Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 22: DINNER

A few hours later, Katja put on what she thought of as one of her "nicer" outfits, a white blouse with a brown velvet bodice, paired with a long, dark blue skirt over which she tied a peach-colored apron.

Dividing her hair in half, she created two braids, which she crossed at the back of her head and pinned into place. Daring a glance at herself in the bathroom mirror, she nodded. She looked nice...respectable, even, and she hoped by taking extra care with her appearance, she would convey to her aunts how seriously she took being invited to dinner.

When she returned to the bedroom collect Wolf, he was still in human-form, tucking his shirt into his breeches and smoothing out the wrinkles. There was something sweet about watching him get ready, even though it was odd having him doing so in her room.

As Katja closed the door and placed her worn clothes in the laundry hamper, Wolf turned around, a wide smile on his face, but when his eyes landed on her, he froze, one hand resting on his waist where he'd been tucking in his shirt.

Katja swallowed and glanced down at her clothes. Everything seemed to be in order, so it didn't make sense why Wolf was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"Do you think this is alright to wear for dinner?" she asked hesitantly, forcing her gaze back to his. "I'm not exactly used to being invited to do things with others."

Wolf's eyes were wide, and Katja wondered how long it had been since he'd blinked.

"I think it's perfect for dinner," he finally said. "You don't wear your hair pulled back very often...I mean, other than in the workshop...and then you're usually looking down and working on something..."

So that's why he was staring at her.

Katja let out a sigh of relief and tried to hide the smile that threatened to reach her mouth. Wolf seemed to be as much of a creature of habit as she was, so clearly she'd simply caught him off-guard by doing something as unimportant as her hair different than she usually did.

"Normally I don't put it up unless I'm working," she agreed. "But I don't have to worry about Tante Winola or Tante Hedda teasing me, so, I wanted to do something different...to look nice."

"You do," Wolf nodded. "Look nice, I mean."

He continued to gaze at her for a few more seconds, then abruptly cleared his throat and turned away, focusing on tucking in the rest of his shirt. Perhaps he was as nervous about tonight as she was, and Katja was surprised to find feeling awkward or uncomfortable wasn't so terrible when you weren't the only one experiencing it.

Wolf ran a hand through his hair, then turned towards to her. He started to say something, but his words were cut off by a knock at the door.

He quickly transformed into wolf-form and padded over as Katja opened the bedroom door and nodded at the Helferin, who said it had been sent by Tante Winola to lead them to her quarters for dinner. Perhaps because the spells used to create it didn't include any reference to a wolf, the Helferin didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed to be trailed by one, which Katja appreciated.

After numerous twists and turns, the Helferin finally stopped in front of an ornately carved door, where it gave them each a low bow before scuttling off to whatever task it had been instructed to complete next. Katja stared at the door, thinking how many times she'd hoped for an invitation to visit another witch in her room.

"Is something wrong?" whispered Wolf.

"I'm just not used to getting invitations like this," Katja whispered in response.

"Typically, you start by knocking on the door," said Wolf. "That lets your host know you've arrived."

The words would have sounded snide coming from anyone else, but from Wolf, there was no question they were intended to be helpful. Katja shot him a grateful smile, then rapped her knuckles against the wood, hoping she'd knocked loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to sound impatient.