The bean, it must be found. For MHD's Fairytales contest.

I have no idea why I wrote this. All I can say in my defense is that it seemed like a good idea at the ti--wait no that's a lie, I said, repeatedly that this was stupid and shameful every time I mentioned working on it.

The truth is I needed to publish something before the end of the year and there is CLEARLY a burning need for wolf stories in the psyche of children using the internet. But then they write them badly, or make their wolves behave like clans of cats. So here is a simple straightfoward story of a young wolf leaving his pack in search of a better life. Maybe no one will ever feel the need to write another one now, or if nothing else maybe this will give them ideas for how to do it in slightly more minimum-standards-meeting ways.

Final conclusion however is that writing about some dumb animal with no agency is not something I'd recommend.

If you don't know what this is for, then it isn't for you.

I guess I should put my two cents in too. The story about a homemaker protagonist is the one I might most like to read, that sounds like the kind of historical fiction (or actual journals) I've enjoyed a lot in the past. (I think Crimson actually wrote something like this that would also fit the epistolary style prompt on his old account.) The cartographer and merchant plots appeal to me for the same reason. They allow any plot, setting, or cast of characters, but already come with some built in structure as far as milestones and goals. Incidentally you could combine either of them with the uncharted planet prompt, but I'm still picking rebuilding after a war as my next favorite. The thing I like about that one is how adjustable the scale is, it could be a personal story of loss and renewal, or you could play the chief of a small village or even the emissary of the Emperor managing a whole kingdom.