Chapter 10

They walked for many days until one morning they saw the lake in the distance. When they came to the shore, they looked out over it. It was an enormous lake. "How do we find the fish here?", Tina asked hopelessly. "Shall I swim?" She turned to Lynx, but before she was around, she heard fair hissing and from the surrounding bushes, wolves emerged. "It won't be necessary to swim," the leader of the wolves said. "The Queen knew you would come here. Where else would you come for secrets no one else knows about? It was so obvious." He shook his head. "Just a little girl, that's what you are." Lynx hissed at them, but the wolf turned to fair with a patronizing smile. "And you, did you plan to run and abandon your other friend, too?" He turned to the wolf pack. "Let's go, the Queen is waiting."

They didn't have any other choice than to follow, so with Lynx in her arms, Tina began to walk with the wolves back to the palace. It was a long way, and Tina knew it would take them many days to reach it. She hugged Lynx and whispered, "It will be ok, we'll find a way."

They walked the whole day, and when the night came, they stopped to rest. Tina and Lynx found a hole in an old tree trunk where they crawled into and the wolves guarded them from the outside.

Lynx crawled up in Tina's arms and said, "I'm sorry, I should have known better."

"Don't be sorry. Lynx", Tina said. "It's not your fault. And we'll find the way, I'm sure we will."

But Lynx shook fair head and said, "It's too late. She got us. It's hopeless."

"But we have each other." Tina hugged fair.

"But what if she separates us?," Lynx said. "She can send us away."

"But I will still love you. I only wish I could give you a name. I would name you Leah." Lynx cuddled up against her and they soon fell asleep.

Tina was woken up by someone shaking her arm. She opened her eyes and saw that it was dawn and Lynx, in fair human form, crouched next to her with a big smile. "Let's go," fay whispered to Tina.

"What happened?", Tina asked, still dazed from the sleep.

"Shh... Later. Let's go"

"But the wolves.."

Leah-Lynx grinned. "Let's have fun with the wolves."

They crawled out from the tree, and Leah-Lynx turned to the sleeping wolves and cried out, "Flea bags! Come here!" And the wolves woke up and walked towards them, looking at them in shock. "The Queen of Summer is back!," Leah-Lynx said. "You are free to run or to follow us to your Queen to watch her fall." The wolves looked at each other, terrified because they never imagined the day would come when the Queen would fall. And they ran. Some of them back to the queen, some of them back to the forest, happy they didn't need to serve any longer.

Tina looked at Leah-Lynx. "What happened? How did you come back to your human form?"

"You are the Queen of Summer. You gave me a name, and you meant it."

Tina looked at fair and blushed. She had meant it, she'd meant everything she'd said to Leah-Lynx. But it was different having said it to a cat and now having the human standing in front of her. But no, she would stand by it. She loved Leah-Lynx. "Yes, I meant it," she said.

They took each other's hands and walked back to the palace. As they walked, the snow melted around them and the sun came out from the clouds. As they came closer, they saw that where the palace had once stood was now only a big lake. They heard something rattling behind them, and a high-pitched voice peeped, "You saved us! You saved us! I told you, you will save us! I knew it! You're our hero! I didn't fall from a tree." Ratatosk ran towards them and jumped up on Leah-Lynx's shoulder, "You are our heroes! Both of you! I'm so happy!"

"What happened to the Queen?," Tina asked.

"Everything melted in the morning, and we all ran."

"We?", Tina asked. And she saw some beings and animals coming towards them. And they looked very sad, but there was also hope in their eyes. And Leah-Lynx whispered into Tina's ear, "You need to give them a name."

"But I don't know their names," Tina whispered back. But Leah-Lynx just said, "You will know. You will know when they come"

And each of these beings came up to Tina, and she gave them a new name, and one by one they took their true form. And the old dog became the Wolf King again. And all these beings were free. And then the Wolf King walked up to Tina and said, "I heard an old story too. If you go into the lake, you will come back to the place where you came from." But Tina looked at Ratatosk and Leah-Lynx and said, "I will stay here." They walked together, holding hands, and later held a big celebration because the summer had come.