Måne ☉✒️

His mother told him stories of his grandfather, the great hunter Björnstjärna, and of their lineage as strong hunters. But the other grown up in the Ull caves, was his aunt, who told vastly different stories. Sigliv had the same ancestor as them, Ull, but her lineage was different. She was the head of the cave, and Månes mother treated her like a younger sister, so her stories were not frowned upon. Sigliv told Måne about Ull, who was their familys ancestor. Ull was born and his fur was bright like the sun, and his eyes, too. He had a white blaze, and he had a dear sister who Sigliv said resembled Måne. Sigliv had never met Ull, but she had heard all of this from her father, Skald, who was the son of Ull. Måne wanted to learn everything about his family, but there was something different about Siglivs stories, yes, she didn't tell them; she sang them, because that's how her father had taught her. Her father, Skald, used to be the packs bard.
"Why don't we have a bard now?" Måne asked his aunt, who then looked embarrassed.
"I'm too shy to sing, and so is my daughter," she said and shook her head. Måne was just a puppy, but his goal was clear to him, he needed to bring songs into the pack again.
-
A female giggled nervously as he walked past to grab a piece of meat from the dinner pile, which he brought with him to the shade of a tree. As some wolves sang a song togerher, Måne bobbed his head to the rhythm. But no one asked him to sing or perform. They knew he only did it at the nightly bonfire, and they respected that.
"Fuck," he heard the alphas muttering coming closer, "Måne, I have some bad news."
Måne swallowed the meat and nodded.
"Frejas pup died."
"Oh, fuck," Måne now agreed with the choice of profanity. As Sigliv, Månes aunt, had lost her mate the duty to continue Ulls line fell mostly upon her daughter, Freja, and they had all been so happy to see her latest puppy, but, "well, I guess such things happen."
Magne nodded and left, but just as Måne started enjoying a second piece of meat, a voice startled him and he almost choked on his dinner.
"Måne," the voice said and Måne looked around. Suddenly someone nipped him in the butt and he jumped up to his feet. Behind him was a dark eyed female. She reminded him of someone, but he couldn't quite pin it down. She had a royal blaze, though, and her dark eyes alluded to her belonging to the Skade family. But she definitely wasn't a part of that family, at all.
"I have some secrets to tell you."

They met at midnight by the moonpond, a creak in the river that almost had still water.
"Who are you?" He wasn't shy about it, he truly hadn't seen her before.
"I'm Arla," her response was short, but it was all he needed.
"Astas little sister?" Måne was surprised he even remembered that Asta had a sister. That explained her dark eyes, she got them from her mother, and as it dawned on Måne that this was the daughter of the late alpha Borg, he gulped.
"That's right," she smiled brightly and drank some water from the pond. Måne observed her for a bit, but as he was about to break the silence to ask his question, Arla started speaking again, "you know, I think it's very strange that you're not the alpha right now."
"What do you mean?" Måne responded without thinking, the idea was foreign to him, he had never imagined being alpha, "Why would I be the alpha?"
"My father obviously couldn't choose his own pups as the next alpha, neither should he have chosen his nephew, like he did," Arla sat down and sighed, "I loved him, but he was very sentimental. Now it is what it is."
"I don't want to be alpha, if that's what you're suggesting," was she planning to overthrow Magne?
"That's not why I brought you here," she laughed, "I'm here to talk some sense into you! Tell me, boy, what colour were your mothers eyes?"
"Yellow," he responded to her question despite his confusion, and he didn't know exactly why.
"And what colour are your aunt and cousins eyes?"
"Grey. Why are you asking this?"
"Because," she took a breath, "Siglivs line isn't thriving. Sigliv has grey eyes, Freja and her pups too. She doesn't even have Ulls blaze."
Arla got up and stretched, and before Måne could respond she started talking again.
"You, however," she eyed him and walked up to him, observing his marks, "You have Ulls white blaze, and while your back is white too, the marking is Ulls. Your eyes are white, like Skades."
Måne shook his head, "you're talking crazy, why would any of this matter?"
"I've seen you flirt with the females at night, they do love your singing," she seemed to ponder something, and Måne started getting the feeling that she thought she was saying more than she actually was.
"Are you jealous or something?" He tried to provoke her.
"Don't flatter yourself," she sat down, "what I'm talking about is Ulls lineage."
"What about it?"
"Siglivs side is weak, yours, well," suddenly she seemed unsure, "it wasn't a good idea to mix with the herbalist, but obviously the genes are stronger, you need to help Ulls family to grow."
This wolf talked a lot, and it was all jumbled, but Måne pondered. The other royal families had multiple lines. His only had two, and the whole cave system was inhabited by just him and his aunt and cousin.
"I need to rebuild Ulls line," Måne said aloud as he pondered, and Arla was nodding proudly at him.
-
Måne forgot all about that after some time, and focused on his job as the bard instead. The future of the pack could wait! Måne kept up his nightly singing, and he let his admirers admire him, and sometimes even follow him home.
-
Måne had done many things in his life, he was a hunter and a bard and a council member, he was important. But he had never felt stronger and more stabile in himself than when he stood next to her, defending her against some strange wolf. Now, Hjördis was licking his back, where he had a scratch.
"Don't worry about it, I'll see the herbalist as soon as we get home," Måne said and Hjördis nodded silently, and some kind of fire burned in Måne, maybe he should have scared the red wolf more, "are you still scared?"
"No," she said and looked away.
"Then what's wrong?"
"You were hurt because of me, I don't like that," she whispered.

Hjördis seemed to stay in the packs territory, and even avoiding him. Måne couldn't help but scan the area, looking for her, every time he came home. But she didn't want anything to do with him. Måne asked her sister how Hjördis was doing, and it seemed to be alright. Måne didn't seek her out.
-