Unfamiliar Territory - Chapter 18 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Waking up curled in rust-coloured fur. Basking in the morning sun, blinking energy into her body to the melodic scrapes and sizzles of her breakfast cooking at the opposite end of the room. Dressing in gifted garments, crocheted into blooms and vines. Sifting herself into the community through chores and favours, shared with her sweet werewolf mentor, and incentivised with sweeter werewolf kisses. Watching her skin bronze, ever so lightly, with every passing noon. Lunching in the privacy of overgrown ruins on thick wedges of bread, smeared with pastes crafted from ground beans, and layered with crisp vegetables. Developing her wood-craft under Aunt Maja’s tutelage. Tipping the ratio of curious looks to familiar smiles more and more. Taking supper as the sun set on her back, facing Tove’s tired-yet-content smile. Wrapping herself back into the folds of soft blankets and softer fur in rest.

Chloe’s daily routine was a dream. And her dreams were filled with more Tove.

Tonight, her dreams were disturbed by a roar, but not that of a wolf.

"It's okay," Tove shushed. She stroked Chloe's loose blonde hair, coaxing her back down to the bed from where she'd jumped upright. "It's just a storm."

Chloe lowered, snuggling in close. If Tove said it was fine... she let her eyes fall heavy to the sound of rainfall.

Across from her, even in the dark of night and without her spectacles, she caught Tove's eyes flash open. "We're not in the den!" she gasped. It was her turn to sit up in panic.

Chloe followed, at half the speed this time. "Maybe the house will hold," she said, half hopeful and half pleading. Her hands scrabbled around the bed for her glasses, jamming them on a little wonky.

Tove hopped free of the covers, completely naked, having climbed in at bedtime in her wolf form. "We need to block up the doors and check the ceiling."

"Okay." Good. A plan was good, it meant they could do something, instead of waiting for the flood to come to them.

She stripped the bedding and began rolling it into bolsters. Then she took all their non-waterproof belongings and balanced them on the bare bed. It wouldn't keep them safe from a leak, but at least if the floor flooded, they wouldn't be on it. Tove was upstairs, inspecting for gaps and cracks.

The front door burst open, earning some very foul language from Tove. Chloe ran to it, feeling sleeting rain bounce off the walls and tiles into their home. They spattered her lenses, blurring the world as though she weren't wearing them. As she reached out, half-blind, for the handle to pull it closed again, her hand found something slightly softer.

"Glad to see you haven't floated away on your boat bed!" Aunt Maja yelled over the storm. At her back was a much larger figure: the pack's alpha.

"Into the den with you," he called, booming like the thunder above.

Tove had no arguments, and they wasted no time gathering an overnight bag. They left immediately.

The alpha's enormous frame blocked a lot of the wind and rain as he led them back to the central tunnel, even Aunt Maja huddled in against his back, squashing Tove and Chloe between them. His hand didn’t slip once on the wet cover, flipping it up to the sky in one attempt.

The first section fell almost straight down, an incline that could break legs if you didn't have four of them, or experience with such a drop. Tove and Maja manhandled Chloe down the death drop of a ramp. Then Aunt Maja turned back to close the hatch behind them.

In spite of the alpha's bulk protecting them from at least half the rain, they were still incredibly soggy at the closing of the metal disk that sealed the den entrance. It was exactly as Chloe had expected from the ink paintings she had seen - a long dirt tunnel with lamps hung every few metres, just enough to offer vision to those who had the eyes of magic folk, or a human. Wooden beams ran up the walls and along the ceilings; they reassured Chloe, just a little, of the structural integrity of the tunnel. There were guards huddled into alcoves along the path, and they nodded with sympathetic smiles as they passed. Chloe smiled back, hoping her gratitude was clear. They were breaking their rules for her, to keep her out of the storm. After keeping her fed and watered and sheltered and clothed for a couple of weeks, receiving nothing in return but an extra pair of unskilled hands.

She wanted to thank the alpha especially, but it had been too noisy outside, and now, he was walking briskly without looking back to check they could keep up. Aunt Maja ensured Chloe wasn't left behind, and Tove dragged her by the hand in front. Both their hands were cold and wet and slippery, but they clung to each other like wrestling fish.

At the end of the first tunnel was a door, wooden, and behind that was another sudden drop, then another long stretch of beams and lamps. Another door sat at the end of this one, and Chloe began to wonder if they were walking laps of the city perimeter, one giant spiral that dropped every once in a while. Like a snail's shell.

