After two weeks in Calovia, Nia approached Jinyoung’s cot when it was time for bed. “Uncle Jinyoung, I want to sleep with you tonight,” she announced.

“Me, too!” Palla said immediately.

“If everyone’s gonna sleep with Uncle Jinyoung, I’m gonna, too!” Tanie said firmly.

“There’s not room on his cot for everyone,” Mark pointed out. “You’ll have to take turns. Nia can go first, then the next night Palla, and Tanie the night after that.”

“No fair!” Palla said. “I want to sleep with Uncle Jinyoung now!”

“Heh, your Papa isn’t good enough for you anymore?” Mark asked in a wounded voice.

“No, Papa, I love you,” Palla corrected herself contritely. “I’ll wait my turn.”

Nia gleefully hopped up onto the cot with Jinyoung and nestled against his chest. Jinyoung smiled down at her and ran a hair through her curls, scratching behind her ears. Even when she was in human form, her legs kicked a little when you gave her a good scratch. Jinyoung thought he’d been bonding nicely with her and the other two children over the past weeks. Nia was easiest, since she was always wanting him to show her how to sew and plopping down in his lap so she could watch his hands closely, but Palla and Tanie were also far more receptive to his presence than he would have thought. They were still baffled by some of his habits, but they seemed to enjoy hearing stories of life in the human world, even knowing that they were enemies in the war.

“Can I tell you a secret, Uncle Jinyoung?” Nia whispered.

“If you want to,” Jinyoung whispered back. “I’m very good at keeping secrets. ”

She pressed her lips up against his ear. “You’re my favorite out of aaaaalllll my uncles,” she whispered. After she said it, she giggled nervously as if she had just said something scandalous. “Even more than Uncle Jackson!”

“Really?” Jinyoung asked. Nia had known her other ‘uncles’ for far longer, so he was genuinely surprised.

“Uh-huh! All the other uncles are noisy all the time, but you’re…you’re…sophissycated!”

“Sophisticated?” Jinyoung asked, trying to hold back a smile.

“Uh-huh!” She smiled proudly. “I love Papa, but I wanna be like you.”

“You don’t think your Papa is sophisticated?”

Nia giggled again, as if this was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “Papa isn’t elegant at all. He’s so silly!”

“He has pretty refined manners, though. At least compared to Jackson, Yugyeom, and BamBam.”

“Because he doesn’t want you to think we’re bar…bar…barvarians!”

“Barbarians?”

“Uh-huh. He told us when you weren’t listening. ‘Children, please be on your best behavior so we can show Uncle Jinyoung that the beast tribe isn’t made up of barbarians like the human tribes think.’” She nodded sagely. “Usually Papa’s manners aren’t refined at all.”

Interesting, Jinyoung thought. He wouldn’t have assumed that Mark would care so much about what he thought. Then again, lions were proud—Mark clearly didn’t want to return Jinyoung back to his people with claims that he’d been mistreated or that life among the beasts had only proven them to be subhuman and worthy of all the human prejudices against them.

“I don’t think you’re barbarians at all,” Jinyoung told Nia, giving her another scratch behind the ears. “I think you’re the most elegant girl I’ve ever met.”

 Nia’s smile at hearing this was so bright and blinding that Jinyoung felt his heart melting to see it.

The next night, it was Palla’s turn.

 “Do you know how to hunt, Uncle Jinyoung?” she asked when she’d settled into the cot with him.

“Not very well,” Jinyoung admitted. “Sometimes I had to, though, so I would set traps in the forest to catch rabbits.”

Palla frowned. “I don’t like traps. Beasts can get caught in them, too, and I don’t want to get eaten!”

“I would never eat you, Palla!” Jinyoung said quickly. “They’re just really small traps, for very small animals, not lions. Beasts usually don’t come to the highlands unless there’s a war, so when we hunt, we really don’t worry about snaring beasts.” He paused, deciding not to mention that even though this was true, there were still those who intentionally hunted beasts for sport. “But now that I think of it, it would probably be hard for a human like me to tell the difference between an animal and a beast if I was hunting.”

“We can tell by smell,” Palla explained. “Beasts smell different from animals.” She frowned suddenly. “If humans can’t tell the difference and they could hunt us accidentally, does that mean we always have to shift around humans or they might kill us?”

Jinyoung didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was entirely unsafe to be around humans at the moment, whether shifted or unshifted. “Maybe we humans should learn a way to tell the difference at first sight. Can you think of a way, other than by smell?”

Palla thought for a moment. “Animals can’t talk! As soon as we see a human, we can say something out loud!”

“Maybe we can come up with a safe word you can use.”

“Something fun! Like…codswallop!”

Jinyoung couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of a deer or a pheasant shocking a human hunter by yelling “codswallop!”

On the next night, it was Tanie’s turn. Being the youngest, he was genuinely sleepy and not bursting with chatter like his sisters, but before he dozed off, he nestled his cheek against Jinyoung’s chest and murmured a sleepy “I love you, Uncle Jinyoung.”

