A/N: Thank you to BarrissOffee99, ErrantTalisman, and march4fun for your help in building this setting. The Leaf-fall festival has finally started!

Chapter 15: Since She Commanded It

When I thought of my first festival as a priestess, I remembered the moment before success came. Mirana had needed to attend to her other duties that night, so I had to start my phase's Dark Moon Festival by myself.

Sitting down with a horde of unhappy people watching me and knowing greatness worthy of the goddess should be coming out of my mouth, but also knowing that I was mute and had no voice to offer them, was terrifying. It seemed so incredibly wrong for me to be occupying Priestess Lyralei's spot.

And yet there I had been, sweating, shivering, among my fellow acolytes, and feeling very alone.

That night Selemene did something that no mortal could have done.

My goddess saved me.

Tonight, I said the same prayer in my mind so that she could save me again.

I felt her love fill my mouth and travel down my throat. Then my blessed voice spoke, not to the crowd in front of me, but to Selemene herself:

"Goddess, I stand before you in Selum and wish to recall a time before day and the strife of this flawed existence was constructed, a time of peace and endless night.

I know how glorious you were then, my goddess. You were Mene, living in harmony with your children, the stars. As was right, darkness surrounded you and let you shine your true light and love upon your children.

And yet, I cannot recall such bliss without mourning what came after. Nor can I summon enough antipathy for that star who thought himself deserving of more.

Why could he not content himself with your love?

Why did he seek to own you as a husband owns his wife?

Why did he take a name and make himself other?

And why, oh, why did some of his siblings believe his false avaricious promises?

Had it not been so, war never would have come. You never would have been hurt trying to protect your children from each other.

But hurt you were.

That last true night you fell to earth injured, bleeding out your life force which was so potent and powerful that it spread throughout the world, reshaping it to what we know now.

While you attempted to rise once more from the depths of this place, Selum, that fool continued his senseless rebellion, absorbing the essences of friend and foe alike and tossing their broken shards down onto the earth. From such acts, those who attempted to stay loyal to you were left as weak and transient fragments. Our frail human bodies make it impossible to comprehend the true beauty of the night nor the peace of darkness. We now live with the physical manifestations of your righteous grief and our family's sin. Creeps of every size and kind plague us. Sun Fae lie to us and themselves, unable to admit the rebellion was their gravest mistake. And worst of all is Solares himself. Nightly, I bear witness to how this false god uses his ill-gotten power to dye the sky blue with his cursed daylight. I suffer through his capricious weather, vicious dragons, and warped plants. All of these hardships have tempted my fellow humans further down the path of compliancy, convolution, conceit, covetousness, and countless other sins.

And yet despite our weakness and his tricks, you have not forsaken us. You fight against this evil false god and bring back a taste of your night. You help us reclaim ourselves. Through your love, we are slowly transcending our human bodies and someday, when your Nightsilver woods spread through the land, every last creep has been cleansed, and we have all ascended to be wholly by your side, your night will return and peace will reign.

As your High Priestess, I know I must do my part to ensure this future. I fight your battles on earth so that you may fight yours in the sky.

Here in Selum, I ask you to touch the hearts of its people so they know their duty to you because with the faith, love, and devotion of all your broken children, your Nightsilver trees will overtake this cursed wilderness and help in the restoration of the true night.

Thus, I end my prayer with these final words:

Beloved Goddess

The lies of the false god are withering

His flora's decline marks the growth of your influence

Selemene, know that I seek to reshape Turstarkuri in your image

With each forsaken leaf, I honor your rightful ownership of this land"

When the blessed voice stopped speaking, there was silence in the temple. I saw awe in the eyes of the people of Selum as was right. The goddess's gift to me had ensured her truth was heard and felt.

With the prayer done, I let go of the voice and felt the loss like a blow, but I was not finished. If this were a Dark Moon Festival, this would be the time I would lay out the rules and then we would dance, sing, and feast, but tonight, in Selum, I was leading this Leaf-fall celebration.

All the leaves that people had been gathering from the forest formed a large ring along the temple's walls. The deacon had explained to me earlier that it was to be my honor to throw the first leaf into the giant hole that led to the goddess's despair.

After grabbing a large red leaf from the pile, I went down the main path to the center of the temple and the edge of the fathomless hole. I held up the leaf for everyone to see. Then I made a show of tossing it into the void.

I watched the leaf zip down like it was being pulled by a string. I felt the pull as well. It was like something was trying to steal my soul right out of my stomach.

The leaf disappeared from sight and I was thankful for the reenforced railing around the hole. I needed it when a loud moan erupted up from below and the temple floor and walls started to wobble from the sound. All around me, people moaned in unison.

My legs were still quaking from the power of it when the ground stopped moving. While I struggled to regain my balance, the people of Selum cheered and clapped. Then they started grabbing leaves to join in on the ritual in full and I followed suit.

