Chapter Text
Donghyuck blinked his eyes open sleepily. He was cold, so cold he had woken up. He looked around, trying to orient himself, then he remembered he had dozed off in the viola clearing.
During his nap, the sun had moved and left him in the shade. He rolled over, back into her rays, hoping to warm up again. Impatiently, he waited for the uncomfortable feeling of freezing to leave and sleep to return, but the afternoon sun wasn’t strong enough yet to make it go away.
Donghyuck was very displeased with the whole situation. Where had Jaemin gone? When he had fallen asleep, his friend had been here with him, but he was gone now – like the sun.
He whined and got up on all four paws. With how low she was in the sky now, he figured he’d best just go home and find someone to warm him up there. Maybe complain to Jaemin for leaving him all alone. Surely, someone would be willing to cuddle.
Donghyuk happily bounced over the shy blossoms of the first flowers blooming in the underwood, walking the well-travelled route back to their camp.
The clearing was the furthest they were allowed to go. ‘They’ were him and his friends, the set of puppies born the same cycle of seasons and just old enough to explore on their own without their parents constantly having to worry about them getting lost forever, eaten, or attacked by hostile intruders.
It was a huge deal, of course. They had been allowed out since last summer and Donghyuck had been bragging to his little brother as much as possible because he was now super old and allowed to do this while he was stuck with his parents.
During winter no one was eager to push for more, staying at home and inside where it was warmer. Maybe, Donghyuck thought, they’d be allowed a little further, now that outside became exciting again. Just up the river a little, down over the clearing, that sort of further.
He wasn’t excited to get off the trails yet. He knew some of his friends were, but Donghyuck wasn’t. His nose was fine, but he had trouble finding his way around, he easily got lost in too many scents.
Tracking was hard, okay?
The excitement to get home and to his pack, pushed Donghyuck to go as fast as his short legs would carry him. He didn’t like being alone, it was boring and lonely.
But then, an unknown scent reached his nose and Donghyuck slowed down before fully stopping, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
That was another wolf!
He was not super good at tracking, but this, he was sure of!
That was odd because he was inside their territory. No outsiders or, worse, attackers usually got here. His Appa and the others very carefully made sure the borders were secure. Due to that, Donghyuck had never smelt a foreign wolf before, but he could easily identify the scent.
There was more to this one, though. They smelt really nice, interesting, and Donghyuck wanted to find the person it belonged to! It was almost like a pull – or maybe just curiosity.
He sniffed the flowers on the side of the trail curiously, pushing through the bigger grass and small bushes that grew behind them, to get where the scent was coming from.
It smelt not only like an unknown wolf, but a bit like ginger, too, which was even odder. Donghyuck wasn’t far from camp, and he knew where you could find spices and herbs. It was an easy task to collect them, he and his friends were sent to do it often.
But this wasn’t the place for any of that. Here, you could find berries when summer arrived. And you had to be careful because of the thorns the bushes had, trying to keep hungry invaders, like Donghyuck, away.
He definitely smelt ginger, getting stronger and mixing into the wolf scent like it was a wolf smelling of ginger…
He shifted, raising on two feet now instead of paws because he could avoid the branches easier like this. There had to be someone here because of the scent! And he wanted to find them!
If it was Sungchan, trying to pull another prank on him, Donghyuck was so going to tell their parents. He frowned when he remembered biting into delicious dried deer two nights ago, only to start coughing and gagging when he had realised it had been marinated in bitter spices.
The other had laughed and called him an idiot for not smelling it, and Donghyuck had spent the evening curled up against his Appa, pouting. He had been hungry. That’s why he hadn’t smelt it.
However, it clearly wasn’t his older brother trying to prank him this time. He spotted the form of a grey wolf, lying right in the field of strawberries, and stopped.
The older members of his pack were made up of run-aways, strays, and loners, who had all lost their original packs, many cycles of the season before Donghyuck had been born. It was a wonderful story his Appa often told them at the bonfire in the evening. They all became family, fell in love and stuck together against any attack. After a few years, the pack started to grow, puppies being born to the couples, like Donghyuck himself.
