The Neko and the Wolf - 2. Making Friends

Finley stared at the wolf in his bed, trying to figure out how to escape without waking Zaddis up. Slowly he drew an arm out from under the heavy weight, and then a leg.

“Please stay asleep… please stay asleep…”

Pulling the covers back carefully, the neko rolled out of the bed, dropping silently to the ground. He let out a shaky breath, letting himself believe he had gotten away.

Opening an eye as he thumped quietly onto the floor, Zaddis let out a deep sigh before getting up himself, stretching out once he was on the floor. He'd not meant to actually fall asleep, but the bed and the prince had been very comfortable. Letting out a yawn, the wolf turned to look at the neko, head cocked quizzically to the side as if asking if his solution had worked

His fur puffed out in alarm, Finley backing up quickly as he reached for more proper clothing.

“Good… good morning,” he swallowed tightly. “I trust you slept well?”

The neko cleared his throat, trying to at least act a little princely. All his bravado from the night before had vanished, leaving him very aware that he was in a room with a werewolf who looked like he could eat Finley in either form.

Nodding, Zaddis plodded over and pushed the bathroom door open, going in and kicking it closed behind him. Several minutes later, he re-emerged, buttoning his uniform.

"Alright, now that you won’t pass out on me, get dressed or you'll be late for breakfast with the queen..."

Heading towards the door, he looked back with a smirk.

"And don’t get used to the fur blanket, I just got tired of your tossing and turning."

“You’re not going to…?”

Of course the guard wasn’t supposed to be his guide. Fin took his clothes into the bathroom, dressing haphazardly before rushing back out. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be woken up, but he felt like he was already late.

“Fuck, what time is it? Eight? Yep, so late…”

His ears folded as he threw on his shoes, threadbare soles offering scant protection against the cold wood floors. Late on his first day as a prince… gods help him he was going to be in so much trouble…

Stepping out of his room, he found Zaddis waiting, leaned against the wall. Looking up at him, he sighed.

"’Bout time. What, did you have a royal turd crosswise or something? C'mon, its both our asses if you're late."

And turning, he started walking down the hall. It seemed he'd just been giving Fin privacy

“I went as fast as I could. You try lacing a tailhole in thirty seconds. It’s impossible,” Fin grumbled, his tail thrashing as he hurried after the guard. “And no, I’m not chopping off my tail. One of the elves at school suggested that, and there is no way I’m doing it.”

His eyes travelled the guard’s body, curiosity running through his mind.

“If you were supposed to spend all night guarding me, shouldn’t you have the morning off? You need your sleep too.”

Nodding as they walked, "once I hand you off at the dining room, you're the Queensguard's problem... then I get eight hours before you get to see my handsome face again..."

He really had no idea how to respond to that. The neko couldn’t exactly agree that the werewolf had a handsome face after all. There was no doubt it would be held over his head.

Instead, Finley let his face relax, trying to work it into a smile. If he did it the right way, maybe the queen would think he was happy. It was a necessary lie, one he realized dimly that he would have to live for the rest of his life. He grimaced, taking a deep breath before forcing the corners of his lips up again. Fuck, maybe he should just walk into the room standing on his hands. Then the frown would look like a smile at least.

Glancing over at him, Zaddis frowned slightly, then gave a huff before speaking quietly, his tone cooler than before.

"You're nervous... I know... but you've been given a big opportunity here... for your people and mine... well... elves..." shaking his head, "My point is... the queen must have seen something in you for her to have decided to adopt you... it won't be easy by any means... but have a little confidence in yourself..."

As he finished speaking, they arrived at the large double doors of the dining hall. Stepping forward, Zaddis looked back before pulling the door open.

"A smile’s like a shield here... never let them see you sweat..."

“I don’t know about half elves, but there really aren’t a lot of orphaned nekos in Astara,” Fin said. “I’m pretty sure I was a choice made in desperation. If the queen broke with tradition, there would be the ferry to pay. I can’t get over the thought that this was entirely political.”

