Eyllene had avoided Dawn.

She would leave early in the morning for her work and come back later in the evening. Dawn saw Eyllene's exhaustion and didn't press for any further details regarding their previous talk. Truthfully, Dawn felt notes of betrayal and chose not to speak to her aunt for some time until the grudge dissociated.

"I would have liked it if you'd stayed home until the winter illness ceases. There has been a lot of villagers admitted to the physician. I am afraid it is quite contagious," Eyllene said that morning and with that she left for another wearisome day at the infirmary.

Dawn worried for her aunt. Every time Eyllene left through the front door she would feel heavy weight placed at her chest. The girl wished her Aunt wasn't a nurse but a market worker or a fruit picker or a baker at the local bakery. Some occupation that hadn't involved contagious illnesses, animalcules or rude patients.

If Eyllene could cease being a nurse, the aunt and the niece could have been fruit preservers or herbal tea producers. After all, Eyllene was the one who taught Dawn all the secrets of herbs, flowers and plants.

Deciding to stick to her Aunt's exhortation, Dawn tidied the kitchen, clinking with plates and polishing metal cutlery, sweeping crumbs from the floor into a shovel.

Whilst Dawn was kneading dough for a meat pie, her thoughts kept drifting away to the times when Eyllene taught her the perfect dough method. It was all about the timing and pressure applied to the dough. Dawn had to apply just enough pressure with the bony part of her palm.

Dawn was just a little girl of around eight winters. One of her friends, Lily, who used to live next door, was the only daughter of Springville's baker, Johan. Lily liked to come around when Eyllene and Dawn were baking because, unlike her own father, Eyllene allowed the girl to play with bread dough and experiment with pastry fillings.

Lily wasn't allowed to stay overnight or walk around the village with Dawn, therefore girls would spend their time together either in the kitchen, baking, or in the garden, watering the plants and trying to grow pear trees.

Sometimes, Neala would join the girls as well, whenever she wasn't occupied with her parents' fruit and vegetable selling. She lived diagonally from Dawn's little cottage, and her from time to time Dawn would catch Neala's older brother looking through his bedroom curtains at night when Dawn would be preparing for bed.

Silence. Occasional crack of wood logs in the fireplace. Wind howling outside, seeping through window frames.

Neala had wed a blacksmith in Fairenville and was content last time Dawn had seen her in the village. However, Lily was married off to a man in Wolfbourgh. Dawn had never seen the man before, and from what Lily had told her, he was her father's flour main supplier. It was no doubt that he was much older than Lily, around the same age as her father, and Dawn's stomach turned at the prospect of that.

When the sun was starting to set, hiding behind the tree line of the forest, Dawn sat down by the window. Eyllene was due to come back any time soon, and a steamy hearty pie was waiting to be eaten for dinner.

Eyllene baked the same meat pie every winter back when Dawn was a little younger. Steamy vegetables, tongue-burning meat and the stretch of goat cheese warmed their evenings as they sat by the window and giggled at the slurping sound each of them made. Eyllene would then tuck Dawn into her bed, pulling the covers to her chin, and laid beside until the girl fell asleep.

☽☽ ☆ ☾☾

It had been awhile since Dawn saw Aedan. Almost twenty days passed, she counted. For almost twenty days she tried reading his journal, but so far the only thing she was able to read were his plant drawings.

Perhaps he was busy with his family as the colder times approached the South of Starleten, so wood logs were of essence to the villagers. Dawn hoped his business was going well, and he had been earning enough coins for warm meals.

When her thoughts would drift off to thinking about him, she would look out of the window and release series of sighs, as if she was a princess and he was her rescuer. She hoped he would emerge from the trees and take her out for an adventure.

Maybe she could go to Fairenville the next day and try to look for him? She could start with the Fairen Manor and ask some of the maids there.

Specks of white started falling, slowly, dancing from side to side, sparkling. Dawn leaned closer to the window and saw her reflection in it, warm candle light behind her head. There were slight hollows under her eyes, so she focused her eyes on the snowflakes that accumulated into piles on the ground in front of the house.

Dawn was well-acquainted with winter in Springville: the air was extremely cold and moist. It was frequent for roads and lanes to be covered in thick layers of snow. Then after days of freezing temperatures, the sun would emerge from the clouds at last to melt the snow away and transform the roads into glassy ice skating rink. 

Luckily, Eyllene took care of heating arrangements for their tiny cottage during winter, and a stack of firewood stood beside fireplaces in the sitting room and bedrooms.

Secretly Dawn was hoping Eyllene would know that it was Aedan's family, who provided their area with firewood in the first place.

The snowy evening lured Dawn out into the street. She wrapped herself in a fur-lined coat and walked along the perimeter of their cottage. All around her it was getting darker, neighbours' windows the only illumination of their quarters.

She took a deep breath of pinching cold, the air sweet with pinewood and snowflake essence. Dawn kept walking, leaving footprints on the newly woven snow carpet. She giggled when her foot fit into the previously made step.

Dawn sat by the front porch, then splayed her back onto the ground, looking up at the twilight sky. Snowflakes resembled millions of sparkling stars falling from above, chaotic and rushing. The peaks of spruce trees framed the girl's vision, their top branches bending down under the weight of the snow.

