Weeks had passed since Faolan's arrival in Ylisse. The werewolf had made the forest he last met the humans in his home. It wasn't the most comfortable place like his last one, with the fire that had ravaged half of the forest, but it was a start. There was a decent supply of food, and nearby rivers carried fresh water and the occasional batch of fish. But maintaining his newfound territory was steadily getting more and more difficult with time.
Some nights more of those false-portals would appear. Spitting out large numbers of those puppets. But since he wasn't dead tired at the times they appeared, now that he had actually gotten time to rest, he handled the threat with ease.
The problem was that they were getting stronger each time a new portal opened. They would react faster, take more hits before they went down. Working together instead of aimlessly attacking him. Even getting better quality weapons and armour with each wave.
Sometimes the damn things would even carry silver weapons.
How do they even get that!?
The fact that some could use magic didn't help at all.
It didn't hurt him as much as silver did, not even close. But the different types they used threw him off guard. The time when he got struck by magical lightning stood out to him the most.
His tail was still twitching occasionally because of it…
To make it worse was the occasional band of humans. Dressed in animal furs and lesser quality armor, these humans would often travel through the woods and attack other human territory. They were easy to scare off, but like the puppets they often came back with larger numbers.
The first few times they laid eyes on him as he attacked them they shouted something about a "Taguel." Faolan wasn't sure what a taguel was, but the name didn't seem to fit. He'd been called many names the times when he was discovered by humans; monster, beast, werewolf, wolfskin(1), I-must-be drunk-right-now —that time was… particularly confusing—, and a few more. However the word Taguel seemed like it was directed to something different altogether, which drew his curiosity.
Perhaps they were a large type of animal that roamed these land similar to him, but the confident way the humans were talking when they mentioned the species left him to think that they were used to hunting them…
But that's besides the point. He was losing ground faster than he was comfortable with and was considering that he look for a new home somewhere else.
Wandering a little outside the safety of the forest, Faolan was trying to find out which direction he should set off in. He knew there was a human settlement South of the forest, and the group of humans he first encountered went East, to their home he guessed. He didn't want to travel in human land, so that left North or West as his best options.
Choices, choices…
Faolan absently grabbed a nearby fallen leaf and flung it into the air. He'd seen humans do this with their coins when they were making decisions, and had done so on a whim. Back when he was still a pup and his mother took him to human villages. And in that form at the time.
'North is darker side, West is lighter side.'
The leaf danced in the air, twisting and turning as it made its slow descent. Faolan watched it with a growing sense of curiosity, feeling as if the outcome of this leaf-toss would change the way he lived forever. Almost as much as the light that brought him here did.
With its performance in the air finished, the leaf landed softly on the ground.
Darker-side up.
'North it is.'
And so he headed North, unknowingly widening the gap between himself and Plegia and instead heading in the direction of Regna Ferox.
It was a few hours after he left the forest when he stopped. Faolan absently flicked aside a pebble in his way, eyes focused ahead of him and ears listening for any sound that might alert him to any threats. Traveling by day on a flat stretch of land was normally more dangerous than traveling in the night. But he was more willing to chance the possibility of being spotted by humans than he was fighting another group of puppets.
But it was boring.
The werewolf sighed as much as a werewolf could. After many days and nights of battles, where his blood pumped quickly and the adrenaline rush get him going, of course it would. But it wouldn't do to act like some six year old pup.
That was below him now.
After some more walking he decided to take a nap. Lying down on the grass Faolan closed his eyes. He knew now that resting in between long distances was more important in this world than in his. And he didn't want a repeat of his first night here.
The sun's heat coupled with the relaxing breeze made him drowsy enough to almost fall asleep. And he would have done so if he hadn't heard something.
It was faint. A steady beat that rode the wind. His eyes trailed to the sky, squinting heavily from the sunlight. In the distance he could see a shape moving along the sky, blending in with the clouds. But his rapidly adjusting eyes could spot a speck of red among the white.
He grew curious about the odd flying thing. It wasn't a bird—he was sure of that. Even his eyes wouldn't be able to spot one from this distance. So it had to be bigger. Much bigger.
