"Princess Luna!" Cried her maids far, far below the pale haired Princess' unsteady perch on the roof of the dilapidated wizard’s tower. She was watching the blue sky, scanning it eagerly for clouds. Her stepmother’s magic mirror had promised it would snow today and she wanted to watch the first flakes fall, whirling down into the castle courtyard and onto the battlements. She clung with both hands to the base of the spinning wind spire. The chill of the wind sent tingles down her back and the faint smell of winter thrilled in her young blood. Luna leaned further staring at a certain spot in the sky where a single white fluffy cloud was floating along serenely. It taunted her with its promise.

"Princess." muttered a deep voice close to her ear. Luna squeaked and let go of the tower altogether- better to tumble to her doom on the flagstones below than be caught by the old wizard’s ghost! She started to slip down the steep grade but a pair of muscled arms caught up the girl and lifted her out of harm's way. Jaeger- the princess-consort’s Huntsman and Champion lifted her up and fixed her with a piercing look.

"Really? You'll put your poor royal father in his grave far too soon with such dangerous antics, Luna." He chastised her as he climbed easily down the wall into the courtyard, Luna clinging to his shoulders. On the ground, Luna's worried maids bundled her up in soft white furs to keep her from the cold. They hurried her towards the dining room where her father and stepmother were eating breakfast. Her youngest and favorite maid, Amelia, walked beside her and whispered “I can’t believe you climbed the tower!”

“I didn’t,” Luna said out of the side of her mouth. “I took the stairs.” She winked at Amelia who snorted into her hands, an unruly lock of blonde hair falling out of her kerchief. The undignified noises earned them both a dry look from Luna's chief maid, Auntie, as they passed into the dining room.

Her stepmother was surrounded on her right by a cloud of beautiful ladies, their voices like the morning birds. So long as those birds were chickens. Her father sat with his noble hunting party at his left, Luna straightened at the sight. Maybe if she asked nicely she could spend the day hunting instead of sewing the solar with Serena and the other ladies.

"Ah Jaeger, I see you have recovered Luna from the perilous wizard’s tower. Daughter, would you join us?"

Her father’s smile lit up the Princess’ morning even more than the thought of snow did. Luna hurried up to sit across from her father, while her maids dispersed to their various places among the tables. She settled into the cushioned chair that her father had given to her at spring solstice when he had decreed her tall enough to join the adults. She grabbed a large steak, pairing it with eggs and was reaching for the mulled wine that her father’s men were passing about when her stepmother softly cleared her throat.

"Really, Luna, my sweet, shouldn't you have fruit juice instead? You are far too young to have wine with breakfast." Her tone implied that Luna was far too young to even be allowed in the same room as the adults, and she gave her husband a side long look from under her lashes. He nodded and the bottle of wine was whisked out of her reach. Luna’s goblet was instead filled with juice- too sweet and without that wonderful spicy tingle that the mulled wine had. She frowned at Serena so hard it made her face hurt. Serena ignored her so Luna turned her sulky focus to her eggs. They were quite tasty, as was the steak. She reached for more.

"Luna, dear. Really! Young ladies eat lightly." Came the reproof of her stepmother as Luna devoured the second steak. The king looked over, raising a brow. Luna gave her a practiced sorrowful look, her lips trembling ever so slightly. The woman nibbled at a slice of late fall apple and tilted her head, her eyes narrowing against the ploy.

"But Stepmother, I am so very hungry. Perhaps just this once?" Luna murmured and her father chuckled, taking a sip from his cup of wine before saying.

"Come Serena, certainly she is tall for her age, perhaps when she is taller still we may call her a young lady and encourage her to eat less. But for now let the child eat her fill." He gave Luna another small steak and smiled at her, the corners of his brown eyes crinkling.

"Here poppet, you'll need your strength to practice your climbing." He winked at her as she cut into it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her stepmother's eyes lift heavenward. Luna squashed the urge to roll her eyes right back and focused on the steak in front of her. As the King, Father’s words carried more weight than stepmother's as the princess-consort. He was the King and Luna would be the Queen after him. Her stepmother had tried many times to influence the staff to begin grooming Luna into a “lady”. But Father only laughed at the idea. He had told Luna that no Queen should be a good lady for how could she rule if she was too proud to go out in the fields and work with the farmers or go into the forest and help find a lost child. No, Father would not let Serena make her a fine lady and Luna liked it that way.

She ate the last steak slowly watching for signs of being full and found them only after she had chewed her very last bite. She turned to her father and clasped her hands, as she sat up straight in her seat.

“What are you hunting today, Papa?” King Kellan tucked away a bite of his own hearty breakfast before answering her and his reply was serious.

“We are hunting a boar that was sighted in the foot hill forests, Luna. This is no falconing expedition. So you will stay here with your stepmother today.” Luna felt a chill prickle along her skin at the idea. Wild boar were dangerous to hunt and killed several hunters each year. Luna bit her lip, her hands tightening around each other. She could almost hear the sounds of the hunt, the screaming of the boar, the frantic shouts of the hunters. It filled her ears until she sucked in a breath. Her ears rang as her father's conversation with one of his men came back into focus.

