Free A Lament of Moonlight by Travis Simmons Page A

love to hear more about the moon,” Ruby said.
    “What would you like to hear?” Samarra asked. “I could tell you of the grand waterfalls we have, that do not fall into any lake or ocean, but instead is a place on the moon where gravity is reversed, and the water flows up into the clouds, producing the rain that we receive. Or how about the horses of light we have? They are amazing, hard to ride sometimes as they can shift in and out of being as fast as any light, but beautiful to behold. We have cities made of glass, cities made of stone, and even cities made from thoughts.”
    “Cities made of thoughts?” Abigail asked.
    “Yes, there are only two of them, but they are huge. A city of thought is a place where one goes and is truly in a world of their own, for whatever their mind can conceive they will see. For instant if you walked into a city of thought and wished for a fifteen floor candy shop that is what you would see, but a person walking in beside you that wanted a cozy library would be offered their choice of several libraries.”
    “That is strange,” Ruby said.
    “It isn’t really, it just shows what a powerful creative engine the mind is,” Samarra contradicted.
    “But if that is the case why can’t we see all this stuff?” Abigail asked.
    “Do you know precisely how far away the moon is?” Samarra asked but none of them could tell her. “Well then, if you don’t know how far away the moon is how can you suppose there are no civilizations on it? Is it because you cannot see millions of miles away?”
    The girls looked reluctant to believe her and Samarra picked up on that.
    “I see you all suffer a bit of what dear Melvin here is going through,” at the mention of his name Melvin bristled.
    “And what is that?” he asked defensively.
    “I fear that as people grow they close their minds to new potentials and possibilities. See, most people are under the impression that you are under. They do not think there is anything on the moon. They do not believe .”
    “I am not close minded!” he grumped.
    “No, not completely yet, but you refuse to believe that I am from the moon, or that Luna is also from the moon, or that Mama Coon is one of my earthly helpers,” she said reachi ng a hand down to pet the furry creature . “You cannot believe, or even grasp, how lovely the moon is for me, or that all these fantastical things I have told you of actually exist.”
    “Your right, I don’t believe it,” he fired back crossing his arms as if to tell her precisely how much he refused to believe her.
    “That is sad, for you will need an open mind.”
    “For what?” He asked.
    “To face Cailleach Bheur , what else?”
    “Who?” he asked confused.
    “Don’t you learn anything here?” sh e looked at each of them in turn , but all of them looked just as perplexed as Melvin, and with a sigh and a flick of her hand Samarra conjured five mugs of hot chocolate that settled before all of them. “She is a shadkin of great power,” she told them simply as she sipped at her cocoa and placed Luna on her shoulder.
    “And what does she have to do with us?” Melvin asked .
    “More of that in time, for now let me tell you a tale about Cailleach Bheur and about the darkness you have witnessed tonight.” Samarra seemed to settle in to tell them the tale, and they all settled around her. “First I must do something. What needs to be done has to happen tonight, and presently it appears as though this might take some time, I wasn’t expecting such ignorant youths, so it will take more time than was allotted. Here,” she said cutting off their protests and pulled what seemed to be a silver pocket watch out of thin air. When she opened it there was nothing on the inside dials and wheels that looked remotely like a clock. She moved three of the hundred odd hands and sighed. “There, that will stop the time for O now,” she closed the pocket watch and with a flash it vanished as if stretched so thin that