“Fine.” I take a few steps closer. He observes me, but aside from a slight swishing of his tail, seems unperturbed. I get a few feet from him and gently toss the meat in front of his nose. He sniffs it, then gives me a look that could only be described as disdainful.
I crouch beside the massive wolf and gradually stretch my hand out, ready to draw it back at any sign of aggression. After a moment he presses forward so that his head is beneath my palm.
I beam. Exhale, sit, and scratch behind his ears. He grunts contentedly.
“So he didn’t eat you straight away,” calls Aequa. “Now what?”
“Now what?” I repeat to Diago affectionately. I study the alupi. He’s sobig. “Do you two want a pat?” I call over my shoulder.
“No,” they reply in near unison.
I give Diago another absent scratch. Thinking. “They’ll change their minds,” I murmur to him, getting to my feet.
We spend the next half hour experimenting. Becoming comfortable aroundthe alupi, and letting him become comfortable around us—though the latter barely seems necessary. Aside from a couple of initial wary rumbles at Eidhin and Aequa as they first approached, Diago has taken to their attentions just as happily as mine. More, in some cases. The fourth or fifth time I call him, only for him to pad straight over to Aequa and butt his massive head into her side until she relents and scratches under his chin, I give up. Glower down at the animal as he flops to the ground and rolls, begging her to rub his stomach.
“You are an ass,” I tell the wolf irritably. He wriggles violently with his back on the grass, then pauses and stares back at me implacably as Eidhin guffaws. Everyone infinitely more relaxed than when we started.
“Now,” I say, stepping back and considering as Diago resumes his happy squirming. “We need to make sure he can be alright around imbuing, otherwise Caten will be out of the question.”
There’s a long silence. The other two have stopped what they’re doing.
“Caten?” repeats Aequa faintly, straightening.
I nod with feigned confidence. I hadn’t really decided, before just now. “He can stay mainly in Domus Telimus. There are precautions I’ll take to restrain him, but I want to understand this connection I have to him, and it’s not as if I can stay around here to do it.” I shrug at their looks. “Only if he seems willing to come. And if he’s unhappy, I’ll bring him back. But you all keep saying I need protection, so …”
“This was not what we meant,” rumbles Eidhin.
“Plenty of other families keep dogs for security.”
“Dogs he will eat,” observes Eidhin.
“Families he will eat,” adds Aequa.
Diago huffs again, rolling onto his side and stretching lazily before looking up at us. Sharp intelligence in those grey eyes of his. He’s more human than animal in a lot of his responses. Clearly understands what’s being asked of him, but when he obeys it’s also clearly accession rather than compulsion. Food, such as the meat I brought, doesn’t seem to motivate him at all.
“I’ll find a way to make it safe. But it’s irrelevant if he can’t be around people using Will,” I point out impatiently. “So perhaps we should back away, to start with?”
Diago watches with indolent curiosity as we retreat a small way across the torchlit clearing. I stand in front of the other two and carefully, slightly, self-imbue.
The alupi is on his feet, faster than I could have imagined. Teeth bared. Eyes flashing. A low, threatening rumble drifts across the grass to us.
“Gods’ graves,” murmurs Aequa shakily.
I hold steady. Self-imbue a little more, and a little more, until I’m using all my Will. The amount doesn’t seem to make any difference.
“Easy, Diago.” I croon it gently. The name a little more comfortable on my tongue now, even if I still wish I hadn’t accidentally revealed it. It won’t mean anything to anyone, surely isn’t dangerous so many years removed from Suus. “Easy.”
I stretch out my hand to show I mean no harm, and move slowly forward.
My heart pounds as I approach the steadily growling alupi, who is crouched and tensed as if ready to leap at me. As a self-imbuing Totius Sextus, I should be fairly safe. I think. I have the strength of almost twenty people at my disposal and if Diago does attack, enormously powerful though he is, my bodyshouldbe able to withstand it. At least long enough for the other two to help pacify him.
But as I approach, the massive, black-furred beast doesn’t do worse than continue his rumbling warning. Instead, as I get closer, he backs away. When I stretch out my hand he sits, just out of reach, and trails off into a soft, confused whine. Looking more betrayed than aggressive.
“Alright. Alright,” I assure him softly. I back off and release the imbuing; immediately the massive wolf seems to relax, and within a few moments is padding back up to me. Cautious, but after a tentative sniff, curling up again at my feet.
I turn and look at the others. Aequa looks nonplussed. Eidhin just shrugs.
We spend another hour, after that, just letting Diago adapt to being around us imbuing: mostly self-imbuing for short periods, then releasing it again to give him some relief from the anxiety it clearly gives him. In the end, while he still visibly tenses up when we try to touch him while imbued, he seems to understand that we’re not a threat regardless of our state. By the time we’re finishing up, I’m convinced that he will be alright in Caten.
