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The sound of a baby crying was not something that Calder was familiarized with.

At least the sun was up, he thought.

Halina was shushing and rocking the babe in her arms when he took in the camp.

Everyone was awake, staring at how the woman interacted with the child. But, eventually had to turn their heads when Halina started to breastfeed the babe.

While the baby ate, Hale made sure to feed the rest of the band too; he handed out meat and bread and Calder was adopting the idea of eating so much salted meat every day. It was not like it tasted bad.

Hemming made sure to keep the band on the track of packing up and continuing to move, this time helping Halina roll her furs because of the suckling babe.

When the feeding was done, Halina had handed the little girl off to Padma, who blushed and held the child as softly as they could and gently patted the babes back.

Hale and Padma were close; Calder knew this. He had seen them steal kisses when they thought that Calder was not looking, and Calder would be lying if it did not ignite a spark of hope that maybe he would not be judged.

Padma did not have a gender. Or at least that was what Calder understood.

Calder was fine with that, albeit confused at first. But, Calder did not know what they were born as, so it was easier to latch onto the idea of them not being anything.

Padma and Hale were together, so it was obvious why Halina had chose to pass the babe to them.

Calder though, could not fight the realization that if the band was accepting of their relationship, then maybe they would not care about Calder's inclination towards men.

"You seem to like picking up strays, Hemming. I wonder if anyone else will come along for you to save?" Halina teased once they had begun walking again.

Hemming snorted out a laugh from where he was standing next to Calder.

"Hopefully this is the last. At this rate, we will have too many for just one house." Hemming said over his shoulder with a smirk.

Calder could not help the stab of hurt that went through his chest. He did not wish to be a burden.

"True. I quite like just the two we have picked up." Halina chuckled and Calder at least felt better from her saying that she liked him.

"Me too. Perhaps we will find you your own stray, Halina."

Halina blushed at Hemming's taunting tone, as if it was an inside joke.

Calder also blushed; because to him, it sounded as if Hemming was referring to Calder as his stray. He did not entertain the thought for too long out of fear his heart would show in his chest how fast it was beating.

Besides the baby being carried along with them, the traveling was all the same.

Occasionally, the little girl would fuss and Padma would coo at her gently, rubbing a hand up and down her back.

When a stench permeated in the air, they all knew what it was and Hemming grimaced before leading them south a bit; Calder did not know why until they hit a river. He smiled at the sight.

Padma took the liberty of unraveling the little girl and using one of Hales tunics for a makeshift diaper; he did not seem to mind all considered.

Calder had immediately ignored what was happening with the child in favor of acting like one; taking his boots and socks off so he could stand in the river.

"You sometimes remind me of a otter, with how drawn you are to the water."

Calder turned to face the man approaching him, Hemming taking a seat on a large boulder sat perfectly on the edge of the water.

"Should I be offended? Otters are very mean; I should know, one almost mauled me as a child." Calder laughed and kicked his foot out to splash in the water.

"Poor choice of words then. I was just thinking of how cute they were." Hemming grinned and Calder felt his face flush. Curse this man.

Calder leaned down to reach into the crystal clear water, picking up a smooth stone from the many he was standing on.

He rubbed his thumb against the rock and stared out at the water calmly.

"I- uh, I wanted to talk to you about something." Hemming stuttered, Calder looked at the man with confusion. He never tripped over his words.

Yes, Calder had not known the man for more than four days, but in that time he had never stuttered once.

"There is a secret that I do not know how you will react to. It involves me and my band; something we were born with and cannot change."

Calder frowned and rubbed his thumb harder, becoming nervous at what the man had to say.

"Have you heard the tales of Úlfhéðnar?"

Hemming was holding a serious look that had Calder want to fall back into the water and let it carry him away.

"Yes. Men who wore the skins of wolves in battle. Like a Berserker but lupine instead of ursine." Calder said and tried not to skin his thumb with how hard he was rubbing the stone.

"From the stories I was told; Some Ulfhednar were so equal with the beast they embodied, that they became that beast. They turned into wolves, Calder." Hemming explained gently.

"This has to do with your secret?"

"Yes... My family- My pack; we do the very same thing. We were born with a beast inside our minds, and can let them out when we please."

Calder stopped caressing the stone in favor of staring at Hemming, looking for any hint of laughter or joke.

"I know it is not something normal. I imagine you do not believe me, so I will offer you the chance to see that beast. If you trust that I am not mad and I am telling the truth." Hemming said and stood, pulling his hands to the front of his form.

Calder dropped his jaw slightly, looking off to where the rest of the band was sitting on the riverbank staring at Calder and Hemming.

Calder looked back to Hemming and swallowed around the nerves and confusion that had piled there.

