Howl Your Appellations

Are We Doing this Right?

Reese Lanterman

Boen has finally felt the fresh open air of the forest for the first time in weeks. She looks like a young and innocent Deer Were, so fragile and vulnerable. But she still has this glow in her eyes that just wouldn’t falter even after everything that has happened to her. She must be the forest’s favorite, Reese thinks as she views all the flower petals fall unto Boen’s  perfectly-kept hair, as if in a slow-motion film. The young ones all gathered around her, taking turns to greet their little guest and patient. They all gave her their little encouragements, each with a different impact on her feelings. It’s almost as if she was one of them but not quite yet.

When the flower petals settled, Reese grabs hold of Boen’s free hand and smiled at her with honest excitement, “So Boen! Before we show the inside of our secret base. You should probably know how this place works first. You might get permanently lost or cursed if we don’t tell you otherwise.”  Reese feels Boen freeze up. Even though her body has healed up, her mind is still suffering from the trauma, she’s processing so many things on her own. Words should be chosen properly, Reese thinks to herself as she’s the only one who noticed. She sees a little of herself in Boen’s situation.

“Don’t worry Bobo! We won’t let anything happen to you! You’re safe with us, right guys?” Reese the wolf girl asks the younger members of her pack. They all agreed with different variations of “Yeahs”. S.B. holds the hand that Reese was previously holding and says, “We were all scared at first.” There’s a little glint in his eyes, like he’s about to cry from a memory he’s tried so hard to suppress; his smile soft but a little pained. There is such a thing as crying without tears. Boen looks at this innocent-looking boy and thought about the struggles he must have gone through to become a part of the forest’s lore. Each one of them must have experienced something gruesome. Why would they all be in the middle of the woods in the first place.There is so much she doesn’t know but she decides to rely on them as they gambled to trust her. “Yeah, you guys are so cool.” she exclaims. Reese laughs at her remark and so does Cain, then eventually everyone except Koto.

“So what you ya think? Pretty impressive, right? Our base has got to be the most formidable out of all the bases out there!” Reese’s gestures at the air, trying to encircle every aspect of their make-shift home. The Train, indeed, looks as if it can’t be moved. The cockpit and the following three and a half train cars were above the ground but three or four cars were completely submerged underground, Boen is aware of this because she’s seen the hallway go down a little bit just farther down left of the infirmary.The final two cars managed to break from the ground and housed a cozy little patio and a tower on top of the last car. The tower is quite as impressive as the train itself, it’s obvious that it was built on top of The Train using the inner forest’s lumber and stone. It’s almost as if they’re also Wizards as mush as Weres.

It’s as if the bones of a great basilisk offered itself to become a secret base for the people who found it. It’s impressive enough that  a large train, probably missing a few train cars, managed to erect itself in the middle of the forest. Its beautiful metal, wooden, and mossy colors, highlighted by the break of the trees, allowing the sunlight to become its spotlight. The trees surrounding the clearing around the locomotive house are tall, taller than any tree documented. It seems that more trees like these are rampant, the deeper one is in the forest. Boen took in everything and now a bit of her fears has buried itself under the feelings of awe.

“I can’t believe I was in there the whole time! I was in a little Couchette infirmary!” Boen exclaimed. “How did this train ever get here in the first place? My grandpa would have loved to see this!”

“We don’t exactly know how exactly. This train’s a relic. Only the first Weres know where it actually came from but our Alpha likes to think that it’s a giant’s “Airy”.” Anda explains as Reese was busy secretly taking pictures and writing things down. Inspiration must have struck her in the weirdest possible time. “She’s probably wrong though. Imagine a world where giants and trains existed at the same time. That’s really fuckin hard to believe.”

“Leave our bonehead of a leader alone. Save your jabs for when she’s actually here, it’ll be really funny.” Cain instructs Anda. “Anyway, Boen, your grand-dad’s a train conductor or something?” She asks.

Boen doesn’t really know a lot about her grandfather as much as she was interested in the things he did, and she doesn’t seem to remember the things he learned about him recently.When she mentions the word “grandpa” she most of the time means Beanie. She thinks about the old man now and how he’s probably a bit worried about her. He liked to keep his distance but he’s secretly always watching over Boen in one way or the other. “He’s probably in the cabin waiting for me to come back.” Boen thinks to herself suppressing her guilt.

