How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 65

Did she like him, or… not? Was this really what it meant to fall for someone?

Even now, Aisha could not quite decide how to describe what she felt for Major General Wolf. Yet she could clearly sense the happiness that nearly overflowed whenever she saw him, as well as the faint ache in her chest. Somewhere inside, she probably already leaned toward an answer. Actually admitting it, however, still made her uneasy.

On the eve of their promised outing, darkness gradually fell, and Aisha closed her eyes with a flutter of nerves.

The night passed in an instant. When clear birdsong welcomed the morning, Aisha changed into a clean dress and studied herself carefully in the mirror. She pressed her lips together, gathered her courage, and opened the door.

Major General Les Wolf was waiting outside. He had been leaning against the opposite wall with his arms folded. At the sound of the door, his head snapped up, and the instant he saw Aisha, he plainly froze.

Aisha had not expected him to be there already. Startled, she lowered her head, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and smiled shyly. “Oh, I’m sorry… Have you been waiting long?”

“…No.”

After a pause, the major general stiffly looked away.

“You look… very beautiful today.”

Too beautiful, in fact.

Les had seen Aisha dressed in every manner by now: in the custom robes of the Tower of Magic, and in dresses and shawls of every color through all four seasons. Yet today was different. She wore no unfamiliar clothes and had not arranged her hair in any extraordinary style, but she seemed… indescribably radiant.

She had plainly taken great care with her hair. Every fold of her winter cloak and every pleat of her skirt had been smoothed into place. The thought that Aisha had done all this to go out with him made everything about her—the wisps of hair against her neck, her gently pressed lips, her flushed cheeks—enough to set his heart racing and make him long to draw her into his arms.

Under the force of his pounding heart, Les clenched his fists.

“Thank you.” Aisha felt her own pulse quicken and smiled shyly. “Shall we go?”

Les moved and nodded softly. “All right.”

…

Walking through the city together felt different from their usual conversations. A man and a woman moving side by side through crowded streets had only to endure the eyes of passersby to feel as if they shared some special relationship. It was both nerve-racking and sweet.

Aisha walked very close to Major General Wolf without touching him. Even so, the tall man beside her had a powerful physical presence. She could not help noticing him, and her gaze repeatedly strayed to his smallest movements.

Perhaps because ordinary citizens did not yet know how far the border-opening negotiations had progressed, he had exchanged his usual military uniform for inconspicuous civilian clothes. But the soldier’s habit remained in his exceptionally straight back, lending him a solemn precision ordinary people lacked.

Aisha hid a smile behind pressed lips.

Les turned, puzzled. “…What is it?”

“Nothing.” She quickly waved a hand and smiled.

Their destination was Saint Regin’s Sacred Plaza. Like Wold’s central square, it stood at the heart of the city, near the market and not far from Micks’s defining landmark, the Grand Temple. At its center grew a century-old sacred tree, worshiped as a divine incarnation, which had never withered.

Though the Church’s influence had long declined, believers still streamed through the temple gates. The sanctuary opened freely to everyone, so tourists drawn by its fame mingled with them, making the district prosperous and lively.

Aisha looked around curiously. Afraid of making her awareness of Major General Wolf too obvious, she swept her gaze across the crowd. Suddenly, several children playing beneath the sacred tree caught her eye.

Their clothes were similar, their ages close, and their easy intimacy made it obvious that they were siblings. More importantly… all possessed similar animal ears, and some trailed fluffy tails disproportionately large for their small bodies.

Les followed her gaze. After seeing the children with their unusual ears, he paused. “…Of mixed heritage.”

As Queen Louisa had said, Micks was the southernmost kingdom of the Helman Federation and shared an actual land border with the Empire of Beast. Many children of mixed human and beastfolk ancestry were born there.

Although Beast and Helman had sealed their territories against each other long ago, wherever people existed, love found a way. Not every beastfolk form was large and formidable, while beastfolk in human form could be almost impossible to distinguish from true humans. Either form might cross the border. The journey was harder for humans, but not impossible. For trade, curiosity, or countless other reasons, residents on both sides crossed and sometimes remained. Mixed families consequently became common throughout the southern borderlands.

Of the three great races, human traits were the weakest—or rather, humans possessed no extraordinary physical traits beside beastfolk and darkfolk. Children born from either union retained characteristics of the nonhuman parent: the ability to assume beast form, for example, or the darkfolk’s lead-gray skin and wings. Once inherited, such traits required several successive generations with human partners to fade.

Beastfolk ancestry alone caused little difficulty. Micks’s gentle faith embraced these unusual citizens, and people naturally adapted to the place where they lived. Most mixed children born in Micks revealed their ancestry only in childhood, when they could not yet control their forms. As adults, many abandoned beast form entirely to blend into the wider human world. With no beast appearance to accommodate, they did not need to keep their hair long like other beastfolk. They dressed exactly like humans and became indistinguishable from them, until generations later their descendants lost the ability to transform.

“…Like beastfolk children, those of mixed heritage generally cannot fully control their transformations until at least puberty,” Les explained after some thought. “Before then, they often remain in an intermediate state or shift back and forth without meaning to.”

Aisha smiled. “Were you like that too?”

For some reason, she remembered the portrait she had seen in the corridor of Wold Warrior School: Major General Wolf at fourteen or fifteen, youthful in appearance but already grave in expression.

Les paused. He raised a hand to his lips, then, after a long moment, coughed to hide his discomfort. His answer was unexpectedly honest.

“…Yes.”

…Adorable.

Aisha’s heart trembled, and warmth filled her chest. She could barely suppress her smile. Her eyes returned to the playing children, now softened by imagination.

The siblings all had pointed gray ears and seemed only four or five years old. Without warning, one boy transformed mid-tussle into a round little wolf. Beastfolk matured far more slowly in beast form than real animals, and this cub had not even shed all his baby fur. With a tiny whine, he pounced and rolled straight back among his siblings.

The two adults, already surrounded by romantic tension, both froze. Aisha had not expected the children to turn into wolves before them. Their size and appearance clearly marked them as a different kind of wolf from Major General Wolf, but still…

They met each other’s eyes and awkwardly looked away.

Aisha tried to retreat half a step to ease the unspoken embarrassment. The instant she lifted her foot, however, a fierce winter gust struck from behind.

White doves burst from the sacred tree in a flurry of wings, and its leaves thrashed. Aisha bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut, clutching the cloak that threatened to fly away. Her footing slipped. Before she could steady herself, she met a strong, secure body in front of her.

Aisha looked up at Major General Wolf, whose hands held her shoulders.

“Are you all right?” he asked worriedly.

Meeting his eyes, Aisha stilled. Her hand rose to her chest and curled into a fist as she gave the smallest nod.

“…Mm.”

There were many kinds of intimacy. Some blazed like intertwined flames; others were as quiet and romantic as starlight touching the moon. People met, drew close, and proved their affection and harmony. Such moments could make a heart race, but did not always bring the safety of two hearts beating as one.

It lasted only an instant, but Aisha heard his heartbeat then—strong and powerful, thrown into the same chaotic rhythm as her own.

…

“I think I’ve… really fallen for someone.”

After parting from Major General Wolf that day, Aisha stood in the forest with her arms around Les’s furry neck and spoke with a gentle smile.