Author's Notes: For the Writer's Month prompt "Season." Part 2 coming tomorrow.

Cinder felt uncomfortable sitting with Winter, and not only because Maha's couch was barely big enough for the two of them. She wasn't used to anyone looking at her with such earnestness.

It's because she thinks you're Selene, she thought, a few seconds before remembering that she was Selene. It was something that she would have to get used to, if she was actually planning to become the next Queen of Luna.

"So," Winter said, running a hand through her dark curls. Her hair and clothes were disheveled from cleaning, but somehow she still looked prettier than Cinder did on her best days. "How is your life on Earth?"

Cinder made a face. Then she saw the scars on Winter's cheek and decided that she didn't have much room to complain.

"It's...fine. Not as nice as Luna. I mean—" She scoffed, looking around the tiny room. "Not as nice as they say Luna is. You know what I mean," she finished awkwardly.

Winter's smile faltered as she, too, gazed at Wolf's childhood home. Her tone was wistful. "Yes. I knew that the outer sectors weren't as glamorous as Artemisia, but..."

She trailed off, then shook her head.

"But Earth must be wonderful. I've seen pictures—that blue sky, so bright that you can't even see the stars! And the weather!" She gave a tinkling laugh, as though she couldn't imagine anything funnier. "I was named for Earth weather, you know."

"Yes. A season, at least. I guess you don't...have those here?"

She shook her head. "No. I read somewhere that the early colonists would adjust the temperature control of the domes throughout the year, trying to create them artificially. Queen Amesemi made them stop. I don't think it was the same, anyway—it didn't effect the plants or the real weather. Tell me about snow!" Cinder startled as Winter grabbed her hands. "What does it look like?"

"Um, it's—white?"

She smiled mischievously. "Jacin says that it must not be impressive. He says it wouldn't look any different than the land outside the domes—just white sand, disappearing into the distance. But I know he's wrong. I know," she said, with a look as though she was sharing vital information. "It sparkles, doesn't it? My papa told me it does. He never saw it, but he said."

Cinder was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. She gently pulled her hands from Winter's grasp. "Sometimes, I guess. I mean—I live in the city. It usually gets dirty pretty fast. It probably looks nicer in other places."

"And it gets cold," Winter gushed, hugging herself as though they really were outside on a wintry day. "So cold that you need a real fire."

"I prefer heaters."

"And then there are the others. Let me see—summer, when things are hot. And...hop? The one that comes between them?"

It took Cinder a second. "You mean spring."

"Yes! When the plants start to grow. And then the other one—"

"Autumn."

"—when they seem to die, but then come back when winter's done. Oh! It's all so strange."

"Yeah, I guess it...would be, for you." Cinder waved a hand. "It's pretty boring, if you actually live on Earth."

"Oh, no. I've seen the pictures—leaves all red and orange and yellow. The trees here have been modified—they stay perfect and green all year. That gets boring. I could never get bored on Earth, with everything changing every few months."

A few minutes later Winter returned to her self-imposed chores, and Cinder sat alone, replaying their conversation in her mind. She had never given much thought to things like the seasons, or the weather, or wild animals or twenty-four hour days, or a million little things that Earthens took for granted. They were too natural to really think about.

But none of that existed on Luna. Nothing was natural here, except for empty plains of regolith spotted with craters and maria. The moon was a desolate rock where nothing changed, unless humans were there to force it.

Would she be able to?

She was going to try. But at that moment, she was suddenly feeling very homesick for Earth.