The group continued with their meal. In an attempt to lighten the mood and to change the topic, Alice asked them more questions regarding their pack life. “So you all live together in a single cave?”

“Pretty much,” Sydney replied. “In the cave we have our separate dens—or I guess rooms as you would call it—and wolves of the same rank share the same den.”

“You all share one room? How many are you?”

“Well, for us it’s eight wolves sharing, and that’s the most in a single den. Gruff and Durin here are my denmates. It sounds cramped, but thankfully the den we were assigned lets each of us have our own personal space. The second largest would have six wolves in a den, and the other den would occupy just three, or two, or…one.”

“Just one? They must be so lucky then! They have all that space to themselves.”

Gail winced upon hearing that, choking on her stew a bit but managing to hide her gagging. As nice as owning your own den sounded, she couldn’t help thinking how lonely Sierra must feel. She wished she could live in her den together, but she was obligated to stay in the Beta’s den with the worst denmate.

As though Alice could read the dark corners of her mind, she asked, “Are you that one lucky wolf, Gail? Or do you live in the six-person den?”

“Ah, neither of those. I share a den with someone, so it’s just the two of us. We don’t…get along well, but we can at least split the den in half.”

Alice frowned. “Oh…that’s gotta suck. If I could, I’d happily be your denmate in place of whoever that stinker is.”

Gail chuckled, blushing. “I’d definitely choose you as my denmate over the one I have. That’d make my days way better, but realistically if you were a part of the pack, we won’t be able to share the same den. There can only be two in the rank I’m in, and that other person isn’t going to let go of his position that easily.”

“That’s dumb,” Alice said with a pout. “What if you want to live with someone from a different rank, and that person wants to also? It’s not like it’s gonna change a whole lot, and it’ll just make those people happier.”

“Huh, now that she mentions it,” Gruff looked at Gail, “couldn’t you have that changed, or at least make exceptions? You are a Beta after all, so you have some say in that.”

“I guess I do, but we all know Zane is going to oppose that no matter what. The Alphas…they’re probably going to say it’s to ‘maintain order’ or whatever excuse they’re gonna pull to keep Zane and the Gammas happy.”

“Wouldn’t Zane also be happy to have you out of the den?” Sydney said. “Maybe you two can work that out. If both of you are in agreement for you to stay in another den, surely the Alphas would be more inclined to allow it.”

Gail’s ear twitched with great interest. “You make a good point. I might bring that up at some point. Thanks for suggesting that.” Despite that, a part of her doubted Zane would actually agree, even if it meant distancing himself from her. Though, realistically it would be more likely he would let her stay in Sierra’s cave, so long as she still does her duties as a Beta.

Then Terra’s voice echoed in her head. I would’ve preferred you to strip the role off of Zane. Gail had yet to figure out why she was tasked to demote Zane, and she was too afraid to question it. In the few times she was able to brainstorm, she could not come up with a way to knock him down the rankings without stirring too much trouble. She didn’t even know how to properly sabotage and frame him in a way that would warrant his demotion.

Unless I just kill him. Maybe that’s what Terra meant. I would be asserting my role as the dominant Beta if I outright kill him in a duel for everyone to witness.

She shook her head, realizing the consequences of killing Zane, the biggest one involving Sierra. While Sierra and her father were not on good terms, Gail knew she still cared about his well-being. Besides, she didn’t have to kill him; instead. she could just injure him to the point that he yields, then maybe the Alphas will consider demoting him. Though that would be more difficult to execute, it was a plan nonetheless, and one that could win the respect of the Alphas and Gammas.

Despite the sudden dip in the group’s mood, they were still satisfied with their exotic meal, rubbing their bellies and letting their weights rest comfortably on their seats. Gail reached for her tankard and downed the last few sips of her sweet apple juice. She then let out a pleased huff. “That was amazing.”

“It really was,” added Gruff. “I forget just how good the food here is. I might just take lessons from the cooks. It’d be nice to be able to cook something delicious real quick while scouting.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already learned how to,” Sydney commented. “I figured it’d be something you’d brag about nonstop to us all out in the field. I can already imagine us all, caught out in a snowstorm. We take shelter in a small cave below a cliff, and just when we thought we all have to share a single piece rabbit, you whip out your cooking knowledge and somehow make that one prey enough for every single wolf in the pack.”

Gruff burst out laughing. “Oh, if only. Now you’re making me want to learn cooking even more.”

“I’m sure Lisa wouldn’t mind teaching you,” Alice chimed in. “She could teach you basic recipes, maybe something similar to the steak we had.”

