us gave into the wolf since."

"That's – that's terrible!" Sybil cried. "But…we aren't all like that! Surely you must understand – "

" – Yes, Sibby, I understand. Everyone in this room understands," the woman said soundly. "But sadly, not many others do or ever will."

"You…called me Sibby," she let out a breath. "Did you…know about us, before we knew about you? Have we met before?"

"She told me when I spoke to her that day you came back for Joseph," Red told her sister. "She'd seen us before, Sybil. She wanted to take us away and give us a life here, with her. A human life." At her older sister's words, the healer simply stared into the distance, trying to grasp what life might have been like, had she been raised human.

"Red," Peter suddenly said. "I…I do hope you – and, and your sister, of course – won't be leaving any time soon. You could – you could stay with…me."

"And me!" His brother added, nearly jumping. "We'll have a sleepover! We'll have such fun!"

"I'm sorry," she said. "But we do have to be getting back soon. I didn't realize how late it's gotten, and if we stay away very long, our mother will send someone after us. We're almost never alone, being of the alpha bloodline and all…"

"But I do hope we'll meet again," Peter added. "I…I do hope so very much."

"As do I," Red said, nodding her head to him. "And we will return – we'll try to, anyway. Right, Sybil?"

Her sister said nothing but nodded curtly, and soon the two princesses traveled back into the forest, only even more dazed and haunted by what could have been.