Luna tugged the boat and its shell-shocked passengers to the riverbank and tied it to a small post.
Their faces were pasted into a horrified expression, their hair windswept and their faces doused with dew.
She giggled and jumped back on the boat again. "Hey, sillies," she snickered, waving her hand in front of their faces, "you there?"
"Water," Kid barely croaked out.
"Yeah. You're soaking," Luna agreed, knowing full well what he meant but answering back sarcastically. "Come onto shore so we can get you some towels."
Liz was the first to snap out of her momentary trance. "The water! You controlled the water!" she babbled, pointing at Luna.
"I know," Luna nodded. "How do you think we got down here?"
Patty snapped out of her trance as well, with a large grin spreading across her face. "That...was SO COOL!!!" she exclaimed, her eyes shining with admiration.
Luna smiled, jumping off the boat and onto shore. "Thanks," she said offhandedly, lifting some river water up and controlling it to grab the bags.
Kid blinked momentarily and watched as the small flows of water carried the bags towards Luna.
She grabbed the bags and looked at them expectantly. "Well? Don't you wanna meet my mom?"
~~~~
Kid could barely get over the fact that one: this girl could control water and two: they went down a freaking waterfall! And they lived because of some psycho shorty grinning the whole way down!
The next thing he knew, he was off the boat, grabbing Luna by her shoulders and shaking her repeatedly, screaming out, "Are you crazy? We nearly died because you decided it was fun to go down a freaking waterfall! And on top of that, we're soaked and I've become asymmetrical trash! This is horrible!"
Luna looked at him like he was crazy, her left eye twitching in annoyance. "ExCUSE you, sir," she grimaced, stepping away from his grip. "You agreed to talk to my mom but you didn't ask about the rebuttals of doing so."
Kid narrowed his eyes, fuming down at her. "Fine. Just get me a towel," he grumbled.
"Or I could just control the water off of you," Luna offered.
Begrudgingly, he agreed. Kid tried to keep an unimpressed and straight expression as she moved her hands with careful movements, extracting water from his hair and clothes and instantaneously drying him.
The water that had previously left the reaper soaking wet had accumulated right in front of him in a glistening, giant dew drop.
Then, as swiftly as he had dried, Luna had clenched a fist and let it disappear, leaving a light mist behind. "Whoa!" Liz and Patty gushed, watching the whole spectacle.
"Do me! Do me!" Patty jumped up and down excitedly.
"Me too!" Liz called out, her previously shocked expression replaced with an enthusiastic expression.
Luna nodded, grinning. "Alright!"
~~~~
The Canis Clan's village was nothing like Kid expected. He expected tents or tepees, a large cooking pot in the middle, maybe.
Instead, he got something that was the equivalent of a summer camp.
Log cabins, hiking trails, and a small amphitheater in the middle were present instead of tepees or giant cooking pots.
Another thing that stood out was that everyone didn't look alike. With the exception of a few pairs of twins, no one looked the same.
It looked like one whole international gathering but in a summer camp form.
"Where are we exactly?" he asked in awe.
"Where do you think?" Luna replied, rolling her eyes. "The Canis Clan Village, the legendary Village of Second Chances. Ever heard of those terms?"
Kid shook his head, looking all around him. The atmosphere here was cozy, safe, and familiar. Admittedly, he liked it.
"Hey, starry-eyes," Luna called. "Watch where you're going!"
Kid blinked and paid attention once more, finding that he nearly bumped into a large pole.
Embarrassed, he caught up with the three girls, ignoring the snickers of the others behind him.
"So, where is your mother, exactly?" Liz asked through giggling at Kid's near embarrassing moment.
He shot her a sharp glare, which she ignored smugly.
Luna pointed wordlessly at a large barn near the farthest corner of the village. "Over there, working," Luna replied.
The four of them approached the barn, which was filled with loud pops, bangs, and whirs, some profanity mixed in with the sounds.
Liz immediately slapped both of her hands onto Patty's ears. "Patty, don't you ever speak like Luna's mother, OK?" she reminded her sister.
"OK, big sis," Patty agreed. "Whatever you say."
Luna ran over to a large wooden box and took out four blue cloaks. "Take one," she ordered them, offering them one.
As Liz and Patty quickly grabbed a garment and put it on, Kid looked at his cloak suspiciously. "What is this?" he asked, turning it over in his hands. "It's damp."
"Clouds woven into protective cloaks," Luna replied without any hesitation, "with a little piece of the sky added for divine protection."
Kid looked at her like she was crazy, which she probably was in his opinion. "Kindly elaborate for us," he requested, half-sarcastically, half-genuinely.
Luna nodded and started explaining that the barn was Selene's lab, and she worked with stars and their starlight, generating more power for and from the moon, and most important of all, working on new weapons for defense.
"The materials she works with can inflict mortal wounds on you three," Luna added, working on the padlock and chain. "The clouds serve as protection from the moon's power, since they're the only known thing to conceal the moon."
A loud click followed as she swung the great doors open and gestured for them to come inside. Obediently, they filed right after her, entering a jungle of metal, wood, and jars of grape jelly.
Kid felt faint. "This place is a dump," he said through gritted teeth. "Just look at this place! Asymmetrical woodwork, asymmetrical metal sculptures, asymmetrical everything! Doesn't a goddess know how to keep her own abode?"
Luna rolled her eyes. "She's a goddess. She can do whatever she wants," Luna replied, jumping over a car battery. "And besides, she's got a lot on her hands already. She's got a moon to control, tides and water patterns to maintain, a war to fight."
"A war?" all three of them asked at the same time.
Luna seemingly avoided her question as she yelled out into the barn for her mother. A muffled reply in the background, followed by a loud bang and a well-placed "Damn it!" was given.
As the four teenagers stepped closer to the sound of an angry voice muttering about needing more grape jelly to calm her bones.
Kid immediately spotted a dark-haired woman with messy hair wearing large goggles, a white button-up shirt that was spotless in comparison to the mess, and a long blue skirt.
"Ladies and gentleman," Luna announced, "Selene Canis, actual goddess of the moon, associate of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and also--" Luna paused. "--my mother."
