Rise.

The afternoon meal was just simple stew with bread, and on top of it Róan wasn't allowed out of his quarters, so Euan had to content himself with a meal at home. Only Loban wasn't even there, since he had rounds at 3 and was teaching a medic class at 7 - he had left a message assuring his mate that he would see him at the night meal, but until then, Euan was on his own.

At 2, he finished tidying everything he could tidy, and by half-three, he'd been for a walk, to the baths, and spent some time in the sauna. So shortly after 4, he found himself wandering into the Social Hall of their wing, just looking for some company.

He found a small lounge, attached to the bathing rooms and positioned on a corner to allow for maximum sunlight. Inside, three humans, probably in their mid thirties, gathered around a small, low table, playing cards. Euan began to enter, then nervousness overcame him as he remembered that he was a stranger here. In his clan, they'd not treated strangers too kindly; they hadn't even treated him kindly, if he was being honest, and he could only count maybe one or two true friends through his entire life. Both were gone. Just as Euan made his decision to leave, the human whose seat faced the doorway looked up at him, and smiled.
"We were just looking for a fourth. Come in."
He had tan-olive skin, dark brown hair with a few grey notes that curled tightly and fell messily over his eyes. Reaching out one hand, he pulled one of the big, soft chairs closer to the table, and Euan noticed, when he reached, that he was heavily pregnant. Euan worked hard to look away. The man looked up at Euan again, who was still standing by the door.
"It's OK. We don't bite."
His eyes flicked over Euan.
"Melbourne." he pointed to himself. "Avion." this to the man across from him, also olive-skinned, but with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. "Virgil." this man looked similar to the second; his skin was much darker, but his eyes were the same piercing blue. "Cousins, those two."
Both had hair cut short; shorter, in fact, Euan realized, than any beta he'd seen in a long time. With some trepidation, he moved towards them and Virgil and Avion both turned around to greet him.
After teaching him the basics of the game, they played a round or two for practice until Euan finally got the hang of it and began to relax. Halfway through the third round, Melbourne once again broke the ice.
"So you're new here."
Euan nodded and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"You can tell."
"You seem anxious. It can be hard to get adjusted. That much, I remember."
At this, Euan glanced up.
"How long have you been here?"
Melbourne shared a look with his two companions.
"I've been bonded to my wolfe for 9 and a half years."
Euan dropped his cards. Virgil and Avion laughed as he scrambled to pick them up.
"Sorry! Sorry, I just - "
"I know."
"I didn't even know wolfes had been - that is, I didn't - "
"When the three of us came here," Melbourne began, slowly collecting the cards to reshuffle them, "It was under very different conditions than your own."
"Mel, he doesn't need to hear the story."
Avion's voice was light, but tinged with fear and threat. Melbourne examined him for a moment.
"You're probably right, Avi. Story for another time."
Passing the deck on to Virgil to deal, Mel turned to Euan.
"Tell us about you."
Avion looked up, signaling his interest.
"Nothing to tell. I grew up in a clan colony. My father died when I was 16, and I spent the rest of my time there trying to take care of my younger brother, Róan." Euan swallowed a knot in his throat. "I suppose I must have failed, because he's here with me now."
The three were observing him quietly. Needing to say more, Euan went on.
"There was nothing I could've done, though, really - the wolfes raided our clan; we had no idea they were coming and they took...everything. When I woke up here, my life was different. They gave me a million shots and made me take tests about my eyes and weight and ability to comprehend things that still make no sense to me. Then they left me alone, and there was this wolfe - my mate, Loban, and he - mated me, and then suddenly I was changing and the doctors gave me all these instructions and now I'm - "
Euan cut himself off, not sure how much he should share with these strangers.
"You're what, Euan?" Melbourne asked gently, but he was reclining in his chair now and one hand was rubbing his stomach so Euan betted he already knew.
"With. I'm with." he shifted his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, I can't - "
"It's OK." Melbourne leaned forward, across the table, to touch his hand. "It's OK."
Euan suddenly jerked his head up.
"What about you? I mean, I'm sitting here, just pouring my heart out and all I know about you is your name. Who are you three? How did you get here?"
Melbourne exchanged another look with Avion and Virgil, both of whom shrugged and looked disinterested. But surprisingly, it was Virgil, speaking slowly through a thick accent, who began to tell the story:

We were among the first humans to be made wolfish mates. We were the ninth, tenth, and eleventh, actually, and things were very different for us than they were for you. For one thing, we grew up before the time of the Underground. We lived through the Wars, and we remember the first day that Wolvish ships landed on this rock we call a home. I was traveling with my friends on the day that I was taken. There were no laws, then, mind you - Wolfes had just arrived on Earth and they had established no plan, no mindset, no code of behavior or protocol for interaction. The decrees of rights and responsibilities, the governance, the leadership - all of that was absent when our time came. All we were offered was a pack of half-starved half-savage wolfes who knew nothing in the world but to take what was not given.

So you may think these times you live through now are hard, but those of us who came at the beginning remember how it was. Clorst found me walking home one day, traveling what I thought was a safe route between our fortress home and the township. I didn't know what he was then - no one did. I was with five friends - six of us altogether, Avion and Melbourne included. Clorst was split off from his pack. He took me in front of them. They tried to help me fight him, but he was wild - long gone with the heat of his season. Then the rest came. Have you ever seen animals at a frenzy?

It was near two to one, and they fought and growled and tore at each other like strips of meat to get at us, and when they did, they were unrelenting. And the rest watched, pacing, growling, anxious for a chance. We were there until sunset, when they hoisted us over their shoulders and carried us back with them. Carried us, like cargo, but we couldn't have walked anyway. That night was more of it, and no food. The next day, the pain of the Change was indescribable. It lasted three days. His heat lasted seven more. He took me as a female before I was ready, a pain I suspect you've had the good fortune to be spared. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know if this would all be over soon, or never. Screaming didn't help. Crying didn't help. I was lucky enough to lose consciousness for most of day one, and some of day two. Day two was the day they raided our fortress. Seeing no use for our leaders, who they suspected might incite the rest of us to rebel, they killed them. Any who resisted too strongly were shot. Everyone resisted. When I woke up on day three, the pain was gone and my father was dead.

Then they moved us; we went west, that was all we knew. A few hours later, we arrived at BlackForest. Six weeks later I couldn't keep anything down. Ten months later I whelped my first lit. I cried for three days and they kept me in the infirmary for a week and a half. Two years later I tried to run away. Four hours after, they brought me back. They found me tied up and gagged on the back of a truck, all ready to leave for Lout territory. They told me I was lucky. The world had changed a lot since the last time I'd been outside of the compound walls. Men were underground now; things were dangerous. Clorst beat me with his fists when I came home; this punishment was still tolerated and fashionable then. He showed me my children, told me if I ever left him again, they were dead. I haven't been outside of BlackForest since.

Euan was clenching his jaw to keep his silence. Virgil half-smiled up at him.
"So you see, Euan, things will change. They will be better for your brother than they will be even for you."
Euan stared open-mouthed at Virgil, who was calmly dealing another hand of cards.
"How can you speak so calmly about that?"
Virgil shrugged.
"It is past. Clorst is different now; he does not beat or yell, and I have come to understand him. He loves me. I love him. We are mates. The world is different now. I am happy here; I have Avion and Melbourne, and many of the elders from our fort. My children grow like weeds, and this makes me happy. There is food and increasingly, freedom." Pausing in the act of placing one card on the table, Virgil looked sharply up at Euan.
"But I advise you never to forget how close to animals these wolfes really are."

~:~