"Princess Luna!" Cried her maids far, far below the pale haired Princess' unsteady perch on the roof of the dilapidated wizard's tower. She was watching the blue sky, scanning it eagerly for clouds. Her stepmother's magic mirror had promised it would snow today and she wanted to watch the first flakes fall, whirling down into the castle courtyard and onto the battlements. She clung with both hands to the base of the spinning wind spire. The chill of the wind sent tingles down her back and the faint smell of winter thrilled in her young blood. Luna leaned further staring at a certain spot in the sky where a single white fluffy cloud was floating along serenely. It taunted her with its promise.
"Princess." muttered a deep voice close to her ear. Luna squeaked and let go of the tower altogether- better to tumble to her doom on the flagstones below than be caught by the old wizard's ghost! She started to slip down the steep grade but a pair of muscled arms caught up the girl and lifted her out of harm's way. Jaeger- the princess-consort's Huntsman and Champion lifted her up and fixed her with a piercing look.
"Really? You'll put your poor royal father in his grave far too soon with such dangerous antics, Luna." He chastised her as he climbed easily down the wall into the courtyard, Luna clinging to his shoulders. On the ground, Luna's worried maids bundled her up in soft white furs to keep her from the cold. They hurried her towards the dining room where her father and stepmother were eating breakfast. Her youngest and favorite maid, Amelia, walked beside her and whispered "I can't believe you climbed the tower!"
"I didn't," Luna said out of the side of her mouth. "I took the stairs." She winked at Amelia who snorted into her hands, an unruly lock of blonde hair falling out of her kerchief. The undignified noises earned them both a dry look from Luna's chief maid, Auntie, as they passed into the dining room.
Her stepmother was surrounded on her right by a cloud of beautiful ladies, their voices like the morning birds. So long as those birds were chickens. Her father sat with his noble hunting party at his left, Luna straightened at the sight. Maybe if she asked nicely she could spend the day hunting instead of sewing the solar with Serena and the other ladies.
"Ah Jaeger, I see you have recovered Luna from the perilous wizard's tower. Daughter, would you join us?"
Her father's smile lit up the Princess' morning even more than the thought of snow did. Luna hurried up to sit across from her father, while her maids dispersed to their various places among the tables. She settled into the cushioned chair that her father had given to her at spring solstice when he had decreed her tall enough to join the adults. She grabbed a large steak, pairing it with eggs and was reaching for the mulled wine that her father's men were passing about when her stepmother softly cleared her throat.
"Really, Luna, my sweet, shouldn't you have fruit juice instead? You are far too young to have wine with breakfast." Her tone implied that Luna was far too young to even be allowed in the same room as the adults, and she gave her husband a side long look from under her lashes. He nodded and the bottle of wine was whisked out of her reach. Luna's goblet was instead filled with juice- too sweet and without that wonderful spicy tingle that the mulled wine had. She frowned at Serena so hard it made her face hurt. Serena ignored her so Luna turned her sulky focus to her eggs. They were quite tasty, as was the steak. She reached for more.
"Luna, dear. Really! Young ladies eat lightly." Came the reproof of her stepmother as Luna devoured the second steak. The king looked over, raising a brow. Luna gave her a practiced sorrowful look, her lips trembling ever so slightly. The woman nibbled at a slice of late fall apple and tilted her head, her eyes narrowing against the ploy.
"But Stepmother, I am so very hungry. Perhaps just this once?" Luna murmured and her father chuckled, taking a sip from his cup of wine before saying.
"Come Serena, certainly she is tall for her age, perhaps when she is taller still we may call her a young lady and encourage her to eat less. But for now let the child eat her fill." He gave Luna another small steak and smiled at her, the corners of his brown eyes crinkling.
"Here poppet, you'll need your strength to practice your climbing." He winked at her as she cut into it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her stepmother's eyes lift heavenward. Luna squashed the urge to roll her eyes right back and focused on the steak in front of her. As the King, Father's words carried more weight than stepmother's as the princess-consort. He was the King and Luna would be the Queen after him. Her stepmother had tried many times to influence the staff to begin grooming Luna into a "lady". But Father only laughed at the idea. He had told Luna that no Queen should be a good lady for how could she rule if she was too proud to go out in the fields and work with the farmers or go into the forest and help find a lost child. No, Father would not let Serena make her a fine lady and Luna liked it that way.
She ate the last steak slowly watching for signs of being full and found them only after she had chewed her very last bite. She turned to her father and clasped her hands, as she sat up straight in her seat.
"What are you hunting today, Papa?" King Kellan tucked away a bite of his own hearty breakfast before answering her and his reply was serious.
"We are hunting a boar that was sighted in the foot hill forests, Luna. This is no falconing expedition. So you will stay here with your stepmother today." Luna felt a chill prickle along her skin at the idea. Wild boar were dangerous to hunt and killed several hunters each year. Luna bit her lip, her hands tightening around each other. She could almost hear the sounds of the hunt, the screaming of the boar, the frantic shouts of the hunters. It filled her ears until she sucked in a breath. Her ears rang as her father's conversation with one of his men came back into focus.
