10 July
Somewhere in Les Êcrého

Colin had been quiet for much of the boat ride. He just sat in the prow staring into the sea ahead. Liam was draped over the gunwale, trying to touch the waves as they crested along the bow. He'd been a little more chipper earlier back in town. The boys had been excited to learn that they'd be staying with Aoife in Ottery St. Catchpole for much of the summer! And were the more excited when their older sister acquiesced to Colin's rather curious request.

Liam had expressed some doubts, ever since the night of the Wolf Moon, but Colin was determined. He really liked Emily --- no, that wasn't right. His heart knew best. He loved his Emmi. And this was something he knew he had to do. It wasn't just a coincidence what Tes and Emily were planning for later in the summer. There was a reason for it, like it was part of some great Plan that Colin was only dimly aware of. A meetup between Hogwarts students and werewolf kids in their wolf shape!?

It was a grand idea! But, so far as he knew, none of the other wolves had ever shared their transformations outside of other wolves or close family. For most, it was a time of loneliness and separation. He knew Tes's Ma was a wolf, so she at least had that experience. Colin wanted to share his with Emily. After all, if everything worked out between them, well --- who knew? She might have to put up with it for years!

Colin smiled.

He could hear Aoife and AngelFyre talking. He caught some of their conversation. Mostly about school and Fyre's magical studies. Her family. Ordinary things. He knew those two would understand the boys' need for some rest and quiet at this time of the month. He tuned out the conversation, though he did hope that his sister wasn't grilling AngelFyre to harshly! Soon enough a small island came into view and the boat slowed. He jabbed Liam's side and nodded ahead. They watched with renewed anticipation as the boat slowed and they approached the small stretch of sand within the rocky shore.

He'd asked for this.

Some place quiet where he could practice sharing his transformation with a friend. His best friend. A sort of trial run before sharing it with his girl. Aoife said she knew a good spot. Quiet. Practically uninhabited. Just some ruins and a couple stone cottages. She said it was a place the Ministry used for training. The name sounded weird, like someone trying to cough up a particularly difficult bit of phlegm. Êcrého. Colin smirked. Excuse you!

Colin and Liam looked back at the girls and hopped out of the boat. They'd changed their clothes during the ride over. Gone were the usual drab kilts and white shirts and Doc Martens. In their place, both boys had wrapped their féileadh mór around their waists. They'd been given by Ma. Just a long piece of green and blue plaid cloth that you wrapped around your waist, brought the long end up over your shoulder and tucked it in. It was the perfect garment for the active werewolf! Easy to put on, easy to squirm out of after transformation and easy to squirm back into when becoming properly human again!

The Sun felt warm on Colin's bare torso and shoulder as he jumped out of the boat with his twin. They pulled on the rope to beach the craft and wrapped the end around an old post set into the sand. Colin breathed deep. Apart from the scent of the sea, he caught the whiff of grass and scrub and a hint of smoke. Aoife had said there was a Ministry caretaker, but that he wouldn't bother them. He turned and looked at Liam. Liam looked at him.

The twins smiled.

This was going to be fun! An adventure on an island all to themselves!

They put their arms around each other's shoulders and hopped about on the hot sand! Colin's wolf fang necklace bounced merrily against his chest. They called over to the boat. "Come on lassies! Don't be such slow coaches!! Let's go explore!"

@AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentions: @Emily Shephard

The boat carrying them to Les Êcrého sliced through the pewter water like a blade through recent memory… clean, deliberate, and without mercy. It pitched forward, carving through choppy water like pain surfacing beneath skin. AngelFyre sat with sea spray misting her face, the cold clinging like a name unspoken for days.

His name. Simon.

The sea churned, restrained, like a sob caught in her throat. Waves met the hull with wet, blunt thuds… steady and persistent. It sounded like someone knocking from the inside, the rhythm slow and familiar. Not Simon. She knew that. But it echoed, like memory had rehearsed it into her bones… just her own ache, shaped like him.

And the world around her… salt, sun, silence… was complicit, dull in its sympathy. Wind pulled at the hem of her coat, like the past still begging to be witnessed. Nothing about this crossing felt new. Not the ache behind her ribs, nor the hush she had dragged behind her since London. The Channel did not welcome; it only tolerated. And AngelFyre moved forward not because she wanted to, but because every road behind her had already led to their bridge to nowhere.

Ten nights ago, she and Simon had parted beneath lamplight, on a quiet bench. Their still-warm, glistening rings placed between them were suddenly shrouded by passing clouds. The stone fountain gurgled behind them, its mist catching moonlight as he said goodbye, slowly, carefully, as if she were something fragile. He had not raised his voice. She had not cried, not fully. The gentleness had been the part that hurt. She remembered the sound of the water behind him as he told her, without words, “For the assurance of us.” It had made the silence feel cruel, but not him. Never him.

Now, this sea beneath her did not hold. It only stretched… vast and grey, in a way that unmade her. She thought of Hogwarts and the lake surrounded by whispering forests and shade, spell-light flickering beneath branches or ripples catching the ghost of his smile. That water had felt enclosed. Contained. Familiar. Safe. The ache nestled deeper. The wind across the Channel did nothing to quiet it. Every ripple in this water felt like a word unspoken.

Ahead, the islands of Les Écréhous rose slowly into view… low, stony, secretive. AngelFyre had never been here before. There were no familiar corners, no seabirds she had named, no shadowed corners she knew of where grief could rest. The coastline seemed quiet to the point of cruelty. This place carried no trace of Simon’s warmth. And her grief, for now, had nowhere to land. So she held it. All of it.

Colin adjusted his grip along the edge of the boat, steady, but tight. She watched the way his fingers curled, how his shoulder tipped slightly forward. He was bracing, but trusting in his decision. She knew better than to ask if he was all right. He was not. And he was, with genuine anticipation simmering beneath the bravado. Those truths lived in the set of his jaw and in the smile in his eyes.

She reached out briefly, waving, as he looked over his shoulder at her and Aoife. No words passed between them. He did not need any. She knew what her presence meant to him right now. That was enough.

This journey was for Colin. It mattered for him and for his future with Emily. It mattered for AngelFyre too. Her grief stayed quiet, folded behind her ribs, pressed into breath, and reshaped into presence. She wished to be here in full. She intended to be.

From behind, Aoife’s gaze flicked toward her. AngelFyre felt it. It was not invasive or cold, but perceptive. The kind of look shaped by years of training and tempered by discretion. The Auror said nothing after the few niceties, but her awareness hummed. AngelFyre was off-pattern, and Aoife noticed it. No accusations. No conclusions. Just the quiet calculation of someone who catalogued silences for later understanding.

AngelFyre lifted her chin slightly. Not defensively, only enough to reclaim her shape in this space and this time. If Aoife had questions, they would not be answered. Not now.

