The Lone Wolf

20, Closure

Ahren pulled into a parking space. There was only one other car parked in the lot.

"Where are we?" Fox asked, wary. Ahren shifted in his seat to better face Fox.

"This is the pack's morgue," he stated. Fox's eyebrows drew together.

"As I understand it, you were her only friend, and since we have no way of contacting her family, if they're even still around, the decision of what to do with her body falls to you," Ahren explained. Fox's eyes widened, and a cold sensation flowed through his limbs, not caused by the weather.

"What?" he whispered tightly. Ahren smiled sadly.

"If you'd like her cremated, we can do that and you can pick out an urn to keep the ashes in. Or if you'd prefer a burial, we can pick out a casket and find a spot to bury her. We can also make a tombstone," Ahren said.

Fox's head buzzed and swam at once. Hadn't they already fed her to Anodyne? Didn't every loner, regardless of who they were or what they did, get fed to Anodyne? What was happening here?

"I don't understand," Fox whispered. Ahren gave him a questioning look. "She's a lone wolf."

"I know," Ahren said, quiet and gentle, and even... no, he couldn't be ashamed. "But you cared for her. She was proving to be a good lone wolf. Just like you."

Fox shook his head a little, not in denial, but in disbelief. "I still don't understand. Lone wolves aren't... no one views us as people. No one decides whether to cremate or bury us."

Ahren sighed and looked out the windshield at the morgue. "You remember what I said, when I took you both hunting?" he began. "I wanted to see if wolves who had lived in their wild side for too long could regain their equilibrium, could take back their civil side and find stability. I've wanted to introduce a new position in our pack; Recovering Loners. I wanted to set up a program where we screened every new trespasser we got and evaluated if they could be saved by being shown pack companionship and bonding. If all efforts were successful, and the loner didn't prove to be a threat, we would work together to help them become pack wolves again. Sunshine wanted to help with this, too. She would provide therapy for them and help them heal from their trauma. But it's been months and months of finding no good candidates, besides Star. And then you," Ahren turned to look at Fox again, a small smile on his lips. Fox couldn't stop staring at him.

"I want to treat you loners better. The good ones, anyway. The bad ones... I don't know what can be done for them," he continued. "So, although the pack might not be pleased with my decision, I want to give her proper respect."

He caught Fox's gaze and held it, his visage kind and patient as ever. "So... would you prefer to cremate, or bury?"

Fox swallowed. His throat was taut, and tears stung at his eyes. Part of him couldn't believe what he'd heard. Never in his life, not once, had a pack wolf shown such consideration for a lone wolf. Fox thought he'd seen the extent of a pack wolf's kindness, but somehow Ahren managed to surpass it by miles.

Fox reigned in his increasingly tumultuous emotions and took a calming breath. He focused on the question. Would he want a jar of her ashes? It would be another thing to keep secure in his battered backpack, another thing to worry over, another thing to be taken or destroyed by someone else. Looking at it might only ever serve to make Fox's grief surge to the forefront of his being and send him into a breakdown.

Star was a witch, and she had favored two goddesses of the earth. Star probably wouldn't want to be cremated. She would want to be buried in the soil, at home with her beliefs. Having a burial site allowed Fox the freedom to visit when he was ready, and promised privacy for any moments of heartache.