moon flower
It had taken a while and some serious sleuthing to get a ticket to the ball. She'd had to keep an eye out for anyone who left early, watching keenly from the shadows to see if they had their ticket in some place obvious that she could grab or in case anyone abandoned that coveted bit of fabric once making an exit. Although she did have to wait quite a while, and the festivities were already well under way, she luckily did not have to try and rob anyone. Even she knew her pick-pocketing wasn't that great, but her patience eventually wore off; a child from a family group leaving the ball happened to let go of their ticket, letting it flutter free on the breeze. Echo had quickly swooped in to take advantage.
She'd always wanted to know what it was like inside Castle Stuart, to know how the
other side lived. She'd cleaned herself up, even made herself a flower crown made from the vines of a willow tree and a few white and blue wildflowers she'd found. It was a little droopy, the vines not terribly sturdy, but it helped to make her feel like she wasn't standing out too much. A few other wolves wore some adornments, even masquerade masks, and it wasn't as if she got to go to a ball every day so she figured she may as well try and look the part. She'd tucked her bit of blue fabric into the crown too, just to make it clear she was supposed to be here.
Echo hadn't known where to stick her nose first. It took her a long moment to even enter - she'd gazed upon the castle with wide, awed eyes. It was nothing like the stone and wooden shelters she'd explored and yet there was something about it that felt familiar. Oh, how she wished she could explore it freely, though she was certain it had already been picked clean of all its secrets.
She'd gone first to the garden and had watched the protest for a time. There was a part of her that wanted to go over and join in, to lend her voice to theirs, but the more she watched the more she realised that the crowd was not listening to them. Disappointing, to say the least, and Echo was not about to enter a losing battle. Quietly, her heart oddly heavy, she returned to the ballroom.
For a time she watched the revelry, lost in her own deep thoughts and not intending to join in. For once, Echo was not there to purposefully cause trouble, only to listen and observe. Carefully she stuck to the outer rim of the room, avoiding anyone who looked like they wanted to involve her in their conversations. She was doing quite well until she decided to cut across a corner of the dancefloor at a moment where the revelry seemed to pick up its pace. Someone bumped into her, sending her small, light body careening into
another body and providing her with a face full of fur.
Straightening herself quickly she made to apologise -
"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't..." - but then steel blue eyes met fiery orange and the familiar scent slowly registered. Jaws snapped shut with an audible
click and her eyes all but rolled to the back of her skull.
"Oh, Fae preserve me." Of
course he would be here.
We are all young and naive still.