She spared one more glance toward Colin and Liam. The air currents carried their laughter to her. The wind pressed against her shoulder like a hand, urging her to pay attention. She did. Her sadness belonged to the tide now… patient, layered beneath breath like sea glass buried under sand. It could stay quiet. It would stay quiet.

For Colin.

For now.

------- -----🐺----- -------

Colin felt that AngelFyre was being far too quiet during the journey. Normally, she'd be right in the middle of the excitement! But her usual joy had been dampened down to something like moodiness. Something was going on with her. He just didn't know what. Whatever it was didn't stop Colin from living in the moment!

"Be useful and get the fires ready, ye two!" Aoife called after them as they pranced about on the sand.

Colin looked over his shoulder and flashed Fyre a broad grin. "Ye can tell us a bedtime story Aoife!" Liam laughed and they chased each other up the sloping sand and grass towards the cottage. There were some ruins nearby that practically demanded the twins' attention and need to explore! "Oo, look! A fire ring!" Colin called out. Near the cottage, they found a stock of wood. There were no trees on the island, so he reckoned they must bring in supplies from time to time.

Liam grabbed some of the cut wood and started tossing it to Colin. "Watch yer head, mate!" The wood came faster and Colin tried his best to catch each stick of it. Colin had about a dozen pieces cradled in his arms by the time AngelFyre and Aoife approached the cottage.

THUNK!

"Ow! Liam! What was that ---!?"

"Hah!" Liam retorted, bonking Colin's head with a solid thump. "Thought so! Yer head's a hollow bowl of wood, Cail!" He ran over towards the stone fire ring with Colin in pursuit, throwing the occasional stick after him! Both were laughing as carefree as they could be! After arranging the wood, they ran over and piled into the cottage, where the girls had set to arranging the few things they needed for this short excursion. Colin knew that by this time tomorrow or the next day, they'd all be back in St. Helier. Aoife was going to take them to some kind of festival!

But for now, she shooed them away. "Be gone, the lot of ye! I've things to do here before the Moon rises!"

Colin and Liam knew that tone of voice. It brooked no disobedience, unless they had in mind a long afternoon worth of hard work! "Come on Fyre!" Colin called. "Let's go explore the island!" As one, the twins turned and chased each other out the door and onto the grassy lawn. "Let's go check the ruins first! Liam's been on about them since we got here! Maybe we'll find some dark and cursed artefacts left by some ancient wizards!"

"Pfft! Last year's copy of Witch Weekly, more like!" Liam said, pointing to some abandoned scraps of windworn paper in the corner of one of the tumbled walls. Liam caught Colin's eye. His twin made a quick motion of his head towards their friend. He didn't need to speak any words. He had caught on to the same subdued mood that Colin had. Not many things could bring AngelFyre McCubbin down! Not even the wayward abandonment of her best friend!

Colin snagged the tattered magazine. "Maybe there's a treasure map in here! There's always a treasure map on deserted islands!" He scuffed around in the sand with his toes. Liam reached down into the sand. Colin caught a glimpse of shiny. "Oo. Treasure ho!"

"Look Fyre!" Liam said. "We found a sword!"

Colin looked dubious.

Liam jabbed his ribs.

"Oh! Indeed!"

Colin jabbed Liam's ribs.

They approached AngelFyre, trying to cheer her up a bit. And, perhaps, find out what was going on! They knelt before her, as if she were their queen. Liam held the sword --- currently appearing in a highly and skillfully transfigured state as an ordinary butter knife --- upon his uplifted palms. Colin placed his hand upon its naked blade.

"Dear lady!" he began; "We, your loyal knights do discern a most troublesome and darkling expression veiling thy fair countenance! We have but one sword, but command us and we shall vanquish therewithal any foe that seeks to darken thine erstwhile joyful heart!"

"Whatever it may be that besets thee, AngelFyre," Liam finished up; "do but tell us what hurts thee and we shall smite it to smithereens until it be well and proper smoot! We shall not rest until thou'rt happy and full of joy again!"

Colin nodded emphatically. Whatever it was, Colin was determined not to repeat what he'd done last year. Abandoning his best friend that way, and finally learning how badly he'd hurt her, had made him realise just how low he'd sunk into the Darkest Night.

@AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentions: @Emily Shephard

AngelFyre had been quiet. Too quiet. Even she knew it. The ruins were beautiful, the sea air crisp and bracing, and the twins were in rare form… already chasing each other and shoulder bumping like the wolves they would shortly become. But her heart was heavy, and no amount of wind or laughter could quite lift it.

Until they knelt before her.

She blinked at them, startled by the sudden ceremony. Liam’s hands cradled the butter knife like it was Excalibur itself, and Colin’s reverent hand upon its blade made her want to laugh and cry all at once.

She did not speak right away. She looked at them… really looked… at Colin’s earnest eyes and Liam’s mischievous grin barely contained beneath their knightly solemnity. They were trying. Not just to cheer her up, but to see her. And that, more than anything, made her heart stir.

Echoes of of the past suddenly surfaced, as did a lightness of being. A flash of memory... standing back to back with Colin in the corridors at Hogwarts... brought the first smile to grace her lips in days.

She peered at one and then the other, letting her eyes linger on each of her brave knights. The regal glance added to the theatricality of the moment’s absurdity, while giving her mind time to kick into gear to play along. And play along she did.

She let her voice shift—deliberate, clipped, and rich with the cadence of Shandra the Wise, a persona that would be familiar to Colin, as both he and Shandra had battled the fearsome Liche King’s army in the fourth-floor corridors upon their very first meeting. Colin was her kilted general, and together, they made the Liche King’s knights in their suits of armor dance until they dropped. Literally. It was an awesome battle and a bonny way to meet her very best friend.

AngelFyre, now transformed into her childhood persona, surreptitiously bit the inside of her cheek at the memory and discovered she was now actively working to suppress a smile. She cleared her throat, clasping her hands before her, and spoke.

“Thou hast knelt before me, brave knights, bearing the sacred Blade of Dairy Destiny,” she intoned, now lifting her wand like a scepter. “And lo, I see in thy eyes the fire of loyalty, the sparkle of mischief, and the unmistakable glint of utter nonsense. Well met, both of you.”

Colin looked up and grinned his fangy grin, his pond-scum green eyes sparkling with relief. Liam, ever the more stately of the two, bowed his head, solemn as a hyena trying to stifle its laughter, thereby causing his body to lightly convulse with the effort. One sharp jab of an elbow from his “older” brother stopped the convulsions immediately, and was met with an equally sharp jab in return.

Shandra the Wise looked down upon them and said nothing, but did emit an enough-is-enough, “Ahem.” Both knights suddenly straightened up and decided to act like knights.

