A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

In the living room, Emma, Emily, and Nora were discussing the events with Erik and Astrid, but they quickly fell silent when the very topics of their discussion entered the room.

On the coffee table between the room's sofas was a serving plate with hot tea, which had been prepared by Emma.

Seeing the tea, Erik smiled at his newest wife, "Thank you, Emma."

"Of course, Master!" she said, with a bright smile.

Astrid's ears quickly perked up, and her brow furrowed, when she heard how Emma addressed Erik. 'Master?' she thought, 'So she's his maid after all?'

While Astrid continued to wonder about this pretty and elegant young woman's relationship with her childhood crush, Erik turned toward Emily and Nora. "Emily, I'd like you to go to the master bedroom and start teaching Nora the basics of sigil craft. Elora will join you later to teach you both."

Again, Astrid perked up her ears and looked around, 'Who's this Elora? I thought these were the only people in the house…'

Realizing he wanted some privacy to talk about things she wasn't allowed to know yet, Emily sighed with reluctant acceptance and nodded, "Sure, Boss."

Nora, too, looked like she wanted to stay, but the Bond of Service didn't allow her to resist when Emily dragged her out of the room.

It was a good thing Emma had the presence of mind not to tell her big sister exactly how her first meeting with Astrid went down. She knew Emily would have immediately turned on the protective big sister mode, and only complicate things when she met Astrid.

Emma looked curiously between the leaving pair and Erik, "Should I leave too, Master?"

Hearing her question, Erik couldn't help but chuckle. "Of course not."

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Then, he continued through their link, "You're my wife now, anything I say to her, I can say in front of you. Just try not to mention our relationship with Astrid for now, let her get a little more comfortable first."

Emma's lips formed into a conspiratorial grin and said out loud, "As you wish, Master."

Astrid narrowed her eyes. She felt like she was missing something.

Yet, unable to determine what it was, she instead walked up to Emma and scratched her head a little awkwardly. "Sorry about the whole… you know… threatening you thing. I tend to act before I think."

To Astrid's surprise, Emma simply smiled brightly before hugging the much taller Astrid, "No problem! It's a pleasure to meet you under better circumstances, Astrid! I hope we'll get along well in the future."

Astrid's eyes widened, a flicker of panic passing through them. She took a hesitant step back, her posture rigid, as if preparing for an unseen threat. The sudden warmth of Emma's hug caught her off-guard, causing her shoulders to tense momentarily before slowly, uncertainly relaxing.

Before today, the last person she'd had any physical contact with outside of a fight was with her mother. And even that had been a few months ago at this point.

Erik was one thing, but to be suddenly hugged by what was essentially a stranger, Astrid had to fight the urge to push her away and enter fighting mode.

Luckily, she managed to return Emma's hug, if somewhat awkwardly, rather than do something she would regret. "I- uh, I hope so to… Emma, was it?"

Quickly nodding happily, Emma responded, "Yeah! Emma Ashcroft, but you can call me Emma!" Suddenly, she winked a little playfully, "Or sister, if you like."

"Uh, I'll just… call you Emma then," Astrid answered, a little confused, but not uncomfortable. Emma was a little overly friendly, but she also had a kind of soothing presence that, to her own surprise, put Astrid at ease.

While Astrid looked confused about why she would call this stranger sister, Erik and Elora naturally knew what was going on and couldn't help but laugh on the inside. 'She's perfect.' Erik thought to himself and felt the infant love he held for her grow a little.

Not long after that, Erik and Astrid sat across from each other, while Emma stood behind Erik. He had used their link, urging Emma to sit next to him instead, but she reminded him she was his maid first and preferred to stand.

To her response, Erik only chuckled. 'I've asked her in the past why she enjoys being my maid so much, but I don't think even she knows exactly.' He thought, but then focused back on Astrid.

All he really needed to know was that Emma was happy, after all.

Looking at Astrid, he frowned in thought. "So…" he began, "Do you have any idea how you ended up here?"

He decided it was best to start with her story, rather than make things awkward by talking about his.

Luckily, Astrid didn't seem to mind going first. She frowned in thought as she searched her memory, but then shook her head. "I don't. The last thing I remember is stumbling through the woods, and then… wait, why was I stumbling?"

Her frown grew deeper. It seemed her memories of going through the ghoulification were still a little hazy.

'I think I'd better let her realize the truth herself.' Erik thought to himself and simply waited for Astrid to continue.

Suddenly, he lost her frown and Astrid's eyes widened. She nearly jumped up, "Wait a second! I was starving and becoming a ghoul!" she gulped, "Did… did I become one?"

But before Erik could answer, she frowned again. "No wait… that doesn't make sense, I heard ghouls retain their memory of being a ghoul, which is why many vampires who recover from ghoulification have mental problems… but I don't remember anything."

Seeing her confusion, Erik quickly cleared things up for her with a complicated expression on his face. This matter was a little delicate, after all. Becoming a mindless creature in and of itself was not a pleasant thought, but being turned into one of the dominion's obedient little soldiers was even less so.

"You did become a ghoul, Astrid…" he began, gravely, "We just sealed your memories from that time, exactly because I knew it might create problems. We can unseal them if you like, but… well, you know."

Astrid looked complicated upon hearing that, barely even registering that Erik had apparently somehow sealed her memories.

"So, I became a ghoul…" she mumbled. Then suddenly, white-hot rage passed across her face, "Wait a second, don't tell me I ended up as one of Sigurd's little dogs!"

She spoke Sigurd's name with such an extreme amount of anger and resentment, that Erik couldn't help but wonder what happened between those two.