As The Woe Turns: A World Before Woe

Sweet Sixteen (E.S.)

In the nearly two weeks since the full moon and the events that had taken place, life had managed to move on. Enid could either join in or get run over by it. Maybe she chose a little bit of both. Things were changing and change can be scary.

Enid stayed mostly to herself. It's not like her family really cared either way. She was totally self sufficient and had been for a long time. No one sought her out. She stayed mostly by the lake. Sketching or reading or just soaking in nature. That's when she really felt connected. She worked the garden with Dana whenever the older wolf had things for her to do. She found out that Dana was the one that cleaned up her ruined campsite and washed her clothes. She repurposed a lot of Enid's ruined equipment for use in the garden. Broken tent poles made great guides for viney things, like peas, beans, and tomatoes. Ripped nylon was good for things that needed shade. Besides, Enid definitely didn't mind. She was actually glad the stuff didn't just get thrown out to waste away in some landfill somewhere.

Dana had developed a bit of a soft spot for Enid. And vice versa. They were cousins after all. Enid really opened up to her. Dana let Enid hang around the garden and have first pick of whatever she wanted. She kind of reminded her of herself when she was younger. Dana was used to the kind of behavior lavished on the poor younger wolf. She felt protective in a way. She herself was an outcast amongst outcasts. She was a wolf that couldn't wolf out. A fate Dana didn't wish on anyone. She made it sound like a fate worse than death. Enid still had time to connect with her inner wolf though. She learned a lot about her cousin and they became close friends.

Enid learned, Dana was not permitted to take a mate from within the pack. Enid took it as the older wolf would never have a family or start a family pack of her own. She did however have a long distance girlfriend she visited for like very short periods of time. Her girlfriend would never be aloud on pack lands because she was human, and Dana lived on the pack lands with the garden and orchard for most of the year. Dana was a lone wolf in almost every sense. She wasn't invited to celebrations or pack activities. Dana was always held separately. She also said if she wasn't useful they would have kicked her out completely years ago. Thank goodness she had an amazing green thumb or she truly would have been ostracized. The Tate family pack and her own parents had disowned her decades earlier pretty much right after high school. She had no one and nothing. Her family had labeled her a lost cause. Esther and her brothers were a big part of that. Bullying her and reporting 'odd' behavior back the their parents. (Sound familiar? It did to Enid. ) It was heresy, most of it wasn't even true, but it was enough. It was just one more reason for Enid to dislike her own mom. But the pack as a whole had let Dana stay. Sort of.

As for Enid? She didn't tell anyone what took place on that rooftop. Not even Yoko. She couldn't bring herself to. It hurt. She was so close. Maybe when they were back at Nevermore she would be able to talk about it. Maybe.

In the meantime, the other wolves still avoided or ignored her. Her brothers either fully degraded or ridiculed her mercilessly. They still denied ever destroying her campsite but it didn't really matter. There was an unfamiliar scent that had lingered in the air, but who else would do something like that? Her mother hated her, she was even colder and more distant than usual if that were even possible. Her father did his best to be completely neutral while still slipping her little reassurances, kind words, and extra money into her personal account. More money than he ever had before. It was like he knew something was going to happen and felt bad, but he never said a word.

All her new gear came in. Enid had since reset her little camp and moved back out of the bunk house. She still visited her couch regularly. When she needed a shower, to do her laundry, to charge her phone or to just take advantage of the free WiFi so she didn't completely kill her data. It was almost as if nothing had changed in her, she was still very much a creature of habit. But that was far from the truth. Her wolf was there. She was there, sometimes they connected and everything now felt ten times bigger when they did. All of her emotions, especially aggression. She actually felt territorial over certain things now. Her campsite, the garden, her couch. Those were hers. She had a ton more energy if that were even possible. All of her senses were sharper. Not like the day of the full moon, but definitely more present. Even her physical needs. Hunger, thirst...you know puberty shit. Enid's gut instinct, her intuition seemed to be more accurate. Not that she was psychic now or anything but if her wolf grumbled she listened. At least she tried to. Mostly. She had spent a lot of her time alone learning how to refocus. How to live with the changes. Her new normal so to speak, but it was awesome. Totally worth it.