“Sir Colin,” she continued, tapping first one shoulder and then the other with Godshall, “Knight of the Creamed Cutlass, defender of toast and scones, may thy courage never curdle and thy blade never dull… though truth be told, it was never terribly sharp to begin with.”

She turned to Liam, her voice rising with mock grandeur as she tapped his shoulders as well. “And Sir Liam, Knight of the Larded Lance, wielder of the sacred smear, may thy valor spread smooth and true—though thy lance be better suited to buttering crumpets than skewering dragons,” and she chortled.

She paused, letting the moment settle. Then, stepping closer, she spoke more softly: “You are my twin blades. My champions. My chaos incarnate. And though my heart is heavy, your offering of treasure lightens it more than you know. And just to be clear, as I know the moon will soon be rising and your senses are already dimming, I am not speaking of the butter knife, but of friendship,” and she nodded at them.

She placed a hand on each of their shoulders, letting her fingers grip them lightly before patting them each exactly twice. Then she stepped back. “Now rise, noble knights. There is firewood to gather, sustenance to be had, cursed artefacts to misidentify, and unless my memory doth deceive me… and I assure you it does not… a night’s adventure before us to romp and explore this conquered land beneath a gloriously spectacular Buck Moon.”

Colin whooped and sprang up suddenly. Liam saluted with the butter knife and calmly stood, and within seconds all three had linked arms and twirled around before running off to scout their new environs together.

And for the first time since arriving on the island... heck, for the first time in days... AngelFyre felt the corners of her heart begin to lift. She was not ready to speak her sorrow. Not yet. But she was ready to walk beside it. And with these two at her side, she knew she would not have to walk alone.

------- -----🐺 🐺----- -------

Colin and Liam straightened up proudly as AngelFyre spoke. She always knew just what to say! Whether it was naming their newly found butter knife the Blade of Dairy Destiny and the Larded Lance, or whether it was her long and winding thought ultimately deeply thoughtful way of expressing their friendship, Colin's heart resonated. Twas all Colin could do to keep from laughing during the queen's speech, and he was pretty sure Liam was suffering a similar fate!

Dripping with honey and treacle as AngelFyre's words were, and as dull as Colin's wits might be on a day like today, he did in fact catch on to her meaning! Twin blades, chaos incarnate, champions both. Hidden within the sweet fantasy was the kernel of truth. He and AngelFyre were best friends, had always been, always would be. No matter what came in the future. And having Liam in the mix only made it better! She was speaking about their friendship, smelted in the great wars against the Liche King, long forged through all the adventures and times of life at Hogwarts, and now, even as their sojourn at school was closer to its ending than its beginning, Colin knew well she was speaking of the love of deep friendship.

And how such love can both slice open a heart or heal its wounds.

Colin knew he had done the former last year, whilst spiralling down into the void of the darkest night. But he also knew that it was this same heart, AngelFyre's, and Liam's and Aoife's, and most recently Emily's, that brought him back out of the darkness. And now Colin knew was the time to set right the old wrong. He would find out what was devouring AngelFyre's heart the past year. He knew he must also discover what secret was lurking deep within Emily's heart.

Today was simply the way Colin had determined would be the best way for him to do that. He'd been called to embark on some great adventure, he knew that from the beginning. He'd fallen to many temptations along the way. Some, in fact, he was only just remembering from his sojourn through the abyss! Thank God for Liam, his voice of reason!

And here they were! The Knights of the Buck Moon! Rising with their queen and, sombre as they were moments before, now full of joy and gay of heart, dashed off across the island to explore it all around! From the ruins, they ran down towards the sandy beach where Liam chased Colin out into the water and Colin chased Liam back out, the boys splashing each other the while!

They followed after AngelFyre as she led them on a chase over to the other side of the island and up a slight rise. There they found a curious pole sticking into the ground. "I wonder if it's a flagpole, or maybe for a wind sock!" cried Fyre. Colin looked at Liam, who shrugged. Colin nodded sagely. "Muggle Malarkey, to be sure, Liam! Surely only Muggles would hang their socks off of a big tall pole like this!" Liam nodded, examining the pole more closely. "I say, actually mates, I believe this must be a mooring mast for a magic carpet!"

"But! Those are illegal, aren't they?" said Colin suspiciously.

"In Britain they are!" said Fyre.

"Ah!" said Liam; "I bet this is where foreigners come to tie up. Like, you know, dignitaries and such. I bet there're Ministry chaps waiting in the house for them, and they take them the rest of the way on brooms!"

Colin nodded. "I mean. That makes sense! If they can't fly magic carpets over Britain, then they'd have to have a place to exchange! Especially if they're here on some kind of secret mission! Like Ministry to Ministry sort of thing!" Colin knocked on the tall post. "Maybe they set up a portkey or something?"

"I'll bet some foreign Ministry bloke dropped the Larded Lance and got in trouble for it!" said Liam.

"Right? How is it, Mr Delacroix, that you lost one of the most important magical weapons ever forged?" Colin said, trying for a thick French accent.

"How should I have known that, when we cast the concealment charm on the sword, it would end up looking like a common pattern British butter knife!?" retorted Liam. AngelFyre laughed at the antics!

Liam laughed, then began a song! Colin took it up as they boys grabbed AngelFyre's hands and started running towards the other end of the island!

They ran along the border between the scrubby grass & weeds and the sand. Colin tried to edge closer the the caretakers cottage, but AngelFyre yanked him away. There was no sense in getting in any trouble, and it didn't look like anyone was about anyway. At the end of the island, there appeared to be a couple lonely graves and a partially tumbled stone wall. Colin leapt up gracefully and thumped his bare chest. "A'm the craw that sat upon the waw on a caud an frosty mornin!" he sang to the others.

"Ye're a daft auld bird, Cail!" Liam replied, still laughing. He sprawled out in the grass, and Colin did the same, resting his head on Liam's belly. "Ye know AngelFyre," Liam began, "Caileann's been on about this for at least a year and a half! I mean, even before he fell in looooovvveee with Emily! He told me once that Clair brought it up. Ye know, seeing him in wolf shape. Didn't come to aught, but now that his heart's been stolen by yer housemate ---" he ruffled Colin's hair affectionately "--- we've been planning. And then didn't Tes drop the news that she and Emily had actually been planning some kind of werewolf thing!"

"Aye! I want to go to that --- tis in August! But, well . . ." Colin's voice trailed off as he blushed slightly.

Liam rolled his eyes. "Poor lad. I suggested he practice a bit with you first! Ye know, being besties and all, seemed like ye'd be the natural choice! So, we got Aoife on top of the same book, only she insisted on coming in case we get too rambunctious! Honestly, neither of us have ever done this with a non-wolf. Ye know. Sharing the Change." Colin was so relieved that Liam spoke for him. Of course, he'd do the same if their situation were reversed, but sometimes he just felt like he didn't quite have the right words. "Oi! We'd better head back to the cottage and get the fire going! You know how Aoife is when she doesn't get her tea!"

