“You’re welcome to stay with us,” Seren said later, “but we have two rules.” He sat down next to me at the back of the wagon, legs dangling off the edge. “First and foremost, we’re a pack, and that means we take care of each other and we get along. There’ll be arguments, and if something upsets any of us we can talk it out and work through it. If you’re upset with someone, and you can’t talk it out directly with them, talk to me or Blythe. We’ll always be able to find a time, and I promise we’ll never leave you behind for something you tell us unless you say that’s what you want. Okay?”

“Okay.” I shifted, my skirt brushing against my legs. “And the other?”

Seren smiled. “We’re a pack. That means we take care of each other, and it also means everyone is expected to contribute to the best of their abilities. Don’t worry about it for a week or so, we’ll be at the next town in a few days and you can see how we perform from behind the scenes. After that, you’ll need to start helping in some way. You won’t have to perform if you don’t want to, Dream doesn’t often, but you should still learn your way around our instruments and costumes.”

“Someone say my name?” A boy around my own age with dark skin and thick twists of hair appeared on my other side. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Destiny.” He held out a hand. “I’m Dream. I help write our songs and plays. Gotta know what sounds you’re working with to make them harmonize.”

“Very true,” Seren approved. I looked back to see him standing up. “I’ve got to go relieve Vida from the reins, talk to you both later.”

“Later.” Dream waved to Seren, so I did too.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said to him, a little uncertainly.

Dream flashed a charming white smile. “Thanks. Don’t worry if you forget my name, though, it took me a few days to match faces and names reliably. Try to remember by the next town, it’s always easier to find who you’re looking for if you know their name.”

That pulled a chuckle from me. “Who’s everyone else?”

“You met Seren and Fin already,” Vida said, appearing where Seren had been moments ago. “Which leaves–”

“Bloom, my little sister.” Dream nodded to a girl with a headband holding back a beautiful cloud of dark hair. She was sitting with two curly-haired boys who looked quite like Seren, one with blond hair and one with brown. They seemed to be speaking with their hands, though occasionally one of the boys would say something aloud. “Fiachra and Pryderi, Fin’s brothers. Violin and drums.” 

“And Blythe.” Vida nodded to a woman with curly brown hair and a scar across her cheek. “Their mother, Seren’s mate.”

“Keys and guitar,” Dream noted.

“Did you all choose your names too?” I asked.

Dream nodded. “Back in my hometown, my father used to say I always had my head in the clouds, daydreaming and never minding my lessons. Now, I write about my dreams.” He smiled. “Bloom’s always had a green thumb, so that’s what she chose, to be named for her flowers. She draws them everywhere if she can’t grow them.” 

“What about everyone else?”

“You’ll have to ask them.”

I looked at Vida. She shrugged, the movement lifting her folded wings briefly. “I don’t know anyone else’s mind. The twins and ‘Deri are named for stories, though, and like I told you, I named myself for my new life.”

I paused, then changed the subject. “Where are we going?”

“Wherever we please!” Vida scooted forward to dangle her legs off the back of the wagon. “Do you see that, Destiny?”

I frowned down at the ground. “Uh… grass?”

“The world,” she said softly. “That’s the whole world out there, and we can go wherever we like in it. Free as birds, we are.”

“So…” I looked out at the grassy hills, the world bigger than it had ever been before. Green stretched as far as I could see, a blue-gray sky overhead. “Where’s that?”

“Dhuron,” Blythe called over. “It’s not too far.”

“Dhuron.” I tasted the name. Though it was our nearest neighbor, I’d never left my home– never been farther than just inside the woods where I met Vida. Dhuron might as well have been as far away as the Emperor’s palace in Solaris. What would I see, traveling with the werewolves? Unicorns? Jackalopes? Maybe even a roc or a zaratan! 

I grinned and leaned back on my hands. “I can’t wait!”

Seren stopped the wagon at the base of a nearby hill a few days of travel later. “Who’ll stay with the horses?”

“It’s Fin and Bloom’s turn,” Fiachra said promptly. “Dream and I stayed last time.”

Seren nodded. “Right then. Everyone else, find a costume and let’s go in.”

“Costume?” I asked.

“We always dress up for towns,” Vida said. “My favorite, when the weather’s warm enough, is that fox one you saw before– girls love it. At least, the right sort.” She winked.

“The… right sort?” I followed her to the chest that Fiachra had thrown open. He and Dream and Pryderi were rooting through the clothes inside eagerly. Already, fabric in every color of the rainbow lay haphazardly on the floor, along with animal masks and painted wood crowns.

“The ones who like girls.”

“You mean there’s more?” My mouth fell open.

