Beonnie

It was the summer solstice day, and as this was a big holiday back in the Nordics, the guys had invited us to celebrate Midsummer the traditional way. This holiday was nowadays a mixture of both ancient blots and modern parties, but Jack had made sure to cover the basics. A pole was erected - the ancient version with only one ring. We didn't have any offerings to thank the Asgardians Frej and Freja for the harvest, but Jack said they wouldn't mind. Or something like that. 

The table was set with extremely odd food, pickled herring in thousands of different ways, potatoes, sourcream, like really?, meatballs, something called Janssons, and fresh strawberries. The strawberries later caused the yearly fight between the whipped cream group, the milk and sugar group, and the ice cream group. Apparently, how you eat your strawberries is a cause for war in the Nordics.

Everything was set, and we were now only waiting for Hild and Zac to come. The suspension was high. Everyone was excited to meet Zac, and when there finally was a knock on the gate, you could almost hear a needle fall. Vidar rushed towards the gate, but the knocker was not the one he had expected as an annoyed "Viiile" was shouted a couple of seconds later. On the other hand, the guys all greeted Trevor heartily, having started to get used to him showing up and hanging with Vile and me while we trained. The guys' eyes, however, never strayed from the gate.

To everyone's pleasure, it only took a couple of minutes before someone knocked at the gate, and this time Vidar's shoulders didn't slump, but instead, he greeted the guests with an almost amusing revere. Even Jack walked unusually slowly toward his guests, and they had a moment before Jack turned around and, with Zac in tow, walked towards the table placed in the middle of the opening. He introduced everyone and in the end, the three amigos - me, Vile and Trevor.

"And here you have B, Vile, and this stray creature here is our adopted local, Trevor."

I hugged Zac, Vile both shook his hand and bowed, and Trevor, who wasn't privy to Zac's relations with our pack was speechless. The only thing he managed to say was "yes" to Zac's "Nice to meet you," and hadn't it been for Zac's relaxing smile would have spent the rest of the evening being mortified about it.

"Yes? YES?!" he grabbed a beer, also traditional, and took a sip. "Yes."

His yes-ranting was only interrupted by Zac finding a place right next to him, opposite me.

"All good with your pack, Trevor?"

"Yes, Beta Zac. All is good. Thanks," Trevor managed before another sip was had. Probably to calm down.

"Give my best to Henry too. I owe him a lot, it seems," he shot a look at Hild and then at me and smiled.

My uncle.

"How have you been, B? I haven't heard anything about any trouble for at least a week now. You feeling alright?"

I threw a strawberry at him and would have started the strawberry war prematurely if it hadn't been for Jack, who suddenly stood up and ushered for attention. 

"B, the fighting doesn't start just yet. Judging by the amount of beers Gammal has had, I would say we have at least half an hour before it begins. So, let us spend that time with the pack ritual. We are to exchange blood, and after that, we can mind-link. That may have been the short version of it, but whatever works. Our dear guests, Zac and Trevor, will, of course, not part-take in this, but we are still happy to have them here."

The ritual started with Jack cutting his hand letting blood sip out, and then the rest of us did the same, shook Jack's hand, and then, as per protocol, everyone tested the mind-link. I don't think I had ever heard so many profanities in such a short time. The language lesson lasted until Hild did her cutting and shaking and then connected to the mind-link, listening to it and then adding her own, making them all stop. But the Ironwood pack was now a fact, and I and anyone else were no longer rogues.

"Alright," Jack clasped his hands. "Let's have some dessert!"

And that's when it started. For those of us with no investment in either way of eating strawberries, it was a strange occurrence. But the profanities thrown between groupings told us that this was a life and death matter, and I should have been surprised when the first punch came; after all, it was just strawberries, but given the seriousness of the faces, I was not. Vile and Trevor quickly moved out of harm's way and excused themselves, and Jack swiftly took Trevor's seat.

"So, how's fight training going, B?" Zac turned to me.

"It's going fine, I think. I haven't been able to knock anyone down, but I can fend off and block, and I can bust a few kneecaps if I have to."

"Bust a few kneecaps?!" Hild looked worried. "How can you have a tournament where that happens? I mean, is there anyone left at the end of it if busting kneecaps is allowed?!"

Zac laughed.

"A busted kneecap takes about a day to heal when you are a werewolf. Especially when you are a warrior."

"But B is not a warrior!" Hild exclaimed.

Zac stopped laughing.

"But you have shifted?"

I hadn't. At the first full moon after my connection to Siri, I hadn't had anyone to ask for help but Vidar and Jack, and at that time, it just had felt too personal. Or rather, it did involve some nudity, and I couldn't imagine getting help from Vidar with all that going on.

"Well, no. I didn't know whom to ask for help, so I haven't done that yet."

"What are you talking about, kiddo? We would have helped you," Jack sounded both surprised and disappointed.

"I can help you," that was Vidar, stepping up behind me.

I gave Hild a pleading look.

"I.. I.. whatever. And why are there not any female werewolves here anyway?!" I stormed off angry at everyone for being so.. friendly and helpful but still not understanding.

Hild

"What was that about?" Jack leaned back in his chair, confused. "If she had said anything, we would have helped."

"Certainly," Vidar shot a long look after B as she stormed off down towards the lake and I couldn't help but sigh. Men.

