It would be unfair to tell only about those of my kinsmen who lived with me in the same village. After all, I had others - not by blood, but by spirit - who lived in the forests. I have already mentioned that I did not find a place for myself among other werewolves, but not all of them were as embittered, proud and callous as they might seem at first glance. So I will tell you about those of them who I remember most - and you decide what to think of them and how to judge them.<\/p>\n
The first person who comes to my mind is my husband, nicknamed Art.in original ar\u03b8o\u02b0<\/b>, "bear"<\/span><\/i>He did not give his real name, and there was no need for it: hardly anything else would have suited him better than the nickname he had at the time. After all, he was incredibly huge; I met a giant like him only once in my life after that.<\/p>\n If I was born on the coast of the mainland, then Art was from the Digitan Island, as he himself mentioned. He was stingy with words and reluctant to talk about himself, but I managed to find out that there, beyond the strait, there are many who turn into bears, like Art himself, but why he left there ... I did not even ask, because I saw that such conversations were unlikely to bring him anything except mental anguish.<\/p>\n It was this stern and taciturn man who began to look after me when I first ran into the forest after my transformation. He managed to smell (or hear?) me even in human form, tracked me down - and grabbed me. And held me for a long time, until I, trying to break free, completely lost my strength and turned back into a human.<\/p>\n Now I understand why he did it. Even in the form of a beast, the ability to think and reason is preserved, but it is as if it is clouded and extinguished under the pressure of primal feelings and impulses. In such moments, you feel as if someone else is controlling your body, and all you can do is stand aside and watch the unreasonable and wild things that you do.<\/p>\n While the others were squabbling among themselves, reveling in their animal nature and hunting for fun, Art taught me how to maintain humanity even in animal form. He did it... people would say harshly, even excessively - but how else can you cope with a beast with youth playing in its head? Once he even had to turn to calm me down, and... I never want to see that again. But that's a story for another story.<\/p>\n I think he was very glad that he had finally found a disciple who listened to him. Although he was considered the most important among all the others, he did not interfere in their affairs: there was too much malice and bitterness in them for one person, even one as powerful as Art. Only occasionally did he give them orders and settle their quarrels, and then no one dared to contradict him.<\/p>\n And so he taught me until he finally left the forests near my village. Almost everyone else left with him. He told me that he would go far, far away to the east, where he had heard that others like him lived and had no need to hide. We hugged each other good-bye, and then, for the first time, I think I saw tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n The second one I can't help but remember was called BudigaB\u0289\u00f0ig\u1ecd<\/b>, "The Winner"<\/span><\/i>. I admired and feared this wife at the same time. She had enough rage and fire inside her for ten husbands, and the rest could light ten fires on a cold winter night, and they would burn until dawn.<\/p>\n She, like Art, was also in some ways on her own. In human form, men did not even dare to approach her, and in animal form... many, driven by animal urges, tried, but were mercilessly bitten each time, and the marks on their skins did not heal for a long time and sometimes remained even when they turned back into people.<\/p>\n I managed to gain her favor, perhaps, by not looking at her as a female, as many others did. She came to our forests just when I was fourteen, and my youth certainly did not help me in keeping my nature to myself, but ... I somehow managed to keep the last drops of reason in my brain. Not least thanks to Art, of course.<\/p>\n It even got to the point that one day, when I was sitting on the river bank and looking at the stones in the water, Budiga came up to me and sat down next to me.<\/p>\n \u201cTell me,\u201d she asked then, \u201care you sick with some kind of male disease?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat other illness?\u201d I looked at her in confusion. - How should I know? I can only see that all your strength has left you, or that it never came at all.<\/p>\n Even now I remember: I blushed all over then, right down to the tips of my ears and toes.<\/p>\n "Do you want to see?" I answered her angrily. "Well, then look!"<\/p>\n She was even a little taken aback then; and then suddenly she looked me in the face and laughed loudly.<\/p>\n From then on she would sometimes - when other men were not looking - spend time with me. And she taught me many things that Art had not spoken of: how to appear at home among the animals of the forest, how to fight and defend myself in the form of an animal, how best to track down prey... but most of all - how to deal with wives.<\/p>\n Her hair was so soft, her body so strong and yet so pliable. The dew on the grass smelled so sweet that spring.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":1097,"menu_order":3,"template":"","yoast_head":"\n
\nShe shrugged and pointed to her loins.<\/p>\n