2 - Morning Chatter
The castle was livelier than usual. Servants hurried through the corridors with baskets, fabrics, and decorations, their footsteps echoing off the stone in a frantic rhythm. Moonshade Keep was preparing for an important event, the ceremony to announce the Crown Prince.
Elara folded linen sheets quietly at the corner of the servants' hall, watching everyone rush past her. She didn't fully understand the politics of werewolf packs, but she knew this ceremony was significant. The heir of both East and West would soon return to claim his title.
Aerial, her closest friend in the castle, rushed toward her with a grin far too bright for someone working since dawn.
"Elara!" Aerial whispered loudly, leaning closer. "You know the prince is extremely handsome, right? Even his shadow is handsome."
Elara blinked. "…His shadow?"
"Yes!" Aerial clasped her cheeks dramatically. "Tall, silent, mysterious..the perfect type! If I can't get the prince, I don't mind falling for his shadow instead."
Elara tried not to laugh, shaking her head as she folded another sheet. "You shouldn't talk like that. Someone might hear.."
Too late.
Two senior maids looked sharply toward them, arms crossed.
"Aerial! Elara! Enough talking. Get back to work. We don't have time for daydreams when the heir is returning."
Aerial straightened instantly, eyes wide. "Yes, yes, I'm working! I was just breathing. Can't I breathe?"
The maids glared. Aerial took Elara's hand and pulled her toward the next task, muttering under her breath about "strict supervisors with no romance in their hearts."
Elara couldn't help smiling a little. Moments like this made castle life bearable.
As they arranged decorations inside the great hall, Aerial leaned closer again—but softer this time.
"Elara… don't you feel it? The whole castle feels different today. Like something big is coming."
Elara paused, her fingers brushing the edge of a velvet banner.
A strange heaviness settled in her chest familiar, unsettling.
Her mother's dying whisper flickered in her mind:
"Go to the werewolves… trust no one…"
She didn't know why her mother had insisted on this place. Why Moonshade Keep? Why the wolves? Why this land?
But the closer the ceremony came, the stronger the unease grew…
as if her destiny had started moving without her permission.
Outside, horns sounded in the distance slow, echoing, powerful.
Aerial gasped. "He's coming! The prince is returning from the South!"
Elara's heart skipped a beat… though she didn't understand why.