Helping Terra

Are you blind?” Sin visibly froze next to Tearnyn. She was tempted to reach out but knew it was not her place. “I won’t tell anyone, I was merely curious.”
“Why think that?” He grumbled out. The pups stopped playing and whimpered at Sin’s distress.
“You mimic seeing well, but your eyes don’t focus and you subtly use your hearing and smell more than any other senses. Please don’t stress yourself, if it wasn’t for my mom and brother, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.”
“Your… mom and brother?”
“They’re doctors. You pick up on a few things when you grow up with a doctor in the family. I use to watch examinations when we were on different worlds. Well when I could.”
“What is like? Up there?” He looked up even though he could see nothing.
Tearnyn thought about it a moment and replied, “It’s wonderful. Well, wonderful if you like meeting new people and seeing different worlds. I’ve seen desert planets, all city planets, rainy planets, snow planets, rocky planets, and jungle planets. If you can think of it, I’ve probably seen it.” She smiled and then it turned a little sad, “But more often than not, my pack and I were traveling to a planet which meant we spent most of our time on a ship. Myrra, our ship, is decently big and has a beautiful forest built into her, but it’s not the same.” She closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh air of Terra. “It’s nothing like being in a real forest. Tristis, the ship for my unit pack, is the same.”
“Unit pack?”
“I’m part of the military therefore at the moment I am with a Werewolf Unit that is considered my pack. That is how I am pack mates with Morgana and Yurik, but once I am finished with my term of service I will return to my family pack. Unless I find a mate who is from a different pack, then we have to decide which pack to be part of.”
Sin scrunched up his face, “Why leave your pack?” He could not fathom leaving his pack for a temporary pack.
Tearnyn looked down, “I needed space from them.” Sin looked at her funny. “You have miles of territory. You have a place to call yours. My family pack has a space craft and a house we rarely use. There are thirteen werewolves on a ship that would easily fit into your territory, you always run into someone and most of Myrra is metal. I felt too confined.”
“But your… unit pack,” The words felt strange as he spoke them but continued anyways. “They are same. Yes?”
Tearnyn smiled with some embarrassment, “In a way, yes. I still live on a ship but she is bigger but not so different. My unit pack does different… duties than my family pack. My family goes to different worlds to work on peace agreements while my unit explores the unknown.”
“Sounds like… more. There mo-is more”
Tearnyn reluctantly replied, “I don’t like being coddled.” Sin cocked his head not understanding the last word. “Um, being over protected. My pack especially my brothers, were over protective of me. I understand it’s what siblings and packs do, but they were suffocating me in the not literal sense. I wanted to see the universes without three wolves acting as my guards all the time.” Thinking back on it she began to chuckle.
“What is funny?”
“It’s, my brothers are protective of me and would growl at anyone who got too close to me. Sometimes they would fight as if I couldn’t take care of myself. However, if in a fight I can make them submit first. More times than they would care to admit, I’ve stopped them fighting.”
“Are they small like you?”
“Hey!” Tearnyn laughed, “But no, they’re about your height.” Sin looked at her surprised. “I’m a small ball of surprise, rawr.”
“You are… um…”
“Awesome?” She grinned.
“Strange.”
“Not what I was going for but I can’t deny that.” Sin shook his head. The pup she saved came back over and she started playing with him. After a moment she picked him up and smelt him. “What are doing?”
“Scenting him. What is his name?”
“Soft Whimper.”
“And the two by you?”
“Whisper is the female and Watcher is the brother.”
Tearnyn made a soft noise and the two pups came scampering over. She brought each to her nose and took a deep breath. “I like this planet.” She hummed.
“Why?”
“Everything smells so natural. So fresh. So alive. For example, the pups smell like pine needles and then they deviate. I think your pack’s underlying scent is pine.” Sin frowned confused. The pups ran off to play some more. “You have that scent too. All of you do or at least the ones here. I never scented the others.”
“I never…”
“You don’t tend too because you get acclimated to the smell. All of you have the base of pine, Soft Whimper also smells like flowers, Whisper smells like freshly dug up earth, and Watcher ‘s scent is rain.” She stood up and stretched. “I should be going before Morgana and Yurik go crazy looking for me. I don’t want them to step onto Silver Back territory and get harmed. Or break any truces your pack and Alpha Roik’s have. I’ll see you later.” She heard Sin stand and looked over at him.
“Silver Back Territory. Escort ally from it.”
“And the pups?” She looked down at the pups running around.
He looked at her like she was dumb. “Old enough to follow.”
Tearnyn nodded and then remembered Sin could not see her. “Okay.” She started in the direction she originally came from. She watched as Sin effortlessly walked through the forest with the three pups romping along. When the pups wandered too far, Sin would call them back. They seemed excited to move about the forest and out of the Den area. “When will they be old enough to hunt?”
“Month or so.” He sniffed the air and took a right.
“You sound kind of… sad.” He did not reply as he started to slow near the territory boarder. She cleared her throat and said, “Thanks. I’ll see you later.” She stepped over the line and walked over to the dirt road. She looked back to see no sign of the wolves she had just been with, but their scents stayed behind.
As soon as Tearnyn stepped into the village, the Scout that was her guard came running at her. “Where have you been!”
“I was with the Silver Back Pack. I told you this when I left.” Tearnyn shrugged.
“You were gone for hours. We weren’t-“
“Sure I would return. The pack saved me, do you really think they would do that if they didn’t like me? Better yet, didn’t they mark me as an ally? I’m pretty sure they definitely would not have done that if they wanted nothing to do with me.”