Colin nodded and got to his feet. He shook himself like a dog, bits of twigs and leaves and sand flying in every direction! "Cail!" Liam laughed as he shook the sand and leaves out of his own hair. "We're getting sand all over AngelFyre!" The boys took off at a gallop, turning back to let AngelFyre catch up as they danced around her. Once back to the fire ring, Colin slid Naur-an-Edraith from his sheath and pointed at the arranged fire wood.

"Incendio tria!" he cried, revelling in the blue fire that shot from his wand, setting the wood ablaze. He looked from Liam to Fyre, smiling broadly. He was eager for the Sun to set and for the Moon to rise a little while after!

@AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentions: @Emily Shephard

"Thank you, Liam, for thinking of me for such an important mission." And it was an important mission. AngelFyre knew as much long before ever being asked.

She looked over at Colin, who was being uncharacteristically quiet, but that alone was a signal to her... and most likely to Liam as well... about just how important this was to him. Colin would likely be shocked to find that even his loquacious bestie could be at a loss for words at times, too, and never because she did not have the words to say, but because the subject pressing on her in such moments brought forward too many.

Where to start was always the problem at such times. But not here and not now. This would draw them closer, but more importantly, it would forge a pathway to help him draw Emily closer.

Her focus softened as she smiled at Liam and then looked down at nothing really, just busying herself while ruminating in deep thought. Her fingers made their way to her collar bone before lacing themselves into her locks, beginning to twirl long strands of her hair between her fingers. This was a habit that irritated her mother no end, but it was one that always captivated Simon. The problem was she truly had no power to please either of them in those moments because she was unaware of doing it. It was never fun having her mother upset with her, and it would have been loads of fun to do it at will to please her boyfriend.

Make that ex-boyfriend. Her heart clutched and her fingers stilled.

She cleared her throat and looked to Colin, focusing on his fang necklace. "The truth is, ever since our first conversation about what you endure during the transformation, and having to be exiled to the Shrieking Shack on top of it, has always left me wishing to bear witness, but from a standpoint of understanding better, and maybe helping if I could. It just never seemed like something I should throw out there to you first," she stated plaintively.

AngelFyre then purposefully moved her focus up from the necklace to look him squarely in the eyes, knowing he would see in her expression the rest of what she had left unsaid, which was how deeply honored she felt to be the one here.

Colin held her gaze for a few seconds with his pond scum green eyes. More often than not those eyes were alight with impish bedevilment and mischief, but what she mostly saw there now was relief and anticipation.

Then they both blinked and chuckled. Colin sprang up and cast a perfect Incendio tria and everyone understood the final corner had been turned. Now they just needed to wait for the sun to go down, but in the meantime, over-preparer that she was, AngelFyre was going over her mental checklist.

She had her lightpack with her, filled with all of the supplies she would need for the night. She had checked and triple-checked her double-check, so she knew she was good there. All that was left was to go over the Cliff's Notes version of the main event.

"So, can we humor the non-lupine amongst us one last time and answer my final, burning questions? When I speak to you in the course of the evening, are you going to actually understand the meaning of my words or just the tone? And if I sing to you, are either one of you likely to go for my throat?" and she laughed knowingly.

"No one who has ever heard me sing would blame either one you. That is definitely not a sound to soothe the savage beast!"

------- ----- 🌔----- -------

@Simon Kincaid @Emily Shephard @Colin McCoire

Of course AngelFyre always had the right words at the right time. That was one thing he loved so much about his bestie. Right from the times they first met, almost five years ago. His mind drifted back. They hadn't met on the train or even that first night in the castle when Liam was torn from him the first time in their lives. But it was soon after and his heart had demanded the strongest, most instantaneous of bonds be made with this girl.

That was just Colin being Colin. When he met someone, if they felt right to his heart in some nebulous and unwordable sense, he would love them and their friendship would be super strong. AngelFyre was among the first to feel so right. Sophia had been another. In a strange way those troublesome first year twins MeyAndJun gave the same vibes --- but there was something different with them. Strangest of all perhaps was Ava. His heart had declared her worthy, but then, well, certain events happened in the dark of the night.

It was kind of queer too. He had never felt this particular attraction with either Jarael or Clair. Sure he loved them both, in the way an eleven and twelve year old boy could. He'd grown since and matured, no little thanks to the two who were with him right now. He'd begun to thing that perhaps those were a bit like a kid's first magic. Special in that they were hints of what be to come, but really not much more than a trial run. More about excitement and snogging than relationship and giving of oneself. Colin smirked. And actual kissing!

"The truth is, ever since our first conversation about what you endure during the transformation, and having to be exiled to the Shrieking Shack on top of it, has always left me wishing to bear witness, but from a standpoint of understanding better, and maybe helping if I could. It just never seemed like something I should throw out there to you first," Fyre had said. For about the nine million eight hundred sixty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-second time Colin knew that his heart picked the right people to be with.

He nodded and smiled. Relieved. Still holding the fang around his neck in her hands, Fyre's gaze lifted up from it and to his waiting eyes. Still brilliant blue in the lowering Sun. They often said as much to Colin as words ever did. Which, of course, brought to mind that girl his heart had demanded so firmly and strongly that he seek out. Emily Shephard. Curious that she was a Hufflepuff like the other strongly attractive girl. But while his heart felt attracted, there were differences. She had fast become a close friend to him. But the harmonies felt different. Similar. Aligned. Deep. Complex. But ultimately a related yet different theme. For one Colin had the word.

Love.

Not love like hey you're cute, wanna eat choco frogs behind the green houses? But love like here is the girl his own heart was yearning to meld with hers. To become one. To give everything of himself. He gazed into AngelFyre's eyes. Surely she could see the importance of this trip together. He could certainly see the esteem she held for him, the profound importance this held for him. Knowing her, she likely felt honoured by his choice. But really, who else was there to choose? The one was Emily herself, and that was why they were here in the first place. He wasn't quite sure he could this with her. He had to. That was all he knew. But how. That was the question. And there would be others around, too. Other wolves. Other non-wolf kids.

In that moment, some might say the spell was broken. Colin felt super relaxed. Anxiety lifted. Liam appeared to be content that Colin felt better. AngelFyre seemed to understand that main hurdle had been overhurdled and that they were on the right path. They laughed and talked some more. Fyre asked if they would be able to understand her when she talked.

Colin looked at Liam.

Liam looked at Colin.

They smiled.

"Oh aye lass!" Colin began.

"Yes indeed, my friend!" Liam continued.

"Every word of it because, ye know---"

"---English, right? I may have slipped yer mind, but ---"

"--- we do actually speak English Fyre!"

"And we'll even answer ye too!"

"Only our tongues waggle woggle too much for us to make any sense!"

