Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir
Chapter Nineteen
At first, there was a heavy tension on both sides, as the shifters and the humans tried to navigate coexisting together with neither of them completely trusting the other yet. But as a few days passed, and more and more shifters began making their presence known, the humans started to become more curious than afraid. Aside from the killing of the hunter who had tried to assassinate Holly, the shifters, including the royal family, shifted forms off and on within the city for the humans to see and come to understand without fear. Holly thought it was interesting to watch the stages of acceptance that the humans seemed to go through. After their initial fear, they were curious, almost as if the shifters were oddities at the circus. Then, after their curiosity was satiated, the humans were uncomfortable with the way the shifters would be naked following transformations. Then after they got over that awkwardness, they were just back to being curious again. They were still on-edge though and easily startled, more so than usual. Holly and her family could see that it would take time for a level of comfort to be achieved.
The humans weren’t the only ones who were uneasy. The shifters were also nervous and worried about their secret having been exposed after all this time. They feared that there were perhaps more hunters hidden in the midst of the townsfolk that would come after them without warning. So there was a trust that needed to be levied on both sides. At first, only Holly had thought that the existence of such a mutual trust was obtainable, but once the secret was out and there was no choice but to move ahead, the rest of the royal family began to embrace the idea that maybe it could indeed be possible for the humans and shifters to live together in harmony. And instead of living beside each other and completely unaware of their existence, that they could now finally live together.
Holly and Dex decided to lead by example and announced that this year they would merge the winter festivals of both the humans and the shifters into one big winter Yuletide celebration for all to attend. They planned for it to be held in the forest so that the humans would no longer fear what lay inside the woods, and the shifters would no longer be wary of the human’s presence there. They needed to show each other that neither side was a threat, no matter whether they were inside the city or within the forest. The shifters were apprehensive but excited. They wanted to believe in a brokered peace just as much as the humans did. The humans were nervous too, but eager to see what lay within the woods at last.
When it was time for the celebration to begin, the royal family led the townspeople on the walk from the kingdom into the forest. Holly and Dex led the way, and Holly looked so breathtakingly beautiful in an ivory winter gown trimmed with fur and decorated with embroidered berries that Dex couldn’t take his eyes off her. Behind them followed Cassandra and Rubius, along with Theo and Marquette. Theo held his son over his shoulder, and the boy’s eyes were wide with wonder about the massive crowd of people that followed them into the woods. The entire city came behind them, and the humans were awash with excited whispers until they started to walk into the thicket of trees and into the forest itself.
The shifters were waiting for them inside of a beautifully decorated forest. They had gone out of their way to make the nighttime woods feel magical and welcoming and festive. There were strings of sparkling white lights hung from the branches of trees and candles lining the paths. There were wildflowers scattered in the enclave and trays of food and drink set up for everyone to enjoy. Music was playing, and the shifters were already dancing barefoot under the twinkling lights on top of the soft moss beneath their toes. The humans were fascinated and in awe of how beautiful and peaceful the woods seemed to be. Cassandra took the hands of some of the human women and led them into the clearing to see the delicious food that the shifters had laid out. Rubius followed suit and led some of the men toward the barrels of sweet wine that the shifters had made themselves. Even the children were there to enjoy the festivities, and Theo and Marquette grabbed the hands of some of them to go and dance and play in the center of the clearing. One little girl sat down on the thick moss and began to braid the wildflowers into her hair.
Still, there were some people who were less ambitious to go right in and get comfortable. A few were more nervous than the rest—on both sides. But eventually, they started to walk over to each other and talk. The Yule celebration was a time of peace and merriment, and that made it the perfect festivity to host the first gathering of two species together. There were no more threats and no more hunters, there were only people who were trying to understand and appreciate each other in order to get along. Tensions eased, and eventually, everyone began to have a wonderful time. The endless pouring of wine and ale helped to ease reservations and lift apprehensions, and soon the sound of merriment could be heard filling the forest, and perhaps even echoing all the way back through the empty walls of the kingdom since everyone was there instead. Some of the more prominent figureheads of the city sat down at a table to meet with the royal family. They discussed matters of how they would ensure that the peace remained between them all.
“There are measures that we should put into place,” Rubius said. “To ensure that both humans and shifters always feel safe and at peace in both the city and the forest.”
“Measures, as in laws?” the Tavern Keeper asked. He had a seat at this table because, in addition to being the tavern keeper, he was also one of the most respected elders among the humans. Holly could see why—he was a calm and wise old man.
“Yes,” Theo said. “Like laws. Ones that are mutually agreed upon and respect the rights of humans and shifters alike.”
“It’s a good idea,” the tavern keeper nodded, with the rest of the humans following suit.
They all sat at the table, drinking and talking and scribbling down their new laws and agreements onto parchment. In the morning, the new king and queen would look them over and order official proclamations, which would thereby make them legally binding. Holly smiled as she watched the exact manifestation of what she had always thought to be possible unfold before her.
While they were at the table, some of the young adults in both the humans and the shifters began to open up to each other and sit together to talk. They mingled, and the shifters showed the humans the beauty of the forest. Some of the younger women from the city took the hands of some of the younger shifters with the dark and mesmerizing eyes, who showed the girls the way that the stars looked between the branches of the trees, and how the water in the streams rippled in patterns that you could almost hear. The humans were mesmerized and enchanted by the shifters, and vice versa.
Holly looked from the table to see some of them, and she smiled when she realized that things such as her brother’s once-scorned relationship with a human would likely become a widely commonplace new norm. They would breed an entire new population and an entire new inclusive life into both the city and the forest.
The night carried on and instead of wanting to leave and go back home, the humans wanted to stay and spend the entire night in the forest along with the shifters. Some of the shifters were hesitant at first, but quickly embraced the idea of letting the celebration carry on into the wee hours of the morning as long as everyone was enjoying themselves. Never before had any of them thought such a night would be possible, and none of them wanted it to end. Even the royal family decided to stay throughout the night and join with the humans in carrying on the celebration. They all mused at how much better this was than the life they had been living in secrecy, and it seemed as if the walls of the castle had finally come down.