Dave Gross: Mistress of the Night

"For ceremonies only," she told Feena with a smile. Such is the price of vanity."

She strode through the door a little awkwardly, but rith renewed strength. Feena followed in her wake.

Outside, the temple courtyard was filled with the lergy and novices of Moonshadow Hall, as well as with hose citizens of Yhaunn who paid honor to Selune.)hauna circled around the cloister to the full moon ate. During the day, the courtyard could be entered reely through any of the seven open gates that led into it, but tradition dictated that by night only the gate corresponding to the phase of the moon could be usedand since the closed gate of the new moon was nothing more than a brick-filled arch, the courtyard was never entered during the dark of the moon. Feena remembered youthful frustration at being forced to walk all the way around the cloisters when cutting across the shadowed courtyard would have saved her precious time. Having grown older, she found the walk strangely comforting, a moment of contemplative transition between outside world and sacred ceremony.

As Dhauna stepped through the full moon gate, clergy and worshipers parted before her, making a wide aisle across the moonlit grass to the sacred pool at the courtyard's far end. The High Moonmistress proceeded down the grassy aisle at a stately, measured pace. On either side, men and women bent in respect as she passed:

Feena, however, stopped just inside the gate. Julith stood at the back of the crowd, and Feena slipped in beside her.

"I'm sorry for what happened in Dhauna's bedchamber," Feena whispered.

The young priestess sighed and shrugged. "I'm getting used to it," she murmured back. "Some days she's better than others."

Her eyes were fixed on the other end of the courtyard. Dhauna had set aside her cane and was standing in front of the sacred pool, her back to the crowd. Overhead, the moon was almost perfectly aligned with the courtyard, the high priestess, and the pool. Dhauna raised her hands. "Selune," she called, "Moonmaiden, Bright Lady of Night, Our Lady of Silvertonight we honor your fullest aspect and pray for your blessing of strength…"

As Dhauna continued her invocation, Feena leaned in closer to Julith.

"Some days?" she whispered. "Getting used to it?" She pressed her lips together, then asked, "The dreams?"

Julith started, then nodded.

Selune's warnings were taking their toll on more than Dhauna's body, it seemed.

Feena leaned back toward Julith and asked, "How long has she been having them?"

Julith's gaze darted to her. "Feena!" she hissed and nodded at Dhauna and the sacred pool.

Feena rolled her eyes and said, "We're not novices, Julith. No one is standing over us to make sure we follow the ceremony. How long?" Feena nudged the other priestess. "Gome on."

"A little bit less than a month." Julith managed to speak almost without moving her lips. "Since the waning gibbous moon."

The night she had first sent for me, Feena thought. She winced.

"Do you know what happened?" Feena asked.

Julith gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. "I found her barefoot in the courtyard in the middle of the night, almost at moonset. She's been barely eating since then. She's developed an obsession with the archives. And her moods…" The priestess fell silent for a moment, then added, "There are only a few of us in the temple who really notice the lapses of her mind, but it's clear that her health is failing." She glanced sideways at Feena. "If you're her friend, you should probably know that there's pressure on her to step down."

Feena's eyebrows rose. Dhauna Myritar had led Moonshadow Hall for well over twenty yearsit was hard to think of the temple without her at its head.

"Pressure?" she asked. "Who from?"

Before Julith could answer, the High Moonmistress lowered her arms. On cue, a chorus of novices began to sing a hymn. After a few bars, the crowd joined in as well, a sweet roar of sound that would have been impossible to hear over. Julith and Feena dutifully added their voices to the song, but Julith caught Feena's eye and nodded toward the sacred pool again.

Four figures had stepped forward from the crowd. Two were acolytes bearing silver pitchers. Dhauna took the pitchers and poured their contentsmilk and pale wineinto the sacred pool as a sacrifice to Selune.

Flanking the acolytes, however, were Mifano and Velsinore. Feena's eyes narrowed as another piece of the rivalry between the two fell into place.

The hymn ended. Feena leaned toward Julith once more as they knelt along with the rest of the crowd to receive the High Moonmistress's benediction.

"Dhauna hasn't named a successor yet, has she?" Feena guessed. Julith nodded. "But Velsinore and Mifano are the prime candidates?"

Julith nodded again. Feena grunted and straightened, her suspicion confirmed. Dhauna wanted her to help, but dodging the two rivals wouldn't be easy.

"In the face of darkness," called Dhauna from the front of the courtyard, "be strong, for the Bright Lady of Night gives you her blessing." She folded her hands. "May Selune guide your steps in the night and bring them to a new dawn."

The crowd rose in a rustle of fabric and a murmur of voices, the ceremony complete. Feena rose as well, turning to Julith. Dhauna's voice, however, brought the attention of the entire courtyard back to her.

"Friends!" she shouted. "Friends!"

When silence had fallen again, she spread her arms and smiled.

"I'd like you all to join me in a song of welcome. Moonshadow Hall opens its arms tonight as one of its own children returns home." She held out her hands. "Feena of Arch Wood, daughter of Maleva, come forward and be recognized."

"Oh, Moonmaiden's grace," Feena cursed under her breath. She shot a glance at Julith as the entire crowd turned toward her. "Is this one of Dhauna's bad days?"

Julith wrinkled her face and gave a tiny shrug.

"Wonderful," Feena muttered.

She stepped forward. The chorus of novices led the crowd in another hymn as she walked the length of the courtyard up to the High Moonmistress. Mifano gave her a playful wink as she passed. Feena glowered at him.

Dhauna reached out and took her hands. "Let all on whom Selune's light falls be welcome if they desire," she said with a soft smile. "Welcome back to Moonshadow Hall, Feena."

"Thank you, Mother Dhauna," Feena replied humbly. Dhauna turned her toward the watching crowd.

"Friends," she called, "this is Feena Archwood, a true priestess of Selune, and by Selune's grace" The high priestess reached back and dipped her hand into the sacred pool, sending ripples through the shining reflection of the full moon, then pressed her dripping fingers to Feena's face" I name her Moonmistress-Designate and my successor at Moonshadow Hall!"

Feena stared at Dhauna in shock.

There was probably no one in Yhaunn who could have said exactly how the district known as the Stiltways came into existencemerchants and traders, shops and taverns so solidly packed around a few twisted streets that they filled tall buildings from top to bottom and burst out of the sides like fat from an overstuffed sausage. There were various explanations bandied about, rising and falling in popularity from year to year. That, for example, the district had in the distant past been the site of the original encampment in Yhaunn's ancient quarry and that the first buildings of the Stiltways had grown up within the encampment's walls. Or that the Stiltways had been built around and within the shell of the first fortified tower in Yhaunn after the city's protectors had moved themselves to a bigger, better keep farther up the quarry. Or that the Stiltways' first cramped, crooked buildings had been built along the walls of a dark gullysince buried and that if one made ones way into the lost cellars beneath forgotten basements, one could still find that gully and the horrid spirits that lurked there, spirits sometimes said to be guarding a fabulous treasure.