Luna
The part of listening to the environment passed without any more drama which was a relief because my heart could not take much more of that torture. Next was the testing of instinct which I found to be pretty comical though I don't think my master shared my views. I led him to the tree and made him stand underneath it. "Now, you are going to have to dodge projectiles." I informed him as I peeled off his outer robe. "What?" He stuttered, his eyes widening. "Blind." I added as I made the biggest blindfold of all time. "This is ridi...owww!" He cried, placing a hand against a bump on his head that grew from my throwing a pebble at him. "You are not trying." I taunted as I picked up another pebble. "You like injuries now that you heal fast?" I threw the pebble which hit him square in the nose, extracting another cry from him. "They still hurt as much." He grumbled as he began to move round in circles in an attempt to escape. I simply threw another which hit him in the chin. "That is not how you avoid attacks, student. Forget fast healing, if you were on the battlefield, you would be long dead by now. A sharp claw to your head, nose and neck can kill you pretty fast, you know?" I aimed another pebble. "Don't listen to your mind. It will only confuse you. Listen to your heart instead. Become one with your surroundings and you will find that it is not so hard." I threw my weapon which hit his chest with a thump. "It is just that hard. Aren't you supposed to let me get used to this training first? Probably using light things like branches and robes?" He was still rubbing his chest and his voice was heavy with pain but he had planted his feet now and seemed to be paying more attention. "Will Leon give you that kind of consideration?" I asked simply. A blood stained frown bloomed on his face as he thought about his oh so sweet brother. "Let's do this then." His voice was hard and more steely this time. I made a mental note to always use his brother as catalyst whenever he began to get out of hand. We became so engrossed in the training that I didn't realize how much time had passed till... "What is going on here?" I froze as I slowly turned toward the speaker. The sun was still a long while away but the day was starting to brighten which enabled me to see the figure who was framed at the doorway several feet away, a scowl on her face which seemed pretty like always. I couldn't help wondering how she always managed to look so good. Blaire was the kind of woman who was so beautiful that even without trying, she made all other women around her feel insecure and run to close the eyes of their lovers. Except, that wasn't the point right now. The point was that I had been dancing around Indrik, making calls to distract him while rearing my arm to throw a pebble. He had quickly mastered the art of listening, getting out of the way before my rocks could hit him so I had decided to up the stakes forgetting that we were only a few miles away from the others. Now, it would appear that our noise had carried over to Blaire. "I'm waiting." Indrik called. I gritted my teeth, holding back the urge to tell him to shut up. "Master?" I took on my most subservient tone which sounded rather shrill to my own ears. "You can take off your blindfold. The critter is gone now." I called, hoping he would take the hint. "What?" He asked in confusion but I couldn't spare any more words. Not when Blaire was glaring at me like she wanted to burn me to a crisp with those eyes of hers. She started to approach and I wiped my hands on my gown trying to think of the appropriate response to give her. Thankfully, Indrik started to untie his mega sized blindfold. "What are you doing out here with Indrik in the early hours of the morning?" Blaire had reached me now. I noticed that she didn't look like she wanted to kill me now. Which meant she would probably make do with ripping out one of my eyes. "Blaire." Indrik stuttered when he finally saw her. I exhaled in relief. If anyone could convince his friend, it was him. Blaire looked from one to the other, her eyes stormy like she couldn't decide what to make of us. "What are you doing out here, Blaire? It's early." Indrik decided to take the bull by the horns. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Blaire fired back. "Oh! You wouldn't believe what happened." I started, flashing Indrik a look to play along. "My master could not sleep so he came to wake me up saying we should hunt for deers." Blaire stared at me like I had grown deer antlers. "Deers? In here?" She waved her arm around the yard. I slapped my hand against my forehead in mock frustration. "He said he saw one here so he dragged me over here and since then, we have been looking for it." "And the blindfold?" "Oh, that. My master said he was scared of the way deer eyes glow in the night so he made me blindfold him while I hunted for the deer which was what I was doing before you arrived." Blaire stared at Indrik like she was expecting him to wave me off as crazy but he merely shrugged and flashed one of his trademark smiles. For a moment, I thought she was surely going to turn us in to the doctor for treatment but instead she sighed heavily. "You both are crazy." I turned toward Indrik as she hurried off and shrugged at his quizzical look. I had experience.LunaNeedless to say, our training stopped after Blaire chanced in on us. Indrik shuddered, his shoulders slumping once Blaire was gone. "That was a close call." He breathed. He straightened and looked around the yard, releasing another shaky breath. "We cannot continue to use this place for training. It is too dangerous.""Really? I didn't know you were scared of deers." I commented. He turned toward me with a dry look as though considering how my head would look on a stake. He sighed. "Of course not." He grumbled. "I was scared for you. If word gets out that you are training me..." He trailed off. "What are you talking about?" He sighed. The day was becoming brighter more quickly now which allowed me to see the tortured look he gave me. I knew more than ever now that there was something he was hiding from me. "What are you so afraid of?" I pushed carefully, afraid that he would cover his ears and start crying about voices again. He looked into the trees in which birds were sta
