Sometimes Tally can't sleep and so she does what she knows she shouldn't and finds herself out for a late night run. All cadets should be in bed. And they've been warned especially about being out on the full moon unless under the supervision of a higher rank. But when the moon is full it has a greater sway over her emotions.
She wonders if it's because she's a moonchild, born under the sign of the moon, perhaps that's why it affects her more than it does her sisters. The full moon is especially beautiful tonight and all she did was toss and turn in her bed, she felt the need to run. To nowhere in particular. Her legs just felt the need to take her somewhere. To expel pent up energy.
One night she found herself in a meadow with a pond nearby, she hadn't even known it existed and yet her legs seemed to know. It seemed familiar yet she'd never been there. She thinks perhaps she saw it in a dream once. Yet it doesn't feel like a dream, it feels like a memory that isn't hers.
Perhaps it's hers.
Her legs take her there tonight, the sky is crystal clear and it's just a little bit chilly out. But that doesn't phase her because she's just run herself there, where she sits at the edge of the pond. The water reflects the stars like a mirror image and when Tally looks in it's like she's floating in space.
She wonders what it would be like to fly away from here, take with her all of the pain she has endured, all of the pain she has caused. Her shame, her knowing, her unrequited love.
Her love for her.
Shaken from her thoughts she hears a rustling nearby and is immediately on her feet ready to fight or flee. And there in the bushes she sees two glowing blue eyes. Eyes that seem to pierce right through her, like they know her.
A lithe wolf appears from those bushes, those blue eyes staring her down out of curiosity. And although this wolf doesn't seem threatening Tally is on edge. It's fur is pitchblack and the moon shines off of it much like the reflection on the water. Even from here she can tell the fur must be soft, the wolf appears to be rather clean and untouched by nature which is odd.
Perhaps that's what it gets for living on Alder's land. This wolf seems so elegant as it takes a few steps towards her. Those eyes watching her like they know her. And Tally, naive Tally, slowly lowers herself to her knees and lets the wolf come to her. She's not sure why she does it. This wolf could attack her at any moment.
Yet Tally reaches her hand out slowly and the wolf looks at her as if contemplating and those blue eyes almost seem gentle in a way. The wolf lowers its head and brushes against her hand, allowing Tally to pet it. If the wolf were a cat it's quite possible it'd be purring right now but instead there's a small wag in its tail and Tally giggles.
"Well, hello there. Did you come out to see the full moon too?"
The wolf pulls away and its gentle eyes now seem so stern and the wolf just sits and looks at her with those intense eyes. Tally turns back towards the lake and away from eyes that remind her of her.
"I have a hard time sleeping on the full moon. I'm full of so much energy sometimes I have to go for a run. Is that why you're out here? I've never seen any wolves around here before. Actually you're rather tame for a wolf."
The wolf tilts its head at her and Tally looks over and tilts her own head at the wolf, "You know your eyes remind me of someone. They're gentle just like hers. Your fur reminds me of her hair too," Tally pauses to look back up to the sky and the wolf follows her gaze, '' Have you ever been in love before? Do wolves feel love? Okay, this sounds really stupid, you can't understand me."
She sighs and is suddenly embarrassed, ripping pieces of grass to distract her from all of it. The anxiety, the embarrassment, and the reminder of her unrequited love.
"I'm in love with a very unattainable woman you see. I hurt her greatly at one point. Took away something important to her and I don't know if I can ever make it up to her. It makes me hate myself for what I've done. And my love and respect for her has only grown. Perhaps that's my punishment. To carry this painful weight, this unrequited love."
Tally's crying now, her nails caked in dirt from where she stopped ripping at grass and started digging her fingers into the earth. Trying to ground herself, to return some of her energy back to it before she ends up crying herself to sleep.
She squeezes her eyes shut tight and whimpers out a name that makes the wolf's ears perk up, it's fur standing on edge.
"Sarah."
But the wolf calms and takes a step or two where it connects its head against her shoulder and rubs as if to sooth her, to hug her in its own way.
The redhead tries to laugh as she wipes at her tears, there might be light remnants of dirt on her face now but she doesn't care. The moment is broken with the sound of a wolf howling in the distance and the black wolf stands at attention, all gentleness gone, it's fur on edge.
Tally looks at it as it listens and then looks at her with a stern glare as if telling her she should go. Tally's on her feet now but only looks at it until it growls and snaps at her feet. Not to harm but to get her to go and leave to safety. And Tally thinks she understands that that's what it's trying to communicate. So she turns to walk away and looks back as the wolf watches her.
When Tally makes it back to the barracks the full moon lighting her path and she looks back once more she sees the wolf with those eyes that glow from the moonlight's reflection, sitting on the edge of the forest line as if it had followed her to make sure she made it back safely.
Tally smiles and makes her way inside and up to her dorm and she finally falls asleep with a howl in the distance and those blue eyes that morph into Sarah Alder's. Eyes that instead of haunting her in her dreams they simply welcome her. Gently, like that wolf.