HOWL

2

I'll let you into my soul
but wipe your feet at the door

Atticus

"Abbot mateo, bringing this child into the monastery would not only cause problems but it might endanger our lives" the hosteller, a short elderly man spoke, he was few years younger than the Abbot and similar to every other monk was bald

With each word he spoke his fingers trembled, "Not only that but she is also a wolf"

Seden held the baby while cooing sweet words at her, Antonio stood beside him.

It was dawn and the council had gathered with the Abbot present. Rane stood in the middle, her hands wrapped around each other and her head bent low.

From where he was seated, the Abbot took a good look at her and the baby in Seden's arms, his eyes darting between them before they rested on the man who was still speaking.

"If they sense that we accepted a wolf, the wolves would see it as an opportunity to enter at any time they wish" the hosteller continued

"Are you saying we should throw them away, Luc?" Khaled, a tall bald man interrupted, "We are monks and we have a duty to uphold, if we refuse sanctuary then what are we as monks? If we turn a blind eye to our neighbor then what are doing here?. We should be out there with the people living like them" He faced the Abbot, "We should grant them sanctuary"

"Will you endanger the lives of every other monk here too?" Luc scoffed

"We are monks, this is what we need to do, this is what we have to do" Khaled's tone held no further argument in it, he was the precentor, the one in charge of the writing within the monastery.

"I agree with the precentor, Abbot Mateo, we are monks, this is what we should do and this is what the monastery was built for, it is a place of sanctuary after all" the sacrist glanced at the Abbot before fixing his gaze like the rest of them on Rane.

"Sanctuary to wolves too?" Luc didn't look pleased at all, his points were being thrown at the floor, no one was seeing what he was trying to say. Opening their doors to the moon creatures would put them at risk as they were humans and couldn't stand a chance against them, they were monks and monks never engaged in violence.

"Yes, to those who need help" The sacrist regarded him

"Why don't we put it to a vote, Abbot, the rest of the council are yet to make comments on it and I believe their thoughts could be shown through the voting" Luc suggested, he was eager to get his point proven, eager to win.

"There shouldn't be any need to vote this issue, we are monks" Khaled emphasized on the last word, leveling his gaze with Luc's.

"Abbot?" Khaled called, the Abbot's eyes flickered to him and then rested on the young girl who had been hearing their conversation, she looked helpless and her shoulders were slouched.

"There is no need to put it to a vote" Aiden spoke up, "The goddess won't be pleased that we turned a blind eye to a helpless person, we were taught compassion, love and kindness, this is the time to show those things" He gazed at the Abbot and Rane, no emotion evident in his face, "To show kindness to people who can't repay is back"

There was silence

"It is done then" the Abbot stood up from his seat, "Luc, take them to the east house, give them a room" and with that he made his way out of the room.

The walk to the east house was short. Luc walked them, his face was written with different emotions but the most certain one of them was anger though he had begun to see the other monks' points but he couldn't admit that his was wrong.