Among Shattered Stars, I May Fall: Book 1.

Chapter 15- The Moon's Story.

"People are their most vulnerable, in their most purest state, as they're sleeping , so who got to you this time?"

"Tehyeurs, myn nightingale,"
So, my nightingale.

"Musare."
Sing.

---

Mother Cygnus sighed. "Harmony, please enter the pool." The drumming started again, Mona thinking she was paranoid to believe that each beat matched the thumping of her heart. She cringed as she went knee-deep into the water, and the horrible feeling of a soaked dress tickled her legs. Mona had done this a few times before, but after seeing the symbol of the God of War pressed into Marco's skin, she was worried she'd get one too. Worried if someone claimed her too.
Soon, Mona had been in the deep water too- this was expected- and the bubbles set to work, gathering around wounds no matter how minute, and one large bubble surrounded her head like an oxygen-filled helmet. She was physically cleansed. Mona closed her eyes, awaiting the spiritiual Cleansing as the names of the Seven Heveanly Virtues skated through her mind. The most important one of all the loudest: Chastity, Chastity...
Normally that was all that happened. Normally, she was only submerged for five minutes, long enough to set her mind back on the pure track.
"Follow us." The Whispers. Mona's spine ached from the nerves, eyes opening. Obediently, she followed, swimming a couple of metres behind the Whispers as they neared the bottom of the Pool. But as she was older now, her sins were seen as more of a threat to her loyalty and she was visited by the creatures that possessed the Pool. Their purpose was to show one their committed sin, and how they should repent.
Already prepared for what would happen, Mona closed her eyes again. One Whisper to each eye slapped Mona with their boney hand and their surprising strength punched her through the bed of the water. The pressure made Mona's ears ached but they quickly popped as she sat up in an office. An office with a golden desk, with a golden fountain pen resting on an open notebook. The fireplace to her right was lit bright and burning. The scent of the glassy rose was sharp- the vanilla flower decorated the entire room. If it weren't for the furniture, Mona would have confused the place for a garden. The petals were an odd kind as it looked like someone had single-handedly dipped a wine-coloured rose into lilac paint and allowed the paint to drip wherever it wished. The vanilla scent wasn't intoxicating, but almost comforting.

XXX

"Harmony, what-" The woman coughed  into her long sleeve. Her voice natively strong to the language she spoke: Lyajya, language of the higher class. The swish of her dress swiped by a little Mona as the woman rushed to open the windows.
"What did we agree on about using the vanilla perfume?"
Mona was close to tears from the shock of the moment. "To use only one short spray otherwise the God of Scent will get angry and take away Cyllene." She hugged the lop-eared rabbit close to her chest, sulking.
The woman sighed and licked her thumb to wipe off one of the many crescent moons Mona had drawn on her face with black eyeshadow. The woman was Musa Titanos: Mona's mother, and it was clear where Mona had gotten her dark hair from.
"Did you sneak into mama's bedroom again?"
"Papa let me borrow the eyeliner." She looked up at her with sad eyes.
"It's eyeshadow, sweetie..."
"And you never use it, so I thought it would be okay."
Musa lifted Mona up her so she sat on the right side of her hip- bunny included- and she sat her down on the bed.
"Because the colour is too sad and dampens all the happy days." She licked her thumb again and scrubbed hard at the crescent moons, but being the difficult little child she usually was, Mona shook her head making it difficult for the task to be done.
"But you like the rain, it's good for the flowers."
"But too much isn't good for anyone and neither is too little." She kissed the tip of Mona's nose, causing her to giggle, before she picked up the make-up palette and shooed away the maids who had arrived in an unnecessary rush.
"Though there is one flower which hardly needs much of anything to survive, yet can still bloom to the highest beauty." Musa picked out a small rose that had been placed in her dark braid of hair. Its petals were wine-coloured and it looked as if someone had dipped the petals in lilac paint in a rush. Still, it did look divine. Mona's eyes widened with wonder as the rose was placed into the palm of her hand. Cyllene's little nose twitched as she sniffed at the flower. Then tried to eat it-
"No, Cyllene! Naughty!" Mona tapped the rabbit's forehead and held the flower up high above her head. Musa found the moment to be amusing and giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's harmless, my nightingale. Cyllene is purely curious just like you always are." Mona flushed with embarrassment.
It was strange how Musa always warned Mona about using too much perfume even though she always wore too many flowers in her hair that smelt just as empowering. It was almost as if she were challenging the Gods, and that was one of the many things Mona admired about her mother. Sadly, the lengths to how invincible Musa truly was had later been challenged. People were always most vulnerable in the deepest of sleep.

XXX

"Titanos."
"Jya?" She hadn't realised she had switched to her home language. It had been years. "Lordy..." Mona shook her head as she cursed at herself.
"Old lessons are difficult to burn out, I see." She couldn't see the speaker, so suddenly wished she had a dagger at hand. Unless the thorns of every rose combined could have formed some sort of weapon, she was defenceless.
"Envy, I should really call you. Ne?" Right?
"Don't use my language."
The speaker clicked their tongue. "You can't be too sure it's your language as much as it's mine. Ne?"
"Reveal yourself." Mona almost hissed. Fortunately the command worked as Sunn appeared right before her, dressed in the suit he wore the night of the Thanking Ceremony. "You're too feisty. Maybe I'll think twice before offering you a dance."

Sunn's presence was just a phantom created by the Pool. Mona was sure of it, but it didn't stop the blush on her cheeks.

{AN: Yes, that's Florence Welch in the picture- it doesn't belong to me. Also I failed at trying to create my own language. I hope this was a decent, short insight into Mona's history. Please rate, comment and tell me how you thought about this chapter. ^^}