A Wolf's Kiss

Chapter IV - Five Rings

Ceres had always trusted in the stars. Even in the darkest parts of his life, when everything seemed so utterly hopeless, still... he believed. He believed in his Queen, and that deliverance would come to him. Even when his master hit him, and bruised him, and cursed him, Ceres believed...

He didn't always know why. Sometimes the stars didn't show him anything, sometimes they just told him to wait...

He had grown tired of waiting. Waiting day after day, enduring the same humiliations and punishments, it became very monotonous. He hated his master, and his hate became so engulfing and intense, Ceres thought it may kill him. But deliverance did come. His god did smile on him. They sent him Jagur. Ceres had not known Jagur long, but he did not think Jagur was like his former master. Thus far, Jagur hadn't shown him anything but kindness. The stars told him to trust Jagur, and so he did... but still he was unsure in his feelings.

Ceres knew what Jagur wanted, he wasn't stupid. But he was unsure of what he himself wanted. Was he in love? He had no idea. Ceres had never been in love before, he simply never had the opportunity. He thought Jagur was certainly handsome, and strong, and no doubt that he enjoyed the kiss they shared just before he left... but he was unsure exactly what he felt for the strong wolf, but he liked him a lot. He liked when he sniffed his hair, when his tail wagged and his ears fell back, and he loved being held safely in his arms. He loved seeing him happy.

When Jagur left Krigarstad with his riders, Ceres did not really know what to do. He hadn't really connected with any of the other Krigians, and from his very limited interactions with them it seemed most of them spoke the common tongue worse than Jagur. Ceres opted instead to spend the day exploring Krigarstad.

Last nights snow had already started to melt away in the morning sunlight, and Ceres enjoyed the feeling of the wet grass on his bare feet. Many of the Krigians gave the boy funny looks as he walked by the village, but Ceres didn't pay them much mind. He assumed they must not have been used to foreigners who didn't have any official business being there walking among them.

All around the village was a high wall built of wooden logs and stone. Over the wall, Ceres could see tall and proud trees of dark oak wood, with green leaves, and some of them still dusted with snow. It made Ceres smile, they didn't have trees like that in the Southern Hills. It reminded him of the forests surrounding his own home village.

Most Krigian homes were simple structures made of wood and straw, but they were elegant in their own ways. Some of the more artistic of the wolves had carved little images and symbols into the wood of their homes, Ceres was rather impressed by them.

He liked Krigarstad, in some ways it was simple, but he thought in many more ways it was beautiful. He hated life in the Southern Hills, and even more he hated life in the Cliff Lands by the sea, where Magister Toutos had lived in his wretched villa. Nothing about that place ever made Ceres smile, not even watching the sunsets over the sea from the grand stone walls... but Krigarstad had managed to make him smile with nothing more than a forest.

There was joy in Krigarstad, there was no joy with his old master.

Many of the Krigians took an interest in Ceres from afar, some even raised their brows at him, but the children were a little less concealed about their interest in the foreigner. A cloud of Krigian pups formed around Ceres' feet, all of them trying to speak to him at once in Vargstongue. One of the boys pointed to his tail, and then to Ceres. He wanted to know what happened to Ceres', he simply shook his head in response.

A sweet girl brought Ceres a red apple. She pointed to her mouth to indicate she wanted him to take a bite.

Ceres smiled, and happily took a bite of the fruit.