Chapter Twenty-four: The Elders

After walking for twenty minutes or so, we reached a building which looked more circular, in a similar fashion to the Dome. It looked out of place and nothing like the cottages and houses within the same area. At a glance I can tell the building is on an elevated bit of land, so slightly higher than the buildings around it, and looking at the surrounding area I can see the hospital in the far distance and the Pack house is closer than before. I guess the Elders are needing everything to be in a close proximity to where they stay.

Before we started up the steps to the door, Lukas turned to face me. “The Elders can sometimes pressure questions out of you. Please don’t be scared of them. They are all much older than us and are in some ways, wiser.” He says cautiously.

I smile at him. “Don’t worry, I’ve met with Elders before. I know how they can be. The last set of Elders I met were elven, and although they were very serious people, they were also honest, and mostly open.”

He smiles at me and he pulls my hand, leading me towards the door. I thought I would have been nervous meeting a new set of Elders but I’m actually more curious. I feel that a lot of things has changed since that light hit me and if anyone can enlighten me then hopefully it will be Elders we’re about to meet.

Lukas stops at the front of the door. Instead of knocking, I see his eyes go black and I can tell he’s mind-linking someone. After a few moments, his eyes go back to the golden hue I’ve started to get used to.

We then hear a lock being turned on the other side of the door and when opened, a man with light blue eyes and a long grey, shaggy beard appears. I can see his face is covered in wrinkles but he has the sweetest smile on his face. He has little wisps of hair on the top of his head. I’m amazed at how tall he stands though, he’s about a foot shorter than Lukas but still towers over me.

“Hello Alpha.” He greets Lukas respectfully, then turns his gaze towards me. “Hello Aliana. We’ve heard much about you.” He says, and I smile.

“Hello. I assume you’re one of the Elders here?” I respond.

He nods. “You assume correctly. I am Elder Wright. One of the three Elders of the Crescent Moon pack.” He says, and I furrow my brow in confusion.

Lukas catches on. “Ah, that’s the name of my pack.” He says. I’m surprised he didn’t tell me this earlier but I guess we have only just met. He pulls his shirt down at the neck to reveal his chest, and I see what looks to be a small tattoo that I had never noticed before. It’s very small, just above where his heart would be, and looks to be a small crescent Moon.

I look to the tattoo and feel myself blush, realising I’m staring at his chest, rather than viewing just the tattoo. I see a small smirk appear on Lukas’ lips and Elder Wright clears his throat, pulling my attention back towards him.

Elder Wright opens the door fully and motions for us to go in. I walk into the house and instantly I can tell they all live humbly. I don’t see any electrical lights in here, or anything modern at all as I have seen outside or in the other areas of the territory. Elder Wright squeezes past me and goes to open another door, where I can hear two people whispering.

Before I could try and make out what they were saying, they both turn to the door and I can see their faces. One is a younger man, who has dark brunette hair, with the roots starting to turn grey. His brown eyes look curiously towards me and then land on the Alpha and he smiles. He stands up and starts to stride over to us. I can tell this man is also very tall, maybe a few inches shorter than Elder Wright.

He comes up to the Alpha and pulls his hand out to shake Lukas’ hand. “Hello Alpha, thanks for coming by.” He turns to me and smiles, just as Elder Wright did. “Welcome Aliana. I hope you’re well. I am Elder Irish.”

“Yes, thank you, Elder Irish. Thank you for inviting me into your home.” I say as softly as possible, trying to gauge how they react to my presence.

I hear a grunt from the other Elder who has not bothered to stand up, but has his deep brown eyes on me. I can tell he is perhaps older than Elder Irish but is not as wrinkled as Elder Wright. I raise a questionable eyebrow and look at Lukas, who only shrugs his shoulders.

Elder Irish places his arms around my shoulders and ushers me into the room, leaving Lukas behind us, to where he was sitting before. I can see that there is a big stone fireplace which has a roaring fire lit and small table in the middle of the room with five stools sitting around it. The room is nice and cosy with the warmth spreading around us.

Before sitting down, Elder Irish introduces the last Elder. “This is Elder Wyatt….as you can tell, he doesn’t like to talk much.” Elder Wyatt looks at the Elder and nods, but says nothing. I associate Elder Wyatt with Elder Horenti as he also did not speak, however his demeanour towards me was more positive than the Elder here. I continue to smile at the Elders in front of me, pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind.

Elder Irish and Elder Wright both stand above their seats. I have always known that I should wait for them to sit first before taking my own seat. So they both sit, and then I sit down after them with Lukas following suit. The two Elders look among each other and smile.

“I suppose you may have been invited to sit with Elders previously.” Elder Wyatt noticed my manners.

“Yes, Elder. I have sat down with Elders from the elven community named Druida. I learned most mannerisms about their ways, and I can only assume that most of the courtesies regarding Elder related mannerisms relate to your own.” I say, remembering the times I was told off for not doing something when I should have been.

They all seem to look at each other, before pressing on. “Very well. Alpha Lukas has told us about you, seeking advice about this light that had hit you on the last eclipse.” Elder Wright started. He seemed to frown slightly before carrying on. “We’ve looked into our archives and to date, nothing like this has ever been recorded. Are you able to describe to us exactly what happened?” He asks as he looks at me with an interested expression.

