[Warning… recovery complete]

  What I felt, I am 100 certain, was the equivalent to a migraine caused by a hangover in spirit form. Bad, I felt bad in the definition of bad. I was waking up and it was like something was hammering my theoretical head.

  |Ugh… w-what happened?|

  [You used all of your magic reserves during the st battle. I managed to keep you alive though the Ether stones you gathered for the st few weeks, but you still needed time to recover]

  |Why didn’t you tell me that was the risk?|

  [Maybe I should have expined better, but I did tell you that Ether is vital energy that you need in certain amounts. MP is just a way to quantify your magic or Ether reserves]

  |Be more specific next time… okay, how long did I sleep and where the hell am I?|

  She did make a connection between Ether and water, and even Fir had to drink to recover. I could see the implication, but she could have told me..

  I used [Soul Sense] and found that I was inside of a burrow. And besides me, sleeping with her belly up and tongue out, was Aspen.

  |S-she sure sleeps like a log|

  [By the way, you spent 4 days unconscious. She has been taking care of you and returned you to the North Cn nds]

  |F-four days?! That is too long! How are the rest of the wolves?! What happened with the West Cn?!|

  [I ck that information. I focused on keeping you alive. Aspen or Fir should know more]

  Figures… I just had to go ask questions the old way.

  |Erika… thanks|

  [???? Why?]

  |What do you mean why? For keeping me alive, of course|

  Erika went silent for the moment.

  I moved out and-

  “Aspen! They arri…”

  A wolf entered the burrow and saw me.

  |Ah!| I was startled.

  “M-Master Alice! Y-you are okay! Thanks El!” he seemed happy that I was back and alive.

  |Yes…| I was still getting used to the title of Master and Elder, |I… we are in the North Cn, right?|

  “Yes! Aspen brought you and expined everything. We have been caring for you and Aspen has been standing close in case you woke up.”

  And she missed me waking up by falling asleep like a dog in a house. Still, it made me feel warm knowing that she was taking care of me.

  |Did you choose a name?| I remembered my order.

  “About that… we decided we wouldn’t suffer any name you would give us and we will be happy with any name you decided for us!”

  Agh! That was not part of my pn! I wanted to have them choose one by themselves! That was just to entice them into choosing one! I am not that good at naming things.

  “Ah! And Master Alice… I know you just woke up, but Elder Luna just arrived and wanted to see how you are doing.”

  |L-Luna is here? What about Ade?|

  “Here.” Her voice came from behind me.

  |Ah!| I was startled once more. I needed people to stop doing that.

  Ade suddenly appeared inside of the burrow behind me, sitting and staring at me with that deep stare into my soul.

  “H-high Priest Ade! You are always… appearing like that.” The wolf asked.

  Then that is a common thing she does?! Creepy!

  [Analysing… indeed, it is creepy]

  “I came here to check on young Alice here. It seems she has already recovered.”

  |Yep. I was on my way to see what was happening outside when you two came in…|

  “Well… seeing you recovered, I have something to tell you about that st fight.” Ade lowered her head, and her stare seemed to pry even deeper inside of my mind, “want to hear them now?”

  Well… I knew I was amazing, but listening about it from someone as wise as a High Priest was going to help my self esteem a lot!

  |Yep! I want to hear everything!|

  “You were sloppy and a complete mess.”

  |Ah!| That hurt like a spoon carving my flesh! |What?! Why?! I defeated Forehead!|

  Even the wolf who was beside me was with his maw open.

  “Forehead? Ah, you mean that wolf…” Ade answered confused. After all, that is how I began to call him mentally, “but yes, sloppy, you ck discipline at using magic and risked starting a war between your and Luna’s cn. Even when you avoided the conflict, you took too many risks and invaded their territory without their permission. That could have ended poorly, especially when you cannot communicate with the rest of them. And that is not counting you almost killed yourself by spending more magic than you should.”

  |H-hey! I am doing a lot of stuff I have no idea about. I never used magic before this and never led a cn of wolves or anything!|

  “And yet you decided to take charge of them. Didn’t you?”

  It was a mess the way I did it, but I did. Even when it was a misunderstanding between me and Erika, I took their pacts and decided to take the role as their leader. I could have let Fir continue being the leader instead, yet just 2 days and I almost started a war.

  |F-fine… yes! I did, but…|

  “The lives of all those wolves are in your hands now. The weight is heavy, yes, but that means you have to take things more seriously. Even if you are still learning, you cannot commit mistakes like that. Another one and they could be dead, and you left without a cn. Patience is a virtue, your enemy was lying about you, yes, but you had ways to prove your innocence.”

