The Big Bad Wolf

Hakan had been traveling to one of his forest caches and shelters when he smelled a crackling fire and a queer aroma. Ducking his head into the cave he saw a female from which the questionable stench came from. Very rarely had Hakan smelled humans, as they were used as slaves for vampires, but he had never met one personally. Yet, approaching this one he felt as if the smell was all wrong. Firstly, how had a human gotten so deep into their lands? An ocean separated his people from the blood suckers and their cattle. Secondly, Hakan could smell the earth beneath that stench of a human, as if she had rubbed herself with a human scent to hide what she really was.

Sage, sweat, and lavender were the strongest notes lying beneath the human. The sage was the strongest, reminding him of a healer's hut, as she stoked the fire. He could not smell her wolf, leaving him puzzled as to just what this female was. Hakan entered, nonplussed by her swinging of her knife as if he were some feral beast. The woman was injured, her ankle twisted at an odd angle. Maybe she was human, though Hakan could think of no reasonable explanation for how she had gotten there.

Realizing she was in no predicament to kick him out, she simply accepted his company with wary eyes. Hakan took the time to observe her carefully as she removed her boot and sock. She was mostly nude aside from some underclothes, undoubtedly trying to dry them from the rain.

She was lean, her muscles rippling beneath her skin like a mountain lion, speaking of the strength she possessed. Being athletic, the woman did not appear very curvy or soft from where she sat. She had hair like the night sky, a dark midnight black contrasted by pale icy eyes framed by inky lashes. Her tanned complexion was a bit pallor from the cold and her attempt to fix her ankle. High cheekbones, a clean cut jawline, and a nose that might've been straight had it not been broken a few times over - possessing a small kink in the bridge. Despite not being soft and willowy, Hakan thought the woman beautiful in her own way and while not flawless, he likened the sharpness of her facial structure to elves he had met.

She challenged herself with the twisted foot and he watched with intrigue as she spun it back around and popped it into place. Swaying from the pain, she gave him a weary look once again.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

She blinked, lashes fluttering against her cheeks several times before tilting her head in confusion.

"How did you dislocate it?" he repeated to clarify.

Be it the pain she was still in or the pure astonishment, he could not say, but she went pale as a vampire and fell forwards toward the fire.

Hakan leapt up, catching the woman before she could fall into the flames, his massive head beneath her torso as he stretched over the fire. The brief sensation was unpleasant as he got toasted along his belly, but he shuffled to the side, grunting as he deposited the woman on the ground away from the fire. Nudging her face so that she wasn't face down eating the earth, Hakan's nostrils were filled with her scent again. This time Hakan shuddered as his nose pressed against her décolletage accidentally as he shifted her.

His throat blazed as if it were on fire, a shiver seizing him from nose to tail, setting all his fur on end as he carefully removed himself and studied her. Excitement coursed through him like a surge of adrenaline, but he knew that wasn't what it was. The allure of the sage and earth was intoxicating and comforting, as if he were being wrapped in a warm embrace by the forest. Hakan had been fully in control from the moment he stepped into the cave, but at this moment his wolven side leveraged him for control.

Want, want, want! ... Need!

Hakan backed away slightly, rubbing his nose with his paws as he shook the desire that had appeared from nowhere. Never had he felt this tidal wave of emotions, nor did he understand why it was with someone who was obviously not a wolf. He opened his eyes carefully and glanced back slowly, hoping such devious thoughts wouldn't overwhelm him again while the woman was unconscious.

He observed her again, the rise and fall of her chest, and the tattoos on her body. He gasped - having not paid close attention to them until this point - they were intricate and colorful. While tattoos were common in their lands, colored ones were not, only black tribal tattoos and none with this finesse or minute details. Creeping forward, Hakan observed the markings. Sleeves of details were hewn into her skin, braids of greenery, plants, blackberries in dark verdant hues accented by the views of various white capped mountains and forests, all of which were different in their own ways. He could have sworn he had seen one of these mountains before, it looked like Tahoma, a sacred mountain that was east of the local tribe's lands.

Peeps of her skin were beneath the detailing, as her skin, while much of it was covered by the ink, the gaps between the leaves, mountains, and forests were not filled with color. Alpine flowers and vines extended out to her shoulder blades, obscured by the way she was laying.

