Her

Chapter 12

Last nights sleep could be described fitful at best, constantly tossing and turning. I would awake from half formed dreams, blearily checking my surroundings. Some times thinking I was back on the ship, then back home, I would always come back to the realization though that I was here. In this cold, barren land with Lux.

When morning came she was the first to wake, she threw a bundle of clothes at me, demanding I get up. I clumsily climbed from my nest of furs and began to dress myself when she slipped out the door. My fingers fiddled with the long, tunic like dress and the furred over coat that went along with it. I was pleased to find the leather boots fit though and I trotted out the door to see Lux awaiting me.

"We're going to see the mystic, best behavior." She warned, wagging a finger towards me.

"Yes Lux," I mumbled quietly.

She nodded, seeming pleased with my obedience and started to walk. Long legs and swift steps saunters in front of me in a statement that was obvious that she was Alpha, that she was in charge. It was such a difference to my own awkward strut.

My head swirled with the idea of meeting the mystic, excitement and fear. Every pack had one born every fifty years or so, strange children born of no status but could commune with the god's themselves. What was this one like? Were they harsh and cold? Old and feeble like the one back home?

I was so caught up in my thinking that I almost did not notice that we we're outside nor that Lux had stopped in front of me. I walked into her and whined, rubbing my forehead. She was all hard muscle under those pretty features, how a true Alpha should be.

"Watch yourself," Lux said slowly, turning her head to glance back at me. "One of these days you'll run into someone who'll take offense."

"I'm sorry," I bowed my head, my eye flicking up to glance at her. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"That much is obvious."

She turned back around, flicking her wrist as a motion for me to hurry to her side. I trotted up, my feet dragging in the thick snow that was a seemingly constant blanket around the area. I glanced to see her feet were perfectly balanced, walking with ease over the snow. It must be something their born with, I decided.

We came to cabin, the cedar logs relatively fresh and new on the outside. A fire burned, the gray smoke trailing from the chimney lazily. I took a deep breath in, my weak nose detecting strange spices and someone else beyond the door. I couldn't tell anything else but I knew Lux could, her senses were much more alive then mine.

"Best behavior," She warned once more, her voice even colder than the ice and snow around us.

I nodded frantically, my locks bouncing along with my head. I stared down at my palms and clenched my hand, the pain stung. They were still raw, no longer bleeding through. I perked though when Lux swung open the door and stepped in, a blast of heat escaping to embrace me. I hurried after, looking around the strange room.

The walks were scribbled over in chalk drawings, strange runes and symbols. Silks and heavy blankets draped everywhere along with hides made me feel as if I were in a cave of warmth and softness. As my nose had detected, plants of every sort and type hung drying. Perhaps it wasn't always snowing here then. I reached to touch one, a bundle of flowers that were once a violent red but were reduce to the color of drying blood.

"That's poppy," A new voice spoke, feminine and young.

I turned to look and found myself staring into two mismatched orbs, one sky blue the other a deep brown. They were painted in traditional makeup, swirling lines of gray, black, and blue. The colors of this particular pack. The eyes blinked and I noticed it belong to a face and body. It was a girl, a few years younger then me. Hair the color of wheat and skin like cream, she was dainty yet carried herself with as much pride as Lux.

"Welcome," Red lips parted to speak and the girl smiled. It was an odd smile though as if it knew more than she let on.

"What's wrong with her? With me?" Lux stressed, stalking around the various pieces of furniture with various things covering them.

I studied them, the crackling of the fire was filling my ears as I zoned out. Books littered the tables and chairs, old and thick with dust. They contained writing I couldn't understand, smudges against my eyesight. Bowls of bronze filled with offerings of crystals, herbs, spices, and bones to the gods in the corner at an altar. Little clay statues of them all representing them.

"Lux, why so harsh to her? Can you not tell?" The girl spoke, waving an arm to me. Brackets jingled and I noticed the makeup went down her face, past her collar bones and disappearing in her folds of clothes.

"Tell what?" Lux spoke, her voice even and calm although the way her jaw tensed spoke she felt otherwise.

"If I say it, you'll fly into a rage and deny it." The girl spoke with her mouth curling into a smile. She obviously knew she was right about this issue, the smug look on her face spoke that in volumes.

Lux's eyes sparkled with anger and her jaw tensed even further. "She is not." She said slowly, her knuckles tightening.

"Shall I consult the gods? Should I, conjure up the god Ukaya, ask his advice on whether or not I'm right?" The girl said and plucked several things from several altar bowls as she spoke, tossing them into a larger copper pot.

Lux said nothing but gave a curt nod. She did want her to consult the gods. A tricky task for anyone but a mystic.

The woman smiled, the same smug smile that a person who knew they were right would wear. She picked a bone and sat it in the pot. I peered in curiously, seeing all the salts, herbs, and various other ingredients. She pushed my face away and plucked a hair from my head then Lux's. She wrapped it around the bone in a neat little bow, then took a log from the fire and set the items in the pot on fire.

I jumped back as the flames lurched up hungrily, lapping at the items in a desperate attempt to burn more, burn longer. Their greediness was the end of them though and they died quickly. The mystic plucked the charred bone and presented it to Lux, smirking.

Where the hair had been tied was a etched in heart, burnt into the whiteness of the bone. It was obvious, no mistake could be made about the shape nor what it could represent.

"Will my line end?" Lux spoke, her voice low and grave sounding.

"No," The mystic replied, "It will flourish."

Merry Christmas!!! So I told you I'd promise to update more, did you think I was joking? Anyways, hope you'd enjoyed this chapter! I was thinking, should I add little questions in my authors notes? I know some love them because it brings up something they wouldn't think of and some think they're stupid. So thoughts?