There was a crescent moon that night. It hid in the distance, to the far north, where the peaks of the mountains obscured it. Perhaps it felt its work was done, and having stayed so bold and bright for so long, now needed to hide and rest. But Madeline caught a sliver of its glow and smiled at it. She thanked it for the blessings it had brought. 

The wolves had flourished. They were really wonderful creatures. Many of the wolves stayed among themselves, looking after the young and making treks to the forest to search for food. But many others had followed Madeline, studied her work, and had learned. Wolves helped with building, with farming, carving, organizing. Madeline had even got permission from one of the shepherds to let the wolves escort her sheep to the river and back. The wolves Madeline had once scared away from the village now walked beside the sheep, shepherds in their own right.

However, helping maintain Rodehills was never really the priority for the wolves. Some seemed to work out of fear that the village would cut off their supply of meat, despite Madeline’s firm assurance that she wouldn’t let that happen. She often found herself comforting these wolves, sitting beside them, petting them, and making sure they took breaks and had plenty of time to simply play. Other wolves greatly enjoyed having something to do, and Madeline had to work even harder to convince them to rest.

But most wolves didn’t work in Rodehills at all. Ones who were willing and able instead spent their time working near Madeline and Arin’s home. Since there wasn’t much room directly behind the house before coming to the steep hill, they instead began clearing the lightly wooded area by the right side of their home. There, they gathered materials and brought them to Madeline, so she and her little building team could work on making all these wolves some homes. They were very short houses, tall enough for the wolves to sit up but not so tall that Madeline could stand in one, yet very wide, so entire little sub-packs of wolves could comfortably fit. She even laid down floors, and installed doors with rope handles that the wolves used their teeth to shut. She hoped it’d be enough to keep them all out of the snow and rain. 

Arin dubbed the pack “Madeline’s nighttime community.” Subsequently, the field of wolf houses became known as “Nighthills.” The wolves seemed to love Nighthills very much, preferring it even to Madeline’s home, save for one. Anya insisted on staying by Madeline’s side. She was still not full-grown, but had grown very quickly. The days when Madeline could hold her in a single arm were gone.

Madeline didn’t care much what Rodehills thought of this. Liam kept the wolves fed, and Eric stopped by to look after their health. That was enough. Still, she got got updates every now and then from Arin and Florence. Some villagers whispered among themselves that the wolves were a threat to the village. Others were thankful for the work they did. Madeline sometimes wondered if anyone would care about her or Nighthills were they not useful to them. Frankly, it had been too long since her transformation for shows of support to mean anything, especially not ones that didn’t begin with an apology.

On occasion she’d talk to someone directly. A run-in at the meat market led to a talk between Madeline and Janice, the shepherd who let the wolves take care of the sheep. She accidently called Madeline “Marilyn” at first, but was generally sweet. Still, they didn’t talk much. Aside from Arin, Florence, and the wolves, she didn’t talk to anyone much.

One evening, she was thinking about talking to people while laying brickwork for another wolf house. There was one nice thing about being antisocial. So far she hadn’t encountered-

“Hey, you and I need to have a chat!” Chad yelled. He stood several feet away, apparently scared to set foot in Nighthills.

Madeline’s ears fell. The wolves, seeing this, sprung to attention. But she waved for them to stay put while she walked toward him. Anya followed her anyway. She was good like that.

James stood next to Chad. He looked shaky, uncomfortable. He was here for a confrontation that he didn’t want to have. Of the lads, Madeline had always liked him the most. She was beginning to rethink that.

She took one step closer to them than she needed to, just so she could be sure to have to look down to see them. She refused to give them an inch. A quick scan of the horizon revealed that Larry was nowhere in sight.

“I see you’re short one lackey.” Madeline said, letting a hint of anger slip into her voice.

“Hey,” was James’ only reply.

“Larry’s off doing some scouting for the traders.” said Chad. “We gotta talk to you about your little wolf thing.”
“No you don’t, but you’re going to anyway.” Madeline rolled her eyes. “Tell me, did you wait specifically until you knew Arin was visiting Florence before coming to have this chat?”

“Hey, I don’t know where this level of aggression is coming from.” 

“Yes you do.”

Chad sneered. “Whatever. Dave, I’m-”

“You get one.” Madeline’s eyes widened, and she bared her fangs. “You get one ‘slip-up’ before I’m finished humoring you and I go back to doing something I actually care about.”

