The wolves brought Luna food that would keep for the coming snows, and she meticulously followed her cookbook as she learned to cook. Her boots finally fell completely to pieces. The world outside of her woods seemed blessedly distant.
Luna was fetching water, enjoying the petrichor scent of the rain and the chill the storm had left behind. She walked slowly, mud slippery beneath her bare feet. But she was enjoying that too. In the cottage a tea pot of hot water heating up and there was a hip bath so she could clean herself up.
Then Jaeger stepped into the clearing and Luna's hands clamped down on the bucket handle so hard they hurt.
"You came back." Her voice cracked with disuse and surprise. "Jaeger."
He turned his clothes the same cut but finer fabrics than they'd ever been before. He smiled at her and her heart constricted. Her lips curled uncertainly in response.
"What are you doing here?"
His eyebrows rose as he hefted a bag and looked at her bare muddy feet.
"The journals… and a pair of boots. It's getting cold, Luna. And you're." He stopped, frowning slightly, a hand raising and then falling.
"You've done really well on your own. But I still worry."
Luna shrugged, carefully, so as not to spill the bucket. She walked into the cottage and glanced back at him.
"Come on then. Take your boots off under the eaves." She wasn't sure what to say to him, so she just put the cover on the bucket by the doorway and wiped as much of the mud off her feet with a rag as she could.
The water meant for her bath went to make tea instead and some small seed of resentment grew in her chest. Luna let her dirty hair fall into her face as she worked and jumped a little when Jaeger set down a tin of cookies between them.
The resentment melted away into affection. Luna thought that it might have been simpler to hold onto it. She gave him that same uncertain expression, part smile, part animal snarl. He laid a hand over hers. She looked away from him at the fire dancing on the hearth.
"Jaeger. I went to the castle village after you were here last time. I saw…." She forced down her revulsion, hurrying to get the words out.
"I saw the bodies on the wall. She - she didn't even give them a decent burial!"
His hand tightened on hers pressing it against the hot teapot - not hot enough to burn but enough that the heat was building towards pain. Before it could get there he lifted his hand to gently turn her head towards him.
"Luna. They were servants who tried to smash her magic mirror. She had to make an example. I know it isn't what you would have done. But she needed a strong front since both you and your father are gone. She can't just let the kingdom fall into chaos. Someone has to rule."
She forced herself to be stiff under his touch and his hand dropped away.
"Luna. You said you saw us kissing. S- The Princess-Regent and I." He swallowed looking down into the mug of tea before him. Luna could read the pain in his gaze.
"It was a mistake. I shouldn't have. But she's beautiful, I thought. No. I didn't think. We're something special, you and I. I don't want to lose you." This time when he touched her cheek, clasped her hand, Luna let herself relax.
"Still friends?" She asked. He hesitated, then squeezed her fingers and smiled.
"Still friends."
They talked for hours, Luna gesturing wildly and delightly. Jaeger listening and commenting drily. Both of them with smiles tugging at their lips. Luna was startled when her throat began to hurt. She laughed a little her cheeks warming when she looked at the windows.
"Jaeger. You have to go. The sun is going down." She rasped, gesturing at the window.
"So it is." He stood, resting his hand on her shoulder. For a moment he stared down at her, his eyes softening, a smile spreading slowly. He looked around the clearing as they stepped outside.
"It's so odd. You know we're a stone's throw from where I was born. The ruins of my village are right over the ridge there." His brow furrowed as pointed. Luna followed his gaze.
"Luna. You'll be careful won't you? Keep your friends close by. Especially at night. There are dark things in the forest - worse than wolves. I've seen them." He touched her cheek hesitantly, and smiled when she leaned into the touch.
"I'll be safe, I promise. I'm good at taking care of myself now."
"Who are you and what have you done with my little Luna?" Jaeger leaned down to kiss her cheek, his lips chapped and a little scratchy on her skin. The contact sent a thrill through her veins. Luna watched as he disappeared in the fading golden light of afternoon. She stood in the door as the light faded, fingers resting on her cheek.
It wasn't until the next morning that she even remembered the books and boots. She pulled out the books, six of them bound together with twine. The next three of her mother's journals and first three of her father's. She sighed, staring at them where she'd put them on the mantel next to the portrait.
Luna was just looking at the painting when a whuff from the door had her turning her head. Knight stood there, his tail tocking slowly. She grinned.
"Come on in. I'm trying to decide where to start. It's harder than I thought it would be." Knight came to lean on her side and she wrapped an arm around his neck.
"I never knew Mother. But I'd have died in my father's place if I could." Sudden aching grief tightened her chest. She squeezed the wolf beside her. He looked up and howled softly. Luna looked down rubbing her eyes.
"Thank you for being here." She went to the mantel and took down her mother's second journal. Settling in front of the fire she leaned into the warm curl of the wolf and started reading.
The chickens are off laying again. I don't know how many times I've told my darling little brother if he's going to make magical fireworks, he can't set them off by the chicken coop!
Maybe a dearth of eggs will teach him what words cannot. We traveled to see King Kellen crowned in the castle village today. It was a lovely ceremony, and he had such a gentle smile for his subjects. Magnus is hopeful that he will rule with more thoughtfulness than his father.
There was no mention of how her uncle might have been cursed, though he was mentioned by name in her mother's journal only that once. As with the first she usually wrote of him as just her brother, that description more than enough.
Luna set down the book and moved to the doorway, the black wolf was watching the maple leaves shiver in the wind, a peaceful moment that tasted bitter in Luna's mouth.
"Magnus?" She said softly, after seeing it in her mother's delicate hand.
"Uncle Magnus?"
The black wolf had trotted to her, seeming smaller than he had when they'd first met. Until he reared up, whining and huffing to drape his forelegs over her shoulders.
Luna held him close, listening to him. But he withdrew after a moment, back on all fours, studying her with eyes that were relieved somehow. She crouched down to be more level with him.
"So it is alright for me to call you Uncle?" The black nose rested against her brow, there was a single light lick of approval. Luna sniffled, throwing her arms around him.
The whole pack crowded into the cabin that night. Even Mist curled with her pups on the rug before the fire. Luna sat up long after they were asleep, grief giving way to rage.
She'd had a family. People besides her father. And something had taken them away from her. Something had taken their humanity away from them. She could not give up and refuse to return to the world. It would be an insult to the pack, her family, her protectors. It was a long time before she could sleep.