A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Hearing Emma's question got Alice momentarily lost in the young woman's motherly aura again. However, she quickly freed herself and nodded, albeit a little hesitantly, "I, uuuh, sure." But then she scratched her head again, "But I… don't have any clothes on."

From the moment Erik had found her, Alice had remained in her wereverine form, covering her body in fur. While Alice enjoyed being in her beast form, she did have some clothes back in the Institute, but neither Erik nor she really thought of that amid everything that was going on.

"Right," Emma giggled, before turning to the still-prone Erik with a questioning gaze, "Master?"

Erik naturally understood her request and beckoned Alice with an outstretched hand, "Come here for a moment, Alice."

A little curious what this was about, Alice approached Erik and put her clawed hand in his newly human one. A flash of dark green light ensued when Elora used Erik as a conduit for her magic

"Ah!" Alice yelped, but kept her hand in place. She watched the glow suddenly covering her body with wonder. With everything that happened, she had already put a lot of her trust into Erik, so she wasn't too concerned about this development.

When the glow dissipated, Alice was suddenly wearing some simple, yet colorful clothing. "Wow," she mumbled in awe as she inspected her new threads. "I didn't know shapeshifters could do that!" she exclaimed excitedly, perhaps hoping to get this ability herself one day.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," Erik chuckled with amusement. "But those clothes are actually the handy work of someone you haven't met yet. It's a long story, but suffice it to say she can't show her face for a while. You'll meet her eventually, though."

Alice looked a little disappointed about losing her potential future ability. Yet, despite the many questions in Alice's mind about who this person could possibly be, and how they conjured these clothes on her without even being anywhere near, Alice just nodded and took his explanation as face value.

With nothing obstructing her anymore, Alice quickly started shifting back to her human form. The transformation was notably the slowest shapeshifter transformation any of them had seen, but considering her age and power level, that was no surprise.

It took about a second of crackling bones, rippling skin, and shifting muscles, before Alice had turned into a ten-year-old human girl, with bright blue eyes and chestnut hair the color of her fur. As was the case with all wereverines, her beast form was slightly shorter and more compact, thus she had grown to about 145cm(~4'9").

However, surprisingly, her face contorted in discomfort and even a little pain during her transformation.

After it was done, and the discomfort on her face disappeared, she was instead filled with wonder once again when she noticed that her new clothes had adjusted themselves to fit her new form.

Yet, when she noticed the strange looks everyone was throwing at her, she got a little nervous. "W— what?" she stammered, a little uncertain how to feel about all this attention.

Deciding to first put the girl at ease, Emma smiled brightly at her. "You look beautiful, Alice!" she beamed.

Immediately forgetting about the strange looks, Alice chuckled sheepishly while ruffling her own hair, "Hehehehe. Thank you, Miss Emma." A small blush and happy smile had appeared on her face due to Emma's compliment.

"Actually, it's Mrs. Emma," she responded with a small giggle, realizing that this was the first time she referred to herself as Mrs. "But you can just call me Emma."

As Emma continued to put Alice at ease and explained her marital status to the girl, Erik was talking to Elora.

"Elora? What was that?" he asked as a little concern for Alice seeped into his voice.

Elora remained quiet for a moment, as if in thought, before responding. "I think it's the consequences of her being a hybrid…" her voice trailed of at the end, as if she was still thinking deeply. Erik could practically see her chewing on her metaphorical hair.

"You already checked her body and genetics during the journey, right?" Erik asked, sure that Elora wouldn't have missed the opportunity.

"Of course," Elora nodded, shaking herself free from her thoughts and entering teacher mode. "You've already seen she's perfectly capable of changing into and out of her wereverine form, and that her beast form looks no different from what you might expect a wereverine to look like."

"This aligns with what I discovered when inspecting her body: shapeshifter genes are dominant over human genes," she continued thoughtfully. "Half-human she may be, but the human part of her genetic makeup is almost entirely suppressed. And before you ask, no, she currently does not have ability to be both a Runebound and an Arcanist."

"The genes responsible for altering the function of aetherium in the body that vampires and shapeshifters have are preventing her from forming an aetherial storage organ. Basically, for all intends and purposes, she's a normal shapeshifter. At least outwardly," Elora finally finished.

"So what about inwardly? And what about the pain and discomfort on her face earlier?" Erik asked a little impatiently. It's not that he wasn't interested in the explanation, he was just a little more concerned about Alice right now.

It seemed Alice had endeared herself to him quite quickly, something Elora was more than happy to point out. "You've certainly taken a liking to the girl awfully quickly," the fairy giggled from inside his soul, not minding his impatient tone.

"I…" Erik began but trailed of when he realized she was right. Finally, he sighed. "Fine, so I have a weakness for resilient and feisty girls like her. Just call me a bleeding heart already," he finished with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh, no, no. I would never!" Elora giggled teasingly, clearly indicating that that is exactly what she thought of him. "I'm just wondering if I should mark this girl down as one of my future sister-wives. In a few years, of course."

"What?! No! Absolutely not!" Erik surprised himself at outburst of disgust he felt at the thought of marrying Alice.

Naturally, this only caused Elora to laugh harder. "Hahahaha," Elora's bell like laughter rang through Erik's mind and soul while he huffed with a little annoyance.

"Oh, don't pout!" Elora chuckled after she calmed down a little. "That outburst just proves you've started awakening some fatherly instincts for the girl. It's a little sooner then expected, but I can only hope you'll be like this with our own kids someday."

Finally, Erik couldn't stand her teasing anymore. "Alright, alright. You've had your fun," he huffed with a roll of his eyes. "Just answer my question, will you? What about inwardly, and what about the pain and discomfort from earlier? Will she be alright?"

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