Aednat and the Wolf

Chapter 8 Grounded for Life

Siofra waited quietly at the door then she was allowed it by a staff member, "Gerald, you still work here, it is good to see you!"

"I'm the head butler now Miss Siofra, I'll take you to Lady Abigale." Gerald escorted Siofra to the receiving room. "Miss Siofra to see you," he announced blandly.

"Abby," Siofra said softly.

"It's been ten years Sophie, ten long years. Is she even alive?"

"She calls me Ulfy, she is well and still safe."

"I had thought you betrayed me."

"The Overlord was easy to deceive that I was his servant, but I broke the heart of someone I truly love."

"Your Puca friend, Leman?"

"Yes, we were lovers."

"What does Aednat look like?"

"Beautiful, red hair like her mother. She is intelligent, resourceful and married."

"Does she remember me at all? John is still on assignment I'll write him Aednat is well."

"She has no memory of her past. She sees me as a wolf. I hid her in Earth's past where no one would think to look and just now brought her foreword again. I built a rock trap and turned back into a wolf so she could find me trapped and rescue me. That way I had an excuse to stay close. I've kept an eye on her, but never too close to her. The Overlord can track her when we are together. So I've always been careful."

"Were is she now?"

"About six hundred years from where I originally hid her. I think she is far from the Overlord hidden in Earth's future. I can bring her back here to Avalon when the danger has passed."

"We are about to have supper, join us please."

"I would love to, just like old times." Siofra had resumed human form and appeared as a woman in her early thirties, with dark brown hair and amber eyes. She joined the family at the table.

"Sophie, you will remember my eldest child Eric home from the university, and my daughter Greta. This is your aunt Siofra."

"You were just a tiny baby Greta when I saw you last."

"I remember you Aunt Sophie," Eric said. "You're a Puca."

"Yes, you have an excellent memory?"

"If you're a Puca, how can you be our aunt?" Greta asked.

"I'm a changeling, my mother stole a human baby and left me instead!"

"You are such a liar Sophie," Abigale said then laughed. "Her mother was dieing from an injury and grandma and she were friends. My mother took Sophie in and raised us both together. So she's my sister."

"Do you remember your younger sister Aednat?" Siofra asked. Eric shook his head.

"I think about her every day."

"Just barely," Greta added.

"You look a lot like her," Siofra said softly.

"If you're a Puca," Greta said, "Can you shape shift for us?" Within an instant Siofra now a large gray wolf was standing next to Greta.

"Wolf is my favorite shape." Then she became a raven and then a dragon and finally herself."

"You have eyes like a wolf or a dragon!" Greta said.