Jinyoung’s heart twinged at that. It was such a simple thing for children to say, and even though there was no denying that they meant it genuinely in their own way, the emotions weren’t as deep and lasting. He could leave tomorrow and Tanie would probably be upset for a few days, but then life would carry on as normal. After a year, he probably wouldn’t even remember Jinyoung’s name or face anymore.

Jinyoung wished it could be as simple for him. It was inevitable that he would leave when winter was over, but he doubted he’d be able to forget Tanie and Palla and Nia as quickly. They’d linger with him, but they were part of a world he didn’t belong to. He would be back on the side of things where people thought cubs like them were subhuman and might still fire an arrow even if they heard them saying “codswallop” in a human voice. Maybe Palla would even grow up to be in the military like Mark, and would be yet another person Jinyoung would have to pray he’d never encounter on the battlefield.

I understand why people say ignorance is bliss now, Jinyoung thought, listening to Tanie breathing against him. I know too much to ever go back to the way I was before. But what’s waiting for me if I move forward? What’s coming for me, after this?

“The children are very fond of you,” Mark said to Jinyoung, wringing out water from his red hair. The two of them were at the spring bathing, joined by Jackson and Yugyeom, who were currently having a breath-holding contest a stone’s throw away.

“I like them, too,” Jinyoung said. “How could anyone help but like them?”

“I’m glad you think so. And I’m very grateful that you take the time to talk and play with them. It’s above and beyond what you have to do, but I appreciate that you’ve done so, anyways.”

“What do you mean?”

“The terms of our bargain don’t demand you to take care of my children.”

“I wouldn’t make a very convincing mate if I didn’t.”

“You’d be surprised. For many who take another mate if the first passes, there’s often tension between the new mate and the children.”

“And I’m sure insecurity and jealousy plays into that. But I don’t have anything to feel insecure or jealous over, do I? Besides, I’m just another uncle to them. They don’t view me as a threat to their relationship with you.”

“True enough. Still, I think you’ll make a good father one day. Did you have a mate in your village?”

Jinyoung flushed. “No!”

“Was it that odd of a question? You’re at the age when humans mate, aren’t you?”

Jinyoung sighed. “Yes, I suppose. But…it’s a tricky thing, during war. People are worried that they’ll die, so they mate recklessly because they think they have no time. And then they may end up with children from mating, and might end up stuck marrying someone they realize they don’t actually like very much. I don’t want to be like that. I want to be very sure before I marry someone.”

“Then you are like a beast, in your heart.”

“Which is strange. We humans would think of having a heart like a beast meaning that we’re very recklessly passionate and indiscriminate when it comes to love.”

Mark frowned. “That is because you humans refuse to see us as anything more than animals.”

“I’ve come to realize that. But I’m learning.” Jinyoung took a little bit of Mark’s damp hair in his hands and smelled it. It was still hard for him to identify scents with the capability that beasts did, but Mark’s was the most familiar to him, since he also carried traces of it on his own skin. It was overall an earthy scent, but somehow clean. “I’m trying to figure out the difference in scent.”

“Now, now, no mating in the water!” Jackson yelled over.  

Jinyoung dropped Mark’s hair quickly. “I wasn’t! I was just…”

“Scenting? Scenting with your mate is a slippery slope. First it’s scenting, then it’s , then it’s tussling, then it’s-”

Mark swung his arm, sending an arch of water splashing over Jackson to shut him up.

Yugyeom paddled over. “General, BamBam was telling me there’s a pride gathering coming up. Do you need me to watch the children while you attend?”

“I figured Jinyoung could watch them,” Mark said with a shrug.

Jackson and Yugyeom stared at him in horror. “You’re not taking Jinyoung?” Yugyeom asked, aghast.

“Your own mate?” Jackson gasped.

Mark bit his lip. “I just thought…maybe…he wouldn’t enjoy it.”

“What’s a pride gathering?” Jinyoung asked, feeling lost.

“Only the most important social event for the lion tribe, ever,” Jackson said. “It’s for adults of the tribe to get together and celebrate their tribe heritage. Also, it’s a time for the mate-less to mingle and try out their mating rituals to see if they can snag a fine specimen of lion or lioness.”

“Is that why you don’t want Jinyoung to go?” Yugyeom asked. “You’re worried that Jinyoung will realize that there are other handsome lions out there and he could have done better than you?”

“Come on, General!” Jackson yelled. “If you don’t bring him, they’ll think you’re ashamed! Do you want them to think there's trouble in paradise already?”

From what Jinyoung was hearing, it sounded like it would cast doubt on his story that he was Mark’s mate if he didn’t attend. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to go?” he asked Mark.

Mark still looked hesitant. “It’s just, we tend to spend the whole event in lion form, and I thought it might be uncomfortable if you were the only one there not shifted.”

He really is embarrassed by me, Jinyoung realized. The realization made him feel surprisingly angry. Mark was willing to subject him to making Yugyeom, Jackson, BamBam, and King Jaebum and his entire court believe that they were coupling, but he couldn’t bear to lose face to the lions in his tribe by revealing his human mate? If Mark was so ashamed of it, he shouldn’t have involved Jinyoung in the first place. He owed it to Jinyoung to own his decision and play his part convincingly, or else quit the charade entirely.

