Within the house, sitting on a chair they had bought only that morning, was a woman. She looked a little younger than Wolf, but decades wiser, and she had a motherly look to her which was hard to miss. She was also very beautiful. Her hair was as black as her brother's, but curly, and ran down to her seat. Her eyes, so like Wolf's, were that same blue-grey, and possessed a piercing quality which Virginia assumed came with practice. Her face was deeply feminine, but she could see the resemblance a mile away. Sitting in that chair, Wolf's sister looked and felt, to Virginia at least, as dangerous as a troll army, even though she didn't move an inch. An amazing lady indeed.

"Hello, HuffPuff..." Wolf said slowly in a calming tone.

When Wolf's sister spoke, it was with the exact same voice Virginia had imagined: smooth, feminine, intelligent, and motherly.

"Hello, Wolf."

"I can explain!" It sounded almost like a howl, "You see-"

A hand shot up from Wolf's sister, palm open in a silent command for quiet. "I'm not here to yell at you, Wolf. Not at all. I understand what you did, and why you did it. I simply came here to congratulate you." It looked as if Wolf's mouth was going to drop on the floor.

"Not to mention, meet your lovely wife and child." At her last word, she smiled, and the brightness of her smile erased all doubt in Virginia's mind about her sister-in-law. Virginia immediately ran over and hugged her fiercely. Luna hugged her back, carefully , so as not to injure the child. As soon as his wife was done hugging his sister, Wolf did, sniffing her once or twice to get her scent in his nostrils. How he had missed her!

"How long are you planning to stay, HuffPuff?" her brother asked her, obviously hoping it would be a while.

"A good long time." Luna answered, smiling and gently rubbing Virginia's stomach, "I wouldn't trust anyone but myself to be my sister-in-law's midwife, I also plan to teach the child a few things, things I have learned, so she may better mother her own children."

"She?"

"I can tell."

"Oh."

"I do not presume to be the mother of the child" Luna proclaimed suddenly, making sure that this fact was understood, "I am merely aware that you are new to this place and are less aware of certain things. While I educate your daughter in this, I shall educate you also...Though I will not scold you, nor promise you an extra cookie for good behavior." The last was said as a joke, though it took Virginia a moment to comprehend.

"Wolf said you were amazing..." Virginia said, laughing a bit at her own momentary confusion, "And I am awed by the reality..."

Luna's smile widened. "My elder brother often exaggerates my virtues, forgetting that he taught me most of them." A second later, Luna realized she had barely spoken to her brother. Virginia was amazed. What a remarkable lady! It was hard to believe that this kind hearted, motherly girl was the same woman who was sitting in the house when they walked in. And to think, Virginia said to herself, she's only about a year older than me.

Wolf went over and hugged his sister again. "I can't believe how much I've missed you!"

"I hear you've made quite a name for yourself, saving the nine kingdoms and destroying the evil queen and all."

"Indeed, but I couldn't have done it without my love, here." Wolf embraced Virginia, then pulled her back into the conversation, "Oh my, to think we haven't even done formal introductions!"

"HuffPuff, this is Virginia. Virginia, HuffPuff" Wolf stopped for a moment as they shook hands in a laughably formal gesture, "Or would you rather be called Luna..."

His sister laughed. "HuffPuff is what my family has always called me, and it shall serve for my new sister-in-law as well."

HuffPuff then pulled Virginia close, her eyes dangerous once more in an instant. "You are aware of what my brother and I truly are?"

"Yes, she is." Wolf answered for her, just as dangerous looking due to his anger. He loved his sister more than life, but he loved Virginia even more.

"Don't be daft. It would be difficult to keep my tail out of view in any act that would create a child!"

"Yes" answered Luna, obviously deeply embarrassed, "I am sorry. It is just that..."

"I know, Huff, I know..." Wolf disengaged his sister from his wife, and pulled her to a chair, where he sat next to her as she rubbed her cheek on his chest and whimpered softly. Virginia was amazed. That strong, self-confident woman was gone, replaced by a familiarly frustrated girl who didn't now what to do and was asking her brother for protection.

"Sometimes" he whispered to Virginia when she came over to see if HuffPuff was all right, "I forget she's the youngest. She looks so much like mother, so wise, I don't remember that she was only 10 when we lost our parents. That she's only 22 now."

"Oh my God..."

"Yes...I told you about the village boys, how they went after her? Well, one tried to get a little too close. They were friends for a while, and the boy wished to get to be more than that. He told her he loved her, and my sister, so hungry for a normal friend, believed him. He was older than her, 16, and had some ideas which he wished to try with my sister. We weren't well liked in the village, being what we were and all, but there was a peace. However, when that boy tried to force HuffPuff into something she didn't wish to do, she fought back, and because she underestimated her own strength and anger, nearly killed him." Virginia could see the rage in his face at what had been done to his sister, even though the event had happened 12 years ago. It had once scared her, knowing what her husband was capable of when upset, but now she acknowledged it as a gift, though she wished to God she would never have the murderous glare turned to her direction.

They realized that the whimpering had stopped from HuffPuff. Both looked down at her. She had fallen asleep. When she slept, the weight left her face, and one could truly see the young girl beneath. The young girl who had taken care of three older brothers, who had never had a true chance at being a carefree teenager. Wolf looked up at Virginia, willing her to understand just how much he cared for his sister, and how much she had suffered for being a decent girl.

