She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, she’d only curled up at the usual meeting point where her and Elvienne found quiet. The sound of the water had been peaceful, soft, familiar – which was more than enough to lull her beneath the shadow of sleep before she realised.

When she woke, the unfamiliarity of this place felt wrong, the wind, the atmosphere, the sounds…

The air was cold, heavier than when she last remembered it and the ground smelt foreign – damp earth replaced the tang of refreshing river mint, and it wasn’t just that, no.

Her body felt heavier, lower… furs would brush against the soil as she inhaled before a startled huff left her mouth before she could stop it – ears would twitch at the unfamiliar sounds surrounding her.

This was no kingdom, there were no rivers, no… no Elvienne.

Her heart struck against her chest, just where an earth was she… and why did she no longer have arms, legs… robes… replaced by a blanket of pale fur upon her skin, with a nose longer than she’d have liked and ears in the wrong place…

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Silence pervaded the air, seeping into the absence of her thoughts as she moved through the trees with ease. The early light of dawn was not touched in the familiar warmth she often remembered back at home, but it was enough, she thought, or it would be, one day. How different things had become, and all within an instant…

She left behind Aksel, for only a short while as she turned southward and explored. She was beginning to understand that the world she had entered was vast, filled with unique mountain faces that kissed the horizon beyond, forests that wept for cover and prized the shadows they created, and flora that she had never once thought to know.

And when she reached a shady forest, filled with a mist that tickled her heels, Elvie made the poignant point to herself that these trees were nothing like the silver-rimmed wood she knew at home. A bittersweet realization set in: the reality of how far away from home she was.

However, in her slow saunter through the woods, it was the scent of honey and almond that nearly stopped the girl in her tracks. Hope was a foul and feisty friend, and it gripped at her heart with the hammering of her chest. It couldn’t be, could it?

Her legs pushed her forward.

Elvie’s eyes, cast in a dual-toned hue, narrowed along the fog and haze that swept across the forest, her limbs pushing past gnarled roots and snow-kissed foliage as she weaved through the shadows with ease. Honey and almond smelled like—

Her breath stalled in her chest. A silhouette of a canine stood before her, though dappled in the familiar colors of peach and cream. They held a softer complexion, short and light, and for a moment, Elvie couldn’t believe her eyes.

But if she too had become a wolf…then…

Sweetpea…? She uttered softly into the misty wood, her head falling into a delicate cant as she stared at the person she hoped would be her friend.


She’d caught onto the familiar scent before she saw her.

Magnolia, sweet, sweet magnolia, frankincense and that sharp bite of a winters breath. It hit her suddenly and for a heartbeat she thought she’d imagined it… this place was clearly playing tricks on her, but that fragrance, her fragrance.

Elvie

Her tail had a mind of its own as it flicked at her hind softly, something she couldn’t quite control.

Her breath left her in a short, soft and startled huff as her ears tipped forwards. She didn’t bother hiding, she felt the pull, the magnetism. A warming whine slipped free of her mouth once more, as if relieved, maybe even a little overwhelmed and she’d move that little bit closer as if testing the very existence of her, of this.

Of course it was her, of course she’d find her, in any world, in any shape.

It was clearly the work of threads, of ties and that invisible line they'd known to be destiny.

Elvienne? a breath, a pause; Is... Is that really you...?

---

---

Be it a coincidence or merely the hands of fate weaving their elaborate tapestry into the lives of all she knew and loved, Elvie sent a gracious thank you to the stars above as her eyes focused on what appeared to be her friend. Even in the form of a wolf, starkly canine, she could see the familiarity within her friend’s recognizable features.

It had to be her.

It could only be her.

Her stomach dropped in a fit of relief as her mouth twisted in a toothy, wide-open grin at the sound of her name. Odetta Lunethys, otherwise known as Sweetpea, and her best and closest friend. How on earth she had found herself here, with Elvie, and as a wolf as well, she wasn’t sure. But in those few precious seconds, she didn’t quite seem to care, not for the answers, nor for the questions that lingered.

She surged forward with a bubbling laughter coating her throat as she aimed to tackle her friend to the ground. Really, it was meant to be a hug, but with the four limbs of a canine over two useful arms, things didn’t always go quite as planned. Besides, Elvie was still trying to figure out how each of her appendages now worked. It was odd being a new body.

Her laughter was laced with relief as tears of joy pricked at the edges of her lashes. She hadn’t meant to cry, and truthfully, Elvie would have never labeled herself a true and usual crier. However, there was something mentally exhausting about entering a new world, in a body one did not recognize, and from a world where war had been literally knocking at their doorstep. It had been isolating in the few days she had been on her own, stuck in a world of unfamiliar elements, with no one she recognized.

But Sweetpea was here now.

Someway, somehow, and Elvie was not going to take for granted what gift—however possible—she had been given.

It’s me! She added breathlessly at the tail end of a laugh, It’s me.

Elvie pulled herself back momentarily, her eyes searching her best friend’s face as if still unable to fully believe in the reality that she was right here. How are you— She breathed out with a shake of her head as her tail behind her wagged effortlessly. What are you doing here?