“That’d be lovely. We don’t have spices and whatever you put into food readily available at our place, but I know there are some food you can cook without any of them and still taste great. It would’ve been nice if we had something with egg tonight. I’ve been wanting to know what they taste like, since just eating what’s inside them raw is…not the best experience.”

“Egh, yeah, that’s awful.” Alice shuddered. “And eggs are great! There’s some simple dishes you can cook that’s just eggs and a bit of salt.”

“I’ll bring that up to Lisa, then.”

Cole approached their table, laughing heartily while wiping a tankard with a cloth. “Look at you, lass—it’s like you already know these people for years.”

Alice smiled sheepishly. She scratched the back of her head. “Well, I already heard about Gruff from you, pops. He is pretty nice like I’ve heard, and his friends are just as nice.” She hugged Gail’s arms, to the older wolf’s surprise. “And Gail here is especially great! She’s the one who saved me from those bad wolves.”

“Bad wolves?” Cole repeated, raising a brow.

Waving a hand, Gail responded, “Ah, don’t worry about that. It’s just some of our packmates who weren’t receptive of Alice and got a little…aggressive.” Upon seeing Cole’s scowl, she hastily added, “I’ve reprimanded their actions though! I’ll be sure they’ll get what they deserve for being rude to your daughter when we get back home. Oh, and Alice didn’t get injured when I checked.”

Alice nodded. “Yup, they didn’t leave anything that’ll last, but also, you already beat one of them up, right, Gail? The biggest meanie of them all definitely got what he deserved!”

“I did give him a mean punch, but that’s not enough of a punishment for what he did to you, Alice.”

“Hm. I guess that’s reassuring to hear, even if it’s coming from someone as young as you,” said Cole, looking more relaxed. “I’ll take your word for it. I’m just thankful to you all that you brought her back in the end.” His eyes darted to a group of a dozen Ferians who’d just entered the inn. “Well, as much as I hate to interrupt your leisure time here in the dining area, I got some patrons who needs to take your table.” He looked at Alice and gestured with his head. “Lead them to their rooms, dear.”

Gail thought she wouldn’t be able to leave her seat with how comfortable she was. She hadn’t felt this full in forever, and the others probably felt the same. Thinking back on it now, the steak was less meat compared to an entire hare, maybe equivalent to a whole finch, yet somehow it filled her stomach more—not to mention it tasted more delightful.

As her father had instructed, Alice led them to the rooms that were mentioned earlier. Ascending the stairs at the side of the dining area, they were at a hallway with multiple doors on one side. Gail looked at each of the door, her mind buzzing with interest at whoever could be in those rooms. What kind of Ferians could they be? Where did they come from? Or could they be living here permanently, and was that an option?

The group followed Alice to the end of the hallway where it turned right. At the end were their rooms. The two rooms were to be split among the four, but they all entered one of them first. For a room meant for only two people, it was larger than what Gail anticipated. It was just as large as the Betas’s den. If it were up to her, she’d settle with a single room for all of them to sleep in so they weren’t being too bothersome to Cole’s business, but then she figured that Cole was just being generous to them as thanks. Also, there were only two beds in the room, and she’d want her packmates to enjoy themselves and feel relaxed in their own bed while they’re here.

While they gawked at the clean walls, the dust-free ceiling, the carpeted floor, and the long wooden desks set up against the walls, Sydney’s eyes were locked on the beds that were on either side at the end of the room near each table. Her tail wagged eagerly before she dashed toward one of the inviting beds and dove onto it. Her entire weight sank into the mattress, and in a matter of seconds it already looked like she was sleeping like a corpse.

“This is the softest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of lying down on.” Her voice was barely audible with her face buried in the pillow.

Gruff padded over to the other bed and sat down with a content sigh. “Yeah, it’s a lot softer than I remember it being.”

Sydney’s head shot up as she looked at him, eyes wide. “You ‘remember’? You mean you’ve slept here before!?”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” Gruff said, defensively waving his hands. “Cole offered me a room to rest for a bit when I visited here last time. I didn’t sleep on it, just…lie down for some time.”

“Man, nothing here really surprises you, huh? Then that means I need to try extra harder to find something that’ll impress you.”

Gail and Durin smiled, hearing the two of them laugh gleefully. “Well, it looks like you two already called dibs on this room, so me and Durin are gonna head over to our room.”

They closed the room behind them, and they padded over to the neighboring room. Gail hadn’t noticed before, but standing close together, the three of them—her, Durin, and Alice—were almost of the same height. Only a few inches separated them, with Durin being the tallest and Alice the shortest.