“I want to go,” Jinyoung said firmly. “I don’t mind that I’ll be the only human. I mated into your tribe, so I shouldn’t hide from them…right, Mark?”

Mark looked at him in surprise. “You want to go?”

“Of course I do. What’s yours is mine, isn’t it?”

Jackson whistled. “Now there’s a guy who takes his commitments seriously! What a man! You could learn a thing or two from your mate, General.”

Mark studied Jinyoung as if trying to determine whether he was being serious or not, so Jinyoung maintained a perfectly earnest expression. Of course, he knew he most likely would regret his insistence on attending when the day of the gathering came and he’d have to socialize with Mark’s tribe, but for now he had a point to prove.

“Very well,” Mark said with a resigned sigh. “But don’t blame me if you don’t enjoy yourself.”

On the day of the pride gathering, Nia personally placed herself in charge of helping him get ready for it. “You can wear Papa’s best court outfit,” she declared. The outfit in question wound up being a set of beige robes with full sleeves and intricate detailing at the borders in a complex pattern of twining vines. Over that, she draped a deep green cloak with what looked like a lion sigil woven in the center over his left shoulder.

“Only the most important people in the tribes have these cloaks,” Nia explained. “That way, everyone will know you’re Papa’s important guest.” Mark still hadn’t told the children that Jinyoung was technically serving as is mate in everyone else’s eyes, which Jinyoung was grateful for.

Palla also helped by weaving him a little bracelet made of colored string as an accessory. “For good luck,” she explained. “Codswallop!”

“Codswallop!” Jinyoung said back. It had become their little inside joke.

When he was dressed and ready, he went outside the den to meet Mark. Mark was in lion form, and judging by the state of his mane, hadn’t done any grooming. Jinyoung sniffed and carded his fingers through it, neatening it out.

“What are you doing?” Mark asked, though he didn’t move away from Jinyoung’s hand.

“Making you presentable,” Jinyoung said.

“Why? It’s not like I’m trying to impress anyone.”

“Well. I’ll be leaving in the spring, so you’ll be free to find a real mate soon enough. Perhaps you will want to impress someone tonight, for when everyone finds out I was never actually your mate.”

“That would still be dishonorable, if anyone felt like I was showing an interest in someone else when I was supposed to be with you. And I don’t think I would be able to mate with someone who believed I was in a bonded relationship and still thought to tempt me.”

“Very well, then. You should look presentable to try and impress me.”

Mark blinked. “You?”

“Yes. Here I am, obediently pretending to be your mate, and you can’t even be bothered to make an effort with your mane for me. Think of the shame that would bring me when I appear in front of your tribe.”

Mark sighed. “Fine. Fix it, if you must.” Jinyoung did so, with a smug smile on his face.

When Mark was suitably presentable, the two of them headed out. The gathering was being held outside the capital proper where the landscape was open and more of the lions had their dens. As they approached closer, Jinyoung could see them everywhere, all manner of lions from strongly muscled males the size of Mark to agile females with sandy coats. He felt the old flicker of fear upon seeing them, but swallowed it back. Mark wouldn’t have helped him survive this long just to fail him here.

It didn’t take long for the other lions to notice them coming. The reaction was immediate. Jinyoung had always found it difficult to read the expressions of those in beast form, but the looks on the faces of these lions was unmistakably cold. Almost as one, they haughtily turned their shoulders and stalked off in the opposite direction from Jinyoung and Mark, whispering lowly under their breath.

Mark issued a deep and rumbling growl, but if anyone heard, they pretended they didn’t. They simply increased the volume of their whispers so Jinyoung and Mark would be sure to hear. Look at that filthy human. Who does the General think he is, bringing such scum into our tribe? I always knew he was an upstart. If he was any good at his job, the humans would have been made extinct ages ago. To think—mating with an actual human? But of course he would do something so unnatural, given his blood...

Jinyoung felt his face heat up as the realization struck him. This was why Mark hadn’t wanted to bring him. His people would have shamed him whether Jinyoung had come or not, so it hadn’t been for the sake of his pride. It was because he hadn’t wanted Jinyoung to hear these kinds of poisonous words. Mark, his lieutenants, and his cubs had always treated him fairly, so Jinyoung had begun to assume everyone in the beast tribe recognized the fact that not all humans were evil and worthy of their hatred despite his initial doubts. But this was the reality. The beasts were just like the humans, filled with the exact same relentless hate.

Jinyoung had grown up surrounded by prejudice long enough not to be terribly surprised by it. What truly shocked him was that the behavior of the lions was also a very blatant act of disrespect towards Mark. If they valued him in the slightest, they would have swallowed their disapproval and treated Jinyoung courteously through grit teeth, but clearly they intended to use their cruelty towards the General’s mate to besmirch the General himself.