"I think... I could be wrong, of course, but perhaps she was afraid to feel vulnerable and exposed shifting for the first time, and therefore not any of the two of you, would be her first choice for being there for that," I said pointedly. "And don't even think about it," I raised my finger at Vidar, who apparently already thought about it, judging from his smug face.

"Oh," that was Jack.

"Heh," that was Vidar.

"I have an idea," that was Zac. "Why don't you bring her over to our place, and I can ask one of the she-wolves to help her?"

"Excellent idea, thank you, Zac. How nice with a civilized person here," I glared at Jack and Vidar, rendering a small smile of recognition from Zac. Ok. I could see how the rumors about me had started. Heh.

"What will it mean anyway? I mean, after she has shifted, what does it mean? She can run around like a wolf?" ok, maybe that came out wrong, and judging from the glares I now got in return, describing being a werewolf, like "running around like a wolf" may have been only slightly less than an insult.

"Hild!" that was Jack and Zac in union.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," and I didn't; I had actually already googled how quitting my medication would affect me, not as a werewolf of course, but if I could do it cold-stop or had to do it in a step-wise manner.

"It means that she will be as much a werewolf as the rest of us. Fully connected to her wolf, she will be faster and stronger and able to heal better and much faster," Zac explained. "It will certainly help her in the tournament."

"What?! Why haven't you brought this up earlier?!" I turned towards Jack. "She has come home with bruises and cracked lips, and I don't know what and all this could've been prevented?"

He had the decency to look a bit ashamed.

"Well, it should all happen in due time. When the body and mind are ready for it. That is why it usually is around the 18th birthday. Still, admittedly we are a bit different, so for us, it happens earlier," Jack answered and nodded towards the lake, indicating B.

"It also means.." Vidar leaned into the conversation. "..that they can recognize the mate bond fully," he gave me a smug smile, tilting his head and waiting for my response.

I huffed. But also added.

"The mate bond?"

Zac took over the explanation part.

"Now she won't be able to recognize her mate because she is still too young, although I have heard that some can sense it before their first shift, but I think it is rare. But after her first shift and full connection to her wolf and her coming of age, she will be able to recognize her mate, and he, of course, will be able to recognize her. However.." now he gave a smug smile to Vidar. "she will also be able to know who is not her mate."

Vidar nodded, accepting the challenge.

"Well, as Jack said, we are different. We are not dogmatic when it comes to mates like that, but rather think we can be allowed to choose them more freely."

Zac smiled in acknowledgment.

"I guess we will just have to see what kind of werewolf B turns out to be in that respect, one of your kind or one of our kind."

"I hate to break it to you, pal," Vidar grinned. "But you are also one of our kind."

Zac laughed.

"I guess that is true. Oh well," he shrugged. "In any case, even if B doesn't recognize her fated mate or accept him, he will recognize her on her smell too. And that could, of course, create some havoc."

"I have told her to cloak at all times, and I think she does," Jack said and lit another candle on the table, as it was now getting darker and darker. The strawberry quarrel had uncharacteristically remained just a quarrel, and everyone was now talking, drinking, and laughing together.

"Cloak?" Zac gave Jack a confused look.

"It means she can disguise her scent to zero basically," Vidar was back to being smug. "We also have the berserk if you are interested."

Jack shot him an annoyed glare. The table grew silent, and all of the guys leaned in as if to listen to their favorite bedtime story. And Jack would deliver. He put a silencing hand on Vidar's arm, and even Vidar leaned back in his chair in an expectant mode.

"A long time ago.." Jack leaned back and stared into the flames of the candle. I half-expected him to bring out a pipe and smoke it, but he didn't. "..when the Vikings ruled our region a special group of them had very specific beliefs. These types of Vikings were the most vigilant and powerful of them all, always first in line in battles, always in groups of twelve or a phalanx. Rumors at the time said that when they went berserk, they could feel no pain. Neither iron nor fire could harm them. So much so actually that they would go into battle with no armor, just a loincloth made of wolf or bearskin."

I could see Gammal smiling and nodding in recognition, and the proud faces of the rest of the guys made me almost afraid. I hoped I wasn't sitting with ghosts. But Zac was here, and he was flesh and blood. He was, however, as engulfed in the story as the rest of us.

"In their berserk state, they were almost invincible," Jack paused for a second, looking almost sentimental. Then he chuckled. "These berserkers were a sight for Asgardians.. or any God that happened to lay their eyes on them. The term berserk comes from the words for bear and cloth, björn or ber and särk, and to go berserk could be translated into changing shape into a wolf or a bear. Which is what the early berserkers strived to do. They wanted to be like the wild animals in their surroundings, and.. eventually, they succeeded. They became shapeshifters."

He paused and then glanced around at everyone at the table.

"And here, around this table, we have some of their direct ancestors. Each with the berserk capability and that.." he pointed towards the lake. "..is what we are going to teach B. She will tap into her berserk at the tournament and feel no pain."

There was no reply to his story. I sat back, eyes welling up. I knew exactly what he was talking about. B didn't need to be taught about going berserk; I had already seen her do it.

"What is going on here?" the three amigos were back, and since they had left in the midst of the strawberry war and raging feelings, the ominous silence was too much for their senses.

"We are talking about how peaceful and quiet it is when the three amigos are gone. So serene and nice and civilized," Jack mocked. All three of them jumped him, and a wrestling match began. It soon ended as both B and Vile were flung away, and Trevor gently held at arm's length.

"Children, come on.. have some dignity, please," Jack grinned satisfactorily.