Luna Stardust's Arc

Chapter 4 of 8

Days later, the frost at the pine line began to melt. Luna walked the edge of the trees with the alpha at her side. The pup she had saved trotted ahead, wings folded tight. Water dripped from every branch. Something pale showed through the thinning ice near an old wooden cabin she had never noticed before. Luna knelt. The timber walls of the small dwelling were soft with rot. Frost slid from its door in wet sheets. Inside the threshold, a tall pillar of ice stood waiting, carved with feathers that caught the gray light. She had not put it there. No one living had. The alpha's breath went still behind her. Luna stepped closer. Frozen inside the pillar were bowls. Dozens of them. Each one held bright herbs, red berries, purple blooms, blue fruit — too perfect, too whole. Fakes. Painted wood and waxed leaves arranged to look like medicine. Luna understood at once. A healer had come before her with empty hands dressed up as full ones. They had taken payment, taken pups, taken trust, and left only a shrine of lies frozen at the door. The pack had circled this place every winter and remembered. She turned. The alpha was watching her, not the pillar. Waiting. Luna lifted one of the false bowls from the melting ice and set it down in the mud. Then another. She did not speak. She emptied the shrine, piece by painted piece, until the pillar stood bare. The alpha stepped forward and pressed her forehead against Luna's shoulder. Brief. Heavy. Then she walked back toward the den, the pup tumbling after her. Luna stayed behind with the wet wood and the truth. The lie was out of the ice now. What grew next would have to be real.