Lunar Palace

Chapter 3: Wolf

Artemisia was much like he remembered: the clean roads, sharp atmosphere, and the sense of wrongness everywhere. Wolf had to control himself from letting his wolf instincts take over, and he stepped quickly through the roads, head bent low and a scarf hiding his face. Lunars passing by gave him passing glances, but finding nothing interesting, turned away.

        When he had reached AR-4, the high-end shopping center of Luna, he paused to get his bearings as he looked around. As much as he hated to admit it, AR-4 was impressive. All the Lunars of the highest ranking shopped here; even though Cinder had developed the Council, nobles and the thaumaturges that had been forgiven still held their positions and power. Wolf was still regretting letting Cinder make this choice.

The wind stung his eyes as Wolf turned a corner onto a lane of creative selling, with merchandise like tapestries and dresses. Seeing the petite, yet elegant store, he stepped across the street to it.

Solstice's shop.

Wolf breathed in, stilling himself. He was on a mission. He was to find out Levana's motives-whatever he saw in this shop could change everything.

Pausing, he remembered Cinder's words:

Sometimes motives are forgotten.

Yet, Wolf was certain that Levana had climbed to power under revenge, or anger, or, perhaps, love. Everyone had a reason for something. He didn't think Levana could be any different.

Pulling open the door to the shop, he was immediately stunned by the extreme elegance of everything inside. On the walls hung laces and fabrics, overlaying and interlaying each other. But what caught his eye the most was the beautifully accurate tapestry of... Earth.

He stepped forward, entranced. The fabric was skillfully woven together, in a design so intricate it probably had taken weeks to perfect. The resulting image was as perfect as an image on a portscreen, the smallest pixels imaginable making up a clear picture.

        "Solstice Hayle," a voice behind him murmured. "Actually, her fate was very... ah.. interwoven with Levana's."

Wolf whirled around. Behind him stood Jacin, whose eyes were observing the art as if it interested him greatly.

"Did you know, she was Winter's mother?" Jacin said, turning to Wolf,"Yeah, Sir Hayle's wife... Our parents were friends."

"Is that how Winter is Levana's step-daughter? Most of the thaumaturges and nobles I asked won't speak about it."

"That's because it's personal information. On Luna, it's customary not to speak about informaton destined to do something bad. That's why-"

"I know," Wolf felt the urge to say,"I'm Lunar."

Jacin raised his eyebrows. "Whatever you say. Although, being Lunar is hardly something to gain popularity, if that's what you're looking for,"he joked. Wolf still had to get used to the light-hearted personality Jacin was sporting these days. Negativity was, of course, constantly being uttered, but Jacin still managed to soften those blows. It must have been because of Winter's relief from her madness that was making him so cheerful.

Wolf glanced around the store, thoroughly impressed. "I'm here to investigate Solstice Hayle," he murmured, quietly so that others in the shop could not hear him,"I trust you knew her husband, Evret?"

Jacin stiffened. "Yes, my family, the Clays, and the Hayles were very interconnected. In fact, I was at the palace the day Princess Selene-ergh, Cinder- got attacked with fire by Levana." He shrugged, leaning against the wall. "It's one of the memories you never forget, but I can't say it was a good one."

Wolf frowned. "It's ironic. Cinder gets injured in a fire;Levana dies in a fire. It's like Levana's own bullet backfired on her, after wounding Cinder first."

Jacin smirked, his eyes glinting. "Oh, it gets more ironic..I guess you could say there was a third person in this conflict. Channary, Levana's sister.. pushed Levana into a fire when she was  young."

Just when you think you can't be more surprised, Wolf thought, you're surprised.