I looked down the rows of metal lockers that made up the entryway to the barracks, called "Valhalla." Part of me was curious on why they were using a term from Norse Mythology, but I supposed it didn't really matter. At many of the lockers, there was a female warrior. Each was either nude or was removing her uniform after being on shift, the day shift if what Lartara had said to me about Emily... Eira... joining them that morning. It really wasn't much of a uniform though. The material itself was rather futuristic looking, but the clothing it made into resembled a fairly standard loin-cloth and a tank top, not something you'd figured to be a soldier's uniform, but then maybe its function was to simply provide a uniform as a means of identification while in the more human-like form and some degree of modesty even when in their more wolf-like form. And the fact that none of these Lycothans, Eira included, had no shame in being naked in front of each other or in front of me, gave me the impression that Lycothans didn't necessarily have the same sense of modesty that humans did.
A lot of that made me a bit nervous and uneasy about some of the things. The musky scent wasn't that much of a problem, as it was a scent I had smelled before, whenever Lartara had come to either take me to a recruiting session or for the weekly shower or some other activity that had allowed me out of the cell I had been in. The only difference here was that the scent was thicker and far more noticeable, but I still knew the scent. That wasn't what made me nervous. What made me nervous was the rather sexually forward tone that Emily... Eira... had taken with me. From the limited contact I'd had with her while we had both been prisoners, I'd been under the impression that she was rather reserved. Not shy and not timid, but not going to be quite that provocative. Emily had clearly changed when she became Eira, and a part of me was now wondered how much of a change would happen in my own personality.
"I'd think it'd be best if we simply talked for a little while," I said slowly, "I'm not sure I'm really accepted at the moment."
"The girls will accept you," Lartara answered, "they gave Emily the same treatment when she accepted the gift and came in... but once she became Eira, they accepted her."
"She didn't remember me," I said slowly.
"Not many do," Lartara said in as close to a whisper as she could manage, "I can't even tell you how I remember who I was... I just know that I can."
I looked to her as I followed her toward the door on the other end of the locker room. To my right, I glanced to see a stone hallway that had a sign that read "restrooms and showers" which were probably for those in the barracks, or had been there before the Lycothans took control of the facility. I sighed and followed Lartara through the door. The next room appeared to be a sort of recreational room with a lone couch and television and various tables and a mini fridge, though for the moment it was empty. The next room was long and narrow with rows of large wooden bed-frames along the right and left walls that left a single passage way between the two rows of beds. I also noticed what looked like claw marks on the floor, the beds, and on a couple of them the mattresses. That again raised some curiosity, but I had a good idea based on how those claw marks got there based on my brief interaction with Eira.
The last room was Lartara's private quarters, which I found to be rather spartan. There was a lone bed, which while large in size was covered with rather basic sheets rather than anything expensive. There were a couple of pegs on the wall on which Lartara's spare uniforms hung. There wasn't much more to her room. There were a pair of windows near the top of the room's left and right sides, and some natural moonlight did come into the room through them. Once inside, Lartara turned back to me.
"What did you wish to talk about?" she asked.
I really didn't know how to start, but I did have plenty of questions and issues. Some curiosity driven and some would probably be pleading.
"How do you feel?" I asked after a brief moment.
"About what? About you deciding to join us? I am happy for that, you'll be happy, you'll be strong, you'll be beautiful, and you'll be safe... which will be the most important," Lartara answered, "About saving Casey... 997295... I approve of that as well..."
"But if that Servant raped her, she would have become a Lycothan, isn't that what you want?" I asked curiously.
"I want you to CHOOSE to join us," Lartara answered, "as that is how you will be saved from the worst that could happen to you... what the Alpha intended to have done would take away 997295's choice in the matter... and THAT is what I have the biggest issue with. Some of that may relate to how I was transformed... A male warrior, shortly after my capture, took me even as a Lycothan... I still feel a great deal of violation in that."
"You have no problem with people choosing to become a Lycothan but you have a problem with the loss of choices..." I mused.
"It's the only way to preserve some level of freedom in all of this," Lartara said with a sigh as she sat on her bed and patted the mattress to get you to sit beside her.
I slowly did so. I knew I couldn't get out of it. I had agreed to become what I'd resisted for so long.
"Lartara... I... I'm scared," I admitted after a moment.
"You'll be fine," Lartara assured me, "many humans are scared..."
"Emily... Eira... seemed so different," I continued.
"As will you when you change," Lartara admitted, "Lycothan females are bisexual and can be very forward with their interests. Probably because there are more females than males and for female Alphas, it's a means of dominance and control over others."
"So... what are typical families for Lycothans, or do you not know?" I asked.
"With the invasion and the efforts to transform humanity... or to remove those who resist... is over? I'd suppose you could actually see several females taking the same male as a mate and forming sort of "sub packs" within Lycothan society," Lartara commented, "or they'll buy a male Servant for reasons I think you noticed earlier... but all of that is speculation. We've largely been segregated from the Lycothan males, just as you were as a prisoner."
"I see," I spoke and looked down. I was quiet again for a few moments and then looked over to Lartara, "If... If I don't remember who I am now, I need you to do something for me..."
Lartara slowly nodded.
"Never let me become a bully, never let me force anyone to change if they don't want to, and make sure that I do not eat human flesh," I said to her.
"I'm not sure why you want to remember..." Lartara said slowly.
"You wish you don't remember who you were?" I asked.
I watched a tear go from her gold flaked brown eyes as she looked down herself toward the loin cloth of her uniform.
"It happened when I was still only a "warrior," the rank you'll take when you change," Lartara said slowly, "I had a husband and son... Michael and Timothy... I wasn't with them when I was caught and changed and sent here to help set up the prison/transformation facility... or run the guards here, at least."
"They were caught?" I asked.
Lartara nodded, "but they somehow survived longer before being caught. They were taken to the male wing here, and I was never told that they had been captured. Then one day, the Alphas held a feast to honor a victory on some battlefield somewhere and all of us were to attend. I ate... and I... I found it the most exquisite meat I'd ever eaten.."
I watched her sniffle and gasped, "you ate your own husband and son?"
"I didn't know at the time," Lartara answered, "After the feast, we were told that the feast was on prisoners who had resisted and listed their numbers... I was surprised and sickened by it... what made it worse was when I checked the central records on who had been cooked for us to eat... and... and..."
Lartara actually began to cry a little.
"And that's why you've fought so hard for me.. for us prisoners," I surmised, "You don't want us eaten..."
Lartara nodded, "Yes... as I told you earlier... becoming one of us is the only way to save you from that fate."
"Still..." I said to her and reached for her hand, "Promise me that if I forget who I am... you won't let me become a bully."
Lartara managed to recover a bit. She wiped away her tears and looked to me.
"I promise, you won't be a bully," Lartara spoke, "You'll be well trained well and will act with the honor that is expected of any warrior."
With that she turned where she was seated on the bed so that she was closer to me.
"And you will be beautiful," she promised.
Then she kissed me.