A Luna for Alpha Kieran

[ Skarthheim Pack territories - Inner chamber (Autumn’s room) ]

"She twitched last night," whispered one of the maids, her voice barely louder than a breath. Her fingers worked gently through Autumn’s tangled hair. "I swear it. Just here...I saw it, " she motioned to the corner of her eye, " It was like a little flutter beneath her lashes. Like she was dreaming."

"That could have just been wind," the other replied, sitting at the foot of the bed, carefully tending to the incense burner. "Her body reacts sometimes, but it doesn’t mean she is waking up anytime soon,I mean..."

"She will." The younger maid spoke with a kind of desperate hope, brushing a lock of hair behind Autumn’s ear with far more tenderness than duty required. "I can feel it. The way the air changes when we speak to her... like she is listening."

"Maybe. But hush now." The older one looked nervously toward the closed doors. " The walls have ears. We are not supposed to be gossiping around her! "

The room then hushed... as if time had paused to listen.

The heavy drapes cast a soft golden hue over everything. The incense smoke curled lazily around the carved ceiling, catching light like ribbons of memory, hanging still. The only sounds were the gentle crackle of a small fire in the hearth, and the hushed voices of the two maids seated on either side of the sleeping beauty.

The interior had significantly changed from when Autumn had first woken up in that place.

On a massive bed, carved from wolf bone and polished blackwood,she lay.

Unmoving.

Unstirring.

But not entirely lifeless.