But no matter how different their origins were, their coats all were shades of brown. Donghyuck was as dark as his Dad, almost black on the top, a bit lighter on the tummy.
This was definitely not brown, it was a very distinct grey.
Donghyuck excitedly sneaked closer. He didn’t know there were wolves of this colour! All he knew were the snow wolves from the mountains who sometimes tried to challenge them for their territory. Of course, they always got chased away by his Appa and the other hunters, but that meant he had seen a snow wolf. Dead, sure, with the perfect white fur… well, apart from the blood.
But this was different. This wasn’t someone challenging them for territory, right? It didn’t look like it was, so he didn’t bother worrying. Donghyuck was close enough now to see that the other was still breathing, though irregularly.
And he was the source of ginger! Why? Donghyuck didn’t know any wolf that smelt of ginger – and he really liked ginger, especially this type of it!
“Hey?” he carefully asked.
He wasn’t a snow wolf, so he wouldn’t be dangerous, right? And he was small, about his own size, so he must be like him and his friends. Maybe he had gotten lost?
“Hey, do you hear me?” he repeated and the wolf lifted his head, blinking dark brown eyes open. He looked at Donghyuck and started whining, baring his throat.
It was enough submission to make Donghyuck close the last steps separating them.
“Who are you? Where are you from? What’s your name? Do you realise you’re ruining the strawberries? They’re my favourite!” Donghyuck burst out, not even breathing between the words falling from his lips.
The other kept whining, wiggling until he finally rolled over, revealing some nasty gashes in his side.
It looked similar to when Jungwoo had gotten hurt by a boar during one of his first hunting trips last autumn and Donghyuck gasped loudly. Only, this wasn’t fresh, like Jungwoo’s had been when he had been carried back to the camp. Instead, the blood was already clumping in some places, the fur dirty and sticking together.
“Oh no. This… how long has it been like this? Wait, no, you can’t answer. And you shouldn’t shift! Don’t shift, or it can get worse, Doyoung said so when Jungwoo was hurt. Just stay still. I’ll… I’ll get someone,” Donghyuck was about to dash off, but the wolf yipped, looking up at him with fear in his eyes.
Oh no, maybe they thought he was just going to leave? Or get someone mean?
“Don’t worry. They’re all really super nice. My Dad only gets scary when I do things I’m not supposed to do. I mean, you didn’t ask to get hurt, right? How did you even end up here… Wait, your pack didn’t hunt in our grounds, right? Wait, do you have a pack? Because I thought you were on your own, but you must have a pack, right? Because we’re not giving away territory,” Donghyuck pushed his hands onto his hips because that always looked really scary when his dad did it, and stared the grey wolf down, who seemed even more distressed now.
Oh no, he hadn’t meant to scare him. Donghyuck internally scolded himself for his actions, he had just worried for a second and he should make sure. His appa was the pack leader, after all, Donghyuck had to be responsible and do the right thing to keep the pack safe.
Just, could someone who smelt so nice be evil?
“Sorry, I don’t understand you. Ah! I got it! Let’s do it like this, we always do that if someone is stuck in wolf form for some reason. I ask and if I’m right, you nod, if not, you shake your head. Neat, right?” Donghyuck beamed, very pleased with himself that he had thought of that. The grey wolf stopped whining and nodded once, obviously having understood.
“Did you come here because you wanna steal land?” Donghyuck asked, crossing his arms to look more intimidating again. The wolf immediately shook his head, whining more. Well, Donghyuck was very scary. No one would steal away land on his watch!
“Oh. Okay, that’s good. Do you have a pack?”
Another shake of the head, a lot smaller this time, and the wolf closed his eyes, looking like he was so, so sad.
“Oh no,” Donghyuck crouched down next to him, carefully petting his head. That had to be terribly lonely. Had he come here to look for company?
