Luna Alana's Arranged Marriage

The Green Trunk

Some of the MacGregor Clan was seated at the long wooden tables in the great hall to break their fast. Most of the warriors had gone out into the bailey to get started on their daily sparring. The maids were all bustling around the castle, working to get it cleaned up for the guests who would be arriving later in the day.

Alana was slow to rise this morning. Mary had to come in and check on her. Alana was normally one of the first people to awake in the castle. Alana loved to take a morning ride and clear her head. The nightmare with the red wolf had haunted her dreams. Making it nearly impossible to sleep.

Alana slowly made her way down the large staircase that led to the great hall below. John and her father were still seated at the table. "Good morn, daughter. Ye, do not look like ye got much rest." George noted that Alana had dark circles under her eyes.

"Nae, father. I did not. Haunted dreams," Alana said as she sat on the bench on her fathers right. Alana motioned for one of the maids to come over. "Might ya bring me a cup of coffee from the kitchens?" Alana asked the maid who had come to stand beside her. The maid quickly nodded and headed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Ye best take a nap to regain your strength before our guests arrive. They should be here midday." George informed his daughter. Alana put her head on the table and rolled her eyes. Luckily, the act was hidden underneath her coppery hair that was fanned out on the table. George did not have a chance to see what Alana had done in response to his statement.

"Let us be off John. We will leave your sister to find herself." George patted Alana's shoulder gingerly. He did not dare poke the sleeping bear. If there was one thing that the MacGregor family knew for certain, it was that Alana was not to be triffled with when tired. Her short fuse became even shorter, and her blows were quick and unyielding.

Alana was just beginning to wonder where that maid had gone off to when she heard a cup being set down on the table in front of her. "Thank you." Alana managed to mumble as the young maid took her post back up in the corner of the room.

Alana slowly drank her coffee. Letting the bitter warm liquid find its way down her throat. It did not take long for the drink to do its job and began to help Alana wake up for the day. She hoped that its effects would last just long enough.

Alana decided that it was probably time to find her mother and see if there was anything that she needed help with. Alana did not mind doing the dirty work for her mother. It beat having to find one of the men and have them do it. They usually mumbled and groaned about helping with womens work anyway.

She slowly stood up from the table. Leaving her mostly drank coffee cup for the maid to run it back to the kitchen. Alana made her way back to the main staircase. She took one look up and let out a long sigh. She hoped that she would find her mother upstairs so that she did not have to come back this way for a while. Alana headed back in the direction of her parents' bed chamber and lightly knocked on the door. There was no answer this time. Alana knocked one more time. Still no answer. Alana pushed open the door, leaving it slightly ajar to pop her head through to make sure that her mother was not inside.

She was able to confirm that, indeed, her mother was not in her rooms. Guest chambers. Alana thought next. Her mother must be over seeing that the guest chambers are readied for their guests. Alana made sure to close her parents' bedchamber tighly before heading off in the direction of the rooms that she saught. The hallway had a few maids passing here and there. When she got to the long hall that housed the guest rooms, she could hear her mother giving directions all the way from the other end of the hall. Alana smiled to herself. Her mother was an amazing Luna. She was kind and gently, but she knew what needed to be done and was stern when it mattered.

Alana made her way down the long corridor. Their castle housed many guest chambers. One of the first clan Alphas loved to throw lavish parties and made sure that everyone who attended had a room to themselves. He was one of the most renounded ancestors of their clan. Charles MacGregor. Alana knew that there was a large portrait hanging in the long gallery of Charles. He made sure that his portrait was one of the largest in the room.

Alana stopped at the guest room door that she would hear her mother's voice echoing from. Davina was currently pointing to a fresh pile of linens and instructing the maids that each room needed to have a new set put on the bed. The curtains would also need to be beaten out, and each room needed their fireplace bucket replenished with enough firewood for the evenings that they would be occupying the castle.

Davina looked over at the doorway and noticed that Alana was milling about. She had not stepped in the room yet as she knew that Davina had a chore for her. Alana was right, of course. Davina laughed at her youngest child and waved her into the guest room.

"Come here, darling. I need your help with something." Davina said as she put an arm around her daughter's dainty shoulders when Alana came to stand beside her.

"You always do, mother," Alana said in a quiet and defeated voice. Davina laughed at her Alana's response, which in turn made Alana laugh as well.

"I need ye to go up to the attics and find a certain trunk for me. It is moss green with our families crest on the top. Can ye do that for your mother?" Alana rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Yes, mother. I will be back shortly." Alana knew the trunk that her mother spoke of. As a little girl, she would continuously ask her mother to go through the trunk. It held family trinkets inside that were not left out for others. Alana's mother told her that one day Alana would be able to take something from the trunk when she was married and ready to start a family of her own.

As Alana walked down the corridor to the attack stairs, she stopped in her tracks. Another thing that somehow had to do with marriage. Was it just a coincidence? Were one of the twins finally going to settle on a woman and get married? Alana's curiosity was peaked. She would have to corner James and get him to talk. He was the easier of the two of her brothers to get information from.

Alana made her way to a small set of wood stairs. They were hidden out of sight around a corner of the castle wall. She began to ascend towards the attic. Almost all of the stairs creaked or groaned under her weight. She had not been to the attic in some time since she was a little girl rummaging with her mother.

She took the last stair and found herself in a dark room. The wood under her feet was just as noisy as the stairs. Alana blinked her eyes a couple of times to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She could use her wolf eyes, but she did not want to have to shift in order to find one trunk full of old objects. She had to side step a few pieces of old furniture. Old chairs that had gone into the attic but never made their way back out. Old dresses and clothing storage that housed old garmets that were either now rags or out of style.

It took a few more minutes in order for the memorable green trunk to come into view. Alana walked over and, as expected, found the family crest beautifully ingraved on top of the old wooden trunk. Alana reached for the handles and began to scoot the trunk along the floor. She was surprised that even though many years passed, she still was not able to move it with ease.

As Alana drug the trunk across the attic floor. Making long marks in the dust that covered the ground, she began to feel sweat pooling at the top of her shoulders and run down her back. Lovely, just what she wanted, to be drenched in sweat for the day. Alana finally got it to the top of the stairs. Sweat was now dripping off her brow. She could feel the coppper wisps that framed her face normally, plastered to her cheeks and forehead by the unwanted moisture due to having to move a large trunk from the attic.

Just as Alana was beginning to compemplate how to get the trunk down the attic stairs, she could hear men talking at the bottom of the stairs. Alana quickly ran down the stairs to see if one of the men could assist her with the heavy trunk. As she came to the last stair, she noticed that neither of the men looked familiar to her. They must be a couple of the warriors that she had yet to meet in the clan.

Clan Macgregor was a large one. For this reason, the castle was not able to house all its members. Quite a few lived on the farm lands nearby, or there were a couple of cottage clusters that were located near either side of the castle. Not many clan members knew, but there were hidden doors in the castle's outer curtain wall in the event of an attack. Those people could get into the castle safely and be kept out of danger.

The men at the bottom of the stairs quieted upon hearing Alana's arrival. One man had his back to her. The other was standing across from him. He nodded in her direction. The man who had his back to her quietly turned on his heel to stand next to the other man so that he was face to face with her. She stopped for a moment. The one who had just turned around was one of the most handsome men she had ever laid eyes on. His dark hair was shorter than her fathers but still a long enough length to run ones fingers through it. Alana shook her head slightly. Where did that come from? She never took notice of the men in the clan before.