“Nah…well, he likes to take gondolas, especially the small ones for some reason. Those things are pretty similar right?” Boen laughs. Cain and Anda looks at Boen as if she made a really bad joke. “Hmm, your granddad’s probably a goat.” Anda comments.

“A goat? Hahaha well he does give off that vibe. He’s always out in the mountains. Has been for years ----”

“---Well that’s interesting but we have to minimize the chitchat if we want to show off our base!” Reese interjects while disrupting the conversation. “Kaya and Koto, would you guys please show Boen the borders of our territory? Just show her the proper entrance and exit so she doesn’t accidentally wander off the wrong way in the next couple of days.”

“Okay~!” Kaya affirms, “Let’s carry her, Koto! Partial form quick!” Koto nods and transforms her arms to accommodate Boen’s weight. “W-wait! Whaaa~~aat???”The two girls carry her, with Kaya supporting her back and Koto supporting her legs, swiftly at a considerable distance they run where the entrance should be located. Reese turns her head towards Cain and Anda, but ultimately focuses on Anda, “I know you and S.B. had it awful when you both lived in the mountain city but you shouldn’t go around calling other people’s grandparents goats, ya got that?”

“I didn’t mean anything rude by it. Don’t assume I’m that immature.” Anda replies. “It’s fine An, let’s not worry about it, ye? Boen didn’t seem to mind anyway,” S.B. looks around at everyone, “Okay?”. Reese sighs and agrees. “Let’s just wait for the hog sisters to finish showing Boen the way.”

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“Uwaaah! You guys can put me down. I can walk the rest of the way!!” Boen screams, clutching onto her new best friend: the crutch. “It’s farther than it looks. We’re on a time limit.” Koto answers. Kaya simply nods in agreement. “Aaah, okay but just be gentle when we stop!” the two girls take Boen’s suggestion into account. They’ve always been very good at following instructions.

Finally, at the face of a large bush of roses, they stop gently. And Boen gives off a relieved sigh. Koto allows Boen’s feet to safely land on the ground and Kaya guides her balance. A towering rose bush is standing before them, it seems to be more roses than bush. “Is this the entrance? Wow, I never thought about this until now but, I wish I have my phone back!” Boen exclaims. Koto picks an armful of roses and gives them to her sister and Boen.

“It’s close, but we just wanted a little snack.” Kaya explains, “The entrance isn’t as obvious as something like a bush. The hideout would have been destroyed otherwise.” Koto continues to gobble up roses as Kaya explains. Boen intently listened so her rose remained untouched.

“I think it’s a little bit east from here. You can see Appellations, right? You would be dead otherwise. ” Boen nods and says, “I can see them. They’re just your names… am I right?”

“Well, no, but our names are the most important. If what you can see is just our names then you’re still new. I wonder what kind of Were you are.” Kaya speculates, “The initiation is different for each Were but there’s always a scar involved. Hmmm…” She looks at Boen, standing all confused. “Maybe when some of your memory comes back you can tell us more.”

“Oh! Of course. I only remember bits and pieces but…um..the rest is still foggy.” She frowns.

“That’s fine. As long as you’re still alive you can remember someday.” Koto reassures her. “Yeah.”

“”This way you two!” Kaya instructs. Boen follows after her as Koto follows slowly behind the two of them. The two sisters, making sure nothing bad would happen to their guest.

“Here. Do you see it?” Kaya points at the top of various tall trees, each with different shades of green. “Do I see what?” Boen asks, unsure where to look. “Hmm, I guess it’s too hard for you to see up there. Then how about here.” Kaya holds on to the air, she seems to be holding some sort of invisible string or fabric.

“Try to imagine a tent over the clearing. You can focus on imagining fabric first. Look as if you’re looking at our Appellations.” Boen squints and focuses on Kaya’s hand, imagining the white curtains that kept her company in the infirmary and the first Appellation she ever saw.

“Imagine I’m holding light.” And as if on command, she could see it: thin strings with little dew beads from the rain emerges as parts of a grand transparent organza fabric. “WHOA!! This is marvelous!”

