Page 156 of Moon Chosen

“Then it fits the deed.”

Sora shook her head. “Things can’t stay like this. We have to do something.”

“We are. Danita’s body is healing. You’ve Washed her with the moon tonight. I’ll look through Mama’s journals. I’m sure there is something I can brew that’ll help her mind recover, too.”

“I don’t mean something has to be done with Danita. I’m talking about the males. You heard them tonight. They’re close again. Too close.”

Mari sat up a little straighter and put another log on the hearth fire. “I heard them.”

“They need to be Washed. There’s no reasoning with them until they’re free of the Night Fever.”

Mari stared at Sora. “No.”

“No? What are you talking about? Of course they need to be Washed.”

“I’m not doing it.”

“But Mari—”

“You saw what they did to Danita! They brutalized her. She’s torn, bloody, and bruised. Sora,she has bite marks on her breasts and thighs.They’re animals, and they need to be put down.”

“They’re only like that because their Moon Woman died! If we Washed them they would go back to being normal.”

“And then what? Once they’re normal again are they going to just live with what they’ve done?” Mari said.

“Maybe it’s a burden they should bear forever, but they shouldn’t be left to grow madder and madder—and not only because it has to be terrible for them.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand how you can show so much compassion for someone like Nik, whose people have killed and enslaved us for generations, but you aren’t willing to help the men of our Clan.”

“I’m from both, Companions and Earth Walkers. Sora, I’m doing my best to figure out where I fit in. Maybe I’m wrong, but what they did to Danita is so terrible, I just don’t have any desire to help them,” Mari said.

“I hear you, and the menaredangerous, but they don’t seem to be moving on from here like the rest of the Clan. Something has to be done about them. Are you willing to track them and kill them?”

Mari grimaced. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, good. So, we have the ability to help them. Let’s help them,” Sora said.

“You’re ready, you know. You’re strong enough now to Wash them by yourself.”

Sora caught Mari’s gaze and held it. “I’m afraid of them.”

“That’s smart.”

“Will you please come with me? Help me to help them?”

“Sora, I don’t want to be Moon Woman,” Mari said.

“But you are!”

“No, I’m not!”

Sora and Mari glanced at the pallet, but Danita had fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep and she didn’t so much as twitch.

“I’m not,” Mari insisted, lowering her voice.

“Why do you hate the Clan so much?” Sora asked bluntly.

Mari opened her mouth to deny it, but stopped herself. Slowly, thinking aloud, she tried to answer Sora honestly. “Because I’ve never been a part of the Clan—never been accepted by them. Mama had to keep me at a distance. Sora, for as long as I can remember, I’ve hidden who I really am and known that if I don’t hide and disguise myself and lie, Mama and I could pay for it with our lives.”

Sora turned to face her. “Danita accepted you today without any problem. She even petted your creature and said the fur around his neck was as soft as a rabbit—which I find hard to believe, but it was nice of her to say. Did you ever think that maybe you and Leda made too much of your differences, and not enough of your similarities with the Clan?”