A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

When Emily heard those words and felt his hand on her head, she couldn't help a shiver of pleasure passing through her spine, while a slight blush appeared on her cheeks.

Emma watching this, couldn't believe her rebellious and independent big sister was acting this way, yet… it made her very happy. She giggled at the sight. "At this rate, you'll marry him before Astrid does!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

Astrid blushed a little at her words, but didn't say anything. Instead, she looked around for something to punch.

Emily, however, quickly shook off Erik's hand and jumped up, causing Erik to grin and take a step back. "S— Shut up!" she yelled with more embarrassment than anger.

'Crap, crap, crap,' Emily thought to herself in an angry panic, with most of the anger directed at herself. 'Are these my real feelings, or the result of this damn slavery thing!'

"The Bond only forces obedience and reverence. And a very small amount in your case, too. It doesn't give pleasure or happiness," she suddenly heard Erik's teasing voice in her head.

"You!" she responded angrily through their bond as she glared at him. "You didn't tell me you could read my thoughts!"

"I can't," Erik chuckled. "They were just glaringly obvious."

"Agh!" Emily exclaimed loudly, and turned her back on Erik in frustration.

Meanwhile, Emma had heard nothing of their conversation. Nor, in fact, was she even aware that they could communicate through a bond, as she was still unaware Emily had been enslaved.

Still, she grinned happily at their interaction.

With the teasing done, Erik smiled softly and turned to Emma to pick her up. "Alright guys. Victor says the coast is clear for now, so let's get going."

Alice's eyes immediately lit up, and she quickly climbed on Erik's back. A part of her was apprehensive to see her father's remains, but her eyes were full of determination.

In the same configuration they had been traveling all this time before, they once again took off. Next destination: Frostvik.

Still, Erik felt the need to give Alice a disclaimer: "Remember, Alice. It's not a sure thing yet. We'll get periodic updates from Victor, and if anything changes we'll have to haul ass away from here."

Their current plan wasn't foolproof, or absolutely safe, but it was as close as they would get. And frankly, Erik wanted to do this for the brave little Alice.

——————————————

Two hours later, they strolled into Frostvik. Here, they found a bend over Victor, still in the middle of drawing his next sigil.

Every one of his scans so far had been clean, so they had simply kept moving. At this point, even if the scans finally picked up something, they would have plenty of time to leave again.

"Damn," Astrid whispered as she looked around. "They really made a mess of things, huh."

Emily and Emma too, looked around with different expressions. Emily was full of morbid curiosity, and a desire to have this kind of power as well. Emma, on the other hand, looked sad, not for herself, or for the town, but because she felt a tinge of sadness from her link with Erik.

Erik couldn't help but sigh with regret as he looked around at the remains of his childhood village. Although he felt substantial relief when he saw his own home and the graveyard remaining in one piece.

Of course, his father's grave would have survived due to the flower Elora had planted on it protecting the area against anything of third-rank power and below. But it wasn't like he felt nothing at all for the other graves, especially the grave of his aunt.

As they approached the middle of town, Erik put down Emma. He could feel Alice getting restless on his back, as she looked around with part fear, part desire. She was looking for her father's remains.

He bend down to let her off his back, and when she stood next to him, offered her his hand in support.

She looked at it with a little apprehension, still not sure how to feel about Erik's role in her fathers death. Especially now that she was standing here.

Still, the hand looked awfully inviting, considering her own turmoil and the trust she had come to put in Erik. So after a moments hesitation, she grabbed his hand.

Erik nodded encouraging at her, before turning to the others. "Let's spread out and look for him. Remember, he'll have died in wereverine form, so that's what we're looking for."

Unlike in much of modern Earth's media, shapeshifters did not return to human form after their death. That would imply that the human form was their true form, but that wasn't the case. They had a single body, and that body simply had two different shapes they could shift between.

The beast form was as much their true self as their human form.

Thus, a shapeshifter that died would remain in the form they had at that moment.

Everyone nodded, some a little more solemnly than others, and started spreading out, with Erik still holding Alice's hand. Meanwhile, Victor remained in the middle of town, drawing his sigils.

It took only a few minutes before Astrid yelled from somewhere behind one of the houses. "Hey guys! I found… something."

Erik raised an eyebrow from curiosity, wondering what she could mean with something, but he shared a look with Alice, giving her an encouraging nod, and made his way to Astrid's voice.

When he and the others arrived at Astrid's location, they found something a little surprising.

It was a grave.

It was placed just on the edge of town, and consisted of some stones heaped in a small hill, and a larger one placed at the head.

Alice slowly approached the grave with slightly trembling hands, until she touched the headstone, to make sure it was real. Small tears started rolling from her cheeks when she read the text that had been carved on it with a sharp nail:

Here lies Björn Olsen.

Devoted father.

Sentimental idiot.

He has my respect.