He was serious. Hemming either could or thought he could turn into a wolf. Did Calder dare believe him? Or would he embarrass himself by running away with a group of insane people.

"You can show me?" Calder asked quietly, staring at the man with wide eyes.

Hemming smiled and nodded, stepping forward to extend a hand.

"I can. But I think you should step out of the water first and put your boots on. I would rather you on solid land while I shift."

Calder huffed at the thought he would have to leave the water, but took Hemming's hand anyway and allowed himself to be taken to where he had thrown his shoes.

He pulled them and his socks on, sitting on the gravel and trying not to let the fact of Hemming saying he was going to turn into a wild animal distract him.

"Just know that it is me, when I change, it is always me and not a wild animal. I will not hurt you." Hemming said and crossed his arms like he did when something serious was happening.

Calder nodded and tucked his legs under his body, wanting to be able to stand quickly if things went wrong.

Hemming gave a final look before dropping his arms and reaching to pull his tunic off. Calder tried to avert his eyes, he really did; but with a body like that in front of him...

Unfortunately, he did feel the need to look away when Hemming reached to take his trousers off. His boots being toed off as he worked the string keeping the pants on.

Calder blushed when he heard the clothing hit the ground, but immediately flinched when he heard a sickening crack.

He resisted the urge to look up, still knowing that Hemming was naked. But as the snapping sounds continued, he couldn't help but look up.

He did not see anything but Hemming's legs when a hand covered his eyes.

"It is best if you do not watch this last part." He heard Halina whisper from next to him.

Calder nodded against the hand and waited until the cracking and popping stopped, the hand being lifted slowly.

There was a wolf. A large grey and tan wolf, with hazel eyes that looked steadily at Calder. Hemming was telling the truth; there was a fucking wolf standing in front of Calder.

Calder let out a shaky breath, bringing his hand to his mouth to muffle the harsh breaths he was exhaling.

The wolf whined softly and made a move to step forward. Calder felt the fear thrum through his veins.

Calder exhaled sharply and let his hand fall as the wolf, Hemming, stepped forward again.

"He likes his face rubbed." Halina supplies from beside Calder, reaching forward to pet the wolf.

The wolf came closer and happily butted against Halina's hand, tail wagging high behind him.

When Halina stopped, the wolf looked to Calder.

It seemed to want Calder to pet it, but did not get too close, only laying down onto the gravel.

Calder fixed his sitting position so that his legs were crossed in front of him before mimicking Halinas actions and holding a shaking hand out.

The wolf's tail wagged a little faster and he crawled forward a tad to meet Calder's hand.

He was soft; like the puppies that Calder got to hold after Fjor's hunting dogs had a litter.

Calder smiled weakly, moving his hand to scratch just underneath the wolf's ear and run a thumb along his cheek. Did wolves have cheeks?

Even if they did not, Hemming liked the attention that Calder was giving him.

Hemming. This was the large very handsome man that Calder had let pull him into a band of basically Ulfhednar; and he was swishing a tail rapidly behind him and scooting forward to touch more of Calder's hand.

Eventually, Hemming whined shortly and pulled back, returning to the spot that he had shifted before.

Calder attempted to stare, but again, Halina's hand was on his eyes and blocking his view; the sound of bones snapping once again made Calder frown. Did it hurt to do this all the time?

Halina pulled the hand off once it seemed Hemming was finished and dressed again, as when Calder looked he was pulling his tunic overhead and hiding what Calder thought was a magnificent body.

"Are you okay?" Hemming asked and held out a hand to help Calder off the ground.

Calder took the hand and nodded, crossing his arms when Hemming dropped his hand.

"It is strange, I know that; but we cannot help what we are born as."

Calder nodded again, unsure of what to say.

"You do not have questions? Fears? I will answer anything you ask as honestly as I can." Hemming grinned and tilted a head to the side; like a wolf, Calder's mind supplied.

"No, not at the moment... We should begin traveling again, we are wasting the day." Calder said quietly and looked off at the river once more before turning to walk back to where the rest of the band was sitting on the rocks.

He did have questions, of course; but forming them into a sentence was hard at the moment.

Calder grew up wary of wolves, as most people did. They were wild, unbridled power; an animal filled with intelligent chaos that they used to hunt with their brethren.

Hemming and the band, the pack, were wolves. They could shift into such a powerful creature, Calder of course had questions about that.

But although his mind was racing, he said nothing as they started off East and back into the forest.

The babe was happy even though nobody was talking, just giggling as Padma tickled her little belly.

Calder found this calming even as he tried not to think that there was a wolf playing with a baby not fifteen feet behind him.

As he tried not to think that it was not the fact that wolves were around him, but that he was once again the outsider of the band.

Him and the babe were the only humans, and he had twenty-three years on the child. It was not like he could talk to her.

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