The Luna

Ten

It's cooler outside than I thought it would be. The natural canopy from the trees keeping about ten degrees cooler than the temperature would be back in Crest falls, and that's even considering that it's early winter. 

I suck air into my lungs as if it could push past the lump of emotions rising in my throat. I'm overwhelmed. It's too much - all of it - too much. I just need to think.

I move to walk along the tall bushes that surround Caspian's house, Dex and Travis nearly on my heels. How can I have a proper moment to break down with them close enough to smell my perfume? Bodyguards are not all they're cracked up to be. 

I turn on my heels, pinning both of them with my stare. Truthfully, I'm intimidated. Both these men as still as tall and stoney as they always are, but I need space. Just a little and that is making me brave enough to stare them down.

"Can you guys please give me some space?" I toss my arms in front of me, hitting both of them in the chest to emphasize my point that they are too close. It might have come off as harsh and annoyed, but I can't bring myself to care right now. 

"We're your guards Luna," Dex says with a shrug, while travis crosses his arms over his chest, "If anything were to happen to you - it would be on us."

"Like you said, we're staying on the Alpha property. Am I in danger in the Alpha's own backyard?" both my guards shake their head with a definitive no before I can even finish the sentence, so I keep going,  "Okay then. You'll still be able to see me and have plenty of response time should anything happen," Neither of them look like they really care what I want, and my tears are getting harder to push back. 

"Please?" I add in a broken whisper, really tyring to control my emotions but feeling like a dam is about to burst when one tear drops from my eye. 

Travis and Dex share a look, one that I can't (or don't care to) decipher before Dex nods.

"Fine," I don't wait for more. I don't thank them. I turn on my heel and walk away, finally allowing the tears to fall in quick succession. 

I don't bother looking back to see how much space they're actually going to give me. I can't feel them behind me and I don't feel like they are breathing down my neck, so however much it is, is enough. 

It's freeing, like when you'd pull the blanket over your head as a kid and after a few minutes poke your head out for fresh air. It's so cool and crisp, like new. 

 I didn't realize that Caspian, or I guess his parents, had so much yard space. From the my window in the house, I can see trees and the bushes from what I thought was the back, but apparently is just a side view. Behind the house, fenced in with bushes, is easily the size of a baseball feild. I'm surprised when I round the back of the house to find a large marble fountain, three tiers with water cascading down in rivers, with a woman made of stone in a flowing gown on top. 

I've never seen a statue look so smooth, as if I could reach out and touch the soft fabric or skin. Her face is tilted back towards the sky and I imagine her face is is relaxed, eyes closed as if to soak up the sun. A part of me wants to climb up the fountain to see if I'm right, but with my clumsiness, it's probably better that I don't.  

Plus the last thing I need is to give my guards a reason to not leave me alone again.

My tears slow as my hands skim the surface of the water as I look at the bottom of the fountain. Pictures, similar to hieroglyphics, all showing a glowing woman, wolves and the moon decorate the bottom. My mind wonders to what story these pictures hold.

I would ask Caspian but he would probably give me some easy explanation and then bail to take care of some detail for the ceremony.  

I just wish Caspian was here to show me the grounds. To show me his home still and the city thate these wolves have created. I will be glad when this whole ceramony is behind us and we can finally move on from it.