Howl Your Appellations

A Secret for Two

BOEN OPEOR

"Wh-What do you mean infinite Karma?! Are you sure you weren't just imagining things? That..." Lissana's face turned grim and she began to think deeply about my situation. She'd let go of my arms at this point. Her mumbling to herself doesn't reassure me of anything, it's clear that this case is exclusive to me, again.

It was lucky that her Appellations made me remember. Something was clearly trying to stop me from remembering. Everything about this has been so cryptic. I just want answers, not more questions. But at least I know that it isn't normal after all. It's a good thing I didn't talk about this to Nikki or Reese when we were still in the market. But...why does it have to be me? Why do I have infinite Karma? The human that entered the market that afternoon with us, I wonder if we're connected somehow...

Lissana and I got lost in our thoughts that seemed to brew too many questions and worries.

"Can't we tell Imus about this? He, at least, knows someone who might know..." I asked Sana, thinking that my suggestion was a good idea.

"No. If Kaz doesn't know anything, then Imus' friends don't know anything either. We can't really figure out what you are, and if Kaz finds out that you have infinite Karma, he might take you back to their den and we'll never be able to get you back..."

I gulped. I have to be careful about what I can say to Kaz, he isn't really a trust-worthy friend.

"There's this...old guy...I met in the caves but we didn't really interact much. I managed to befriend his assistants but I really, really don't want to go back to the caves. Not in a hundred years..." Sana begins to bite the nail of her, thinking so hard that it's going to strain her brain.

"Do you really not know anything? Anything about your birth? Your family?" she asks hysterically, but still keeping her distance from me.

"I...I...no, nothing! I was normal before I came here, because my grandfather gave me his cabin..."

Lissana and I remain silent until we realized something, "The moon ring!!!" we both screamed.

"Why did he give you the moon ring? Why did you inherit the cabin, Boen?" Sana asks, and now, I'm not so sure of the reason.

I was told that my grandfather took a bit of a liking to me, but he barely showed himself to the family, so we don't really know why.

"I...I'll have to ask my sister about this. She might know something about our grandfather that I don't. It'll be hard to get her to talk though, especially since I haven't been helping out with work...and because I hate her."

"It'll be okay! As long as you get her to talk this one time, she'll be out of your hair! I'll see if I can get in touch with the old guy's assistants, or one of them at least..." Lissana looks as if she's about ready to fall into a very deep sleep. She's physically and emotionally exhausted. And so am I, but, we need to stay up and stay here for a bit longer to remain sane. Most of our revelations have not sunk in yet, there's so much to take in.

"Don't tell anyone about what we talked about here. If word gets out about me and you, we'll both end up endangering the pack and the forest...Again! We can't afford another strike out..." she says as she slumps down on the cold metal roof of the Train, her body finally gave up.

"I'm not stupid. I know I can't tell anyone about this. Even though I can't grasp the effect it's gonna have, I know that it's dire enough that both of us will die, as well as the pack. We're screwed if even one person finds out..." I finally slump down too.

Both of us are now looking at the painted sky. It's pretty obvious that the scene is fake now; the trees and sky are more painterly and the moon seems like a giant saucer, shining down a spotlight.

"Boen...I...trust you. This s**t that we're doing? Telling each other things that we shouldn't, all because we like each other? Bullcrap! I can't believe we let this happen." Sana covers her eyes with her arms, almost as if blocking the light of the moon from seeing her face.

"I trust you too, but you're right. I think we're both idiots who made a huge mistake. One slip and we'll all be killed. Well, you guys probably, and people will use my infinite Karma for their sick needs... " I just had a dark thought, "Doesn't it tempt you, Sana?" I lock my gaze on her.

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asks, completely serious.

"I mean...dude, don't you want to buy anything at the market? You can buy anything with what I got!" I explained.

"Ohhh that's what you mean. You really don't know me that well after all!" she laughs, "I don't want anything. I just want to be with you."

I almost let out the most embarrassing scream, "wwwwwwwwwwwWwwHHHHH---don't be stupid! I! I...I'm not that great of a person...why...why do you like me so much?"

"Hm? I don't know. I just felt like we were the same. I thought this feeling would go away, but I guess it got stronger. I don't know how to explain it man! You're just fun to think about and to be with." she removes her arms from her face and looks at me.

"Well, what about you? When did you start to like me?" her eyes are so round and deep that I feel like I'm about to fall in.

I think for a moment, try to recall the moment I think was the time I decided that I liked her.

"When we first met, I already kind of liked you then. But it was nothing like love, just an interest. I was pretty callous back then, you know? Using you to find Reese, but you wouldn't go through with it. But I still kind of liked you. I guess I started forming a crush when I was brought here and I was force fed on how selfless you are. I forgot about our short interactions then, but I started thinking that I like you, based on the stories. And now you're here and I still like you but this time, I can say that love is involved...I never really thanked you for saving my life."

I inch closer to her, but far enough that my arms still can't reach her, "Thanks for saving my life and coming back to me. I like your guts!"

Sana pouts and starts to cry, this time, I could hear her faint sobs. This must be the first time in a while that she's cried honestly. I teared up too and we both fell asleep inside the painting.

⁂

When I came to, Lissana was carrying me towards an unpainted part of the Train, at the tail end.

"Oh, sorry did I wake you up? I have to carry you since it's kind of a long way and I didn't want to slow my pace down if I woke you up~!" she says, without even saying good morning.

"Isn't everyone going to be surprised that we were gone for a while?"

"Hmm, probably not. Imus knows you were meeting up with me, so I wouldn't worry about it." she fixes her grip on me to make sure I don't fall. "It's honestly too early for you to be awake. My body automatically wakes up at 3:30 am. I need to wake up before the younger members or they'll lose all respect for me."

"Hahaha! No they won't~! But yeah, it's too early for me to be awake at this hour. Just throw me on my bed when we're back home." I pretend to tuck myself on her boob.

"Sure! It's still a long way there so you can go back to sleep."

My eyes bolt open, "Huh? You mean, the painting's not on the Train?" I asked.

"Hmm, no. It's not. It's private. Nike and I didn't want to share it with anyone, so we kept it hidden." Lissana explains.

"Oh, fair enough." I reply, "Hey."

"Hm?"

"When you guys say that you'll make the other packs pay for what they did to Nike, what did you mean by that?"

"...It's true that...Nike died because of me, I take full responsibility for it, but after the tournaments, the pathetic packs started calling Nike and Imus weak. Imus was Nike's second and he couldn't protect him from me. The effects of the loss and humiliation made Imus even weaker on top of his weak lungs. They started calling our pack weak and unnatural, and the weak link of the Wolf Weres. It went on for years until the new members started to show serious improvements. And now we even have Mei! We badly needed someone like him in the pack, we've suffered enough already."

"Oh damn...that's just plain sick. I hope you guys beat their asses this year. I'll be rooting for you guys!" I pump my fists.

"As long as you and I don't get into any trouble, there's no doubt that we'll win this year's tournament. So promise me, Boen, promise me that we keep our secrets to ourselves."

Without any hesitation, I replied to her, "Yes!" and to seal our promise, we shared one last kiss.