Chapter 62 part 3

Jenn wondered how much of what he said would impact the elder's decision, although she was a little surprised at how Howl didn't try to make Jenn and her squad out to be the bad guys in the situation. Although, she had a feeling that the way he'd been raised had instilled in him a certain code that he needed to live by or potentially get ostracized by his community.

The old man didn't say anything for a few minutes. He even closed his eyes and if his breathing had evened out, Jenn would have suspected he'd fallen asleep. However, as she glanced around, she got the impression that he did this all the time in this manner. Which she supposed had its own benefit in doing so in its own way.

When he opened his eyes, they almost seemed clearer. Like he had the ability to look straight through Jenn if he wanted to. "I have decided," he declared, his tone indicating whatever he said next wasn't to be questioned. He then turned to Howl, and patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but you lost your prey. This person managed to steal it out from under you because you didn't catch your prey fast enough. Just like the bear-kin will do if we chase our prey too close to their territory. So, send someone from your pack to let the others know and to return here at once."

Howl glared at Jenn, but didn't say anything. He merely nodded, looked at one of the younger members of Jenn's escort who nodded and quickly left. Jenn had a feeling that this would be good news for Nibbles, though he might not take it that way if he had to return anyway. Though, Jenn wasn't sure of the implications if she requested that Nibbles be allowed to remain with her.

The elder then turned to Jenn. "If you would, allow me to talk with you for a minute. I have a few things I'd like to ask you."

Jenn nodded respectfully. "Of course, whenever you're ready, I'm available to talk."

Howl looked between Jenn and the elder, clearly outraged, but Jenn had a feeling that there wasn't anything he could do about it that wouldn't affect himself in a negative manner. Which Jenn was fine with. She really didn't care that much about what Howl thought anyway.

"I'll need you to go to one of the other tents first," the elder said. "I have some business to deal with, with this young one. If you'll be patient, I'll come over when I'm done here."

"No problem," Jenn answered, nodding, doing her best to suppress the smile that was threatening to plaster itself over her face with how miserable Howl looked. She couldn't help it. She felt like he was about to get his just deserts for how he'd handled things with Nibbles.

"Thorn, I'd like you to take her to the Matriarch tent. I'm sure your mother would be able to accommodate her while she's there," the elder told one of the female wolf-kin of Jenn's escort.

Howl and Thorn looked like they weren't happy with the directive, but neither said anything, which told Jenn just how much they either respected the elder or knew how screwed they'd be if they didn't show him respect.

Jenn then turned and followed Thorn out. She had long green hair tied into a ponytail and purple eyes. Her tattoos also were rather numerous, but at the same time, they looked almost softer in design than Howl's and the elder's were.

Thorn didn't say anything to Jenn, but it was clear she wasn't happy with leading her. Though, Jenn did have to walk quickly in order to keep up, almost to the point that she might need to start jogging at any moment.

Jenn was then led to a tent that seemed to be devoid of any male, just like the one across from it seemed devoid of any female. Which Jenn suspected was so that the wolf-kin could have a place to go where the opposite gender wasn't welcome.

Though, she wasn't sure what the reason for it was, she was pretty sure that there was one. She just probably either didn't know enough about the wolf-kin to know, or because she just didn't know that much about the subject in general.

"Enter, my mother is the one in charge there, so just tell her the elder asked you to wait there," Thorn said heatedly to Jenn at the entrance to the tent and left at a run.

Jenn wished Thorn would have at least given her an introduction or something to Thorn's mother, but it wasn't like Thorn had been instructed to do that. Which just made this a little more difficult, which Jenn wouldn't be surprised if Thorn knew that as well.

However, waiting outside didn't seem like it was a good idea, so she pushed the flap open and entered.

What she found was beyond anything she'd have expected. Instead of empty space like in the elder's tent, or sleeping mats, or whatever they used to sleep on, it almost seemed like a spa or a social club to Jenn.

Many of the women inside were pregnant, some a lot farther along than others, some infants were nursing, and Jenn could even see some placing plates of dried meat out, like they were pieces of fruit instead.

"And who're you?" a commanding voice sounded almost the moment the tent flap had closed behind Jenn.

Jenn looked to see a wolf-kin woman with a clear commanding presence looking at her. Even as she reclined with her head resting on a stone as a pillow, it was clear who was in charge here.

The woman had black hair, crystal blue eyes, was wearing a leather tunic and shorts that were common to the wolf-kin, which Jenn suddenly realized that the others who had escorted her here were wearing that and she hadn't even noticed. Then the last part that Jenn couldn't help but notice about the woman was that she was very pregnant herself.