His inner wolf knew what she was even if Hakan still questioned the legitimacy of it all. The only thing running through his mind was the prophecy: A land of fragmented kingdoms will be united when the last druid joins hands with the children of the moon. With the tales of lands forgotten written upon flesh, old secrets will whisper with the voices of thousands, sealed and forgotten.

He was looking right at part of the prophecy: With the tales of lands forgotten written upon flesh...

Was this the last druid of the prophecy that was nearly 3 thousand years old? She looked... human, but he supposed it could have been a glamour of some kind.

I have to bring her to a mage that can remove the glamour, he thought, contemplating the fastest route to the nearest village and if they had a magic-wielder. That was to say if the woman's glamour was not intentional...

I doubt it is, she seemed taken aback by me. If she knew where she was, it wouldn't be a surprise she found me, he reasoned, looking at her clothes laid out to dry. They were unlike any he knew, made of strange swishy material that was resistant to water, but not impervious. In addition to the stench of human on her, Hakan could only assume that she had come from the human realm. What better place to hide the druid of legend than in a world functioning on a different timeline than their own? She would age normally, but hundreds of years would pass with each year back on earth...

Hakan left her where she laid, trotting to the back of the cave, digging into the packed soil where he had laid his cache. A few feet down he struck the bundled supplies, pulling them out. Within was a set of clothes for him, money, and a few fur blankets. He didn't really use the blankets for anything other than comfort, as he wouldn't grow cold. He shifted back into a man, putting on the clothes he had stored for himself, and glanced toward where the woman laid.

She had not moved in the slightest, still unconscious, but breathing from what he could see. He took the furs with him, touching her exposed skin to find it chilled and damp. Exposure was a threat to those who didn't run as hot as lycans and Hakan wasn't opposed to snuggling in close to this woman. Even if he didn't know her, the allure of her scent lulled him. Draping the furs over the both of them, Hakan sidled up behind her, pressing his chest to her back to provide her with desperately needed heat that she wasn't getting from the tiny fire.

Tomorrow he'd ask questions. Tomorrow...

It was rude, seeing he didn't ask permission, but Hakan pressed his nose into the crown of her hair. He could smell the forest and rain in it, exhaling deeply as if the weight of the world were finally off his shoulders and there were no responsibilities.

He awoke to flailing, a fist hitting him so hard in the chest that it knocked the wind out of him. Hakan sputtered, blinking hard as he tried to fill his lungs back up. In these few moments, his companion had woken with a start. He should have realized when she hadn't pieced together that he was a lycan that she also wouldn't be expecting a man in place of the wolf. And holy hell was this woman strong. Even if it looked like he could bend her in two easily, her punch had landed in a tender spot, almost as if she knew where she were aiming.

She did.

The woman had rolled away and grabbed her knife, holding it between them with her other fist ready. While she knelt in front of him, Hakan saw the experienced form she utilized while facing him. She was definitely a warrior of some sort and cared little for her lack of attire or decorum.

"Who the fuck are you?" she demanded gruffly.

Hakan rubbed the sore spot in his chest. "Is that any way to thank the person who kept you from freezing to death overnight?"

She faltered, but then raised the blade back up with a defiant glare in her icy eyes. He felt himself fall into the blizzard, a chill like the frigid winter winds lancing down his spine as she challenged him. Again, he felt the desire kicking up, his wolf becoming giddy from the thrill of it all. "How did you find me? I thought I was so far off the trails no one would find me," she questioned. "No one should be looking for me... not here, anyways."

"What do you mean by that? You were lost?"

She snorted, but upon realizing he was no threat, tossed the knife tip down into the soil with considerable dexterity. Her hands then went to her tender ankle, which she soothed by massaging. "You'll think I'm freaking crazy if I tell you."

"Humor me," Hakan shrugged, amused by her turn of phrase.

"I was in Colorado in the Rocky Mountains National Park when my friend found this... portal-thing at night. I chased after her to try and stop her from touching it, but I fell in too and ended up here. The Olympic National Park, right?"

None of those names made sense to him, but one thing that did was the mention of a portal. "A portal?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Stupid right? I sound insane."

"I don't know of the places which you refer to, but a portal makes sense. You must have come here from Earth," Hakan reasoned, glancing back toward her tattoos. "Tahoma was a sacred mountain of my people before we came here."

"Tahoma?" she repeated, glancing down at her arm. "Oh. Oh! You mean Mount Rainier! I remember, Tahoma is the indigenous name. That was one of the first bigger mountains I summited."