Perhaps Jinyoung shouldn’t have cared about Mark’s reputation. He didn’t need for Mark to be an admired hero whom everyone treated well and respected. He just needed him to take care of him long enough to get him back home come Spring. But all the same, the part of him that recognized that Mark had wanted to spare him from this humiliation also wanted to spare Mark the very same. Their whole relationship was based on exchanges, after all—owing each other for debts and favors, and repaying everything so that one day when they saw the last of each other, there were no outstanding promises left between them.

So Jinyoung lifted his chin and sniffed disdainfully as if the scorn of the lions meant nothing to him. “Mark,” he said in a firm voice. “Does your tribe have a leader?”

Mark nodded his head towards an elderly lioness laid stretched out on a small rock formation, much like the one Jaebum used in his court. “Elder Kahana.” Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping, but Jinyoung marched up to her rock and knelt down before her.

She opened her eyes slowly and lifted her head from her paws. “Ah,” she said. “Our new human pride-mate. The one our General brought from the highlands. Why do you approach me, little one?”

“To ask for your blessing, elder.”

Kahana blinked. “My blessing?”

“It seems as if the other pride-mates are under the impression they can exclude me from the tribe consequence free. They seemed to think the General erred in judgement in bringing me here.” Jinyoung gave her a determined look. “But I am the mate of your military leader, the one who will return your Sacred Prince when the seasons change. I am bonded with him under your sacred traditions, and I expected that to be honored. Instead I find both myself and my mate insulted at this gathering honoring those very same sacred traditions of your people. I figured that you, as the elder of the pride, would not tolerate this behavior against one of your own, and so I am here to ask for your blessing and for you to end this immature snobbishness so we can enjoy the gathering in peace.”

Jinyoung worried for a half-moment that he had crossed the line into disrespect. All the whispers around him had died down, and everyone was now staring at him, open mouthed, even Mark himself. But before he could amend and soften his words, Elder Kahana rose to her feet, a spark of interest in her amber eyes.

“You’re a healer, aren’t you?” she asked, looking down at Jinyoung.

“Yes, I am.”

“Your people poisoned the General, and you healed him?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Without a second thought?”

“No, I had a few second thoughts. For one, he was deliriously growling at me as if he’d bite my head off. For two, he was The Red Death. As one who saves lives, I was aware that allowing him to die might save hundreds, given his kill count.”

“Heh. Your honesty is refreshing at least. I thought humans were spineless, but you seem to at least have a backbone.” She studied him closer. “Tell me, why should I make my people act kindly to a human? We owe your people nothing, after all you have taken from us.”

“They don’t have to act kindly to me. In fact, I’m already certain that I dislike every single one of them. They undid in seconds all the work Mark and King Jaebum did of convincing me that our people can learn to understand and accept each other, which if I had been an important ambassador or negotiator could have meant the difference between several more years of war or an era of peace.” He swallowed. “I don’t ask for their kindness. I ask them to accept that Mark had the right to mate with me and I have the right to be here. I ask them to pay respect to the General who seeks to end this war without the indiscriminate slaughter they demand which makes them just as terrible and genocidal as the humans they claim to hate.”

Everyone was silent for a long time. But this time, Jinyoung did not even consider taking back his words. He held his ground, keeping his head held high.

“I see,” Kahana said at length. “You truly hold out hope for the possibility of peace, little one?”

“I do.”

“And you, General?” she asked, turning to Mark. “You who have seen this war upfront, closer than anyone?”

Mark nodded. “If there is no peace, the humans will either kill us entirely, or we will have to kill them.”

“And what is so wrong with us killing the humans?”

“Our lives are very different from each other, but at the same time, they are mirrors to each other. Just as I have my three cubs, the humans have innocent cubs of their own who play hide and seek and cry for their parents. Just as we have elders who have earned rest and honor, they have their elders who wish to lay down their burdens and enjoy the twilight of their life. Just as we have our precious mates, so do they, and…” He paused for a moment, then stepped up beside Jinyoung, nudging his hand with his head. “If I do not fight for peace, I am denying that a world for people like us who wish to live together as friends or mates despite our differences exists.”

“Well, then. I think you’ve made your position quite clear.” Kahana turned her eyes to the assembled lions and lionesses. “Did you hear all that, my idiot pride? Are you eager to commit genocide? Does it excite you to kill human cubs and elders who cannot defend themselves? If this healer had drained poison from your body despite knowing you could very well kill him and his family without a second thought, would you neglect to honor that debt?”

No one said anything, but looked distinctly uncomfortable, suddenly unable to meet anyone’s eyes.

“That’s what I thought,” Kahana said. “You’re all filled with bullheaded youngblood and think only of now. You don’t understand the hole killing your enemies to extinction leaves in the world, but I do. The world was once filled with the songs of so many different tribes of beast, animal, and human, and war and slaughter and fear has silenced species and races until they sing no more. If you wish for it, you are a fool. If you seek to bring it about, you are a poison on the world and I am shamed to call you a pride-mate.” She turned her eyes back to Jinyoung. “You have my blessing, Healer Jinyoung. Our General has chosen one who is alike in heart and soul, and if that soul makes him a lion, then you too are a lion. You are very welcome in our tribe.” She bared her teeth. “And anyone who says differently can address it with me. I may be old, but I’ve whooped all of your sorry hides at some point in my long life, and I wouldn’t mind doing it again!”