“But in that case, I really have to get someone to help you because if you have a wound, you must wash it out so it doesn’t get infected, Doyoung said so. Infected wounds can kill you, you know?” Donghyuck calmly explained. The wolf wasn’t big and the fur didn’t hide the fact that they were skinny, the shapes of bones visible under the grey pelt.
But they shook their head again and Donghyuck hesitated. Well, he had to help him! He couldn’t be lonely and hurt out here!
“In that case, I’ll carry you!” he huffed, getting back on his feet.
Now, he was perfectly aware of his own size. He was only going to turn 7 this summer. He couldn’t drag a deer, he didn’t reach the top of the big tent in which they slept, he could only carry the small logs for the fire.
But this wolf wasn’t that big either and skinny on top of it. And he really needed help. He was probably lonely. Donghyuck knew how much it sucked to be alone.
He was not going to leave him here!
The grey wolf watched him warily as Donghyuck pushed his arms under them, trying to adjust while they were still on the floor. They felt even bonier than they looked, which spurred Donghyuck on to hurry.
He held his breath and with a small huff, he straightened back up, the wolf in his arms.
“You’re heavy.”
But Donghyuck was nothing if not stubborn. He had picked this person up and said he’d get them to their camp, so he was going to do it.
He had to take three small breaks to catch his breath and stop his arms from cramping up and giving out.
But he didn’t give up, especially since the wolf struggled to keep their eyes open. With how skinny they were, they had probably been starving for longer. The ginger smelt trustworthy and calming to Donghyuck. He just knew he had to get them home, make sure they were safe!
When he finally stepped out of the trees, the tents in sight, Donghyuck yipped in relief and excitement, carefully placing the grey wolf down. They whimpered again as Donghyuck pulled his arms away for good.
“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you,” Donghyuck promised, patting the thigh where they weren’t hurt, before looking in the direction of the camp. He saw smoke from the fire, but he wasn’t sure who was there. Jaemin, probably, but he was even smaller than Donghyuck and not going to be of any help. He needed an adult. Well, if he just screamed for long enough someone would surely come.
“Appa!” Donghyuck hollered, “Dad! Appa! Dad!”
He kept shouting until a figure emerged from the outer line of tents, quickly making his way over to where Donghyuck was sitting with the grey wolf.
“Donghyuck! Are you hurt? Why are you screaming?”
“I found someone who’s hurt! And without a pack! I carried them here, all on my own. We have to help them!” Donghyuck explained loudly, not budging from the grey wolf’s side as the older sat down next to him.
“Hyuckie… you can’t just bring strangers to the camp,” He scolded, but his hands were hovering over the gashes, inspecting them.
“It’s fine, I questioned them before to make sure they’re not trying to steal territory. And look, they must be my age, right? And they’re all alone and probably hungry. Imagine how terribly lonely they must be,” Donghyuck choked up as he spoke it out loud. He couldn’t bear knowing someone was all alone and hurt – he was ready to beg if he had to, so they’d help the grey wolf!
“I… I understand that, but Hyuckie, they could have lied to you, or… well. They are rather small, arent they? And these wounds don’t look good. Where did you even find them? Did you stray off too far?” Taeyong looked up and fixed him with a hard glare.
“No! I didn’t! I swear I didn’t! I was just sleeping in the viola clearing with Nana and when I walked home, I smelt ginger. I looked where it was coming from and found them,” Donghyuck rattled down. He left out the part where Jaemin had left him behind to get cold and he was a tiny bit angry with him for doing so.
It wasn’t ideal to complain to Taeyong about Jaemin because, usually, Jaemin would twist the words until Donghyuck was the bad guy.
“I wonder how he sneaked past the hunters to get so far,” Taeyong whispered, but he pushed his arms under the wolf and picked him up, with much less strain than Donghyuck previously had, starting to walk to the camp with large steps, Donghyuck hot on his heels.
He wasn’t allowed in the medical tent, into which Taeyong brought the grey wolf, calling Doyoung to come. Since it had felt wrong to abandon them, Donghyuck had gone to get a pair of pants and a fluffy sweater before sitting down in front of it and waiting.
“What are you doing here?”