"You climbed Tahoma?" Hakan was dumbfounded. If anyone in the neighboring Tribes found out, they'd be livid.

"Uh, yeah, lots of people do. Something like 10,000 people a year," she informed him offhandedly.

Earth has really changed, hasn't it? I know we left as the westerners were encroaching on our land, but it's absurd to believe that they'd have free reign of lands that were once sacred to us, he thought. "This might look like Olympic... Park or whatever, but it's not."

"What'dya mean?"

"Tixwa. You're in Tixwa," he informed her.

"Where... is Tixwa?"

"In the western hemisphere of Terra."

Silence erupted between them and the woman only stared openly, ceasing to massage her ankle as she drank in his words. "So..." she started slowly. "I'm not on Earth... and... that talking wolf from last night..."

"Was me," Hakan nodded.

"What the fuckity fuck!?" she exclaimed, flopping down on the ground, face scrunching in disdain, pressing her hands down on her cheeks as she tried to rationalize what she was being told. "How do you know about Mount Rai-er, I mean, Tahoma then? If I've fallen into some other world through the portal..."

"We all came from earth at one point of time or another. For the tribes that live in Tixwa, it was when white settlers started to occupy our native lands. For other races, it was long before that. I think the elves, dwarves, and fae came here in Earth's dark ages. Vampires were later than us, in the 19th century," he recalled from his history lessons. "We each have our own lands... kingdoms if you will, although Tixwa is not ruled by a king, but a chief of all chiefs; a Chief Alpha."

Groaning, she gazed out between slits. "Each kingdom is based on a place on Earth then?"

"Somewhat. All of America is not what Tixwa is made up of, but most certainly what you called Olympic National Park is a large majority of Tixwa. However, it's probably unlike what you know since we seceded from Earth a long time ago." He neglected to mention the time difference between Earth and Terra. It was too much information and she looked a bit at her wit's end. "My name is Hakan Quileute," he introduced.

"Quileute," she murmured with familiarity. "Hm, that's a tribe in Washington..." she barked a laugh. "How ironic. You know, someone wrote a book about you guys being werewolves."

"I wouldn't know," Hakan chuckled.

"My name is Flora."

"Just Flora?" he arched a dark brow at her.

"I have a generic last name. I was an orphan, so they just gave me the surname of Greene since I couldn't remember anything other than my name," she admitted, glancing down at herself and huffing. "And I'm in my underwear," she didn't seem too embarrassed, just stating that she wasn't wearing clothes when she should be. "I'm a mess."

"Acceptable seeing you fell through a portal... You said you had a friend who fell through too?"

Flora had pulled her clothes over and was pulling her dry pants on. "Yeah, her name is Cassie O'Donnell. Your pack... or tribe wouldn't have seen her, would they? Can you do some werewolf telepathy?"

Hakan couldn't help but laugh at her. "Yes, we can communicate within our packs. What does she look like?"

"She's pretty fair, freckled, golden blonde hair and bright green eyes. Petite and slender," she described quickly.

He already knew no one with that sort of description had been found in their territory. Blonde hair was not typical in Tixwa, nor was pale skin. The natives were tanned, had shades of dark hair and eyes, and all built lean, most being tall in comparison to other races. She described a westerner and while Flora had blue eyes, she was not white. She also had tanned skin and dark hair.

"I can ask, but someone with those features definitely would have been reported to all of the pack," he told her honestly.

"Great," she hissed, pulling her shirt over her head, obscuring her skin. He was a bit disappointed that she was putting things back on and not removing what little had remained. "Do you think maybe she fell... somewhere else in Terra? Do portals always go to the same place or do they go to different places?"

"I'm no portal guardian, so I don't have an answer for you," Hakan replied. "But is it completely possible that she's not even on Tixwa."

Flora was rubbed her face anxiously. "Well then, take me to a portal guardian," she demanded.

Hakan barked a laugh at her forwardness. "It's not that easy," he said, rolling up the fur blankets so they could be stowed once again. "There's only one portal guardian in each land and they only answer to the summoning of the leader, in which case would be the Chief Alpha." Whom I don't want to see, Hakan added silently.

"I have to find her," Flora scowled. "Cassie is... Cassie is softer than me and she's going through some personal stuff. If she's all alone... what if she landed somewhere bad? Like in Orc-land or-or-" she let out a furious huff. "I have to find her! As shit as my luck is, I'm fortunate you weren't some creep."

