赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Ashleigh gasped and turned around.

Galen was gone, and the training room was gone.

She was on a hill, overlooking a territory so large she couldn't see its end. Yet, above her, the moon, full and bright, looked down with a warmth and presence that calmed her heart.

It was the same as the first time she had met the Valkyrie.

Only this time, she could see the owner of the voice. She sat on the ground, staring up at the moon. She was still wearing her ancient armor, her hair tied back in four large braids.

“Luna Lily?” Ashleigh called out.

“Mostly,” the woman replied.

Ashleigh stepped forward, looking out over the land.

“Where are we?” Ashleigh asked.

“A place between,” Lily replied.

“Between what?” Ashleigh asked.

“Nevermind,” Lily sighed.

Ashleigh looked down at her.

“What do you mean, mostly?” she asked._-.

Lily took a breath and sat back, lifting her face to the moon.

“I am an amalgamation of all those who came before you. Beginning with Lily. All those who have shared the blood of Geri and Lily have served the Goddess through Winter.”

Ashleigh suddenly thought of her lost memory, of what she had seen on her honeymoon.

The tapestry that Lian had shown her, of the steel and gold armored foot she had seen, and of the voice that had demanded the memory be revealed.

“Your voice…” Ashleigh whispered.

A flash of a woman with honey blonde hair and red paint smeared across her eyes, leading to the black runes tattooed down her cheek. She was woven into the tapestry alongside Solana.

She grabbed her head as the pain spread out down to the base of her skull.

“It was you….” Ashleigh groaned. “You forced the memory.”

“Yes,” Lily sighed with irritation. “I was wrong. I can't tell you anything more about the memory or anything related to it….”

“Why?” Ashleigh asked as the pain began to subside.

“Because it's not my place,” Lily growled. “I still don't agree with keeping it from you. It is limiting you and keeping you from your true potential! But giving you a brain hemorrhage wouldn't exactly prove anything.”

Ashleigh stared at Lily, wondering if she was being literal or hyperbolic. She decided not to ask.

Lily stood up from the ground and turned to face Ashleigh.

Ashleigh gasped as she saw that her eyes were no longer filled with moonlight; instead, they were a hazel very similar to hers.

“Yes, it is amazing, isn't it?” Lily smiled. “You are the first of my descendants that truly resembles me. Meanwhile, almost all of Solana's descendants have had a similar appearance to her.”

“Why do you dislike each other?” Ashleigh asked.

Lily took a deep breath and pushed it out.

“I have never disliked Solana.”

“You could have fooled me,” Ashleigh said quietly.

Lily let out a soft chuckle.

“An amalgamation,” she said with a smile. “Not all of me is Lily. But all of me is Winter. Defensive and protective of our wolves.”

Ashleigh looked carefully at Lily as though it were the first time.

It was strange. Ashleigh had fought her for what seemed like days and days. But somehow, she appeared different, softer. More… real.

“You have changed,” Ashleigh said aloud.

Lily looked at her. She smiled brightly and let out a chuckle.

“Yes,” she said. “A part of me has always been within every descendant. Even now, a little of my power resides within your father and brother.”

“What about mom?” Ashleigh asked. “I thought the Luna received your power.”

Lily swallowed and looked away.

“The Luna of Winter is different than the others,” she said quietly. “Your mother's power is… borrowed. I can't really explain more than that.”

“But–”

“Ashleigh,” Lily smiled, “I really can't say more about it.”

Ashleigh sighed and nodded.

“You said I have changed,” Lily continued. “You're right. When we first spoke, I, we, came to you because of the threat to your life. We needed to convince you to use the gifts you have been given to survive.”

Ashleigh listened, remembering how the Valkyrie had tried to convince her to take the power, to call it and use it to escape the poison in the room. But Ashleigh had been too afraid of losing control, of hurting more people.

“We pushed to open your memory so that you would embrace your power. To be prepared for what is coming.”

“What do you mean?” Ashleigh asked.

Lily gave her a sad and helpless expression.

“Right, you can't tell me,” Ashleigh sighed.

“No,” Lily said.

Ashleigh took a deep breath but said nothing else.

“Ashleigh, you are special among my descendants,” Lily said. “I feel as though I have woken up. I find myself drawn to you. I want to protect you.”

“Is that why you attacked Fiona?” Ashleigh asked.

“She dared to make us submit!” The Valkyrie shouted angrily, her eyes glowing.

“Fiona wasn't trying to hurt me! I was the one that lost control,” Ashleigh insisted.

Lily closed her eyes, taking a breath and the moonlight faded.

“An amalgamation,” Lily said apologetically. “My descendants have always had problems taking orders or being forced to do things they did not want to do.”

“So, what? You don't have control over your own impulses? Didn't you tell me that you aren't rage? That you are something more?” Ashleigh demanded.

“Yes, we are,” Lily replied. “But we are also affected by you. Your hesitance, your lack of confidence in your own ability. If you can't accept and embrace our power, you will become exactly what you fear. A powerful monster with no control over your own rage.”

Ashleigh swallowed and took short quick breaths through her nose. None of this was comforting. Even if it would make her stronger, what if it made her dangerous to the people she loved?

“You asked about my relationship with Solana,” Lily said.

Ashleigh nodded.

“Her condescending tone toward you was impossible to ignore,” she said with a soft glow in her eyes.

The glow faded, and she took a deep breath.

“But Lily loved her,” she smiled.

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Before we became the founders of your kind, we were inseparable. We fought side by side. We devoted ourselves to the protection of… well… we did our duty.”

Lily turned back out to gaze at the endless territory below.

“When our Qu– when the Goddess…” Lily sighed. “When we became wolves… everything changed. The mate bond was something we didn't expect.”

Ashleigh swallowed. Feeling a deep ache in her heart that she didn't understand.

“It wasn't the same for us as it is for you,” Lily continued. “The feelings that you have experienced with Caleb… those were the feelings I shared with Solana before the mate bond.”

Ashleigh brought her hand to her mouth in surprise.

“But the bond called me to Geri, and she to Caelter.”

Lily paused.

“There was more to our story,” she smiled softly. “But I am unable to share that with you. All you need to know is that Solana has her reasons to hate me. But I do not and have never hated her.”