Angharad: Aftermaths

It was three nights later, dead of night, when Harri climbed cautiously out of bed.

People had not accepted Wolf's return with quite Harri's unallayed joy. Master Idolwyn had even begun to hint at another trip to the forest soon - a more detemined abandonment.

It was time, Harri felt, to scotch this - if she could.

She needed an ally.

So ...

"Wolf?" she whispered. "Are you awake?"

Wolf snuffled, rolling over with Cub's motion. He looked at her, licking her face. He whuffed curiously, stretching out with a low whine. While he didn't mind the night, this was when Cub slept. When his whole new Pack slept. Her being awake surprised and confused him.

When she didn't stretch out again, he rolled up to sit next to her on the bed.

"We've got to go somewhere," she informed him seriously. "Daddy's library. That's where he keeps the spares. And you have to be very very quiet - 'cos if anyone sees us, they'll send us back to bed, do you understand?"

She began to dress herself in warm clothes - the castle this late at night would be cold.

"You have to be my sentinel," she told Wolf as she tugged a woollen jerkin over her head.

At her question, Wolf ducked his head in an approximation of a nod. He leapt lightly off the bed, and padded to the door, nosing it open to look out. He sat down, waiting, and whuffed softly to Cub.

Harri crept out after him. This was similar to the pattern of stalking that they were practising in the wood. She just hoped that Wolf would not think they were after live prey.

Softly - almost silently - she directed him towards the library.

Wolf stalked on silent paws to the library. Cub walked in near silence next to him, and he swung his head, sliding it against her hip to show his pride in her without making any noise. His ears perked up, listening carefully for any others who might be awake.

Their passage to the library door was uninterrupted. Harri tried the door and, when she discovered it was unlocked, she opened it wide enough for them both to slip inside.

"Now," she said to Wolf, "stay by the door and keep gaurd. I need to find something.

She headed for her father's desk.

The drawer was unlocked, as the area where his family slept was heavily guarded at the outer doors. Who would be back here, but Corwin, his wife, and his daughter.

And one slightly oversized grey wolf, of course.

Inside, there were a number of papers, some folded correspondance, and a mahagony deck, the inlaid gold winking in the moon light. His trump box.

Wolf pushed the door shut with one shoulder and sat down in such a way that he could see easily into the hallway, but could also watch Cub. And of course, one ear remained cocked for any sounds that might disturb them.

Harri pulled the box out and stood for a moment, staring at it.

"I can do this," she said finally.

She carefully removed the lid and began to sort through the cards.

She selected the one of the grave-faced man in white armour and began to concentrate in the special way Father had taught her after the incident of the Wyrr. Of course, the only card she had herself was Father's.

Now she reached out with her mind, seeking to make contact.

"Uncle Julian?" she quavered aloud.

Wolf's attention came sharply to Cub for a moment as she spoke, then returned to watching the hallway as well as Cub.

The card came alive in her grasp, the pasteboard turning to ice in her already chilled grasp. Julian's accoutrments shifted from pristine white armor to a more subdued lounging robe of green and burgundy silks. He studied Harri with a curious tilt of his head, blinking at her once.

"Strange... In Amber, we do not gift our children with Trumps before the age of twelve. New Avalon must be terribly progressive."

"It was because of the Wyrr," said Harri. "And I only really have Father's trump for emergencies. But ... he's away, and I really do need to speak to you urgently, so I borrowed his spare pack."

She took a deep breath.

"It's about Wolf."

"Oh? He was well the last I saw him. The poison had worked its way through him. He was running well and terrorizing Kip. Is he ill again?"

"No," said Harri. "No ... he's well. Only ... spring is here. And I tried to release him - as you said. The first day he was really willing to go. We left him in the forest, and he seemed to scent something - I thought it was his pack.

"But the next day ... he came back. And ever since, he's should no interest in going a great distance into the forest."

She gave a sudden giggle. "Although he is teaching me to track rabbits."

A soft whuffling snort from the door, but Wolf does not turn away from his post.

"Rabbits, hm?" Julian leaned back in his chair, studying Harri with a look that had always made her sit a bit straighter, and look a bit sterner than her usual wont. "You know, I warned your father that the beast was domesticated. It might be you finished the job over the winter... Or that he felt he had sufficiently domesticated you."

"I think," said Harri thoughtfully, "that he probably sees that as an ongoing process, actually.

"But what I really wanted to ask you ... should we try again to return him to the forest? And if we shouldn't would you please tell Father so, and all the people here? So they don't keep making us do it again and again?"

She looked at him hopefully.

"Wolf is here now," she added.

Wolf had to agree with her words...training Cub could take a long time.

He looked over at her, then nosed the door almost completely closed and padded over, laying his head in her lap. He didn't intend to leave. This was his pack, and he would stay and see Cub to adulthood.

Harri caressed his head, smiling down at him.

