The question of why go back haunted her mind. Days later she was washing her clothes and wondered. Why fight so hard to reclaim her throne if her people didn't even care enough to stop Serena from taking over in the first place. Luna sighed, running a hand through her pale hair. She felt very small. Helpless. Useless. Her arms wrapped tight around her middle, wet fingers pressing into the coarse cloth of her common dress. Sonette would have wept over her hands.
Maybe this life would be enough. Quiet and solitary. Untroubled by the world.
But it stuck in her throat. If Serena was cruel to her? What of others? Luna's father had always seen the commoners. Had walked with them and encouraged her to as well. Serena had never done that. Luna let out her breath slowly and looked around. Mist met her eyes from the shadow of the trees. The gray wolf cocked her head. Moving forward Luna swallowed.
"Mist? Can one of you show me what it's like out there? In the castle village, I mean?" Mist's ears pricked forward and eased out of the shadows to take Luna's wrist gently in her teeth.
The blonde girl shivered nervously. Of all the wolves Mist was the most skittish, barely coming near the cottage even if Luna was being as quiet as she could. Mist led her to the cottage doorway. Luna frowned in confusion when the wolf dropped her hand and walked in.
With a patient look the wolf trotted back. Luna's frown edged into a small smile. Mist had her boots and cotton shawl.
"Of course." She pulled them on, smiling faintly still. There was a little warmth in her heart keeping the smile there, until she heard Prince growl behind her.
Mist stood tall in front of his black bulk, the silver of her fur gilded by the waning light outside the cottage.
The two of them stayed like that for several moments. As the tension grew too great Luna shifted forward slightly.
"I need to see what it's like, Prince."
Prince snarled one last time but backed down finally. He leaned heavily on Luna as she followed Mist into the trees. As he stayed beside her she leaned on him in return, wishing again for words. She had so many questions for him.
Luna walked with a hand in Prince's inky fur, her eyes on Mist like a wisp of smoke or a dream in the darkened forest ahead of her. They didn't walk all night but the two moons were just little pearls at the apex of the sky. Luna's eyes adjusted slowly as she shaded them from the lanterns and torches of the first civilization she'd seen in months.
It was late. The village was silent where it was spread out in front of her. And there - looming over it was was her father's castle. She frowned, skirting the edge of the trees as she picked out something off about the lines of the wall.
Luna's stomach rebelled, her mind too. Hanging from pikes above the gates and impaled above the towers - were corpses. Decaying rotted meat that had once been people. She sank back into the darkness of the trees. The grisly sight filled her gaze and she couldn't look away. Then mercifully black fur blocked it out. Luna buried her face in Prince's fur and wept.
She remembered the black wolf half carrying her back to the cottage, she remembered the sky being light before she crawled into bed. Luna woke up in the dark, fumbled to light a candle and bolt down some of the stale bread she had… the other loaf had been ruined by her leaving it but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Jaeger didn't come back as summer edged into fall but Luna was more relieved than upset. She had some questions to ask and she was afraid of the answers.
The simple acts of living, learning to care for herself task by task centered her and grounded her. She still didn't know if she would go back, if she could or if seeing what Serena had done was too much.
It wasn't the deaths themselves, but the treatment of the bodies that horrified her. Luna was Princess, heir to the throne. She understood that sometimes criminals had to be put to death. But her father had always insisted even the blackest criminal be buried with rites and honor.
Letting the bodies fall to ruin over the palace battlements - it would have horrified her beloved father.
Some days she raged, nearly furious enough to march into the palace and demand Serena be thrown from the entire kingdom with nothing but the clothes on her back.
But. And there was always the moment of hesitation. Would anyone listen? Or would Luna become the next decaying corpse on the walls?