Take the apple

Duncan’s brain is reeling, trying to take in all of this new information. His stomach reminds him that he has yet to eat dinner, so he bends over to pick up the apple. He is so disoriented by the turn of events, that he very nearly grabs the dead squirrel, by mistake.

With the apple in hand, he looks at the three wolves and says, “Um... If it’s ok with you, I’m just going to step outside and get a breath of fresh air. Thanks for the apple,” he says, rubbing it against his makeshift pancho to get the wolf slobber off of it. “I’ll take a raincheck on the squirrel.”

As he walks to the cave’s exit, Lupina calls after him, “Please do not venture far from the cave, Your Highness. It is not safe for you to be out there, unaccompanied.”

Luxia stands and takes a step toward the prince. “I’ll watch him, Mother.”

“No, Luxia,” says the older wolf. “He will be alright. He needs a moment to process things, and I wish to have a word with the two of you.”

Duncan leaves the wolves behind and exits the cave. It is true that he needs some time to process matters, but he complies with Lupina’s suggestion about staying close by. Given all the unusual and dangerous creatures he has encountered in recent days, he is none too eager to blunder off alone into the arms of some fresh homicidal fuel for nightmares.

He takes a bite of the apple, grateful for some nourishment. As he chews his breakfast, he is aware of the voices of the wolves coming from the cave. He does not intend to eavesdrop, but when it becomes clear that they are talking about him, he can’t help but listen in.

“I cannot believe you did that, girls,” says a clearly-irritated Lupina. “Whatever possessed you? This is Prince Duncan, after all — not some random cub off the streets!”

Duncan recognizes Luxia’s voice. “It was all very innocent, Mother! He was so exhausted that he didn’t even wash up before going to sleep. I just thought I would offer him a little bath so he would wake up refreshed.”

“A bath?” Lupina sounds skeptical.

“He was covered in muck and sweat, and so I just gave him a quick washing,” says Luxia.

Duncan looks down at his body and realizes for the first time that he is definitely in a much-cleaner state than he remembers being when he first arrived at the cave. The ordeal of running naked through the wilderness had left him quite sweaty and covered with many a splattering from puddles, streams, and other obstacles. Now, his skin is fresh and clean, but if someone gave him a bath, he saw no evidence of a wash basin or a sponge anywhere.

“There was nothing wrong with it, Mother,” continues Luxia. “You give Katania and me baths right before bed all the time!”

“That’s quite a different thing, Luxia, and you know it,” replied the clearly-irritated mother wolf.

Katania’s voice joins in the conversation for the first time, with a laugh. “I don’t think the prince would have objected, even if he had been awake. There was one part of his body that was wide awake, and the nearer we licked, the more awake it got!”

Duncan’s eyes widen as he takes this in. Evidently the younger wolves had bathed him while he slept in appropriate canine fashion, using their tongues to scrub him clean.

“And that’s all you intended to do, was to clean him up?” asks a doubtful Lupina.

“We wanted to clean up all of him, but we couldn’t agree about which one of us would get the honors of the most important part!” said Katania.

Duncan shivers at the thought, and even as he does so, he is unsure as to whether he is freaked out by the thought of a wolf’s razor-sharp teeth being so close to his family jewels, or if he is actually turned on by the thought of one of those beautiful ladies having her face buried in his crotch — even if the face wasn’t in human form at the time.

Lupina’s voice is quite stern this time. “Girls, this will not do. He is not a wolf. He is a human. They do not mate for life as we do. More than that, he is Prince Duncan; surely you know his reputation for fidelity to one mate!”

“But mother,” says Luxia, “that’s probably because he hasn’t found the right mate yet! Can you imagine having Prince Duncan as your son-in-law? What would that do for the status of the pack?”

“Nonsense,” says Lupina. “I will hear no more of this. You both have perfectly-acceptable suitors back home. You should content yourself with settling on one of them. Luxia, what would Wolfram say if he saw you lusting after the genitals of a human?”

“Wolfram!” retorts Luxia. “Why, he’s just a cub! He may be my age, but he still hasn’t grown up. He still licks up his own vomit! And besides, Mother... You saw the prince’s genitals. You can’t say they aren’t worth admiring!”

“Hush! He’s going to overhear you if you keep this up,” says the mother, and the continuing conversation becomes markedly harder for Duncan to follow as they lower the volume of their voices.

He takes a final bite of his apple, and as he tosses the core into the woods, he ponders what he has just heard. The throbbing between his legs is not unusual for him when he first wakes up, but the images that have floated through his imagination in the past few minutes have certainly added additional fuel to feed his morning wood.