She was lucky in that she fell unconscious before the rest of her body‘s transformation occurred. All she had had to endure was the burning of her flesh, the singeing of her hair. That in itself had been agonizing, and she had fallen asleep thinking that surely she would never awake again… Or if she did, she would be irrevocably disfigured. But while the sweet release of unconsciousness held sway over her, even more painful things occurred, ones that she was lucky to miss out on. After her flesh had been turned into a canvas anew, a blank workspace where magic would take hold, her body began to change itself. Bones snapped and broke, and those pieces no longer needed disappeared entirely. Gone were her long, leggy limbs, gone was her narrow head. One crack after another, snap crackle pop, as her entire body began to flip around, convulsing as everything realigned itself. It would take but a few moments, but anyone who saw it would never be able to forget it - it was morosely beautiful, and yet haunting. After that, it would be like being born anew, only in an accelerated fashion. Her dark colors, red like crimson, blacks like the night, would fade and soften. A gentle chestnut wood regrow with a hint of red, and anywhere that this was not painted, the purest of whites would appear. She was a completely changed wolf, different in every way, even her DNA had been reconstructed to mirror her new species - from kalak to wolf, and Ethiopian at that…
Save one.
Beneath her eyelids, where her pools lay, they were still the softest blue of a summer day. The new hair follicles rippled, causing a wave effect to echo down her skin, and if one had been paying attention, they would notice that it was not so along her dorsum. The strip from the top of her nape all the way down her back was laid not with hairs, but with shafts, from which little feathers have begun to grow. They were beautiful iridescent mixture of blues and purples… But that would be hidden once her hair and fur began to show through, for now at least. Come the first day of summer, they would be beautiful and full and luscious. But to digress, it was her eyes that stayed the same, and after Siku nudged her and urged her awake, his words cool, calm, and comforting, the shades covering them fluttered open and she peered out. She was surprised to find that nothing had changed around her, surprised to find that heaven was exactly the same as the land she had just lived in… And then she noted pressure along her back, right along those very shafts that were just growing in and were oh so painful. She winced away from the pressure pressed along her back and neck caused by Siku, rolling away from him. He looked… Discontent. Concern was not something she was used to seeing, specially not aimed toward her, and so it was hard to read that emotion on his face. But his words expressed concern too, and it was confusing, oh so confusing for her. He wanted know if she was all right, if she was hurt, and he kept saying that he wasn’t mad at her for leaving, that she truly was free. It was an odd notion, being free. It was not something that she was used to and she did not know how to act or what she was meant to do. And so, she shrugged her shoulders, unsure of how to answer him.
“I… I do have some pain, where you were pushing up on my back. But it was there beforehand, and it is nothing that I cannot deal with.”
Her voice was timid, unsure. The last thing that she remembered… Her lids grew wide and she looked to her flesh, expecting boils, scars, burns. But there was none of that… But there was also none of her own fur. Confused, she shook her head, sure that she must have a concussion or some other medical error to explain the change… But even when her head was still, the fur was the same. Her gaze trailed down to her paws, which were smaller, daintier. Her lids widened and she looked to Siku.
“What… What am I? Who am I?”
All she had ever known was the way of the maned wolf, the disturbing and cruel society of the kalaks. But now… A faint smile grew upon her lips…
“… Am I… I’m no longer a kalak?”
Suddenly, her audettes caught onto the sound of whimpering, a small chorus of high-pitched voices. Her neck whipped her head about, and her eyes searched for the source, but she could see nothing. The cries were instantly answered by a growl that came from Siku himself, and she turned back to him, afraid of what it all meant. And then he was speaking again, the words falling quickly from his mouth with haste. She was still having trouble focusing on the moment, part of her mine still stuck asleep, but she caught onto the gist of it. He was giving her the choice to stay and live within his pack as a member, not as a slave, or to leave - and the choice terrified her. What if she chose incorrectly? What were the consequences of each choice? But then he kept talking, and so she said nothing until he finally fell silent. She was glad she had waited - there was more. He wanted her to become his co Alpha… And she instantly raised her eyes in surprise. And then… There was even more! He had found pups, three of them to be exact, and was raising them as his own. And he wanted her to help. Olya shook her head - it was all too much to take in at once, but she started laughing. It was not much of a laugh, hardly more than a giggle, but it was the first time she had done so in… Well… Ever.
“You want me to help you run a pack? Siku, I appreciate that you’ve given me my freedom, but I hardly even know what that means. I cannot run a pack I cannot… Too much. There’s nothing I am good at. I will stay in this land, but I will be a servant of yours. I understand you do not wish me a slave, but servitude is what I know and what I am used to and what I am comfortable with. And that is what I shall be if I stay here. As for these pups… Many times was I taken by the warriors, but never did I have any of my own. I know nothing of them, nor anything of how to raise them. So I’m not sure of how I could help, but is if that is what you command, then so shall it be.”
She avoided the subject of his heart - she knew not what to make of it. And slowly, she began to rise to her paws and turned to face meeting on coming pups.
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