Chapter Five: Exile and Discovery

ARIA'S POV

Outside the field boundaries, the forest was somewhat different.

Every shadow seemed to look at me, even the rustling of leaves sounded like a warning. I was holding my hairy leather bag tightly to my chest as I passed through a thick brush. My legs hurt and protested clearly, these beautiful shoes had never been designed for this kind of trip.

Three days since I left the only house I knew. Civilization already seemed to come out of a memory; my stomach growled. The few provisions I could carry had almost disappeared and the forest offered more bitter roots than small fruits.

"That’s what freedom is," I said to myself while sliding a fence that left a new scratch on my arm. Better than staying where no one has noticed my existence.

But when the weight of these last few days almost brought me to my knees, I wondered if it was really worth dying for freedom.

The sound of water flowing through the air like a lifeline. I followed the noise until I found a narrow stream that fell on rocks covered with moss. The cold water filled my hands, I drank as if it were the last water on Earth.

I sprayed water on my face and saw the fatigue fly away, my reflection looking towards the back of the quiet pool. My face had become thinner. My cheeks were hollow, but the silver bands in my hair continued to catch filtered sunlight. You said that the grace of the moon goddess had not left me; divine grace had not saved me from rejection. She had not stopped my exile  and would not save me from hunger.

Nausea hit abruptly and violently without prior warning, I barely turned around before vomiting in the mud, my stomach was empty. A cold sweat covered my forehead and the fever came all night.

I told myself that it was just fatigue.

I wiped my mouth with trembling fingers. I placed my hand on my stomach and tried to remember ... when was the last time?

Festival of the moon.

"No," I murmured in the peaceful forest.

Nevertheless, my body told another story. The nausea attributed to stress and bad food had become constant, even certain smells were bothering me. And three weeks ago, something had changed after I cleaned Kale’s private rooms. If something had happened, it was in the heat of the moment and it should never have been held back.

Forget that single night.

A mistake, a weakness, but a moment when maybe everything has changed.

Another wave of nausea came and made me breathe slowly and irregularly.

Maybe I’ll carry the heir to the pack.

The truth pressed my tongue, the true gift of the moon goddess was not many friends, it was the birth of powerful children. A child who can become strong, who never doubts his place.

 What will I do? Thoughts ran wildly through my mind. I had neither the strength, support nor a safe place to raise a child; I was weak at that moment, all alone. I was just a weak target for those who wanted evil.

My hand instinctively touched my stomach, reviving something in me. It was the only thing that hadn’t been taken away from me and wasn’t ready to let go without putting up a fight.

I whispered to the little wolf growing inside me.

"I must protect you, but how? The universe sent you to me so I should find a way to maneuver through 

I heard foootsteps approaching and stopped breathing for a moment.

I superficially and quickly sank behind a fallen tree.

"I know you’re there."

The voice was older and warmer in a way that my wolf instinctively confessed.

"Get out, I won’t hurt you.'

Gradually I escaped from the hiding place.

An elderly woman stood on the Silver Hair River, braided and tied with shiny ribbons. Herface was marked but calm, hereyes pointed as if he lacked nothing; he wore jeans, a flannel shirt, simple shoes. In a way, she was always someone who had control.

"You are a wolf," she said. "And you’re in trouble."

Her eyes were naturally turned towards her belly.

 "Am I right?"

Her smile was gentle to the type of knowledge that came from life itself.

"I may have been born like a man, but I lived in this forest for forty years. I know what someone who has lost everything and tried to hide it looks like.

I don’t remember the last time someone spoke kindly to me, when someone called me 'child' instead of servant.

"I go by the name Sarah," said the woman and walked gently along the riverbank." You need a place to rest, and I have one."

"I have nothing to offer" I replied silently.

Hereyes of hat shone with a gleam of laughter.

"I asked you for something? come on, my house is close and you have nowhere to go. '

The walk could not have lasted more than twenty minutes, but I felt as if I had crossed another world.

Herhouse was in the middle of a garden with fruit trees and blooming flowers, little glass bells hanging from the porch. Hermusic was soft and quiet.

The house smelled of dried herbs and hot wood.

Sarah walked into the kitchen with a pardon, made hot tea and lightly stirred soup. I was sitting on a small wooden table and didn’t think it was real.

"Well," she said, putting a bowl before me, "what is a little wolf doing with such a load in my forest?"

My spoon was resting in the middle of my lips.

 "How do you know?"

 "Babbess"

Hervoice was soft but sure.

"Honey, I’ve raised four children and more than a dozen others, I know the signs, the real question is: what are you going to do? '

 "Audience I know," I admitted, my voice whispered. "I remember nothing."

Sarah has been following me for a long time.

"You grew up in a backpack, did you get it? I see the way you behave. You do your best to adapt, even if it hurts, but you are no longer part of it?

Herwords touched something deep, something cruel, I told him everything, the monthly party, rejection, exile, said anything but one thing. I never told him who the father was, this truth remained secret.

"Oh, then you are the chosen moon goddess who was thrown as yesterday’s trash," said Sarah when we finished.

I looked away, the heat invaded my face.

"Maybe I never had one "

"Who told you?" she asked slowly. "That mad alpha who uses power for purposes?"

"Everybody did it."

"They were all cowards. The whole pack was too scared to stand up for what was right. And nothing frightens the powerful more than the idea that the moon goddess might choose someone they can’t control."

Your words are final. 

For so long I thought that I was very useless; I never thought that they were the ones who failed.

"But I.."

"But what? you are chosen by the moon goddess, whose words can change your destiny.”

She leaned closer, her eyes beaming with a dazzling fire.

"Do you know the destiny of the baby you’re bearing?"

Your question gave me the creeps.

 "What are you insinuating?"

Sarah stared at my eyes as if she wanted to read something in my mind, then sighed and stood up.

"Maybe this story is for another day, you need time to heal from what they did to you. '

She went to a closet full of pots and dried plants.

"But let me tell you this: the child you carry is more important than you know, and your little wolf is stronger than you think. '

While Sarah was making a corner bed with clean blankets, I felt something coming back.

Something I’ve been feeling for days.

Hope, fragile but real.

Perhaps I could reconstruct some of the ruins of all that I lost.

Perhaps the goddess of the moon has not abandoned me… yet.

That night, for the first time in my life, I lay down in a real bed and sleep engulfed me.

I put my hands around my belly and made an unfulfilled promise.

"Tomorrow will be good," I murmured. "The world doesn’t know, but we’ll find out."

Outside, the wind sang among the trees.

Far away a lone wolf howled into the night.

Hope.