His curiosity got the better of him yet again, and he was quickly up on all fours and after the mysterious flyer. Like a cat to a butterfly, he chased it.
So focused on following the flyer he didn't notice the other dark shapes in the sky behind him.
Werewolf in Ylisse - Chapter Two
Faolan chased for a good half hour, matching the flyer's speed just enough to keep it within his line of sight. Absently he noticed the land below him changing as time passed; grass being replaced by dry dirt and the air thinning subtly as the altitude climbed. It wasn't until he reached a dead end of rocks did he realize that he'd gone to a mountain-like landscape.
Shrugging indifferently, he scaled the rocks with ease. It wasn't hard after having done so a few times already in his original home. Within a few seconds he was scrambling over the top of the cliff and searching for his source of curiosity.
Only he couldn't find it anymore.
Instead he was face to face with something else.
It was scaly, like the fish he sometimes ate from rivers. Only, it wasn't a fish.
Fish didn't have wings.
Or lots of teeth.
Or humans riding them.
"The 'ell's this?" The human riding the scaled monstrosity questioned, leaning over the side of his mount to get a better look.
Faolan, the Plegian, and the wyvern had a three-way staring contest when their eyes met.
The human blinked first. "Oh shi—"
The wyvern followed next and immediately snapped its jaw at Faolan, instincts telling it that the new creature was a threat. Faolan was the last to break out of his daze and he threw himself out of the wyvern's path. Snarling angrily he clawed at its outstretched neck.
The attack drew blood, and the wyvern began beating its wings and launched itself into the air. The Plegian rider could do nothing as he tried in vain to regain control of his mount. Desperately the human called for help from any nearby comrades.
Not about to let his enemy get away, the werewolf leapt into the air, grabbing onto the scaled leg of the wyvern. Both rider and mount became distressed with the extra weight that had suddenly latched on. The three of them tumbled awkwardly through the air, a mixture of growls, hissing and cries for help alerting anything nearby about their presence.
Unused to the motions of flying, Faolan's vision became a mess as the world blurred in front of him. He blindly clung to whatever he could get a hold of. Which in this case was the Plegian's leg. With his teeth.
"AHHH! IT'S BITING ME!"
The rider let go of the reigns, giving the wyvern free control over its course. The scaled beast beat its wings wildly and veered heavily to the right in an attempt to throw everything off it.
The plan half worked, and the rider tumbled off and into a fatal free fall. Faolan on the other hand, dug in deep with his claws, successfully anchoring himself to the wyvern. The feeling of several small hooks piercing its scales and into the softer skin behind it was an agonizing experience, causing the wyvern to screech in pain. Suddenly it tipped forward, sending them tumbling down a nearby cliff. The nauseating feeling from flying Faolan had been experiencing intensified with how the two were rolling downhill. He was only slightly grateful that it wasn't just a straight drop to the ground.
It was during some point on his journey down the cliff side when Faolan could hear shouting and the clanging of metal. The words were unrecognizable to the werewolf because of his current dizzy state, but he could guess that there was a battle going on where he was.
The both of them landed on the floor in an explosion of dust and debris. Faolan remained on the ground and groaned weakly, the air having been knocked out of him. The wyvern also didn't move, but that might have been because its neck was bent at an unnatural angle.
"Gah!" A male voice shouted in surprise. "Somethin' took out one of our wyvern riders!"
"Issit dead?" A second questioned. Footsteps were heard getting closer to the recovering werewolf.
"Don't touch it you oaf! It could kill ya!"
Faolan could feel something pointy poking his arm.
"Me thinks it's still alive." The second voice said, his voice a lot closer now. "What issit?" He then asked.
"Dangerous," the first replied, "now get away from that thing before it gets up. We still hafta capture th' Exalt before our squadron is taken out."
"But don't we have reinforcements comin' soon?"
"I don't think that even with 'em that it'll get any easier." The first one responded grimly. "The rumours about that tactician person 're right. We had an ambush an' everythin', but we still aren't beating 'em." A sigh. "Now hurry up an' get over here. Vasto'll have our hides if we didn't get into the battle." The footsteps walked away from Faolan, leaving him to groggily rise to his feet.