The word made him twitch, a dull reminder that he had been on the borderline of being a 'creep' after getting a deep whiff of her scent. Perhaps he even had been a creep, nestling his face into her hair. Not that she needed to be told that... "Wherever your friend might have appeared, a portal guardian will likely locate her and take her back to Earth. Humans are not allowed in Terra, except-" he caught himself, her gaze sharpening as he faltered.

"Except?" she pressed insistently.

"Except in Tenebris Dominium," Hakan finished.

Flora's glare bore into him. "I don't even have to guess very hard to know who lives in a land with such an ominous name. It's vampires, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"Well, Terra is probably big, so hopefully she landed anywhere other than vampire-land. The portal guardians will come find us and then take us home and this nightmare will be over," Flora said decidedly.

The portal guardian would look for Cassie because she was a human and humans traveling through portals caused an alarm to go off. Other beings did not. Hakan stayed his tongue because it seemed that Flora was blissfully unaware of this fact. Rather, she thought herself no different than her human companion. But he knew; he knew that the human scent on her must have been Cassie's.

"While we wait for the portal guardian, we should at least travel to somewhere safer and have a healer look at your ankle," Hakan objected, not finding the heart to tell her otherwise. Maybe if a mage could break her glamour, she'd realize she wasn't quite human and that returning to Earth would not be allowed. Nor did his wolf want this to happen. He knew that he had some kind of bond with Flora, though it didn't feel as instantaneous as what seeing your mate was like (or so he had heard from others). Hakan had to get close to her to feel intoxicated. Maybe it was whatever race she was and part of their allure. Could she be a siren? Or a harpy?

"I'm not opposed to that," Flora shrugged. "I did set it into place properly, but I don't know if it's fractured. Still hurts today."

"Are you able to walk?" he stood up, slinging the furs over his shoulder in a makeshift pack.

Flora returned her knife to her belt and then tried to struggle to her feet without placing weight on her injured leg. She nearly crumpled to the floor, but obstinately fought through the pain, her face giving away her discomfort as she flinched. Hakan darted forward, steadying her by the elbow.

"I can walk!" she snapped irritably.

"Not very quickly," he retorted sharply. "Let me help you, at least."

She glowered at him, once again rooting him to the spot with her pale misty eyes. "Fine."

Hakan wrapped an arm around her waist and under her opposite arm so that he could help her walk. The hobbling to the mouth of the cave was grueling and while he admired her ambition, they weren't going anywhere fast with her moving like a snail. Sighing, Hakan glanced down at her. "I'm going to carry you, this will take too long." He wasn't asking.

"Just give me a few more minutes to get comfortable," Flora protested, trying to wiggle away from him.

Hakan was faster and stronger. Flora felt as light as a pup. He hauled her onto his back, careful not to palm her ankle as he saddled her on like a child. His fingers gripped her knees and she swayed for a moment before she pushed the fur pack to the side, beneath his armpit, and grabbed onto his neck.

She yanked his long hair; hard. "I didn't say you could do that!" she hissed in his ear.

"And what are you going to do about it?" he teased.

"Be difficult," she countered, beginning to wriggle on his back like a worm.

"Stop it! You're going to hurt yourself further," Hakan growled at her impudence.

"I didn't say you could pick me up! I don't even know you-"

"You're hurt and we'll move faster. Stop. Resisting." He wasn't doing anything uncouth, what was her problem? Dragging her back onto his back, he clung to her thighs so that she was forced to be pressed against his back.

She let out a furious growl that reminded him of a wild cat winding up for an attack. "Different world or not, consent is important!" Flora roared vehemently.

"Stop!" But she kept writhing as if he were holding her against her will until he stopped trying to make distance. He snapped his neck to the side to try and give her a glare, but his temper simmered away when he glimpsed a portion of her face. She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks silently as she threw a fit like a petulant child. Upon being caught, she bit her lip and averted her head so that he couldn't look at her.

It was too much. Too overwhelming. Perhaps she wasn't truly angry with him, but just anxious and stressed out from all the information he had given her and the fact she'd lost her close friend and didn't know where to begin looking. Hakan did not fault her for being upset. Had he been in a similar situation, he might not have handled it as nonchalant as she had back in the cave. Yet, as they started to move to their first destination, the trauma of it all finally hit her and Flora was sniffling in spite of her attempt to be utterly silent. Being injured probably only added to her frustration.

