*Media pic is of the Moon goddess.

Not long after a very confused and flustered Fancy arrived in the basement suite with several garments that Penn could try on. She flopped the arm-load of things down on the couch nearest her and glanced over at Penn nervously.

It wasn't her nakedness that caught Fancy off guard. It was how exquisite she looked standing there bathed in moonlight. Fancy had not seen her in human form since the day she arrived. That day, in the waning light of evening, fully dressed and having her hair tied back in a braid of some sort, Penn had looked rather ordinary to Fancy.

However, seeing her now, in the moonlight, the rogue was mesmerizing. Her black hair shone like dark rivers glistening under the eye of the moon and her pale limbs were positively incandescent. The Moon goddess herself could not have looked more supernal if the two had been standing side by side.

Fancy thought she might be looking at the corporeal form of the dark side of the moon. Her heart began to race inexplicably for one captivating moment as she wondered if the Moon goddess had a sister. For surely, she thought with astonishment, she was staring straight into the face of a goddess.

It wasn't just Penn's unearthly beauty under the moonlight but the strangely empyreal atmosphere around her. There was nothing remotely earthly and ordinary about her in that moment.

Fancy was quite startled and flustered by her own thoughts. She prided herself on being professional at all times. But, right now, she could hardly string two words together as she stared, like a star-struck teen, at the most enchanting picture she'd ever seen.

Tears came to her eyes unexpectedly and she was dumbfounded when she had to wipe several away before she could get herself under control.

However, the peculiar spell she was submerged in broke the moment Penn stepped out of the moonlight. As she crossed the dimly lit room, under the light of a few ordinary lamps here and there, she once again looked every bit her usual, ordinary self. Fancy blinked several times not sure she could trust her eyes.

She looked back at the glass patio doors and strode over to them. When she thrust her arm into the moonlight nothing out of the ordinary occurred. She waved Cassidy over, while Penn stood there looking though the clothes, and made the girl stand in the exact same spot. Cassidy obeyed though she could not fathom what Fancy was doing.

Fancy stood back and examined Cassidy. The moonlight had not changed her appearance in any way. She then exchanged places with Cassidy, though the girl seemed very perplexed, and asked her if she saw anything strange when Fancy stood in the moonlight.

Cassidy did her best not to laugh as she and Jackson shared a strange look between them. He shrugged his shoulders in response. He didn't know what the woman was up to either. Cassidy decided that Fancy was so embarrassed by Penn's state of undress that she was just finding something to do to occupy her mind until Penn was clothed in something - anything. So, Cassidy graciously played along.

Fancy, after looking and checking and rechecking, decided that there was nothing special about the moonlight per se. She determined that the unexpected ethereal vision she saw was either a trick of her tired eyes or perhaps an allergic reaction Penn's skin had to moonlight. She decided she would get the woman to step back into the moonlight just as soon as she was dressed to test her theory out.

Penn, entirely unaware of the nearly supernatural experience which Fancy had just undergone, but sensing that the woman was not herself, ignored the woman's odd behaviour. As long as Cassidy didn't mind entertaining the woman, who was Penn to interfere. Like Cassidy, she was sure the woman was simply frazzled by Penn's current level of nudity. Penn decided to hurry up and find something to wear in order to put the woman out of her obvious misery.

There was a pale blue summer dress, among the t-shirts, sweaters and pants, that caught Penn's eye. The dress was not an appropriate choice for a number of reasons. For starters, it was a summer dress and it was now the end of October. And though the afternoons were warm, the mornings and evenings were cold now. It simply wasn't practical.

Second, it would not be easy to manoeuver in if she was forced into a physical confrontation with anyone in the pack. It was a knee length, A-line dress that had a snug bodice. It certainly would look flattering on but it would highly restrict her upper body movement in a hand-to hand combat situation.

Still, despite the practical and tactical reasons why she should not to slip the dress on, it was the dress that Penn couldn't take her eyes off of. She felt a little embarrassed by this obviously girlish desire to wear something so blatantly feminine.

Penn caressed the soft cotton under her fingers and admired the colour. Nothing else in the pile of clothes appealed to her in the least. Some small part of her felt like throwing caution to the wind and picking the dress simply because she liked it rather than something more sensible.

