Blue Moon - An Anthology of Fantasy-Esque Short Stories.

Chapter 1 - The Laughing Girl

ACT I

She was a child of many risks, that Shilah, ever since the night when she was born beneath the blue moon. I know because I saw it, for I see everything.

You see, when Anna was in labor, no one dared to leave their sealed homes. Nobody wanted the evil spirits to know that something was afoot in their tribe that night, but nevertheless, Anna bickered with her husband over birthing the child out in the river.
"But I must go, Nosh!" Anna said with a pained expression.
"No! You mustn't, Anna." her husband insisted. "I won't allow it, not before dawn."
"The baby cannot wait until dawn, Husband!"
"Then I will help you birth it!" the husband said, realizing how extreme that measure must be.
"What do you know about birthing a child?"
"I know that I don't know enough, but you can teach me how to help you."
"Please, husband." Anna implored, as she packed anything valuable she could find for offerings. "Please understand it's too late for that, I'm not asking this of you. I will go to the river and bear my child, with – or without – you."
"But there are white wolves at the river!"
Anna let out a cry, she had another contraction. "It is my choice, and I choose to risk it."
The two finally agreed one-sidedly and with haste that she was to venture alone into the river and deliver the child. Now, Nosh was a brave man, but even he did not have the courage to go with her that night, which meant she, alone, would have to bargain with the white wolves, whose fur radiated snow white beneath the rare, azure light of the moon. And thus, she did, on that fated night where the impossible would happen, and all throughout the night Nosh prayed for her safety.

Her journey was painful, but mostly uneventful, until she reached the riverside; where the white wolves awaited her.

"What is this?" Asked a wolf with glistening foam escaping its fangs.

"Dinner, of course." Said another.

"Please! I—I came to make a deal." The mother-to-be implored. "You must listen to me!"

"We must, you say!" The greatest wolf among them jeered, his fur was pure white and his eyes were of luminescent crimson. "You have come for my river, have you not? Tell me why we should humor you, so that I, the all-mighty Warg, king of the wolves, may be entertained before we feast!"

"Please, I brought o—offerings from the village, please—do not eat us!" beseeched Anna.
"Us?" The Warg inquired with a sly grin.
"I have a child about to be born, and I will do anything to birth it in the river. Please—There is no time to lose!"

The wolves laughed and howled at her plight malevolently – after all, to them it simply means a meal of two.

"Quiet!" The Warg growled. And silence fell around him. "The river means everything to us, we care not for your pitiful offerings. But I am a generous keeper, and as the owner of these waters, I will allow you to give birth in my river, but in return, we will demand a favor from your child, once in a blue moon. Are we agreed?"

It was a bad deal; a bad deal full of ulterior motives and malevolent intentions hidden between the lines, Anna saw it as clear as daylight, but agreed nonetheless. Soon after, the child was born healthy in the river, and her mother was eaten.

On the very next morning, a little orphaned girl, having no more than six years of life, walked into the valley; alone; wearing large clothing she found that was better fitting for a pregnant woman, Her hair was black, her left eye was pale blue, and the other – a deep hazel, and her expression – a different hue altogether. She had no memories at all; in fact, there was an air of innocence and fragility was about her; she was all skin and bones, and just as quiet. She was never breast fed: never slept as a baby would; she didn't speak, but was transparent in her behavior. She never cried or laughed before, either. She was just...there, and that is what the tribe feared the most.
The Pau wau let out a hearty roar of laughter and all the eyes (including the child's) turned to him. "She must be one of our own, I can tell she is none other than the child of Nosh and Anna."