“So you can see it? Good. Try holding this part.” Kaya hands over the magic linen to Boen. It glistens in her hands. It feels just like she thought it would, soft like cotton candy and almost as fragile as a rainbow.”So is this the entrance?”

“Yes. You have to be able to find the gaps between the barrier. The entrance can serve as an exit as well.They are more or less the same.” Boen looks at the fabric that goes a long way up. She can actually see the break of the fabric from there. “What does this barrier do?” she asks.

“It keeps outsiders out.” Koto answers. “It’s borrowed magic from the faes. Not a lot of Were dens have these. This pack has it though. Our sounder has these too.” Kaya adds.

“Oh. So that’s why.The faes are really something. So all I have to do is make sure I leave through the gaps and not the fabric? ” Boen inquires. “Yes. You’ll get lost or cursed otherwise. Although there is a 30% chance that nothing will happen to you but we don’t like to risk it with fae magic. Outsiders can only see The Train but will never get close. Our security is almost perfect.”

“Because the other Weres can see the gaps too?” Boen guesses.

“No they can’t. You can’t see it unless we show you. Some Weres just do not care about the curses. That’s why we take turns to guard.”

“Even you and Koto?” Kaya darts her gaze at Boen’s, “You may not need to know this but none of us are as young as we look. Your years are different from ours. So don’t be quick to assume, you might insult the more aggressive Weres.”

“Ah Sorry. Everyone just acts so normally I completely forgot that you guys work on a different reality. I apologize.” Boen bows her head to Kaya. “It’s alright.” she responds. “If you don’t have additional questions we should probably head back now. Reese has been waving at us for more than a minute now.”

Boen wonders why the two sisters are living with a Were pack different from them, but she can’t ask such an intrusive question. They all seem to accept each other despite the difference so there’s no point worrying about it, Boen decides.

“Well, I do have one last question,” she pauses, “Are you going to carry me the same way again?” She squeals.

“...”

“If I may have a suggestion.” The two boar sisters look at Boen in confusion, “It’s called Two Person Seat Carry and I think I’d be more comfortable if you carry me that way.” The two sisters look at each other again, “So how do we do it?” Boen’s eyes beamed as she showed them how to carry her comfortably.

They deliver Boen with much more ease but the experience still stresses Boen out to some extent. She’s laid down gently, as she initially wished.

“So how are you liking our little tour so far?” Reese asks excitedly. Boen wipes her head and places the rose she was holding on her bun, “The girls didn’t show me much but I did learn so many valuable things so far, I’d give everyone a perfect score!”

“Really? Well that’s great! Now that you know what to look out for we won’t get too worried. Are you ready to see the inside of The Train finally?” Reese exclaims.

“Yes! Yes!” Boen replies with stars in her eyes. The more she looks at the facade of The Train, the more excited she becomes. The entrance to the clearing was already a feast to her intrigue and now she’s about to learn about a highly regarded fortress no outsider has ever entered before. The wind blows at her hairpulls and she takes a long inhale, allowing herself to be content in that small moment.

“Oh I almost forgot! I made everyone bracelets!” She takes out the bracelets she’s made but more poured out from her pockets, even the folded itinerary fell unto the soft grass. “Ah sheet, sorry about this guys wait let me just---” Everyone starts picking up a piece of bracelet and gives it to the person whose name is on it.

“Here Boen, these are the extra ones. That means you’ve already given one to Nikki, right?” S.B. hands out the extra bracelets to Boen, “Ah yes. We had breakfast together and she accepted it.”

S.B. smiles and says, “I’m glad.”

“Ugh, if I could have known that you’d make us these, I would’ve made the pockets deeper.” Cain remarks, frowning at her creation.

“No,no! It’s perfect I just got excited. They must have got jumbled up when K and K were carrying me.”

“We like it Boen, thank you.” Kaya expresses, “You like it too don’t you, Koto?”

“Red and black are absolute.” she replies. “That probably means yes.” Kaya assures. Boen chuckles.

“You forgot this one too, S.B.” Anda holds out a white and gold crochet bracelet.

“Oh that one’s..!” Boen pauses. Reese snags the bracelet from Anda. It’s a bracelet for their Alpha, Lissana.