Prologue
The child's eyes flickered open. They were as blue as the sky, her skin as soft as silk. Her eyes searched the world for the first time. It was a gaze of innocence and ignorance. The point of view that could be none other than a child's, virgin eyes seeing the world for its beauty instead of its flaws.
Her arms moved upwards, testing out her body. Exploring and discovering rapidly as she attempted to move and see. She wanted to view the world around her of course. It was beautiful in her eyes.
Etheleldra turned, her clouded eyes watching the child carefully. After all these years, it still thrilled her to see a child open it's eyes. She was tall and thin, so thin that her cheekbones jutted out in her face, and that you could see each individual rib sticking out from her stomach. She had wiry,white, almost yellow hair that fell wildly around her face. Her eyes, once such a bright blue, we're now grey and rheumy. Her skin was sunken and sallow. The years of hunger and malnourishment had taken their toll on her looks, but never her spirit.
She walked to the child. Not her child, of course. Etheleldra never had and never would mother a baby. She was only a birth maid, payed with food and shelter to look after the infant.
This ones mother, Dawn, was resting. It was natural to be tired, of course, but etheleldra worried for the child. Dawn was young and inexperienced in child care. Etheleldra, now holding the baby in her arms, vowed to look after both of them as well as she could.
A smile played at her lips as the infant blinked her huge bright eyes. 'What
was it she called you?' Etheleldra spoke softly, as if the child could answer her. 'Ah yes. Luna. Your name is Luna.'