  Ugh… and I left it back at home.

  [That was not the ego stroke you wanted, huh?]

  Shut it, Erika.

  It was like my Kenjutsu teacher. Her words feel more painful than all those wooden swords hitting my limbs.

  “But… you paid attention to your followers. You knew Fir cared about Luna, even when they separated. That means you listen to them.”

  [You just wanted gossip]

  Not helping, Erika!

  “Think about it. Now, Luna is waiting for us…”

  Ade walked past me. The wolf was sitting besides me and with how his ears were perked up I could tell he was uncomfortable after watching me getting chowed down by the Priest.

  |I wish I had my comfort food now…| Chicken tenders… I missed them so much.

  “Food!” Aspen suddenly woke up and got on her four paws, ready to pounce at anything, ears perked up, and prepared.

  |Ugh…|

  I was really prepared for being praised for my success, but got completely chowed down by Ade. And she was right, even if we managed to defeat an enemy and avoided a war I took too many risky moves and all of them could have ended poorly, with someone dying because of my fault.

  I spent the st few weeks just killing everything until it was no longer about survival, and then just to become a bit more stronger.

  But, even when it hurt, that was a frustration I had gotten used by that time already. I needed to prove to myself I could take her words and improve on them, to become a better leader for those wolves.

  And as I was thinking about it.

  “Alice!” Aspen jumped at me and threw me to the ground!

  |Agh! How did I feel that?!| I asked.

  Aspen was on top of me, wagging her tail, panting and with her tongue out.

  “You woke up! I was worried you wouldn’t! Don’t do that to me ever again, you hear me?!”

  Then she became self aware, coughed, and got off me, sitting and trying to be more calm.

  “I… I made sure the cn was safe in your absence. I hope you are fine right now.”

  |You are adorable, you know that, Aspen?|

  “S-shut up!”

  |She is, isn’t she?| I asked the wolf.

  “W-well… Iiii!” he screeched as Aspen gave him a murderous look, “I am going out to check on the rest of the Cn! Excuse me, Master!”

  He ran away.

  Outside, when rumours that I woke up spreaded, some wolves came to me to celebrate that I was fine and back with them. I tried to act it up, but I was not used to receiving all that much attention from people.

  As they ughed and smiled, I felt the need to bury myself just so no one saw me.

  And in the middle, close to the carcasses that were now decorating the center of the territory, was Luna, with a couple of her wolves, and Ade. With them, was Fir.

  “Gd you could make it, Luna.” He said.

  “Thanks.” She answered.

  And awkward. They kept looking at each other, then to other spots, then to another. It was hard to imagine they were a couple, Fir looked young and like he was in his prime while Luna looked much older and dignified.

  The tension of something that needed to be said was strong between each other. Fir would open his mouth, only to close it right after and look to the other side

  The other wolves seemed to be uncomfortable, and most likely felt it. Ade was… being her normal self.

  |S-sorry to make all of you wait…|

  “Oh, thank El.” One of her guards said, rexing.

  We all looked at her, and she immediately noticed she was out of line. Although, I knew my arrival cut the tension that she was probably feeling, and she rexed.

  “Sorry…”

  “Then… it is true. There is a human woman behind that sword.” Luna said, “I believe we have not been properly introduced. I am Luna, current Elder of the West Cn.”

  |Alice… I am the current leader of the North Cn, and yes, I am a human that got put on this body. How can you hear me?|

  “That would be me, Young Alice.” Ade answered, “you can communicate freely with me around. After this meeting, I will teach you how to do it at your own accord.”

  Then, I supposed the diplomatic meeting was about to begin. I should have left Fir to take hold of them, but I made a few mistakes and had to face them.

  |I suppose we have to..|

  “Let me begin by apologizing for what happened." Luna stopped me from apologizing first, “if I was more careful with who I sent her to speak with your cn, none of this would have happened to begin with. My most sincere apology.”

  Before I could answer, Luna and her guards lowered their heads to me, the tip of their noses touched the ground, as a sign of guilt.

  Astonished and surprised, I looked at Ade, who was smirking like a mischievous grandma.

  She knew she was going to apologize, after making me feel bad because of my actions!

  |I have to apologize too| I said, |I was reckless when we went into your territory. If I was more careful we could have not been that close to starting a war|

  Luna and her wolves raised their heads.

  “Then, since this topic is settled, may I ask to begin again?” Luna smiled, “I wanted to offer, as a way to protect ourselves against the false King, to join our cns.”

  Thus… the real negotiations began.