Stahl watched on in agitation as 'The Selection' staff loaded Aster onto a stretcher and took him from the arena. The she-wolf had noticed the human's father had left the royal platform to join him.
Stahl still felt so unreasonably angry about how they had set the human up, that is, until she felt a familiar mind pushing a thought her way. The she-wolf closed her eyes, and listened to what her father had to say.
"Terrible display of ruthlessness, don't you agree my daughter?"
Stahl rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, it was. All that commotion over a furless beast... I can't believe how far we've fallen to stoop to such methods. Couldn't even beat him without rigging the whole thing."
Byron could feel the rage peeking out from behind his daughter's thoughts.
"I think I could use a stroll, care to join me my daughter?"
Stahl found it an odd request considering the timing, but knew her father well enough to know the wolf had ulterior motives behind most of the 'innocent,' things he did, and so the pup joined him.
A while later, after the pair had reached the ground floor area, the older wolf turned to make his way down a tunnel to the staff area below. Stahl was about to follow, until she felt her father push another thought towards her mind.
"I'm dreadfully sorry to hear about your untimely stomach ache my daughter, and right before your final match too... Shame really, but at least you had already pushed far enough to secure your spot in the end."
Stahl grew still.
She wasn't unaware of the message her father was trying to get across to her, but she had no clue why the old beast would ask such a thing.
Still, the pup had learned to trust the mature wolf's judgement over the years. As her father continued on his trek into the tunnels below, Stahl turned and left the area, pondering what the old canine could be plotting.
It was sometime later that the final round started. The matches progressed as usual. From her place just within the tunnel, barely out of sight, Stahl could see some winners of the event celebrating.
As the matches progressed, the number of remaining participants waiting for their final turn decreased with it. Finally, when only about five matches were left, Stahl heard her match called.
The rebellious she-wolf couldn't have held back her mischievous smirk if she had wanted to. She turned to make her exit, leaving the arena, and her unfought match behind. Stahl sent a single thought to her father as she departed.
"Well done, old dog. Well done, and thanks."
___
"So... Since neither of us showed, it was called as a tie... And since I had a loss already and Stahl had none, the loss went to him as the higher ranked... like the king said. I-I don't know what to even say. You didn't have any real reason to help me out like that. I don't even know if I can accept winning like this..."
Aster was beyond grateful for what Stahl had done for him, but he struggled with taking the shortcut. It didn't feel like he had earned it.
Maybe the she-wolf expected as much.
"Look, Aster... You're right, I didn't have to do that... Lucky for you, I didn't. I just had a really bad stomach ache and the whole thing was a weird twist of fate."
The she-wolf gave a mock shrug and a fanged smile towards the human. Aster wasn't amused.
Stahl continued on. "And if I haaadd done anything to help you, then I hope for just one second you would actually realize that you need it. You're not playing on equal ground here. You need all the help you can get, Aster. You need all the friends you can get. Luckily for you, I'm here for both! But that also means I'll expect you to have my back out there too, just so you don't think this will be one-sided. Friends help each other, I know you don't have much experience there, but I am here to teach you after all."
Aster was prepared to argue on this, he'd been silent for long enough, but he found he'd just lost all the words he wanted to say the moment that she-wolf called herself a friend.
The human closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Stahl smiled in her victory, but perhaps a bit too prematurely. Aster popped her little hero bubble relatively quick.
"Fine. I want my match then. If you beat me, I accept what you ask of me. Both in accepting the results of The Selection, and your invitation to train. If I win, I'll personally refuse The Selection results, and continue preparing for next year's attempt instead. Prove your capability to me, Stahl Aschefell. Show me why I should trust you with so much. Why I should rely on you. Show me what you say you have to teach me."
Stahl was pretty well caught off guard. The damn kid couldn't just take the win huh? Yeah. That's fair. She wouldn't want to either if the positions were flipped... Didn't expect this much resistance though.
"Fine. I accept." Stahl hated to admit it, but there was something inside her that desperately didn't want to lose at those stakes. Aster needed her nearby. She was supposed to stay close to this human. Every instinct in her body told her the same thing, it was a horrible feeling.
Stahl felt possessive and impulsive just acknowledging it, but it was just true somehow. From the moment she first saw the human passed out in the bed upstairs, finally off guard and with his walls down, something inside of her screamed at the she-wolf to sit and stay.
It felt like a command of someone else entirely, something that made the she-wolf uneasy when she thought too hard on it.
The seriousness was quickly interrupted by a very loud stomach growl. Aster just smiled half heartedly.
"Maybe uh... Breakfast first? I'm starving..."
Byron's laughter bounced around the stony room. The boy's could have their match after some good food.
***
Author: Chapter release goals coming up soon!