Werebear

Alewidne

“I saw her today too.” When Stephan and Sniff exchanged meaningful glances, I added, “Twice.”

Sniff placed his hand on mine and asked me to remember the encounters. I removed it gently, saying, “I have discovered one thing today.” I looked at Stephan, “You have said that I am the only one who can do this. I believe you are right. I trust you both with my life, and we will continue with the plan you have put in place, but from now on I will be the one making the final decisions. If it is my connection with Twinkle-Toes that is paramount, only I can make the judgment as to how effective something is. I still want your guidance, but it has to be my decision.”

Sniff nodded respectfully, but Stephan smiled and quietly said, “It has always been your decision. I’m sorry if we have come across as pushy, that was never our intent. But you are right, you are the only one who can really know the connection you two have. We will not interfere with your autonomy.”

“Thank you.” I said, unsure where to go from here.

Stephan, sensing this, offered a question. “So, what have you decided?”

“I don’t think we need to do the whole bondage role playing thing anymore. I feel our connection is strong enough that he can be trusted not to run away.” I got up and, walking over to him, I unlocked his collar and removed it. I have realized that force is not the answer here. He must want to be free of the bear. We have seen this desire in him when he gives his cum to me and does it willingly. He has clearly made that choice.”

They both nodded in agreement. Sniff was being thoughtful, and offered, “Do you want me to unlock your cage?”

I laughed, “God, no! I wouldn’t last twenty minutes, and while I trust Twinkle-Toes to be loyal to me, he is still intensely cock hungry, and he probably wouldn’t be able to control himself any more than I could.”

I had taken the conversation in a direction that they had not expected. I hadn’t expected it either, but the depth with which Twinkle-Toes had responded to my declaration of love this afternoon, coupled with the confidence that the spirit being had instilled in me under the tree, were calling me to trust my own instincts. After a moment of silence, I turned to Stephan, “What happened with the bear tonight that brought you here in such a rush?”

He looked startled by the question, as if he had forgotten all about it. It was good to see him caught off guard for once. “Oh…yes…He always gets upset when you take Twinkle-Toes’ cum, but tonight he practically went insane. He tried to assert his presence even without the full moon. He tried to push me aside and take over. He focused all his strength of will against me and fought with everything he had. He has never done that before. I would never have been able to resist him, but it is not my strength that hold him bound to the full moon, and while he is a very strong spirit, he cannot overpower the will of the gods.”

Sniff listened and offered, “I saw what went on between these two tonight just before you contacted me. The connection was electric. Twinkle-Toes opened himself on a deeper level than he has over the last week. He said he did it because the lady told him to.” He looked at me and asked, “What can you tell us that we don’t already know?”

“She is a spirit of some sort. I saw her in the shadows by the door while I was comforting Twinkle-Toes this afternoon, and while I was trying to clear my head at suppertime.”

Where were you when you saw her the second time?” Sniff inquired.

“Under the tree by the lake, where the sun circle meets.” I described her appearance to them and gave them the details I could remember.

Stephan turned to Twinkle-Toes and asked, “Have you seen her any other times than the two you have told us about?”

He hesitated and looked down, “Yes.”

“How often?”

“She’s been here every time I’ve given you my cum.”

We were all stunned. “Why have I never seen her before?” I asked.

“She didn’t want you to.”

“Where was she?” I demanded.

“Sometimes she’s in the wall, sometimes she’s in the door. A couple of times she was in the ceiling, and she was even in the floor once.”

We all looked around, but Stephan noticed the pattern. “Aah..they’re all wooden.” Sure enough, the cabin was entirely made from recycled boards, and almost every inch of the floors, walls, and ceilings were made of wood. “Plus, you saw her emerge from a tree. She must be some sort of spirit of the forest.” Then he asked the question we were all thinking. “Is she here now?”

Twinkle-Toes looked around but didn’t seem to see her. He scanned the room again and stopped, straining his eyes at a shadow in the corner under the sleeping loft. “Yes.”

We all followed his gaze but could see nothing. Stephan asked Twinkle-Toes, “Would she be willing to let us see her? Will she speak to us?”

“She is not sure if you are ready.”

“Who?” Stephan asked.

“You.” Twinkle-Toes turned to him, “She is worried that seeing her might upset you.”

“Why should seeing her upset me more than anyone else?” he was truly puzzled.

“Because you know her.”

As Twinkle-Toes was talking, I began to see the now familiar shimmer and soon saw her faint silhouette in the corner. As I noticed it, I saw Sniff take a step backward and draw in a sharp breath. He could see her too. Stephan was still looking but obviously seeing nothing. “Where is she? Can you see her?”

Sniff volunteered, “She’s very faint, but yes, in the corner like he said. She’s not moving but she’s watching us.”

Stephan moved toward the corner. “Twinkle-Toes, please ask her to show herself to me. I need to know.”

After a brief moment I began to see the shimmer again. Again, it grew in brightness as her form took shape and stepped out of the wooden wall and into the room. Stephan staggered back a couple of steps and fell to his knees. “Alewidne...” He looked at her in awe and disbelief. “But how?”

She walked silently to him and placed a hand on his cheek. “My child, all will be revealed.” She used actual words this time, and they seemed to reverberate as if she were in a stone cathedral. Her lips moved in an approximation of words as she spoke, but the movements didn’t always match the sounds, almost as if she were using a foreign language.

Stephan began speaking to her in a language that none of us had heard before. It was rich and guttural, combining sounds in ways that were jarring to our ears. She responded in the same language, offering comfort. While I could not understand the words themselves, I could feel and understand the content of her words. It was an odd sensation.

Sniff drew close to Stephan and quietly asked, “Who is she?”

“It’s Alewidne, the wise woman who bound the beast.”

“Is she a ghost?” Sniff seemed alarmed.

She smiled at him and said, “I am not a ghost, for I am not dead. I have been made almost immortal, bound to the beast for as long as he walks this earth. You might consider me to be a shade because I am no longer bound to my physical body, but as you see I can take physical form when it suits me.”

“But what happened? You are bound to me?”

“That was the price. The gods required a true sacrifice, not a token. If I wanted to spare my village and the world from the destruction the beast would unleash, I had to be willing to take on the task of keeping him bound. Tonight, when he tried to overpower you, it was I that restrained him.”

“So, you have followed me for all these ages?”

“I have.”

“Why have I never seen you?”

“Because it wasn’t time.” She moved to an open space in the room and sat on the floor, inviting us to join her. I am Watwan Nat, the bear guardian. At all times I sense the beast that manifests as the bear, and it is I who keep him bound until the full moon. When I asked the spirits of the earth and forest to bind the beast, they told me that I must fill this role until one arose who could break the power of the bear. That one is in this room.”

Everyone looked at me and I was suddenly much less confident than I had been just a few minutes ago. She smiled at me and assured me, “Do not worry. Though much will be asked of you, it is not your task to do this. You have a different task. This task belongs to the one you love.”

We all looked at Twinkle-toes, but he seemed oblivious to the conversation. He was next to me, with his head on my shoulder, seemingly in a state of bliss. “You will know what to do when the time comes, until then, trust yourself. You made the right choice this afternoon when I first allowed you to see me. Be true to your heart and you will always make the right choice.”

She rose, and looking at Stephan, she smiled. “You are on the right path, child. Use all the knowledge you have gathered and prepare the ground for what must be done. There is more at stake here than you know.” Then, moving to the corner and the shadows, she faced us, fading into the darkness. As she vanished from sight the room echoed with the words, “Only on the darkest night may we glimpse the light within.”