He sighed quietly, looking at Zaddis.

“For what it’s worth from a prince, thank you for the advice. I’ll just fake it until I make it.”

Nodding with a grim chuckle, the werewolf replied, "that's all any of us can do..."

Inside, a pair of adult nekos, a dark skinned and furred male, and a pale skinned, white furred female, both in more elaborate uniforms than Zaddis' stepped forward, the female bowing.

"Prince Finley, please follow us." Looking to Zaddis, the female added, "you are relieved, Guard Zaddis."

Giving a half-hearted salute, he turned to leave, "He's all yours Maia. See you guys at 5..."

Finley took a deep breath, trying to steel himself. Fighting ear and tail, the neko stepped forward, following the other nekos with a single backward glance at the werewolf. Despite himself, Finley hoped he’d see the half elf again, if only because he was one of the only people not coddling the new prince.

The day passed by relatively uneventfully, the two nekos, Maia and Darius, shadowing Finley the whole time, answering questions or giving direction. There was breakfast with the queen, an introduction to his tutors, fittings for new clothes and other things.

The neko was exhausted by the end of it all, his face feeling stretched and thin. Maybe it was too much smiling, but people seemed to like it.

The last of the evening light found Finley in the garden, sitting in a tree as he listened to the howls of wolves on the first night of the full moon. The neko sucked on a peach, savouring the fresh juices. It was a nice way to recover from the day, though the pair of guards at the base of the tree ruined the mood a bit.

As he sat up there, he caught view of a familiar black wolf loping into the garden, yapping as it approached, a pack strapped to its back.

Looking up from their conversation, Maia and Darius both frowned, the pale female sighing deeply.

"Zaddis, you know her majesty doesn't like you gallivanting around in your wolf from..."

The wolf just huffed and rolled its eyes, sitting down at the base of the tree and looking up at Finley, panting.

Shrugging, Darius yawned, "hes here at least... c'mon... let's get out of here..."

Looking up at Fin, he and Maia both saluted.

"Until tomorrow young Prince..."

Fin raised a hand in an uncertain farewell, not comfortable with saluting just yet. The neko let himself fall backward off the tree branch, twisting in the air so he landed on his feet. Digging a hole with his heel, he tossed the remnants of the peach into the hole, burying it under a couple inches of dirt.

“Can you understand me in that form? I mean, I would assume you can. You seemed to understand me well enough this morning,” he yawned, looking at Zaddis.

Nodding, the werewolf scratched with one of his back feet before coming over and looking up at Finley, his tail wagging lazily as if awaiting an order.

The neko glanced up at the moon, letting out a quiet sigh as he listened to the wolves roaming the city… his city, eventually. It was hard to wrap his head around that thought.

On second thought, he wasn’t ready to go inside just yet.

Sinking down against the tree, Finley motioned toward the ground beside him, more of an invitation than an order.

“Tell me, is it true werewolves only think about making more werewolves? The church of Lynestra says you are irredeemable.”

Walking around the tree, Finley listened as the telltale pops and cracks of a transformation echoed in the quiet garden, followed by a groan as Zaddis turned back to a half-elf.

"No... no more than a neko thinks about making more nekos, or an elf thinks about making more elves... the moon cycle can drive us into heats, but nekos do it too, don't they?"

Coming back around, Zaddis was bare from the waist up, his wrinkled uniform shirt in one hand, his pack in the other. Pulling it on, he sat down beside Finley.

"Personally, I think wolves get such a bad rap because of our emotions. Especially around the full-moon, they can get... heightened. Add that to the fact that male wolves can't have sex unless its with a female wolf or a hopefully willing partner... well... horny teenagers can be difficult when they don't turn into a pony-sized dog..."