It took some more time to get his bearings, but soon he was able to see in front of him without the world spinning in eight different directions.
He slowly edged his way closer to where the fighting was taking place, something within him telling him to investigate the battle. Poking his head out of a shrub he felt a strange familiarity in the battle going on in front of him.
Maybe it was the head of blue hair on one of the warriors fighting. Or maybe it was the way the human on an armoured horse used his silver lance. Something just seemed really familiar about the group of humans. He just couldn't place a claw on it…
"GROOWRR!"
His eyes snapped to the sky, finding more of the flying-not-fish and their riders descending onto him. Within seconds he was surrounded by all sides.
The wyverns remained above the ground, with their riders holding their axes readily.
"Is this the thing that some of our men have been talkin' about for the past few weeks?" One of the riders asked curiously, uncaring of the warning growls coming from the werewolf. The wyverns themselves skittered nervously in the air despite having the advantage.
"I think so." Another responded. "I guess that makes it a bundle then don't it? Taking care of the Exalt and our little pest here in one swoop."
"Then let's get to it lads." The wyvern in front of Faolan dove, the rider's axe raised and ready to strike. Faolan ducked low under the incoming swing and launched himself at the Plegian. Just before his claws could reach the human he felt something bite into his leg. A heartbeat later he was flung away by a second wyvern, and landed roughly on the dry ground.
The air rushed out of Faolan's lungs for the second time that day the moment he impacted the ground facedown, leaving him stunned and vulnerable.
"It doesn't seem so dangerous now does it?" Sneered a third human. His wyvern leaned on the prone body with a taloned foot. The human laughed as his wyvern bit into Faolan's shoulder, and a cruel grin made its way to his face with the howls of pain it caused.
The werewolf tried to retaliate against the attacks, but couldn't move enough to do anything besides snap uselessly at the air in between his howls.
"This'll finish ya off." An axe was raised to the air.
Only for a sharp blade of wind to send both rider and mount sprawling to the ground.
"See? I told you I saw something rolling down the cliff!" A male voice said proudly.
"Yes, thank you Vaike," a female voice responded distractedly, "oh my…"
"Hm? What's up Robin?" Vaike asked. "Oh sheesh, that's a lot of wyverns."
"Look at the ground Vaike."
"Oh… what's that?"
"Um… later. Go get Chrom and the others here as fast as possible."
"Uh, right, Teach'll get them. Stay safe." The sounds of footsteps faded the further away they went.
Faolan slowly turned his head to the other human who hadn't left. The snow white locks of hair ringed a few bells for the werewolf, but his attention was quickly focused on the remaining enemies surrounding the two. He pushed himself to stand, wincing internally at the pain in his shoulder, and glanced at the human that he presumed had saved him.
She held a green tome in her hand that radiated magical power. It didn't look like she had any hostile intentions towards him, and that was good enough at the moment. He would deal with her later if it came down to it.
"We can work together." Robin suggested, opening up her tome and aiming it at their enemies. Internally hoping she hadn't just isolated herself from the Shepherds so she could get herself killed.
Faolan didn't respond verbally, but inched closer to the tactician.
Robin gave a quick smile. "Take out the ones on the left, I'll cover for you." Faolan glanced at her and gave a small nod of understanding. Then the two burst into action, the werewolf taking to all fours and putting on extra speed with the tactician not too far behind. The elwind tome Robin held glowed a bright green and she aimed it at the closest rider to their target.
Faolan then reached his target. With no signs of slowing down, he impacted the underside of the wyvern with enough force to launch the rider from his saddle and down the cliff edge. Another wyvern rider had tried to intervene, but was cut off by a blade of green flying right in front of him. The Plegian backed off when he quickly realized that he was outnumbered.
Robin clicked her tongue in annoyance for missing. 'Aiming while moving isn't easy.' She reminded herself. At least they managed to get one of their targets. She caught up with the wolf-beast as it shook off its dizziness.
