The Moon Child - Chapter 1 +2

Chapter one [dark moon child]

They say that on one beautiful night where the stars were at their brightest and fireflies filled the grassy fields while the grasshoppers played the music to fit their dance the moon had eclipsed and there was no glow to be found just complete darkness as if it had been lost in the great wide universe without a trace and the whole world went quite. the oceans stood still while the wind roared and whistled; as if it was calling out to the moon to return whilst mourning its loss. Just as it was calming into its sorrow, the moon started to appear from behind the cover of the earth’s shadow and as it’s light fell onto the earth’s surface it hit a lake filled with beautiful lily pads and the union of the turquoise waters and the blue moon light birthed the Moon child, Esmera. The birth of the Moon child is still a mystery to this day, but many believe that it was so that in the absence of the moons light the light that radiates from her skin keeps the world aglow and maintain balance.

Esmera overhears the story being told for the third time that week she then follows it to a clearance in the trees where all the animal young ones gathered to hear the story,

"Oh would you stop it with that story, it only sounds all magical coming from you."

"Well Esmera, why don't you tell it from your point of view?” replies the old owl.

"I don’t know guy's, I don’t wanna ruin it, you don't want my confused blurry version and honestly that night was really scary for me".

"Esey, come on, you taught us that it is important to hear all sides of the story and life can't always be magical " says the marten.

"Wow, I'm sorry I didn't realise that me trying to learn morals would bring such a grim lesson with it".

"Oh no not at all, I don't know about the others but personally I'm glad that I learnt life is not all sunshine and rainbows, and it really doesn't seem grim to me in fact the sad and hard parts make the destinations much sweeter." (Marten)

"Yeah what they said!" (hedgehog)

"I'm sorry guys, like I said, that story is still a bit to traumatic for me maybe another time."

"Alright Esmera, I hope we didn't upset you by this, and for what it’s worth it doesn’t really matter to me why you were born I'm just happy that you were and We got to have you in our life." (old owl)

"Yeah what they said !!"(hedgehog)

"Umh-hum for sure." (badger)

"I agree too" says the skunk in a soft shy voice.

"Do you even know what we're talking about." (badger)

"Nope but is it about how pretty Esmera is?"(hedgehog)

"Aw darling no, but close enough!" says the old owl.

Esmera smiles and starts walking away. The kid's voices fade into the background as Esmera walks away and towards the lake of lilies and walks across the water on the lily pads to reach a little isle in the middle of the lake where a huge willow tree lies that she lives under.

As she lays in the curve of the tree’s trunk she reminiscences about that night while looking at the clearance between the willow vines that lets in moon light .

Every time Esmera tries to remember that night it only comes back in flashes , where she see’s the moon still in a crescent slowly emerging out of the earths shadow and becoming full and she hears her cries as a baby.

Then comes another flash where the moon is full and her cries get quieter as they get overshadowed by the sound of someone humming a soft tune, then it cuts to another flash of that same tune but her laying in the curve of that willow and seeing the little clearance between the leaves get wider letting in a ray of moonlight right above her face and then her eyes slowly close and the flashes end there.

Other than those flashes Esmera has no other memories of that night, she has also struggled at the hand of nightmares where all she can hear are her cries as a baby and she can feel herself being torn away from the loving arms of someone’s warm embrace she’s never seen who it was but she did hear someone who’s voice sounds awfully similar to hers yelling to give her back and it always ends the same with her falling into an abyss and waking up scared under the willow.

“NO!” yells Esmera .

waking up from yet another nightmare breathing heavily while clutching her chest then she takes a deep breath and collects her hair away from her face and wiping the beads of sweat away from her face then she goes to the edge of the Isle to wash her face then she takes a deep breath of the fresh pre-sunset morning air filling her lungs with a crisp cold sensation that allows her panic to melt away. Since Esmera has always had these nightmares that are followed by brief moments of panic she has developed her own set of coping mechanisms; wash face, deep breath then write down any new details from the dream just in case the gaps in her memory can be filled and feel a little less terrifying .