Chad turned to James, looking for back-up. James didn’t have anything to say. Chad turned back to Madeline, a pained expression on his face. “Fine. Look, I don’t know what’s gotten into you and I was perfectly willing to sit back and let you sort it out on your own, but now you’ve gone and made it everybody else’s problem.”

Madeline looked around Nighthills. “What problem? I don’t see a problem here.”

“You know damn well what I mean.” Chad crossed his arms. “There’s deadly animals roaming the streets at night. People are scared to leave their homes!”

“Huh. Well tell those people to come talk to me and we can sort it out. I’ll tell the wolves to stay away from them, and they can start going on those nighttime trips through the town that they never went on before my friends started living here.” Madeline crouched down to pet Anya.

“Your friends?” Clad threw his hands up in anger. “Those are carnivorous beasts!”

“So am I.” Madeline said, gently rising back up.

“But they’re not your friends.” He pointed between himself and James. “We’re your friends.”

She slowly looked between them. “No. You’re not.”

The way their faces shifted from anger to sadness sent a wave of pity running through Madeline that sank into her chest. But she refused to let it show.

Chad almost seemed to be holding back tears. Madeline didn’t know if it was genuine. He continued, “So all that time- those years of playing tag in the forest, the secret club hangouts, the growing up together- does none of that mean anything to you? You’re gonna throw that away to join a bunch of wolves?”

“Is that what this is all about?” Madeline tilted her head. “Chad, I spent most of that time being afraid of you. Scared of being abandoned by you and of being used by you. I spent years panicking that when you found out about me you would act exactly the way you did. Is that seriously why you’re here? Nostalgia for a time that I experienced very differently from how you did? Because I have no interest in going back to that time. I refuse to.”

For once, Chad didn’t have a response.

Madeline turned her attention to James. “So we know why he’s here, but why are you?”

“Look, I...” James trailed off.

Madeline simply stared and waited. 

James shook his head. “I don’t care what Chad wants, or what obnoxious beef he has with you.”

Chad shot James a look of anger and surprise, but James shrugged it off.

“Mads, you were my friend at one point and I’m legitimately sorry that’s over. Hope we can fix it sometime. It’s just, you know, we’ve gotten older, things have changed. I’ve even got a kid now. And this is all confusing- first you get cursed to be a girl, and a wolf person, and you like it. Then you bring a bunch of wolves to live next to our sheep and our homes. How do I even begin to explain that to my son?”

Madeline started walking toward him. “Well first, you explain that nothing’s wrong. That my name is Madeline, that I’m doing fine, and that if they’re still worried and want to know any more details, I’m comfortable with retelling some of my experience as long as people want to listen and not to argue.”

She walked close enough to directly tower over James, then looked down at him, sweetness in her voice but fury in her eyes. “And when you finish telling him that, then tell him that his daddy and his daddy’s friends are never ever going to make the scary werewolf lady go away.”

James took a step back and turned around. He put his hands in his pockets and started walking away.

Chad looked incensed. “Where are you going? We’re not done here.”

“Not interested in your fight.” James didn’t turn around. He gave Chad the finger and kept walking.

Chad turned to Madeline, and opened his mouth to speak. But by the time he did, she had already turned around and begun walking back into Nighthills.

“I’m not through with you.” Chad said, so quiet that she might not have even heard it were it not for her wolf ears.

As Madeline walked back to the house she was building, a dozen or so wolves got up and playfully ran around her. The sun was setting, and more wolves were waking up, filled with energy. When she had first come back, she had thought about responding to Chad. But amidst the noise and joy of her friends, she had forgotten he was even there. She supposed that was an answer of its own.

Hours passed. A noise came through the night. A sound of running, heavy breathing. Then a shout. 

“BANDITS!” 

Her ears perked in the direction of the sound. The wolves stood up, their faces pointing toward the center of town. 

“Please stay here and stay safe.” Madeline said to the wolves before rushing through town. To her surprise, they listened.

She hadn’t run like this since the night she fled to the woods. The speed she could move at still surprised her. She was so taken aback by the speed of her own feet, that it took her a moment to realize Anya was right behind her. 

When they reached the center of town, Madeline turned back and swooped Anya up in her arms. Despite being further away they’d made it there faster than anyone else. Larry stood there, his hands on his knees, taking deep, exhausted breaths. She waited for him to recover before asking him for more details.

