Wolf Moon 7

CHAPTER 7

The days passed in a haze of nerves and guilt. Yué sewed steadily and watched as she and Aunna began to accumulate a wardrobe suited to warmer climates. They were making the actual clothes and leaving ornamentation for last, for later. If they managed to escape, they would probably have a while on a ship to bead. At the harsh pace, even Yué’s nimble fingers began to accumulate small injuries from the needles and pins, tiny puncture wounds and painful lines from the press of the needle’s length. Each evening, Aunna silently held out a hand to extend healing.

‘I can’t believe I’m really doing this.’

Yué rolled over onto her stomach and covered her face with her hands. She felt ashamed.

She was trying to abandon her duties and her people. She was choosing her own happiness over everything that she had been born and raised to do.

‘I’m choosing to be free,’ she told herself, trying to be fierce. ‘I’m choosing to not have to be subservient to a gross, rude man.’

It made her feel sick to her stomach.

But the idea of being Hahn’s plaything was too vile to tolerate. There was a chance in an arranged marriage blooming to happiness, or at least companionship. Marrying Hahn was another matter altogether. He was gross. He was handsome, so handsome. But he was so arrogant! Yué knew she was innocent, but she had an inkling about just what had happened with the girls who he’d promised to marry before. He had no honor in him. The idea of being tied to someone who would never respect her as a person was intolerable.

One chilly morning, Aunna was late to meet her in her solar. Yué waited and stretched her hands. After a while, she began to pace and stretch her body.

The door opened in a rush. “Excuse my tardiness,” Aunna gasped. She shut the door behind her and then gave a happy little dance. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed. She all but collapsed on her usual seat, chest heaving.

“Were you running?” Yué asked, curious. “Has something happened?”

Her friend grinned and leaned in conspiratorially. “Oh, yes.” Her dark blue eyes had never glittered more than they were now. “Katara has done something. She challenged Master Pakku to a fight.”

Yué blinked. It took a moment to process that. “Master Pakku in specific?” she confirmed. “As opposed to the blanket challenge that she issued after the meeting?”

Aunna laughed, bright and tinkling. “Today, at moonrise,” she said. She tilted her face and waggled her eyebrows. “Shall we go and watch it?” She shrugged. “Master Pakku will win, of course. But I believe that Katara will be impressive. She wouldn’t do this if she had no abilities.” Aunna’s smile turned wistful. “It’s… it’s cool. I wish that I could do that.”

Fight Master Pakku?

Oh.

Yué smiled, but it was wan. “I’m sorry,” she said, because she knew that no one in the tribe would ever teach Aunna to use her waterbending for combat.

Aunna shrugged it off, longing but not bitter. “Shall we go?” she repeated.

She thought it over. Her gut told her to go. She wanted to be one of the first people there to cheer for Katara.

“I can’t,” Yué said. She sighed. “I can’t afford to offend anyone or look as though I favor Katara. After this, Master Pakku will be shamed and angry that he agreed to fight a girl. No matter what happens, he will be in a temper, and there will be fallout with other people. If I am to do any good, I must appear to be uninvolved and unbiased.” She gave her friend a rueful look as she picked up her sewing. “I hope you go and tell me how impressive Katara is.”

Aunna nodded, only mildly disappointed. She couldn’t have been surprised. “I’ll tell you every move,” Aunna promised.

Yué laughed. “I won’t know what you’re talking about,” she warned ruefully. “It’s pretty, but I never know what people are talking about with the different moves.”

Her friend let out a faux disappointed sigh and settled more comfortably into her seat. “I will explain them all again, in excruciating detail. I will make diagrams.”

In a less dignified girl, the sound that Yué made might have been called a groan.

The girls spent the day together, trading conversations that wouldn’t sound incriminating if one of the guards was listening. When moonrise was near, Aunna smoothed her warm hands over the small hurts on Yué’s hands and then hurried away. When she left, Yué peeked out and found that they needn’t have been so cautious: there were no guards posted outside of her sitting room today. They must have been posted somewhere else, or the palace was considered to be secure enough with the entrances under guard.

‘Or they snuck out to watch the waterbending match.’

She huffed out a dry laugh.

