Elders

 I was amused at the panic I caused for some in the group. Harry Clearwater who I knew from fishing with Charlie, was holding up another Elder who had nearly fallen in surprise or fright. That Elder deserved his name, he looked to easily be in his 90's. Billy obviously didn't jump back, but his fists went to his wheelchair rather fast.

 When he finally relaxed, Billy was the first to speak. "Damn, Sam's words did you no justice, Thomas. That, or you have grown more since he told us of your shape."

 I gave a tiger's chuff as I laughed before shifting to human. I had realized early on that I was going to have to accept nudity as a shifter. It just wasn't possible to go diving for clothes every time I made a shift to human. If anyone had an issue with that, then it was their issue, not mine. Besides, there was no shame in my body shape.

 "I will assume you know what happened up to my last phone call. The verdict is that Emily Young will make a full recovery, with minimal scarring to her face. Her arm is not so lucky, but she will have full use of it in time. Carlisle knows how you see his kind, so as soon as he had done what he could, he took a leave of absence from the hospital on a made-up emergency."

 I was interrupted by the eldest of the group, "You allowed a Cold One to touch a possible Chieftainess? That alone could cause her to be disqualified from any role in the Tribe."

 My temper flared at hearing this from an Elder and from the thoughtful looks the other elders gave at his words.

 "Without Carlisle's help, that girl would have been doomed to a life of pain and ostracization from anyone who saw her. Every time she would have passed her reflection, she would see thick, ropy scars running down her face. Every time Sam looked at her, he would have to know it was his fault she was disfigured and felt the pain of her treatment from others. To men, scars are honor, to women, they are a sentence of lifelong torture."

 "Better that than contamination from a vile leach. How do we know he didn't secretly feed on her to satisfy his thirst? Why else would a bloodsucker work in a hospital?"

 "Damn, you sound pathetic and weak. If you are the example of an elder's thought, then you should have died before you hit 60."

 I turned to walk away, but Billy shouted for me.

 "Wait, Thomas. Quill is but one Elder, and the council is three. Is the girl truly okay and unchanged?"

 I nodded my head, "Yes, I plan to visit her in the morning. You can come with me and check for yourself. Carlisle put the cause of injury down as a bear attack on the report, so Charlie and probably a park ranger will want to get with your Tribal police to track it to see if it was a one-time thing or if there is a bear looking at humans as prey."

 Billy nodded, "We are making it look like she came outside and surprised a bear who attacked and ran. Thank you, Thomas. For everything, and I will meet with you at the hospital at the beginning of visiting hours."

 I nodded and shifted to leave, but I felt Sam push at my mind, so I let him in.

 {"Tell her I am sorry and will…Pay for it with my life if it's what she wants. Just promise to help look after my tribe until Jacob changes to become the Alpha."}

 {"If she is worth the devotion, you give her. I won't be saddled with that responsibility."}

 With that, I ran into the woods towards home. It was getting late, and I didn't want Bella asking too many questions. She was not supposed to know about the Wolves. After stopping at my rock and getting dressed I headed for home, it was just about 10:00, and I was starving. 

 Charlie was working overnight so I wasn't surprised to see Edythe waiting for me in the kitchen when I walked through the door. She was finishing up her preparations for dinner, I assumed she started to finalize the preparations once she heard me moving through the woods.

 As I grabbed a glass and went to the fridge for the milk, she asked. "So, how did it go with the Elders?"

 I sighed, "I am beginning to think they each have a specific role as an Elder. Billy Black is the ray of sunshine, the reasonable one. Open to new things and always ready to compromise. While their eldest, Quil Ateara… He seems to be the stuck in the past, only the rules matter, type. Then there is Harry Clearwater, calm, focused, ever watchful, and quiet in a crowd."

 Edythe smiled, "That's their dynamics, but that doesn't answer my question."

 "So impatient. I think they will hold off on any decision until Billy sees Emily tomorrow. If it were up to Quil alone, I believe he would punish her as far as he thought he could get away with. I really don't get his problem. He wasn't even alive the last time your Coven was in the area, but he has so much hate for Vampires."

 Edythe shook her head, "You forget that there are other Vampires besides us. I don't know for sure, but it is possible that once we left last time, others came looking for us. While we aren't here, there is nothing stopping others from feeding as they please. It wouldn't surprise me that his family was affected in some way by a non-vegetarian Vampire."

 I hadn't thought about that, to be honest. Maybe I should look more into their history. "You have a point. I will have to ask when I have time." I began to eat the large helping of spaghetti that Edythe had placed in front of me, the accompanying garlic bread was a perfect mix of crunchy and gooey combined. After dinner, we went to my room, and I assumed Bella and Edward were in her room, though I intentionally didn't try to listen or snoop in any way. Holding Edythe in my arms, I drifted off to sleep. 

 That night, I was disturbed by a dream about the mall shooting again, but it didn't cause the normal outburst. When I started to wake up, I felt Edythe comfort me and immediately fell back into my slumber. To be awakened by my alarm at my normal time. My normal morning routine was as comfortable and heart-warming as it was boring to think about. Both Edythe and I were plentiful in showing our affection for each other, as if afraid that we would start to take these small moments for granted, only to lose them in doing so.

 My morning exercise was mostly a habit now. Well, truly, it was an excuse to play around in my Tiger form and keep testing its limits. I could just feel that I wasn't using it to its fullest potential yet. I was just unsure of how to experiment with the ability and wondered again about my bloodline.

 Before I knew it, I was standing at the entrance of the hospital waiting for Billy to arrive. About 10 minutes before 9, I saw Jacob pull into the parking lot. I walked over to where he was parking, and before Jacob could jump out of the driver's seat, I had already grabbed Billy's wheelchair from the bed of the truck and set it beside the passenger door. With no hesitation, I opened the door and helped Billy into his chair.

 Casually, I started to push Billy along and struck up a conversation with Jacob as we went.

 "How's life treating you, Jacob?"

 "Good so far today, Thomas. How have you been? Haven't seen you or Bella at the beach lately."

 I smiled, "Yeah, Bella has been preoccupied with her new boyfriend, and Edythe has been keeping me busy as well. Plus, with summer approaching, the teachers are trying to fit in as many homework assignments as possible."

 "Rumor is that you will be moving into your own place this summer." Jacob smiled.

 "That's the plan, it's my mom's old house. It is going through a renovation now."

 Before we could talk much more, we entered the waiting lobby of the hospital, and it was a madhouse. You would think that some emergency was either ongoing or arriving soon. I just pushed Billy to the help desk and got the nurse's attention.

 "We are here to visit Emily Young. She was brought in late yesterday because of a bear attack."

 "Are you family?"

 Before I could say anything, Billy answered. "I am the Chief of the tribe, that should suffice." Being this close to a reservation, the hospital staff knew that the rules were different for Tribal members and allowed us entry.

 "Room 213, the elevator is just around the corner." The nurse replied after looking Emily up on her computer.

 Before we lost her attention, I asked. "Is there an emergency coming in soon? All the activity seems panicked."

 The nurse laughed, "No, one of our doctors had to leave for an emergency, and this is the result. Dr. Cullen is usually such a calming influence here that when he is gone, everyone panics like the sky is falling. It will clear up around lunch as usual."

 I laughed and started to push Billy toward the elevator. "Thanks, and have a great day."