Luna reached across the table and rested her fingertips on the back of her father's hand. "Do you have to go? I-" She said so quietly that her father had to lean in to hear her. Luna felt as though she were forcing the words out. "I have a bad feeling, Papa."
"I do have to go, poppet. But Jaeger and all my huntsmen will be there to protect me. It's for the good of the kingdom and safety of our people." Luna nodded and looked long and hard at Jaeger who looked back at her and nodded. He made the secret sign that they had invented for communicating their understanding, tapping three fingers on his lips as if he were thinking. Luna was satisfied and her father squeezed her hand.
She knew that her father and Jaeger would take extra care now. Her mother had been gifted with strange powers so no one in the palace doubted that Luna could warn them of the coming tragedy and perhaps with that faint warning it could be avoided.
When her stepmother rose a few moments later, Luna stood as well. She hurried around the table to hug her father. No words were exchanged, they didn't need them. Accompanied by both sets of their maids Luna and her stepmother went off to the solar to sew. As she settled in the window seat she regarded the clear sky with a moment of wistfulness. Her peace didn't last long as Amelia hurried up with her small basket of needlework.
Luna didn't enjoy embroidery and preferred to read but lately she had been working on a needlepoint of something she had seen in her dreams. She dreamt that a black wolf sat in the snow next to her mother's grave and in its mouth were red roses. The image had struck her so strongly that she sketched it out and secretly began to embroider it. In her eyes it was more like a painting than needlework. Wolves were not a topic that her father or the court approved of but she felt at peace as she worked on her little project.
Even though she'd tried to keep it hidden one of her stepmother's ladies in waiting ladies had seen it hanging out of her basket and reported it to Serena. While it wasn't exactly appropriate in subject matter the princess-consort was just pleased that Luna was plying a needle and she'd allowed the work to continue and even kept the secret from Luna's father. She had even regularly requested to see the progress and given Luna many tiresome tips for improvement.
So Luna worked diligently, white head bowed over the cloth bringing her dream image to life. As she concentrated on the cloth she replayed the dream that had sparked it. She'd walked through the castle gates and to the small church that sat just outside the castle village on the edge of the forest. In the snowy pine woods the black wolf had waited. She'd followed it to the ruined cathedral - or what her mind thought it would look like.
There really was a cathedral in the woods, but Luna had never seen it. After her mother had died from a winter wolf attack on the grounds the priests had refused to stay there. Her father had built a smaller chapel in the castle village for them.There was a rumor that the spirit of the late Queen roamed the woods, helping lost travellers and children. Luna had snuck out a handful of times hoping to see her, but never had. That pervading belief was one of the reasons that Luna's stepmother was the princess-consort and not the Queen. Her father loved his wife but the people cherished their late Queen.
Luna's mother had truly ruled alongside her husband, ever willing to go out among the people and work or tend the sick. Many of the young servants in the castle owed their lives to Luna's mother's kindness. She had insisted after a terrible winter of wolf attacks and illness on taking in all the orphans from all the villages in their little kingdom.
The princess-consort's champion Jaeger was one of these. A refugee who had been nearly the only survivor of his village. He had carried the two surviving babies from the decimated village to the castle in his own four year old-arms. Jaeger had joined her father's men as soon as he'd grown old enough to lift a blade and had been known for his strength of arm ever since. One of the babies had been her own maid Amelia, not quite court polished but as stalwart a friend as any girl could want with a sensible head on her shoulders. They had been Luna's dearest friends for as long as she could remember.
Luna watched through the window as the hunting party rode out. Her father was smiling as the wind blew back his hair. The sun glinted on the pale golden circlet that marked him as king. Luna reached up to the silver circlet at her own brow as the freezing fear ate at her again. Jaeger lifted his face to look at the window where she sat and raised a hand to salute her. Luna's father looked back and laughed, raising a hand to wave. Suddenly sure, she leapt up and ran for the door of the sewing room.
"Luna!" came the exasperated voice of the princess-consort. "Really!"
Before she'd even gained the stairs she was being gently smothered by the colorful crowd of the royal maids, like a cloud of giant insistent butterflies. The princess-consort's hand came down hard on her shoulder pushing her firmly back towards the solar. Luna planted her feet and pushed back with all her might.
"I must go to Father! I must! I must!" Her voice rose to a breathless sob. The fluttering gowns agitated around her as she screamed and cried. Princess Serena even stepped back from her. But before Luna could lunge away the princess-consort backhanded her hard across the face. Luna's head snapped to the side, leaving her staring out the window at the now empty courtyard. Stunned at the violence, Luna didn't move. Serena stared at the blood smeared on her wedding ring as the Princess put her hand to her face and found a long stinging scratch. Amelia pushed through the now still and silent maids to take Luna's cold pale hand in her warm, work-roughened one.