"We are going to figure this out," Hakan heard himself promising. He shouldn't have. If Flora wasn't human, a portal guardian wasn't going to send her home.

Changeling, came to mind, a practice that fae once used to abduct humans to their courts from Earth until the portal guardians had put a stop to it. Could it be that Flora was another changeling that had been on Earth for a considerable time? After all, what was thousands of years on Terra was only over a century on Earth. She might have slipped through the cracks and returned much later in her life than typical for changelings if the spell hadn't unraveled properly and she hadn't regained her memories as most changelings did in their adolescence.

Flora resided to her own brooding on his back, no longer putting up a frustrated fight. It would have been faster to move as a wolf and he could have had her ride his back, but it might prove too strenuous for her with her ankle.

Still, the silence bothered him, and eventually Hakan opened his mouth. "What did you do? … On Earth, that is."

He thought she wasn't going to answer for a bit, but finally she hissed a sigh and resigned to replying, "I was a veterinarian."

"A what?"

"Uhm… a doctor or healer for animals. I worked to help heal wild animals in regions of land that we protected from being built on and helped rehabilitate them to be released back into the wild," she explained.

"Ah, so mountain climbing is not a job?"

Flora chuckled softly. "No, it's a hobby. I like rock climbing and mountain climbing. I've always enjoyed nature more than I've enjoyed the company of others… and always animals to people."

"You didn't seem too fond of me last night," Hakan joked.

"The biggest wolf I've ever seen when I'm cold, hurt, and in a corner with just a knife? Right, I was supposed to pat you on the head like a good boy, wasn't I?" she drawled sarcastically. "I work with wild animals, I know how unpredictable they can be and how dangerous. I honestly thought you were waiting for me to lower my guard or die."

"You're not much of a meal," Hakan smiled. "Only an old, weak predator would have gone after you in that state."

"Hindsight is 20/20. Had I known you were a man beneath all that fur I might've asked for some food and a snuggle right when you walked in," she returned.

"Well I did oblige to the latter despite not being asked."

"And I am thankful you didn't leave me to freeze my tits off… I… uh… sorry for punching you."

"You didn't know," he forgave easily. "You have quite a solid hook."

Flora laughed a little louder this time. "I used to fight. It's how I put myself through school without going into debt. I was good at it, though it did mess up my nose," she remarked, brushing the kink in it subconsciously. "Not that it mattered much. My life has always been focused on getting myself to where I wanted in life and I was there… Sort of."

He wondered what she meant by that, but chose not to pursue the topic since she left it at that. "Is that how you knew how to fix your ankle?"

Flora nodded. "Yes, although I've never worked on humans, veterinary medicine is still quite useful."

There was a brief pause before she continued. "What... do you do? Aside from wandering the forest on rainy days."

"Considering how much it rains here, that would be a huge portion of my life," he told her, tucking away a smile before answering her question. "I am a ranger. There are wolves who are assigned this duty to keep peace and balance within Tixwa between the packs. I make certain that tribes are not encroaching on other tribes' territory which has been an area of contention in the past when packs cross boundary lines to hunt. Other duties include rescue missions, keeping roads and trails clear for civilians to traverse, and acting as a liaison between tribes when needed."

"Has there been a lot of tension between packs that you're needed often as a mediator?" she inquired curiously.

"Not usually, but as of late..." he tapered off and glanced up toward the tree canopies, surprised that the sun was peeking through rather than the typical overcast days that he usually saw. Hakan let out a small sigh, then shook his head. She was an outsider, it didn't matter if he told her of the politics of his land. "The Chief Alpha is growing old and there has been discussion of who will become the next. Most often, it's passed down through the family and the eldest child of the Chief Alpha becomes the next, as the bloodline is strong. However... the eldest son, while he would make an excellent leader, he is physically impaired and many packs are voicing their disdain over the idea of a weak wolf taking the title as Chief Alpha."

"If the world was ruled by the physically strong, there'd be considerably more problems," Flora remarked.

"I agree, but this is not a mutual sentiment across Tixwa. Alphas are revered as being the top of their pack, the strongest physically and mentally. To lack in one aspect..."

