Luna and the Secret Valentine Delivery

The village of Frosthaven was a flurry of pink and crimson. Villagers were hanging paper lanterns and exchanging intricately folded love knots, a centuries-old tradition to celebrate the Festival of Affection. Luna trotted through the cobblestone square on all fours, her bright red collar with its small silver bell jingling a merry rhythm. She let out an excited, melodic howl, her tail wagging furiously as she greeted the baker, who tossed her a sugar-dusted biscuit. Luna loved the village, but her sled-dog instincts—honed by her family on the icy tundra—always tugged her gaze toward the horizon. She craved new landscapes and secretly hoped to find a grand purpose. As she bounded past the edge of town, sniffing the crisp winter air, a flash of magenta caught her attention. A single, glittery paper heart lay half-buried in the snow. Then, another. And another. The trail of sparkling crimson hearts bypassed the familiar sled trails she knew so well and vanished straight into the jagged treeline of the Whispering Woods. The villagers strictly forbade entering the Woods; they said the ancient trees trapped wanderers in endless, shifting mazes. Luna’s heterochromatic eyes—one a striking ice blue, the other a warm brown—locked onto the glowing trail. An adventure was calling. Lowering her black nose to the very first heart, she stepped over the boundary line, the shadows of the twisted branches instantly swallowing the sunlight behind her.