The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

13. The Ride

"I lived in Wise Moon for fifteen years." 

By the Moons, I had to somehow learn how to stop thinking all the time with Jerr around. 

"But Death Moon has been my home for quite a long time, too. So I'd also rather cross our grounds' border by nightfall, but I don't think it would bother me as much as Aven if that didn't happen," Jerr explained.

"Fifteen years? But that would mean you weren't of age when you Ascended?" I asked.

"I was of age when I Ascended, actually. But how I came to Death Moon is a story for another time, Sari."

"We have two days, now. The story can't be that long?" I countered. We had been riding in silence until now, and I was bored out of my mind when left alone with my thoughts. At least Jerr could still amuse himself silently following in my mind.

Jerr only hmm-ed. Bloody Wise Moon.

I pursed my lips. "I see. So you can read my mind at any given time, but returning the favor and sharing your story with me is too much to ask." I felt bitter about his powers, and how he continuously used them on me.

"Yes." His answer was so dry, it didn't invite any further conversation on the topic. And the last week had been so eventful, I did not have the energy to push him on it.

So I spoke to Aven when I asked, "What's the Manor?" I'd heard both men talk about this Manor, where we were expected to arrive in by tomorrow.

Aven didn't even turn his head in my direction as he answered, and the words almost got lost in the wind. "My home, in the city of Rahas."

I had never set foot in a city before. I had heard of a city in Fire Moon, Atapa, but I had never had the opportunity to visit. From what I had heard and read about in books, cities were much bigger and more crowded than towns, with buildings that could reach so high in the sky, that it looked as if they touched the clouds.

"Do any other wolves live there?" I asked. Beckett lived in his Central Building with most of his pack members. I wondered if the Manor was anything like that sunburned Central Building.

"Yes, they do. Although most live in the city or surrounding villages, some choose to stay in the Manor," Aven said. "Jerr, for example, has lived in there for the entire time he's been with us."

"It must be big, then," I exhaled. "Will I live there, too?"

I felt Jerr's arm around my waist loosen its grip for a split second. It seemed he really disliked the thought of my presence. I ignored the sting it left in me.

"So many questions young wolf," Aven sighed. "But yes, you will be assigned a room until you find your own place."

I took Aven's frustrated sigh for what it was: a plea to shut up. This would be a long, long way back home. 

But it would lead to home.