I looked at Lukas who gives me a small smile and a nod, boding me to press on. So I told them the whole story, from when the ceremony started, to the light appearing in the sky. To it hitting me and then me being told I was sleeping for a whole week. One of the Elders telling me some sort of magic had been lifted and then replaced. Leaving the community after they decided to close their borders, and then Athena speaking to me as soon as we left the front gates. I stopped there, not quite wanting to relive the encounter with the monster before ending up here.

The whole way through my story, both Elder Wright and Irish were actively listening and nodding encouraging me to continue. Elder Wyatt just sat on his stool, looking away from me and into the fire intensely, which I found quite strange, but I did not want to be rude and interrupt his thoughts.

When I finished, both Elders who were listening place their hands on their chins and go into deep thoughts. I look at Lukas and smile. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be and I feel they’re happy with how I have come across. I slightly suspect they were expecting someone uncivilised, maybe even immature to come along, but I suspect I’ve got them thinking otherwise. I’m a bit confused about Alpha Wyatt, but I’ve decided I will think about how he’s reacted later. I bet he does this with everyone, I think to myself.

After several minutes of silence, Elder Wright stands up. “Unfortunately Aliana, I cannot recall anyone who has received their wolf late. I also cannot remember reading it in any books. I’ve never seen anything come out of an eclipse either, other than the Sun and Moon. It’s extraordinary that anything came out of it, never mind circling in the sky and hitting you directly….it’s one in a million. I would like to guess and say it’s coincidence.” He says, calmly.

I frown, disappointed. I had been hoping that they would have known something, anything at all, but nothing. Elder Irish picks upon this and gives me a small smile. “Don’t worry child, these things happen for a reason, and I’m sure we’ll find out, one way or another. We do have archives, and I’m sure my peers and I will be more than happy to allow you access to our archive library to read through anything of interest to you.”

I light up at the thought of reading some interesting books. I absolutely loved to read and I knew I would be sitting for hours on end reading books, especially anything that can answer the questions I have about my encounters or history.

I can see Elder Wright also nodding but in the corner of my eye, Elder Wyatt was shaking his head, still looking deep into the fire. The other Elders looked over to him and then back at each other but said nothing. I wanted to see what his problem was but did not want to upset anyone, so I kept quiet.

Lukas noticed the Elders were saying nothing more so he decided to interrupt their train of thought. “So today Aliana also did something else, which was….strange.” The word rolled off his tongue and I know he didn’t mean it that way. He gave me an apologetic expression as I furrowed my brows at him.

I turned to face all three Elders staring at me, including Elder Wyatt who was side eyeing me from across the room, all three of them interested in what happened. Elder Wright looks at me with a small smile and nods, encouraging me to tell them what had happened today.

“Today….Alpha Lukas and I got into an argument. Since being here, I have passed by the big lake in the territory twice and I’ve felt more drawn to each time. Sort of like how I am drawn to Alpha Lukas by our mate bond.” I say whilst shyly looking at him. He raises an eyebrow but I carry on. “I went into the water and felt my whole body relax. I have always loved being close to water, and this lake reminded me of my childhood. I swam into the lake, and ended up diving in. This was yesterday morning. I didn’t come back to the surface until Sunset.”

All three Elders stare at me surprised at what I had just told them…I had hoped that this was actually normal but it seems it’s the complete opposite. I was expecting some sort of insight as to why I was able to be in the water for so long but it seems they’re just as unaware as I am. I sigh.

Elder Wyatt seemed to perk up a bit, studying me whilst the other Elders seemed to be in deep thought. I looked at Lukas who just sat there, slightly slumped.

“Did you see anything…at the bottom, I mean?” Elder Wyatt asked me, intrigued. It was the first thing he’s said since I got here. His tone wasn’t harsh or anything, he actually had rather a soft voice. The other Elders looked at him as if they had seen a ghost. Well, I guess he doesn’t usually talk at all.

I give him a nod. “Yes, I saw what you would see at the bottom of any lake. Schools of fish, the sand lying calmly on the lake floor, lots of aquatic plants.”

He lowers his head and he looks back towards the fire without saying anything else, which I found strange. Yet, he’s been quiet most of the night, so I think nothing of it.

Elder Wright finally moves round and comes to stand between me and Lukas. “I think it’s time we called it a night. Tomorrow, is a new full Moon, and we celebrate it every month, down by the lake. I’m sure alpha Lukas will bring you along, if you wish to go.” He smiles at me, then at Lukas.

I take one last look at Elder Wyatt who has shifted slightly and is giving me a thoughtful look. “I can’t wait to see what you bring in store for us as our Luna.” Before I get any more words in, he dismisses us. “It will be an early night for us, to prepare for tomorrow, where I hope to see you both. Aliana, the archives can be located just East of the pack house. You can’t miss it. I’m sure Alpha Lukas can show you the way, whenever you want to go.” He says whilst waving a dismissive hand. I smile to myself knowing they want to discuss what we said and we should leave them in peace.

“Thank you Elder Wyatt. Elders, I hope you all have a good evening.”

All three Elders nod their heads slightly, and Elder Irish stands.

Well, I guess that’s our queue to leave. Lukas stands, and I stand after him. He grabs my hand gently, and we’re guided to the door by the Elder. I take one last look behind me and can see both Elder Wyatt and Elder Irish just sitting, the former with a hand under his chin in deep thought, still thinking about what I said. Before I exit the Elders’ home, I see Elder Irish give me a smile before the door closes behind us gently.

Lukas and he both nod at each other, and then the Elder goes into the house, closing the door behind him.

I breathe out a long sigh and slump my shoulders slightly. I suppose we’re not anywhere closer to learning what is happening to me.