The Love of a Lycan

Maybe (love) means something more- something we can't yet understand.

Maybe it's some evidence, some artifact of higher dimension that we can't consciously perceive.

I am drawn across the universe to someone I have not seen in a decade who I know is probably dead.

Love is the one thing that we're capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.

Maybe we should trust that, even if we can't understand it.

-Brand, Interstellar-

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The faint ray of light, from the window next to the bed, fell on Raine's face, gently waking her up to a beautiful morning as the particles of dust floating in a stream of bleak sunlight. 

Raine stretched out her body and yawned sleepily.She wanted to sleep a bit longer, but remembered that she couldn't do that.

Lydia had let Raine staying her house and even being nothing but so nice and generous to treat her as if she wasn't a stranger.

At the very least,Raine should do whatever it was that she could do to be of help and less burdensome.

With the last yawn, Raine opened the blanket that wrapped her body like a hotdog, and welcomed the cold air. 

She shuddered and hugged herself while proceeding to go out of her room. Then she walked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen and found the cabinet as she opened it.

Raine would see what food ingredients that Lydia had at that moment, maybe she could make something for their breakfast. 

Inside the cabinet, Raine found brown bread, eggs, bacon, dry meat and fish and dry vegetables like lettuce and carrot. Raine thought she could make a simple sandwich with that.

But then, just now she realized, aside from the sink there was no stove also in the kitchen. This kitchen was only filled with a big cabinet for them to preserve foods during winter, and another cabinet for plates and cutleries. 

At the other side, there was a simple stove with a pot atop of it, where they could boil a soup, yet there was no way Raine could grill something or fry anything there.

Once again she found herself at loss with this condition.What exactly happened with all of these inconveniences? What year actually they lived in, for not having those kinds of basic kitchen appliances?

Raine stood there absentmindedly, she wanted to do something for Lydia in return for her kindness, but she didn't know how to do it.

Biting her lower lip, Raine took the brown bread and put it on the plate as she found a jug filled with milk, but it was cold, so she needed to warm the milk inside the smaller pot. 

Raine was standing in front of the simple stove while holding the small pot filled with milk while thinking how she lit up the stove.

First she needed a lighter. Raine looked around, but couldn't see any lighter there…

Why was it so hard to only make a simple breakfast? Raine frowned

"What are you doing Raine?" Suddenly Lydia's voice sounded from behind her.

Raine whipped her head towards her direction and saw Lydia yawn widely while covering her mouth with her palm, a glistening sleepy tear on the corner of her eyes.

"I want to make breakfast for you, but…" Raine waved her hand awkwardly towards the stove. "I don't know how…"

Seeing the problem that Raine was facing, Lydia let out a crispy chuckle. "We don't have breakfast at home Raine, we will always have breakfast at the Great Hall." Lydia took the small pot from Raine's hand and put it down on the table. "But, thank you anyway, maybe you can help me with lunch later."

"Sure." Raine mumbled as she nodded. 

"Now, I will get you a new dress so we can go to the Great Hall and have our breakfast there, alright?" Lydia suggested, grabbed Raine's hand and led her way back to the second floor.

Raine went to her room again, waiting for Lydia with her new clothes. The weather was so cold, even with the sun shining so bright, Raine couldn't see the scenery behind the frosted glass. 

Not so long, Lydia had returned with new clothes in her hand, that included a thick woolen cloak and several layers of clothes, also a scarf.They were in the gradient of blue color. 

"This will be a bit big for you, but I think it's still fine." Lydia put the clothes on top of the small cabinet beside her bed. 

"Thank you Lydia." Raine said her gratitude, but the other person only waved her hand casually.

"When you are done, Dorian and I will be downstairs." Lydia informed Raine. 

With the thought of Dorian, Raine recalled the event last night when that man's big hand wrapped around her neck, he could easily have snapped her into two.

Subconsciously, Raine touched her neck, it left bruises.But because of the clothes that she was wearing, the bruises would be covered just fine. 

Raine started to take off her sleeping dress and slipped into new clothes that Lydia had brought, it was so cold for her to stand naked.Even when she was in the closed room, her teeth was chattering. 