All around her, doors flung open. A panicked energy ran through the village. They scrambled to light torches and lanterns and go gather in the center of town. Most of the people exited their homes in the pajamas they had just recently changed into. As the crowd gathered around her, Madeline took steps further and further back from Larry and scanned the crowd for Arin and Florence. She didn’t see them; they might have chosen to stay inside.

Everything about this- the crowd, the fear, the lantern light- it made Madeline’s stomach churn. Even if she was scared too, even though the people of Rodehills walked right past her, she didn’t want to see this. She didn’t want to be there.

Madeline broke away from the crowd as the villagers quieted down and Larry began to speak. She heard him reiterate that bandits were coming. They’d heard that Rodehills had done well at the traders’ market in Larhem, and had decided to come take the goods from the source. The village traders had managed to circle around the bandits and hopefully made it to their destination, but Larry had been sent back to warn the town. But it seemed he was spotted, and they were hot on his heels. Madeline backed away too far to hear what he was asking the people to do. 

She inched further and further away from the crowd, towards the opposite side of town from her home, where the road led down a far less steep hill and connected Rodehills to the rest of the world. The path she stood on was the path Larry had run from, and the path that these bandits would follow. Madeline peered through the darkness down that road. There was movement in the distance. They were there.

In a few minutes, the bandits would stand in the place she now stood. Behind her, the villagers scrambled. Some gathered farm tools that could pass as weapons, others gathered whatever they thought they could use as a peace offering. The bandits moved closer. There were dozens of them. They moved in a lines, a formation. Wearing steel helmets and uniform black leather. These were not a band of ruffians acting on impulsive aggression. This was cold, calculated cruelty.

 Starlight glinted off their drawn swords. Peace seemed unlikely.

The hair on Madeline’s ears and tail bristled. She wanted to run. She wanted to retch. But Madeline dug her heel into the dirt. She bared her fangs.

Whether through peace or aggression, she had to convince these bandits to leave. To protect Arin. To protect her pack. Fight with every inch of her, with words and teeth and claws, to make sure they stayed safe. She would make sure Nighthills stood no matter what. She would scare them away. She growled. Her growl rumbled through grass and the nearby trees, filling the air with a rippling fear. Behind her, she heard villagers stop to look at her. They stayed far away. When it came time, Madeline the wolf girl could be very, very scary.

She paid no mind to the the village behind her. If she was being selfish, it didn’t matter. In that moment, she didn’t feel guilty for caring more about the ones who loved her than the ones who shunned her. This was a selfishness she needed.  

The bandits had noticed her; they felt her growl. Their formation staggered. The military lines lost their lock-step as some fell out of time with the others. But they still persisted. They would be upon the village in only a moment.

Anya, still in Madeline’s arms, closed her eyes and reached her nose high into the air. Anya howled. Her howl pierced through the noise, through the running and shouting of the villagers, through the footsteps of the bandits. The world fell quiet, save for Madeline’s growling.

Then the growling grew louder. A wolf stood from their hiding place in the tall grass. It walked onto the road, in the path of the oncoming military might. Madeline recognized it as the tall one who had first come to her home.

The growling grew louder still. Two wolves emerged from behind trees on either side of the road, positioning themselves behind the bandits. Many bandits, their eyes filled terror, turned around to look at the wolves at their back. In an instant the formation disappeared.

More and more wolves appeared. Dozens ran towards the bandits from all angles. Some dashed from around the side of the village, many more jumped out from behind grass and bushes and trees. The growling grew and grew. Soon the bandits were fully surrounded by a field of growling, angry beasts.

It took Madeline a second to realize that the villagers had gathered beside her. They looked at the unfolding events with shock.

The bandits began shouting at each other as the wolves circled closer and closer, tightening the bandits’ circle of safety until they had to stand on each other’s feet. Not a one of them made any motion to attack, for fear of provoking the others.

Madeline ceased her growling. She took a step forward. Her fangs still showed. She shouted past the rumbling and screaming of the bandits.

“I am Madeline of Nighthills. Leave your weapons here and promise never to return, and my friends might let you go.”

Some let go of their swords immediately. Others held out until they were sure they had lost. But eventually, every last one of them laid down their swords.