"Good job." She complemented. When the werewolf didn't respond, Robin began to wonder if the creature couldn't talk like Panne could, or was just more like Lon'qu where it didn't talk much at all. Or was actually just a smart animal. Yet it remained standing there, almost as if it were waiting for orders.
"Er," Robin began, suddenly aware of how closely she was being watched, "we should be able to hold these ones off until the others get here."
Faolan kept his questioning gaze on the tactician for a few more seconds, until he finally looked away. 'Why is she so familiar?' He wondered. No matter how much he tried he couldn't shake the feeling.
"Robin!" From the distance multiple figures could be seen heading in their direction. In the front of the charge was Chrom and his ever dutiful retainer Frederick. Trailing along was the newly recruited Cordelia, Lissa, and Vaike.
Faolan looked at the approaching group and came to a sudden realization of who they were. As happy as he was to see the blonde female that had protected him when he had first arrived —even though he couldn't show it— he had to be wary of the others who hadn't. With the possible exception to white-haired one beside him. She did save his life just now after all.
And it seemed that some of the newcomers were also thinking along the same line.
"What is that thing?!" The red haired one cried from atop her pegasus.
"Robin? Teach doesn't think that staying close to that thing is a good idea."
"Hey!" The smallest one raised her voice. "It won't hurt you if you don't hurt it!"
"Lissa, we've been over this…"
"Milady get back here!"
"She's right guys." Robin assured her fellow Shepherds as Lissa walked to the werewolf. "It's fine. It won't hurt us."
Faolan watched curiously as the human named Lissa approached him slowly. The other humans looked on anxiously, prepared to jump to their princess' protection should she come under attack. She stopped in front of him with a big smile on her face.
"Heya! It's been a while." Much to the Shepherds' shock, the beast responded with a slow nod.
"We last saw you in the forest near Southtown. What are you doing here?"
Faolan took longer this time to answer, but when he did he pointed at Cordelia.
"M-me? What do I have to do with this?"
Lissa continued. "So did you... follow her?"
Another nod.
"How… convenient." Leave it to Frederick to suspect an animal.
"Will you help us?" Robin asked when it looked like Lissa was struggling to find easy enough questions that could be answered
by the werewolf with either a nod or shake of its head.
The beast stared into Robin's eyes, and the tactician suddenly felt like she was being tested. Like her worth was being evaluated. She stared back into those amber eyes without flinching or backing off. When the creature visibly relaxed and finally answered with a nod she sighed in relief.
"Great."
The rest of the Shepherds were surprised when they arrived back in the battle with the werewolf trailing beside them. But with Chrom's (hesitatant) assurances that an explanation would be given after the battle, they were soon focused back on the Plegians once again.
Robin had tested Faolan throughout the rest of the ambush, which had by then lost all of its momentum, to get a sense of the werewolf's capabilities. It seemed to be good at taking both physical and magical damage, but was always more focused on Frederick's lance whenever the two were near. And like displayed before at the forest, his resistance to magic extended to Lissa's healing as well.
It had good mobility too, closely matching that of the two pegasus riders in the group. But the werewolf also seemed to rely more on its strength and greater mobility than actual speed. Yet Lissa had told her that it had moved much faster when they were surrounded by Risen in the forest.
The actual battle itself had gone smoothly. With the added help and forewarning of Plegian reinforcements from Cordelia, and the wildcard that was their new ally, the Shepherds easily reached Vasto.
It wasn't until after the battle when something else happened.
"Robin!" Lissa called. "I can't find it!"
"Find what Lissa?" Robin asked.
"You know," the princess struggled to find a name, "it. The wolf-thing!"
"Perhaps it left." Chrom guessed. "Like it did the last time."
"But why did it just vanish?" Lissa complained. "Last time it at least said goodbye… sort of."
Footsteps sounded behind the trio, causing them to look in the direction the Plegians had come from. For a moment they feared another ambush was about happen. But that fear was replaced with confusion when a small figure stopped not too far from them.
