Title: Morning Wolf
Author: LupinLovesTonks
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: There was this one time, in my dreams, that I owned everything JK did. Unfortunately, that was just a dream. So are the millions of dollars I make on writing this fic.
Summary: While on a journey of self-discovery, Remus J. Lupin finds himself in danger in America, and then finds salvation in the most unlikely place.
Pairing: RLOC

Chapter Four
Remus pursed his lips and took a seat on the top step that led out off the back porch. After a week and a half, his leg was actually getting to the point he could use it without causing himself to lose his breath from the pain. Of course, part of that may have been the pain-relievers they were feeding him every four hours. And then there was the fact that every night Withering Bear made him do some sort of strange exercises to keep his leg strong in the absence of being able to walk on it normally.

The children were regular welcome nuisances, constantly asking him about his life back home and his journey so far or asking him to show them some spell he did. Jeremy and Melissa often tried to lure him into a game of some kind, whereas Melinda regularly supplied him with books on Midwestern herbs and books about the Cherokee tribes and their legends. At first, Moon Wolf seemed to often go out of his way to ignore him. Melinda had explained that Moon Wolf often felt he was the "alpha werewolf" on the reservation, but since Remus' arrival, the lad was stepping down because he didn't want to cause any conflict.

There were times when Remus would watch the children interacting with each other and see what the girl had meant about Moon Wolf's alpha tendencies. He had made sure to assure Melinda that he had no plans to even attempt to take over the alpha role on the reservation, which then Moon Wolf had actually taken to being spotted by him again afterwards.

Today had been the first day Remus had left his cane in his room. Incidentally, it had also been the day he had started helping out with the reservation duties. His tasks had been light compared to the others, given he was still recuperating, but he had given out rather quickly and had to retreat to his step for rest. But, it was still very disappointing that he had barely lasted half an hour.

So, he had resolved to the punishment of sitting on the porch step, keeping Cookie out from under the feet of the children while they finished their morning chores.

The back door of the ranch house opened and fell closed again. Morning Wolf stepped up beside him, carrying a cane similar to his, only on its top was a carving of an eagle with its wings spread out, behind the head of a crouching wolf. "The children already make you take a time out?" she grinned.

"The girls started fussing because I was barely starting to loose my breath," Remus admitted. "So they made me come over here and keep Cookie occupied."

Morning Wolf poked out her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes while nodding her head side to side. She stopped after only a moment and shrugged. "They had a point. Cookie does tend to get under their feet and trip them up from time to time." She switched the cane to her other hand as she turned to face him. "Come with me? The Elders would probably enjoy your company. They always enjoy visitors." She nodded toward the pin closest to the house.

"I don't see why not," Remus shrugged, taking the hand Morning Wolf offered to help him to his feet.

On his first day outside on the ranch, he had seen the small group of wolves and had wondered why they were so close. Now he understood... They were old wolves. As he gazed at them from outside the pin, once they had reached them, and he wondered how he had missed that fact the first day he had seen them.

One of the more massive wolves yawned to reveal a muzzle filled of mostly toothless gums, with only a few front teeth and one canine. Another wolf was barely skin and bones, shaking as it tried to move across the pin into the shade of their mock den cave after getting some water. Two others were lying on their backs in the sun and appeared to be enjoying the warmth of the Midwestern sun.

"Hello," Morning Wolf greeted gently, as she opened the gate. She softly spoke a few words, in the language he now knew was Cherokee as she took a seat inside, close to the middle of the pin.

Almost instantly, all of the wolves came to gather around her and lick at her hands and face. Remus could tell they wanted to be as energetic as the younger wolves but that their old age prevented them from doing so. Even the shaky old wolf had come back from the den, followed by two other wolves to greet his caretaker.

"Okay darlings," she said. "We will have a guest today. His name is Remus Lupin. Would you like to meet him darlings?" For a moment, Remus could have sworn the wolves actually stopped paying attention to Morning Wolf to look at him.

Remus shook his head. "That's okay I don't have to..."

"Nonsense," Morning Wolf laughed as the shaky wolf nudged her chin with his nose. "Come in, they would like to meet you. Just remember to shut the gate behind you."