However, after two more doors, five in total, and plenty of guards that perked up a little in their posts when the alpha passed, there was a shift. Mud walls reinforced with wood became stone, similar to that of the tiling in the city above. The lamps were brighter, the metal they were cast from shinier. Once the tunnel transformation was complete, they met a round silver door, similar to those that were used at entrances. This, Chloe realised, meant they were about to enter somewhere important.

The tunnels had been generous in size - accommodating the alpha easily - but the space they stepped into through the circular hatch was gargantuan. Tove chuckled at her side, alerting Chloe to her slack-jawed expression.

It was a city. A full-size, underground city that put the one above to shame. Clean and carefully-kept, with silver details decorating stone-built structures. There were numerous levels, with a giant pillar in the centre that connected walkways to ledges and overhangs filled with doors. Stretching up the pillar were veins that appeared to be quartz, or some other crystal... and they were glowing. Crystalline capillaries crept through the walls, the buildings, the star-shaped plates that made up pathways leading through the centre and out to places of importance. Occasionally, a pulse would run through the cavern.

Chloe dragged her eyes from the glittering and glowing. "I thought you said the den was dark and stinky?"

Tove laughed, although it sputtered out at the alpha's disapproving look. "That's not exactly what I said. I meant the private caves, where we live. And only sometimes stinky, it depends on who you're sharing space with."

"You should not be telling outsiders about the den, but if you do, speak proudly," Aunt Maja gently chastised.

The alpha straightened, pride overtaking his features at Aunt Maja’s words.

"I am proud, but you can't lie and say it doesn't stink sometimes," Tove countered. The alpha's face slipped back into disapproval. "People make smells, it's natural."

"Speak for yourself." Aunt Maja put her nose to the air with humour in her eyes. "My wife and I don't make smells."

"Is this what we would have magic folk report back about us?" Alpha huffed. "That we make smells?"

"I won't tell anyone about your private den," Chloe promised. "But I will tell them how kind you've been to me. How well I was cared for.” She smiled up at him, adding, “My parents will be very grateful."

The alpha's gruffness softened, just a little. "You tell them they have a fine child, very easy to care for." He cleared his throat and gave Tove a bump with his elbow. "You have a third level room, Maja will show you."

Tove maintained a pretty jovial appearance the majority of the time, now she was ecstatic. "Forever or just for tonight?"

"No one stays on the third forever, one day you will be old and rickety, or have puppies to raise," Aunt Maja answered. It felt cryptic to Chloe, but Tove seemed to understand perfectly. They shared a look, and Aunt Maja's eyes turned a little misty. The alpha became overly interested in the sputtering glow of the wall beside him. "Anyway, let's get you settled in, and washed and back to sleep."

Chloe blinked, she had forgotten it was the middle of the night. The cavern was so bright it felt like time didn't exist. She was here, it was light, and nothing else mattered.

"Thank you, Alpha." Chloe repeated the words after Tove, with a little less childlike enthusiasm.

The private caves were just that: caves. Holes branching off from long tunnels, dimly lit with small personal lamps, and isolated with wooden doors. Aunt Maja walked them to theirs, up many stairs, across rope-strung walkways - close enough that Chloe could brush her fingers over the pillar if she wasn’t worried it might be rude - and down a line of matching cave doors. How she could remember which had been assigned to them, Chloe couldn’t tell, but she pushed the door open and promised to return with hot water for a much-needed bath.

Of all the good news they’d had in the last half-hour, the word ‘bath’ brought on the urge in Chloe to sink to her knees with happiness. The wind and rain had chilled her to her bones, her hair was stuck to her skin, tickling her uncomfortably, and her bare feet and lower legs were speckled with puddle splatter.

There was a tub in the corner of their cave already, not much smaller than those used to wash clothes and bedding, it could easily fit two in it’s barrel-like shape. There were also piles of fabric, possibly towels, possibly blankets, and some jars of varying transparency. The floor space wasn’t strictly carved out and designed, with walls creeping in at odd angles, but they had enough space to walk around the room - admiring their second home. And Chloe’s mother had told her she’d need to pursue a well-paying magical divinity for that!

Right in the centre was a dip, carved right into the stone of the floor as though it had been shaved away into a half-sphere.