Madeline waved her hand. The wolves in the back slowly parted, leaving a narrow gap for the bandits to sprint through. As soon as the gap opened, they scattered into the distance. When they were out of sight, the growling finally stopped.

The wolves turned to look at Madeline. Anya nuzzled against her shoulder. She smiled. Tears welled in her eyes. She’d been so prepared to protect everyone that she hadn’t realized how much they also wanted to protect her.

“Thank you.” she said. The wolves barked and panted and ran around in joy. Madeline waved her hand toward Rodehills. “Let’s all go home.”

Madeline faced the crowd of people behind her. Several ran up to thank her, and she nodded in appreciation. They moved aside and let the wolves pass through.

She heard many shouts as she walked through town center.

“Thank you Madeline!”

“Madeline, let me make you and Arin dinner this week.”

“You saved the village!”

“You’re our hero, Madeline!”

But it felt hollow. Only yesterday, they were passing her by on the streets without a word. She shouldn’t have needed to save the village for them to be her friends. Their respect didn’t matter. The only thing that really mattered now was finding Arin.

Arin sprinted from the back of the crowd and jumped on Madeline, hanging from her shoulders. They were crying. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I’m sorry. Florence and I basically got boxed in at her place by the crowd. I was so worried, are you okay?”

Madeline hugged them tight and stroked their head. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m alright. We all are.”

They stood in town, crying on each other’s shoulders for a moment. Florence soon came up and also joined in on the hug. After a little while longer, they let each other go, though Arin insisted on scratching Madeline’s ears. 

“Come on,” she insisted. “Let’s go home and have some tea.”

After saying goodnight to the wolves, and giving many of them some well-deserved tummy rubs, Madeline, Arin, Florence, and Anya settled down back in Madeline and Arin’s home. There wasn’t much talking, mostly just holding each other and staying close, communicating the intensity of their love through touch and warmth rather than words.

The world around them stayed busy that night. Some villagers were partying in celebration, others were picking up and disposing of the bandit’s weapons. Hours later, the noise died down. Arin fell asleep on Madeline’s shoulder. Florence fell asleep on theirs. Anya sprawled herself out across all three of their laps. Though Madeline wasn’t asleep, she closed her eyes and rested on Arin.

Someone knocked on the door. Weary and grumpy, Madeline gently leaned Arin over to sleep on Florence’s shoulder and carefully moved Anya so as to not wake her up. Then she walked to her door.

To her surprise, James stood outside. He looked very tired and very worried.

“God, I hate to do this to you tonight.” he said, his eyes embarrassed and sullen.

Her ears bristled in anticipation for another fight.

James continued. “Chad’s running down to the forest to try and scare away the witch. He’s convinced this whole night was some ploy for her to gain favor with the town before betraying us. I tried to catch up to him to stop him, but he outran me. So I came here to see if you have one of those teleporting things you used?” 

Madeline sighed. This was the last thing she wanted to take care of tonight. But she didn’t get another warp crystal. 

“I’ll go get him.”

James waved his hand. “No, I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that.”

“I’ll go get him.” Madeline said, walking out the door. “Because I’m not gonna let him bother Melody and Millicent.”

She took off sprinting towards the woods. Far away and down the hill she could see Chad already almost at the forest entrance. He’d had quite a head start. He was hidden in the woods before she even made it down the hill. But she was much faster.

She crossed the field and made it into the woods without much effort. She dashed through the pines effortlessly and franticly, desperately hoping to catch up to him before-

Madeline rounded another tree. Chad was already at the door, now turning the handle.

“Chad,” she shouted. “For once in your life, listen to me. Don’t go through that door!”

Chad looked at her in surprise, then sneered. “This is all her fault! Nothing in this town was ever like this before she got here, and I’ll take care of it. I’ll bring things back to normal around here even if no one else will!”

Madeline ran even faster. 

Chad threw open the door. There was a blinding flash of light.

At the doorway now sat a small, fluffy bunny. Chad sat there, shocked, looking up with his whiskers and tiny pink nose at the partially-open door, and very high up toward Madeline.

Chad started to hop away, but something caught his leg through the crack in the door. A long, purple tentacle had wrapped around his foot, and now lifted him high into the air. He kicked his little rabbit legs.

A vaguely humanoid octopus opened the door. It was purple and large. Its whole body seemed to sway. Madeline was confused by it, until she saw the spot covering its eye.

