Kylie trudged up the steep hill that separated Nighthills from the pine forest below it, her journey almost at its end. Asalya ran in circles around her, full of the joyful energy of finally being home. Kylie peered up the hillside, hoping to catch a glimpse of her home, but she couldn’t see it. Not quite yet.

Teleportation magic, Kylie had learned, was a tricky thing. To warp someplace, one had to set anchor points in advance, which was not an easy ritual to perform. Functionally, this meant that while Madeline had the mysterious means to send Kylie to meet with the witch, the shapeshifter, and the dragonkin that supplied her with potions, she didn’t have the tools to warp her back.

So, for the second time in as many years, Kylie found herself trekking across the width of the Laryth-Affilated Region. The trip from the coastal town of Hawthorne back to Nighthills was a simple one, and not one she had minded making, save for missing Naomi. She didn’t mind having the opportunity to venture out again. Travel had become comforting to her. Natural, even. She’d felt herself growing antsy without it. She was slowly becoming attached to a title, one she bestowed upon herself - the Wandering Wolf. After all, it was something she’d been called by a dragon. And the closer she grew to the idea of that name, the more she wanted to make sure it was true.

As she moved further up the hill, she gripped tighter to her walking stick and to the rough, brown sack in her hands. She had taken this trip for an important reason, she reminded herself. When she saw the familiar wooden archway on the top of the hill, a wave of a relief washed over her, for many reasons. Her task would soon be complete, she would get to rest her legs for a while, and the wind was turning and bringing with it a sharp cold. But most of all, she could fall into Naomi’s arms again.

Staring up at the archway, memories of the last time she made this trip came flooding back. Both kids had done a fair amount of apologizing in the days that followed their visit to the cave. They’d run into Diana on the road to Cerflyn, and Naomi continued to say she was sorry even after her fellow witch had already accepted and offered to guide and guard them on the trip back to Rodehills. Then, upon their arrival, came Kylie’s apologies to her father and Madeline. She was surprised when both had about the same response - a hug, some gentle understanding, and a promise to always be there if she needed anything. It wasn’t long after that Kylie worked up the courage to ask her dad if she could move out, and ask Madeline if they could move into Nighthills. 

Construction began within a week. Homes made from whitestone were sturdy, but carving the blocks from the mountainside and moving them to Nighthills was slow and strenuous work. Still, with the support of two villages behind them, Kylie and Naomi were able to get it done. It helped that Kylie had a clear vision of what their home should look like. She’d seen it before, in her memories of the dark place the Absentia called home.

The extra space they’d built themselves soon found itself used for its intended purpose. Naomi had turned the little annex into a study, open to the people of the twin villages as both a library and hospital bed, should it be needed. Naomi had quickly become established as the local healer, and the residents of Rodehills hadn't seemed to care one bit that the young witch bore that title. It had even become a defining feature of the towns. On occasion, people from villages far away had already begun travelling to Nighthills for the advice and healing of the Witch of Light.

However, in towns this small, there wasn’t such a great need for healing magic that Naomi had to work constantly. Since they finished building the house, Naomi had dived deeper into the studies of both light and dark magic, and done plenty of reading for leisure as well. More than that, the time to pause, and think, and breathe had given Naomi the space fae needed to discover a few more things about faerself.

Fae hadn’t yet found out what had become of the Order. In fact, Naomi found fae could go weeks, even months without thinking about them. That alone felt like victory.

Kylie didn’t pass through the wooden arch, instead looping around the perimeter of the towns, ready to be home without being stopped for pleasantries by other villagers. She stopped only for a moment as a dozen wolves, members of her and Asalya’s pack, saw and sniffed and ran around them. When they’d had their fill of excitement that Kylie and Asalya were home, the two continued on their way. Around a corner they saw the glistening stone of the home they had built, and Naomi standing outside it. Fae was wearing the white coat and black button-up suit that fae usually wore to indicate fae was working. Faer hair, still braided but cut down to what fae called a “manageable length,” brushed against faer shoulders as fae moved. Fae stood outside the door, talking to the local dressmaker, Florence, and her young nibling, Jase, who had their arm wrapped in a sling.

