The story so far
Given how long it’s been since the last chapter, I figured some people might like a refresher on the story (without having to go back and reread everything). So here is a basic summary of all the chapters so far (not including the interludes for now). Do I even need to warn for spoilers? There are spoilers.
CHAPTER 1: The Moon is Rolling in Her Grave
Princess November has run away from her home and her impending marriage to a peasant boy, in order to find a cure for her insomnia. An old woman she meets on the road informs her that she will sleep again when the missing Moon is brought back from the dead. The woman tells her to find the Moon by searching for a coffin, a cross, and a candle. To help her on her quest, November seeks out Perrault, a talking cat with a reputation as the cleverest man in twenty kingdoms. Perrault is eventually persuaded to accompany her, though he soon has doubts when he meets November’s other traveling companion: an infamous red-hooded witch.
CHAPTER 2: Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know
November tells Perrault the story of how she stumbled across Red’s home in the woods one stormy night. Following Red’s nose, the three break into an ornate mansion in the middle of the woods. Its sole resident is a Beast, whose sullen temper over his true love leaving him is exacerbated by the arrival of these vandals. Red throws him out the window, and the three head back out into the woods.
CHAPTER 3: A Modest Proposal
November, Red, and Perrault arrive in a village that has been plagued by numerous child disappearances over the years, the latest case being a woodcutter’s two children. The alleged culprit is a woman with silver hands, found in the woods and set to be burned in the square the following morning. November questions the woman, Clare, and learns that Clare actually met the Moon several years ago. November sets out to prove Clare’s innocence.
With Perrault’s help, November finds an old witch living in a strange house in the woods. November talks to her, while Perrault and Red rescue the woodcutter’s two children. They soon discover that the other missing village children were all eaten by the witch. Red flies into a murderous rage and burns the witch in her own oven. The next morning, Clare is set free. She offers to take November to see someone who knows how to find what November is looking for.
CHAPTER 4: Idle Hands
Clare brings the group to a grave under an old tree deep in the woods. Red and Clare track down an acquaintance of Clare’s — a former soldier who now wears a bearskin as part of a bargain he struck for his soul. Meanwhile, November and Perrault meet a talking bear, whom Perrault tricks into digging up the grave for them. The bearskin soldier gives the group directions, and reveals that Clare’s husband King Gareth will be returning home. Clare and November open the “grave”, which is actually a door, and fall in. Red and Perrault follow.