Lunari couldn’t remember anything from before the Temple of the Moon had been her home, the smooth sandstone walls a haven from the cold mountain wind outside. She didn’t remember the face of the woman who had presumably left her in a bundle of blankets on the temple steps as a baby. She remembered only the melodic voice and gentle hands of Diana, the High Priestess, braiding her long black hair and singing her to sleep with hymns to the goddess.

Of course, none of that implied that the Temple of the Moon was a happy place to grow up for a young orphan.She always seemed to be getting into trouble, whether being reported by the other sisters of the temple who disliked her quiet, sullen manner (“Inappropriate for such a young child,” they insisted.) or fighting with the other young women whose rich families sent their daughters to the temple to be educated in the old ways. To these girls, Lunari was nothing but a bastard, and should be treated as a servant at best. Lunari chafed under their mockery and abuse, and try as she might, she could never quite master the “humility of spirit that brings serenity,” no matter how Mother Diana admonished her in her quiet but stern manner. In fact, nobody in the Temple of the Moon seemed to like or trust Lunari, save Mother Diana, whose infrequent attention was the closest to a mother’s love Lunari had ever known.

And now, as she was blossoming into a pretty young woman, the torments of the other girls were worse than ever, driven-- though Lunari didn’t know it-- by the jealousy of plump, pale, strong-jawed young ladies who envied Lunari her dark skin and eyes, her long shining tresses and delicate features. Meanwhile, Mother Diana was scarcer than ever, occupied with the matters of the Temple and the nearby village whose crop shortage after the dry season had left the villagers ravaged with disease. Lunari saw little of Mother Diana anymore, and, not wanting to be a bother, tried to keep to herself and do her chores in the kitchen while the other girls went about their lessons. Nevertheless, despite her efforts, one or two of the rich young ladies were relentless in their sport, and on this particular afternoon, Lunari found herself at last face to face with the High Priestess, after having bloodied the nose of a young woman who had been trying to trip her in the corridors.

Mother Diana looked wan this cold evening, and older than Lunari remembered her looking the last time she had had a moment to visit with her (that time she had left scratches on the cheek of a particularly pig-nosed blonde girl named Polly, who had cried for a sister’s aid, pretending she had not been throwing stones at Lunari as she worked in the garden). Mother Diana assessed Lunari periodically between perusing the parchment note Sister Abigail had sent with Lunari to the High Priestess’ quarters. Lunari began to fidget as the quiet stretched longer. Surely, Mother Diana must have finished reading the note by now? How much had Sister Abigail written?
Finally, Mother Diana sighed, removing her spectacles. Lunari was shocked at the dark bags under her caretaker’s eyes. Mother Diana did not look well. Caring for the ill must have been taking quite a toll on her.
“Lunari, this is the third time this month you’ve been sent to me for fighting with the other girls,” Mother Diana said quietly. Lunari looked down at her fingers, twisted in the folds of her simple white robes, the same that all the girls wore who had not yet pledged themselves yet to the service of the Moon Goddess.

“Yes, Mother Diana.”

“You have been here with us for seventeen summers now, yet you seem to have made no progress in learning to live peacefully within these walls.”

Lunari winced at this comment. “But Mother, the other girls do not--” 

“The other girls were not raised here in the blessing of the moon’s rays. You were, Lunari.”

“...yes, Mother Diana.”

Lunari studied her fingernails intently, painfully aware of the gaze of the High Priestess on her face. She knew she should keep calm and serene even in the face of the abuse of the other girls. But something within her would not allow her. When they made fun of her, laughing behind their sleeves and calling her names when the sisters were out of sight, Lunari could not help herself. She saw red, her temper flared, and she could no more control it than she could the path of the Moon Goddess herself. She had long since given up trying to explain this to the High Priestess or any of the Sisters of the Moon. It was a hopeless endeavor. 

Mother Diana sighed again, and Lunari glanced up, surprised to find a look of surrender on her caretaker’s face, where she had expected only exasperation. “I suppose there is only so much one can do to change one’s nature,” Mother Diana said. Lunari frowned.
“What do you mean, Mother?”

In response, Diana stood and circled the desk, taking Lunari’s thick braid in her gentle hands and sweeping it to the side. Her cool fingers fished the chain around Lunari’s neck out from it’s place nestled beneath her robe and between her breasts. On the chain hung a small charm, which Lunari understood to be the sole belonging her mother had left her when she had abandoned her on the temple steps.”I had hoped to wait a few more days until your birthday to tell you this, but… I suppose it won’t wait.” Mother Diana seemed almost to be talking to herself, and Lunari twisted to study the older woman’s face. It was guarded, and Lunari felt her stomach knot in anxiety.

“Mother?” she replied, questioningly.