“Try to avoid using or sleeping on it, if you can. Let’s also plan on doing another healing session in three days, unless there’s any significant pain before then.” Naomi spoke to Jase, but turned to Florence to make sure she had understood. As fae looked between them, fae saw Kylie and Asalya appraching. They smiled at each other before Naomi saw the bag Kylie was carrying. Faer eyes widened.

Fae knelt in front of Jase, so they were eye-level. “Just so you know, I may look a bit different next time you see me. I might even, um, look a bit scary. But I want to let you know that I’m still going to be the same person, and I’m still going to work just as hard to take care of you.”

“Okay,” Jase said, their attention having turned towards Asalya, who was walking up behind them.

“We understand, dear, and there is nothing you have to worry about,” Florence replied, hugging Naomi as fae stood. The dressmaker now noticed Kylie approaching, hugged her as well, and said, “Oh, Kylie! It’s so good to see you’ve made it back safe. I’ll bother you about the trip details next time you come by my place or I catch you at Madeline’s, but I’m guessing right now you’d rather we head off and let you kids enjoy your evening together?”

“I’d definitely appreciate spending some time at home first,” Kylie said, reaching up a little to wrap an arm over Naomi’s shoulders. Naomi leaned against her, faer head resting on top of Kylie’s and pressing her ear flat.

 “Then don’t let us bother you. Thank you again for all your help, Naomi.” Florence turned to Jase, who was petting Asalya with their free hand. “Come on, let’s get you back home before this weather comes in.”

As their guests walked off down the road, Kylie and Naomi held each other tighter. They kissed in the doorway for a moment before Naomi led Kylie inside, holding her hand and guiding her to the sofa.

Neither of them knew the exact date they began calling their relationship “dating,” only that it was around this time the year prior. Since it fell in the same general season as the day they first met, they decided to call that date their anniversary, which was now less than a week away. They’d mutually deliberately put off formalizing their relationship for a while, determined to make sure the feelings they’d developed for each other weren’t reliant solely on the heights of fear and adrenaline from their journey to Laryth. They’d come to find out that they brought even more comfort into each other’s lives in the peaceful quiet after their adventure than during it.

They kissed gently again as they sat down. Kylie nipped at Naomi’s nose, and Naomi nipped back. A gentle fire was already burning in the fireplace in front of the couch. When they had held each other for a while longer, Naomi asked, “So, tell me, what was the potion maker like?”

“I’ll tell you about it later. Let’s be honest, you’re as impatient about your present as I am,” Kylie said, smiling and lifting the bag up.

“More so.” Naomi snatched for the bag, but Kylie pulled it away.

Naomi pouted, but gave Kylie another kiss. “There, you dork. Now gimme.”

Fae reached for it again, but Kylie pulled it away again. “Actually, I’ve got a good thing going as long as I can keep this up, so why stop now?”

Asalya reached up from beside the couch and yanked the bag out of Kylie’s hands. 

As she circled around the sofa, Kylie mumbled, “You traitor.”

Asalya dropped the bag in Naomi’s outstretched hand and received some scratches behind her ears as a reward. As Naomi pulled the potion out of the bag, fae told Asalya, “Good girl.”

Fae rolled the potion out of the bag and into faer hand. Kylie brushed against Naomi’s shoulder with her head as she leaned in to look at it. The viscous purple liquid inside clung to the walls of the glass vial. Fae held it up to the firelight as if inspecting it, though there was nothing fae was actually looking for.

“You want to drink it now, don’t you?” Kylie asked.

Naomi jumped in faer seat and turned to Kylie. “I thought the idea was to treat it as an anniversary gift?” 

“That was your idea. Do whatever you feel like. But if you ask me, waiting a couple days seems like it would stress you out more than anything.”

“You’re probably right about that.” Naomi rolled the potion from one hand to another. “Oh, but your father came by the other day and said he wanted to get dinner with you when you were back. Did you want to do that tonight?”