"Right? Brev. We so need to work on that phrase book again! So ---" Liam nodded meaningfully towards Fyre.

"---the nonWolfians can understand too! Aye. But ye know ---"

"--- we've yet to sort out how to spell Wolfy Words! Wait. I didn't know ye could sing, Fyre! Me and Cail love to sing together!" Liam slapped Colin's bare chest. "Ye never once told me AngelFyre can sing!"

"Er!" Colin blushed. Technically that true. Colin had never said that AngelFyre can sing. "Aye. Well. Twas a very rare and precious moment, Liam, you see." Colin still felt sorry for the poor suits of armour who had to endure the onslaught along with him.

"Fine, lad. Keep yer secrets! I'm sure if you sing tonight, Fyre, we'll join right in!" Liam nodded emphatically. The boys laughed. Colin thought to himself: poor Liam. Has no clue in the world! "So, Cail! Are ye going to tell our Fyre all about yer date in Ottery the other day? LAAAARRRKKKK!" Liam made little beating heart figures with his hands as he stuck out his tongue impishly. Turning to AngelFyre, he said: "She beat the carp oot of him, but I fixed him up almost good as new!"

Colin groaned.

"Thanks for reminding me lad." He shook his head slowly. "Lark is one girl I really want to forget all about. And that was the problem Fyre! I was just sprawled out on the park bench there ---"

"---dreaming of that gorgeous heartthrob Emily Shephard!" Liam interjected.

Colin blushed.

"Sigh. That she is Liam! Me eyes were closed and everything and then this girl jumped into me lap and started snogging me! I must have said Emmi's name or something, because she asked --- and I quote --- 'who OR WHAT is an emmy'. The cheek! She didn't even give me a chance to answer but her lips were all over me. And then she started talking about how she's turning seventeen and me sixteen next year and how we'll get married soon, and, and. Fyre. I don't know what set her off, but I asked her who she even was! I didn't even know her name!"

"Knut to a galleon says, Cail, not knowing her name is what set the auld hag off on ye!"

"Aye. I was in a very precarious position, Fyre. She went straight for me nuts! And then she started punching and kicking and kneeing any bit of me she could find! Twas all I could do to find a brief respite from the exquisitely painful attack to get in a few kicks of me own! And then her wand came out! I managed to get Naur-an-Edraith out in time to handle the new threat."

"Good thing our Aoife's been working with us on aim and timing and so forth!" interjected Liam.

"Right? I mean. God preserve me, that girl can sling spells but she couldn't set fire to a paper bag from inside the paper bag! She did get me with a solid slugulus, but mind you, once the wands came out, I got the upper hand! I sent her away screaming!" Colin laughed.

"Tell her the best part! Let me tell ye this Fyre, I saw Lark running from the park screaching like a banshee. I have to say she looked pretty sporting wearing a hagfish round her chest! That was top notch transfiggy, our Cail did!"

"Well, I don't reckon the hagfish was all too pleased!" Colin smiled broadly at the memory. "I hope that's the last time I ever see her. Married? With her? Seriously? Where ever did she even get that idea from!" Colin wondered. "The thing is Fyre: Liam told me that I talked loads about a girl named Lark last year. But, well, you know what all I was into. I just don't remember her at all. Not even her smell. Not her hair. Not her eyes. Not anything about her."

Colin fell silent after that. The Sun was down by now and Moon would be rising soon. He felt strangely energised. Excellent company. Good talk by the fire. Being turned into a wolf. What could possibly be better?

Except perhaps being with Emmi.

@AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentions: @Emily Shephard

"AngelFyre listened in rapt wonder as Colin and Liam relayed the story to her of this girl named Lark.

She gave him a sideways glance with one brow lifted. "Who the heck is Lark, Colin? Another girl you infected with those hag slugs? I do have some small sympathy for her if she caught the feels for you and you did not even remember her name," and she smile-teased him. "You cad!"

"Still, if I had been there, she might have scurried away with a rat tail in addition to the hag fish, so she should consider herself lucky," and she smiled a little wider as she looked around and began to notice that dusk was slowly encroaching.

She began to feel the shift in the air between her and her two lupine friends before she saw it in the sky. Her nerves, not fright, got the best of her, and she hurried to lay out blankets for them where they had all agreed to come back to tomorrow morning. She had also been placed in charge of making certain a change of clothes were laid out for them in case they managed to rip their current shirts and kilts in this evening's agony yet to come.

The fire crackled low and blue, its light flickering across Colin’s face as he laughed with Liam. It was the loose, unguarded laugh he only ever had when he felt safe. Yet beneath it, she could now see the signs of things she had never seen up close and personal in him before: the subtle tightening of his shoulders, the way his fingers flexed unconsciously, and the faint tremor in the muscles along his jaw.

The sun had dipped below the horizon. And now? The Moon was coming.

She felt the spider hairs on the back of her own neck rise. A brief moment of doubt about whether this had been a good idea or not crossed her mind, and she knew, broken up or not, Simon would not be at all pleased if he knew where she was and what she had agreed to expose herself to tonight.

She was not being obstinate or reckless or even playing the if-you-can-be-around-a-coven-of-vampires-game, I can surely be around my lycanthropic best friend and his brother for one life changing, life affirming evening.

This was no game. This was all too real... for everyone involved.

Liam was becoming more agitated, rocking forward and then backwards on his heels as he squatted before the fire. His grin gentled, and he nudged Colin with the kind of wordless understanding only twins could share as he rose. “I'll be close Cail,” he murmured, already stepping back toward the shadows beyond the firelight. “But this one," and he silently cocked his head towards Colin, "is yours, AngelFyre.”

She nodded once and stared after Liam as he disappeared behind the low stone wall, giving Colin privacy without leaving them completely alone.

AngelFyre turned her focus back to her best friend, who was even more than that. He was her family, by choice even if not by blood, and she liked to think that made their bond spider-silk strong.

Colin’s pond scum green eyes were bright, almost too bright, reflecting the fire and the rising tension in the air. He looked at her and she thought he was about to speak, but his body just shuddered. She saw the truth in him: excitement, fear, trust, and something deeper… something maybe like hope. But nothing like joy.

Definitely not joy.

“Are ye ready, lass?” he asked, his voice tight and maybe a bit sharper than normal. His breath caught on the last word, and lass became a much longer "lasssss." His forehead was beginning to glisten with the beads of perspiration now seeping to the surface.

She stepped closer, steady and showing no reservation, nodding her head. His eyes closed in that moment, and unsure if he was aware of her nearness, she told him, “I am here, Colin” she said simply, “and I am not going anywhere.”

The wind shifted. The fire sputtered. And a silver edge crested the horizon.

Colin inhaled sharply.

AngelFyre felt her heart twist, not with pity, but with fierce, protective love. This was the part he had always faced alone. The part no one had ever witnessed. The part he had chosen to share with her.

