Moonspear exchange my cross for a crown

Alya laid in the pile of her mirror-sisters, but did not allow herself to sleep. It was safe, there on Moonspear, but since they'd begun travelling for more than a few hours at a time, the Cerberus had begun to sleep with one head always aware. At this hour, it was Alya, blue eyes gently hooded, but ears pricked and alert. Nose twitching. Muscles relaxed, but always ready.

When she heard the shuffle of steps on her mountainside, she knew instinctively that they did not belong. She might not know every step as well as she knew Hydra and Lyra's, but she knew, at that moment, that none of her family traipsed in such a way. With a low rumble of warning - inaudible, but surely felt by the two nestled against her - Alya pointed her nose in the direction of the sound and drew in a deep breath.

Stranger, she said with a flicker of her ears, rising slowly and silently as soon as she'd been released from the sleepy pile of Cerberus.