Flora's Point of view
"I am sorry for deceiving you," Flora said to the pack leader.
He shook his head, "You have not deceived me – it was obvious that you would try to escape. And it would have been foolish of you not to try to bargain with my patrol." He looked up at her. "But know, I think you should join my mate for tea. She will have something prepared for you." He stood up and nodded his head in a respectful gesture towards her. "I will see you at midnight."
Flora did not even have time to stand up before his mate joined her with a plate of fermented cheeses and tea.
"Will you follow me?" she asked, "We have to get you ready, and I think we might be in a bit of a hurry." She smiled kindly and gestured with a nod of her head to the door behind her.
They walked through a kitchen and a hallway before they entered another cave-like room with roots and underground flowers covering the walls. "This is my room. I suspect we might share it soon," she said and led Flora towards a basin filled with flowing water.
"Now sit back and relax with your tea, as I comb your hair," she instructed, and Flora did what she was told, enjoying a few moments of pure comfort, imagining she was back in the Kingtree with servants to pamper her.
Bubbles's Point of view
Bubbles moved another stick out of the way at the back of their prison cell. She had not been caught yet. As a matter of fact, she had been left almost entirely to her own devices, except for when a female wolf came with a platter of fruits for her. If it had not been for the fact that she was travelling with a princess, she would have been awfully offended at the different treatment between her and Flora. Alright, maybe she was still a little offended, even when she remembered that something terrible could have happened. This breaking out really took forever, Bubbles thought and sighed. Her bubbles were not of much use, they bursted every time they came in contact with a sharp stick - and all of the sticks were sharp!
Flora's Point of view
Flora stepped out of the pack leader's home a few minutes before midnight. The whole camp lay in front of her, lit up by a dozen big fireplaces. Flames licked up towards the sky, in stark contrast to the pitch-black night. But inside the camp, it seemed that they had created their own dome of light, warmth, and comfortable homes.
It was then that she remembered what the leader had told them about the goblins, and she thought that there might be other reasons for the fires. Suddenly, the dome of light did not seem as comfortable.
Flora looked up and, guided by the pack leaders' mate, she walked through the camp. Slowly, a beat led by drums began. The eyes of all the pack members they passed stared at her. She wondered if they had been told of the ceremony that was about to happen. She herself had only just been informed when she was having her tea and had her hair combed. Though the pack leaders' mate had not been particularly detailed, Flora did have to give her credit for her work with her hair. It was clean and shining black, smooth. She might have to admit it was the best her hair had ever looked.
Her steps continued on to the beat of drums. An enchanting sound, more primal than anything she had heard in the Kingtree. The beat began to echo through her heart and blood as she moved. Her every muscle ached with the vibrations of the sound. She looked up, and her eyes met his, the pack leader. None of them betrayed their thoughts or feelings to each other.
The tips of his hair fell down in front of his eyes as he spoke, "Take my hand," he said in a soft whisper, completely unlike the growls she had heard him speak in previously.
Flora took his hand. There was no point resisting now, she thought, with a whole pack of wolves surrounding her. How could she resist them?
"It is going to be alright," he said in a surprising moment of kindness. Thought, when she thought about it, he had been kinder than she had expected. Of course, he wanted something she was not willing to give him.
She looked over to his mate, who was smiling encouragingly at her. The mate nodded and blinked slowly a couple of times, "Give in," she mouthed at Flora, who tried to return her kind smile.
"I don't know what to do," Flora turned and whispered to the pack leader.
He smiled, "It is nothing special. There is no magic involved or any ancient traditions. It is just custom to do a small ceremony."
"But what does that entail?" Flora asked, getting a little annoyed that she was standing in the middle of a ceremony without any instructions. Back in the Kingtree, her father and mother had always made sure that she knew what was expected of her. They made sure she knew when she stepped out of her role as princess, and they made sure she knew what role she would have to fill someday. She would be a political figure to be moved around strategically. She would have to play nice but stern at the same time. Eventually, she would have to marry someone she did not like - though that was still far away in the future, as she would have to complete her time as a diplomat, which was commonly around one hundred years.
"Just enjoy the beat of the drums," the pack leader guided her. "Close your eyes for a moment. Take in a deep breath."
She did what she was told and inhaled a deep breath full of hot air and small pieces of ash from the fires burning all around them.
"I will embrace you now, and we will become one," he said, getting closer to her. "Put your arms around me."
Flora moved her arms, her eyes opening again to get a look at his mate, who still appeared happy and confident. Strange, Flora thought, she would not have responded that way had she been in her place.
His arms moved around her, placing them gently on her back. It sent sparks of signals through her body, and a warm feeling began to spread as his fur tickled her skin. She did not like it. It was too warm, too soft, too much like a burning sun branding her skin.
"We are one now," he whispered in her ear and began to let go of her, "you are mine."
Flora thought he would finish the sentence, or maybe she was supposed to, but nothing followed.
"Bow," he commanded her, and his voice was back to the stern tone he had used previously.
She looked up at him, her face daring him to command her again.
But the pack leader led by example and bowed down for his flock. Flora simply bowed her head towards them. There was no need to be overly submissive when she still had some of her own will left.
The pack leader began to walk down the path he had walked previously. But suddenly he stopped and held his hands out in a gesture to the wolves around him. Every movement stopped, the drums continued beating, but their intensity fell, and their beat started to slow.
Flora wanted to ask what was wrong, but it was clear that her question would have been unwelcome.
He gestured to his mate, who began to move towards them. He made a nod in Flora's direction, and the mate prepared to take her by the arm and lead her.
Then a sound came from somewhere outside of the dome of light, hidden in the shadows, but due to the amount of light within the camp, they could not see what was hiding there. Still, Flora had a gut-wrenching feeling that she knew what it was. Goblins.