Dave Gross: Mistress of the Night

"That sounds like a wonderful way to pass the new moon," Feena said.

"It has been one of Mother Dhauna's wisest innovations," agreed Velsinore. "As the new moon is less than a tenday away, it's past time to begin planning the next Beneficence. The High Moonmistress has always been closely involved in the celebration. I presume you will want to keep up that tradition."

Feena's stomach sank. "You want me to speak at the feast?"

"It is expected." Velsinore pushed open the doors of the refectory. The temple's cook waited for them beside one of the dining hall's long tables. The table had been stacked with account books. Velsinore gestured toward them. "But for now, you need to plan the menu."

Feena stopped dead. "What?"

"You need to plan the feast," said Velsinore. "Idruth can give you suggestions, of course." She laid a hand on the stacked books. "These are accounts of our food stocks and of the sums budgeted for the event. You'll find menus of previous Beneficences as well, if you want to follow the easy path and duplicate one of them. Naturally, I can understand if you would prefer"

"Velsinore," Feena interrupted, "is this really necessary?"

She fought to keep anger out of her voice, but didn't succeed. The cook flinched back. Velsinore stood firm. When she answered, her voice was cool. "The Moonmistress-Designate assumes the High Moonmistress's duties, does she not?"

Feena's hands were trembling. She forced them to be still.

"Fine," she growled. She glanced at Idruth and the cook flinched back another step. "A side of beef," she ordered, "and four- young pigsmore to round out the servings if that's not enough to feed the number of people who come"

"Ah, meat," said Velsinore. She picked up a reed pen and made notes on a scrap of parchment. "Of course."

Feena sucked in her breath. "What do you mean by that?"

Velsinore looked up from the parchment. "Nothing at all, Moonmistress-Designate." Her voice was as calm as ever, but her eyes were hard. "Now," she asked, raising the pen, "would you like all this meat cooked or should we just leave it raw?"

Wo^f. Beast. Monster. Velsinore didn't say it, but she didn't need to. It was clear where her feelings lay.

Feena whirled aroundskirts rustling, bodice clenching, coronet pinchingand stormed out of the refectory without another word. In the hallway outside, novices and clergy alike scrambled out of her path. Feena strode down the hall and up the ramp to the temple's second floor and Dhauna Myritar's quarters. She raised her fist and hammered on the door.

"Mother Dhauna!" she shouted. "Let me in." There was no response. Feena pounded on the wood again. "I'm not. going away this time, Dhauna. We're going to talk!"

There was still no sound from the other side of the door. Feena reached down and rattled the latch. It was locked. Feena took a step back, hiked up the froth of her skirts, and threw her shoulder against the door. Then again.

With the second blow, wood splintered. With a third, the lock tore free and the door slammed open. Feena released her skirts and stomped through.

There was no one in the High Moonmistress's quarters. Everything seemed to lie just as it had on the evening when Feena had first arrived, but neither Dhauna nor Julith were present. Feena clenched her jaw. Could they have slipped out of Moonshadow Hall while she was away at the council of temples? When Dhauna had spent so much time shut away, it hardly seemed likely that she should suddenly leave.

Feena's eye fell on the books and scrolls that were piled in the sitting room. "I have even more spread out in the archives," Dhauna had said that first evening. Feena turned and walked back out into the corridor.

On its east, south, and west sides, Moonshadow Hall was relatively low, the better to allow Selune's light to enter the central courtyard. On its north side, however, it rose higher. The entire top floor of that height was occupied by the temple's archives, which were reached by a narrow, little-used ramp located along a dark corridor conveniently close to the quarters of the high priestess. Unlike the high priestess's quarters, though, the archives were protected by a substantial door that was banded with iron and secured with a heavy lock. Normally the lock was open so that any member of the clergy, should they feel the desire, could consult the archives. It was locked.

Feena pounded on the thick wood and called, "Dhauna! Julith! I know you're in there. If you don't open this door, I swear by the Bright Lady of Night that I will get an axe and chop it open!"

A faint flutter of noise from within suggested that she hadn't been wrong and that her threat had been heard. A moment later, the door opened. Julith grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind her.

"Does anyone else know we're here?" the dark-haired priestess whispered.

"If they have half a brain, they might figure it out," Feena grumbled as she marched on, leaving Julith scurrying in her wake.

Moonshadow Hall was one of the earliest major buildings built in Yhaunn. Its archives were correspondingly old and extensive. Because it was the largest temple of Selune in that part of Faerun, it had also become the repository for records gathered from even older shrines. Whenever a hermit-priestess died, whenever a remote chapel was finally allowed to collapse, whenever another temple simply needed to clear the dust from its vaults, old records and tattered tomes were sent to Moonshadow Hall to be preserved for the greater faith of Selune. Row upon row of high shelves crammed with books, papers, and scrolls filled the archives. Feena had never much liked the place. It was too quiet for her, too full of dead, dry words. As she walked into the dusty shadows, she almost had to fight against the muffling silence to keep her rage burning.

She found the High Moonmistress skimming a book that was a full handspan thick. Cool magical light shone from a humble paperweight, casting illumination across the book, an inkwell and pen, a tray with a half-eaten bowl of soup from lunch, and a scattering of parchments crowded with scribbled notes. Dhauna glanced up sourly as Feena approached.

"I told you no one, Julith! I don't want to see anybody."

The old priestess had been lying when she said it was only the vestments that made her look wasted, Feena realized. Without them, Dhauna looked even more aged and frail. The sleeves of her simple, soft robe had been pinned back so they didn't tangle in the pages she turned.

Feena stepped forward without giving Julith a chance to reply and said, "Mother Dhauna, I need to talk to you."

"I don't have time, Feena." Dhauna began to turn a page, then stopped and squinted at it. "Did I just read this?" she muttered, and flipped ahead, then back again. She looked up at Feena with an angry glare. "Our Lady of Silver, do you see what you've made me do?" she spat. She slammed the book closed hard enough to make the glowing paperweight jump and the cold soup splash. "I didn't summon you to Moonshadow Hall just so you could start interrupting me, too!"

Feena stared at her, at the stacks of books surrounding her, and an ugly suspicion formed in her mind.

She narrowed her eyes and said, "You intended to name me as Moonmistress-Designate from the moment you sent for me!" She stalked up to the broad table at which Dhauna sat. "With me to handle your duties and keep Mifano and Velsinore busy, you were free to continue your research! That's it, isn't it? That's why you really needed me to come to Moonshadow Hall."

"Yes!" snapped Dhauna. "Yes, it is." She put her elbows on top of the book and propped up her head on her hands, rubbing her palms against her eyes and forehead. "I know it's not what you were thinking when you agreed to help me"

"It isn't," Feena said. "You said you needed me."