Daughters of Moonlight

Chapter 12

The same familiar safety that had followed me to my tent seemed to enter it again, washing over me in waves. Somewhere under the safety was a call for me to get up, to move. It woke me but rather than the annoyance I would experience from being woken so suddenly, instead I felt a sort of calm. I left the tent into the dry air outside. I looked back up at the sky with the moon so prominently in the middle of. I looked at the tents around me and thought of these people that I had lived with for years, that I trusted with my life. I should've felt safe, they should've been my family but I had never felt so lost. I didn't have a home, the only thing that I had was The Moon. She felt like home and not knowing what else to do I called out to her. I asked her for help. I asked her for a way through, a clear path. I looked back at the tents that were around me, the dying coals of our small fire and I began to realize why I was feeling so lost. I wonder whether they would have saved my life and fought with me. If they knew my true sex. The cruel truth is that they would treat me like Mel or maybe worst.

These are not my people. That thought echoed across my mind until it was all I could think about until it was all I am.

"Deep in thought I see."

Suddenly I was removed from my loud thoughts and now a short girl with wild black hair and glimmering onyx eyes stood in front of me.

'' Yeah.'' That was all I managed to say before I remembered I wasn't binding my chest and had only a thin cotton shirt on. My face flushed and I quickly tried to bury my chest under my arms, but it was too late. Mel had seen me, the true me. A loud laugh broke the silence of the night and i was forced to look into Mel's eyes that were filled with amusement.

''Why are you so nervous, i already knew.'' She said laughing once again into the dark night.

'' W- what, what do you mean.''

'' Oh, Nai I knew the moment I saw you, those brutes have no true recognition of the female body but I think you forget I worked at a pleasure house all my life.'' She chuckled deeply before continuing. '' And I was sure of it because unlike them,'' she said pointing to the tents. '' You never underestimated me.'' All I could manage to say was a meek why. Why? Why did she not say anything? Why did she not run to tell Tyre and probably be rewarded for her honesty? Why did she not tell me from the very beginning?

'' Well I probably would've done the same thing if I could, Graviores isn't too welcoming to us women is it?. It's also none of my business, you weren't harming anyone. And it is like the poets say, it's nice to have a friend.'' she added a smile and that seemed to calm my worries down.

'' Why are you awake Mel?''

''To be honest, I miss the forest.''

'' Haven't been out here in a while.''I said. I knew the answer. I remembered her telling me about her family camping trips. I just wanted to talk to her. And that kind of scared me.

'' Yeah, I haven't. '' she added a sad smile. '' My parents were farmers, we weren't too well off so before the winters we would hunt for hides. This forest is similar to the ones back home.''

'' Home, do you want to go back?'' I had no idea why I was continuing this conversation but it felt right.

'' I guess, i'm not who i once was.''

'' Who is?'I said, looking deep into the moon.

'' Who is?'' she repeated after me with a chuckle.

'' What did they die of?''Once again my wretched curiosity got the better of me.

'' The plague, my aunt took me in after that.'' her eyes went dark and i suspected it was probably hatred that was clouding her vision.

'' What about you, how did a half nymph come to be here.'' sensing she was trying to change the subject I went along with it trying to make up for my wreckless questions.

'' You wouldn't believe it if I told you.''

'' Try me.'' she smiled the smile that always calmed me down.

'' Ok then I laughed and looked back into the moon.'' I was born rich believe it or not.''

'' A rich nymph in the middle of Graviores.'' Mel said skeptically.

'' Yeah, I know. My dad was a governor in this small town in the middle of nowhere and my mom. She was a nymph ambassador.''I looked back at Mel and her skepticism seemed to fade away and was now all ears. '' My mom died when I was a baby but I used to sneak into the kitchen and ask her friend to tell me stories about her. Their name was Kris.'' A single tear made its way to my cheek but Mel didn't seem bothered by it; she just gestured for me to continue. '' Kris would bake me bread and cakes and I would make up stories about me being a pirate. I remember their rough hands and even their smell. I remember Kris's blue eyes that seemed to have stories to last a lifetime.''I looked over at Mel and she seemed to want me to stop, but I needed to get this off my chest. To get the secrets and pain that have plagued me for five years off of my chest. '' I had a best friend, he and I would play pirates and pretend to be opposing gangs, we would play in the hill next to my house that was overgrown with wildflowers and we would look up at the moon and talk for hours about the future.''

'' What was his name.'' Mel said gently.

''Keres.'' the name burned my tongue, a name I haven't said in years. A name that seemed to hold so much power over me. But now the name seemed insignificant and small. Like it lost its chokehold on my broken heart. I stared back at Mel, surprised at myself. These were the most words I ever had with someone in these long five years, yet I felt I wanted to tell her even more. But I didn't, instead, I let the silence stand. I tried to let the words I spoke fill the air between us but instead, they seemed to dissipate. As the silence began to fill the air more the words and the power that they had held over me for so long seemed to lessen. The moon seemed to take over, her light shining brighter than I had seen before. The same calm washed over me but this time I realized that it didn't just come from the moon. This calm was deeper, it came from somewhere within me, somewhere that I had only seen because of Mel.