The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

48. Swift Moon pt. 1

"How are you holding up, Julianne?" Jerr called back. He lead the way, mostly because he knew the way, but secondly because I couldn't quite follow his pace. Especially not with a bag filled with food and water dragging me down on my back.

Feytan's training had worked wonders, but it was clear I was still not in the same shape as the other wolves in this pack.

"I'm doing fine, Nathe," I grumbled, quickening my pace to catch up to him again. Other than the exhaustion creeping up on me, I truly was fine. Even though we'd been walking in enemy territories for a while now, I didn't feel unsafe. I even felt at ease somehow. I didn't know if that was some lingering feeling from my first run, Jerr's presence offering me safety, or just that I was used to worse than an empty forest on enemy grounds.

He chuckled at my refusal to admit defeat. "If I'm right, we're nearing a human town. We might be able to get a room in an inn over there, and a nice hot meal to eat."

"That would be nice," I exhaled. I knew Aven had said we'd have to improvise for shelter, and that probably meant no decent beds if there were any wolves near us. But my tiring body longed for good, soft bedding to rest in.

Jerr had explained after our run, that while our wolven form can handle a lot physically, our human sides didn't necessarily share that capability. However, they were still connected. If my wolf would be injured, I would be too. And if my wolf would have been running for days on end, once I'd shift back, my human body would take the toll of that as well.

Aven and Jerr hadn't told me about this before, because they didn't want me to hold back on my first run. I assumed this was mostly Jerr's influence.

I also remembered my parents talking about our wolven side and human side being connected, but I had never really thought that through, to understand just how deep that connection went.

"Well," Jerr continued, "since we have nothing better to do, we might start with mind training."

"Today, already?" I sighed. I found the walking around after my run already intense enough.

"No rest for the wicked," he laughed. "But I wanted to start by explaining just exactly how my magic works. Set the basis for your actual mind training."

"That sounds doable," I decided.

Jerr didn't need any more confirmation to begin the stream of information he was about to pour out. "Well, the most important thing is: everything is linked to your emotions in some way. Take my magic. If I'm angry, it will require more of me to dig into someone, than it would when I'm happy, or relaxed."

"That makes sense," I agreed.

"It does," Jerr confirmed. "The same goes for you. When your emotions heighten, so do your thoughts. So every time you're angry, hurt, or even happy, your thoughts are louder and more uncontrolled. And easier for a Wise Moon to hear them."

"As you've mentioned," I replied under my breath.

Jerr ignored my comment and just continued with his explanation. "That's the part we'll work on the most - how to control your mind when you don't have control over your emotions."

Jerr had slowed down a little so I was able to catch up with him - and keep up with his pace. "What other parts will we work on?"

"How to protect your thoughts from a Wise Moon, if you ever stumble upon one in the wild."

"That's possible?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. "You told me you could still get in my mind no matter if I were trained or not."

"Yes, that is true. But I'm a remarkably strong Wise Moon if I do say so myself," he mused, sending me a playful wink.