“Is this where we sleep?” Chloe asked, remembering Tove’s explanation of sleeping spaces.

Tove nodded. “Don’t worry, it’s more comfortable than it looks.”

Aunt Maja returned with buckets of steaming water, and after a few trips, their wooden tub was filled. They wished good nights to each other, and Aunt Maja left to have her own soak.

"I have... so many questions," Chloe admitted as soon as their door was closed, stirring the bath water with her fingers and enjoying the warmth soaking into her. The steam was already fogging her glasses and she wasn't even submerged, yet.

There was a knowing look in Tove’s eyes when she replied, "Let's get in and you can ask whatever you like."

Tove, already naked, dripped various oils into the water from the jars while she waited for Chloe to disrobe. Strangely, she felt no shyness at taking her clothes off. Soon she would be in the water anyway…

She laid her nightdress out on the floor to dry, and layered her knickers on top. She untied her hair and de-tangled her soggy braid with her fingers, plucking out plants and flower heads as she did. Once she was mostly free of debris, she turned to the tub.

Tove climbed in with her back to her, groaning as the water rose up to her chest. Chloe walked to the side of the tub and hooked her leg over the edge. A hand lifted to offer her support, she took it and lowered herself into liquid heaven.

“Oh my goodness,” she sighed. “I can’t believe all this time I’ve been washing out of a sink when you had real baths down here.”

Tove chuckled, cupping handfuls of water and tipping them over her smooth shoulders. For a few moments, Chloe simply watched her, methodically rubbing the mint-and-rose-scented water into all of the areas that weren’t submerged. Her hair was slick to her head from bearing the rain pounding down onto it. The steam warmed her face, and she scrunched herself down a little. Shorter than Tove, the water came up to her throat already, but she pulled herself down until it tickled her chin, and the scented oils tickled her nose.

The room was quiet, only water drips to fill the space. Their two small lamps flickered nearby, flinging their shadows back and forth across the walls. Chloe felt her muscles relax at the bath’s insistence, and a heady fog come over her as she watched Tove washing. Her arm dipped to the floor for a moment and returned with a small square, like a flannel. When she traced her skin with it, Chloe noticed the lathering of soap left behind, perhaps hidden inside the stitching. Her movements were slow, purposeful, methodical… they could send Chloe to sleep in a hot water cocoon.

Taking Chloe's wrist in her fingers, delicate and light, Tove ran the scratchy material over her skin. It seemed to relieve an itch she didn't know she had, all over. She let the pull of her hold encourage her back out of the water, sitting upright again. She blinked a few times - her questions!

"What do the levels mean?" she asked.

Tove chuckled, and she wondered if she'd ruined the moment. She was just so curious. There was so much more to know now.

“You said I could ask whatever I like!” Chloe reminded her.

Tove smiled down at the arm she was wiping. "True.” She let it drop into the water and demanded Chloe’s opposite arm with a finger curl. “Third level is the adults that are single but too old to live with their family, or newly mated couples.” The circles she scrubbed into Chloe’s skin sent pleasant tingles up her back. “It's the private caves that are the smallest and the highest up. Second level is families with children, they're the biggest.” She paused, dropping the other arm and beckoning Chloe closer. Chloe obliged. “First level,” Tove continued, her tone turning almost melancholic. “Is for the elderly or those that struggle to climb all the steps. That is where we all end up."

The flannel was dragged down her throat to her shoulders, round the domes and then across her chest, just above her breasts, to repeat the routine on the other side.

"You won't be there for a long time, yet," Chloe giggled, trying to imagine an old Tove. Her smile lines would be legendary. "And there's nothing wrong with needing some help."

"Mmm." The flannel ran along Chloe’s upper back, and she noticed just how close Tove was now, almost nose-to-nose. She only had to lift her hand a little and she could cup the back of Chloe’s head… bring her in for one of those lovely kisses…

But something about Tove’s response, so devoid of Tove humour, nagged at Chloe’s logical side. Her worst side, really.

"What?" she asked.

Tove smiled. Not a real Tove grin, a mild attempt at soothing. "Nothing.” She drew back, tossing the flannel to the floor. “What's your next question?"

Chloe frowned. "My next question is why you act so strangely whenever the future is mentioned. In fact, not just you, but everyone else as well."

"Maybe werewolves like to live in the present-"

"Not generally, Tove, I mean in relation to you."