She sat under the willow in the lotus pose with her book on her leg which she got as a gift from the shrine the locals built for her and she closed her eye and took a couple of deep breaths trying to remember her dream scanning it for any sliver of hope, any new detail just anything but to no avail frustrated she scribbles on the page open in front of her then gets up and leaves the book and a bunch of balled up paper on the ground then she grabs her lyre harp and goes to take a walk through the forest hoping that it could calm her down or maybe even bring another memory fragment back .

The lyre harp was given to her by the owl on her birthday to help her play the tune from her flashes and maybe remember something and that tune is the only thing she knows how to play on the lyre so she walks through the forest while playing the tune then suddenly she hears someone humming the tune from somewhere in the forest but she brushes it off thinking that it might just be the sound of her thoughts amplified by the quiet of the forest but her thoughts have never been this vivid realizing this she stops and her fingers fall away from the strings while the lyre remains gripped in her palm which are now getting a bit sweaty then closes her eyes and takes a slow deep breath whilst trying to limit the sound of the air entering her body so that she can listen for the tune as she exhaled a swift breeze came towards her carrying the tune with it so she took another slow deep breath and kept her eyes closed and started walking towards the direction of the sound slowly when she got close enough she slowly opened her eyes and hid behind the closest tree.

Esmera took one last deep breath desperately trying to calm her anxious heart which didn’t work but she slowly took a peek from behind the tree at the source of the tune that has been haunting her since she came into existence.

Chapter 2 [the winds song]

Esmera’s ears guide her eyes to the source of the humming standing before her is a tall woman with long flowing hair in a half up half down hairstyle and skin the color of light yellow wheat wearing a flowy somewhat shear pastel purple and blue dress and she’s tending to a garden but not in a regular way but with one hand holding a watering can and the other creating a breeze that sends the stream of water spraying across the garden plot of flowers in a light quick shower.

Esmera gasps then places her hand on her mouth and hides behind the tree.

The sound of the water droplets suddenly stops and the woman say “who’s there?, show yourself ” In a stern voice just loud enough to reach Esmera’s ears.

Esmera then slowly starts emerging from behind the tree facing the woman who was staring back at her with her hand on her hip and an angry expression on her face which fades ever so slightly once she sees Esmera then she says “well what are you standing there for, come here”

Esmera then starts making her way towards her, once she’s close enough she says stuttering “ he..h.hello, ma’am I’m Esmera sorry I was spying.. no not spying I was merely admiring, well no I was simply looking at you from behind that tree, it’s just that you were humming a familiar tune and I was curious to know what it was as it has eluded me…” unknowingly she slips into a ramble about her life story .

“Young lady, I didn’t ask for your life story.“

“Right, sorry ma’am.“

“Ma’am?!, do I really look that old!”

“N.n..no ma’am that just what I call someone who’s older than me if I don’t know them.“

“Well I’m Eteri and you’re trespassing on my home and I really don’t care for trespassers.“

“Sorry ma’am, I’ll be on my way.”

“Just a second, isn’t it common curtesy to offer a favor to make up for wronging someone? In your case spying . Also i’d appreciate it if you stop calling me ma’am, call me Eteri."

Esmera smiles slightly at the chance given to her to learn more about Eteri.

“Oh ok miss Eteri, how can I make it up to you?”

“You can start by helping me water my plants.”

Esmera spent the rest of the afternoon helping with watering the plants and quietly admiring Eteri’s power . She wanted to ask her about herself but she didn’t know where to begin.

Once she was done with the watering the plants Eteri had forgiven her and she dismissed her.

That night under the willow Esmera spent it restlessly thinking about how she let a whole afternoon pass with no progress in learning anything about her past or how Eteri relates to that night .

On the other side of the forest the now insomniac Eteri kept running the memory of Esey’s ramblings over and over again with a cup of hot camomile tea to warm her forever cold hands and help her fall asleep but all she could think about was the fact that Esmera knows that tune even tho she only sung that tune for one person someone who she thought was long gone after Esmera’s birth.

“Oh my dear Selene “ she whispers to herself and takes another sip of her tea.

End of chapter