“Come, child. It’s time I showed you the truth.” Mother Diana guided Lunari to stand before the full-length mirror, and she stood looking with concern at The High Priestess. The older woman unclasped the chain around her neck, speaking softly in her ear as she did. “I hope you understand I kept this from you all these years for your own good. I was warned that there was no use in trying, that you could not grow beyond your nature, but the Goddess teaches us that all being deserve a chance to find peace, and you were so young.” Lunari raised a hand and clasped the necklace to her throat, turning to look into Mother Diana’s eyes.

“What are you saying, Mother?”

The High Priestess’ eyes dropped to the charm, and she gently took it from Lunari’s fingers. “This was not a gift from your mother, child. I bought it off a traveling peddler. She was gifted with magic, of the glamour variety. Popular with the local rich families. She’s often called on when a child is born with a club foot or a crooked nose. Still… she said this was the biggest challenge she’d ever had. There was a lot… to hide.”

Lunari stared at her benefactress now, frightened. Mother Diana turned her back toward the mirror, slipping the chain off of her warm skin. As if looking at a ripple in a pond, Lunari’s image in the glass seemed to shimmer for a moment, and suddenly… Lunari screamed as a demonic face stared back at her from the mirror. Pitch black eyes leered at her out of a face that mocked her own, sharp teeth bared beneath two curved horns that arose from her forehead and swept back along her crown. Lunari stumbled back away from the image, and the creature likewise stumbled away from her. Slowly, the realization dawned on Lunari that the… creature… in the glass… was herself. Gaping, she reapproached the mirror and touched it’s cool surface. “Mother…?” she pleaded, voice quavering. 

“Half-demon,” Mother Diana said matter-of-factly, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Your mother, poor soul, must have lain with an incubus and become pregnant with you. You are luckier to be a bastard than to have been raised by such a fool.” 
Before Lunari could stop it that red rage rose up in her, stronger and quicker than she had ever felt it before. “How dare you speak of my mother that way! You don’t know that this wasn’t… done to her! And you… you never told me!”

Mother Diana, somewhat taken aback by Lunari’s sudden outburst, backed away slightly. “I had every intention to tell you on your eighteenth birthday, child. At which point you would be old enough to undergo the vows of a priestess or leave the temple.”
“And this is what I was, the whole time? Yet you sat there lecturing me about serenity and truth…? Hypocrite!” Lunari took a step toward the High Priestess, who seemed to stumble back, the charm hanging from one frail hand.

“Now, Lunari, get control of yourself…”

“Control!” Lunari spat at the older woman. “Wouldn’t the other girls love to know? That the little bastard they’ve tormented for years truly deserved it. That she was nothing but a beast. How entertaining!” Suddenly, the abomination that was Lunari sank to the stone floor, claw-tipped fingers covering her face, sobbing. “I’m nothing but a beast!”

Mother Diana paused, then took a step nearer the girl. “Now Lunari… don’t say that. I’ve never thought you a beast....” The girl only answered with sobs, and Mother Diana took a step closer, laying a hand on Lunari’s shoulder. Suddenly, the girl lashed out, growling “Don’t touch me!” The older woman gasped, backpedaling, and tripped over a small statue of the Goddess near the window. Lunari lunged for her hand, but it was too late. The sound of the window glass shattering was drowned out by Lunari’s own scream as the High Priestess fell from the Temple Window, still clutching the necklace charm. There was a sickening thud as her body met the courtyard below, and Lunari gaped, heedless of the broken glass cutting her fingers as she gripped the sill. “Mother Diana!” she screamed. Across the courtyard, windows lit up as the sisters were called from their beds by the noise. A sob arose in Lunari’s throat, but as she saw Mother Diana begin to stir, moaning, it broke into a laugh of joyful relief. Suddenly, Lunari heard Sister Sophia’s voice calling to the other sisters as she ran toward Mother Diana’s broken form. Looking up, her eyes met Lunari’s and she screamed. “Monster! It’s a monster!”

Realizing what she now looked like, Lunari obeyed the instinct that rose up within her… and ran. Out of the High Priestess’ quarters, down the stairs, and out of the main doors. She ran down the same temple steps her mother’s feet must have touched nearly eighteen years ago as she fled from the creature her own loins had created… Ran out into the open fields that surrounded the village which provided for and guarded the Temple of the Moon… Ran into the sheltering shadows and dark embrace of the forest, which would hide her terrifying form from prying eyes. Lunari ran and ran… until she could run no longer. She did not know how long she ran, where she was going, or where she was. Finally, out of breath, she collapsed to the ground, robes muddy, face and hands scratched from the tree branches that tore at her passage… and sobbed herself into the merciful embrace of sleep.

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