Luna  reached across the table and rested her fingertips on the back of her father's hand. “Do you have to go? I-” She said so quietly that her father had to lean in to hear her. Luna felt as though she were forcing the words out. “I have a bad feeling, Papa.”

“I do have to go, poppet. But Jaeger and all my huntsmen will be there to protect me. It's for the good of the kingdom and safety of our people.” Luna nodded and looked long and hard at Jaeger who looked back at her and nodded. He made the secret sign that they had invented for communicating their understanding, tapping three fingers on his lips as if he were thinking. Luna was satisfied and her father squeezed her hand.

She knew that her father and Jaeger would take extra care now. Her mother had been gifted with strange powers so no one in the palace doubted that Luna could warn them of the coming tragedy and perhaps with that faint warning it could be avoided. 

When her stepmother rose a few moments later, Luna stood as well. She hurried around the table to hug her father. No words were exchanged, they didn't need them. Accompanied by both sets of their maids Luna and her stepmother went off to the solar to sew. As she settled in the window seat she regarded the clear sky with a moment of wistfulness. Her peace didn't last long as Amelia hurried up with her small basket of needlework.

Luna didn’t enjoy embroidery and preferred to read but lately she had been working on a needlepoint of something she had seen in her dreams. She dreamt that a black wolf sat in the snow next to her mother’s grave and in its mouth were red roses. The image had struck her so strongly that she sketched it out and secretly began to embroider it. In her eyes it was more like a painting than needlework. Wolves were not a topic that her father or the court approved of but she felt at peace as she worked on her little project.

Even though she’d tried to keep it hidden one of her stepmother's ladies in waiting ladies had seen it hanging out of her basket and reported it to Serena. While it wasn’t exactly appropriate in subject matter the princess-consort was just pleased that Luna was plying a needle and she’d allowed the work to continue and even kept the secret from Luna’s father. She had even regularly requested to see the progress and given Luna many tiresome tips for improvement.

So Luna worked diligently, white head bowed over the cloth bringing her dream image to life. As she concentrated on the cloth she replayed the dream that had sparked it. She'd walked through the castle gates and to the small church that sat just outside the castle village on the edge of the forest. In the snowy pine woods the black wolf had waited. She'd followed it to the ruined cathedral - or what her mind thought it would look like. 

There really was a cathedral in the woods, but Luna had never seen it. After her mother had died from a winter wolf attack on the grounds the priests had refused to stay there. Her father had built a smaller chapel in the castle village for them.There was a rumor that the spirit of the late Queen roamed the woods, helping lost travellers and children. Luna had snuck out a handful of times hoping to see her, but never had. That pervading belief was one of the reasons that Luna's stepmother was the princess-consort and not the Queen. Her father loved his wife but the people cherished their late Queen.

Luna's mother had truly ruled alongside her husband, ever willing to go out among the people and work or tend the sick. Many of the young servants in the castle owed their lives to Luna's mother's kindness. She had insisted after a terrible winter of wolf attacks and illness on taking in all the orphans from all the villages in their little kingdom.

The princess-consort's champion Jaeger was one of these. A refugee who had been nearly the only survivor of his village. He had carried the two surviving babies from the decimated village to the castle in his own four year old-arms. Jaeger had joined her father's men as soon as he'd grown old enough to lift a blade and had been known for his strength of arm ever since. One of the babies had been her own maid Amelia, not quite court polished but as stalwart a friend as any girl could want with a sensible head on her shoulders. They had been Luna's dearest friends for as long as she could remember.

Luna watched through the window as the hunting party rode out. Her father was smiling as the wind blew back his hair. The sun glinted on the pale golden circlet that marked him as king. Luna reached up to the silver circlet at her own brow as the freezing fear ate at her again. Jaeger lifted his face to look at the window where she sat and raised a hand to salute her. Luna's father looked back and laughed, raising a hand to wave. Suddenly sure, she leapt up and ran for the door of the sewing room.

"Luna!" came the exasperated voice of the princess-consort. "Really!”

Before she’d even gained the stairs she was being gently smothered by the colorful  crowd of the royal maids, like a cloud of giant insistent butterflies. The princess-consort's hand came down hard on her shoulder pushing her firmly back towards the solar. Luna planted her feet and pushed back with all her might.

“I must go to Father! I must! I must!” Her voice rose  to a breathless sob. The fluttering gowns agitated around her as she screamed and cried. Princess Serena even stepped back from her. But before Luna could lunge away the princess-consort backhanded her hard across the face. Luna's head snapped to the side, leaving her staring out the window at the now empty courtyard. Stunned at the violence, Luna didn't move. Serena stared at the blood smeared on her wedding ring as the Princess put her hand to her face and found a long stinging scratch. Amelia pushed through the now still and silent maids to take Luna's cold pale hand in her warm, work-roughened one.

“T-take her to her rooms." The princess-consort's voice shook. Luna said nothing as she was drawn away, still looking down at the blood on her fingers.