Caitryn, as a chestnut wolf, bounced into the yard of Coven Sundark's house, paused to look back and check that Gisela was still coming, then frisked off.
Gisela watched her greet Evaline respectfully, crouching slightly and turning away, ears back and tail down. Pale-furred Evaline rubbed her cheek against Caitryn's affectionately, and both bitches bounded away in a mad game of tag.
Well, so much for her companion. Gisela circled the house to the back yard, towards the general noise and merriment.
Most of her friends were here already, perched on the back porch and the picnic table. Bane and Bryan were poised on either side of a stick, daring each other to try to pick it up, growling in what an outsider might have thought was fierce threat; Evaline, with Caitryn almost close enough to bite her tail, ran by and feigned cowering behind Bane. Caitryn greeted Bane the same way she had Evaline earlier, before getting back to the puzzle of reaching the alpha bitch.
“Heyla, 'Sela,” Liam greeted her. “How's it going?” Liam was the only other healer in this circle of friends, the only healer she felt especially close to other than her mother. Absently, he tucked an escaping lock of dark hair back under the bright-woven band Gisela had rarely seen him without. He said it kept his hair out of his eyes; she thought it was just to be different.
“Pretty good,” she answered. “I wish Jess were here, I bet he'd have fun.”
Liam shrugged. “It's up to him.”
“Oh, I know. How are you doing with your mother's horse?” She leaned against the porch railing, watched all four wolves now chasing each other around the yard. Evaline was smallest, dwarfed by the two males, but she was also lightning-fast and agile; no one could catch her, but she excelled at getting close enough to the others to nip at them and race away again. She was alpha bitch for a reason, and it wasn't only her quick mind and ability to take control of a situation.
“She'll be okay, the cut's healing nicely, and meanwhile she's getting spoiled hopelessly.”
“Listen up!” Liam's coven-mate Nick shouted.
Everyone quieted, and gathered around the picnic table; the wolves all shifted to human, quite sensibly all in the magesilks that changed with a wolf instead of needing to be removed, each in appropriate colours.
“Okay. Now. We're starting before sunset because there's stuff hidden all over the place and there are some people who are at a disadvantage in the dark.” While Nick spoke, Flynn and Lori brought a considerable collection of baskets and large bowls to the table, spreading them all over the top. “Certain people who are prone to getting overly competitive in games are forewarned not to.” He gave the four wolves a stern look; Evaline made a face at him. “No one's allowed outside the yard or in bedrooms, but anywhere else there are things hidden. Keep it fair, no magic. The only exception is that since Kev and Lori have no night-sight to speak of, if we're out here long enough that you start to have trouble, you two are allowed to use just enough magic that you can see, but play fair, okay? Any questions?”
“Can we start?” Bryan asked.
“Other than that.”
Silence.
“Then grab a bowl and go!” Flynn declared.
Instant motion, everyone reaching for the nearest bowl and scattering in different directions.
It must have taken ages for Flynn and Nick and Lori to hide all the treats that were found: eggs painted glorious colours, pine-cones decorated in endless ways, candies of a dozen sorts. In the crotch of a tree she found a small object wrapped in bright cloth and tied with a ribbon; she'd seen a few others find such things, but they seemed to be rare.
Lori finally called everyone back. From what Gisela had picked up, they'd divided the grounds in thirds and each hid the treats in one, leaving them free to help hunt the other two thirds.
“Everybody should have a present,” Lori said, once everyone was back at the picnic table. “If someone has two, be nice and give one to someone who didn't find one. We hid exactly enough.”
There was brief confusion while that got settled.
“Everyone got one?” Flynn said. “Open them.”
Gisela set her basket on the ground, untied the bow and unwrapped it.
Within was a delicate glass flower, the petals tinted amethyst-purple and the leaves rich jewel-green, the whole thing of a size to fit comfortably cupped on her palm.
“Okay, gang,” Flynn said briskly, “That's enough messing around outside. There's water hot for tea et cetera, getting warm won't hurt any of us.”
The kitchen became a flurry of activity. As usual, the chaos resolved itself into some version of order, everyone settled with hot drinks in the living room—more bare than usual, since Cynthia and her housemates were packing up to move April first.
“Everybody warm now?” Nick asked. “And feeling pretty good?”
General agreement.
“Good,” Lori said. “Then get comfortable, and let's look for answers, shall we?” She placed a globe the size of a basketball, shimmery iridescent glass, probably hollow, in the middle of the floor. “For those who prefer to have something solid for scrying. Get comfortable and let's go.”
They tended to use more ritual at holidays than they did for everyday; the circle was properly cast, by whoever felt inspired to call each quarter.
Gisela relaxed into the easy rhythm of Nick's voice, leading them all into a light trance. Not that she expected any spectacular visions, she'd never had one. Her gaze dropped to the glass flower cupped in her hand, and stayed there, focused on the purple and green. Lori's voice joined Nick's, softly, weaving a counterpoint to his, then Flynn's twined into theirs. The voices braided into each other, until it seemed like all one voice, only she couldn't understand the words, they were a different language...
She found, in some surprise, that she was on a hill beside a lake, the brilliant moonlight making silvery ripples on the dark water; one path curved down to the water, another led down the opposite face of the hill to a meadow where wolves played, chasing each other around in the wildflowers. A third path led to one side, up a higher hill.
She wavered, and decided to go upwards.
The top of the hill was flat and grassy; from here, she could see far down into the wolves' meadow.
To her surprise, Jesse was here, as always in black, kneeling beside a black wolf that sat unnaturally still. Crying?
She dropped to one knee beside him. “Jess?”
“It turned into stone,” he said tearfully. “Because I wouldn't come down the hill. Now it's dead because of me, when it should be free...”
She laid a hand on the petrified wolf, concentrating hard, praying. Deep within, she felt warmth, the faint rumble of a heart beating.
“It isn't dead, Jess. Not yet. You still have time.”
He raised his eyes, tears making their darkness shimmer, to hers. “But I don't know what to do, I never know how to fix things. Just to mess them up.”
“Try asking if it wants to go down with the other wolves. Tell it you'll come, since it seems to want you to.”
“I don't belong there.”
“If this wolf thinks you do, and the other wolves accept you when you go, then you do belong there.”
Shivering, he bowed his head, hugging himself. After a moment, he reached out, and placed one trembling hand on the wolf's head.
“Come on,” he said softly. “Let's go.”
The moonlight danced over the stone wolf, and the hardness melted into full dynamic life. It greeted Jess joyfully, licking away his tears, and Jess wrapped his arms around it, burying his face in its fur.
The moonlight brightened and shivered again, around the pair, and two forms flowed into one. The black wolf shook himself, cocked his head to listen to the howls of the wolves below. He threw back his head and answered the song, and trotted away towards the path down. Gisela followed him, got as far as the lower hilltop by the time he reached the other wolves. She smiled to herself, watching them welcome him.
Something glittering caught her eye, and she turned. Snagged on a short jutting tree branch was a rope of dark sparkling stones and silver links, about long enough for a wolf's collar. Too high up for her to reach, though she tried.
A narrow-winged falcon dived out of the starry sky, snatched the collar, and despite Gisela's cry of protest vanished back into the night.
Gisela blinked, focused on the glass flower cupped in her hand, heard the braided voices gradually coming apart. She smiled in satisfaction. That could only mean one thing: Jess was going to be okay, Rebecca hadn't done any permanent damage.
Except... what had the collar and falcon been?
No matter, she'd find out in due time.