She reached out and touched his shoulder, just once, grounding and gentle. “Whatever happens, you are not facing it alone tonight. I will be with you,” and she spoke a little louder for Liam's sake. "I will be with the both of you on the other side of this."

His breath rattled in his chest. His fingers curled. And when his eyes opened, they flicked toward the rising Moon.

The first beam of silver light touched the sand near the firepit. Colin staggered.

AngelFyre stepped back, trying not to crowd him, her pulse racing, but her chaotic interiority was a perfect counterpoint to her otherwise calm stance. Fearless. Present. Ready.

She saw Liam’s silhouette similarly shift in the shadows, bracing, waiting, trusting her to hold her ground.

The air thickened. The fire hissed, or maybe it was Colin’s breath hitching again, but even sharper this time.

AngelFyre swallowed hard, her chest tightening with a sudden, aching clarity. Every month brought isolation, loneliness, pain, and exile, yet he had still managed to live in joy and hope and mischief ever since she had known him. How does one become so brave? Colin laughed easily, loved fiercely, lived impulsively, and hoped for a future similar to one she longed to have with Simon. “Hope in the midst of trials and tribulations,” she whispered, barely audible over the rising wind, more to herself than to him. “You leave me humbled and in awe, Woofy.” They both did.

The Moon rose fully... finally.

Colin’s body suddenly arched dramatically and AngelFyre did not even notice she was biting the inside of her cheek to the point of drawing blood.

It had begun.

------- -----🐺 🌔----- -------

Colin watched as Liam went off towards the spot he'd picked for transformation. They both still held out hope for the werewolf potion they had been working on for much of the year. So far, the results had been rather less than stellar. Fourteen explosions, seven melted cauldrons, three instances of hair growing from their teeth and at least two shirts burnt to a crisp was all they had to show for their work.

Colin smiled.

The thought of this Lark in a sports hagfish running around with a rat tail was rather entertaining! He rather wished AngelFyre had been there. She was really quite a good spellcaster, though he was aware of some ill at ease with magic under the surface of his bestie's competent skills with wand and cauldron alike. Colin could feel the delicate shifting of the weights in the scales of the universe. The world of the mundane, of the Sun and her empire of planets, slid to one side as the world of the selenical, of Moon and her mysteries, overtook him like a rising tide.

Colin stood up to greet the Moon.

Even before she rose properly, Colin knew the Moon was nearing the horizon. Astronomy teaches us that the universe operates on orderly principles, that stars and planets and satellites all engage is a slightly wonky but entirely predictable dance as they move through the media of time and space. That it's all a matter of light and shadows, and of course --- in a very restricted sense --- this is all true. One body blocks another from the stellar radiation. Until the other body revolves along its long foreordained path and emerges from behind the shadows and into the light. Astrology teaches a different principle.

The truth of the matter --- the fundamental truth of the matter --- is that the Moon actually and truly rises. Just as the Sun rises after Lucifer heralds her coming on the terrible cusp of dawn, that moment when darkness and golden light are separated and the entirety of creation comes into view, no longer a dream, but a reality. So it is with the Moon. Her coming is heralded by no light bearing planet, and most people are scarcely aware. Some, however, have discovered this other dawn of silvery shimmer and are, for a time, drawn away from the world of sunlight and into the world of moonlight.

Colin had wanted for AngelFyre and Emily to know and understand these things. They would never experience the timelessness of the wolf, but at the very least, they might see and bear witness to it. And perhaps Colin could some day find the words to help them understand. That was his hope anyway. He reckoned these two girls, out of all humanity, might understand. If they didn't, who would? His thoughts turned to Keith and to Henry. Tes and Irina. Edme. And of course those insufferable twins Meyandjun! He wondered if Irina went back to her homeland and the wolf clan she came from. He wondered if Henry ever found his sister, or if he even had any wolfsbane to take. Or had he gone wild wolf? There were so few werewolves. They were tolerated with an expensive and difficult potion and were imprisoned "for their own safety" much of the time. But the wild wolves kept ordinary people afraid. And mistrustful.

The question had always been how to show other people that werewolves on wolfsbane potion really weren't the monsters they'd been convinced they were? Only the people he trusted the most would do. He had to start somewhere. And that somewhere was Emily and AngelFyre. And Aoife too, he reckoned. He loved his sister dearly, but he also knew that her role wasn't merely adult chaperone. He didn't dare tell AngelFyre, for fear that she'd call this off. But the truth was, if the potion failed and either he or Liam went full on monster --- well, Colin knew her job would be to kill them in order to save AngelFyre.

The first beam of silver light touched the sand near the firepit. Colin staggered.

There was no turning back now. He trusted the wolfsbane. He trusted Aoife. He trusted AngelFyre. There was nothing left but the last minute tasks. He turned and looked deeply into AngelFyre's eyes. “Are ye ready, lass?” he asked. Perhaps it was the excitement of this moment. His voice sounded a little harsh. It was a wild excitement he felt. His heart raced. He slipped the wolf fang necklace from around his neck and pressed it firmly into her hands. Of all of his possessions, it had become if not the most dear, then certainly the most connected. It had been his portkey into the selenical world of the werewolf. It had once carried the pathogen that infected him lycanthropy and had been one of the instruments of his first werewolfish agonies.

He gave his bestie a wild laugh as he tossed his shirt and kilt aside. It was just Colin and the Moon now. He turned away from AngelFyre. The first caress of the moonlight on his skin always caught him. He whimpered softly. He heard AngelFyre's quiet assurance. “Hope in the midst of trials and tribulations. You leave me humbled and in awe, Woofy.” It was barely a whisper, but Colin's sensitive hears heard and understood. He was safe. Perfectly safe. His heart had chosen well when he determined that AngelFyre would be his best friend.

He wished he could show AngelFyre some impressive pose, some magical ritual. But the truth was simply that Colin was naked in the light of the Moon and as she rose, she tormented his body with pain. He accepted it long ago. Many, no doubt, would think his weird or deranged. But Colin did actually experience a kind of joy in this moment. The pain always started in his wrists and in his ankles. There are a lot of bones in there, and each one of them began to crack and grind! Each one felt like an entire universe of agony as they reshaped themselves. Sinews twisted and snapped as they found their way around the new shape of his wolfy bones.

Colin learned long ago to just collapse to the earth. He stretched out, facing the Moon. Tears filled his pond scum green eyes --- the only vestige of humanity he would bear in wolf shape. His mind and heart, though, slipped into an entirely different world. The pain in his gut as human tubes and pipes and things twisted about in knots and became carnivorous anatomy. Colin groaned. His muscles tightened and his body curled in pain. His thoughts wandered to another. Stretched out in agony long ago. Unable to curl up with the pain. Wrists and ankles tortured as his own sinews were severed and twisted about. Even as Colin's body transformed, he transformed his own pain.