“Nekos don’t go into heat,” Finley frowned. “Or, at least, I’ve never gone through a heat. And no one ever told me anything like that. Okay, but what about wolf forms? I thought the full moon made it impossible to switch back, and the new moon made it impossible to be a wolf. Is everything the church taught me a lie? I mean, I get that a lot of people like to pretend the gods don’t exist and the priests have no moral ground to tell us what to do, but I’ve kind of built my whole life around that.”

Shrugging, the wolf let out a huff.

"It's... a lot more difficult to change back during a full moon... and most werewolves don't even bother trying... but it isn't impossible. It IS more comfortable to be in wolf form during it though. That's why I was changed last night when I was guarding your door... didn't figure anyone would be up there..."

Sighing, he leaned back and stared up into the branches of the tree.

"As for the churches... I've personally never put much stock in faith... just another way to divide people and spread fear about what people don't understand..."

“The queen already said I need to let go of my attachment to Lynestra. Already they’re making me change who I am. A king can’t show favouritism to any one deity. And yet she can load her palace guard with elves. I was shocked that my guards were neko,” Finley admitted. “I guess… I guess being guarded by a werewolf is her way of pushing me to be more open about new things. I don’t like being played for a pawn.”

Nodding in agreement, Zaddis frowned.

"Trust me... none of us do..."

Sighing deeply, he looked over to him, "for what it's worth... you seem like a decent person at least... I didn't know what kind of person you were going to be, so... sorry for being... a bit of a dick before..."

“Same here. You aren’t as scary in this form. Maybe I can get used to the other one. Thanks for helping me last night,” the neko murmured, ears twitching. “So… how did you become a palace guard? I thought these posts were more exclusive. All the other guards seem older.”

Rolling his eyes, another huff escaped the half elf.

"I got roped into it... it was guarding the new prince or six months of house arrest. Dad thought this would teach me ‘responsibility’. Don't know if you've met him yet or not... Vincent? Stuffy middle-aged elf with a stick up his ass?"

“The one who looked like he had his nose permanently glued to a skunk’s ass?” Fin asked. “House arrest makes it sound like you did something wrong. Why would they think someone under house arrest would be a good guard for a prince?”

He wasn’t too alarmed, there had been a priest in the orphanage who was doing penance for a crime. It wasn’t unusual for people to work off a debt to society, but to put that person in a position of power, that was unusual.

Shrugging, Zaddis leaned back against the tree.

"Beats me... maybe because I'm close to your age and it was something relatively petty? Besides, what better way for my father to make sure I stay out of trouble? Something happens to you, it’s a whole kingdom on my ass..."

Sighing again, he shook his head.

"Buuuut its whatever. You're not nearly as bad as I feared. Might not be such a bad gig after all."

“Yeah, there’s probably something to the whale stealing princes from orphanages thing. Not that I really count; I was only there for… what, four years? There was a man there, who had been stuck in the system for nearly fourteen years. He deserved to be adopted a lot more than I did, but since he was human…”

Finley shrugged helplessly, fiddling with an amulet in his pocket. He froze as he realized it probably looked like he was playing with himself.

“Er… anyway, we should probably get inside. I wouldn’t want to be assassinated this early,” the neko said, standing up.

He offered a hand to Zaddis.

Taking the hand, he pulled himself up, and only now did Fin realize just how tall the half-elf was, standing an easy head taller than the younger boy. Nodding with a smirk, having caught the movement of his hand in his pocket, Zaddis grinned.

"Yes, I agree. So where to, your highness?"

“Well… have you been to the kitchens? I was thinking it might be nice to have a glass of warm milk before bed. It’s nice and creamy around here. I think someone said it was from coconuts. I’m not quite sure how to find the kitchens though,” the neko admitted, his tail tucked between his legs. “But I’m sure they’d have some nice hot cocoa for you… if werewolves are allowed to drink chocolate…”

Chuckling softly, he shook his head, "not unless we want to camp on the stool all night."

Starting off towards the castle, he waved for Fin to follow.

"C'mon, Miranda should still be cleaning up from dinner. I'm sure she won't mind slipping us a little something."