Alice opened the next door for them. It was essentially the same with nothing to differentiate it from the other room. Durin went over to sit on her bed while Gail let her body collapse on hers. It was exceedingly more comfortable than sleeping on the floor or their stone beds cushioned by leaves. She stared at the ceiling, now feeling the soreness spread across her body. She’d begun feeling it already when they were sitting down to eat, but now she had time to take this all in—to try to organize and process all the thoughts swirling in her head. The door had closed, meaning that Alice had left them to their own devices.

She stared at the ceiling. Everything that she’d seen and done this afternoon was all foreign. It boggled her mind that other Ferians, and most likely other races as well, lived day-to-day life like this. Was this a rare group of people that advanced from cave living and raw eating and managed to construct structures like this inn?

No, Sierra’s books say that this is what other Ferians have been doing for generations. If this sort of society is as common as those books make them out to be…then how many other groups are living in a society like ours, the Twinned Fangs?

Gail didn’t want to question what the Alphas had established. There had to be a good reason why they strayed away from this sort of culture in favor of the pack system. Was it to please Ventay? But Ventay herself said that only a few of her packmates had prepared to meet her, meaning that the others may not even know of her existence. Now she wondered if Gruff, Sydney, and Durin knew of Ventay, and did this village knew of her as well?

“Ugh, this is such a mess,” she said aloud, forgetting that Durin was in the same room and could hear her. Durin, who was lying down, turned her body to look at her.

“Are you feeling troubled, Beta Gail?”

“Just Gail, please,” she said, peeved. “I’ll never require any of you to address me as such.”

“Oh…okay. So what is bothering you, Gail?”

Gail was silent for a moment, debating if she should open up. “A lot of things, really.” She turned her body so she could look back at Durin. “I shouldn’t have sworn to Terra that we’re gonna be able to return home tonight. It would’ve been smarter to say that tomorrow morning is the latest that we’ll arrive.”

“That would’ve been smarter, yes, but if Terra has a fraction of common sense, she should be able to discern that the blizzard would impede our travel. We did say that us Deltas have traveled through worse, but we don’t know the actual strength of this storm. It could be considerably stronger than any storm we’ve experienced, and no available arcane gem can help us in that situation.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Gail sighed. “I need a lot more experience before I start conducting missions like this. I’m bound to make more dumb decisions like that if I don’t start with simpler orders.”

Durin stared at her with saddened eyes. Her soft demeanor and face made it obvious how she felt bad for Gail. “You always worry about making the perfect decisions, I’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a Beta. I have to if I don’t want Zane or the Alphas smacking my head.”

“Hm. You don’t think they’ve committed mistakes in the past as well? As much as I respect the Alphas and the Zetas especially, I doubt that they’re perfect beings who’ve done no wrong. Is that how you feel about everyone else?”

“I…no. Of course not, I don’t think anyone in any role is perfect, but…” Gail sighed again, closing her eyes. “I just wish that the people who call out my mistakes know that they make their own mistakes.” She recalled all those times Terra and Frost would slap her, singe her skin, yell at her, and recently she had Zane berating her and treating her as an inferior. They were all too much for her. Even if she weren’t a Beta, they would still find a reason to bring her down if she weren’t giving twice as much as her capabilities.

“I know you’re doing your best, Gail,” she heard Durin say. She opened her eyes to see the small, delicate Delta giving her a soft smile. Her heart felt at ease at that moment. Her mind returned to the room, taking in the now instead of worrying about the Alphas and Zane. She smiled in return.

Knocking came from their door. They both looked at it, sitting up now, then looking at each other. Shaking off the creeping sense of exhaustion, they got up from their beds to answer the door. It was scary, not knowing who was on the other side, but gently opening the door, it was Alice along with Gruff and Sydney standing behind her.

“What is it?” asked Gail.

Alice replied, “We were going to ask if you want to explore the village. The weather isn’t too bad yet, so I thought that maybe you guys would want to have a small of tour of the place. I can’t take you through the entire village, but I can show you some of the important places.”

“It’ll be fun!” Sydney exclaimed. “We’ll only get this one chance in what could be our only visit in a really long time.”

That fact did tempt Gail, and it reignited the curiosity in her to walk around the village and have a look at everything. She considered it for a moment, but her answer was going to be the same regardless of how long she thought. With a smile, she nodded. “Sure. It’d suck if all we did here was eat and sleep, so let’s enjoy our time here while we still can.”

Alice led the way with Gruff by her side. Descending the stairs, they could see that the inn had more patrons occupying the tables and filling the air with mirthful laughter and the smell of alcohol. The people sitting by the counter would drop a handful of coins then be served with tankards of ale and beer.

