Aja gingerly ran her hand along the bandage wrapped around her forearm. The bite still throbbed, like her arm had been hit with a large stick, even several hours later into the next morning.

Apparently, she'd gone unconscious and stayed that way all night, having woken up only about half an hour ago. She was sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up to her chest, watching the others mill about the house. Krel had told her that they'd all spent the night here in the Mothership after she'd passed out. In addition, Blinky, Aarrrgggh!! and Strickler were here.

Strickler was a shape-shifting creature known as a changeling. He'd defected from Gunmar's forces some time ago, in a rather dramatic chain of events involving a troll assassin named Angor Rot. Nobody quite trusted him yet, but he hadn't done anything shady so far.

"Can I tell you what happened now?" She asked in a bored tone. She'd wanted to spill every detail much earlier, but because she'd just had to pass out last night (which she found extremely confusing), Krel had insisted she sit there and rest before engaging in any form of discussion.

"Yes." Claire answered before Krel could say anything. She promptly sat on the other end of the couch and gave the princess her full attention.

"Are you sure you want to talk about it yet?" Krel asked, shooting Claire a look.

"I want to see if we can figure out what's going on around here!" Aja said firmly. "A wolf bite doesn't usually make you lose consciousness, now does it? Not talking about it will drive me crazy." She crossed her arms, briefly forgetting that one was injured. She winced and uncrossed the top two.

The others all turned their attention towards her, and she took her chance to start before Krel stopped her again. And he claims he doesn't protect me.

"First off, the troll definitely saw a wolf. I followed the paw tracks." She explained.

"Yeah, by yourself. You have a really bad habit of doing that." Toby pointed out.

"Secondly," She continued, ignoring him. "There are two."

"Two?!" Claire exclaimed. "Two monster wolves in Arcadia?! When do we ever get a break?!"

"Not today, apparently." Jim deadpanned, leaning against the wall.

"How about you start from the when you left the rest of the group?" Strickler suggested. Varvatos was standing just behind him and listening intently. Aja was glad she'd been unconscious during the commander's uncontrolled outrage over her having been wounded.

"Well, Toby found a paw print. Everyone was looking at it and talking, and I couldn't get their attention when I found the tracks leading off into the forest, so I followed them myself." She explained. "I was still following them when the first wolf attacked me. It was huge, and absolutely mad. I don't know what was wrong with it, but nothing was right. It looked really skinny, too."

"What were it's eyes like?" Douxie asked thoughtfully.

"Red. Like, glowing, angry red. It was very unsettling." She answered. The young wizard frowned.

"Go on."

"I swiped at it with my serrator, and I must have hit it, because it backed off long enough for me to run away." She said. "I wasn't look where I was going, so I kind of slipped and fell down a steep hill, which is where I saw the other one." She paused, gazing thoughtfully into space.

"This one was different. She didn't seem hostile. She actually looked... concerned, like she wondered if I was okay. She also seemed curious, and she made these little barking noises at me, like she was...talking to me."

"When did you get bit?" Asked Krel.

"The first wolf must have followed me, because it appeared out of nowhere and attacked me again." Aja felt even more puzzled as she remembered the event. "The other wolf started fighting it. I could have sworn she was defending me. In fact, that's how I got bit. She was lunging for the first wolf, but it moved at the last second... I don't know for sure, but... I think she bit me by accident."

"What happened then? Where did the wolves go?" Blinky added his question to the discussion.

"They just ran off... I think the first one was scared by the incident. I'm almost sure the other one looked horrified at what she'd done, but by then the world was already spinning... I thought I heard people shouting, but that could have been my imagination." She finished.

"You're saying that the wolf that bit you was sorry?" Jim asked, raising a brow. Aja nodded slightly, not sure she believed that herself.

"An animal is an animal! They can't be sorry!" Varvatos bellowed. "Varvatos will find the foul creatures who dared to harm the queen-in-waiting and CRUSH THEM!!"

"Unless...they weren't animals. Aja, what was the other wolf like? It's eyes weren't red?" Douxie spoke up with sudden excitement.

"No, her eyes were actually kind of pretty. One was green and the other was blue. They almost seemed human." Aja answered. Douxie started pacing.

"There aren't supposed to be any here in Arcadia... Last night was a full moon... Defending you..." He was muttering under his breath. "The bite. Did it...glow?"

What an odd question. She tried to remember.

"Um... Actually, yeah... It glowed kind of white. That was magic, wasn't it?!" She gasped at the sudden realization.

"Fuzzbuckets!" Douxie exclaimed. "There's only one thing this could be!"

"Well, by all means, enlighten us." Said Strickler. Douxie stopped pacing and put a hand to his head.

"Werewolves."

The room fell silent.

"Uuuh... What's a werewolf?" Asked Krel.

"Half man, half wolf!" Toby said in a dark, serious tone. "On the night of the full moon, he will transform into a vicious beast! And if he bites you...you become one of his kind!!"

"Not exactly." Said Archie, who had remained silent until now. "Werewolves aren't always vicious, and they can take on the form a wolf whenever they want. It's on the night of the full moon that their bite will turn you into one of them, and it's always a full moon when a werewolf will make it's first transformation. That's where the modern legends come from."

"And last night was a full moon!" Claire exclaimed, putting the pieces together. Aja lightly touched the bandage again.

"W-wait. Does--does that mean--" Her eyes went wide.

"No need to panic! Merlin left me with some books. I'm sure there's some more information there. We have an entire month to figure this out." Douxie assured her.

"Hmmmmmm... Warrior, princess.... werewolf?" Aarrrgggh!! wondered, counting on his large fingers. He didn't look greatly disturbed.

"What happens after a month?" Aja asked slowly, anxiety gripping her throat like a noose.

"Well..." Douxie started. "If your being an Akiridion doesn't change the process, then, on the next full moon..." Archie jumped in and finished for him.

"You'll transform into a werewolf. And then it will be permanent."