"They came that night. They came with pitchforks and torches. We cubs were out on a hunting trip at the time in the local forest, getting dinner for the family since Father was a bit ill. The boy had told the other villagers that we had attacked him for no reason, and that our evil had to be wiped from the village. The villagers, who had never truly liked us in the first place, latched onto the idea, and arrived at our house just as we were returning.

"They burned our parents on big stakes they had erected on the front of our property. We arrived just in time to see the flames rise up and devour our mother and father, and hear their last dying howls of agony. We could smell our parent's burnt remains as we ran into the woods, half insane with grief. But it affected HuffPuff the worst. She thought it was her fault. She kept on saying she just should have gone along with it. She couldn't stop howling her pain. We couldn't even stop her at first. She was so upset, Pawly and Chaser and I were afraid to approach her. Finally, when she calmed a bit, we managed, barely, to get her to a cave, where we knew we'd be safe for a while.

"We hid there for a week, each of us hunting in a cycle, always careful to leave someone with HuffPuff. But one day, Pawly forgot that Chaser was out, and left her alone. She escaped and went back to the village. She was still not sound in the head, and when she saw the remains of our mother and father, she went and found the boy who had tried to take advantage of her and brought him to our cave."

Wolf's eyes seemed to bore into Virginia's as he spoke. "He was not alive when we returned. Nor was he in one piece, or even all there."

Virginia gasped. How could this poor, beautiful, sweet creature have been so brutal? And at 10 years old? And then she knew. It had been the same with her.

She had always been a loving, trusting person, but when she discovered what her mother, the evil queen, had done, she had put all that behind her and thrust the poisoned comb into the evil witch. That boy had cost Wolf's sister her childhood, her parents, her home, and her happiness. Virginia entirely understood.

Wolf saw it in her eyes. She agreed with what his sister had done. He nodded to no one imparticular, then went on.

"After that, she went back to normal, but there was a hardness to her. She took over, as I told you, and moved us to Great-grandfather's wood, where no one would harm us. That is where my last name comes from, Virginia. I saw the question in your eyes when Huff called me that, and I will tell you now why. We are descended from the great wolf, Old Grey, who lived deep in the forest of the second kingdom. He was the wolf who blew over the straw pig house, who ate Little Red Riding Hood, who was the villain in so many stories. But he was respected in the woods, by the animals, and those who understood the truth to many of the stories, and someone our parents were proud to call family. So we are Grey-son. You and our child now carry that name, and it will be a help dealing with some, and a hindrance dealing with others. We're Grey's last descendants, practically royalty in that forest."

Virginia took a moment to let it soak all in. There was so much to Wolf she hadn't known and so much she still didn't know. But she would find it all out, and told Wolf so.

"All you have to do is ask, dear..." Wolf said finally.

"So, HuffPuff stayed in that forest?"

"Yes. She has worked in that forest as a woodswoman and herbmistress for the people since we moved there. Many people in that village owe her their lives, or the lives of their children. They all know her for what she is, but there are very few troubles."

"Wolf, how come she...?"

"Why did she just crumple?" he asked, staring at her again with pain in his eyes, "Because she hates to hurt those she loves. When I got angry at her, she knew she hurt me by accusing you, though it's understandable, considering. It's the worst thing to her, since she still feels the guilt for what happened when she was 10. She's never really gotten over the death of our parents, though I must admit, I haven't either. The moment we arrived at the burning has been imprinted in my memory for all time. The sights, the smells, the noise. And to her, it was even more devastating because she thought she could have prevented it."

"Not to mention" continued Virginia knowingly, "That she didn't want the same to happen to you..."

Wolf gave a wain smile. "I knew you were a sharp girl, Virginia."

"Thank you, husband."

"My pleasure. Now we had better wake her up and fix everything..."

"Okay."

"Go put on some bacon, dear?"

Virginia was amazed. "Food?"

"I told you, she's my sister. Just like me."

"This is going to be interesting; two of you, soon to be three. What is this poor woman to do!? I'll never get any bacon!"

"Then I'll have to give you something else..." Virginia remembered that grin. It was the same grin he had used the last time he had pulled her into their bed.

When he smiled at her, everything was all right. She put on the bacon, and as the first piece began to sizzle, she heard HuffPuff waking up. Virginia half listened as Wolf explained everything to his sister, cooking the bacon to a crispy brown. When she turned to serve it, however, she found they were right behind her. Virginia nearly dropped the plate.

Wolf immediately went for the bacon, but saved some for his sister on the plate. HuffPuff went for a slice, but stopped her hand an inch from the bacon.

"I am sorry, Virginia, that I didn't trust you. It was silly of me..."

Virginia smiled then, and handed her the remaining bacon.

"Don't be. I understand. Besides, we all have our little things..."

"Little things?"

"You know, those little things that set us off, mess us up, hold us back. For me, it was the loss of my mother, but I'm over it now. I dealt with it. And sometimes, it takes a very long time to deal with it..."

HuffPuff soaked in what her brother's wife had said, then turned to face Wolf.

"You picked a good one, brother. Hope I find one as good."

There it was. That gleam. That I-have-a-plan gleam that most men feared more than life, and most women couldn't resist. "Maybe, you will..."
Fin