“Melody?” 

“Oh hey, Madeline!” Melody’s sing-song voice was warbled. She held Chad up to her face. “Who’s your friend?”

Millicent rounded the corner from the living room and walked up to them. “Aw heck, we got another one.”

“Hey Melody, hey Millicent.” Madeline said, a bit shy. “Sorry for running out on you in such a hurry last time. This is Chad, he’s that tool I told you about.”

The little bunny folded his arms. Madeline rolled her eyes.

“You made the spell temporary now, right?”

Melody looked to Millicent for the answer. Millicent sighed. “No, we’re still working on that. But hey, at least your tool problem is solved.”

Madeline just stared at her. Chad looked horrified. Melody rolled her eyes and handed Chad to Millicent. “Sweetie, I’m starting to think this door-curse security system is more trouble than it’s worth.”

Millicent gave a resigned nod. “We don’t have an anti-curse prepared yet, but we should in about a week. You want to hang on to him until then?”

Madeline looked at the little angry bunny, then back to the witch. “Actually I could not want him in my house any less. Plus my partner and my new little wolf friend might not like him there very much.”

Chad squirmed around some more. Millicent flicked her tail and held him tighter between her sharp nails. “Well, I don’t exactly trust him around the potions. Let’s see if one of our guests is interested.”

“Guests?” Madeline asked. The two seemed like such recluses, she didn’t imagine they had much company.

“Yep!” Melody said, using her tentacles to pull herself toward the main room. “Come on in, it’s found-family game night!”

Madeline cautiously made her way through the door, following Millicent back to the room. She stood in the hallway and peered into the room. They had a table set up over the cauldron, and all the chairs pulled up next to it. The people sitting around it were a sight to behold. There was a red-haired cow-woman, a small woman with tiny horns and wings, a very large red dragon, and a humanoid blue cat. Melody crawled into her chair next to an empty one, which Madeline assumed was Millicent’s. All of them had dice and sheets of paper in front of them.

“Hey everyone, this is Madeline, she’s a friend of ours from the area.” Millicent said, stepping aside so everyone could see her.

All of the creatures waved hi to her. The dragon waved her arm to invite them in.

The cow-woman said, “Oh my gosh, you’re cute.”

Melody sat up. “Right! I told you!”

Madeline blushed.

“So hey, we’ve got a bit of a situation. Can anyone take care of a rabbit for a week?” Millicent asked. 

The blue cat looked at the horned woman then back, then said “Selena and I can.”

“Cool,” Millicent said, walking over to the woman, who Madeline assumed was Selena. “Also you should know he’s actually a guy and he’s a major jerk.” 

“O-okay.” Selena said, taking the rabbit from Millicent.

“Great!” Millicent clapped her hands together. “Now that that’s settled with absolutely no hanging moral or ethical issues- Madeline, would you like to join us?”

It did seem fun, meeting all these new strange people and hanging out with her friends. But she was getting very tired. She shook her head. “Sorry, my partner doesn’t know where I am, and I’ve had a very stressful night. Hopefully next time though?”

“You gonna head home?” Melody asked.

Madeline nodded. “But if it’s not too much to ask, could I have another one of those warp crystals? I’d really love to visit sometime.”

“Of course!” Millicent pulled a crystal out of her pocket and handed it to her. “Feel free to come back anytime.”

Melody crawled back out of her chair to give Madeline a tentacled hug. The little suckers felt strange, but she didn’t mind. “It’d be great to hang out with you whenever you can.”

Madeline nodded, said “thank you,” and waved goodbye to everyone. They waved bye back.

As she walked down the hall, she heard the blue cat say. “So you were still trying to woo the minotaur, right?”

“Duh,” said the cow-woman.

“You can’t beat every monster that way.” The cat replied.

“Challenge accepted!” The dragon roared.

Madeline giggled as she went out the door. She couldn’t wait until they day she made friends with them too.

Later she stood at the edge of the forest, in the same place where she found Anya, and once again stared at home. Last time she was here, she’d left a strange place to head towards an uncertainty. Now she left her friends’ house to go to her own, and the locations hadn’t changed at all. Whether she looked forward or backward, she knew she could find friends. But right now, she ran back to the house they’d built, in the community they created. Madeline needed to be there now. In bed, in her lover’s arms, and curled up with a good book.