"T-take her to her rooms." The princess-consort's voice shook. Luna said nothing as she was drawn away, still looking down at the blood on her fingers.
The first snowflakes came at midafternoon and the hunting party had not returned. Luna was locked in her room with two young knights guarding the doors. Her stepmother's favorites. They would never let her out.
Instead she wrapped her old quilt around herself, pressed a hand over the plaster on her cheek and, stared out her window. It had no view of the gate but she could see the courtyard and would know when her father returned. She refused to allow herself the terror of questioning if he would return. He must. She must be wrong and overreacting. Otherwise...
The little Princess slid from her perch on the sill and paced the room with the quilt trailing behind her. Her patchwork tail slithered erratically as she circled the room at random. Luna grabbed a stuffed rabbit and squeezed it tight in her arms. He must come home.
There was a knock on her door and Serena stepped in. Her stepmother laced her hands together, her eyes red rimmed in her white face. Makeup couldn't quite conceal the splotches of red on her cheeks or the brightness of her eyes after crying.
"Luna, sweetheart. I am so sorry for hurting you. I was frightened you'd hurt yourself. I know we don't always get along but - " She opened her arms to the little Princess who fell into them crying. Serena sank to her knees to hold Luna close.
"I'm scared." Luna whimpered. "I have such a bad feeling."
"Do you want to see if the magic mirror can see him? With both of us seeking him we'll have a better chance of seeing him." Serena stroked back Luna's hair with a soft smile. Luna gave a tearful nod.
"Yes, please, I'd like that very much."
"I'll have some cocoa and a snack brought. You can rest in my rooms after." Using a lace edged handkerchief Luna's stepmother wiped away her tears. Hand in hand they walked to the princess-consort's chambers, Luna's quilt still over her head and shoulders like a cloak.
Luna loved her stepmother's rooms. The bed and walls were draped in a pale blue velvet that made the room feel like it was open to the sky. The mirror hung opposite Serena's fireplace, a bubbly glass surface that cast everything in warm golden tones. Luna drifted close to it, but she knew better than to touch it.
The princess-consort's mirror was a powerful magical object that could show a person or thing if Serena could picture it clearly enough in her mind. The mirror was linked to only her stepmother and no one was allowed to touch it, not even the maids to clean it. Serena did it herself with a specially mixed compound of herbs and pure water.
Serena stepped up and took Luna's hand, squeezing it gently.
"Think of your father. Build his image in your mind. His hair, his eyes, his expressions." The princess-consort's voice was soothing, lulling.
Luna pictured her father in her mind's eye. Her eyes drifted closed as she saw his pale hair and the circlet of gold on his brow. His brown eyes twinkled at her from over his chalice of wine. The mirror's magic tugged at her mind but Serena was there to balance it out. Her cold fingers stroked Luna's cheek to anchor her mind in the physical world.
"There he is. Look, Luna."
She opened her eyes, holding her breath as her stomach tightened. At the same time she relaxed because he was there, his face serious as he spoke to one of the hunt masters. Luna turned to press her face to her stepmother's side, tears in her eyes. Her father was safe. She felt Serena's hand stroke her hair.
"Come now, you're already tired and the magic takes from you." Luna let herself be guided to the plush couch and sipped the cocoa put in her hands. She hardly noticed when the half empty cup was taken from her hands, curling up under the old quilt.
Serena sat by her, a cool hand on the side of Luna's head. The girl rested her temple on the velvet of her stepmother's skirts. "Let me tell you a story my mother told me about how this world was born and where magic comes from." Her voice was soft and lulling, Luna nodded fractionally as Serena went on.
"Once two Divine beings built a universe with their dance. There were many souls but some were special, given a spark of divinity from the creators themselves, the power to change their own worlds. All was good, these marked souls were drawn to each other through peril and wonder to create beautiful magical stories that endured through time. The Divines were delighted - or at least one was." Luna closed her eyes imagining the beings of shimmering stars twirling and spinning together. Serena's words seemed distant as sleep tugged at her.
"The divinely marked souls began to vanish, crying out and then extinguishing. Realizing that her companion was devouring their creations she gathered the last of these special souls and fled where he could not pursue.
"Her grief flavored the single little world she built for her remaining creations, making their stories darker than she ever intended. The darkness grieved her more still and it affects us to this day as tragedy and misfortune.
"But that's where the magic comes from too, that divine spark that lives in us, the Goddess' chosen people." Serena's fingers carded the girl's pale hair tenderly as her stepdaughter's breathing evened into sleep.
Luna woke to a distant sound in the courtyard - the deep grinding of the great gates opening - Luna ran for the window. The hunting party was back - she could see the massive body of the boar laying on the stone. But not her father's horse, nor the King himself. Jaeger turned into her view with a limp body braced before him on his steed, gold flashing on the pale brow. The courtyard boiled into action with people running about like ants. The snowflakes whirled to the flagstones below.
The King had come home.