The Scout let out a sigh, “Nonetheless try not to be gone so long.”
“Why do you dislike each other so much? I get that your territories border each other, but still.” Tearnyn shook her head and started walking towards the tavern. Her stomach growled at the smell wafting from the establishment.
“Where are you going now?”
Tearnyn look at the Scout whom whined like a two year old. “I haven’t eaten lunch and I’m hungry.”
“What have you been doing?”
“Hanging out?” The Scout looked at her funny but said nothing more as the pair walking into the tavern. Tearnyn spend an hour there before heading out to check on her pack mates. Yurik watched her carefully and pestered her for a few minutes until Tearnyn all but growled at him. When he was sure she was fine, he relaxed and told her about his latest findings. There was not many books left for him to go through, but by the twinkle in his eyes he loved every minute in the library. She smiled at his passion and listened intently, asking questions from time to time. She praised him by ruffling his hair and smiling genuinely at him. He returned with a bright smile and a promise to fill her in more if he found anything else. She stayed a little longer, browsing through a few of the books and then left to find Morgana.
As soon as Tearnyn arrived, Morgana all but pounced on her. Tearnyn rolled her eyes with a smile and after a moment peeled her friend off. After another five minutes or so, she convinced Morgana to give her a full report on the shuttle. There was some progress in the computer department but she had hit a dead end with the shell of the shuttle. The engine was basically finished, however the protection of the shell was torn away leaving it completely exposed. She helped Morgana as best as she could until she was shooed away for getting in the way. That night the three of them curled up together and enjoyed some cuddle time.
Something felt off as the weeks passed and October turned into November. Morgana and Yurik did not seem to notice, they were too busy on their projects, but Tearnyn did. It was something in the air. The air smelled spicier and yet sweeter. She stopped one day, tilted her head back and scented the air. She could almost taste the strange mixture but could not place what it was. It took another couple of days before she found out why the air was strange.
She went to visit the Silver Back Pack and felt the scent lingering on her; she was not sure she liked it. When Leaf Blend, her usual escort, arrived, she cocked her head and sneezed after sniffing Tearnyn’s boot. “I know right?” She complained right before they headed to the pack. The other wolves hesitantly greeted before rubbing up against her legs. She found it strange that after all this time they were hesitating to touch her, but she shrugged it off and patted them back. She sat down by a tree as they romped around and played with each other.
Eventually the white wolf of the group trotted over and sat by her. He easily shifted to his human form and watched as the pups competed against one another. “They’re getting so big.” She complimented. They were now beginning to learn to hunt with the other wolves.
“They are. First hunt three suns ago.” Sin replied, eyes tracking his charges.
“What will you do now that they are learning?”
“Watch them and help. Then I will do what Alphas want.”
“So you’re a jack-of-all-trades guy.” Sin looked at her confused. “Never mind. May I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Why do the others never shift? You’re the only one who does.”
Sin frowned at her as he replied, “They are wolves.”
“I know that, but I mean-“
“No, they are wolves. Not werewolves.”
Tearnyn froze for a moment as she stared at the pack in front of her. Then she turned so she was right in Sin’s face. “You mean real wolves! Like never going to be human because they are Canis lupin?”
Even though Sin could not see her proximity, he leaned back at her closeness. “Yes?”
Her face lit up with excitement. “Gods and goddesses this is so cool. I’ve never seen real wolves before. Well, clearly I have now but not before crash landing on this planet! Oh my!” She turned away from him to look back at the startled wolves. “Whoops.” She laughed with embarrassment, “Didn’t mean to scare you.” After a moment, the wolves went back to what they were doing and Tearnyn sat back on her heels. “This is so amazing.”
“You have never seen wolves?” Sin cocked his head in wonderment.
“No, they aren’t on any planets I’ve visited. I’ve heard that they live on some planets, but I have never seen any.” She began to bounce. “They’re so beautiful.” The Alpha female looked over with her tail wagging happily. “’Specially you Alpha Swift Strike.”
“You will be her favorite.”
Tearnyn turned to face Sin with a grin, “Anyway to stay friendly with them. Who am I kidding, your pack is awesome.”
Sin could not help but smile, “They are.”
Suddenly a breeze drifted over them, sending the strange smell over the clearing. “Okay, what in the name of all the gods and goddesses is that smell?” Once again Sin looked at her like she was the strangest thing in the world. “Seriously Sin, I’m not from this planet I don’t know things that are common knowledge to you.”
He scowled at her and replied, “But you are werewolf.”
“So? What does that have to do with anything?”
“All werewolves go through it.”
“Go through what?” She was getting frustrated with him not answering her questions.
“Mating season.”
Tearnyn’s head turned to him sharply, “Wait, what?”
“Mating season. This month mating season.”
“For werewolves?” He nodded. “Then the scent?”
“Female emitting them.”
“Like pheromones?”
“Yes?”
“The smell females emit to inform males that they are ready for breeding.”
“Yes.” He nodded.
She looked at him dumbstruck. “You have a mating season here?”
“Two. You werewolf, you know.”
“Um, no. Tell me.”
Sin looked awkward as he replied, “Werewolves two mating seasons, November and May. Females release um phero… phera.”
“Pheromones?”
“Pheromones for mating. Mated pairs get closer until female ready to mate.”
“Do they get aggressive or something?”
“Can if you get too close especially to female.”
“Awesome.” She groaned. “Why two mating seasons?”
“I do not know. Wolves only have one.”
“Interesting.”
“You should know this.”
“I don’t.” She ran her fingers through her hair. She felt like a child on this planet.