It was a kid, he didn't look much older than Ricken did. His long and messy chestnut hair made Stahl's seem almost tame in comparison. He was dressed in old damaged clothes that gave him the look of a poor child. The expression on his young face told the trio that he was nervous of something.
"Now remember Faolan," his mother had told him many years ago. "It's important to thank someone when they help you."
"Alright mom." He had answered.
The kid opened his mouth to speak, yet no words came out.
He continued trying until he finally succeeded.
"Thank… you." The words sounded unsure once he had found them. Like he hadn't spoken in years and was testing them for the first time. "For… helping.. me."
He looked into Lissa's eyes, causing the princess to gasp. Robin and Chrom were also caught by surprise when they looked into those —amber-coloured— eyes. The very same ones they had seen not too long ago.
"N-no problem." Lissa stammered.
He then switched over to Robin. This time he found the words coming faster than before. "Thank.. you, too."
Robin nodded numbly, too stunned to do any other form of communication.
Finally he looked over to Chrom.
His mother smiled down lovingly at him, and gave him more advice before they entered the human village. "Don't forget that when you meet someone, it's also polite to give your name when you greet them."
"Yes mom."
"Good, now run along, my little pup. Stay safe, I'll be back soon."
"My… name… is… Faolan. It's… nice to… meet you."
The trip back to the rest of the Shepherds was a silent one. An awkward exchange of introductions was given before the four of them set off. Faolan kept a short distance from the humans as they walked, even staying away from Lissa, who until then had possibly been the closest to the boy.
Faolan didn't like his human form. It was too weak. Too vulnerable to do anything if the humans suddenly turned on him. The only reason he hadn't run off yet was because he had a feeling that these humans were different than the rest he'd met before. When he had been fighting amongst their numbers against the humans who sought to capture their Exalt —whatever that was— they didn't seem to mind his presence. Even if most of their initial reactions was that of surprise. Despite his knowledge of how humans would normally act when near his kind. So maybe… just maybe…
He had been alone for so long, that after years of isolation, just the hope of finally being accepted was keeping his legs moving forward.
The group of four walked through the temporary camp the Shepherds set up for the time being. Which was actually just the medical tent set up a short distance from the Shepherds' convoy.
There they encountered the always protective Frederick engaged in a four way conversation between Exalt Emmeryn, the pegasus knight captain Phila, and her subordinate Cordelia. Whatever it was they were talking about didn't appear to be pleasant as all four members were frowning. Frederick looked as if he was going to say something before he caught Chrom approaching from the edge of his vision, where he instead stopped in order to greet the prince.
"Milord," Frederick said with a quick bow, "I'm glad you could join us." He also nodded to Lissa and Robin, but stopped short of doing so when he spotted the fourth member, where his frown deepened. "Who's this?"
Shifting under the gaze Faolan nervously avoided eye contact as much as possible and hid behind Robin, then berated himself for being afraid in the first place. In his beast form this human wouldn't be any more intimidating than the giant-flying-fish-things he'd fought earlier. With the exception of the silver weapon he used. But now this human appeared like a mountain in his eyes.
"Er," Chrom began, looking back to the scared child who no one would believe was the beast that had saved his younger sister from a hoard of Risen. "This is Faolan, you two have met already."
"Have we now." Frederick mused, trying and failing to recall any memories of the child. To his credit the knight had a sneaking suspicion on who this Faolan was before he found out the same way the others did. "I see, I had my guesses after meeting Panne. So, another Taguel?"
"I don't think so." Robin cut into the conversation. She gently pushed Faolan from behind her to in front, a sense of pity filling her when she felt how his shoulders were trembling. "Panne retains some of her features when she's in her human form," she then gestured to the top of Faolan's head, "like her ears."
Finally the subject they were talking about spoke up.
"I'm.. not a, Taguel." Faolan said adamantly, finding hidden reserves of his confidence so that he could finally speak up.
"Well what are you then?" Lissa asked curiously. "You're clearly not human."
Flinching from how the words brought up memories from the past, Faolan remained silent.
Even Chrom, as thick headed as he was at times, caught how the words affected Faolan. "Lissa!" He admonished. "Apologize to him!"