Not one to be indecisive, Penn smiled to herself as she picked up the dress and slipped it over her head and past her hips. She spent several minutes pulling all her hair out from inside the dress. Once she had it all out, she realized that the top was not as snug around the bodice as she had expected. She turned her body a little to the right and the left while lifting her arms up and down to calculate how much movement she had. There seemed to be plenty if she had to block a blow or swing a fist at an aggressor.

Feeling satisfied with her choice, she smoothed out the wrinkles in the material and grinned. She hadn't worn a dress since she was a teen. For the first time since she'd been exiled from the pack, Penn felt exceedingly feminine. It was a ridiculous feeling. What did it matter if she felt that way or not? However, the feeling was there all the same.

She turned to look at her audience curious to know what they thought. They could not take their eyes from her.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked awkwardly. She didn't feel self-conscious exactly. She just felt that she must have made a strange sight for them to stare at her that way.

"Nothing is wrong," Cassidy said after she realized she'd just been gawking at the woman.

Penn pulled her excessively long hair over her shoulder and began to braid it to get it out of the way. "Perhaps, we could get this mane of mine cut," she said with a laugh. "Do you think the cooks would lend me some scissors?" she asked Fancy.

Not sure what happened to her voice, Fancy just nodded. Penn then smiled at the woman. It was the first genuine smile Fancy had seen from the rogue and it nearly knocked her right over. Why, the she-wolf was positively lovely when she smiled and she had this oddly queenly air about her that seemed to suit her somehow – even in that simple pale blue dress.

Fancy could not fathom, looking at the woman, why the Second Beta had ever attacked her. But, witnessing the rogue take him down with a single bite, had taught Fancy that this strange woman was powerful and could be deadly if provoked.

Fancy frowned. Nothing made sense where the rogue was concerned. Nothing fit together. She was everything a rogue was not and more powerful than even a Second Beta. It was a terrifying thought. So much so that Fancy could not dwell on it. Instead, she shook her head and concentrated on footwear.

Penn laughed at the very mention of shoes to go with the dress. It was a light sound, very musical and quite infectious. Fancy found herself smiling despite herself.

"I don't need footwear, Fancy," Penn said feeling very amused. 

"But what will you do when it gets cold," Fancy protested.

Fancy instantly saw the children's faces change. They looked crestfallen. She found Penn looking at the teens with a sad but resigned look. And then she heard, what she already knew, but hadn't really registered.

"I'll likely be long gone before the snow comes," Penn said as she looked from the teens sorrowful faces to Fancy.

Fancy was mortified. "Of course, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking," she said quietly while eyeing the children. They were not happy about this news at all it seemed. Fancy, not sure what to make of everything herself and feeling very uncomfortable excused herself. She'd totally forgotten about her plan to make Penn stand in the moonlight.

When she'd gone Penn turned to Cassidy and Jackson saying, "I think it is time to turn in, don't you?"

Cassidy and Jackson nodded in agreement and quietly went to their rooms while Penn turned back to the pile of clothes and looked for a nightdress. She didn't want to sleep in the blue dress and wrinkle it. It was the prettiest thing she'd worn in a very long time and she would like to keep it looking pretty as long as she had the privilege of wearing it. Though, she didn't imagine that would be long now.

Even if the Alpha did not send her packing anytime soon, she was going to have to leave because she couldn't stand being cooped up much longer. Being sequestered at the pack house was eating away at her sanity every day, and it was happening too quickly for comfort.

Penn stared out at the moon, which had risen high in the night sky, and sent up a little prayer to the Moon goddess asking her to help her keep it together until the time came to leave the pups. She didn't really believe in the goddess. The woman had never answered any of her prayers before now. But, she figured it couldn't hurt. Perhaps she was listening this time.

No matter what, Penn was determined to leave the Orthos pack on good terms. She was committed to keeping it together until the moment she exited Orthos territory, no matter how badly her nerves were fraying, because she hoped they might welcome her back some day if she was ever reconciled with her old pack.

It was a just a dream. Penn knew she was kidding herself, but being with the pups for the last seven weeks had really made her soft. She couldn't stop herself from day dreaming a little now and again about the impossible. She chuckled a little at how ridiculous she was and then found something to sleep in.

She was turning into a real sap, she thought with amusement, as she slipped out of her blue dress and into a nightgown. Seven weeks ago she didn't think she had it in her and now, well, she was too soft. Nothing good would come of it. That was for certain.