Page 44 of In This Iron Ground
Damien kept trying to lie to himself, and Hakan kept breaking right through them.
Hakan tensed beside him and then seemed to deflate, slumping slightly against Damien.
“Thank you,” he said. Damien closed his eyes.
It made no difference that Hakan was asking. When the end came, he would have nobody to blame but himself.
**********
Damien always felt both faintly hollow and easily excitable around the winter holidays. During his last Christmas, the McKenzies had sent Damien to his room mid-meal for being “overly excited”. But in the Salgado household, even Damien would be hard-pressed to stand out. Damien realized that the Salgados celebrated Christmas as many families did: in the spirit of family and giving, without any of the religious connotations. Instead, they celebrated Yule.
As December began, Damien helped decorate the house with holly and mistletoe. The pine tree they dragged into the house dominated the living room and was decorated haphazardly by the whole family. Damien stood on the fringes until he was pulled into the fray by Lallo of all people. It was impossible to feel left out in the Salgado house.
During the full moon of Yule, the whole extended pack descended upon the house. Pine logs were burned in a large bonfire. Mulled wine was passed around. A pig was cooked in a pit underground for the whole day and then eaten as night fell.
In the light of the stars, Damien watched as Nova performed the Yule Ritual. She thanked the land that sustained them, giving back to it from the pack’s Ousía, whilst asking it to bless them in return. Incense burned through the night air as her calm chants rang out. Even Damien’s passive Ousía felt the echoes of Nova’s power, of the power of the land and the balance it sought.
When the moon was high, the shifters transformed. Wolves of all sizes appeared from the silver light. Damien looked around in fascination. It was the scene of a movie, of a fantasy story. It was one of Damien’s desperate pleas as he curled under a desk and wished to be taken to another dimension.
As soon as Hakan shifted he bounded towards Damien as usual, who took the opportunity to ambush the wolf with tinsel, wrapping it playfully around his neck. Before Hakan could escape, he tied tuffs of the hair on his head and mane in small, Christmas-themed bobbles, small Santa hats and candy canes wobbling between dark fur. Damien whipped out his phone and took a series of pictures, most of them capturing Hakan’s disgruntled face as he tried to paw off the offending ornaments. Koko, who hadn’t yet shifted, doubled over with laughter, and the twins piled onto Hakan to try and stop him from taking the bobbles off. The rest of the wolves huffed with laughter, nudging Damien and Hakan playfully until all of the decorations were off him. Hakan threw Damien a glare and then bolted into the forest but didn’t even last thirty seconds before trotting back and pushing Damien forwards with his head grudgingly. Damien gave Hakan a quick, teasing hug, which Hakan allowed.
“Softy,” Damien smiled. Hakan treated him to the amazing sight of a wolf rolling his eyes.
This time, Damien wasn’t the only bipedal creature, other than the twins, left. He ran with the other humans. Each seemed to have a particular wolf that guided them, not out of necessity but out of tradition.
Damien smiled at the moon for giving him this.
*****
Christmas Eve was another whole-pack celebration, this one less steeped in tradition and more in enjoying family and food. There was a special wine for the werewolves that combatted their high metabolic rate and several of the adults got tipsy and loud, but Damien didn’t mind much. The energy was jovial and the kids were left to do what they pleased.
Christmas morning dawned with Dee and Lallo waking everybody up. Damien barely had time to feel anxious. He was dragged downstairs to the Christmas tree, where they waited as hot chocolate was prepared and distributed.
Damien and the Salgado children had played secret Santa. Damien had gotten Hakan and gifted him a hand-drawn comic book. The protagonist was a boy with a wolf counterpart, both creatures the two sides of the same coin, capturing the duality of man by using werewolf lore to create a set of characters that were really one. The wolf and his human were part of a larger family of found friends who hung out together. It was less a “fight-a-foe” comic than it was an exploration of coming together with people and creatures that understood you.
He also gave each Salgado, including Hakan, a photograph of Hakan’s wolf form in tinsel and bobbles, which Nadie had helped him print professionally and frame. Everybody reacted with grins and elbows to Hakan’s ribs. Hakan rolled his eyes, but the smile twitching the side of his lips was obvious.
Damien, in turn, was given a graphic novel on aRed Riding Hoodtwist courtesy of a smirking Nadie. Damien rolled his eyes but flipped through it excitedly. He was then surprised by receiving gifts from Mia and Cameron along with the Salgado siblings. He anxiously unwrapped a video game, a massive book on herbology, a pair of T-shirts, and a small Christmas tree ornament. It was the last one that threw him for a loop the most. The figurine was shaped like a small, beautiful bird caught mid-flight. The suggestion that he’d be there for the next Christmas to have it join the others had his lungs constricting into a ball.
There was no doubt that everybody could hear his racing heart.
The rest of the day was overstuffed with food and lazing about. Damien started his new video game as Hakan watched, and then they started one of the graphic novels Hakan had received.
The entire day was held in an odd state of suspension, hanging carefully between reality and dream. Damien let the hours take him along, warm and safe in a corner of the Salgado pack.
**********
Mia took Damien out to the forest.
They walked between the trees. Mia pointed out different plants Damien had seen the diagrams of pressed between pages.
She talked about how the Salgado pack had been there for generations. How they were bonded to the land. It was a balance of give and take. The Ousía of the earth fed the pack as they gave in return.
She talked about the importance of balance. Of understanding the true value of things and repaying in kind.
She talked about how they were each part of something bigger. How they were equal with the world. How the problems of man blinded people from seeing what they were. The simplicity of their existence. The freedom of being if you lived in harmony with what gave you life.
She spoke as if Damien was part of what she was too. As if he were tied to this land.
