"You have to be really quiet in this next part," Cloud whispered as we approached the next section of the extensive museum.
"Why?" I asked.
He put his finger to his lips, shushing me, and pointed to the black and silver plague beside the curtained doorway.
Winter Alliance Memorial. Please keep talking to a soft minimum.
I nodded in understanding.
Cloud took my hand, pulling me into the room.
It was darker than the rest of the museum, lit with soft blue lights along the ceiling. Hanging from bars, there were strings. On the strings, there was tied jewelry. Dozens and dozens of jewelry pieces. Rings, bracelets, necklaces, all sorts of beautiful decorative items. On pedestals, there was pottery and sculptures and antique items, each one with a plaque of some sort.
I looked around in horror at all the jewelry.
I recalled once seeing a picture of wedding rings taken from Jews right before going into the gas chambers. This room gave me the same feeling.
There were four large walls in the room, each containing a tapestry of one of the four gods. Sphinx, Cloud, Ice, Dexter. Below the tapestries, on the floor, there were altars covered in burning incense and candles and flowers and offerings.
At the altar to Ice, a young wolf man sat, long white hair obscuring his face as he sat on his knees with his hands folded and head bowed in prayer.
"That's Darkin, one of the two royal survivors," Cloud whispered. His voice in my ear almost aroused me. "He was in a relationship with Ice. Best not disturb him."
Based on the way Darkin's ear flicked, we probably already had.
By the entrance to the memorial, there were collections of incense and matches, laid out on a table. I looked at the incense for a bit, deciding on one that smelled like nutmeg. I took it over to Ice's altar, kneeling beside Darkin. I lit the incense with the help of one white candle and placed it in one of the ceramic incense holders. This one looked like the face of the moon was smoking the incense.
I didn't know how to pray, and I didn't want to disturb Darkin to ask. For a while, I just sat there, on my knees, with my eyes closed, begging whoever was listening to bring Ice home.
Once my legs fell asleep, I stood up. I had no idea how Darkin could sit so still like that endlessly. I walked back to Cloud, who stood staring at a few pieces of pottery. I wrapped my arm around his waist, summoning enough courage to place a small kiss on his cheek.
He softly smiled, putting his arm around my shoulders.
"Let's go," I breathed, standing on my toes to get closer to his ear. "Unless you... want to do a bit of praying." Did gods even pray?
He sighed, staring sadly at Ice's altar. "Let's go."
A/N: An extra to celebrate my survival of my first week of senior year <3
YOU ARE READING
Little Red Robin Hood
Werewolf"You've seen him? The grey wolf?" Raine Swann has always been an outsider, now more than ever. Homeless and jobless in a strange town where people are oddly suspicious, he considers going back home and taking up an offer from an old friend. But he c...
