Once upon a time there was a lost little girl, and a monster that guarded her while she slept.

-Chapter 1-

May He Never Hear Your Footsteps

The first time she remembered dreaming her wolf, Evelyn was five years old. Long before she ever knew of the Circle, the first time she felt afraid when she went to sleep, he was there.

Her bedchamber was quite oversized for one child, especially one so small as Evelyn. Her parents had far more castle than they had children- though in the daytime the main halls were always full of more brightly dressed nobles, drinking and gossiping, and servants, doing their best at going unnoticed. For her part, Evelyn liked having the space to play. She took hours of entertainment by herself, spreading out her dolls to all corners and telling whole worlds of stories with them as the characters.

Now, in the dark, the many corners and alcoves in the domed room taunted her with what could be lurking there. It was not a foreboding place, not usually. The windows were grand, and three of them filled a whole wall, all in sweeping arches. They hung with heavy cream colored drapes selected by her mother, currently drawn shut. Her bed fell centered against the westernmost wall framed by more cream drapery, a downy alcove just for her. Small, painted wooden animals and stars hung on strings from the headboard. She saw the glittering eyes of a fox totem staring back at her from the blackness, and yelped.

She remembered crying herself to sleep that night, rain pounding outside the windows, certain that something in the shadowed corners of that too-large room was going to emerge any moment and steal her away. She buried herself under her blankets, squeezing her eyes shut as tight as she could, and tried very hard to imagine that she was safe.

When she opened her eyes again she hadn't moved, but things felt different. The sound of the rain was gone, and in its place a soft blue-green light glowed from somewhere she couldn't see, casting everything into a haze. A slight sense of wrongness nagged at her, and she realized with a shock that she no longer felt the same clutching fear she had only moments ago. When she touched her cheeks, her hands came away dry.

Her bed sprawled out around her, just a little bigger than she was sure that it was, cool sheets pooling around her tiny legs. Stuffed toys and drawings of her family stared gloomily at her from every corner, strange and woeful in this dim blue aura.

It didn't even occur to her to call for anyone as she sat up, adjusted her nightdress, and wiggled her way off the edge of her bed- which was definitely a bit taller than normal. She hit the floor with a muted thump that echoed out around her like she was in a cave, and toddled towards the overstuffed chair that Ada read her stories in. By now it had occured to Evelyn that this must be some kind of dream; she had just decided to see how high she could jump on the chair now that noone was around to yell at her, when she felt a prickle on the back of her neck.

She could feel someone watching her and turned around, slowly, dimly aware that she should be afraid. There, between her and the arch of her doorway, sat a massive black wolf. He was easily six feet in height, though Evelyn couldn't have known that at the time. His eyes were many, three on each side, and they burned white with intensity. He sat straight and attentive, but as she turned to face him he cocked his head and brought his forelegs to the floor, laying down. He bowed his nose to the ground and looked up at her with too many eyes, blinking slowly and making no further movements.

The smile that lit Evie's face then was brighter than the sun over the Free Marches had been in weeks. With no warning, she threw herself forward, burying her face into his soft chest and her arms in the deep fur of his neck. The beast tensed, all six eyes flaring in surprise. Then, very carefully, he brought his giant muzzle to the crook of her neck, and sighed.

They stayed that way a long moment, and she noticed that time didn't feel like it should. Pulling away so she could look into his vivid white eyes, and without fully meaning to, she asked,

"Why don't I know your name?" Speech was strange in this place. Her words rippled out from her and all around her, a ringing underwater music.

you do not need it

He answered her, but not with a voice. To describe how the wolf spoke was difficult, because understanding it as it happened was difficult. She felt his reply as emotion and understanding, rather than hearing him speak. She knew he was addressing her fondly, protectively, and with an echo of something sadder she couldn't get a handle on. She somehow came into the knowledge that he was here to watch over her, and to show her something.

At five, Evelyn was smart enough to know that he was dodging her question, voice or no. This irritated her a bit, but she understood that she wouldn't get any more than that, so she didn't ask again. Instead, looking around the bleary version of her chambers, she asked,

"Why did you want me to see this?"

I did not

She felt his response once more, meaning layered past what words he had conveyed. This unreality was, apparently, a space where it was easy for him to appear to her. She was going to ask what he did want to show her, then, but she didn't have to. He sat up to his full height once more, immense canine form towering over the child as she gaped at him, and slowly leaned over. When his nose touched her forehead, she saw.

-

Notes:

I currently plan on uploading chapters weekly, but will update that information here if it changes. Thank you so much for reading this far! Dareth shiral.