Remus eyed the wolves for a moment, and then decided that they could do him no real harm in their old age. He eased the gate door open and walked into the pin. Almost instantly, Remus noticed the inside of the pin had been magically enhanced so that the wolves had a nice amount of space to roam around. Even the den was bigger, big enough to house all the elderly wolves, and then more, comfortably.

Morning Wolf patted the ground beside her as she smiled up at Remus. Remus slowly walked over and joined her. Several of the wolves moved just enough for him to join her and take a seat. The wolves began to slowly back away and the old, thinning, shaky wolf approached him. The old wolf looked at him, as if trying to look past his mind and body and straight to his soul.

Remus was uncertain as to why, but he found himself refusing to break eye contact with the elderly wolf. After about two minutes of keeping steady eye contact with the wolf, the wolf bowed it's head slightly and walked back to his den. A silence passed, in which Remus looked over at Morning Wolf questioningly. Her eyes were lowered to the ground.

The old wolf slowly made his way back out of the den, carrying some something in his mouth. Morning Wolf instantly looked up at him and smiled. It seemed all attention was on him and the old wolf as it approached him again and dropped the object into Remus' lap. With a slightly confused expression, Remus looked down at the object and lifted it up.

It was a soft red ball that had several small gaps in the squishy material from where, apparently, the wolves had played with it so often. Almost instantly the other wolves started yelping eagerly, the old wolf lie down beside Remus and gave an exhausted sigh. Remus looked at Morning Wolf again, she was beaming with pride.

"Well, throw it," she said gently. "The High Elder accepted you into the pack. Now they want you to play with them."

With a half smile, Remus tossed the red ball as far as he could. The rest of the pack raced after the ball and knocked it back and forth between each other as if they were playing a wolf version of soccer. He rested his hand on top of the High Elder's head and gave it a slight rub. Unlike the thin, rough, fur of a dog, the old wolf's coat was soft and thick.

"I know how you feel Old Man," Remus murmured, looking down at the wolf and saw that it seemed to be watching the slightly younger wolves frolic and play with a yearning in its old eyes. He looked at Morning Wolf. "So why is he a 'High Elder'?"

"It's not a wolf title, as you know, but it is a title of respect here, because he is the oldest and the wisest on the reservation. When he was a much younger wolf, I found him on the side of the road barely alive. We did our best to mend the bones in his hip and leg but he's always been shaky on it since. He prefers it here anyway. He has said many times if he had the choice between staying here where he is loved and cared for, or roaming in the forests where people hunt for his head and skin, he would much rather be here."

Remus looked down at the old wolf. He was slowly becoming painstakingly aware that every being on the ranch, including the wolves, came with a story. It seemed, Remus alone had no story of his own, just a story of his friends that were no longer in his life because of an evil so great it took a child to defeat it.

His eyes drifted to Morning Wolf, she was watching the wolves play with the red ball, a big smile of joy on her face. Of all the stories that were to be had on the ranch, hers was the only one he thought he might have true interest in hearing. What had driven her to have a place like this? What made her reach her heart out to the children of the full moon? Why did she speak to the regular wolves as if they were her children and not four legged creatures that once were part of the wild?

A playful yap drew Remus out of his thoughts, because it had apparently brought Morning Wolf's attention his way. Cookie was swatting under the gate of the pin, trying to get inside to play with the older wolves. Morning Wolf waved her hand slightly and the gate opened just enough to let the cub inside, then it instantly closed back. The cub instantly darted in between all the bigger wolves and zipped out from underneath their legs with the ball in her mouth. She stood proudly for a moment, like an almost regal, three-legged statue, taunting her elders who were slowly taking notice she had the ball.

The little cub gave a muffled yap and bounced around a few moments before running with the ball still firmly in her mouth. The older wolves mimicked her yap and chased after her eagerly. Morning Wolf gave a tingling laughter and clapped her hands at the sight.

"You're missing it Remus," she laughed. "Look at them! Do you want to join them old man?"

"No," Remus replied with a slight chuckle as Cookie ran past them and into the den. A few seconds later the pack of wolves followed her path. "I'm content right here."

"Not you," Morning Wolf said. She peaked over his lap to the High Elder. "Reeemus, don't you want to play as well?"

