Page 28 of Moon Chosen

“Well, I hate to admit it out loud, but I don’t think I have been the best of students.” Mari smiled over her shoulder at her mother as she looked through the medium-sized baskets that lined the wall of their burrow’s well-stocked medical pantry. “Here it is!” She carried the basket back to her desk and carefully began to add the gelatinous mixture to the muddled herbs.

“Not the best of students, perhaps, but the best of daughters,” Leda said.

“Mama, you’re totally biased.” Mari laughed. “That’s like me saying Rigel is the best of canines.”

“Well, he is, isn’t he?”

“Absolutely! So, I guess that makes you right again!” Both women giggled, and Mari thought how girlish her mother suddenly seemed. As Leda laughed, the worry lines that had begun to trespass on her face softened, making Mari realize that her mother, who was also her best friend, was aging. A little shiver of trepidation skittered down her spine, and she blurted, “Yesterday, when I took Rigel out, I noticed that the wild carrots in the clearing by the west stream are ready to be harvested, and you know they’re always sweeter pulled at night. It’s not Third Night until tomorrow. The Clan can get by without you tonight. Why don’t you stay with Rigel and me, and we’ll go together to pick a big basketful?”

Leda’s smile was distracted as she returned to the basket she’d been weaving. “Not tonight, sweet girl. I have called a Gathering of the Clan before sunset, and afterward there is much Clan business to which I must attend.”

“Keeping them from eating each other isn’t Clan business—it’s charity work,” Mari muttered.

“Earth Walkers donoteat other humans, you know that.”

“Not as long as you’re there to Wash them of Night Fever, they don’t,” Mari said in an exaggerated whisper.

“Skin Stealers are cannibals, and not to be spoken of with sarcasm and flippancy. You know better. Recite the teaching rhyme, Mari.”

Mari stifled a sighed and recited by rote, “Of cities beware—Skin Stealers are there.”

“Always remember the rhymes that have punctuated your childhood. I didn’t teach them to you just to pass time.” Leda paused, obviously collecting herself. When she spoke again her mood had shifted. Her patience had returned, but so had the weariness that caused shadows under her expressive gray eyes. “Mari, being a Moon Woman isn’t charity—it’s destiny. You’ve felt the power and understand that your gift should be cherished and used well, for the greater good of the Clan.”

“Mother, I know what you’re saying, but I don’t feel like you about it. Over and over again you save the same people who would condemn youand meif we didn’t hide the truth from them.”

“The Law was set long before I met Galen, when the first of our Clan migrated here from the coast and the Companions discovered our connection to the Earth Mother, and all that she grows. We were willing to help them, to aid them in coaxing crops from the fertile ground of their island, but instead of thanking us, they captured a group of women, holding them against their will. Without their Moon Woman, the Clanswomen were overwhelmed with Night Fever, and the Tribe refused to release them, killing or enslaving any of the Clan who attempted to free them. Henceforth, the women of the Clan forbade any contact with the Tribe of the Trees.”

“Yeah, and if they found out about me, according to Clan Law, you and I would be driven into Companion territory and abandoned there. Let’s just say that doesn’t endear them to me.”

“So you would have me withhold from the Clan that which soothes them and keeps them sane. You would have me stop healing the wounded and sick who need my touch and my skill. What about Jenna and her father? Would you consign your friend and her father to sorrow and madness?”

“No, I didn’t mean that.” Mari frowned.

“Mari, I often wish your life could be different.”

“Well, I wishour livescould be different,” Mari said firmly.

Leda looked up from her basket and met Mari’s gaze. “I can imagine no life I would have savored more than the one I have shared with you.”

“Oh, Mama, I love you so much! I just wish our lives could have more happiness to balance the sadness.”

“Sweet girl, thanks to Rigel, I believe your wish is coming true. Since he chose you, I have seen you filled with great joy.”

Mari grinned and reached down to caress Rigel’s head. The half-grown canine yawned happily and stretched, then nuzzled her hand and looked up at her adoringly. “He does make me happy. But, Mama, he’s changed everything and nothing,” she repeated the sentiment that was never far from her mind.

“Mari, if something happens to me, I want you to promise that you will take Rigel and go to the Companions.”

Inside Mari went very cold. “Mother, nothing is going to happen to you!”

“Promise me that you will remember my wish is that you go to your father’s people.”

“No, Mama! I won’t make that promise. The Companions kill us or enslave us. It doesn’t make any sense for me to go to them.”

“Mari, listen to me. It is different for you because Rigel makes you one of them. You are bonded to a Shepherd—a Leader canine. That is a sacred thing. You are valuable to their Tribe, and what benefits the Tribe is always what is most important to the Companions.”

“My father was bonded to Orion, a Leader canine, and important to the Tribe. They killed him.”

“Because he broke one of their most sacred tenets—he stole from the Mother Plant. But you have broken no tenet. I believe they will accept you.”