With that, the atmosphere of the gathering shifted. No one was particularly eager to speak with either Mark or Jinyoung, but they were at least properly sheepish about their behavior and did not continue to complain about their presence. A few even approached Mark to wish him success in the rescue of the Sacred Prince, and one, the mother of one of the lion cubs Palla and Nia often played with, told Jinyoung that she'd heard nothing but glowing praises for him from the children.

When the time for mingling ended, Elder Kahana led some of the more ceremonial practices of the gathering. She told the story of the Great Evolution of humans and beasts from animals and the formation of the lion tribe and the beast kingdom. She told of the heroic lion generals through the ages, and sang a song of mourning for those who have been lost in the most recent wars and ended with a prayer for the Sacred Prince who seemed just as beloved by the lions as he was by everyone. Jinyoung felt like he’d learned more in those few hours listening to the elder than he’d learned in a full year of his university studies.

When the night ended and the gathering was dissolved, Mark walked Jinyoung back to the den. They were silent at first, a kind of heavy silence filled with so many unexpressed thoughts you could almost feel them in the air. It wasn’t until they were a far distance away from anyone who had left the gathering in the same direction they had that Mark shifted into his human form and stopped walking. Jinyoung also stopped in his tracks.

“I wonder,” Mark said softly, meeting Jinyoung’s eyes, “if I will ever truly be able to settle our debt.”

“I don’t ask you to do anything more from me than return me home.”

“I know. And yet…” He hesitated. “That wasn’t anything new, you know. The pride has always disliked me.”

“Why?”

“Because my father was a human.”

“WHAT?” Jinyoung gasped out. “You’re…you’re half-human?”

Mark nodded. “You don’t see other lions with this color of mane, do you? That’s because red hair comes from my human father. It marks me as different from them.” He sighed. “I became a warrior because I wanted to change things from the inside. I wanted to end the cruel and needless killings of both humans and beasts. I knew I couldn’t end the centuries-long hatred, but I thought I could at least end the war, if I worked my way up to the position of General. And I will. I swear it, on everything I am. I will end this war.”

Jinyoung heard the conviction in his voice and couldn’t help but instinctively believe him. His heritage truly did explain a lot about both him and the way he raised his cubs to acknowledge the existence of ‘nice humans,’ such as the father who had raised him.

“But I am not used to having allies,” Mark continued. “I am not used to hearing anyone speak as you did tonight.”

“Well,” Jinyoung said, feeling oddly embarrassed, “I also want this war to end. That can’t come as a surprise to you, considering I tend the wounded.”

“I’m not just talking about the war,” Mark said firmly. “I’m talking about…me, I suppose. When you said that we have the right to mate, and you as a human have the right to be here…I guess…I’ve always wished someone would say that. So I, a child of a human and a beast who mated, would feel that I truly have the right to be here, too.” He leaned forward, then gently the spot under Jinyoung’s ear with his rough tongue before pulling away. “What I mean to say is…thank you. I understand why Nia always praises you as refined. You are truly refined in every aspect, Jinyoung. What faith I have in the humans exists because there are humans such as my father, and…humans such as you.”

Jinyoung nodded, unable to speak at first. “I…thank you.”

Mark began walking forward again, and Jinyoung followed him, his mind thick with thoughts. He felt almost too tired to process them, but knew they were sure to keep him up at night, thinking of Mark and how every time he spoke to him, his world always ended up reshaping itself until he could barely recognize its borders anymore.

Jinyoung was in the middle of cleaning out his little cook pot when a strange animal with fur like dripping sludge suddenly appeared at his feet. He screamed and leapt up, backing away quickly. Even though he was growing accustomed to living among beasts, whatever was standing in front of him was like no beast he’d ever seen.

“Uncle Jinyoung?” the sludge creature said tentatively. “Why are you screaming?”

It was Tanie’s voice. Jinyoung squinted. It was hard to tell through all the dripping mud he’d buried himself in, but that was presumably who it was.

“Tanie? What happened to you?”

“I took a mud bath!”

“Why?”

“Palla said it would make my fur shiny!”

“Palla lied to you. It just made your fur all muddy and matted.” Jinyoung sighed. “You’ll have to take a water bath now, Tanie.”

“But I don’t wanna! I just took a bath, and I don’t wanna take another one!”

“I’m sorry, but there’s no way I’m letting you back in the den dripping like that. It smells enough in there already thanks to your father.”

It took a lot of wrangling on Jinyoung’s part, but he finally got Tanie down to the spring for his bath. To his dismay, he saw that a pack of females from the wolf tribe had already claimed it, though blessedly they were in wolf form and he hadn’t burst in on them swimming around .

“You’re the General’s mate, aren’t you?” one of them asked upon noticing Jinyoung. “Jackson told us about you. He says you’re a good one and not to give you any trouble.”

“I’m grateful to Jackson for saying so,” Jinyoung said.