“Girls who like girls? Yeah, sure there are. I’ve managed to find one most places, though not often more than one or two in a town who’s ready to admit it. Not all of them are ready to act on it, but I can see it in their eyes when they look at me.” She pulled out the orange-brown dress. “If you want to wear the fox mask, though, I can go with my butterfly.”

“Your butterfly?”

Vida nodded and reached for the hem of her shirt, lifting it up. Heat filled my cheeks and I averted my eyes. “It’s the only one of my costumes where I don’t need to hide my wings. They’re part of it, and everyone just thinks they’re well-made from fabric. I can wear more than I do with that fox costume, so it’s warmer in winter, too.”

“What other costumes do you have?” I tried to look anywhere except at Vida. Was it just me, or was the air hotter than it had been? Then, Fionnuala appeared and started to change too, and suddenly I didn’t have anywhere safe to look. 

“Oh, lots. You’ll see. Did you want to be the fox, or something else?”

“Me?” I opened my eyes, caught a glimpse of smooth tan skin and orange fabric, and shut them tighter.

“You’ll be coming with us, yeah?”

“Stop teasing her, V,” Fiachra called. “Destiny, you don’t need to perform yet, just watch this time. Stick with Dream, be our stagehand if you like.”

“What does a stagehand do?”

“We really just pass them water and encourage people to give us money,” Dream said. “Usually one of my jobs, I prefer to write the songs over singing them.”

I turned to face his voice and opened my eyes. “Then why are you dressed up?” I eyed his outfit: a sky-blue tunic and knee-length cape, with gray trousers and a rather lopsided crown of painted wood.

“We’re putting on a bit of a play tonight,” he said. “I’m going to play the king. Also, I like dressing up.” He twirled, making the cape flutter, and grinned. 

“A play?”

A hand touched my shoulder, and I twisted around to see Vida, smiling beneath the fox mask she’d worn at our second meeting. “It’s alright, love, you don’t need to worry about performing yet. That’ll come later.”

“Alright…” I looked down at my plain blue shirt and brown skirt. “So… this is good?”

“Yes.” She patted my shoulder. 

“You’ll be fine,” Dream added.

“Cool. Uh… when do we leave?”

“Soon as Blythe is– there she is.”

A large, dark brown wolf trotted out from around the wagon and sat down, looking up expectantly. There was a scrap of bright blue around her neck, barely visible through long, thick fur.

“She’s a wolf,” I said.

“Observant, aren’t you?” Seren followed her out. “Sometimes we take turns playing guard dog.” He reached down to scratch between Blythe’s ears, his hand sinking deep into her fur. She stretched up into his hand with a soft yip. “As far as anyone else is concerned, she’ll be my well-trained pet dog.”

“But… why?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Just for fun. Everyone ready?”

A chorus of yeses answered him.

I fell into step beside Vida as we started off. “Why are we walking instead of taking the wagon closer? I’ve seen performers ride into town in their wagons or on horses before.”

“It’s not our style.” Her wings fluttered in the breeze. “So. How are you liking the Cantores life so far?”

“Huh?”

“The pack is the Cantores pack, it's not just Seren and Blythe's surname. It's the whole group.”

“Huh.” I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I wasn't a werewolf, I wasn't quite part of the group yet. Even so, it felt nice to be included.

“It means singer,” Vida told me, plucking at her lute. “The singing pack.”

“Because you’re performers?”

“Exactly.” 

When we entered the town, Vida’s wings folded down and vanished abruptly. I blinked and shook my head. Was I seeing things?

She caught me staring and whispered, “It’s glamour.”

“Oh,” I whispered back.

Fionnuala fell back to join us, fingers never pausing on her guitar. “Hey, V. We’ve already got some admirers. Want to make it a contest?”

“You say that every time and the answer’s still no,” Vida replied. “You’ve got more options than I do, wouldn’t be fair.”

I didn’t know how to explain the sudden drop in my spirits, the way my stomach abruptly dove to the ground.

“What about you, Destiny?” Fionnuala’s eyes twinkled as she looked at me.

I scratched my arm and took a half step closer to Vida. “What?”

“Want to see which of us can pull more kisses this visit?”

“I, uh… No thanks?”

“Aw. That’s no fun.” She shook her head and spun around to blow a kiss to a young man, who smiled and waved back.

“Is it like this all the time?” I asked Vida.

Vida paused in her playing, tapping her foot to the rhythm. “Like what?”

“Do you…” I nodded at Fionnuala. 

“Sure.” She shrugged. “I mean, why not? It’s fun, we’re hardly here for long, and it lets me show other girls they’re not alone.”

Now I felt guilty for wishing she wouldn’t.