“Cole wasn’t kidding about the inn becoming really active around this hour, huh?” Gruff commented. “I’ve never actually seen this place with this many people. I’d usually have left hours before.”

“Yeah, and I’d normally be helping around, but dad gave me permission just this once to take you guys on a trip around the village.” Alice proceeded to the door with everyone else. The cool breeze greeted them as they stepped outside. Gail shivered, the air being cooler than it was earlier.

“We can use the arcane gems whenever we want, right?” she asked.

Gruff nodded as he and the others reached for their own arcane gems. “It’s not a dangerous gem and it doesn’t sap too much archaic energy from you, so no worries about hurting anyone. Just don’t overload it like you did before.”

As Gail went to activate her gem, Alice asked, “Do you guys not have any coats? Or thicker clothes or anything with sleeves?”

Gruff frowned along with his ear flattening. “No, what we wear now is really all we have. The only time we really get to change attire is if our current one gets to worn or torn.”

“And it stinking isn’t a good enough reason.” Sydney stuck her tongue out with a blegh. “We’re used to it though, being out in the cold often. Gail here is the only one who’s gotten an upgrade recently, and it’s the best-looking outfit out of the entire pack barring our leaders. Suits her well, too.”

Gail blushed, glancing off to the side. Despite the compliment, the corners of her maw fell. “Thanks, but I do wish all of you can get something nicer to wear. Maybe I could help Sierra in making that possible with the Alphas’ permission.”

“Ooh, speaking of new clothes,” Alice said, her eyes sparkling, “let’s go to the market! You’ll probably find something you’d want there!” She dashed off, her tail swaying behind her through a deliberate hole in her tunic.

Gruff had tried to grab her shoulder before she ran off, but he just sighed. “Don’t worry, I know where the market is.”

The group went farther into the village. More of the structures surrounded them, still spaced apart. Though, most of the buildings here were smaller, being only one level compared to the two-story building that was the inn and some of the structures prior. “If I’m not mistaken, these are some of the houses where the people live in. It’s like the dens we have at home, except it’s your private place and people can’t just go in willy-nilly even if you’re a guard or even the head of the village.”

Gail added, “And there are Ferians who learned how to construct them, right?”

“Right.”

Sydney looked at her, going, “Ooo. Looks like we have another wolf that’s knowledgeable about foreign society.”

“I only know a bit from Sierra’s books.” Gail chuckled. “Again, it’s like…similar to the different ranks in the pack, where there are certain roles people take, except…for the most part, they don’t look down on someone who’s in a different role.” She went silent for a moment, as did the others. She shook her head. “Sorry. Um, what’s the market like, Gruff? I didn’t read anything about them.”

Gruff didn’t look too bothered by what she’d said prior, or maybe he knew it all too well. “Oh, you’ll find out when you see it. Think of the traders that we encounter from time to time.”

Walking for a bit more, they spot Alice standing in front of a quaint structure. It had a glass window to reveal the interior. More importantly, there were items on display, and Alice was gawking at them with her snout pressed against the glass. “They all look so pretty,” she whispered.

Gail looked to see that she was especially staring at a dress that was adorned on a mannequin. It was red and white with a bit of black, and its edges were frilled. It had a hood too, as well as lace to secure the outfit on the mannequin. Complementing the outfit, a silver pendant of a butterfly lay on its chest.

“Are they just there to show off what the owners have?” Gail asked.

“No, most of what you see in there are things you can buy,” Gruff said. He scratched the back of his head. “Unfortunately, we can’t trade for any of those. The traders we encounter in our scouting trips accept excess prey that we have in exchange for their goods, but here they use some sort of currency I’m not too familiar with.”

“Wait, you’ve never had money?” Alice asked, shocked. “I guess I’m not one to talk since I rely on dad to buy stuff and I have little of my own, but your pack doesn’t have any Asmin at all?”

Asmin? That was the first time Gail had ever heard of that and the concept of currency. It seems it was another foreign concept, and one that the Twinned Fangs had no use for. Was that what the coins that the inn patrons were using to be served?

“Hey, since we’re at the market, I think there’s a shop that Durin would love.” Gruff padded off with Sydney and Durin following with piqued interest.

Gail stayed with Alice, who was still staring longingly at the dress. She stood beside her. “I think that outfit would look great on you.”

“Yeah, I’ve had my eyes on it for a long time now, but I haven’t saved up enough Asmin for it.” Alice sighed. “It’ll take more months of saving before I can afford it, and that’s hoping that I can find more small jobs around the village and that no one else buys this before I can.” After a few more seconds of gawking, she stepped away from the window. “Come on, let’s catch up to them.”