LunaIndrik did not seem to appreciate my attempts to brighten his mood which included preparing bath water that was a little bit too hot. He had been so distracted that he had not noticed the rolling steam until he dipped a leg in. He retrieved it faster than a little child who had been playing with fire would withdraw once the fire burned too hot. I had been expecting a smile of sorts but the extremely cold look that I was gifted instead got me running to get more water. I gave up when my joke of replacing his robes with lady Blaire's pink gown did not work either. He just did not know much humour. I couldn't help feeling sorry for whoever his bride was going to be. Finally, I led a glum master to breakfast. He seemed to have decided that his first breakfast with the others after what seemed like ages ago would be better celebrated with a huge frown. Frankly, I couldn't blame him for that. If I had a family like that too, well... And no, I am not being sentimental. The Beta who I h
IndrikI was scared. More scared than I had ever been in my entire life which was saying a lot because I had spent my entire life living in fear. Fear of never being more than a weak wolf who was the butt of everyone's joke. Fear of always being tormented by my half brother. Fear of dying from a simple cold. Fear, fear, fear, that had always been a recurring theme in my life. Something that I hated but could not do without anymore than I could do without breathing. You would think I would have mastered the art of fear by now. Wait a minute, is there anything like that? Forget that. My point is, now, I felt so scared, it paralyzed me. I had only just started to get my life in order, started to reach my dreams and suddenly, my master tells me she won't be training me anymore? My whole world seemed to be crashing around me and it really wasn't a pretty feeling. And then, Leon had come along again, reminding me of my weakness and that even if I had my wolf now, I would still always be th
IndrikWords could not possibly begin to express how much joy flooded my heart when Luna told me that but another thought stopped me cold. "When you say that, you mean..." I gulped, not having the heart to put it into words. "Are you going to show me or not?" Her face was expressionless, leaving me dangling precariously on the precipice of uncertainty. "Uhh... alright." I muttered. It wasn't like I had that much to lose anyway. Well, except for the fact that I was taking her to someplace that no one else, not even my closest friends, was privy to. "So, should we go now?" I crawled out of bed. "No!" She made a gagging face as she looked pointedly at me. I looked down and would have crawled into the earth if I wasn't held back by my skin. I looked like a mess. My robes had become so soaked with dried sweat that white lines snaked across it like cobwebs. My hair felt like it had been glued to my head with tree sap. Everything about me felt sweaty and dirty. "You should go get yoursel
IndrikAs I led Luna through the winding paths that I had only ever walked by myself, it felt rather surreal. Like I was exposing a part of myself that only I had ever known. A part that I had been too scared to share with anyone else. And the most scary thing was that I did not care. If anything, I wanted to show her even more. Wasn't sure she would want to see more though judging by the hay straws that had threaded their way into her hair. Stepping out of the oaken door that led out of the other end of the palace, I stared at the row of tall, thick trees that formed a green and brown wall several feet away. I was hit, as I always was by the ethereal aura that filled this place. It had the ambience of a place that had been left untouched by anyone, both human and wolf for a long time. I could see signs of this place having been used by someone or some people before, a four feet wide entrance that was flanked by tree stumps that led into the heart of the trees. This entrance was easy
LunaWhen my master led me into the horse stables, I thought, "of course! What better place to have a hideout that no one else knew about than in the stables." (I mean, most people preferred their horses when they were outside, looking prim and proper and ready for a ride, not when they were here, reeking of hay, and well, horse. You would understand if I don't want to go into details about what the 'horse' part means. Not that I minded horses, I mean, I did stop by with Lea for a quick greeting.) Then, he had continued right on to the last stable and pushed in. I had hesitated, wondering if my master had meant horse fundament when he mentioned a hideout. Then, he had walked over to the wall and pushed a door open. I had been so shocked, I had gotten a mini vertigo. Sure, I hadn't really been a frequent visitor of the stables but I had taken in the compartment after he went in and could have sworn the door hadn't been there a second before. "You coming?" He had called, extending his
LunaI stared at Indrik like he had suddenly grown two horns before turning my attention back to the grove and studying them for any signs of them being damaged. I frowned as I noticed a break in the line of trees to the center of the grove. Where there were supposed to be trees, there were creeper plants instead. They had grown very thick and were barely moved by occasional gusts of wind but their presence still stuck out as what they were, a piece of skin that had grown to replace a wound. My heart bubbled with anger as I glared at Indrik, trying my best to keep my temper in check. "What did you do to the trees?" I growled. He stared at me in confusion but I was in no mood for that as I hissed in irritation. "Why did you cut those trees?" I asked again, barely able to hold back from hitting him so hard in his face as to send him back into a coma. "Oh, that." He started casually then froze as he realized I wasn't joking. "I found it that way. Promise. I have tried my best to not to
BlaireIf my chest were like a sack, I would cut it open and remove my heart. If my heart were not so good at serving two goals, pumping blood and making big deals out of nothing, I would have removed it and crushed it into a thousand pieces. If my heart could be removed, I would wash it clean, turn it inside out and wash it clean again before returning it into my chest. Maybe then, I would stop being hunted by these terrible emotions. Maybe then, I wouldn't feel so strongly about everything that I saw. Maybe then, I wouldn't spend every day stewing away in my own tears, but sadly, all of these are but thoughts. My body is made of flesh and bones, thoughts and feelings, things that were not so easily expunged. I sat in the swing, my legs dangling just above the ground, my head resting on its arm, my hand holding its weight. To say I was lost in thoughts would be an epic understatement. Right now, emotions were swirling within me like an overheated pot of thick soup. Each bubble sent