“It looks like your cub needs a bath. You’re more than welcome to bring him in. We’ll stay in our beast form in case word spreads to your husband and he thinks we’re trying to tempt you.” All of them giggled, a strange sound coming from fully grown wolves. “Although we do have Chungha in here with us. Chungha, hide your bosom. There’s a man present!”

That was when Jinyoung noticed that there was in fact a woman among the wolves. At first, his reaction was to flush in embarrassment and avert his eyes, but then he heard the woman say his name in a soft, familiar voice, and he instinctively looked back up.

“Chungha?” he whispered. He met her eyes and knew in an instant that it was her.

“You two know each other?” one of the wolves asked curiously.

“She’s from my village,” Jinyoung said, more out of surprise than any desire to share their history with the wolves. “She’s-”

“Jinyoung!” Chungha cried sharply, cutting him off. Everyone in the spring turned to stare at her. “Just…give me a moment. I’ll get dressed and…we can talk.” With that, she slipped out of the water and Jinyoung was forced to avert his eyes again.

“Who’s that lady?” Tanie asked. “Is she your mate?”

“No!” Jinyoung said. “She’s someone I used to know from back home. Now get in the water and scrub off.”

Jinyoung gave him a nudge in, and Tanie blessedly became immediately swept up in playing around in the water and didn’t notice when Chungha reemerged a few moments later wearing a white tunic and breeches.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed at Jinyoung in a whisper. “What the others said about you being the mate of the General—is it true? Can that actually be possible?”

Jinyoung eyed Tanie to make sure he was out of earshot. “It’s a long story, but no—we’re only pretending. He made a bargain to get me back to Low Lofferin, and this is part of it. What about you? How did you come to be here? We all thought you were killed by-” He paused, the realization striking him. “By beasts…”

“Did Hyun tell you that?” She scowled. “I should have known that was the story he’d come up with. A man like him would be too proud to say that his betrothed ran off to live with her beast kin rather than stay with him another second.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was not betrothed to him by choice. My mother was dying, and I was too poor to afford her treatment. Hyun, her surgeon, promised to go to any extent to save her life no matter the cost...provided I married him in return. I thought my future was a small price to pay in exchange for my mother's life.” She smiled thinly. "I waited until my mother had safely made it through her surgeries to tell him the truth that might convince him that he may not wish to marry me after all: that my father had been a beast, and I was a half-blood."

Jinyoung's eyes widened. "You're...you're part beast?" That made her like Mark, but Jinyoung could see no evidence of beast ears or a tail on her. He'd grown up together with her, and had never seen any indication that she was anything but human.

"Part white wolf," Chungha said calmly. "I was born in Calovia, in fact. Alongside a brother, who was born with white ears and a thick tail nothing like these purely human features of mine. Many outside of Calovia do not know, but when a human and beast mate, there is half a chance their child will be a beast, and half a chance their child will be a human. With me and my twin, there was one of each, a perfect representation of the probability."

Jinyoung hadn't known this. "If you were a part of the wolf tribe, why did you and your mother come to Low Lofferin?"

"My father passed away when I was very young. My mother was already very sickly, but his death made it worse. As she was a human, the beast healers struggled to treat her condition in the way she needed. She decided it would be best to return to Low Lofferin and live with her parents...but she knew she could not take my visibly wolf-blooded brother, Ravi, to a human settlement. It was a difficult decision, but for her health, she needed to be near human healers. She left Ravi to be raised by the wolf tribe in her stead, and took me back to Low Lofferin with her. We lived there quietly for years, and no one ever guessed the truth about me. It was meant to be a secret. I only told Hyun because I did not truly wish to marry him, and I thought he would break off the engagement if he knew. He had the tendency of being prejudiced towards beasts, after all. I knew he'd hate to have anything to do with a half-blood. Not only that, but when a half-blood mates with someone, though their chances of bearing a beast child if they are human or a human child if they are a beast halves with each generation, they still might bear a child not alike in appearance to them. If Hyun and I had children, there was a one in four chance it might be a white wolf."

"I take it he didn't react well to that?"

"He was horrified. But to my great dismay, he did not break the engagement immediately. Instead, he begged me to come to his High Laboratorium so he could do a blood test to ascertain the validity of my claims. I thought agreeing to this would help me get rid of him faster, so I went to see him in High Lofferin." Chungha shuddered, her eyes flooding with tears. "As soon as I arrived there, he took me to the dungeon where he was already beginning to experiment on beasts, and he caged me there, saying I had made a fool out of him and he refused to succumb to my trickery. He told the world I would be his wife, so I would be his wife even if it took removing the traces of beast blood in my veins. Every day, he would draw my blood and study it, all the while keeping me locked up and barely fed, surrounded by the beasts he was determined to mentally break."

"I'm so sorry," Jinyoung said, his heart clenching. "Whenever he spoke of your engagement to me, he acted like you were very much in love with him."