The rest of the market had shops in buildings like this lined up and spaced a few meters apart. Some would have fruits in baskets outside by the door, sheltered beneath a cloth roof. Others would There were a few stalls set up, though it was empty with no one occupying it.

Gruff and the rest were standing before a shop that were a bit farther away as the path split off and ran between the buildings. When Gail and Alice got closer, Durin was looking through the window of the shop. Similar to Alice and the dress, Durin was fascinated by the contents of the shop. Instead of clothes and accessories, this shop had an assortment of arcane gems.

Gail wasn’t surprised that Durin would be interested in arcane gems, though she looked a bit too fascinated by them. Pressing her snout against the glass like Alice did, Durin’s eyes were wide, burning with intense curiosity as they were locked on an ornate box with finely cut arcane gems fitted into grooves. She looked more excited than she had the entire trip.

“We can go in if you want to have a closer look at them,” Gruff said.

Durin spun her head and exclaimed, “We can?! I mean, um,” she cleared her throat, “that’d be nice. I haven’t seen this many arcane gems up close.”

They all had to stifle their giggles with how Durin reacted. Entering the cozy shop, a bell rang, and the warmth of indoors wrapped around them. The room was lit up with lanterns housing arcane gems, and the light reflected from the spectacles of the shop owner, who was a snowy owl. “Ah, welcome to my shop,” he said from behind the counter at the end of the room. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you all before, save for Alice there and one of the wolves with the mask. Please, feel free to look around.”

Glass jars containing arcane gems of the same color were on display on shelves, organized by color as one shelf would have the same-colored arcane gems of different shades. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet—Gail didn’t know what the colors were meant to signify. She didn’t even know there were this amount of variety in arcane gems. Durin probably knew. Her eyes darted from jar to jar, padding closer to each jar and reading the labels etched in the small wooden blocks in front of the jars and gasping every time. The others glanced at them as well, but they were not as invested in them as Durin was.

“I didn’t know you were this into arcane gems,” Gail said.

Durin replied, “I always have been. The pack just doesn’t have much that I can fiddle with. I’ve already tried the arcane gems that the Zetas have stored, but I still want to try sooo many more.”

Gail stared at her for a moment, watching her look at a lone grayish gem that was labeled Alchemy. “Wouldn’t you have been a better fit as a Zeta, then? It seems like you’d fit in perfectly with them.”

Durin smiled, though wistfully. “You know, I actually considered that during my Cubbing. It sounded fun to be dealing with the arcane arts and treating people’s injuries, but then I knew I wouldn’t be able to explore the world outside the cave if I did become one. In the end, I opted to become a Delta instead.” She chuckled. “And even then, it took this long for my expectations to become reality.”

Gail assumed that the Zeta role was reserved solely for Potts and Juniper, but it turned out anyone could challenge for the role of Zeta, whatever challenge that the twins would impose. It disheartened Gail to hear that Durin had to turn down what might’ve been her dream in order to go for a role with fewer restrictions. She placed a comforting hand on Durin’s shoulder. “You can always try your hands with some arcane gems as a Delta, right? And if it’s not allowed now, I’ll do my damned hardest to allow the Deltas to use arcane gems outside of missions and scouting trips.”

Durin looked back at her with eyes that were glossy with tears. She smiled. “Thank you.”

She glanced over and saw an open wooden box with five arcane gems of different colors fitted into grooves. They padded over to it and label of it read Elemental Gems: Beginners Kit. Below the name was a list of what each arcane gem was: Fire elemental, Water elemental, Air elemental, Earth elemental, Lightning elemental. Beside this box was another open box, this one having a single pale green arcane gem and three small bottle of different leaves. It was labeled as Basic Vitanimus: Remedy.

The shop owner smiled, seeing them look at the beginner kits. “I see you two have taken an interest in those. They’re not too expensive—only 250 Asmins for each of them, but I can give both of them to you for 400 Asmins. How about it?”

“Ah, sorry, we don’t have much money on us right now,” Gail said. “Thank you for the offer, though.”

“Understandable, dear. I’ll have that offer open to you when you do have the money for it.” The snowy owl continued to smile warmly.

The two went over to the rest of the group. “I think that’s enough looking around for me,” said Durin. “Let’s head someplace else.”

Alice’s eyes sparkled. “Right, and I know just the perfect place to head next!” She exited the arcane shop, her pace frantic. “Come on, quick, before the weather can ruin it!” She ran off, and they chased after her.

Gruff laughed. “Ah, I know exactly where she’s taking us.”

“And where would that be?” Gail asked.

“You all have been wanting to know why this village is named Twin Lakes, right?”