"They want to challenge the heir for dominance," Flora filled in. "The same thing happens in other collective groups of animals like lions. If the male in the pride is weak, he can be usurped by a younger, stronger lion. Wolves though... I thought that Alphas usually turned out to be the parents of the pack."

"It used to be that way," Hakan nodded. "But as time has passed, wolves with the ambition and strength to dominate have been taking the role as Alphas. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, there are instances where extremely aggressive Alphas take the lead of packs and their aggression transitions into the tribe."

"Where do you come in? Must you be a neutral party?"

"I am supposed to be, but it can be difficult. I know many people across this land, so I find it hard not to sympathize with those that I'm fond of, including the heir to the Chief Alpha."

"Hm, don't envy you," Flora snorted. "Do you belong to a pack then?"

"I'm from the Quileute Tribe, but my pack consists of other rangers. We are called the Blackfoot Pack, made up of wolves from various regions of Tixwa. I traverse the land I know, but I am still familiar with the rest of the country."

"And I assume there's about one of you stationed in each of these regions?"

"Typically," he confirmed. "During rescue efforts or mediating, sometimes we gather, but it is rare to see all the rangers in one place."

The two continued to make small talk, as Flora was quite inquisitive about the realm she had popped into. Hakan didn't mind answering or entertaining her. He had a considerable amount of patience from his occupation and it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't treat him like the plague. For all the good that the Blackfoot Pack did, as it was their job, many were wary of any wolf who wouldn't devote their loyalty to their home tribe. Whilst the Alphas of the tribes seemed to comprehend their importance, this acceptance wasn't often trickled down to the ranks below. Unranked civilian wolves were even more wary of rangers and didn't want to touch them with a 10 foot pole. Only when they needed something did they bolster the courage to ask for it and only after they had been declined by the local pack.

Hakan bore no resentment for them, as he knew that the rangers were often viewed as mysterious and intimidating beings. After all, becoming a ranger was no easy feat. Only the best wolves, with stellar temperaments could become one and even those who had those traits weren't always willing to commit to being a neutral party.

And again, a lot of contention resided in the fact that the wolves who became rangers could have very well become excellent Alphas or Betas. Many saw the Blackfoot Pack as one that stole the best from their lands and alienated them from their blood loyalties.

It's not like that at all, Hakan thought. We had no interest in being in those active roles before joining the pack.

"How long is it going to take to get to this village?" Flora asked through their journey.

"A couple more hours," he informed her. It was slow going traveling with her on his back and while he walked swiftly, he didn't want to risk jostling her too much by running. From what he gathered so far, he doubted she would complain about the pain, but he was conscious that the ankle was swelling from her putting it back in its socket.

He heard a loud growl and chuckled, realizing that Flora had been without food for a while. Her stomach continued to protest, though she did not peep about it. Eventually, the trees began to thin and they were coming upon the village nearest to where they had been in the forest. Still in Quileute territory, the sea gave way to brine on the wind and much more breeze than there had been in the rainforest. By now, the sky had turned gray again and was misting upon them lightly as they approached the village located on the remote cliffs at the edge of the forest.

The permanent homes of the residents here lived in plank houses made of wood, thatch, and stone. Stone walls had been a more recent endeavor, as traditional plank houses were made of wood. However, with the years of development and commerce between countries, Tixwa had picked up masonry from their close allies, the dwarves.

These strides in technology had also improved their ability to sew and craft finer attire that was better tailored. However, they still preferred the native garb that their people had worn for centuries. Only when meeting with other kingdoms, did those in Tixwa bother to conform to the court ideals of clothing and usually it always had a spin on it that was unique to them.

The Healer's home was scored with a bear tribal marking.

Residents were going about their daily lives, pausing to look toward Flora who was riding on his back. Curious eyes traced them, but no one stopped to ask Hakan. She didn't smell that much like a human anymore, it was likely they would assume she was from another territory. Still, she had some features that did not match Tixwans, be that her blue eyes and bone structure.

Hakan opened the door, the strong aroma of herbs slapping him in the face. A hearth was lit, a cauldron set over the top of it with a concoction brewing. The several tables in the main den were covered in dried plants, mushrooms, bark, and crystals. A few books were scattered, containing spells and healing mantras that had been traded to the Healer from elves decades ago.