Remus looked down at the old wolf. It lifted its head and for a moment he could have sworn the old wolf shook its head. The old wolf lay his head in Remus' lap and sighed heavily as Cookie darted out of the den, with the ball still secured in her mouth. Morning Wolf leaned over and stroked the wolf's large head affectionately.

"He was the first wolf I named, I had just came here and Withering Bear wanted me to give him a name so I gave him the only name I felt fitted a wolf and that my grandfather could easily pronounce. I wanted to name him Romulus because, at the time, I thought wolves were the roots of all evil, but Withering Bear said he would never remember it. So, I begrudgingly gave him the name of the unfortunate, kind hearted, twin that was murdered by his brother. Now I am glad I gave him that name, he has always been a very kind hearted wolf."

The pack of older wolves emerged from the den one behind the other, before huddling together and continued chasing Cookie. Cookie, by this time, was a good distance away and had turned around to run back toward the pack of wolves. The cub raced past the charging pack and ran straight to Morning Wolf, leaping into her lap and dropping the red ball between her and Remus.

Within seconds, the pack of wolves were swarming all over Remus and Morning Wolf, nudging them affectionately with their noses and giving them small licks on the face. Morning Wolf squealed with delight at the onslaught, Remus just closed his eyes tightly and tried to imagine they were just large dogs. He felt a warm tongue lick his hand and he looked down to see the High Elder was the one nudging his hand and giving it a lick. Remus rubbed the old wolf's nose.

Don't be afraid.

Remus opened his eyes and froze. The wolves hurried off to play with the red ball again. "Did you hear that?" Remus asked quietly.

Morning Wolf looked at him, her dark eyes were still dancing with laughter. "Hear what?" she asked.

The voice had obviously been a man's voice, so Remus knew it hadn't been Morning Wolf that had instructed him not to be afraid. It had sounded like an older gentleman's voice, from right next to him. But the only thing around him that was male was the old wolf that was resting contentedly beside him.

"Perhaps the wolves were speaking to you," Morning Wolf suggested. "The connection isn't as strong as it would be at full moon, but it will start getting strong in the next two weeks…" She stopped and chuckled slightly. "Then again you already know this." Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "Who is Lily? And James?"

The question had come so unexpectedly that Remus just looked at her in stunned silence for the space of ten seconds. At first he didn't know what to say, so he stammered for words, then finally he rested on the only word he could use to describe his Lily and James. "Friends," he said quietly. "Well, more like family actually."

He opened his mouth to say more but Morning Wolf shook her head slightly. "Not right now. That is all I needed to know." She gazed out toward the playing wolves. "And Peter and Sirius were also friends?"

"Yes."

The woman physically shivered. "I never did like rats," she muttered, as if unaware that he could hear her. "Nasty and treacherous creatures…"

Remus raised an eyebrow. Peter had never been nasty or treacherous, to his knowledge. It had been Sirius that had betrayed them all and was currently locked away in Azkaban for murdering Peter. And leading Voldemort to Lily and James, he added mentally.

Morning Wolf climbed to her feet and offered him a helping hand to stand.

"How did you know about all of them?" Remus asked.

"You mentioned them while you were still out with the fever. Sometimes you speak of them in your sleep as well. I don't think your mind accepts what you've been told. And, I also think you need to let your wolf know, next full moon, what happened to his friends. He worries about them." She knelt down and gave the High Elder a kiss on his nose before he walked back to the coolness of the den. "He likes you and thinks you show lots of promise."

"For what?"

Morning Wolf shrugged and collected Cookie into her arms.

Remus could feel his heart beginning to slow down from where the wolves had scared him. He took one last look at the pack that was playing with the red ball and sighed heavily. By being a werewolf, he knew he would never be able to truly care for the playful pack. The monster had already instilled the fear deep within his mortal mind and soul.

Somewhere in the back of his mind it was dark and he saw bright red eyes emerge from the darkness of the trees. The image of a wolf was slowly coming from the darkness, its teeth bared and looking at him hungrily. Just as the beast moved to leap out at him, Remus pulled himself back to reality.

He looked over at Morning Wolf, she had a very pained look in her eyes as she gazed at him. She looked at the wolves again and back at him. "They're not like that and neither is yours," she whispered and walked to the gate.