LUNAR - The Low Dawn

Chapter Two

I'm seated between my sister and mother in the moon pod - a tiny shuttle racing through a warren of glass tunnels in Selenar. They're packed tonight - no wonder. All around me, I can see other families seated in their own pods, seated with both sons and daughters for tonight's matching ceremony. A father sits stoically with his son, suppressing tears. A mother clasps her own silver necklace around her daughter's pale neck.

Domitia presses her face up to the glass moon pod walls, admiring every boy she sees out loud.

"There's Calix from school," she breathes. "He sat beside me at graduation. Doesn't he look handsome tonight? Could do with a little less of that hair gel though."

"And there's Karlin from your graduation too," I point out. "She looks like she dyed her hair hair even...blonder, and how much lip tint is she even wearing?"

"She looks wonderful tonight," my mother corrects, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Everyone does."

"I don't," I scoff at her. 

"You look wonderful too," she says dazedly in a daze. "And so does your sister. Tell her so."

"Tell me so," Domitia giggled, playful slapping my arm. "Our dear mother did say so."

It's true, Domitia does look beautiful tonight. Her black hair falls down her back in a sleek sheet, and her chocolate eyes look magnified by her dark lashes. Her cheeks are plumper, more rosier than mine, and curiously accented by her high cheekbones. Her Match is certain to not be dissatisfied.

I can't say the same about mine

"I wonder who Madox will get," Celesta says dreamily. "I would love to have him."

"Of course you would," I say, patting my friend's knee. "You've had a crush on him since forever."

"Not forever," Celesta sighed. "Just about two years ago."

"I wonder who will get Karlin for their wife," I snort, breaking the mood. "That, I think, is the only boy who should really be disappointed tonight."

"Don't forget the rest of her little clique," Celesta added darkly. "Cherisis and Lidia. I hope one of them gets Isidro."

I cock my head around to the right to see Isidro seated at the end next to a burly boy I don't recognize. He looks the same as always, thin, fragile looking frame, his watch nearly sliding off his bony arm, his nose quivering.

"Yes...Isidro for one of them. I could imagine that."

Suddenly, the hushed whispers fall silent in one sweep. The entire atrium grows dark, and the sterile light from the podium suddenly lights up. Celesta gasps, than clutches my hand with a vice like grip.

A Selenar government official lopes onto the stage, and I immediately recognize her face as that of Theta Nu, the head of the Matching Department. She seems more scholarly than her posters show, but still cold. This is the woman that has the power to control our lives.

"May I please have your attention," she calls out pleasantly, as if she's addressing a dinner party that the meal is ready. "The 75th Annual Matching Ceremony has now begun."

Silence.

Clearing her throat, Nu retrieves a thin silver folder from a metal case. The pages ruffle slightly as she opens it, and before I know it, my throat has choked up from the nervous anticipation.

"I will now announce the first match this evening," she calls out. "Declan Taler and Zana Carder."

A lithe, brown haired boy walks up the stage and takes Zana's hands. I'd known Zana well before she'd transferred districts. She was a warm, worldly girl who could go on for hours about her ambitions and how she would make Selenar a better place. I wondered how she would do with an aloof, distant Match such as Declan.

"The 2nd Match of the evening is Ruben East and Gwendolen Ball."

This time, there's a small round of applause. It's a good Match, I have to agree.

Another couple goes up. Then another. Then five more.

"The 7th Match of the Evening is Gideon Sol and Domitia Gley."

My head snaps up in an instant. So does Celesta's.

My sister and Gideon Sol. 

My sister and Gideon Sol.

Gideon Sol.

It's a doomed Match already.