Chapter 8

They part with the mayor at the square, and Greta glances at Miriam as she waves goodbye to him. The newfound courage from this morning, when she took Miriam’s hand, is gone, and she wonders if it was a mistake to have done it. She just wanted to be there for her, but Miriam might think it was odd. She should just say goodbye and continue home, but when Miriam turns to her, she hears herself asking,

“Do you want to come for some tea?”

She quickly stares down at the cobblestones, expecting her to say no, but to her surprise, Miriam replies,

“Okay.”

For a moment, Greta stands bewildered, not sure what to do, then gestures down the street. Miriam follows her, and Greta glances at her as she walks next to her. So much has happened since yesterday, and her head is reeling.

She still remembers the day her father disappeared. She had told the villagers about the paw prints she’d seen in the forest, but the adults had dismissed it. There were no wolves in the forest, they told her. She’d seen their dark shapes then, but the adults still hadn’t believed her. They never found out what happened to him, but magic, those spells that were supposed to protect them, had lost their mysticism. They hadn’t protected them, and she’d concluded that only the King could save them. His modernity and rules became what she clung to. She studied every single one of them at the academy, learned them by heart, so that no one else would die because they hadn’t been followed.

They arrive at her house, and she opens the door and steps inside.

“Sven used to live here”, Miriam says as she follows her in.

Greta remembers her own village, how every house and every corner had a memory that someone would know of. She had known them as well, until she came to the city, where no one cared about the history of the walls. She glances around the hallway, suddenly awkward.

“I’ll make us tea.”

She hurries to the kitchen, not sure how to behave now that Miriam is here. Maybe it had been a mistake after all to invite her. She wonders if Miriam feels the same, because she lingers in the hallway until the kettle screeches with the boiling water, and only then comes to sit by the table. Greta pours the boiling water into two cups, carries them to the table, and sits. An awkward silence spreads between them until Miriam says,

“So… What town do you come from?”

Greta mentions the name, belonging to the same county, but far enough for Miriam not to have visited it. Miriam nods, and they sit quietly until Miriam tries again,

“Why did you want to become a constable?”

Greta goes silent, not sure what to say, but in the end, she replies,

“I wanted to protect the towns.”

It’s the truth, and maybe one day, Miriam will hear the full story. She tries to come up with something in turn to ask Miriam, but her mind is blank, and they sit in silence until Miriam says,

“I should go home.” Thank you for the tea.

Greta looks at her, only then realises what it means to have invited her.

“You can’t. What if the wolves come?”

She glances at Miriam. It was foolish, she shouldn’t have asked her to come. But Miriam simply nods and says,

“I’m sure the bed is big enough for us both. “

Greta gets up, not looking at Miriam, and hurries to the bedroom. She puts an extra pillow on the bed, making sure to put a space between them. She hears Miriam come up the stairs, and she avoids her gaze as they crawl underneath the duvet.

Greta barely sleeps that night, trying hard not to touch Miriam. As the first morning light turns the room grey, Miriam stirs and sleepily turns to her. For a moment, their eyes meet before Greta quickly turns her gaze away.

“Morning,” Miriam mumbles, seemingly unaware of the situation they are in.

Greta murmurs a good morning, then pulls the duvet to the side and gets up. It was a mistake to invite Miriam to her place, she shouldn’t have done it. She leaves the room without a word and walks to the kitchen, where she puts another log onto the fire and puts a kettle to boil.

She can hear Miriam bustling in the room, hitting a chair and cursing. She smiles, then realises what she’s doing and stops. It won’t be a habit, having her over, it was only a friendly gesture that she will not repeat. Miriam comes down to the kitchen and sits by the table.

“Maybe we’ll find the right book today,” she says.

“Maybe…”

Greta doesn’t know what to answer, doesn’t know how to behave when she’s not a constable, and she carefully carries the two cups to the table and sits down in silence.

“I’m sure we’ll have our answer today,” Miriam continues.

Greta glances at her, frantically trying to come up with an answer, but her mind is empty, and she is left staring at the cup in front of her.

“Thank you for inviting me.”

Miriam reaches over and puts a hand on her. The gesture is so unexpected, Greta flinches, then realises what she did and tries to smile.

“Of… of course,” she stammers.

She shouldn’t be like this; she should be friendly and say something, but Miriam doesn’t seem to notice. She gets up from her chair, watches out the window and then says,

“I think we’ll be lucky today.”

They prepare after that and walk out into the empty street. Greta watches as Miriam hurries over the cobblestones and when she sees the mayor by the tower, she rushes over to him. He puts a hand on Greta as she comes over and says,

“How are you feeling today, my love?”

Only then does she realise that she never saluted him yesterday, but before she has the chance, he turns and opens the door to the tower. Miriam follows him inside, and Greta has no choice but to follow. They walk up the stone stairs and come out in the small room where the books they read yesterday lie piled along the walls. The mayor picks up another book from the floor, flips through it, and returns it to the floor.

“Let’s hope we are lucky today.”

They go through book after book, and Greta learns about how the population has changed over the generations, and the deaths and births over the centuries, but nothing about the wolves. It isn’t until the afternoon comes that the mayor suddenly says,

“I found it.”

Miriam rushes over to him, and he reads aloud,

“In the neighbouring towns, the wolves killed the Protector. They broke into the houses, and that became the beginning of the Great Hunt. From then on, the day belonged to the people while the night belonged to the wolves.”

He continues, but the text becomes less and less hopeful. They followed the King’s order of the hunt, but with only a few rifles, they could not prevail and resorted to praying to a God that the townspeople have since forgotten. The sun has almost set when he says,

“We need to return.”

He keeps the book and picks up another one from the pile he’s been reading.

“I’ll continue at home.”

When they part at the square, Miriam turns to her and says,

“You can come home to me tonight if you want.”

The request is so unexpected, Greta only stares at her for a moment, and then nods. Maybe she hasn’t made a fool out of herself, after all.