Perhaps it wasn't smart to lie down on the cold ground with wind howling all around Dawn, not if she didn't want to wake up with an obstructed breathing and achey body. Even so, if her neighbours or Eyllene spotted her lying like that on the ground, they would have thought she had gone mad.

But then, weren't they all mad living alongside werewolves? Every night going off to bed being certain they would see yet another morning? Yet at the same time they were all afraid of them but, even then, no one in the villages or towns was protected against them.

The only living creature who had met werewolves was Aedan and his family. They weren't afraid of living in the middle of the forest with wolves howling at the full moon once in a moon cycle. Dawn made a note to ask him about such adventure itself at their next encounter.

Was he seeing the snow as well? Were his eyes astound by its elegance? Were they watching at this natural phenomenon together under the dark sky lit with pale light of obscured moon?

☽☽ ☆ ☾☾

Eyllene was exhausted.

Her pale face looked dull which brought out her hollow cheekbones and protruding eyes. The washed out blue of her irises failed to contain the glint her youth once had provided. Sleek bun at the nape of her neck was immaculate as ever, considering she had been working whole day with little time for rest. Her hair parted at the centre of her head, thus accentuating her angled, tired face.

She sat across from her niece and began spooning the pie into Dawn's plate. There was a bowl of green peas beside the pie tray, Dawn reached out for a spoon to pile some on her aunt's plate.

"How was at the infirmary today?"

Eyllene released a sigh. "Busy as never. There seems to be a wave of poor villagers struck with ailments," she replied.

"What about the physician, is he not able to prepare tinctures for them? They must feel like strangers at the infirmary, wouldn't it be better to get well at home?"

"I agree," began Eyllene, cutting through the meat, "but the physician was adamant the sick get bed rest at the infirmary to keep a better eye on them. We have to make sure they drink warm water and tinctures at specific time periods. Bless them, but most of the sick are children and their parents spend whole day labouring and cannot look after them."

"May I come with you tomorrow and give a hand in this difficult task? I wouldn't want you depleting your resources," Dawn gazed into her aunt's eyes pleadingly. She realised Eyllene would be reluctant to protect Dawn from this disease, however Dawn wasn't a child, she would be careful.

"Only if you promise me not to be around them for longer than necessary and only with the ones already recovering."

"Of course, I will tell them stories to keep them cheerful," Dawn smiled and dived into her pie, making sure to chew on the meat meticulously.

Eyllene gave her a gentle smile, glancing down at her niece. Suddenly, she put down her cutlery and placed palms down on the table.

"Dawn."

With a fork midway to her mouth, Dawn stopped and lifted her eyes questioningly.

"We must put the... misunderstanding regarding your parents behind us. I was merely trying to protect you from nightmares, this is why I brewed the tea for you. I was only trying to help you, but I understand I should have told you about this, and for that I apologise." She took her nieces' hands into hers and gently squeezed them. "I meant no harm, will you forgive me?"

Dawn stroked her aunt's rough hands. She searched her eyes, as Aedan had advised her to, and there was nothing but love and warmth emanating from them. Eyllene's eyes may had been dull earlier but now there was a familiar glint in them.

"I forgive you, Eyllene. But will you please answer my questions?" Eyllene nodded her head. "Did you know this tea could cause hallucinations and seduction?"

"No, I haven't realised it had this effect on you. We prepare this tea for some of our patients at infirmary when they complain about nightmares or disrupted sleep. But this is strange to me, perhaps it's best to stop drinking it and look for other herb with similar indication. I shall ask the physician tomorrow."

"I will try to sleep without it for now, perhaps warm milk and honey for the time being."

Eyllene agreed.

Dawn's eyes darted to the window, staring into the darkness of the night, hands still over Eyllene's.

"What is bothering you, dear?"

"What were they like?" taking a deep breath, Dawn averted her eyes back to her aunt's. "My mother and father?"

Eyllene slowly removed her hands to hug herself. "Your mother was a beauty to fight for. She stood to the same height as your father. They were always equals, always together and never left each other's side. She enjoyed hunting, and he was a skilled herbs collector. I believe they met in Wolfborough. Monas was a lovely woman but her father was vile." She spat out the next words, "your grandfather did not approve of my brother, even though Monas was madly in love with him."

"He tried to separate them?"

"Yes, but he failed. Your grandfather was not an ordinary human, and thought Lorcan was weak. Little did he realise that Monas and Lorcan was a match made in the heavens above, and not a soul possessed the strength to separate them."

Tears threatened to spill out of Eyllene's eyes but a smile spread shyly across her face.

"Even death took them together, it did not leave even one of them to avenge the other's death. Their love was pure and strong, but robbed of eternity. Well, eternity of human lifetime."

"But why werewolves?"

It was as if Eyllene snapped out of a revery, "I believe your grandfather was involved with them," she sniffled, "somehow."

"Thank you for this, I wanted to hear this story again. Sometimes I imagine them seeing me now, especially father. One day I would like to collect plants and help cure people with my tinctures."

"And you shall follow this dream and succeed in it, my girl."

Dawn's heart warmed up and she felt it was blooming with love. Deep down she understood that her aunt regretted avoiding the truth and, perhaps, there was something else she hadn't mentioned but it was a story for next time.

Eyllene stood up to plant a kiss on the girl's forehead. "Now let us eat this delicious pie you have cooked."