Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5543592-20150812154412/@comment-5583506-20150815042024

"He is", assured Evelyne, placing a loving kiss on the wolf's forehead.

Artik grumbled, slightly annoyed that she was disturbing his sleep, but she just smiled back at him mischievously.

"My pa and I found him as a pup", she explained. "The poor thing had gotten itself stuck into a poacher's trap and had started to try to gnaw his own foot off in an attempt to escape it. We helped him get out of there. My father wanted to kill him, to put him out of his misery. Said that it would be kinder, seeing as there was almost nothing to eat. But I was an unruly child back then. I told him that if he so much as harmed the little creature I wouldn't speak with him for days, and I insisted that we would try to find the pup's mother. We searched the woods for the remainder of the day, but we never found her. And when my father said that he would now finish the wolf off, I said that he could consider the pup to be my birthday present."

She snickered. "He definitely didn't like that bargain. But he gave in eventually. He told me that I had to feed and tend to the beast myself, because he would never interfere in the wolf's survival. So I brought the pup home, cleaned its wounds, gave it something to eat from my own stash; rabbit stew", she scratched Artik hard behind the ear.

The wolf murmured pleasantly and closed its eyes. "He really liked that", continued Evelyne. "Once he was nurtured back to health, it didn't take long before my father couldn't keep his promise. I guess that even wolf pups can make the hardest man turn into a small child again? So my father began to suggest that I should take the wolf out for some training, to put him to good use. And so it happened. We trained together, we played together, we hunted together. I actually offered him multiple chances to leave us and find a way of his own, but he remained with us. By night time he was sleeping in front of our fireplace and by the days he was out ranging with us: helping lost people find their way back; scaring away poachers; and hunting down wounded game. He was just like another family member. He sort of reminded me of the brief time I had with ma."

Artik snoozed, causing Evelyne to give Theo a knowing smile. "Good luck, getting up from there now", she giggled.