"I'm talking to Uncle Julian," she whispered. "I've asked him if you can stay. Everyone listens to him when he talks about forests and wild animals and things. He's the best."

Wolf whuffed, nosing her hand, licking it quickly, and then lying still. Julian also was the sound for the one who wanted to breed him. He turned his attention where Cub's attention was held, wondering just where Julian *was* if Cub was talking to him. And Cub certainly sounded as if she spoke with someone.

"And you want me to come through..." Julian didn't seem fully convinced. "To make a writ so that Corwin will allow you keep your Wolf?" He thought it over for fully half a minute, an eternity for Harri.

"Very well. But I will ask for something in return." He held out his hand.

"All right," said Harri, stretching out her hand towards the card with some trepidation. She had never done this before, and she was not quite sure how it would work ...

"As long as it's something I promise for me, and not for Wolf," she added hastily. "I really can't make promises for him - unless he wants to ... "

She took his hand, and gently pulled. She knew he would come through, but it still left her with a little awe to see him suddenly before her.

"Yes, something from you... Here, Wolf." He sat, patting his leg. "Harri, get some paper and a pen."

Wolf ignored Julian's command at first, padding to the door and peering through the slit before returning to sit in front of Julian, staring at him.

Harri had laid a reassuring hand on Wolf's head before Julian came through.

"It's all right," she said encouragely. "That was meant to happen."

Then, when she was sure Wolf was going to be calm, she jumped up and ran round behind the desk to fetch paper and pen - although she peeped over the desk to see what Wolf was doing.

Julian studied the wolf as he stroked it's head. "He checked the door..." he mused, then turned to the paper. He spent several minutes scratching at the parchment, his hand sprawling and contorted. He seemed rather over fond of linking his letters together, something Harri's masters frowned upon as frivilous.

He finished, but before letting Harri look it over, he pressed the other paper to her. "And now, your writ. I would like a boon, for championing your wolf in New Avalon."

Harri took the paper he was handing to her and spread it out so that she could read it carefully.

"Wolf is very good about checking things," she told her uncle. "Especially when I tell him.

"Is this the boon you want?" she added.

Then she started to read ...

On this day in the spring months of New Avalon, in the tenth year of King Corwin's reign, I do state the following:

My knowledge in all things botanical, biological, and canine being supreme and without contest, it is my learned opinion that the wolf companion of Princess Anhagared has been domesticated beyond the hope of being returned to the wild. Being of sound body, he should be allowed to live out his days where he has chosen his den: at the aforementioned Princess's side.

Julian of Arden and Amber

"Oh no, that is only my writ to your father. Now," said Julian, once Harri had set the letter aside. "Your boon, from your hand. We need not name it now... Only that I have it in reserve."

Harri looked worriedly up at him.

"Father always says I should never make a promise I cannot keep," she said worriedly. "At least, if I am not sure that I can safely break it later."

She bit her lower lip.

"You wouldn't ask me anything ... =impossible= , would you?" she ventured at last.

Wolf moved from Julian's side to stand next to Cub. His eyes glared at Julian with a decidedly dark look.

Harri reached down and stroked him.

"It's all right, Wolf," she said quietly. "Uncle Julian is going to help you to stay here. But he needs me to do something in return." Her voice quavered just a little on the last word.

"And we can wait on that," Julian said with a look at the wolf, "Until you feel ready to name your boon... Say, until you are seventeen? Then we will talk again."

Harri looked down at Wolf, gazing at that dearly loved dark head.

She drew a deep breath. Seventeen was, after all, years away. Seven years - with Wolf. No-one would be able to send him away then.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I agree."

"Then write it." He tapped the parchement. "You don't need any fanciness if it hasn't been taught to you, and you spell boon B - O - O - N." He waited, ever patient.

Harri took the pen and carefully wrote, her tongue protruding slightly:

I, Angharad of New Avalon, promise Julian of Arden Amber Amber, the boon of his choosing, to my utmost abilities, on my seventeenth birthday or thereafter.

Angharad.

She looked up at him.

"Is that correct?" she asked seriously.

"Perfect," he said, taking the paper and folding it carefully, then placing it in a breast pocket. He stood then, bowed slightly to the princess, then withdrew his trump deck. "If there is nothing else the princess requires of me?"

"No," said Harri. "Thank you very much."

She looked at him a little uneasily. "Do I need to do anything to send you back?" she asked. "Only Father didn't teach me that part - just how to get him fast."

"I will be fine." Julian extracts a card from his vest, one depicting a room in time-smoothed woods and heavy throws. "Be well, Anhargard. Take care of your Wolf... and allow him to take care of you." With that, he concentrates, and in a shimmer of light and the smell of smoke, he is gone.

Wolf watched Julian as he left, whuffling an affirmation at his words.

Then he leaned heavily against Cub's hip, pushing her to the door. It was time to return to bed, before they were found here and Cub was in trouble with her Sire or Dam. And besides, Cub needed the sleep.