"It was his own arrogance that made him say so. He knew how afraid I was of him. I think he relished my fear, even." She squared her shoulders. "There was only one ray of hope in my life. One of the beasts trapped in the High Laboratorium with me, a silver fox named Leo, knew my brother Ravi and would tell me stories of him to keep me from giving in to my despair. In secret, he dug a burrow hole in his cell which after a month of digging at last led outside the Laboratorium. After months of being caged, Leo was not strong enough to rescue the rest of us who were imprisoned, but I told him to go to Calovia and tell Ravi what had happened to me. I wasn't sure anything would come of it. I hadn't seen him since I was a child, and I doubted he even remembered me. But it was what little hope I had. And one day, my hope was realized. Ravi remembered his human sister and mother and had wished to find them again and bring them back to him. He and Leo broke into the Laboratorium with four of their compatriots and set me free. Hyun arrived just as we were fleeing, and Ravi wounded him with a scratch to the chest that we thought, at first, was fatal. Leo brought me to Calovia, and Ravi went in disguise to Low Lofferin to find my mother, and the two of us have lived among the wolf tribe ever since with Ravi, and I have been treasured, protected, and loved among my kin, even as a half-blood."

"I'm sorry all of that happened to you, Chungha," Jinyoung said. "Truly, I am. But I'm glad you were able to find a place here. I wish...I wish we humans weren't so terrible to people like you."

Chungha nodded, wiping her eyes. "I wish I could have killed the worst among you. When the Sacred Prince was taken and war broke out, Leo took up a role in the intelligence corps, and that was when he discovered Hyun was still alive.When I first saw you, I thought for a moment he had sent you to find me.”

“He didn’t,” Jinyoung said quickly. “I thought you were dead. As for Hyun…” He lowered his voice. “There are suspicions that he was responsible for taking the Sacred Prince and turning beasts Feral.”

“I could believe it,” Chungha said sourly. “It’s exactly the kind of thing he’d do, especially if he meant to get his revenge on me for choosing to live among beasts over him. If it is true, I wish I had died. Better for me to die than to have turned his anger against my people.”

Jinyoung swallowed. “Have you told King Jaebum about your background?”

“He knows of it, in a broad sense.”

“Would you mind if I told him in more detail? The military is planning to attack Hyun’s High Laboratorium in the spring. I think it would help him to know more of the man who is holding the Sacred Prince hostage and his possible motivations.”

Chungha tilted her head. “You said you were here because the General would return you to Low Lofferin. If you mean to go home, do you really plan to betray the humans?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “It’s not a betrayal. None of the soldiers know that the Sacred Prince was kidnapped. They have no clue what they’re fighting for. I want this war to end for their sake, as well as the beasts. And if King Jaebum can kill the one who took Youngjae and made the beasts Feral, he will have no reason to continue fighting the irrelevant foot soldiers.”

“I see. You may tell him, then.” She gently touched Jinyoung’s hand. “Tell me something. Are you safe with the General?”

Jinyoung blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I was once held hostage against my will by a man. It would give me comfort to know you aren’t in the same situation.”

“I am not his hostage. I’m under his protection. He’s always kept me safe and has never forced me to do anything. In fact, he’s in debt to me for saving his life, so he knows better than to get too demanding with me.”

“You speak quite warmly of him,” Chunga said in surprise. “Are you in love with him?”

Jinyoung choked. “What? No! Not at all! Like I said, we’re pretending until he can fulfill his promise to take me home. We’re…like-minded individuals who want to end the war. That is all.”

“Ah. Well, I hope you and your ‘like-minded individual’ are able to do just that.” She rose to her feet. “As for now, you should probably finish washing your cub. It was a surprise to see you again, Jinyoung. I’m glad it wound up being a pleasant one.”

“I as well, Chungha. Tell Ravi and Leo that at least one human out there is grateful for what they did.”

"I can’t wait to see their faces when I tell them my childhood friend has been living as the mate of the General himself!” She smiled at long last, and with a wave retreated to where her packmates were waiting. Jinyoung watched her go for a moment, shaking his head a little. So much about his life in Low Lofferin really had been a lie. His mentor had been a terrible person who’d lied about the nature of his engagement to Chungha, Chungha had been a half-blood, and a half-blood could just as easily be born a human as a beast…what else would he discover about the life he’d thought he’d known, if he dug a little further?

Shaking off these thoughts for the time being, Jinyoung turned his attention back to Tanie, who’d only done a half-hearted job of cleaning himself up. Jinyoung grimaced and picked up the cake of soap he’d brought with him. “Time for a scrubbing, Tanie.”

“Don’t wanna!” Tanie yelled.

“Too bad.” Jinyoung grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and began scrubbing off his back before he could wiggle away. He’d worry about everything else later. For now he had an unruly cub to clean.

A few days later while Mark and the cubs were out hunting, the king’s falcon messenger arrived at the den.

“King Jaebum has requested for me to bring you to court directly,” the falcon announced.

“But Mark isn’t here,” Jinyoung immediately protested. “He wouldn’t want me to see King Jaebum without him.”

“It’s out of the question. The King has only summoned you.”

“But Mark made it very clear-”

“That you are his mate and no one is to hurt you,” the falcon finished. “Well, no one is intending to hurt you. His Majesty simply wants to make an appeal to you.”

