Your Role As A Luna

"So, how are you feeling now, Luna?" Phineas placed his hand on my shoulder while I was pondering after reading the letter.

He crouched beside me. "You need to get healed. You have some bruises that need to be tended."

"I…will do that later. I am fine, thank you, Phineas."

I turned my direction to Lenalee and a tear fell once more. "What are you going to do with her body?"

"We will burn it," Varick simply stated.

I pondered for a moment and I gulped before turning to him.

"C-can we bury her body next to the Hatiist Church? Father Gossep wouldn't mind."

Varick's expression changed. "Our agreement is not to step into the church."

"I won't attend, I swear!" I stood up, giving him a look of grief. "All I wanted was for her to feel like she belonged to a family. If the Skollist pack won't attend her funeral, at least let the Hatiist Church do it for her."

Varick looked conflicted, eyes darted to the young girl's wolf lifeless body.

"Fine."

I smiled as I held my hand in a prayer. "Thank you so much, Varick."

He gave me a strange look which faltered as soon as he reached to get her body.

"W-Wait!"

"Any more requests, my luna?" He said, sarcastically.

"Uh.." I turned red as I lowered my head. "I wanted to speak to her alone. Can you please give us some privacy before you take her?"

"Why would I—" Varick was about to retort before Phineas held his arm.

"Certainly, our Luna! Take the time you need!" Phineas gave a toothy grin. "Now, Alpha, shall we check if the rogues stole goods in here."

"You are getting attached, Phineas," Varick said, nonchalantly.

Yet, he alowed himself to get dragged by a cheerful mage out of the kitchen.

How odd with this pair. Varick showed to be isolated from his pack but he seemed open to the Head Mage.

Now, I faced Lenalee, my heart sank after I had finally accepted that…she was no longer with us.

I touched her paw as tears continued falling from my eyes.

"L-Lenalee…I forgive you. I just wanted to tell you that. Maybe because you are my friend. I never thought I could be friends with a non-believer and you were open to listening to my stories." I smiled.

"Thank you for everything…but I wish I could understand what you meant in the last part." Shaking my head, I stroke her fur.

"I promise you that your death won't be in vain…" I gulped as my eyes brightened with a new determination.

"I'll continue living. For you and for Hati."

=====

When Varick left with Lenalee's body, I was left alone with Phineas.

We wordlessly headed to the wine cellar as he gestured to get inside.

He cast a small flame on his hand as we headed down underground.

It wasn't too long before we reached a door and opened to reveal its interior.

The wine cellar look pristine, despite Lenalee claimed it to be "unmanageable".

I smiled to myself, perhaps with her skills, she did maintain it.

Or based on her letter…at some point, she thought I should come hide here so she made me feel comfortable.

My clenched my fists at the unneccessary thoughts overlapping my mind.

"Do you drink, Luna?" Phineas sat on one of the small chairs.

I shook my head. "Before marriage, I was restricted to do carnal desires like alcoholism."

"Well, seeing that you are no longer a nun, you can drink with me."

Like a child, he licked his lips as his eyes glimmered at the choices of the bottles of fine winery.

"Are we allowed to take them?" I grimaced as the rude mage ignored me as he declared to take the bottle at the top left.

"Lord Varick doesn't drink. It would be wasted if we don't take such opportunity."

This man…couldn't understand the process of mourning.

Not to mention I was perturbed of what the marketplace was like after the invasion.

Yet, I let him be as he took two golden goblets and placed them on the table.

"I told you that I don't drink."

"Well, why won't you experience finer pleasures aside from lovemaking? This is one of them, Luna." He pushed the goblet closer as he poured the red wine.

I grimaced when he continued teasing me like this.

"It would be better if I brought sugar cubes but I consumed all of my mana to teleport now."

I gave him an odd stare.

"What?" He asked, looking offended. "I need sugar to regain more energy and mana."

I shook my head.

"You seemed…indifferent that lives have perished today."

"Oh," was his only reaction before taking a whiff of his goblet and gave a taste. "Perhaps I am used to it."

His eyes gleam with satisfaction as he gulped every last drop of his drink. "Aah, that was indeed a great flavor for my taste." He stared at me as he grinned. "Try it, nun."

"I am not a nun anymore, please don't call me that." I sighed and took the goblet and drank everything in one go.

My eyes widened as my cheeks turned red.

"I-It's good."

"See? I knew you would like it." He poured another drink.

"Honestly, I don't want to grieve anymore. I have been in different battles in this endless war for twelve years that I got…used to seeing my comrades passed away."

"I am sorry," I said, guilt overwhelmed me.

He chuckled. "Don't be. Lord Varick did his best to protect us and I appreciated his care for his pack."

I gripped my dress, staring at my reflection to the goblet.

When will this war ever end? If the prophecy is true, then there will be more bloodshed if my child is Skoll.

But then…there was Hati's words in the scripture.

Lenalee's words in her letter said there might be a peaceful way to end the war.

"Say, Lord Phineas…" I took out the letter and handed it to him. "There were ink blots ruining the rest of the letter. Do you have a spell to remove it?"

"I am afraid I can't, Luna." He eyed the pages of her letter. "Although the outside world could do this, seeing they have surprising spells or…these things they called modern technology."

"Oh." I couldn't hide my disappointment and poured myself another shot. "I would like to know more about those hidden words but perhaps it was spilled by ink after she left the letter here. But…I don't know."

Phineas didn't answer as he flipped the page back and forth, observing its content.

"I doubt that was the case. It felt intentional hiding important details." He pointed the second page.

"Like this one, she wrote something related to how she managed to get in to our territory. We have decades of tight security here. The fact she blended in, claiming to be in a small farming village outside, we might start questioning the farmers after this."

He turned to the third page.

"Also, the last page gave an important message." He sighed. "Aside from her, Lord Varick knew the existence of the wine cellar. I didn't knew until later that the beta maid was the cause of this invasion."

"What do you mean?"

"Lenalee was probably addressing someone that you have to be careful of."

"Then that means, one of the Skollist wolves betrayed us."

I crossed my arms. "I didn't expect there is a traitor."

"Well, unfortunately, it is a common occurrence." he smiled, bitterly.

My head lifted up, surprised.

"Some of our comrades did betray us during the battles just so they could get free from living in a pack that should be disposed of."

"T-then…how could we identify the culprit for helping Lenalee?"

He gave a long stare.

"W-What is it?"

He stood up as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "I am sorry, Luna. Perhaps this is going to be a confidential topic between the warriors and the Alpha Leader. We couldn't involve you in this."

"But Lenalee—"

"Don't worry, I assure you Lord Varick and I wouldn't reveal this to the pack. It would only place harm on you, knowing your involvement to your beta maid."

I felt disappointed as I stood up.

"I am the Luna of the Skollist pack, Lord Phineas! At least I should have something to do for this war!"

There was that expression of his that I disliked, an expression that reminded me that made me…useless.

"Forgive me, Luna. I know I shared a lot of secrets to you but this time it felt wrong. Getting you involved now would only lead you to seeking revenge for Lenalee."

"But I wouldn't—!"

"I know…" He grimaced as he scratched his head. "But soon you would do something you would regret… something that you aren't aware of...like defying your Sun God's teachings."

I stiffened, my mouth opened yet I was loss of words.

"Right now, you should focus on ensuring an offspring for the pack. That is the job of the Luna of the Skollist Pack."