"My name is Jennifer," Jenn replied, bowing her head in respect, unsure what else to do. "I was told by the elder to wait here and he'd come for me, I think."

Jenn couldn't help but be unsure how to explain her presence. Though, she suspected her escort had realized that and that was at least part of the reason she abandoned Jenn outside this tent.

"Very well," the woman said, closing her eyes. "Feel free to relax here. The only males here are those who are invited in. So, you can relax if you're having troubles with the men in your life."

Jenn smiled and nodded, doing her best to look grateful. Though, it wasn't the men in her life that she was having trouble with. Mostly it was the women. Which she felt strange, as why was she having so much trouble keeping herself focused on her girlfriend and not looking at others like she occasionally was or when she was getting hit on like with Gishia.

However, the place did look rather relaxing and Jenn couldn't deny that she'd like to take some time to do absolutely nothing and just relax. So, she walked over to where some of the wolf-kin women were placing wrapped heated stones on their bare backs.

Jenn removed her tunic and did the same, Although, she did feel a little self conscious about being bare chested, especially since it was around other women. Or even other bare chested women. Yet, no one seemed to pay her much mind, other than looking at her as she approached, then losing interest in her almost immediately.

She hadn't thought that it'd do anything more than help heat up her back and relax her a little, but the pleasure that came with it caught her off guard. It almost felt like how her body felt when Alex would try to start being intimate with her. It was both exciting and pleasurable at the same time.

As she closed her eyes, to enjoy the sensations, which for some reason removed all other concerns from her, such as her breasts showing to everyone around her, she reached out with her magic to see and see if there was some kind of magic in the rocks, flames that heated them, or anything. As she couldn't imagine that these heated rocks would do all this to her without some kind of magic. Not to mention how they were unknotting her back and loosening it up in ways she hadn't realized it had tightened up.

Whether she learned anything or not, she couldn't really say. She fell asleep at about the time she would have gotten that information. A sleep that was so peaceful and relaxing that she didn't realize what was happening when she was being gently shaken awake.

She wasn't sure how long it took, but eventually she opened her eyes to see the woman who had spoken to her earlier. Though, even then, Jenn couldn't say that she wasn't dreaming still. She had a quality about her that almost made her feel like she'd just stepped out from a dream.

"Try this," she said, offering Jenn a piece of dried meat. "You probably need this from what you've done so far."

Before Jenn could say anything, she put in in Jenn's mouth, the taste of which reminded Jenn of how she hadn't had anything to eat at all so far that day. However, despite that, the flavor from the meat was almost as intense as the heated stones on her back had been. Which she could tell had been removed, though with how she could feel spots on her back that felt cooler than the rest of her back, she suspected that they'd been removed recently.

Jenn sat up as she chewed the dried meat, which was little more than a mouthful. She hoped to see more somewhere nearby. However, what she saw instead sobered her thinking up and brought her back to reality.

In front of her was the elder, who merely was looking at her like a child who had been indulged, but it was time for that to end for the moment. So, Jenn quickly looked for her tunic and quickly pulled it on.

She didn't know why, but she felt immensely embarrassed by the fact that he'd seen her like that. Almost like her father had caught her like that in the living room. She wasn't sure how she should react, but she hoped she hadn't somehow crossed a line that she hadn't even known was there.

"I'm glad to see that you're rested," the elder began kindly, even as Jenn waited for him to let her know what she'd done wrong. Which as she thought about it, might have been how Howl felt when they'd been in front of the elder earlier. "Now, there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you. Such as if you're the pack leader like Howl or is there someone who you look to as your pack leader?"

Jenn wanted to say that she was the pack leader, that she was the person in charge of her people, but she had a feeling it would destroy the anonymity she'd been working at setting up for herself if she did that and was believed.

"I'm the pack leader of the girls I was leading, like Howl is the pack leader of the youths," Jenn answered. "However, like Howl respects you, there is another who is the pack leader of my people and we call her the Blue Rose."

The elder took a deep breath and Jenn wasn't sure what to make of it. It felt like he was testing the air for something or like there was something in the air that gave him insight or something that Jenn couldn't quite explain right then.

"Hmmm," he said, as if he was evaluating what he smelled. "Your answer is mostly true, but there are parts that feel like you're holding something back." He then looked at Jenn and asked, "Why is that?"