"E-eh? Oh! I-I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine." With a shake of his head Faolan banished the memories from his mind.
"Aside from identifying your species," Frederick continued, "I must ask why you followed Milord and Milady back here."
"I," Faolan steeled himself for whatever might come next, "I want to," he struggled with finding the words.
"I want to join your pack."
Frederick blinked at the odd term used for describing the Shepherds, then let his protective (suspicious) nature take over. "While I will thank you for protecting milady Lissa back in the forest, and apologize for nearly killing you, I wouldn't let you join the Shepherds because of it."
Faolan's shoulders slumped, and his eyes fell to the ground. Of course it would turn out like this. He should have known better than to—
"However," Frederick unknowingly interrupted, his gaze turning to Chrom, "at this point I know my opinion doesn't really matter, as Milord would recruit someone he'd met on an open field without a second thought." His eyes danced in hidden amusement when Chrom chuckled nervously and Robin laughed, even if his current expression was a resigned look. "Despite the possible dangers I warned him of."
Faolan stared up at the knight in shock, and his hopes soared. When he looked to Chrom the prince was already smiling down at him.
"Well you did save my sister and helped us when we were ambushed." Chrom reasoned. "I think that deserves a thanks, so welcome to the Shepherds Faolan."
Within seconds after hearing the words, Faolan could feel a burning sensation within his eyes. He hastily wiped at his unending flow of tears, unaware of the large smile that spread across his face.
"Th-thank.. you." He managed between sniffles.
'Finally,' Faolan thought, 'a group to be with.' A group he could call his pack. A group he could call… his family.
A gentle hand was placed on his shoulder once he stopped. And for a moment Faolan had a flashback to his mother. But when he looked up he saw another woman. Her blonde hair was like Lissa's, and she had the same symbol on her forehead that Chrom had on his exposed arm.
Emmeryn smiled down serenely at Faolan. "Why don't you have Lissa and Robin here show you around?" She softly suggested, looking to the two in question.
Finding it hard to disagree with the woman, Faolan nodded.
"Yeah!" Lissa agreed enthusiastically, rushing forward and taking Faolan by the hand. "C'mon Robin let's go show him around the camp!" She then proceeded to drag away the werewolf. Robin chuckled momentarily at the princess' excitement and followed at a more leisurely pace.
Chrom watched as the three left with a smile. Noticing Frederick's frown he laughed. "It'll be alright Frederick." The prince assured. "And besides, even actual shepherds have their shepherd dogs." He then joked, linking Faolan's beast form to the aforementioned shepherd dog.
While Frederick smiled briefly at the little joke, it was quickly replaced by the frown that was previously there. "I thank you for the assurance Milord, but that was not the cause for my mood. It's time we continue the discussion in place before you arrived." He then nodded to Cordelia, who until then had been silently watching.
"As I said before you arrived L-Lord Chrom, Ylisstol has fallen."
Faolan's little tour of the Shepherd's camp and introduction to its members was an interesting experience for the werewolf. With Lissa dragging him around everywhere it would have been hard not to pick up on her enthusiasm, and so for a short while he felt like a pup once again.
The first introduction, however, came from Lissa herself. Where she explained how she was the princess of a land called Ylisse, and the younger sister to the blue haired male that let him join the pack called Chrom, who was a prince. She also told him that their older sister Emmeryn was the ruler and Exalt of Ylisse.
Faolan in all honesty had no idea what a prince, princess, or Exalt were, but haphazardly guessed that it meant that they were the alphas of a really really large pack.
The next to properly introduce herself was Robin, who actually had very little to say about other than her current occupation in the Shepherds and how she was found in a field without any memories. Amnesia, Lissa had called it.
He personally didn't really think that this 'amnesia' was that much of a problem.
There were memories he would have preferred forgotten anyway.
His meetings with each of the Shepherds were all notable to him. From how Kellam managed to sneak up on them despite his honed senses, to how Ricken threw off his large hat into the air and thanked the gods that he wasn't the only child in the Shepherds.
