“I—” These are lupion stereotypes, and not something we really do anymore, but it hurts to imagine telling him that. “Sure, kid. We can probably do that.”
“Come to the hall with me? Everyone will want to say goodbye,” Yasmeena says, and me and Nico follow her down the dirt-lined path.
Once we enter the larger tent, the carnies are all there, waiting to say goodbye to their people. Khalid is hugging Reina and Yasmeena goodbye, as Lilian squeezes Gemma and Draven.
Absinthe is talking to Baelor, something about watching the perimeter at night, and I wonder if we’re really in any danger, or if she’s just trying to keep him away from me.
Gemma and Draven squeeze Nico goodbye, but the little boy doesn’t seem upset or worried.
“You be good now,” Gemma says as she heads for the entryway.
Nico nods. “I will be excellent for Aunt Tempest.”
Yasmeena walks over to me and I don’t know what I should say.
Goodbye? Good luck?
“Why is everyone acting like you guys are going to be gone for a year?” Is what I settle on.
“Because there are serious risks when we all leave like this. It’s dangerous for us to travel to Proditorum, sure, but it also leaves the carnival in a vulnerable position. This is the perfect opportunity for The Legion to attack,” she explains, and my heart kind of drops.
“You know I would never let them hurt you guys. Rowan and Khalid and I—even Baelor. We’ll protect Una and Po and Nico, I promise,” I say, and she sighs.
“I know. But what if it weren’t The Legion. What if it were felion—do you think Khalid would fight our own kind?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Or what if it were your pack? If it were between us and them, you’d pick them, and I’d understand why, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
That statement is like a stab to the heart, but I try not to show any reaction.
“I’m sorry. This must be hard for you,” I say.
Yasmeena gives a small nod. “Thank you. I’ll see you in a few days.”
She gives me a kiss on the cheek and it’s like I’m floating.
“Aunt Tempest. How do baby lupion wear diapers?” Nico asks, interrupting our little moment.
I actually don’t know the answer to that. There haven’t been many children in Pack Escalus in recent years. I try to think back to when I was a kid. Emily would’ve been much younger than me. I faintly recall her tail sticking out through her diaper and shorts.
“There’s a hole for the tail,” I say, and he scrunches his nose.
“Wouldn’t all the pee come out?”
“Not if it’s the right fit… why, do you still wear a diaper?” I ask, exhausted and desperate for him to tell me no. I cannot spend the next two days changing wolf diapers.
“Of course not, silly. I’m six!”
Thank Goddess.
Movement No. 21
Yasmeena
Raph stands beside me, his magic blanketing us one by one: Luc and his dog Beelzebub, Gemma and Draven, Reina and Absinthe, and me.
As the magic shifts the world around me, everything goes hazy, colorful lights and muffled noise replacing the familiar carnival. My stomach clenches, everything feeling off-center, until the fog clears the air and we’re met with a large, tall castle.