Thinking of Emily and AngelFyre, but even more of those who could never understand and hated him because of this thing he suffered, he gave it away. He let it go. Like a serpent it went out of him, and he sent it to the tree where it slithered, lifted up, and was fixed to the limbs. Colin felt joy when that happened. Only Liam knew about this, for they had confided in one another. Up in the sacred place. That was when they had both accepted their lycanthropy and determined never to let it be a curse to them when they could transfigure it into a blessing!

Colin's body shivered violently. He could feel the fur growing out of his skin and the shape of his face changing. His snout grew longer. His human teeth crackled and reshaped into the sharp rending and tearing and bone crushing maw of a wolf. His hips snapped apart and reshaped themselves, elongating. His human tail bones uncurled and straightened out, and grew out into the long tail of a canine.

And at last, the Moon had fully risen.

Colin's body relaxed. The pain subsided. He took a few breaths and whuffed. He heard a voice from nearby. "Uuuwoou?" it asked. You alright lad? WolfColin whuffed again and rolled in the sand. He caught AngelFyre's eyes in the moonlight. Come on and roll around in the sand!

"Rroou!" he replied happily. Alright lad!

Colin got up onto his paws and shook himself like a dog. Heh. Because he was now a dog! It really did help to reset! And like a streak of white lightning, the other wolf came running! Colin whuffed! Liam whuffed! Liam bared his fangs! Colin bared his fangs! With low snarls and fraternal growls they pounced on each other!

Colin faced Liam. Liam faced Colin. Their jaws were wide as they collided! They bit at each other's snouts until each one held the other one in his mouth. Like some kind of weird eight legged creature, they dragged each other about the fire, until at last they found themselves before AngelFyre. They twisted each other's heads around, tails wagging, back and forth in front of their friend. If only she could see the confused and wondering look on her face!

And as soon as the scuffle started it ended! The pair danced around AngelFyre, sniffing at her and the blankets and the sticks in the fire, then back to the blankets, and then Colin's clothes, the fang in the girl's hands, the sand and bits of shrub around the site. Both were in constant motion, sniffing to make sure everything was all right. Liam loped over towards the cottage and sniffed around the door. Colin whuffed, his tail high. "RuuUUU?" Did ye catch that?

Liam returned to AngelFyre and stood next to Colin. He crouched down onto his haunches. They sniffed at the air, making sure everything was all right. They edged closer to AngelFyre. Colin looked up into her eyes, then out into what for her was utter darkness. They stood between the girl and the dark. Something --- interesting wafted on the breeze from the far end of the island!

Instantly the two wolves were up and alert! Eager to explore! Liam whined a bit to AngelFyre. Then Colin took it up. "Nnnngh, nnnngh!" Colin made a very nice and inviting play bow. Then Liam took it up as they urged AngelFyre to get a move on! They had to go find out what it was that smelled so interesting!

@AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentions: @Emily Shephard

The Seer watched. She saw it all. And she did not blink for a very long time.

Blinking felt like stepping away, if even for a heartbeat, and AngelFyre would not do that. Not now. Not when Colin had trusted her enough to ask for the one thing he had spent the last four years being forced to hide. Not when he needed her to see everything. It was the only way she knew to stand beside him in that moment. He had not asked her to soften the experience. He had not asked her to protect herself from the truth of it. He had simply asked her to see him.

So she saw him.

The moonlight edged slowly across the sand toward him, a quiet herald of the agony waiting just beyond the horizon. Yet for one precious moment, there was only Colin. Not a curse. Not a creature. Not something to fear. Just Colin. Her best friend. Her brother by choice. The platinum-haired lad who somehow found reasons for laughter even when life had given him every reason to despair.

Her thoughts drifted again to fourth floor corridors years earlier, to the day they had turned imagination into an entire battlefield. She had been Shandra the Wise, commander of magnificent armies, and Colin had been her loyal, kilted general, charging fearlessly into battle against the terrible Liche King and his army of empty suits of armor. It had been absurd. It had been wonderful. It had been the beginning of everything.

But tonight there would be no imaginary armies. Tonight his battle was real.

Small signs began before the moon ever fully reached him. The familiar shake of his head, that little reset AngelFyre had seen him do countless times before, carried a different weight now. It was no longer simply a Colin mannerism. It was preparation. It was the body and mind of someone who knew exactly what waited for him and had no choice but to meet it.

Then, most surprisingly, Colin laughed. A full, unmistakable Colin laugh. For a brief moment AngelFyre almost forgot what was coming because he had managed, even here... even now... to remain himself. He removed his shirt and kilt with an almost theatrical irreverence before turning toward the moon, his ancient mistress and the force that would soon take him somewhere neither she, nor the moon, could follow. The gesture brought a small, unexpected smile to her face. Of course he would. Of course Colin would find a way to be Colin.

As his clothing fell away, AngelFyre felt a brief flush of awareness. They were both fifteen. She was not unaware of what she was seeing, nor was she made of stone. But the thought passed almost as quickly as it arrived, because there was something far more important standing before her. Trust. She did not stare. She did not deliberately look away. Either response would have made the moment about herself, and this was not AngelFyre's moment. This belonged to Colin.

He stood there unguarded, not only physically exposed, but vulnerable in a way that mattered far more. She saw no shame in him. No embarrassment. Only a quiet acceptance of the truth he had carried for years. There was simply Colin and the terrible reality of what he endured.

Her fingers moved without conscious thought to the fang necklace he had placed in her care before the transformation began. She held it between her thumb and forefinger, rubbing the worn surface in the same way she had seen Simon hold his rosary beads during moments of prayer and uncertainty. She did not think about the meaning of it in that moment. She did not need to. The fang carried its own story. Pain. Loss. Survival... and hope. A promise that what had been taken from Colin would not be forgotten.

Then the pain arrived.

AngelFyre had heard descriptions. She had listened attentively when Colin explained what happened. She had understood the words, but she had not truly had the frame of reference to understand the reality. Yes, she had grown up surrounded by animals, and she knew suffering, injury, and the sounds creatures made when pain overwhelmed them. Most importantly though, she knew that sometimes love meant standing beside something difficult because leaving would only make the suffering lonelier. Even so, nothing could truly prepare her for this.

The first break of bone made her entire body flinch. The next made her grip the fang harder. Then came the sounds she knew she would never forget. Bone cracking. Sinew snapping. The impossible reshaping of something that had once been human. Her instincts screamed at her to move. To run toward him. To do something. Anything. Every part of her that loved him wanted to take even a fraction of the pain away. But this was not a pain she could remove.

So she stood. She stood in the horror of the process. Not because it did not affect her, but because it did. Because every terrible sound reached her. Because tears burned at the corners of her eyes. Because she wanted to cover her ears and shut out the agony, but doing so would only spare herself while Colin would be left to endure it. And Colin had endured it every month. Every full moon. For years. And the hell of it all was that he would continue to have to do so for as long as he lived, or until a cure could be found.

