THE LUNA HE THREW AWAY

The Night Before

None of us got much sleep that night. The wind kept moving around the camp, carrying the smell of smoke, wet leaves, and sometimes something sharper- ash, like a memory of old fires. The Hollow never settles before a Rite, not when everyone knows what’s coming. The Rite is an old test, part judgment and part ordeal, where fate can change and lives might be turned upside down or saved. Some call it a trial, others a reckoning, but nobody comes out the same. Even the woods seem to know what’s at stake. Everything felt tense and waiting, like holding your breath before a hit.

Cass took the first watch, but none of us really trusted the system. I watched her pacing at the edge of the firelight, hands deep in her coat pockets, shoulders hunched against the cold she’d never admit bothered her. She kept looking back at camp, checking on us, especially me. She’d kept us alive more than once by staying awake when she should have slept.

Kael sat by the fire, slowly sharpening his knife. The blade was already sharp enough, but he needed the routine. He looked tense, jaw tight, eyes on the sparks rising and fading. Sometimes he muttered things I couldn’t hear, probably meant for the ghosts he carried. It hurt to see him try to fix everything by staying quiet and strong.

Fen stared into the fire, elbows on his knees and hands relaxed. He looked almost like a statue, alive only because nothing had stopped him yet. His tattoos moved in the firelight, silver and black patterns that seemed to tell stories only he knew. Sometimes he glanced at me, quick and thoughtful, as if he was trying to see who I was and who I might become.

I couldn’t sit with them. I couldn’t even sit with myself. I walked away from camp, my boots sinking into the soft ground. I needed air and space, to get away from everyone’s expectations and my own.

I found a fallen log under dead leaves and sat down. The forest felt close, almost listening. I took the letter from my pocket. The paper was thin from being handled so much, the ink fading and the edges worn. My thumb traced the signature at the bottom, just a single initial, M. The handwriting looked like my mother’s, rushed but careful, and it made my chest tighten every time I saw it. You are not a mistake. You are the correction.

I wasn’t sure if I believed it. Some nights it felt like a gift, other nights like a curse. Tonight, it just felt heavy- a promise I never chose, a wound I never wanted.

I heard footsteps before I saw him. Kael moved quietly, as always. He sat a short distance away, careful not to get too close. The firelight caught the scar on his jaw.

“Tough day,” he said, voice barely more than a whisper.

I snorted. “They’re all tough days lately.”

He nodded, staring at his hands. “I never asked for this. I never wanted to be the one who broke you.”

I really looked at him. He was the man who had rejected me in front of a thousand people. I could still remember the silence and the pity on their faces when he stepped away from me on the platform, his voice steady as he said things I never thought I’d hear from him. That shame stayed with me, sharper than any wound, echoing in every hallway and whispered conversation. He was also the boy who once promised to run away with me if it came to that, the one who jumped in front of a crossbow bolt without thinking about the cost.

“You didn’t break me, Kael. The world did. You just... didn’t stop it.”

He flinched, as if I had hurt him. For a moment, I wished I could take it back. But the truth stayed between us, making everything feel heavy.

“I want to help,” he said. “Not because I owe you. Not because I’m trying to make up for the past. But because I finally see what’s at stake.”

I nodded, and for the first time since the Hall, I believed him. I believed that he saw me, not as something to be protected, or punished, or pitied. Just me.

We sat quietly for a while, listening to the wind and the distant howls of wolves. The Hollow felt quiet too, as if everything was waiting for what would happen next.

After a while, Fen joined us, coming out of the trees as if he’d been waiting. He sat on the other side of the log, quiet but steady. Cass came last, throwing some small sticks onto the fire, and the sparks rose up.

The four of us sat together, but we all felt separate. Each of us held our own idea of the future and carried scars the others couldn’t see.

Cass broke the silence. "Do you remember the last time there was a Rite here?" Her voice sounded rough and tired. "My grandmother used to tell stories. She said Sovereigns walked with storms in their veins. She said the world changed when they spoke, for better or worse." The Sovereigns were legends now, names whispered in old songs. Their bloodline once made the laws of Hollow and kept peace between the Council and the wild lands. Most people thought they were gone, their gifts just a myth, but on nights like this, with the Rite coming, it was hard not to believe in their ghosts.

Fen grunted. “World changes whether you want it or not. The trick is to change with it, or get left behind.”

Kael looked at me, eyes soft for the first time in days. “What do you want out of this, Lira? If you win, what then?”

I hesitated, honest. “I don’t know. I want to live. I want to make it so people like Jax don’t have to be afraid anymore. I want to stop apologizing for being here.”

Cass smiled, sad and proud. “That’s enough.”

When I finally got into my bedroll, I dreamed about the Rite. I saw the moon shining on the Hollow, the witnesses gathered, and Aldric standing across from me, his power and fear around him like a cloak. Aldric was my rival and former mentor. He used to judge my worth, and now he was the obstacle I had to face. I dreamed of Jax, laughing behind the bars of the Silver Cells, daring me to let him out. Jax was a loyal friend and the only one who ever challenged me. He was the risk I never took. I dreamed of my mother, sewing a dress that would never fit, whispering, "Don’t make yourself small."

I woke up before dawn. The world felt quiet and waiting. Cass was already awake, pacing at the edge of camp and humming an old lullaby I remembered from childhood but couldn’t name. Fen moved through the shadows, checking the edge of camp, his face hard to read. Kael sat with his back to the fire, looking into the growing light, his knife across his knees.

Today was the day of the Rite. Once every generation, when old debts and broken laws threaten to divide us, the Rite is called. It’s more than a ceremony, it’s a judgment, a reckoning where three witnesses must stand and the truth must be told, no matter the cost. What’s at stake isn’t just my life, but the future balance between the Council, the Exiles, and everyone in between. This is the moment when the world could change forever, or go back to how it was.

I put on my boots, pulled my hair back, and tucked the letter into my pocket. I felt the weight of every promise, loss, and hope pressing on me. The Hollow was waking up birds calling, wind shifting. I breathed it in and let it settle inside me. I wasn’t small anymore.

Kael came over and put his hand gently on my shoulder. “Whatever happens tonight, you changed things. You made them look up.”

I squeezed his hand, let go, and walked into the new day.

Cass and Fen followed behind me, quiet and determined. We walked together toward the Hollow, the Rite, and whatever would come next.

For the first time, I wasn’t afraid for the world to see me.

For the first time, I wanted them to see me.