Page 74 of Moon Chosen

“I’m aware of that. Or, at least I’m aware that working hard, being exhausted, and never, ever getting a break is the kind of Moon Woman Leda was.” Sora raised her hands quickly, and continued before Mari could respond. “I respected your mother. She was a great Moon Woman. But here’s the truth—I have no delusions about my greatness. Being a good Moon Woman is fine for me.”

“Leda believed being Moon Woman was a calling—a responsibility.”

Sora nodded. “Yes, I am well aware of that, too. I heard many lectures from Leda on that particular subject.” She raised a dark, expressive brow at Mari. “Don’t tell me she didn’t lecture you about that, too.”

“Mama was passionate about her Goddess-given gifts. You could have learned a lot from her.” Mari realized she sounded defensive, but there was no way she was going to admit to Sora that she had shown disdain for her mother’s dedication to being the Clan’s Moon Woman.

“Well of course I could have learned a lot from her. Now I’m going to learn a lot from you. I’ll try to be the best apprentice I can be, and you won’t lecture me about my many, many responsibilities to the Clan. Will you?”

“No, I won’t. I don’t care about the Clan. I care about Rigel and me and keeping our secret.”

“Then we should get along just fine,” Sora said happily.

“You still haven’t explained why you’re so eager to be Moon Woman when you’ve made it clear you don’t feel the way Mama did about it,” Mari said.

Sora didn’t say anything. She just chewed her lip and refused to meet Mari’s gaze.

“Look, I’m not even going to consider this if you’re not completely honest with me,” Mari said.

Sora’s gray eyes met hers, and within them Mari was surprised to see vulnerability. “Okay, that’s fair.” She drew a long breath, let it out, and then spoke in a rush. “I want to be Moon Woman because I want to be so important to the Clan that no one ever leaves me again.”

Mari blinked, not sure she’d heard her correctly. She stared at Sora, who looked sad and shy. Where was the pretty, arrogant girl who hated to work and only had time for the young males of the Clan?

“Leave you? I guess I don’t understand,” Mari said.

“Of course you don’t. You don’t even know me.” Sora sighed again. “My father was part of the Miller Clan. He met my mother at a Trade Gathering. After he and my mother mated, and she became pregnant with me, he left and went back to his old Clan. As soon as I was born my mother followed him. Without me.”

“Your mama left you? Just like that?”

Sora looked away and nodded. “Just like that. And I don’t ever want that to happen again. No one leaves a Moon Woman. No one. She’s too important—too well loved.”

“Oh,” Mari said, shocked by this new version of Sora. “I’m sorry.”

“You understand now, don’t you? I won’t be as good as Leda, but I will take care of the Clan.”

“And in return they’ll take care of you,” Mari said.

Sora nodded. “I hope so. It’s really all I’ve ever wanted.”

“I do understand.” Slowly, resolutely, Mari stood. “You can move in with us, but we’re going to do things my way and not yours.”

Sora’s smile lit her face. “That’s just fine with me. I’ll be a good little apprentice. When do I start trying to draw down the moon?”

“Sadly, that’ll be tonight when I would rather be sleeping. But first you are going to help me do some digging and hunting.”

“Huh? Whatever for? Digging and hunting doesn’t have anything to do with drawing down the moon!” Sora looked around the grove as if Mari had just asked her to begin building a burrow there, from nothing, with nothing.

“Well, first, you’re going to find the biggest fern in the area and dig it up. We’ll use it tonight while you’re practicing drawing down the moon. No!” Mari stopped Sora’s question before it left her mouth. “I’m not going to explain why right now. Second, you’re going to help me gather mushrooms. For dinner. Until you’re a true Moon Woman and you are paid tribute, you’re going to have to hunt and dig and forage like any other Clanswoman.” She patted Rigel on the head. “Come on, sweet boy, sniff out some of those mushrooms for Sora so that she can practice her gathering skills.” Mari strode off, heading into the scrub pine where the mushrooms liked to hide with Sora trailing after her.

23

“This bramble thicket is impressive,” Sora said. They were standing just outside one of the hidden openings to the trail system that snaked around Mari’s burrow. “How long did it take to get it this big?”

With a groan, Mari put Rigel down, and then picked up her walking stick so that she could move aside a thick, thorny bough. Rigel moved inside the cover of the thicket, and Mari used her foot to smudge away his paw prints. “It’s been like this for as long as I can remember, but it doesn’t stay this way without a lot of work, and the channeling of a lot of moon energy.” Mari frowned, studying the brambles more closely. Leda hadn’t even been gone for one full cycle of the moon, and already she could see that the new growth had slowed and some of the thorny branches were looking unusually sparse.

“Wait, you draw down the moon for these brambles?”

Mari looked at Sora. “You don’t know much about being a Moon Woman, do you?”