[ Autumn’s Sanctuary/Fortress - Far inside the unknown woods - Old World]
A pinkish orange liquid sloshed lazily in Autumn’s glass as she turned it in her hand.
The rim caught the firelight, scattering sparks across the stone wall.
She turned her head only a little to peek through the window. Little Jasper was playing outside.His laughter rang like bells.
Autumn’s gaze drifted. It beca almost dream-like as she saw the boy soaring across the backyard, higher than the falcons circling the trees. His small fra silhouetted against the bright sky. For a mont, he hovered like a humming bird, curls glowing with sunlight, before drifting back down.
Autumn turned back and set the glass down with a loud thud.
Orion finally dragged his chair closer. He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, his eyes fixed on Autumn.
"If it really bothers you that much," he began carefully, "why did you agree to their request? You could have just turned them down. No one can force you to bend now, Autumn. Things have changed! "
Her head snapped towards him, eyes flashing. "Turn them down? And what do you an by ’force ’, Orion?" She swung her arm, almost knocking the glass over. "I didn’t agree because I was intimidated.I agreed because I felt it was necessary!"
Orion’s jaw flexed. "How is throwing a party necessary, Autumn? I don’t understand! That’s not a defense...it’s an invitation to every vulture that’s been watching us from the shadows, waiting for your powers, for Isolde’s powers...the power to shift the balance of life...to resurface so they can seize it! "
Autumn let out a humourless laugh! Then her breath ca sharp, like a blade pulled from its sheath. "You don’t think I know that? You don’t think I feel that weight every ti I look at my own hands?" Her voice cracked as he looked down. Blue light flared from her palm...but she didn’t falter. "They were right. We can’t keep running blind. How do you run the sa race without knowing who else is in it? We need to see them, Orion. Need to know their nas and their gas. All of them. Whether we like it or not."
Orion sat back, folding his arms across his chest. His stare didn’t waver, though his voice softened. "I understand. I do. But a party?" His lips curved into a humorless smirk. "A whole damn gathering, with covens and tribes that have been living in seclusion for centuries?Moon knows what they have been dealing with...what they have been hiding.So of them will never co. So of them shouldn’t."
Autumn pushed her hair back with both hands, a weary laugh escaping her. " Oh they will!" She pulled out a hairpin with a huge, glowing, blue stone. She pulled it out of the pin and imdiately the gem started levitating midair as if showing itself off.
"The mont word spreads about this, they will co crawling from their holes.The Eternal Soul Stone! "
" Oh, co on, Autumn! They would think it’s just another rumor! Nobody has ever actually seen this stone, you know... "
"True, but they will be curious! "
"Curiosity gets people killed."
" Exactly what we might need. Also it unmasks them," Her voice was steady. " We need them to show their true faces, we need to know who we are dealing with."
Silence stretched between them, broken only by Jasper’s laughter floating in from outside as he tumbled through the grass again.
Orion tapped a finger against the arm of his chair, eyes narrowing. "You are playing a dangerous ga, Autumn."
She t his gaze, unflinching. "It was never safe to begin with."
Orion stared into her eyes for a long ti, as if asuring the steel behind them. The fire crackled between them, but neither looked away. Finally, with a slow exhale, his shoulders dropped.
"Alright then," he said, voice low but firm. "If we are really doing this... we should get the invites going."
A flicker of relief softened Autumn’s face, though her chin stayed lifted. She gave a single sharp nod, then leaned sideways to pull sothing from beneath the table.
She set it down softly.
It was a scroll. The surface shimred faintly, etched not with ink but with lines that seed to ripple like water. Nas glowed softly in elegant script, written in a language older than even Orion could place.
The mont Autumn ran her fingers across the surface, the letters morphed and beca legible.
"Here," she said, her tone edged with dry irony. "This is what they dragged out of their archives. Every coven, every tribe, every pack still breathing."
The watery parchnt gave off a faint hum, like distant thunder, as if the nas themselves carried weight.
Then Autumn pressed two fingers to her lips and whistled.
