Looking back on her past, Hang the Moon shook her head at herself with amusement. She'd been so nervous before, so worried and meek. She had grown up surrounded by nothing but love and yet when the time had come she'd been so worried about what others had thought of her, too scared to stand up for herself or to make friends. But that had changed after the light had disappeared last fall. Her guilt at having helped create chaos for others had driven out the fear and insecurity, replacing it with the drive to fix it.
She had helped do that this past winter admist the Winter Market. She had had fun exploring the booths all the while searching for a way to stop the strange, flickering lights. Emerging from that final encounter had replaced her timidness with confidence. Speaking with that stranger who somehow knew her naming dream, had said he'd been the one to speak to her, to tell her to 'do it'...that had changed her for the better.
That night was still quite fuzzy in her mind but the parts that mattered stuck with her. The past half a year had seen a new Hang the Moon in the swamp, exploring and learning and making new friends. She had her lionesses with her at all times, the two of them fierce and ready to help protect her from anyone with ill intentions. Thankfully there had been none, everyone she'd met in her new journey was nothing short of lovely and informative. It was all Hang the Moon could ask for.
Taking her newfound knowledge around the swamp in the spring and early summer had led her to many new places and kin she'd never met before. Now that all her seeds had been planted, Hang the Moon continued the long route she'd created to ensure her plants were doing well. Some needed a little extra attention, others were flourishing better than she'd thought htey would. A harvest would happen soon, she knew. The end of the summer and fall would have her just as busy as she'd been in the spring, taking the leaves and flowers that she needed to create her healing ointments, salves, and juices. Hopefully this winter, a full year of the 'new' Hang the Moon, would be time for her to relax.
"Come on, girls," she said to her companions as she shifted the makeshift satchel she'd purchased from a very crafty kin. It was light now that it was empty, but she knew it would be come heavy with her harvest soon enough.
"Time to get a move on. I want to check out those Moon Flowers I planted last month down in the valley." The three females headed west, the kiokote chatting to the lionesses as if they could speak back, content with the company she kept knowing that there were friends along the way to her next destination.