The Horse Moon

Filka is staring at the beautiful full moon when her apprentice calls for her, “Horsemaster Filka! The ceremony is starting!” She turns to the boy, Jak. He’s only been here for a few days, but Filka thinks he has a promising career. The horses like him and he has a firm but kind touch on the young princess’ ponies. Filka walks into the royal dance hall and ruffles Jak’s hair. “Thank you Jak, you lead. We’re next to the blacksmiths this year.” She pushes him ahead of her. “Do you remember Trisha? We’ll be next to her.”

Jak takes the lead, quickly finding Trisha’s hair sticking up above the crowd and sliding into the seat next to her. Filka and Evone exchange a look over their apprentices’ heads which are already smooshed together talking about their next project. Last time they got together, they tried to create a taller horseshoe at Princess Talia’s request for her pony, Lily. Thankfully, Evone put a stop to that before they got anywhere near Lily. Hopefully they’ll come up with something that won’t get them all executed.

Filka is brought back to the present as the princesses line up in the front of the hall. Two by two, they split along the sides of the main dias and wait for the Queen to lead in her consort. Filka stands when the Queen’s ceremonial leaders bid them, but she isn’t watching the Queen and consort as tradition demands. Instead she’s watching her friend, Princess Sienna. Despite being the oldest of the princesses at twenty-four years, she’s only fourth-in-line, due to being adopted after several of her younger siblings. She’s always found it preferable and Filka doesn’t care either way. She’s friends with Sienna because she was the first princess to approach Filka about the horses. 

Princess Sienna’s eyes meet her own, and she quickly turns to watch the Queen in time to see the leaders give the sign to be seated. She isn’t quick enough to miss Sienna’s smirk. The same smirk she gave to Filka when she was an apprentice and Sienna was asking to borrow a horse, “they just look too pretty, and I’d like to be tall.” Filka was torn between having to tell a princess that she couldn’t do something she wanted to or telling the Queen that her daughter got hurt after Filka went against the rules. 

Thankfully, Horsemaster Isak came in just in time and told Filka, “Why don’t you show the princess the new foals, Filka. It’s time for the junior stablehands’ lessons anyway, and I need the barn for that.” He shuffled them and the princess’s guards out of the main barn and towards the barn with the mares and babies.

Sienna bumped her shoulder in Filka’s. “Would you have let me ride a horse?” She asks. Filka bites her cheek and doesn’t look at the princess. Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees the princess pout. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I just wanted to ride like I used to at home. Before the Queen adopted me.” She lets out a big sigh. “I’m sorry.” She says, like it was the most difficult thing in the world to apologize. Filka didn’t know where the princess was adopted from, so maybe it was.

Filka blinks back to the present when she hears the announcement, “And now the Princesses shall offer their gifts to the gods.” This would be the part of the ceremony that the newspaper writers and gossip papers had the most interest in. 

Over the past few weeks, the papers had speculated on everything about the Moon Dance ceremony. From what the princesses would wear to the type of food served at the feast afterwards. And especially what the princesses would tribute and to whom. Filka thinks, not so kindly, that the bets and guesses were ridiculous things to gossip about. Having been to several ceremonies accompanying the royal family, she found that the tributes were mostly the same across the countries.

The heir and second in-line gave tribute to the goddess of marriage and leadership. The third and fourth-in-line are meant to dedicate their tributes to marriage if they have betrothals, but their main purpose is to ensure the health of their older siblings so the god of health and the deity of childbirth are expected choices. Filka knew Sienna had something planned though. She hadn’t told Filka a single thing about her gift, only that it would be ‘a gift to set the world on a new course’. 

Sienna was the one who introduced Filka to poetry. When they got to know each other, after the Queen tentatively gave her permission for them to talk to each other, Sienna told her of the stories and poems that her parents taught her before she was brought to the castle. She would whisper in her ear, “They’d love you. They’d appreciate how soft your hands are with the horses.” Then she’d kiss Filka’ palms. “And with me.” The poetry became more secretive when the Queen started pairing her children off to their future spouses. 

Letters left in saddlebags for Filka to clean out, and one-on-one riding lessons every other month instead of every other day. Boys, no, men went in and out of her tea room like a revolving door, always upset, but not too upset to stay away. They had things she could never give her, but she never took what they had. Eyes cold for anyone except Filka. 

Then the Queen sold Sienna’s horse. Or tried to anyway. Running Deer was Sienna’s horse through and through, and the evening before the sale was to go through, she was cut loose and took off into the woods like her namesake suggested. Despite the investigations, no one was ever convicted. No matter the situation though, the Queen denied Sienna the chance to receive another horse, and so her visits with Filka officially ended. And those eyes, silver like the moon, only met hers in glances across the palace grounds.

Filka couldn’t see how a poem could change the course of the world, but maybe Sienna was being dramatic. She hoped Sienna was being dramatic. The heir-to-the-throne, River, gave her tribute and gift, then Opal, then Yasmine. Then Sienna was up and her eyes met Filka’s once more before she spoke to the crowd, “I’m meant to give my tribute in honor of the other princesses, so that they may have a life the Queen wants them to have, but I honestly don’t care about them.”

The people stood in shocked silence, Filka watched the guards to see what they would do, but everyone seemed locked in place. Sienna smirked, “I think your ceremonies are foolish, and I have since your Queen ripped me from my caravan and family claiming me to be a proper princess for your nation. Or young enough to mold into one.” She took the circlet showing her status as a princess off her head and held it up. “If you want me to give something up, then I give this. I tribute my state here as a princess to the goddess of the moon, horses, and war. I hope you’re all ready.” 

And then the moon went black. All Filka could see were the silver eyes of Sienna who stood as the people screamed. Around them. Their eyes connected and Sienna held out a hand. Even though Filka knew she was too far away to hear her, Sienna’s voice whispered in her ear. ‘I’ll meet you at the stables, and we’ll run. Take anyone you want with you. We’ll create a kingdom of our own.’

Suddenly the moon was back, as full as it had been before. Sienna was gone. The yells quieted down until Princess River screamed, “MOTHER!” The Queen was slumped over on her throne and the dance hall descended into chaos. Filka stood, and grabbed Jak. “We’re leaving.” She had some horses to release, apprentices to gather, and her Queen to meet.