Only when she put the last layer of clothes, and wrapped her body with the thick dark blue cloak, she felt better. 

Immediately Raine went downstairs and found Dorian was arranging Lydia's scarf, so it would cover her neck perfectly, preventing the cold wind brushing her skin. 

Lydia was so adorable when Dorian treated her that way, her blushing cheeks slightly reddened when she saw Raine was looking at them.

"Raine, come here." Lydia pushed Dorian's hand from her lightly as she gestured to Raine to follow her outside. 

Raine walked closer to the couple and gave a faint smile at Dorian that didn't reciprocate in the same way. He grunted and took big steps to go out of the house first, leaving Raine and Lydia alone.

"Is he angry with me?" Raine asked carefully. She could feel the hostility from him.

Raine could understand the misunderstanding last night.But she couldn't understand why he still treated her as if she was an enemy? Wasn't the misunderstanding cleared already?

"No, he is just not used to having a guest at home." Lydia explained. "It is always the two of us only."

"I am sorry, I have become a nuisance in your house…" Raine really felt terrible for hearing that.She absolutely didn't mean to disturb them, but aside from Lydia's house, she didn't know where she could live in this strange place.

Lydia realized her words, and hurriedly waved her hands, gesticulating that there was nothing to be worried about. "It's okay, you will find your own house sooner or later." She said.

Find her own house? What does it mean?

"What do you mean with find my own house?" Raine asked while wearing Lydia's boots, they were slightly too big for her.

Raine was busy with her scarf, and missed the change of expression in Lydia's face.She grimaced when Raine asked that question. "I will tell you later." She mumbled and locked the door behind her. 

The snow was so soft when they stepped in the yard and gave the two of them a hard time to go to the Great Hall.

Raine and Lydia were having difficulty when they walked, as their boots kept sinking. Even the road was also covered with a thick layer of snow.

Once they arrived at the Great Hall, both of them were slightly panting. 

The so-called Great Hall was a huge building with many intricate decorations on the surface of its big pillars, there were around hundreds of staircases to reach the hall.

They needed to be extra careful when they climbed up the stairs, because of the snow underneath.

Raine was astounded by the scenery before her eyes. The Great Hall was approximately three hundred meters in width, while one long mahogany table occupied the center of the hall with hundreds of wooden chairs along the table.The ceiling' height was pleasantly commodious, the flower designs were carved into the molding, and small children with wings looked down at them from every angle. 

The wall was painted in birch color, gave a sense of warmth with a sweet smell wafted in the air.

Some people had seated on the chairs, and chatted with the person near them, or they just ate alone before they left in a hurry.But based on the interaction among the people, they seemingly knew each other.

Raine had never imagined such a splendid place to eat.She was awed by what she was seeing. Beside her, Lydia nudged her hand, drawing Raine's attention to her.

"Let's get our food there." Lydia pointed at the stall in the corner of the hall. 

The process was like when Raine was still in the orphanage, they would stand in line, waiting for their turn to get their food. 

Raine was standing behind Lydia with a big porcelain plate in her hand. She took some bread, bacon and sausage along with a mug filled with milk. 

Afterward, she followed Lydia to the empty seat while occasionally greeting the people that they met along the way.

Many of them would stare at Raine with a curious gaze, but Lydia would dismiss them by saying she was a new member, and introduced them one by one. 

Until they reached their seat, Raine had been introduced to four people already.She tried to remember their names and their faces.

"Like I said before, there are not many of us left, and to keep us united with each other, we built this Great Hall." Lydia explained. "The people here that you see just now are the whole citizens of the village. Well, less than dozens of people who had left or not yet come."

Raine looked around, there were many people there, with approximately three hundred people…

"But, most of them are the shadow warrior, not a guardian angel." Lydia waved her hand to the person across them. "Hi Aeon!" She greeted him.

The man had hair as dark as the night sky, with black obsidian eyes, he was almost as burly as Dorian. 

Aeon waved back at Lydia and glanced at Raine before he resumed eating his breakfast.

"He is a new member of a shadow warrior." Lydia whispered at her. Raine took another look at Aeon, he wasn't as scary as Dorian, she thought.