Part Forty-Four — A New Roommate

　Eris nearly fainted the moment she saw what I was carrying.

　"It's fine," I told her, laying the wolf gently near the hearth. "It's under my care. Won't hurt you."

　She approached cautiously at first, then knelt beside it entirely on her own, cleaning the blood from its fur with a gentleness that told me more about her than most of what she'd said out loud so far.

　The wolf, barely conscious, allowed it without protest.

　"Wow," I said, watching her work, genuinely noticing for the first time. "Your new clothes look good on you."

　She went faintly pink, glancing up just long enough to catch my eye before looking back down at the wolf.

　"T-thank you," she said quietly.

Cute reaction. Didn't expect that, honestly.

　I got to work on dinner while she tended to the wolf, and the smell alone was apparently enough to rouse it.

　Its eyes cracked open, hesitating for a moment as it weighed whether the two of us were actually safe.

　"Oh," I said, crouching to its level. "So you're an intelligent one. Good boy? Good girl? Not sure which yet, honestly."

　It seemed to decide, after a moment, that we were worth the risk.

　The wolf accepted the food I offered without further hesitation.

　It ate, and then, exhausted past arguing, settled into sleep right there by the fire.

　Eris watched it, something soft crossing her face.

　"It trusts you already," she said.

　"Give it time," I said. "It's had a rough day. We all have, one way or another."

　I fell asleep that night to the sound of two other creatures breathing steadily nearby.

　Not quite what I'd had with Doran and Fenrik.

　I didn't want it to be.

　But it was something, all the same.

　Something that hadn't existed in this house a year earlier.