“That can wait until tomorrow.” Kylie looked to the darkening skies outside. “Besides, it’s already starting to get late and it looks like bad weather is rolling in. He’ll understand.”

“Right.” Naomi again held up the potion bottle.

“Not trying to pressure you, though.” Kylie rested a hand on Naomi’s.

“No, no, I’m really excited, I just wasn’t mentally prepared to do it tonight. I think I’ll be ready in a minute or two.”

Naomi took a few deep, slow breaths. When fae opened faer eyes, fae saw that Kylie’s tail was wagging. Naomi kissed Kylie on the forehead, and pulled the cork out of the vial with faer teeth. Fae drank every drop of the potion, then laid across the couch, faer head resting in Kylie’s lap.

“Ugh,” Naomi said, breathing as though fae had nearly drowned, “That concoction is sickeningly sweet.”

“Right? I didn’t even know something could be too sweet before I drank one of those.”

“You also said it’s normal to immediately feel like your head weighs several tons, yes?” Naomi’s head sank further into Kylie’s lap.

“Yeah, that’s part of it.” Kylie gently tousled Naomi’s hair.

“Good to know.”

Naomi fell quiet for a while after that. Kylie couldn’t tell for certain if fae had fallen asleep, but knew fae was likely drifting in and out. Asalya walked away from the couch and sat beside the warmth of the fire. Kylie sat there, gently holding Naomi, and looking around the space they had made. There wasn’t anywhere she’d rather be.

The transformation began soon. For all of her own changes, Kylie had never actually seen the process in action. There were little shifts at first, minute adjustments in faer distributions of muscle and fat that left faer seeming just a little wider than before. Then she saw the ears. They grew larger, longer, and sharply pointed. A layer of black hair slowly grew over them. They were much larger than Kylie’s ears, as they were supposed to be.

Kylie then looked to Naomi’s open mouth. She saw faer canine tooth warp and shift, growing long and sharp, more so even than Kylie’s fangs. Then, a bit of white poked out from the gum above the space faer lost tooth once filled. Her head slowly squirmed as a new fang pushed further out, until the two sides once again had symmetry.  

Then Kylie felt a shift in the couch cushions. She knew instantly what it was. She nudged Naomi until fae opened faer eyes, but was surprised by what she saw. They’d turned red. Not the Absentia’s red, one that was darker yet warmer, yet still somewhat intimidating. They were very much Naomi’s eyes.

“Hon,” Kylie said, nudging Naomi a bit more. “I know this isn’t gonna be easy, but we’ve got to roll you over. They’re coming in.”

Naomi nodded. With some effort on both their parts, they succeeded in rolling faer onto faer stomach. Already, Kylie could see the hard lumps from faer upper back pressing against faer shirt.

Kylie rolled the shirt up over the new bones. They were going to need some room. The black-furred appendages grew upwards before they grew out. Then they unfolded, displaying the majestic leathery black of Naomi’s wings. 

Naomi folded them back down as flat as fae could. It seemed as though fae was regaining clear consciousness, but was too exhausted to move. The new bat’s cheek rubbed against Kylie’s leg.

“I’ve been thinking we should visit Crescentia again,” Naomi mumbled. “We didn’t really get to see that much of the city last time. And it would give me an excuse to try these wings. We could race.”

“No fair, you’re going to win easily if you fly.”

“My victory is what would make racing fun.” 

“However we get there, I think going back sounds like a fun trip. Do you want to head out soon?” Kylie asked. She wasn’t ready to go somewhere else so quickly after she’d returned, but thought she’d ask how Naomi felt.

The room fell quiet again, save for the crackling of the fire and the gentle snoring of the wolf curled in front of it. A snowflake fell against the window beside the fireplace. Soon, more and more joined it. The couple on the couch nestled even closer. There was so much warmth inside.

“I’m in no hurry,” Naomi replied. “Let’s wait until spring.”

CycleLunar

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