He almost missed the bent back wolf who was craned over a mortar and pestle, working with an ensemble of delicate flowers. Glancing up, she squinted through tiny spectacles that barely seemed to assist her poor vision. For all her magic, she couldn't stop her body from degrading naturally. Or maybe she could and preferred to let nature take its course than cheat it.

"Healer Dyani," he greeted respectfully.

She screwed up her wrinkled and leathery face, a wide smile breaking out across it. "Ranger Hakan! Oh, and who is this? I do not recognize her scent," Dyani pushed her dusty spectacles up her nose which made her eyes appear huge.

"It's a bit of a complex situation-" Hakan began.

"Flora, ma'am," she interrupted.

"Oh, so polite," Dyani chirped with a smirk. "You can just call me, Dyani, child." She motioned Hakan toward a bench she usually assessed patients on. "Now, my nose and eyes are not the best anymore, but you have a queer scent to you."

Hakan trotted over and let Flora down from her back. He hadn't been able to look at her much while they chatted, but when he did he was reminded of how attractive he thought she was. Studying her features again, he thought she did have characteristics similar to Tixwans. Her complexion had warmed and it was akin to his own, a tanned copper, her hair a dark, silken onyx, and her brilliant eyes hooded, dark brows winging above them. Her eyes weren't icy now, which he thought was strange. They were shining like the glacial waters of the bay, turquoise and startling in contrast to her other features.

"Now then, what have we here?" Dyani was able to sniff out an injury before even being told what it was. The small woman bent down and picked up Flora's calf, tilting her injured ankle toward her. "Tsk, it was dislocated wasn't it? Who set it? Not Hakan, I hope."

"I did," Flora told her.

"She has been taught healing practices too," Hakan interjected.

"I will be the judge of that," Dyani asserted, supporting Flora's leg with one hand, taking her other above Flora's injury. Her words became distorted, murmuring in the ancient, True Tongue, in which magic was dictated. An ominous sage green glow clung to the tips of her withered, knobbly fingers as she caressed the injury. "Hm, yes... It was set correctly. A bit of swelling is to be expected, but that's truly the extent of this trauma. I can give some herbs for the pain, but there is no reason for me to heal what remains. Your body will do the rest on its own. I can only advise you not to walk on it for the rest of the week."

Flora nodded. "Good... I um-" she was staring at Dyani's glowing fingers. Magic was not a thing on Earth; Hakan had forgotten. "-uuhh, was worried about a fracture."

"No fracture," Dyani confirmed. "But... There is something else here."

"Is there?" Flora inquired, leaning forward to get a better look at the magic.

"Yes, a very strong glamour. Did you set this yourself?"

"Glamour?" Flora repeated in confusion.

"Well, fortunately for you, I'm versed in removing them," Dyani asserted confidently, patting her leg reassuringly. "It'll just take a second-"

"Dyani, wait!" Hakan tried to stop her, but it was too late.

The healer swung her hand in a crescent motion, the air around Flora rippling and blurring her image. Her face contorted in effort as it seemed like she was fighting a strong barrier that wouldn't allow her fingers to penetrate. Suddenly, the barrier around her fingers distorted, cracking along the seams like glass beginning to spiderweb and shatter.

With the glamour broken, Flora swayed.

"That was a nasty one!" Dyani exclaimed. "But I've still got it!"

The scent he'd been assaulted with when he'd gotten close to her hit him in full force once again. This time the cool scent of the air in the bay near the glaciers accompanied it, the salt and brine, in tandem with the earthiness of sage and lavender. Sitting in front of them was an elf that Hakan had never seen the likes of. Flora didn't look too different aside from the addition of long pointed ears, her facial features more severe and angular. However, he'd known no elves to ever have darker skin or hair; they were called the fairest race for a reason.

Flora sagged, quickly caught by Dyani before she could fall to the ground, limp like a noodle. "Ranger, do you mind helping?"

Hakan had frozen, rooted to his spot, ogling his new companion. Each step he took was mechanical, terrified to reach out and touch her. When he did, his fingers felt freezing as if he'd touched ice. The sensation zipped up his elbow and into his heart. Rather than chilling him, it felt exhilarating to feel the cold of winter for once. His blood had always run too hot to feel the cold. He could have sworn his breath was steaming in front of him as he realized that all of this wasn't just coincidence or because of what race she was.

"Ranger?" Dyani narrowed her eyes at him, but upon glancing back at Flora, she pieced it together. "Just who is this elf?"

"She came from Earth."