The Intent of the Moon Goddess (#1)

Chapter 6- Katy

I love Saturdays!

Dance class in the morning, shopping with my mother in the afternoon and either a social event or movie night in the evening. Monday to Friday we have lessons and training, and Sunday’s are dedicated to Moon Goddess study and worship.

However, Saturdays are awesome and this Saturday we have the Half-Moon mixer which is less formal than the usual festivals, galas, and balls we attend but it’s a good way to meet other people from neighbouring packs without the chaperones breathing down our necks. 

The majority of people use these events to mingle, the girls all like to think they are going to be swept off their feet by their fated mate, but mostly you get to meet other people and build up a knowledge of how the other packs are faring, the developing alliances and simmering feuds. 

You also get to see first-hand the Moon Goddesses blessings coming to fruition, for some packs like us, this is the only chance we get to mix and therefore the best time to find our mate. For the unmated young pack members these events are essential, vital even.

Tonight, I will meet up with my cousins from the Scarlet Moon Pack, which was the pack my mother was in before she met my father and moved here to the Crescent Moon. My cousins will introduce me to their friends, and I’ll introduce them to Anna. 

I can’t wait to show my dress to my cousins, Daphne has done a brilliant job on it. My cousins like to treat me like I’m some sort of country bumpkin, the little holy girl who can’t show skin or get tattoos or piercings. 

It’ll be nice to see their faces when I turn up in my couture dress. I don’t need to flash my legs or my cleavage to look good. I do wish I could at least get my ears pierced but my father said no, and him and mother argued about it and so I promised myself not to bring it up again. 

My mother secretes exotic jewellery for me to wear instead. Tonight, I have an arm bangle that’s made of intricate metal work and a thumb ring that snakes over my knuckles. 

I love that my mother was from the Scarlet Moon, she’s open minded, and a lot cooler than some of the other mothers here. She doesn’t object to me wearing heavy make-up if I want to, in-fact she buys me the stuff and shows me the correct way to apply it. 

Mothers special interest is eye makeup. She loves to apply dramatic make up to people’s eyes, whereas I’m not sure if I like lipstick or nail varnish more.

Anna and I have been getting ready in my bedroom. My mother put our hair up in rollers and we painted our nails and put on light makeup. We put on our dresses and then my mother comes and finishes our hair. 

I always find it fascinating how rollers can transform your hair, me, and Anna both end up with different hair styles because my hair is shorter and lighter, and Anna’s is longer and darker. Mine is full of volume, with the occasional flick, and Anna’s is long tumbling waves down her back. 

Mother gives me a headband that has diamanté’s on it, and she brings Anna’s hair over one shoulder and on the other side she fixes a jewelled slide. 

I think we look gorgeous. And grown up like proper young women! Most other girls from the Crescent Moon will probably have their dowdy smock dresses on but me and Anna have the advantage of Daphne, the designer and creator of all things beautiful! And my mother the procurer of forbidden and interesting items and styler of lovely hair! 

Mother is escorting us tonight, which I think is a good thing. Mother wasn’t raised here and therefore isn’t as fanatical as most other mothers, she is still devout to the Moon Goddess of course but being raised in the Scarlet Moon means she takes a more relaxed approach to mixing and by the way us females are sheltered here at the Crescent Moon it’s a wonder anyone finds a mate. 

I have been in an exclusively female school since I was eleven years old therefore apart from my brothers and father I do not mix with other boys, our pack simply doesn’t facilitate or allow it. 

There are boys I went to primary school with that I now infrequently see at these events, and yet we live down the street from each other, used to play games together, and now we are strangers, estranged, and distant, I think it’s a bit extreme. 

Although my mother doesn’t openly criticise the Crescent Moon teachings, I know she does find some of the restrictions overly excessive, I know it’s a bone of contention between her and father.

We make our way to the Clear Moon territory, they host the half-moon mixer every year, and it’s attended by most packs in Global City because they are classed as neutral or ‘peacemakers’. As hardly no one has a car in the Crescent Moon pack they put on a bus service for us. 

The mixer is hosted in the Pack Hall, which is a huge building with multiple rooms, and each room offers a different entertainment and group. 

Some are loud, filled with music and dancing, some are filled with games consoles, some are filled with couches and books (I’ll have to keep Anna out of there!) and then there are food and drink stations. 

We arrive, get drinks, and then go off to look around. It’s a grand building but you can tell it’s falling into disrepair, the paintwork is now scuffed, and the wallpaper is faded, and dog eared, the carpets although clean are threadbare in the heavily used areas.

 We arrive on the second floor before I spot my cousins, they are sitting with a group of boys and drinking. They shout at me, inviting me over and I bring a less than enthusiastic Anna over with me.