It felt like a very long time to wait. Yué paced in her chambers, wishing that she could see what was happening. This was one of the most interesting things to happen in the last year, and she couldn’t attend.

She froze. Yué didn’t know why, but she had a sudden feeling of unease. She stopped her breath, looking around warily and listening for anything that might have alarmed her.

There was a knock.

The hair lifted on the back of her neck.

There was a knock on the door of her personal chambers, when her guards were gone and she knew that Aunna and Katara were busy. Her Father wouldn’t knock like that, he would call out and enter. Her mind raced, trying to think of anyone welcome in her room who would knock.

She really ought to call out. Politeness demanded it.

‘But what if it’s Hahn? If I call out, he’ll know that I am here, and I will have to talk to him.’

Fear crawled in her stomach. If it was him…

‘His friends,’ she realized, now finding it a lot less funny that the guards had shirked their duty. ‘He’s popular with the young warriors. He asked for a favor, to get me alone. And they all think it’s romantic, they think it’s fun and games.’

She drew in a panicked breath, much too loud. He couldn’t hear it, no chance, but she was still terrified.

“Princess Yué,” Hahn called out, apparently giving up on knocking. It was so slimy, how charming he sounded. His voice was a lot louder than the knocking could ever be. He had no way to know how big or small her rooms were. Perhaps he thought she couldn’t hear him. “I’ve come to speak with you, on behalf of the tribe.”

She flinched.

Her mouth dropped open, against her will, to greet him. The words stuck in her throat.

‘I can’t,’ she thought miserably. ‘I won’t.’ She looked around her rooms, checking that there was nothing to give her away. The thin panels of ice windows might have betrayed her presence if it was darker, but the difference of light was subtle enough that Hahn wouldn’t be able to see that she had a fire burning.

She stood stock still and waited for him to go away. How would she even know that he’d left, she wondered.

Because she basically wasn’t breathing, she heard the small sound of the door opening in the other room. Her blood ran cold.

There were only two places to hide in her room. The first was under her bed, and she wasn’t totally certain that she could fit. The other-

Yué wedged herself into her closet, heart pounding so loud that it was hard to believe that Hahn couldn’t hear it. There was a soft sound from the entry or sitting room- his boot scuffing the floor, perhaps, or him picking up something. Her hands were trembling as she carefully parted hanging clothes to slip in behind them.

And she waited.

She could not have guessed if it was seconds or minutes, but Hahn entered her bedroom. She heard his boot and the low whistle gave out when he saw her room. He said, “Nice,” to himself.

The sound made her stomach crawl.

Her closet door was hanging halfway open. She hadn’t dared move it to close or open it further for fear of the sound, but she was small enough to slip in. Hahn wasn’t. If he was going to look inside, he would have to open the door.

She realized that she was almost more afraid of being found now than she had been at first. They were in her bedroom. He’d know that she was deliberately hiding from him. He would be angry and embarrassed.

‘I’d lie,’ she thought wildly. ‘I’d say that I didn’t recognize his voice and that I was frightened because my guards were gone.’

Would he believe that? She hoped so. It might be less painful to his pride than her hiding from him on purpose.

She waited, brain electric with fear.

He didn’t open the closet. She didn’t realize that he’d left her bedroom until she heard a sound from the other room.

‘He’s going,’ she thought, so relieved that she could have collapsed. ‘I’ll just stay here until I hear the door open. Will I hear it?’

She waited. Time stretched on and on. She didn’t hear anything that sounded like her door to the hallway opening. Her body cramped and she shook, overstressed.

The door opened with a thunk.

“Princess Yué,” Aunna called out brightly.

All the tension left Yué’s body in a rush. She blinked back tears and waited. Just in case. If Hahn was still here, Aunna would see him and say something.

“Princess Yué?” The call was a question now. Aunna knocked on her bedroom door. They had been friends since they were in swaddling clothes, this was the person that she felt closest to in the city, and even Aunna knocked at her bedroom door.

Yué drew in a shuddering breath. “I’ll be a moment,” she said. Her voice wavered. She didn’t try to be silent as she left her closet. She’d end up explaining this situation to Aunna anyway. She needed to tell someone.