He looked up from the strings of grass he was braiding to pass the time.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
“Jaemin! You left me alone!” Donghyuck jumped up and tackled the other wolf in a hug, bringing him down, but got overpowered almost immediately.
“No fair, I was cold!” Donghyuck whined, not bothering to fight back. Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun enjoyed play fights, but Donghyuck only did them when he had to for training.
“Sorry, Hyuckie, but you wouldn’t wake up! Jeno and Injun asked to come to bathe before it got too cold,” Jaemin smiled down on him and Donghyuck pouted.
“Still. But I found someone really interesting, instead. And you didn’t, Nah-Nah-Na,” Donghyuck poked out his tongue with a grin.
“Really?” Jeno asked and Jaemin let go, so he could sit back up.
Donghyuck grinned, enjoying their curious eyes on him for a dramatic moment before spilling “I found a grey wolf, who’s all alone and really hurt, in the berry field. I think they’re our age. Taeyong said so, too.”
“Grey?” Jeno asked, furrowing his brows.
“I never knew there were grey wolves. Are you sure?” Renjun flopped on the ground so close to Donghyuck he almost squashed his thigh, but the warmth was more than welcome.
“Yep. Doyoung’s taking care of them right now,” Donghyuck nodded so much, his hair whipped his face.
“Do you think we can look inside?” Jaemin asked, a mischievous smirk on his lips. He glanced at the tent.
“No! They said I couldn’t come!” Donghyuck crossed his arms, huffing, hoping to impress them. It fell short and Jaemin still snuck towards the forbidden territory.
Normally, Donghyuck would have been first in line to break a rule like this. But now, he didn’t want to risk anything. What if they didn’t allow the ginger wolf to stay because he tried to sneak a look?
Donghyuck really wanted them to stay. Not be lonely in the wild out there. Maybe even…
“Jaemin, what do you think you’re doing?” A deep voice asked and Jaemin was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and pulled back.
“Nothing? I was just sitting here with the others,” Jaemin chirped with a beam up to the man holding him back.
“Hm, good. Because your father said it was urgent and potentially dangerous. We wouldn’t want you close to that, right?”
“No, of course not,” Jaemin nodded as if he hadn’t just tried to do exactly that. Donghyuck internally snorted, but he wasn’t going to rat his friend out. If it was Sungchan, sure, but not Jaemin, Jeno, or Renjun.
“Appa!” Donghyuck jumped up instead and hugged the leg of the taller man before he could move on into the tent. If his Appa was here, it meant he was going to decide what was going to happen with the grey wolf. His Appa was the leader of the pack and things like this were important, so he decided them.
“I found them! And they’re alone! Can I keep them? Please! They smell really nice and they need to have friends! I want to be their friend!” Donghyuck pleaded, looking up in the way that usually got him what he wanted. At least with his Appa. It didn’t work so well with his Dad. But his Dad wasn’t the pack leader.
“They smell really good? I see. But they might be dangerous, you know? Your safety is my number one priority, always. Now, why don’t you boys go and help with dinner?”
“But Appa, I wanna know what happens to the grey wolf,” Donghyuck whined, hugging the leg he held onto tighter.
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell you. But we couldn’t have a guest and not have any dinner for them, right?” his Appa raised an eyebrow.
Donghyuck let go of him and turned to his friends, new determination in his eyes, “We have to go and make the bestest dinner ever. Right now! Come on, don’t slack off!”
Jaemin was complaining behind him, but Donghyuck ignored him in his march over to the fireplace with steps as large as a small person like him could muster.
It took soooo long.
Donghyuck wasn’t sure if chopping vegetables was more tiring and time-consuming today than normal, but it might be. Time, overall, was a very mysterious concept. Donghyuck wouldn’t downright eliminate the possibility it was passing slower now only to make him suffer.
He wanted to hear that the grey wolf could stay. He didn’t even know their name, but he knew he would cry if they had to go again and be all alone and not here.
