The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

20. Lesson One

          I had barely slept when the pack life in the hallway woke me up. My room didn't have a window, so there was no way of knowing how early, or how late, it was. But people were moving about behind my door, chatting and wishing each other good morning as they passed each other. I rubbed my eyes as I sighed, not ready for this new day. Last night had been intense, and I didn't quite know what to think of it.

          But with my fellow pack members getting ready for the day in the hallway, I knew I wouldn't be able to catch up on sleep anymore. I stretched my arms, building up the courage to get out of bed and let the day begin.

           Aven had said I would start my training today, with Feytan. Lotta said he was the commander of Death Moon, and he lived on the second floor. I wasn't sure why Aven thought he could waste Feytan's time on me, but perhaps it was because in my current state, I was such a lost cause that I needed the best of the best to even have a shot at overcoming my own weaknesses.

          I put on some of the clothes that were provided for me, and found my way to the main dining hall, where I assumed breakfast would be. I greeted some of the wolves I passed in the hallway, but none returned the favor. It was a tense and lonely walk to the dining hall, where I was hoping I'd see Lotta's already familiar face.

          But as I scanned the room and the already seated wolves, I couldn't see that short, dark-brown hair I had spent yesterday evening with. Aven and Jerr were seated at the front table, alongside the two wolves who stood beside them last night. The older woman I assumed was Mallee. Her face was wrinkled, and her hair was colored gray. By the looks of it, she'd be maybe a decade older than how old my parents would have been. At the other end of the table, a longer haired man was seated, the eldest of the three men, but still younger than Mallee. He had to be Feytan. But Aven and Jerr paid me no attention as I walked in the room and tried to find an empty spot.

          It wasn't easy. Every empty seat was already taken, I was told. But I knew better, I knew they just did not want to sit next to me. The Ascension and the tattoo hadn't made me Death Moon in their eyes. To them, I was still Fire Moon, the enemy. And that stung. I eventually found an empty chair at the end of a table, where no other wolves were seated in the chairs directly next to me. They had ordered me to sit as far away as I could, with nasty grimaces on their face as they saw and smelled me.

          I grabbed some of the food that was laid out on the table, a pear and some other piece of fruit I didn't recognize, but my appetite had been lost among the rejections of today. The sweet, yet sour taste of the oddly pink looking fruit danced around on my tongue, but I had to force myself to chew and swallow it. Some of the wolves ignored me, but most of them sent me daring glares, almost drowning in their own disgust. 

          My heart dropped at the realization that I once again found myself in a pack where I wasn't wanted. I wasn't welcome and I wasn't sure if I would ever be - not truly. Where was Lotta?

A bowl, filled with something light brown, suddenly slammed down on the table, right before me. "Lesson one, get enough nutrients." I looked up at the long haired man who was sitting next to Jerr earlier. Feytan. "One pear and one ribag do not constitute a sufficient breakfast."

          "Ribag?"

          "That pink thing you're eating," Feytan said as he sat down opposite me. "Oats and milk, eat up." He shoved the bowl under me and offered me a spoon.

          I hesitantly took it, not sure if Feytan could be trusted yet or not. By the first bite of the oats, I knew I liked my fruity breakfast better. This tasted bland to say the least. "So," I said as I munched on the dull breakfast, "I assume you're Feytan and you're going to train me?"