Those realizations settled into her with a weight she would carry long after this night ended. This was what he had lived through. And somehow, impossibly, he had still chosen laughter. Still chosen friendship. Still chosen love.

When the final convulsion passed, silence rushed back over the island with almost startling force. AngelFyre did not immediately move. She did not even realize at first that tears had slipped down her face. The transformation had ended, but she was still standing in the place where she had witnessed it, trying to understand what she had just seen. It was not fear. It was not disgust. It was not horror of Colin. It was something much deeper. It was the enormity of it.

Her knees gave way slowly, almost without her permission. She sank onto the moonlit sand, not because she was frightened, but because she had spent every ounce of strength holding herself steady while Colin endured something no person should ever have to endure. She needed a moment to simply exist after carrying the weight of watching it.

Ahead of her stood two white wolves, larger than she had imagined them to be. For a heartbeat, AngelFyre could only stare. Then wolfLiam spoke. She could not understand their lupine language, but she understood the meaning. A questioning series of low rumbles, whuffs, and curious sounds passed between the brothers. WolfColin answered immediately. Their exchange was not uncertain, not frightened, not confused. They were checking on each other. They were still Liam and Colin. That thought settled somewhere deep inside her. The transformation had changed their bodies, but it had not taken them away.

Their conversation quickly dissolved into something else entirely. The wolf twins moved with sudden energy, bumping shoulders, darting away, circling back, and challenging one another with the carefree enthusiasm of two brothers who had been waiting far too long to run. AngelFyre watched them, still sitting in the cool sand. And slowly... painfully... she realized she had misunderstood. She had come believing she was here to witness the curse. She had prepared herself to see what the wolf took from Colin. She had not prepared herself to see what the wolf gave him.

The doorway had been agony. But the place beyond it was freedom. He had invited her to witness his curse. Instead, Colin had shown her his freedom and his joy. That realization left her strangely quiet. She watched the two wolves race across the moonlit dunes, and for the first time that night she saw not only what Colin suffered, but what he gained. His joy was not a denial of the pain. It simply existed beside it. Somehow, undeniably, both things could be true.

Just then, a glint of moonlight off of metal drew her attention. Aoife stood at the edge of the clearing, exactly where she had been throughout the transformation. Her wand was still in her hand, though no longer raised. Slowly, deliberately, she returned it to its metal-embossed, leather holster. AngelFyre looked past her. Only then did she notice where Aoife had stood. The position had not been random. It had been strategically chosen. It was high-ground that gave a clear view of the entire area. Enough distance to act, yet enough space to cast. A place from which she could have stopped either wolf if the worst had happened.

AngelFyre's heart felt like it was being pressed in a vice grip. Colin had not simply asked Aoife to chaperone this little excursion. No. He had asked her to protect AngelFyre, even if that protection required the unthinkable. If he or Liam had lost themselves completely, if the wolf had overtaken the boys she knew, Colin had trusted his sister to do what he could not do himself. He had not prepared for death because he wished to die. He had prepared because he refused to be the reason someone else was hurt. It was the same loving, heroic instinct to shield everyone around him while forgetting that he, too, was someone worth saving.

Across the distance between them, Aoife met AngelFyre's eyes. No explanation was needed. There was no pride in the look and no malice. No triumph. Only quiet understanding. The danger had now passed.

AngelFyre looked back toward the wolves. Only then did Colin notice her. The change in his demeanor was immediate. One moment he was racing beside Liam, wild and free, and the next his attention was fixed entirely on her. He approached slowly. Not cautiously because he feared her, but carefully because he understood her. His white, lupine form moved across the sand until he stood before her. His ears lowered and laid back slightly. His tail swept in gentle, questioning arcs behind him.

AngelFyre saw Hillary in him in that moment. Not because Colin was a dog, but because she recognized the instinctual dance taking place. He was exhibiting the same behavior that had brought Hillary to her side after a difficult day, a painful memory, or a moment when tears had become too many to hold back. She knew it was a gesture of comfort and connection. A simple, but beautiful reminder that she was not alone either.

Colin lowered his head and gently licked the tears from her cheek, his pond-scum green eyes dancing as he did so. A surprised laugh escaped her. 'Oh, Woofy...."

Before she even thought about it, her fingers disappeared into the thick white fur around his neck, finding warmth and familiarity beneath all the unbearable things she had just witnessed. For the first time since the moon had risen, her breathing steadied, and she rested her forehead against him for a moment.

"You are still you, and I do see that, my friend," she whispered. WolfColin remained mostly still, responding with an equal pressure of his neck against her forehead."You are not the curse." Her fingers curled slightly into his fur. "You are not the pain." She swallowed. "You are Colin."

Behind him, wolfLiam made an impatient sound, and wolfColin lifted his head. The brothers exchanged a quick series of yips and barks that AngelFyre could not begin to interpret. It was clearly a conversation, though whether it was a request, an insult, or a joke she had no idea. Then both wolves looked back to her.

AngelFyre blinked. She had spent the entire evening surrounded by impossible things. Apparently one more was not going to hurt. She straightened slightly, cleared her throat, and attempted her best impression of whatever language they were speaking.

"Aroo... rrruff... wurrrf?" she howled enthusiastically, tossing her head completely back, eyes tightly shut, and hoped if she did manage to say something in their mysterious lupine language, it was not insulting.

The reaction was immediate. Both wolves froze. Their ears shifted forward, then sideways, then back again. Their heads tilted in opposite directions as though they were attempting to locate the exact source of the strange noise coming from this very confusing human. AngelFyre stared back at them. Then she laughed heartily.

"I know," she admitted not even a little sheepishly. "That was far more impressive in my head."

The wolves looked at one another again. Then back at her. Again. And somehow, despite everything, AngelFyre was certain they were laughing at her. A moment later, wolfColin lowered himself into a perfect play bow. WolfLiam copied him. AngelFyre looked between them, and then grinned mischievously. Finally, something she understood.

She lowered herself into her own rather questionable imitation of the pose, which was far less graceful and far more human. The wolves immediately responded with delighted noises. And that was all the invitation she needed.

"All right, you two," she said, laughing through the last remnants of her long forgotten tears. "Shall we go?" she asked in the are-you-ready-to-go-for-a-walk voice which Hillary always seemed to understand, no matter what words accompanied it.

WolfColin danced and circled excitedly around her before surging forward first. Not as a curse. Not as something frightening. As her friend. AngelFyre shot up out of the sand and ran after him into the darkness, her laughter joining the wild sounds of two enormous white wolves racing beneath the Buck moon. For the first time that night, she was not witnessing Colin's suffering. She was sharing his joy.

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