The soup was almost finished and the meat was sizzling over the fire when Doyoung came to the cooking place, a small smile on his face. Renjun and Jaemin had disappeared some time earlier because they were lazy bums (okay, normally all four of them snuck away the moment they got the chance to. But today was different! Today was important), but Donghyuck and Jeno were still there, stirring and stirring and stirring.
“Can they stay?” Donghyuck threw the spoon into the soup, darting over. Kun sighed deeply behind him. The importance of cooking had suddenly dropped to almost non-existent in Donghyuck’s mind, so he didn’t even hear it.
“Sit down, Donghyuck. You, too, Jeno,” Donghyuck did as he was told, but fidgeted in his place, excited and nervous.
“The wolf Donghyuck found was very injured and the wounds weren’t treated like I always tell you it’s very important to do. To make matters worse, he also didn’t get a lot of food. His body is very weak at the moment. He cannot shift for now because his wounds will get worse, but we don’t think he’s dangerous.”
Donghyuck nodded. What he was hearing was that he could stay, right? Right?
“But we aren’t sure if he will recover from his injury. He’s coherent and alright now, but we cannot be sure if what we can do is enough.”
Donghyuck felt his lower lip starting to wobble and he bit it to stop that.
“But you did everything you can, right?” he whispered.
“Yes. Of course. And we will continue to do our very best. It will take a few days to see if he heals. If he does, it should be about half a moon until he can shift and we can talk to him and see if he’s a loner and he could join our pack.”
Donghyuck nodded, blinking back tears. He knew how the circle of life worked. Death wasn’t bad and it wasn’t the end. But he imagined one of his friends being in the grey wolf’s place, and he really didn’t want them to die. He also didn’t want the ginger wolf to die. He wanted to get to know him!
“Can I visit him?”
“You can if there’s an adult there,” Doyoung nodded.
“I wanna visit him, too. Can’t I?” Jeno asked, clinging onto Donghyuck.
“Of course, you can visit him as well, as long as there’s an adult there.”
Needless to say, the visit to the medical hut, normally quite boring and hardly worth getting to one’s feet for, immediately became extremely exciting and needed to happen as soon as possible!
Donghyuck puffed his chest when the others saw that there was a grey wolf as they curiously peeked over the edge of the bed on which he was lying on his side.
“Wow! He’s really grey! Super grey!” Renjun whispered in awe.
“I thought you were just saying that to seem important,” Jaemin frowned and Donghyuck poked a finger into his waist.
“I wonder where he got hurt. Do you think he feels very bad?” Jeno muttered, eyes on the big bandages over the wolf’s tummy.
Donghyuck stared at them, too. He shrugged because he didn’t know either. Hopefully, he didn’t. Donghyuck didn’t want him to hurt! He didn’t even know his name, but he already considered him a friend.
Something about his scent just told him he wanted to be close.
And that didn’t stop. It was just as if he was being pulled towards the grey wolf, but he didn’t know why.
So, Donghyuck kept coming back to visit the medical tent. At first, the others tagged along, but at some point, they grew bored because all they could do was ask yes-or-no questions until they ran out.
But Donghyuck didn’t grow bored.
After four nights, Doyoung said he was sure the grey wolf would pull through and Donghyuck started bringing his embroidery or knitting work to sit in the medical tent and do it there to keep him company.
Renjun complained that he was abandoning his friends for someone he didn’t even know the name of, but Donghyuck assured them he still loved them the best. Because he did. But this stranger had to be lonely and he probably hurt.
It was only a small part of his day. There was still hunter training, sunbathing, cooking, and swimming they did together.
And then Donghyuck would report that to the grey wolf, so he wouldn’t feel as alone and bored anymore.
“So, Jaehyun asked: What animal’s paws are these? And I had no idea because they all look so similar, I mean, can you tell a bunny from a rabbit? It’s ridiculous. And aren’t they like the same, almost? You use the fur for the same things, you season the meat similarly, why do I need to know the difference of their paws?” Donghyuck sighed deeply, holding the shirt he was working on in front of himself to inspect.
The pattern came out well. It wasn’t much, not as pretty as the adults’, because that was still too difficult for his little fingers. One day, he’d be able to do them, too, if he kept practising.