That wasn’t fair. Vida wasn’t mine, and I certainly wasn’t the first girl she’d kissed. I was only the first one to follow her home like a lovesick puppy.

Though I am ashamed to admit it, I sulked for the rest of the day and nothing seemed to go right. My mood only grew worse when I caught sight of Vida disappearing behind a house with another woman. 

I tried to hide it, but as we walked back to the wagon a couple days later Vida came up next to me. “You’ve been upset. What happened?”

“Nothing.” I sped up.

“Destiny…”

“Nothing,” I repeated. “We’re not together, you made that clear, so nothing’s wrong.”

“Oh, so that’s what that is.” Vida reached for my hand. I pulled away, and she dropped her hand. “Love, I don’t want to hurt you. But if you want me to be able to help, you need to talk to me.” She paused, her wings fluttering in the summer breeze.

“I’m fine,” I insisted, though I wasn’t. I sped up again.

Vida shook her head. “Love, can I tell you something I’ve not told anyone else?”

That caught my interest. I slowed down again.

Vida moved so close our arms brushed. Quietly, she said, “When I first joined the pack I had a crush on Blythe.”

“What?!” It came out an undignified squawk. I cast a glance ahead at where Blythe led the way down the path and lowered my voice. “She’s old enough to be my mom and you’re barely older than me!”

“She’s also absolutely gorgeous, confident, strong, fierce, and she and Seren were the first people who ever actually saw me.” Vida’s tone was full of admiration and longing, her gaze wistful and not really looking at anything. “Honestly, I don’t know if she ever realized, but she was a safe person to love. She’d never hurt me if she knew, nor take advantage of me. Blythe and Seren accepted me just as I was and I…” She stopped walking and took my hands. “I’m a little worried you’re doing the same thing with me. Loving me only because I’m the first person you met who wouldn’t hurt you for it.”

“I’m not!” I protested. I wasn’t, that wasn’t even–

Was I?

“Then you’ll be happier if we’re friends first and foremost.” Vida touched my nose with a sudden smile. “And as your best friend, you know what I think we should do?”

“What?” Best friend? 

“Hold your hands over your head.”

Slowly, I lifted my arms up. “You’re not going to tickle me, are you?”

“Nope.” The next moment, she was airborne, catching my hands. I shrieked, first in surprise, then with delight as my feet lifted off the ground and skimmed over the grass. 

“Vida!” Seren called. “We only just left the human village!”

“We’re far enough, let them have some fun,” Blythe said.

And then, quite suddenly, there was a huge wolf on either side of me, keeping pace. I yelped and tried to squirm away, attempting to kick my feet out of their reach. Something– my magic– twisted inside me, and I couldn’t breathe for fear of letting it out. Then I bit my tongue, tasted blood, and I could breathe again.

“Love, you’ll fall!” Vida reprimanded me. “It’s only Fin and Deri.”

It what? I took another look. Below me, the golden wolf gave me Fionnuala’s grin, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she loped along by my feet.

“But they’re wolves!”

“Well, yeah. Werewolves, love, you just saw Blythe shifted earlier.” She rose a little higher, lifting me farther off the ground. “Want to see if we can make it over the wagon?”

“I– sure!” Mother would have objected, but I wasn’t wearing a skirt and she wasn’t here, I could do what I wanted!

I looked up to see Vida’s arms flex as she slowly pulled me up, up, up. We flew towards the wagon, then, abruptly, her wingbeats faltered. “Oh no–”

We tumbled over and crashed into the wagon headlong. I landed on my back, while Vida somehow managed to remain on her feet, albeit bent over and panting.

“Are… are you okay?” I sat up, not much hurt at all.

“Oh, I’m fine, you’re just a touch heavier than my lute.” She collapsed onto a costume chest, folding her wings and bracing her hands on her knees. “Faerie wings aren’t exactly made for strength, and neither are my arms.”

“Sorry.” I got up and went over to her, sat down next to her. 

“It was my idea, love.” She looked up at me with a wry smile that made my heart beat faster. “And it was fun.”

I wanted to kiss her again. I started to lean in, then froze. I couldn’t. She’d said– not like this.

Vida smiled at me, apparently oblivious to the direction my thoughts had taken. “Let’s go help with dinner, yeah?”

“I’ll do the dishes again,” I volunteered, glad for the excuse to be alone later. In the five years since discovering my magic, I’d learned it was very good for doing the dishes with– on the rare days it didn’t feel like touching it would overwhelm me or like it was a struggle to summon anything. Today was one of the good days, I could feel it.

“I won’t complain,” laughed Vida, holding up her hands. “See you later, love.”

“See you later,” I echoed.

Blessed Light, but I was in love.