The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

16. The Manor

          The lingering shock of the events had cast a shadow upon my arrival at the Manor. Jerr had brought me to a room with a single bed, a desk with a chair and some other basic furniture. I'd placed the few books I brought on the desk, and I saw fresh clothes waiting for me in the closet.

He had said this would be my room until I'd find my own place in the city or a neighboring town in Death Moon. He had also quickly shown me where the kitchen and the dining hall were, which is also where he left me. Jerr had gone back to help Aven with the young wolf's parents, and to investigate what had happened.

          The dining hall was immense. It hosted several large tables accompanied with matching chairs. There were at least enough seats for about fifty wolves, I quickly counted. But the Manor was immense too, so I guessed the dining hall needed to provide for a lot of residing wolves. Jerr had quickly led me inside the Manor, but the long pathway to reach it had given me plenty of time to fully admire it. It was surrounded by grounds where I could see a few wolves roam free in the distance. The Manor itself was made of a black stone, with frivolish detailing at the rooftops. It was even bigger than Beckett's Central Building, which had always impressed me with its size. But the Manor.. I wasn't even sure if a Manor was the appropriate term.

          A few wolves were seated in the dining hall, eating and talking. I walked up to their table, eyeing an empty spot next to a short-haired woman. This was my home now, and I wanted to get to know the other wolves in Death Moon. I also needed distraction from the horrors that I had just witnessed. "Is this seat taken?" I asked her as I pulled the chair back.

          She looked at me with her chiseled face, her right eyebrow decorated with a silver piercing. "No, sit down," she motioned. "You're a new face here."

          "Yes, I am. I'm Sari," I introduced myself. "I just Ascended."

          She raised her eyebrows. "Aven bit you? Of course he did, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here. How strange," she added, more to herself than to me. "I'm Lotta, by the way."

          "Nice to meet you," I replied, giving her a genuine smile that she copied. "Doesn't Aven 
offer wolflings the Bite often?" I asked. I still found it strange to refer to him with his name instead of his title, but Lotta didn't seem to notice.

          "Oh, he never does," Lotta said as she munched on a mouthful of potatoes. She eyed my empty plate and motioned at the food on the table. I filled my plate with meat, I believed it was chicken, potatoes and a variety of vegetables. I tried to refrain from ravishing my plate within seconds, but it had been Moons know how long since I had had a meal like this. "So, where did you come from?" Lotta continued, devouring a new portion of her meal.

          "Fire Moon," I gulped as I took my first bite of the meat. It was delicious.

          Lotta however, stopped chewing and looked at me with big eyes. I supposed I would get this reaction often. "Oh, you can't just say you've come from Fire Moon and not give me any other information," she pleaded. The other wolves had halted their conversations, and were looking at me. Some had a disgusted look written on their face, others seemed to be more curious.

          "I've never liked it in Fire Moon," I defended myself. "Fire Moon also never liked me. As you could probably tell by my name." Lotta nodded somewhat surprised, as if she just put two and two together. "So, Aven offered to take me in, and I gladly accepted," I concluded. I didn't want to add that I'd only chosen Death Moon because no other Alpha had dared take me in, and I also did not want to give too much details about my life in Fire Moon.

          "I see," Lotta said. The other wolves still looked at me with distrust, but continued with whatever they had been talking about before I joined them. "Has anyone given you a tour yet?"