The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

61. The Arrival

The ground we were walking on was steep and unstable. We were surrounded by vast, evergreen trees, reaching so high, we could barely see the open sky through the treetops. The air around us grew stale and cold and just added to the difficulty of our path.

Jerr had decided to walk closely behind me, after I had lost my footing a few times, trusting some innocent-looking rocks, who betrayed me by rolling away under my feet as soon as my weight shifted. I had fallen two times before we settled it was better if he walked behind me, so I would be able to arrive in Hidden Moon in one piece. But the ground was traitorous, and Jerr nearly lost his balance a couple of times, too.

"Sun burn me," I cursed, as another rock slipped from under my feet.

Jerr's warm hands immediately gripped my hips, keeping me upright until I regained my footing.

"You're alright," he said.

"I'll be alright once we're there," I grumbled. I had grown tired of this road we were forced to take, but as I looked up, I could see we still had a long way to go.

The Sun also had just barely passed its peak, and the few beams that found their way through the vast forest felt mocking. It seemed to creep down eerily slowly, taunting us with how long this day would still last.

The higher we got, the less dense the forest became. It only added to the challenge: my body was tiring and burning, and fewer trees meant fewer stable objects to hold onto.

But with every step we climbed, the Sun surely lowered. Until it stood so low in the sky, the beams that hit us, made our skin explode in a golden glow. I looked back at Jerr, finding his eyes fixated on the ground, looking for stable footing.

I could feel my heart beating in my chest at the picture before me. How the Sun bounced off his face, how it lighted his eyes - it was truly breathtaking. And when his eyes found their way up and looked at me, the golden pools dancing around in them were fierce enough to melt me away.

Looking at him, I sometimes wondered how he could have ever chosen to share himself with me. And every time I wasn't paying attention to myself and he listened along, he shut me right up with some reassuring words, most of the time soft whispers, saying that 'I was practically as good-looking as him'.

I had almost strained my eyes from rolling them so much, but I had smiled at every comment, too.

"For wolves who are very weary of intruders, we've surely been walking in their territory unseen for quite a while," I grumbled again, as my feet locked on a stable rock and pushed myself up.

"Oh, rest assured, Sari. They're here and they're watching us," Jerr chuckled behind me.

"What? Where?" I asked, halting to look around. But my eyes and nose came out empty, and I could detect not a single sign of wolven life.

"They will show themselves when they want to," he explained. "But they know we're here. And the fact that we're still alive, shows that we're welcome."

"What a joyous welcome party," I mumbled, refusing to believe there were any wolves nearby.

"They cannot all be Avens, known for their warm welcomes," Jerr laughed behind me.

"I thank our Moons for that, every day," I laughed along. It felt good to laugh at the miseries I had endured every now and then. Although there were some topics I wasn't ready to laugh about, and I wasn't sure I ever would be.

I ignored Jerr's last chuckle, and focused my attention back on the road up. I wanted to reach Apicya by this evening, so this horrid mount would finally be over.