The Other Woman

by Hawthorn Tree

With winter approaching and the Clans becoming restless, Moonhaven must prepare for what just may be their harshest yet while Ronin tries to come to terms with the arrange marriage that was never explained and the wife he never bothered to know. Meanwhile, Nod finds a kindred spirit in a misunderstood boy who is more than he seems while trying to keep up his relationship with M.K.

1. Chapter 1

The marriage between Ember Redwing and General Ronin had been purely for political purposes, successfully making a truce between the Leafmen and the Lone Pine Clan, a group of extremely territorial warriors that lived in the high mountain meadows north of Leafmen borders. They had no desires to acquire more lands, but to step within their borders was to risk physical damage, a fate many Leafmen met due to carelessness. Skirmishes had been common and in order to keep them from escalating, a marriage had been arranged and to the shock of many, Queen Tara chose the man she loved.

So, for the sake of peace, Ronin married the clan leader's daughter, a young woman nearly half his age. From the beginning there had been a mutual sense of respect and a silent agreement that neither would interfere with the other's activities. They had shared a bed, sticking to their separate sides as much as they could though it quickly became apparent that Ember didn't share blankets and all negotiations were futile. At first they'd tried to make things work, tried to get along, but as time passed they became what they truly were: strangers sharing a house. Ronin began volunteering for later shifts so that he could sleep in the spare bed with the excuse that he didn't want to wake Ember up. Before too long a routine was created. He'd come home late, dinner would be left out for him, he'd eat before heading to bed and in the morning they'd share breakfast before parting ways. For a while it worked and Ronin thought all was well; that this was exactly what they both wanted. Until they day he came home earlier than usual to find his wife throwing knifes at the bedroom wall out of sheer boredom.

He'd stopped her, demanding to know what she was doing, and an argument had started. They'd raised their voices, both too stubborn to back down.
"Is it wrong to want my husband to at least act the part?" she'd demanded and he'd snapped back how they both had known what they were getting into. The argument hadn't shown any signs of stopping when Ember suddenly halted in the middle of her sentence and took a deep breath to calm herself before telling him in an ice cold voice that his dinner was on the table and she apologized if it had gotten cold before leaving.

Two days went by before she'd decided to come home. They both apologized in a blunt way before going back to the way they had before, though Ronin admittedly put more effort in on his part.
"Emmy's got a temper," Ember's younger brother Thistle had warned him while his sister Honey had nodded her head in agreement,
"That's why Daddy always said she'd never get married on her own."

Then had come time for Queen Tara to choose her heir. Ember had stood amongst the crowds as the Queen flew by, trying with difficulty to swallow the bitter feeling rising in her throat. But then again, was it wrong to be jealous of a woman like Tara? Now that she was giving up her position, what did that mean for them? Frustration, loneliness, and jealousy had been Ember's constant companions since marrying Ronin and it didn't take a Healer to know they were poisonous.

When the Leafmen returned Ember had immediately known something was wrong and when they finally admitted the Queen was dead, it was like a punch to the gut. Though they had been rivals in a sense, Tara had always gone out of her way to make Ember feel welcome, even inviting her for tea on several occasions while Ronin was on a long patrol. Queen Tara hadn't quite been a friend, but Ember had liked her.

During the Battle of Moonhaven every instinct within Ember had been screaming at her to help, but riding birds was a Moonhaven thing and she had no idea how. When the battle was over and the new queen chosen, Ember had been hidden in the crowd. The exchange between Ronin and Tara had been brief, but enough to spark back up the feelings that had been dormant since the news of the Queen's death had arrived. Was it wrong to be jealous of a dead woman? Mist would have said no, that it was only natural. Oak would have told her to punch Ronin and come home. Lusty (Dapple) would tell her to enjoy having an older husband who didn't want anything to do with her, that she should take advantage of her freedom. Lusty forgot that she was alone and far away from home with no friends.

I know this chapter wasn't all that well written, but it gets better, I promise!