Jenn took a deep breath. She wasn't sure if he could 'smell' the truth or if they had some magic that worked that way or if it worked the way she'd heard Wes go on about how wolves could smell things about people and so could smell if you were being honest or not.

She still wasn't convinced, but it made as much sense as anything right at that moment.

"Uh, let's just say that I'm not free to say everything I know, okay?" Jenn asked, hedging on the truth, mostly so she wouldn't have to explain something she didn't want to become public knowledge. Especially since she could tell that the three of them weren't alone in the tent, even as only the three of them were in on this conversation.

"It's just the Blue Rose wants it that way and unless she tells me I can, I need to keep her secrets no matter what else happens," Jenn finished, hoping that he'd buy all that. She wasn't sure if he would or not, but she was at least hopeful that he wouldn't press further.

After another exercise in his 'breathing' thing, he looked at Jenn in an evaluating manner. "Again, mostly true, but part not. You're certainly a strange one, Jennifer," he replied. "You even look like someone the beaver-kin are hunting. Someone who caused a lot of problems for them. Would you know anything about that?"

Jenn sighed. It would seem that this was in fact the same as the world that she and her friends first visited. Though, the only other question about this world she had left was how long it'd take to get to where the entrance to Petals' forest would be. As she doubted it'd be that close. Not with everything that had been going on for her. The world just didn't feel like it'd be that kind to her. Or any of them for that matter.

"I'm probably her," Jenn admitted. "I was with six friends and I used my magic to protect the pronghorn-kin who were being wrongfully enslaved and my friends and I decided to do something about it."

The elder nodded. "You realize that the beaver-kin are eager to get their hands on you. Even the deer-kin of the mule tribe would like to do certain things to you that I can't mention with all the children in here."

Jenn smiled wryly. "Yeah, I can guess what they'd like to do to me. Can't say how far they'd get if they actually tried."

The elder chuckled. "Spoken like a true pack leader."

Jenn hoped that meant she'd at least gained some respect from him, though she couldn't be sure if that was true or not. She just at least hoped it was.

"The question now is do you marry Howl or another?" the woman asked, as if that was naturally the next order of business.

"You realize that Howl doesn't like her, right? In fact, I get the sense none of the young men who would be appropriate for her would be in favor of mating with her," the elder remarked, in an almost appraising manner. Which irked Jenn for reasons she couldn't quite explain. Almost like she was merely a sack of goods to be traded or something.

"This girl is exactly what our pack needs, though,' the woman answered, looking at Jenn like she better come up with an answer quickly or there would be consequences.

"I'm interested in someone else," Jenn replied. "She's not here, but I'm not interested in anyone else at the moment."

"Another woman?" the elder gasped in surprise. "This is unheard of!"

Jenn rolled her eyes. She didn't know why she suddenly lost the fear she had of these two, but she could tell that they weren't anyone to be afraid of, so long as she didn't do anything blatantly wrong, at least.

"Yeah, it's common where I'm from," she said, hoping that they wouldn't press any further. As it is, she was already feeling uncomfortable with the idea of her ending up with someone like Howl.

"We should probably let it go," the woman commented. "She isn't one of us, after all. Her pack has to have ways of dealing with that if nothing else. Otherwise her pack would have fallen apart."

"Maybe, but two women?" the elder asked, looking like he was going to need time to wrap his mind around the idea.

"Don't worry," Jenn told him, not sure why she was saying this in the first place. "I 'll do what I can to not have you see anyone from my pack with another from the same gender, okay?"

"There- there are others like that?" the elder stammered, as if he hadn't quite heard everything that Jenn had said earlier.

Jenn sighed. "How about we go back to your tent and all three of us can talk about it, okay? I'll answer any questions you have." Jenn paused as she let that sink in. She hoped this would work and that the fact that she was gay wouldn't be a deal breaker for these people. She hadn't thought that there might be a society that didn't accept homosexuality, but she guessed that maybe she'd been living with her mind a little to narrowly focused.

"That way if there's anything you'd like to know, I can be sure to answer that question for you. Though, I have one last question."

"What is it?" the elder asked kindly.

"What's her name?" Jenn asked, pointing to the woman. She felt like she should have gotten her name already, but if she had, she couldn't remember for the life of her.

"Call me Juniper," she said, her smile as gentle as her presence was commanding. "When I was young, everyone said I always smelled like Juniper, so that's what my name became."

Jenn nodded, feeling like she had an inkling of how names were given here, but she wasn't quite sure just yet. As she worried that she could be mistaken about it.

"Let's go then," the elder said. "We'll see if we can figure our way out of this mess."