| Well, Fred spends most of the day looking through the woods for Alicia,
but even though he always catchs a whiff of her in the breeze (amazing
how useful his newly heightened sense of smell is), he can't find Alicia.
Fred hears her laughing every once in a while, playfully. Soon, Fred stumbles
across a crude village. A gathering of were creatures are milling about
at various tasks. Loam, the silver furred werewolf is working at splitting
some logs with a crude ax.
"Loam, have you seen Alicia anywhere?" Fred calls, trotting up to him.
"Yes, but not for a while." Loam said with a slightly puzzled look.
"Hey, if is none of my business, but she looked a touch amused about something.
What is up?"
"If you must know, I asked for her to marry me!" snaps Fred. "For some
reason, she's playing hard to get!"
"Whoa there, turbo!" Loam says holding up a placating hand. "Here, let's
go off to the side, and you can tell this old busybody who should know
better than to stick his muzzle into something like this . . . .what exactly
happened! Maybe I can help."
For some reason, Fred finds he trusts the rough but ready character,
and goes off to the side and tells what happens. When Fred finishes, Loam
is shaking his head ruefully.
"Fred, if you were anything else but a highborn man, I'd call you a
fool." Loam says evenly. "Of COURSE she didn't accept! She really doesn't
know you, and you sure as hell don't know about her!"
"But . . .!" Fred begins in protest.
"Look!" Loam says, grabbing and holding Fred's hand at eye level. "What
ever title you had before . . . . what ever birthright . . . . is GONE!
They'd kill you on sight, your loyal subjects, on sight! There is NO cure
for lycanthropy, no matter what those stupid bards say! They only make
it up to please their crowds. More to the point, even IF something like
this had happened while you were still human, how would YOUR land's princess
react if you went out and said she MUST marry you? It's be bad. You don't
TELL your higher ups WHAT to do. It takes a little more tact than what
you used."
Fred bites back the challenge he was about to issue the larger, more
massive lycanthrope, and rocks back on his feet and considers what the
peasant just said. He sighs, remembering the scenes he had witnessed of
the lycanthrope hunts he had participated in. It was all so easy to condem
a lycanthrope as a monster while you weren't one, but now....... What Loam
had meant by "leveling of the playing field" just became more painfully
clear. His title.....his position meant nothing. His high blood was tainted
with lycanthropy, making him unfit for whatever rights even a peasant had
in his land! Now, he was on equal footing, at least, with his fellow lycanthropes
on this strange island!
Then, looking back at the way he had approached Alicia, he winces.
"What . . . . do you suggest?" Fred says in a subdued voice. "I'm .
. . kind of new to this."
"Serenade her. Date her. Get to know the woman!" Loam mutters. "Just
don't try to force that princess into marriage. Won't work! Besides, there's
no shame at an unwed mother, for the mother or the father. The local cleric,
Padre Fin, isn't about to curse us for something we had NO control over
while the beast is on us!"
Fred goes off, deep in thought, tail wagging and ears twitching as he
goes over the best way to "serenade" Alicia. One thing he WILL have to
do is to ACTUALLY get to know her personally......
Alicia comes out from behind some bushes, smiling.
"Thanks, Loam." Alicia said. "At least you got him on the right track."
"Hey, call it a favor for a friend and my liege lady." Loam says lightly
with a "wolfish" grin. "At least it got him more grounded in the reality
of his situation."
"Well, though I kind of like the guy, I'm NOT going to treat me like
some obligation! That would REALLY put a damper on the relationship."
Alicia scampers off, and Loam looks after her. He just has to wonder,
sometimes, as to who was "hunting" who around here. He shrugs, and goes
back to chopping wood. It was dirty pool. It was tricky. It was just life
as usual for them on this island.
|