“An appeal?”

“Yes. You may speak with him about it yourself.”

Jinyoung hesitated, though he sincerely doubted Jaebum would do anything to incite Mark’s wrath at this point. He most likely wanted information, which was all very well and good now that Jinyoung had uncovered more that he was willing to share. He would have had to arrange for an audience with Jaebum to fill him in, anyways. Mark wouldn’t be happy about it, but his arrangement with Mark had nothing to do with being ordered about by him.

“Very well,” he said, rising to his feet. “But allow me a moment to leave a message for my mate so he knows why I am missing when he returns.”

When Jinyoung’s message was written, he followed the falcon to the court. The gray fox king was in human form, dressed from head to toe in severe black robes and pacing back and forth with a tense look on his face. He looked worse than the last time Jinyoung had seen him, even more exhausted and unhappy.

“Your Majesty,” Jinyoung said, alerting him to his presence.

Jaebum looked up. “Ah. You were able to come, after all. I was hoping contacting you while Mark was out would work.”

“That was deliberate?”

“He would never let me speak to you alone. And I have something to ask of you that he would never allow me to ask without accusing me of bad intentions.”

“Yes?” Jinyoung asked warily.

Jaebum bowed his head. “Do you know what today is?”

“No.”

“It’s my second wedding anniversary. Also, the second anniversary of losing my mate to the humans. The anniversary of both the best and worst day of my life.”

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung said softly. “I truly pray you’ll be able to recover him safely when the season changes.”

“As do I. But I cannot pretend that the risks won’t be great, even though I know where he is now.” He looked at Jinyoung with a serious expression. “And more than anything, I cannot conscience doing my utmost to save my mate yet doing nothing to rescue the minds of the Feral. As a King, I must use everything I have at my disposal to save my people, or I’m not king enough to deserve them. And you…you are a human with the resources and knowledge to perhaps give me the answer I seek, and I would be remiss not to beg you for your help with all my strength.” He took a breath. “That’s why I wish to ask you again. To please examine the Feral we have in custody and see if you can determine how his mind was broken and if there can be anything done to bring him back.”

Jinyoung looked at Jaebum cautiously. “But Mark leads me to understand if I got anywhere close to the Feral, it would kill me.”

“It is true that the Feral has been reduced to little more than a weapon that only knows to kill,” Jaebum admitted. “He has killed many of our own healers who tried to save him. But like I informed the General, we have found ways to sedate him. And over the past days, I have had other healers approach the sedated Feral to attempt to examine him. The Feral did not attack, and all the healers survived—however, none of them could figure out what was wrong with him. That is the difference I think you can make.”

“But I know nothing about whatever drug or poison is being used to turn your people Feral. I was able to save Mark because I recognized the poison used against him, but-”

“But perhaps you’ll recognize at least something familiar in the symptoms or physical condition of the Feral that can at least give us a small clue. Our healers know nothing of the ways of humans, but you do. And anything you can shed even the slightest bit of light on will bring us one step closer to determining the truth.” Jaebum regarded him desperately. “As a King, I’m not given to begging. But I’m willing to do so in this case. Please, Jinyoung. If you choose of your own accord, Mark cannot stop you. And I promise to take every precaution to keep you safe while you’re doing your examination. I’ll even let Mark slaughter me personally if you come to harm. Just please. I need to save my people. I need to bring Youngjae back to a Calovia that doesn’t linger under the threat of extermination.”

Jinyoung swallowed hard. Selfishly, he didn’t think of the losses Jaebum would endure if the Feral situation wasn’t figured out, but of his own. He imagined Mark, who had done so much for him, reduced to a raging weapon with none of his concern for protecting the kindness still left in the world. He imagined Palla, Nia, and Tanie with their childhood snatched from them, transformed from sweethearted and adventurous children into mindless tools of the humans.

No, he couldn’t allow that to happen. He was intertwined too deeply into their lives now just to turn his back on them and leave them to their fates as if he still thought of them as nothing more than enemies to his people. They were beyond that to him. He adored those three cubs with all his heart, and Mark…he was certain that at the very least, he respected Mark far more than he respected most of his own military leaders.

Still, he knew what a risk it was, examining a beast turned Feral. If he said ‘yes,’ he was also saying ‘yes’ to putting his life and limb on the line. And Jinyoung was fairly certain he didn’t want to die between the jaws of a beast snapping him in two.

But everyone else is gambling with their lives all the same, he thought. Mark, every time he enters a battlefield. Jaebum, knowing that his kingdom may be on the verge of collapse. Even the cubs live with the threat of death coming closer and closer, and they don’t even know it.

He squared his shoulders. This problem was far bigger than the sum of one life. If he found an answer, he could very well save innumberable people, Mark and the cubs included. And if that wasn’t worth taking a risk for, what was? Too much of his life had already been wasted waiting things out and doing nothing to help but half-heartedly plugging up wounds that were gushing out more blood than he could hold back.

“Very well,” he said, looking Jaebum firmly in the eye. “I will examine the Feral.”​