The air stirred instantly. A ripple of blue light shimred near the archway until, slowly, a figure erged. A woman cloaked in white. A faint halo glowed above her head, and her aura spilled out in luminous blue waves that made the room itself seem brighter.
Her presence made even Orion straighten in his chair.
The woman inclined her head with quiet elegance. "You called, Lady Autumn."
"Yes," Autumn said, gesturing to the floating scroll. "It’s ti. Each na will get a letter, by hand. No illusions. No replicas. They must feel the weight of our invitation."
Her eyes darted to Orion, lips quirking into a half smirk. "And since we are going the old fashioned route... Orion, mind helping out?"
Orion arched a brow, leaning back in his chair. "You an to tell , you want to sit here and scribble letters like so apprentice clerk, Princess?"
Autumn’s smirk deepened. "Oh, co now. I have seen your handwriting. It’s not that terrible.You can do it! "
The glowing woman folded her hands neatly, watching the exchange with a faint, knowing smile.
Orion groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "This is punishnt, isn’t it?"
Autumn slid the parchnt towards him, her eyes glittering with amusent. "Call it what you want. But before evening, these letters need to be in every corner of the known world."
Autumn rose from her chair, leaving Orion to his muttering.
The soft murmur of Jasper’s laughter drifted through the open archway, drawing her outside.
The boy was still in the yard, arms stretched wide as if he could catch the wind itself. He leapt again...higher...towards the clouds and Autumn’s heart clenched before softening into a smile. She stood there, arms folded, simply watching him tumble back into the grass, giggling, unaware...as if the world had no teeth.
But the mont Jasper spotted her, he ran full speed, colliding into her legs with such force that she almost stumbled.
She caught him, sweeping him up in her arms, spinning him once until he shrieked with joy.
"Alright, big boy," she teased, brushing his curls from his damp forehead. "You will wear yourself out before supper."
He only grinned, dimples flashing, before pressing his face into her neck. " Oh co on,Mamma! I am not that weak. I am strong!" He flexed his biceps, " Go ahead. Touch it! Feel it, Mamma!"
Autumn burst out laughing. " Oh! Wow! My big boy is all grown up now!" She pretended to make a sad face. " Does that an he doesn’t need Mamma anymore?"
Jasper frantically shook his head. And then kissed her on her cheeks. " No, Mamma! Don’t be sad. I will always be with you. But now I can protect you. You don’t need to be afraid of anyone. I promise! "
Autumn kissed him back!
With her little love in her arms, she walked inside.
Autumn paused almost instantly the mont she crossed the threshold.
Orion was hunched over the glowing scroll, pen frozen mid stroke, a deep frown cutting across his features.
His eyes weren’t on the parchnt he was writing...they were fixed on the end of the list itself.
Autumn imdiately took a few steps forward, her eyes narrowing. "What is it?"
Orion didn’t answer right away. His gaze flicked towards Jasper, who was now bouncing around,grass stains on his knees and cheeks flushed from play.
Autumn understood instantly.
"Jas," she said softly, forcing her voice into sothing warm. "Go on, sweetheart. Bath ti. I will be there soon."
Jasper pouted but nodded, darting down the hallway with a trail of muddy footprints.
The room fell silent.
Orion lifted his hand, finger pressing against the final glowing line on the watery parchnt.
"Blackmoon Pack," he read out slowly. His voice had lost its usual edge."Leader... Kieran Blackmoon."
The na seed to echo through the chamber, though no one repeated it.
Orion stood up, one asured step carrying him closer. His hand ca to rest on Autumn’s shoulder. He searched her eyes as if bracing for the storm already building there.
"Autumn," he said quietly, almost pleading, "are you sure you want to do this?"
Autumn didn’t blink. She let the silence stretch a single second, then another...before her lips curled into a slow, deadly smirk.
"Sure. Why not?" she said, her voice velvet over steel. "He is the main attraction."
The air between them thickened...heavy with things unspoken.
Orion exhaled,stepping back. "Then so be it."
He sat down again, shoulders slumping as he dipped the quill back into ink.
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