During the leaf dumping, people played bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies, songs were sung, prayers were chanted, and people started showing off their tributes. Timmy did a funny jig in his metal suit that made Rat cover his face in laughter. Beadie's water art sparkled in the moonlight and her cookies looked pretty. Even Murdoch arrived to give a short angry poem before disappearing back into the crowd.

As for me, I had people come look at my carving of Selum's temple. I had put it on one side of a sphere and painted it white. The other hidden side showed a rough depiction of the main temple. I needed to add more details to that side and paint it black with stars to make sure it was ready for the Dark Moon, but that would come after tonight.

I had put so much time, effort, and hope into this festival. Even though everyone was dressed in dark plum keen leather robes, there was no dancing, it would be impossible to appease all the people who had solicited me tonight, every face reminded me of Luna but wasn't Luna, there was no chance of seeing Selemene, and the food was just okay, I felt…

"HP!" Beadie was waving at me with Rat following behind her. "The fireworks are in 15 and Rat got you the perfect spot to watch. You don't wanna miss it. Rat's fireworks are fantastic with a capital F!"

"Beadie…" Rat began.

"It's true," Beadie claimed giving him a friendly jab. "And it ain't just me who thinks it. You heard the deacon say as much earlier this week! So, stop your yirming."

Rat sighed and said to me, "Come on, HP."

And so, me, Beadie, and my legion of admirers followed Rat to the far side of town where he had his fireworks all setup. Beadie and the others took their seats on the ground, but I was too restless to sit. I went up and watched Rat work.

Rat was quiet as he checked and double-checked everything. Then he whispered, "Showtime."

For Rat's sake, I made myself sit down and tried to enjoy the show.

And it was a show. The fireworks lit up the sky with extra stars and explosions perfectly timed to the faint music back at the temple.

Then at the climax, a giant moon rose up into the sky.

Selemene!?

My heart thumped. I reached out to her.

Then Beadie shouted. "That's Snipe's float! It's really happening!"

Oh.

Beside me, my admirers clapped, so I clapped as well, nice and loud.

Rat made a sound that might have been a sob or a sneeze.

Beadie was at his side with a large handkerchief.

Rat stuffed it under his helmet and made a trumpeting sound.

Beadie laughed and patted Rat's shoulder.

"It's really happening," she said again, her voice wet. "He did it."

"Yeah…" Rat said, awed.

"We all did it," my most vocal admirer, Prudence, claimed. "The deacon must be so happy. I bet…" she trailed off as her eyes met mine. Everyone was looking at me now, probably worried because I was crying too.

The float was beautiful, white, round, and slowly drifting away into the sky. For a wild moment, I had let myself be deceived, but I was fine now.

I had to be fine now.

I wiped my tears and made myself smile. Soon enough, it would be the Dark Moon. I would have my chance to see the goddess and receive her guidance then. I knew that and I had less than a week to go. It did not matter that it felt like so much longer. I would wait for her as was right and while I was waiting, I knew what I ought to be doing.

I got up and motioned for the others to follow. It was time to get back to the temple. As High Priestess, I needed to lead a closing prayer and choose a partner for the night.

I thought everyone understood what I wanted until Beadie said, "HP's right. Come on bairns, let's clean up, so she and Rat can have some alone time."

What?

I shot Beadie a look.

I'd told her no last night. Why was she doing this?

"Rattletrap has had enough alone time with Selemene's High Priestess," one of my other admirers…maybe Dirk protested. "We deserve our chance."

"Yeah!" Prudence and the others agreed.

"Fine with me," Rat said. "I rather clean up alone."

"Rat!" Beadie cried.

Rat shrugged and got to work.

Beadie might have argued with him more, but my admirers weren't done with their protests.

While everyone else was distracted, I surveyed my options.

I liked my communion partners BIG, so none of the child-sized Selish people were really my type. Ignoring that, I decided that the girl standing at the edge of the group with wide hips and laughing lines around her large eyes seemed nice and willing.

I took the girl's hand in mine and lifted it to my lips.

She glanced over at me.

I returned her gaze, letting a secret smile slowly bloom into the soft skin of her dainty hand. My eyebrows lifted slightly in question.

My potential partner responded with a deep red blush and a shy nod.

A yes!

I stood up straight and put a finger to my lips, then hers. She nodded again and the two of us snuck off.

It took a full minute for anyone to notice what I'd done. Beadie and my other admirers shouted after us but Rat waved as we broke out into a run. Behind me, my new partner laughed.

I shot her a full-on grin over my shoulder and saw how big, bright, and alive she looked. I knew exactly what she was feeling: surprised, special, chosen.

That was the way every acolyte of Selemene hopes to feel on a night like this, even me.

Even still.