The white wolf watched with sad eyes, She had known the girl and boy should have been as one. But life did not always hold what one wished for, or expected. When Yllfa lost Wolfhere she had lost her mate too.
From that time forward she had followed the girl, who grew into a woman, and into one with a rare power for healing. Something that should be nurtured. And the wolf had grown too, though at a different rate than one in the physical world. A different passing of seasons and years.
For long she had not left her den in the mountains. But time had turned until she knew Yllfa. the woman, would grow no more in the place called Harwick. So she had led her back to her childhood home of Edoras. And there she had met someone else she could love. It had seemed fated. Isa had been content. The new home had been a happy one, and the man had a young cub who filled a large gap in Yllfa's heart. The wolf had wondered if she should have chosen a new mate, perhaps had cubs of her own? But it was not her way. Her mate was irreplaceable.
Then the unthinkable had happened, and a bitter man of the Dunlendings had set fire to their happiness. They had barely escaped with their lives.
The wolf sighed and placed her face on outstretched paws, as she remembered the battle to come back from that hurt. Her eyes strayed over to the sleeping form of the woman, lying on her single bed, under an old coverlet.
And they had risen again, like the people they were, and made a new home, with new friends. There had been good years, despite threats of invasion, of skirmishes, of hunger. Then came a day when he rode away, as could be the case with any who had served, had been a Rider of the Mark. Almost a year he was gone. She missed him terribly, but understood, such partings came with the relationship. Any who served the Mark could be ordered away at any time. The wolf had run after him to start with, as she had done on shorter missions in the past, happy days. Then she had been a source of comfort, she believed, sometimes a source of warning, or even diversion. But she took much of the life energy from the woman, and after several months, she was no longer called upon. Yllfa had sensed the change.
Then he returned, but it was no longer the same. There was a message from Harwick, saying the woman's father was unwell, mostly through age. His closest friend had recently died, and he was expected to follow soon. And Yllfa, knowing her time had passed, rode off to be with her father in what she expected to be his last days. The wolf went with her, trying to understand the woman, to support her. But her mind was made up. Time to move on.
As matters transpired the old Man recovered, and became surprisingly hale again with his daughter at his side. Yllfa was happy. Isa was happy, though she could not recall overmuch about her own father.
There were other places to visit, mostly in the Mark, as neither Wolf nor Woman enjoyed other lands greatly, but there came a time when all three headed back towards Edoras, thinking perhaps to try and purchase a very small piece of land to work. Well the Man and woman would work, the wolf would guard. Before that happened they had message from Northgyth, an offer none of then wanted to refuse. That had been no false start, the wolf knew, for she saw Northgyth, and she saw the grey Hawk always with her. Yllfa's place, for now, was with a teacher who knew instinctively what she needed. A woman who could bring forth all that was within her.
They missed the cub terribly. In truth they missed the Man. But this was the pre-ordained path.
Isa, the white wolf, stretched out on the old bear rug, luxuriating in a warm and comfortable bed, and a full stomach without the need to hunt. A new stage of life was nigh, and she and Yllfa would rise to meet it.
