Transformation

Prompts: Claw & Pack

It has long been known that in the deep forests of southern Geranium, there is a pack of wolves led by the Celestial of wolves. The wolves prefer their solitude and they are rarely seen, but all who live in the south know they are there.
For centuries, the pack has thrived there, unreached by hunters or soldiers. Conri, the Celestial of wolves, is a calm and peaceable sort, one who only fights when threatened, and yet the fear of his fury is enough to dissuade those who might attack him. After all, everyone who knows of him knows of his part in the Celestial War, when his packs tore armies apart and Conri himself slew hundreds.
Many years after the war that became a legend, an Eternal woman named Tala came to Conri’s forest. Tala had mysterious origins and is believed to be one of the Star Sisters, Eternals that guard the edge of the Janya Galaxy. Tala was fleeing a group of enemies who had pursued her for weeks, barely surviving their attempts and suffering from a spell that drained her magic.
Conri was well versed in tracking and magic techniques, and so when a woman with a powerful tracking spell, as well as a magic-draining curse, showed up in his forest, he knew instantly. Aware that she was likely running from something, he chose to approach her compassionately.
Tala was relieved to see another Eternal, especially one so well-known in Celestial circles. She accepted Conri's help when he offered it and the two sought a way to reverse the spell draining her magic.
Before they found a solution, however, those pursuing her found them. A battle began between Conri's pack and Tala's attackers and ended when the wolves were victorious. Despite their victory, Tala was only cursed further.
The fight drew the attention of one of Tala's allies, and she revealed to Conri a way to save the woman he had begun to love. The only way to keep Tala from dying was to bring her under the domain of a Celestial. Conri did this by performing a powerful spell to transform Tala into one of his wolves, under his domain as the Celestial of wolves. As part of his pack, she could live freely, limited only to seven days a month as a wolf.
Tala looked down at herself once transformed. Her hair and skin had melded into dark fur, her eyes had yellowed and shifted, her face was now a tapered snout, and her fingers had turned to sharp, curved claws. Nothing remained of the woman she had been, and yet as Conri shifted his own form into that of a wolf, she knew it didn't matter.
They were together and she was free.