He would drop hunter training for more sewing and needlework any day. Renjun and Jaemin would surely switch with him in the blink of an eye.
“And because I stole the last of the fish yesterday, which is Renjun’s favourite, he whispered that it was a bunny. But it wasn’t, it was a rabbit and Jaehyun did this super-disappointed face and explained the non-existent difference again. Anyway, if Renjun thinks he can get away with that, he’s wrong. Guess whose pillow I stuffed with bristle grass,” Donghyuck snickered.
“Where did you put bristle grass, Donghyuck?” a stern voice asked. Donghyuck jerked up from his embroidery and looked up at his Dad, who had his hands on his hips.
Most people looked the scariest with their arms folded and an angry expression.
His Dad looked the scariest when he had his hands on his hips and a very even expression, staring at you with his electric blue eyes intensely.
Donghyuck giggled, hiding behind the shirt, “Nowhere. Look, I invented my own pattern, isn’t it really pretty?” He held up the piece of clothing, but his Dad wasn’t as easily fooled as most others.
“If I find them in Sungchan’s clothing, you are going to clean every single one of them up plus will have to sweep the fire area for five nights.”
“I swear, they’re not in Sungchan’s clothing, Dad!” Donghyuck squeaked. He wasn’t lying.
“Good. And the pattern is very pretty. Good job, Hyuckie.”
Donghyuck beamed and showed the grey wolf the pattern, who carefully raised his head and looked.
It always went like this when he visited. And he grew impatient for answers, but Doyoung told him he had to wait, that healing took time.
It ended up taking almost a full moon cycle until their healer deemed the grey wolf well enough to shift. Donghyuck had asked his Appa if he could watch, but, allegedly, it was too risky and they didn’t want too many people in the tent.
Donghyuck decided to mope by the riverside with Jeno instead.
Jeno’s stone bounced twice before it sank. Donghyuck’s only bounced once.
“My stone was bigger than yours. Of course, it didn’t bounce as well. Normally, I can do… five times.” Donghyuck whined, looking for a better stone.
“No, you can’t, only Jungwoo can,” Jeno frowned.
“Whatever, this is dumb. I wanna know if Appa is letting the ginger wolf stay,” Donghyuck stomped his foot against the stone they were sitting on.
“You can’t keep calling him the ginger wolf. I don’t even get what you’re talking about. He just smells plain like everyone,” Jeno complained, throwing another stone, making it bounce three times. This sucked!
“No, he smells like ginger,” Donghyuck wrinkled his nose. There was no good stone, Jeno was taking all of them, unfairly giving himself the advantage to cheat!
“My Appa said we’re too young to smell something on others yet when I asked him. You only start smelling of something and become able to smell others after you present,” Jeno said matter of factly “And my Appa is very smart. So, he knows.”
“He still smells like ginger,” Donghyuck muttered because he knew what he smelt.
“Guys! Come quickly! Johnny said the grey wolf was joining us!” Jaemin had shifted mid-jump, where he had come out of the bushes.
Donghyuck was on his feet, running back to camp in a second, the other two trying to catch up behind him.
It was true!
A small boy, one Donghyuck had never seen before, was standing with his Appa.
He almost ran them over, smashing into the muscled thigh of the pack-leader because he failed to stop early enough. Luckily, for someone as small as Donghyuck, his Appa was impossible to run over. He was impossible to run over for most people, so it was only Donghyuck falling down from the force. He didn’t even notice his bum getting squashed, too excited to see the strange boy.
Woah!
“Careful there, Hyuckie,” His Appa leaned down to help him up, but Donghyuck kept staring at the boy half-hidden behind the pack leader now.
He had grey hair and his face was a bit sunken in, with big, round eyes and curved up eyebrows.
And he still smelt of ginger.
“Hi! I’m Donghyuck! Nice to meet you!” Donghyuck chirped before he had even gotten back on his feet, immediately leaning forward to greet the other.
“H-hi. I’m Mark.”