Faolan wasn't looking forward to when that was revealed to not be the truth.
The next had been the short meeting between the them and Lon'qu. The Feroxian warrior took one look at him, huffed, and went back to his own business.
Lissa apparently hadn't liked how quickly they were dismissed, and chased Lon'qu around trying to poke him.
The power of these 'pokes' were not to be messed with, Faolan had concluded. They had to be extremely powerful if they had the stronger looking Lon'qu running frantically from the smaller Lissa.
Then they ran into Panne.
The Taguel had actually been the one to approach them.
"Man-spawns, you realize that you don't walk with one of your kind yes?"
Robin winced internally. Panne was still on the edge with the rest of the Shepherds, despite being part of the group. She wanted to get to know the taguel better, but with having to escort the Exalt to the eastern palace and the most recent attack, finding time to do so was difficult.
Unlike before where Faolan withdrew into himself at the comment regarding his species, this time he didn't even seem to notice it, being too busy staring at Panne. He took a step towards the Taguel, closed his eyes, and sniffed the air(2).
To Robin's and Lissa's utter shock, Panne's faces took on the lightest shade of red.
Crossing her arms and banishing her light blush, Panne narrowed her gaze. "What is it you want, Pup?"
Faolan opened his eyes to reveal the wonder and amazement he was feeling. "You're like me." He finally breathed out. Her appearance was obviously different, but her scent wasn't like the other humans' either. It seemed, with her 'pup' comment, that she also figured out that he was a different species than what her hare-like appearance gave off.
"We found Faolan here not too long ago." Robin managed to explain, getting over the shock of seeing Panne momentarily lose her cold persona. "He's just joined the Shepherds after he helped us fight off the ambush."
"I see." Looking at Faolan, who was still staring at her in wondrous disbelief, Panne smiled. It was a small one admittedly, but a smile nonetheless. "And here I thought I was the last of my kind." The last of the Taguel admitted to the werewolf. "In any case, welcome to the Shepherds Faolan, I am Panne."
With a bright smile Faolan looked up to Panne. "Heya Panne, nice to meetcha!"
All in all, Faolan could tell that he was going to like his new pack. His new family.
AN: Welp, it's happening. My second series begins —even though I haven't finished the first one... Sorry T.O.W. readers...
My apologies for the slow update, which was partly due to my laziness and school.
So, Faolan. I think I gave enough hints for people to get the gist of him, but I'll explain a little about him for those who didn't quite get it.
Faolan (no last name) has the human appearance of a young child, about Ricken's age. With unkempt dark brown hair. In werewolf form the dark brown becomes nearly black. Faolan is hinted at being alone for many years, and since it is in a wolf's nature (in this case, werewolf's) to be a part of a pack, he leaps at the first chance to become join one. He'll become extremely loyal and protective of his new family over time.
Not too much of course, but I don't want to spoil things.
Anyways, thanks to those who wanted this to become an actual series, I hope you'll look forward to more future updates later on. If there are any mistakes you see, please feel free to point them out either through reviews or PMs. Until then.
In reference to the numbers throughout the chapter:
1) Yes I put that there, no it means absolutely nothing plot-wise. I just couldn't resist.
2) This should be common knowledge by now, but animals can learn a lot about each other by scent. And Panne reacted the way she did because it would be embarrassing to be suddenly sniffed by a stranger, even if it's a child.
Preview for next chapter:
It was some time after when a question popped into Lissa's mind.
"Hey Faolan."
"Hm?"
"How do you transform anyway? You don't look like you have a beaststone on you."
"Beast…stone?"
"It is a stone that we Taguel use to activate our transformation, Pup. Do you not have one?"
"I uh… transform in a different way."
"Really? Show us!"
"I dunno Lissa, people don't usually react well after seeing me shift."
"You can borrow mine if you're uncomfortable Pup. Just don't damage it."
"R-really? Thanks Panne. Woah, this thing's making me feel, weird. H-how do I use it?"
"Just focus on your beast-side while keeping hold of the beaststone."
"I… I think I'm getting i—"
*KABOOM*